When he came into the office Carol was not yet at her desk. He had been very worried by the telephone call last night; he didn’t know whether she was looking for a shoulder to cry on after being questioned about the missing file, or had somehow guessed at his own involvement. He had been horrified to realize Sarah thought he was having an affair. Last night they had gone out to Steve and Irene’s house. David and Sarah had both been anxious and preoccupied. Over dinner Irene had rattled on about Christmas arrangements, how the children were doing at school, the cold weather, all the while looking sharply between David and Sarah, sensing something was wrong. Steve had been put on his best behaviour and neither politics nor the deportations were mentioned, though Irene spoke about some trouble at Wandsworth; a crowd of Jive Boys had torn up the seats of a concert hall where one of the new rock ’n’ roll bands from America were performing. ‘They’re talking about banning any more of those records coming in from America.’ ‘So they should,’ Steve agreed.
