Blood Sisters(34)

But she’s not there. Instead, there’s a huddle of women from the admin office, talking quietly at a corner table. ‘What’s going on?’ I say in what I hope is an easy manner. I’ve never been a girl’s girl. Far better on my own. In fact, Angela is the closest I’ve come to having a work friend. Perhaps it’s because this environment is so different from anything I’ve come across.

‘It’s Angela.’

No! When something bad has already happened to you in life, you are constantly on the alert for the next thing. She’s been attacked. She’s ill. She’s –

‘Angela’s been sacked.’

I don’t believe it.

‘She’s been selling mobile phones to the men.’

‘Come on,’ I say. ‘Is this a joke? She wouldn’t do anything like that.’

Not Angela who was always telling me what to do and what not to do. Not Angela who was always helping me understand prison rules.

‘That’s just the tip of it,’ adds one of the others. ‘She’s been flogging weed too. Hiding it at the back of the stationery cupboard, can you believe? That’s how she was caught. She’d had a spare key made for the blokes she was passing the stuff on to. One of the officers found it during a routine search of B hut.’

The stationery cupboard.

‘Silly idiot,’ snorted someone else. ‘If you’re going to break the law, make sure you cover your tracks.’

I stay quiet. I’m trying to take it in. How could I have been so naive?

‘Did it to pay some of her husband’s debts, apparently,’ adds the first woman. ‘And now she’s the one in prison. Just goes to show, doesn’t it? Not everyone is who they seem to be in this place.’

I can barely concentrate on my afternoon workshop. I’m still reeling. I’ve received a short note from the governor which absolves me of having left the stationery cupboard unlocked. There is no formal apology. But the inference is clear. My so-called friend Angela, whom I’d trusted, had allowed me to be the scapegoat for her crime. Was it possible that she had been the one who’d reported the ‘open’ stationery cupboard? But why the delay in reporting? Perhaps she was trying to throw me off the scent. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d heard of staff turning against each other in prison.

What am I doing in this terrible place?

My legs still feel weak from that wretched flu. The sooner I get home, the better. Then, just as I’m about to get into the car to set off, my phone bleeps with an email from the college.

Lead Man. He would like to sign up for the spring-term course but it’s full. Would I mind fitting in an extra student?

I feel a flash of excitement followed by doubt and then excitement again.

‘That’s fine,’ I email back. Then I wonder if I’ve done the right thing.

Minutes after I send the reply, my phone rings. Clive? Of course not. He doesn’t have my number. It’s Mum.

‘Are you all right?’ I ask.

I often start a phone call with Mum like this. So does she. After the accident, we both have this fear that another tragedy will befall one of us, leaving the other totally alone.

‘Darling, I don’t want to worry you. But something’s happened.’

I listen, stunned by what she is telling me. Suddenly Lead Man isn’t important. Nor are my men who are waiting for me. Nor is Angela’s betrayal, even though it still physically hurts my chest.

Still in the driving seat, I ring the prison switchboard to explain I have to cancel my classes tomorrow as there’s been a family emergency.

Then I start the engine. Blood thundering in my head.





24


January 2017


Kitty


‘Kitty, would you like to come in now?’

Something was wrong. Bossy Supervisor was actually addressing her – and not one of the carers. As if she could just get up and walk!

‘Johnny!’ cried out Kitty as she was wheeled in.

To her relief, he lumbered up and gave her a big warm hug. There was an ‘ahh’ and a ‘Watch out for her poor arm’ from Johnny’s mother. Everyone else was frowning.

‘I missed you,’ she wept.

‘I’ve missed you,’ said Johnny, tenderly wiping away her tears. Then he glared at the others in the room. ‘We want to have our baby. You have no right to stop us.’

‘Baby?’ babbled Kitty. Had she missed something here? ‘What baby?’

‘You’re pregnant!’ said Johnny, kneeling down next to her. ‘Isn’t that wonderful, Kitty? We’re going to have a child all of our own. A real baby.’

Really? How did that happen?

‘Utterly ridiculous,’ sniffed a man in a suit standing next to Johnny’s mother. ‘She can’t even talk. How can she have a kid?’

‘Darling, have some compassion.’

Then the door opened. Flabby Face was coming towards her. The man they said was her father.

‘No!’ Kitty squirmed in her chair. ‘I don’t want him here.’

‘Don’t get upset, Kitty. We’ll sort out this mess. I promise.’

‘Fuck off. Go away.’

‘Will someone stop my daughter from banging her head against the chair like that? And why hasn’t anyone brushed her hair? Just because she has to wear a helmet, doesn’t mean you can’t brush the rest of it.’