Scene Forty-Nine
After a period of furious activity, Elaine took satisfaction from the thought that the basics of her work on the 'Imprisonment and Modernization' conference project was nearly complete. Her old fashioned meticulousness had served her well in making the necessary arrangements for the venue. Her approach meant that she didn't think that the invention of the e-mail superceded all other forms of communication but also included picking up the phone. She had no problems in speaking directly to the person she was dealing, to anticipate any potential misunderstandings. Even in this modern age of mass uniformity, the proliferation of modern conference halls didn't exclude old fashioned town hall buildings and the Central Methodist Hall which were all individual. The most essential fact in her life was that each party had faith in the other and that the bill for the conference center would be paid on time. She ignored the more shallow minded people who she worked with and was simply confident in her own individual style. She was a human being and not an anonymous name on an e mail contact list. As she drank a cup of tea as her efforts were finally completed, she was satisfied with the thought of a job well done.
The other matter was the applications for the conference itself. She carefully posted out the letters of acceptance herself and lovingly noted that each and every one of her friend's letters was faithfully issued. As for the others, she approached the job in a professional enough spirit. She mused over the details of the application but they meant nothing to her. Finally, when the arrangements were wrapped up, she was hoping that she would get some acknowledgement of the hard work she had put in but wasn't greatly surprised that none was forthcoming. What it did mean was that this lack of appreciation wasn't going to make her emotionally fall on her sword as she might have felt at one time. She shrugged her shoulders and saw her Rita smile approvingly at her from her photograph on her desk. Besides her newfound circle of friends, that was good enough validation for her existence, or so she reasoned.
"So everything went like clockwork?" her boss asked casually, looking all around him for who next to socialize with. She got monosyllables while others got long intimate conversations. These days, it didn't bother her one bit.
"Everything went fine. Everything's all wrapped up."
"Good, Elaine. The office revolves round people as dependable as you. Anyway, I have to go. Things to do, people to see," came the automatic reply.
Which means that I can slog along for the rest of my days and get nowhere, Elaine concluded rightly. See if I care, she thought, the job isn't my life, she thought with half a day left until she was back in the arms of her beloved.
*********
Sure enough, the letters dropped through the letterbox as planned. John grinned widely as he ripped open his letter of invitation. Despite the plans they'd all laid, he had remained sneakingly wary, thinking that somehow or other, his enemies would somehow block his application. The closer it got to the conference without the letter, the more vulnerable he felt. He danced round the room and immediately picked up the phone to talk to Nikki and Helen.
"We've got our letters this morning John. God bless Elaine," Nikki said very cheerfully." As we speak, Helen is mentally working out the most vitriolic scathing comments she can devise about the 'hang them and flog them' brigade. When she shot her mouth off last time around, it was out of impulse and desperation in getting me sprung out of Larkhall. This time, she's researching what she's going to say."
"Hi judge," Helen's carrying voice sounded clearly from the background
"Believe you me, it makes me happy to have such dear friends that I can depend on," John replied, a tremor of emotion shaking his voice. The feeling of certain support from these rock solid women with that intensity of caring suddenly sprang intohis consciousness from nowhere. For a second, he was slightly embarrassed until reason pointed him in the right direction.
"Judge, we strongly believe in never making promises that we don't deliver on. Besides, Helen had all the fun last time and I'm jealous," Nikki replied with her unique mixture of light heartedness and earnestness. John believed every thought they uttered.
When John came off the phone, he felt as blissfully centred as he had ever felt in his life.
Sally Anne was the first to pick up the mail at midday after their late night at Chix. She had slung on a loose T-shirt while Trisha lay on her back, naked and bleary eyed.
"Don't say it, babes, the usual bills," she called out to her partner who she could hear padding back to their bed.
"As a complete change sweetheart, we've been accepted for the 'Imprisonment and Modernization' seminar we volunteered for. It gives all the arrangement details," Sally Anne answered enthusiastically." Oh yes, the rest is the normal junk mail. No bill amongst them."
"Oh God, so we did," sighed Trisha." I must have been pissed to volunteer for this. Somehow it seems different in the cold light of day. Come back to bed and give me a cuddle."
"You can't back out now. We promised. Just think of the others," urged Sally Anne relentlessly into her lover's ear after she pulled off her T-shirt and slid her arms round her.
"But Nikki's so militant. I swear to God her grandmother was one of the suffragettes and Helen's just as bad,"
"Then there's John," insisted Sally Anne, planting a line of kisses along the line of Trisha's neck.
"Well, it's all that male testosterone. Plus it's his special area," protested Trisha feebly, sliding her hand along the exquisite lines of her lover's back. Somehow, she wasn't as tired as she had made out earlier on
"Then there's Margaret……and Claire….and Jenny," Sally Anne insisted between long, lingering kisses and she pressed herself up against her lover.
"All I was trying to say is that I couldn't imagine right at this minute going to the conference. I was only trying to wind you up. Anytime is the right time for sex," Trisha said with perfect aplomb as she twisted them around in bed so that she looked down on the delicate beauty of Sally-Anne's face, her normally neatly combed black hair lying on the pillow. The rising flood of desire was running through Trisha. In a mood like this, she was ready for anything.
Both Claire and Jenny were professionals in their chosen fields and were up before the post arrived. They neatly clipped the letters into the file each of them had prepared.
*************
Sir Ianwas watching developmentsconcerning the conference with concern. As time had gone on, he considered that there wasn't much prospect of John Deed expressing himself moderately. It wasn't within his nature to exercise restraint except from the judge's throne and even then, his judgments veered wildly between producing the proverbial bunny out of the hat and the outright maverick. A leopard doesn't change his spots, he sighed to himself over his morning cup of tea. He was more preoccupied with plan C in terms of ensuring that there were enough reliable people at the conference to put forward the right views. He had discovered that Lawrence James opposite number in the Home Office had received helpful suggestions in formulating the ideas for the conference from Neil Grayling, the very ambitious, go getting Governing Governor at Larkhall Prison. He had even used his contacts from the local Mason's lodge to provide suitable people. At the last minute, he had suggested that it was in the best interests of one very experienced prison officer, one Sylvia Hollamby who had splendid 'grass roots' experience of locking up prisoners for a living with the added bonus of her undertaker husband who had once worked for the prison service together with her close friend, one James Fenner who worked at Larkhall Prison. These names had been forwarded to him and, with a sigh of relief he realized that the last minute applications would get there before the deadline. He counted on this expert knowledge to spike Deed's guns very effectively.
**********
All Elaine was initially bothered about the following day were the inevitable 'last minuters' whose applications meant that she had to drag out her file and send out more letters of acceptance. What immediately struck her in the eye was that, one Sylvia Hollamby and her husband, Bobby Hollamby, proclaiming their 'long experience in the prison service' were due to attend. Elaine had heard from both Margaret about her homophobic niece not to mention Nikki and Helen's bad experiences. She also noticed another long serving prison officer by the name of James Fenner. A man by the name of Rochester also caught her eye. She made a mental note to check this with Rita when she got in from work.
***********
To make entirely sure of the matter, Sir Ian had got on to the press department who had planted discreetly arranged stories in both the quality press and the tabloids on the very eve of the conference itself. If he wanted a reaction, he certainly got it. Coope was the first to witness it as John picked up several copies of the national newspaper.
"Just look at the papers, Coope," he shouted while Coope was busy checking the incoming e-mails on his laptop. She immediately clicked off the e-mail she was working on and shut off the computer. This promised to be a lengthy discussion as the copy of the Guardian she'd been reading on the morning train had rung warning bells.
"You mean Sir Ian trying to nobble the conference in advance," she replied in cool, collected tones." I didn't think the Guardian was alone in talking about 'law and order' problems."
"Exactly so," John replied, blinking at the rapidity with which Coope had drawn the same conclusion." If they're trying to be subtle, they're doing the usual bad job of it."
"Are you sure that this isn't the only stroke they'll pull. Judge?" Coope asked in a tone of great concern. "Everything has gone suspiciously easily, even allowing for Elaine's help. Are you sure that you're not all walking into an ambush?"
That perceptive remark brought up John short. It was the same thought that had been niggling away at him. He'd had a recent run of successes but he wasn't blinded by that to forget the years when he'd been the lone voice crying in the wilderness.
"That's the very same idea that's crossed my mind but we have to proceed like the actor's faith that 'it will be all right on the night.' You realize that I'll have the privilege in working with some of the smartest, bravest women, I mean people that I've ever known. One of us might stumble but I have to believe that we won't all fall. Well, that's my thoughts anyway. We can only prepare so far. Beyond that we can only improvise."
"There's something you need to know, judge. Elaine told me that last minute applications have been parachuted in from Mr. and Mrs Hollamby, former prison officer and serving prison officer at Larkhall Prison and James Fenner, also of Larkhall Prison trouble," Coope said clearly and distinctly.
That bombshell brought John up short and he turned red in the face but remained perfectly silent. Coope began to see that it wasn't his personal feelings that bothered him but the terrifying responsibility of the knowledge that had come his way.
"I have to phone Nikki and Helen. They need to be told now rather than this be dropped on them last minute."
He reached for his mobile and dialled away. Finally, he got hold of Helen, Nikki being unavailable and John spoke in a calm deliberate tone of voice.
"I hope I haven't caught you at a bad time but I've just heard from Coope and in turn from Elaine that last minute attendees for this conference are Mr. and Mrs Bodybag, I mean Hollamby, and one James Fenner."
It was only John's droll slip of the tongue that stopped Helen having a heart attack on the spot. What about Nikki? What about herself? She thought like lightning and pronounced instant judgment.
"We need to get together a half hour before this conference starts and get everyone up to speed and thoroughly prepared, emotionally and logistically. Can we lay hold of a side room in this conference hall without being spotted by the enemy?"
"I'll get onto this and phone you back. If this can be fixed, can you phone round everyone?" John said in deliberately controlled tones.
"Sure judge. I've got all the contacts. God bless Elaine for spotting this," Helen answered before signing off, exhaling some of her sense of relief amongst the emotional shockwaves of this bolt from the blue that were rippling outwards. She clung to the consoling thought that at least John could be relied upon to deliver on his promise.
John made a couple of rapid calls and picked a figure out of his head for the earlier meeting time. Helen promised to get onto it. As he sank back into his armchair with a feeling of relief, he caught Coope's eye.
"At least you've got some intelligent women to keep you out of trouble at this conference," Coope said compassionately, dusting down his robes of office, ready for the morning's trial.
"Are you sure?" grinned John, a twinkle in his eye. Coope shook her head and grinned openly. When she thought of their meeting at Chix, she considered that the array of female daring was certainly a match for John. Somehow, she wasn't worried though logic demanded that she should have been.
"You know, it's a pity that you and Elaine aren't coming to this conference with all the sterling help you've both given?" John added in very solicitous tones." It seems as if you'll both miss all the fun."
"It's lovely of you to think of us judge but Elaine and I are born to work from the sidelines. It's what we're both best at."
This mutual understanding flowed between John and Coope. They had always worked on this basis but it hadn't been spelled out quite like this.
**********
"We've got it," Bodybag called out excitedly to her husband, doing a little jig in the middle of the living room as she got home from work. "We'll show the public what the country needs in the prison system."
"But isn't this just the sort of liberal eyewash that you're always complaining about?" protested her husband who didn't really like the thought of making a spectacle of themselves at some public meeting.
"You need to read between the lines," Bodybag said with a crafty expression on her face." They're not saying it in so many words but this is about a return to good, old fashioned discipline only it's wrapped up in fancy words. You take my word, Bobby but this means goodbye to all the 'prisoner's friend' stuff that Betts is always on about and Stewart before her."
"So how did you hear about this Conference? You never explained this to me."
"Never you mind, Bobby. If we do well, it will be a feather in my cap," Bodybag answered slyly.
"All I can say is that I hope it's worth it. Your job will be covered but I'm going top catch up with all this on the weekend. Time is money, you know," grumbled Bobby.
But what of Margaret? What was happening in her life right now?
