Part Seventy Five,
On Monday afternoon, Karen had taken Jo's advice. She'd gone home with Yvonne and they'd spent a few hours doing nothing more productive than lying on the sofa and listening to soft music. But on the Tuesday morning, she was back in work bright and early, and by the Wednesday morning, was raring to legally take Fenner by the short and curlies. As luck would have it, Jo phoned her soon after nine.
"How are you?" She asked.
"Angry," Was Karen's immediate response. "He's made me show anyone who cares to probe, just how weak I can be, and I don't like that." Knowing that anger can be a very positive emotion in the right hands, Jo said,
"Well, I need to put your anger to good use. There's a lot of questions that need answering. Rachel Hicks being the first."
"How do you know about her?"
"I'm learning," Replied Jo.
"Well, I can't tell you much about her because I wasn't here then."
"Apart from the man himself, is there anyone who was?" Karen turned the chair to face her computer and began scrolling through G wing's list of inmates, looking primarily at their dates of admission.
"Shell Dockley was, but she's currently cloistered in Ashmore."
"I know."
"You really are learning. I'm intrigued as to how you've come across such information." Jo could tell Karen was smiling.
"Lawyers, are not unlike journalists in that we never reveal our sources." Lighting on a possible, Karen clicked on a name.
"There is one inmate who almost certainly has as much info about Rachel Hicks as Fenner and Dockley, Daniella Blood."
"Do you think she'll talk to me?"
"She might, but you'll probably have to come here to see her. She's got absolutely no reason to get licence out of here to see a barrister, and that's if I can persuade her to talk to you. She is coming to see me this morning, and I do know that she wants to see Fenner behind bars almost as much as I do. Denny's the inmate I did the deal with: I told her that if she started behaving, thought about doing some education classes and generally made an effort to convince the parole board to let her out in the not too distant future, I'd go ahead with this case."
"That's certainly some deal," Said Jo drily. "Can she keep it to herself?"
"Oh yeah. Shell Dockley was probably the first person Denny ever really loved. The way Denny sees things at the moment, she couldn't get justice for Shaz Wiley, but her quest for justice for what Fenner did to Shell will never be over until he's behind bars."
"Rachel Hicks isn't the only thing we need to talk about."
"Denny's coming to see me at around ten thirty. If you're not too busy, you could come at about eleven. If Denny will talk to you, you can see her then, if she won't, we can start looking at some of the other gaps. How does that sound?"
"That's fine. I was supposed to be in court today, but the person I was defending pleaded guilty at the last minute so I'm a free agent."
When Karen had been closeted with Denny for twenty minutes, going through the type of education classes Denny might like to think about doing, she knew it was time to tell her about Jo's visit.
"Denny, there's something I need you to do for me. The barrister I went to see on Monday is coming in this morning. She's trying to fill in a lot of the gaps about the time Mr. Fenner has been working with women prisoners. both her and me need to know about Rachel Hicks. I wasn't here when Rachel killed herself, Helen Stewart's left and Shell's in Ashmore. You're the only one who I suspect knows enough about what happened with Rachel to help us." Denny stared at her, clearly remembering things she'd said and done which she would rather be allowed to leave buried.
"Miss, I was a real bitch in those days. I don't want you, or Yvonne, or anyone to know what I was like then."
"I do have access to your prison file," Said Karen quietly, "Which means that I already know about the bullying and the fighting and all the rest of it. Now, has that stopped me from trying to help you get early release?" Denny looked confused.
"No, but, I don't understand."
"We all do bad things in our lives, some of them things we can't put right. But that doesn't mean we should hide away from it as if it has never happened. By telling me and my barrister everything you can about Rachel and Mr. Fenner, that could be considered your way of making up for whatever it was you did. Any possible evidence we can get on him might help to put him behind bars."
"Miss, are you going to talk to Shell about Fenner, only, she knows more about him than anyone, innit."
"I'll talk to Shell if I possibly can, yes."
"This barrister, is she nice?"
"Yes, she is," Said Karen with a smile, wondering just what type of nice Denny's question referred too.
Before Karen could get anything like an answer out of Denny, her secretary put her head round the door to announce that Jo had arrived. When Jo was shown in, Karen noticed with amusement that Denny looked her up and down with enormous interest.
"Jo, this is Denny Blood. Denny, this is Jo Mills."
"Are you gonna nail Fenner?" Asked Denny succinctly, but Jo remained unfazed.
"I'll do my best." Sitting back behind her desk and gesturing to Jo to take a seat near Denny, Karen said,
"Denny was just about to tell me whether or not she would enlighten us both about Rachel Hicks." After again running her critical gaze over Jo's immaculate but understated form, Denny replied,
"Anything that puts that wanker behind bars is worth doing, innit." Giving Jo a brief look to tell her that what you see is usually what you get with Denny, Karen began the questioning.
"When did Rachel arrive?"
"About a year before you did, around the same time as Miss Stewart. She was a YO, only nineteen, and she had a little girl. Maddy her name was. Rachel had this picture of her. Not long after she arrived, Fenner got her a job in the wing office, making tea and that. Bet that's how he picks up all his birds," Then realising that Karen had also been one of Fenner's women, "At least the ones on the inside anyway." Jo, who had been focussing solely on Denny, raised a questioning look at Karen. Correctly interpreting Jo's glance, Denny said, "That wasn't how it was with Shell and Maxi, they were both too," Denny turned her head this way and that looking for the right word, "Too hard, too strong, too much top dog of the wing to ever get a job making cups of tea for Bodybag, Sylvia Hollamby all day. Good thing they weren't ever here together. But it was after Fenner got Rachel the job that he started screwing her."
"How did you become aware of this?" Asked Jo.
"It was friggin obvious. She couldn't leave him alone, like a bloody lapdog she was. Then he put her up on enhanced, so as she'd have her own cell. But the stupid dickhead put her in the one next to Shell. Let's face it, if you've got two women on the go, you don't put them next door to each other, do you." Jo privately thought John could learn a lesson from this. "Then Shell tried to use Rachel to get Nikki Wade searched by the DST. She got Rachel to write to them saying Nikki Wade had drugs in her cell. I think it was when Fenner had a go at Shell for it that she worked out he must be sleeping with Rachel." Here, Denny faltered. Going on would mean telling Karen, someone she was beginning to like and respect, things that Denny knew would alter Karen's view of her. Sensing something of this, Karen said,
"Denny, whatever you did then, you won't be punished for it." Denny laughed scornfully.
"A few days down the block ain't the problem, Miss."
"Then what is?" Denny gave Karen a hard, level stare.
"I don't want Yvonne knowing about this," Denny said quickly. The light dawned in Karen's mind. It wasn't so much her disapproval Denny was afraid of, but Yvonne's.
"She won't," Assured Karen. Giving her one last, wary glance, Denny continued.
"Shell might have been Queen of the wing in those days, but it was me who got everything done. Searching new cons for drugs, protecting Shell, warning off Rachel Hicks, you name it. I ain't proud of it, but that's how it was." She hesitated again, but seeing no sign of recrimination from either of the two women, she said, "We poured hot tea over her at first, made it look like an accident, even old Bodybag thought it was. She made the big mistake of whining to Fenner. He had a go at Shell. So, Shell got me to kick the shit out of her. Rachel thought she was meeting Fenner for a shag, but instead she got a kicking from me." By now, Denny was looking steadfastly at the floor, refusing to meet the gaze of either woman. "Jesus," She said suddenly, "I never meant for her to go and top herself." Jo briefly touched Denny's hand.
"Denny, one thing I've learnt during my career, is that if a person chooses to kill themselves, that is absolutely their choice and no one else's. No matter what you or anyone else said or did, that final decision was Rachel's and hers alone."
"Then, we found out that Rachel's mum was bringing in her daughter to see her. They're not usually so hard about searching people with kids, so Shell told Rachel to get her mum to bring in some drugs for her. Rachel tried, she phoned her mum and asked her, but she said no. Shell threatened her, said that if Rachel's mum didn't bring the drugs, she'd get someone to hurt Rachel's kid. But Rachel's mum didn't bring her kid, because she'd put her in to care. Shell kept winding Rachel up, and Rachel trashed her cell. Instead of putting her down the block, Miss Stewart put her back on basic. I think she thought that Rachel having her kid put in to care was," Again, she searched for the right phrase.
"Extenuating circumstances?" Supplied Jo.
"Yeah, yeah," Agreed Denny. "Mr. McAllister came to see her." Then, at Jo's questioning glance, she added, "He was Rachel's personal officer. He tried to talk to her but Rachel didn't want to know. Fenner came to see her. I don't know what he said to her, but if it was anything like some of the things he's said to Shell, it was probably a version of why had he ever shagged anyone like her. That's basically what he said to Shell when he came back after being suspended. After lock up, Rachel wouldn't stop crying. I told her she was getting on my tits but it didn't make no difference. Eventually, me, Crystal and Zandra went to sleep, and when we woke up in the morning, she was dead. I shouldn't never have done half the things I did to Rachel, but I ain't taking all the blame."
"I don't think anyone's asking you to," Replied Jo, attempting to get her head round the subculture of violence and fear that had clearly sent the unsuspecting Rachel in to the waiting arms of Fenner.
"Will any of that help?" Asked Denny, clearly not wanting the revealing of her past wrongs to have been in vain.
"It might," Said Jo, "But I may need to talk to you again."
"Sure, whatever," Replied Denny, giving Jo a small smile. When Denny had left to return to the wing, with a promise from Karen that she would come and se her later, Karen asked her secretary to make her and Jo some coffee.
"So, any thoughts?" Asked Karen, lighting a cigarette.
"Plenty," Admitted Jo. "I never knew so much could go on in a prison that the officers clearly had no idea about."
"Yes, it does take you by surprise at first. Some of the scams Yvonne got going while she was here, don't bear thinking about."
"How do you do it?" Asked Jo, "How do you remain so calm in the face of a story like the one we've just heard?"
"I have to," Replied Karen succinctly. "When you defend someone in court, you have to believe that they are, without doubt, innocent in order to defend them properly. Perhaps as an extension of that, I know, that the vast majority of people who come to me are definitely guilty. But if I ever dwelt on the crimes they'd committed either outside or inside prison, I wouldn't ever be able to help most of them. Take Denny for example. Clearly, her bullying of Rachel Hicks did play a part in Rachel killing herself. But if I even briefly thought about this fact every time I saw Denny, there's no way I'd be able to remain impartial enough to help her change her outlook on life." Jo was impressed with this argument.
"John was right," Said Jo, "You would make a good barrister." Karen grinned.
"Fighting my corner is something I've always been good at. But, as a single parent and a female wing governor, I suppose it comes with the territory. I had Ross when I was eighteen, and I appear to have been justifying myself ever since." Realising they had the raising of young children without a father's support in common, Jo was again reminded of her words to John on Monday of how Karen's situation could so easily have been her own.
"I need to know some more about Michelle Dockley," Added Jo. Karen walked over to her filing cabinet and dug a thick folder out of the bottom drawer. Handing it to Jo, she said,
"When Shell was transferred to Ashmore, I broke one of the rules that until then I'd always adhered to. I made a copy of Shell's prison file, just in case this day should ever arise. If you want a word of warning, I wouldn't make any of that bedtime reading." Opening the file, Jo was greeted to the affirmation that Michelle Dockley was currently serving life for murder and torture. Quickly realising that it would take her a good couple of hours to go through everything in there, Jo said,
"Tell me about when she was supposedly beaten up by Fenner." Returning to sit behind the comforting barrier of her desk, Karen began.
"It wasn't long after I'd arrived here. It was a Monday afternoon if I remember rightly. I was keeping an eye on some of the inmates during association, and Fenner suddenly appeared from Dockley's cell, which was on basic at the time, looking flustered. He said that he'd told me she was trouble. I went in to her cell and her face was covered in bruises. I asked her what had happened and she at first said nothing. When I wouldn't take nothing for an answer, she said that Mr. Fenner had done this to her. I took her to see Helen Stewart who was wing governor at the time, and Shell told Helen that Fenner had been forcing her to sleep with him. In his report, Fenner said that he'd caught her using a mobile phone. Considering that it wasn't all that long after this that his wife left him, I suspect that Shell was phoning her. During the interview with Helen Stewart, Shell also alleged that he'd been doing the same with Rachel Hicks. Helen's and my reports, plus one written by Fenner are all in there," She said, gesturing to the folder.
"So, what made her withdraw the allegation?"
"I don't know. There are so many questions that only Dockley has the answers for. I know that with her criminal record and her prison record that she wouldn't make a credible witness, but she seems to hold most of the more valuable cards where Fenner's concerned."
"Do you think she'd talk to you?"
"I'm the only one she ever really did talk too. She told me things that she'd certainly never told anyone else."
"Do you ever wish there were things you didn't know, things you hadn't heard?"
"About twice a week, I'll come across a file for a new inmate, and think, I wish I could unknow that."
"Defense work can be a bit like that. Like you said, belief in a client's story is the one absolute certainty you must have in order to do the job. But when they're found guilty, you feel the need to excise a part of your memory, to go back to before that client, that case." Jo's thoughts briefly strayed to George, and how defending Merriman and Atkins had made her reassess her whole way of thinking.
"You're thinking about George Channing," Guessed Karen correctly. Then, at Jo's amazed look, she said, "Just before the closing speeches, when she told me about Ritchie's having been pressured in to a lot of what he'd done, I remember her saying that they were as guilty as sin and that there wasn't anything she could do for either of them now. I asked her why she'd taken up the case, and her cryptic response told me that this time, political expediency had been considered to be far more important than justice. I got the feeling that she was under as much pressure to deliver, as perhaps Ritchie had been."
"That's about the size of it," Replied Jo, hiding her surprise at Karen's astuteness. "George has learnt recently that cabinet ministers aren't all they're cracked up to be."
On Monday afternoon, Karen had taken Jo's advice. She'd gone home with Yvonne and they'd spent a few hours doing nothing more productive than lying on the sofa and listening to soft music. But on the Tuesday morning, she was back in work bright and early, and by the Wednesday morning, was raring to legally take Fenner by the short and curlies. As luck would have it, Jo phoned her soon after nine.
"How are you?" She asked.
"Angry," Was Karen's immediate response. "He's made me show anyone who cares to probe, just how weak I can be, and I don't like that." Knowing that anger can be a very positive emotion in the right hands, Jo said,
"Well, I need to put your anger to good use. There's a lot of questions that need answering. Rachel Hicks being the first."
"How do you know about her?"
"I'm learning," Replied Jo.
"Well, I can't tell you much about her because I wasn't here then."
"Apart from the man himself, is there anyone who was?" Karen turned the chair to face her computer and began scrolling through G wing's list of inmates, looking primarily at their dates of admission.
"Shell Dockley was, but she's currently cloistered in Ashmore."
"I know."
"You really are learning. I'm intrigued as to how you've come across such information." Jo could tell Karen was smiling.
"Lawyers, are not unlike journalists in that we never reveal our sources." Lighting on a possible, Karen clicked on a name.
"There is one inmate who almost certainly has as much info about Rachel Hicks as Fenner and Dockley, Daniella Blood."
"Do you think she'll talk to me?"
"She might, but you'll probably have to come here to see her. She's got absolutely no reason to get licence out of here to see a barrister, and that's if I can persuade her to talk to you. She is coming to see me this morning, and I do know that she wants to see Fenner behind bars almost as much as I do. Denny's the inmate I did the deal with: I told her that if she started behaving, thought about doing some education classes and generally made an effort to convince the parole board to let her out in the not too distant future, I'd go ahead with this case."
"That's certainly some deal," Said Jo drily. "Can she keep it to herself?"
"Oh yeah. Shell Dockley was probably the first person Denny ever really loved. The way Denny sees things at the moment, she couldn't get justice for Shaz Wiley, but her quest for justice for what Fenner did to Shell will never be over until he's behind bars."
"Rachel Hicks isn't the only thing we need to talk about."
"Denny's coming to see me at around ten thirty. If you're not too busy, you could come at about eleven. If Denny will talk to you, you can see her then, if she won't, we can start looking at some of the other gaps. How does that sound?"
"That's fine. I was supposed to be in court today, but the person I was defending pleaded guilty at the last minute so I'm a free agent."
When Karen had been closeted with Denny for twenty minutes, going through the type of education classes Denny might like to think about doing, she knew it was time to tell her about Jo's visit.
"Denny, there's something I need you to do for me. The barrister I went to see on Monday is coming in this morning. She's trying to fill in a lot of the gaps about the time Mr. Fenner has been working with women prisoners. both her and me need to know about Rachel Hicks. I wasn't here when Rachel killed herself, Helen Stewart's left and Shell's in Ashmore. You're the only one who I suspect knows enough about what happened with Rachel to help us." Denny stared at her, clearly remembering things she'd said and done which she would rather be allowed to leave buried.
"Miss, I was a real bitch in those days. I don't want you, or Yvonne, or anyone to know what I was like then."
"I do have access to your prison file," Said Karen quietly, "Which means that I already know about the bullying and the fighting and all the rest of it. Now, has that stopped me from trying to help you get early release?" Denny looked confused.
"No, but, I don't understand."
"We all do bad things in our lives, some of them things we can't put right. But that doesn't mean we should hide away from it as if it has never happened. By telling me and my barrister everything you can about Rachel and Mr. Fenner, that could be considered your way of making up for whatever it was you did. Any possible evidence we can get on him might help to put him behind bars."
"Miss, are you going to talk to Shell about Fenner, only, she knows more about him than anyone, innit."
"I'll talk to Shell if I possibly can, yes."
"This barrister, is she nice?"
"Yes, she is," Said Karen with a smile, wondering just what type of nice Denny's question referred too.
Before Karen could get anything like an answer out of Denny, her secretary put her head round the door to announce that Jo had arrived. When Jo was shown in, Karen noticed with amusement that Denny looked her up and down with enormous interest.
"Jo, this is Denny Blood. Denny, this is Jo Mills."
"Are you gonna nail Fenner?" Asked Denny succinctly, but Jo remained unfazed.
"I'll do my best." Sitting back behind her desk and gesturing to Jo to take a seat near Denny, Karen said,
"Denny was just about to tell me whether or not she would enlighten us both about Rachel Hicks." After again running her critical gaze over Jo's immaculate but understated form, Denny replied,
"Anything that puts that wanker behind bars is worth doing, innit." Giving Jo a brief look to tell her that what you see is usually what you get with Denny, Karen began the questioning.
"When did Rachel arrive?"
"About a year before you did, around the same time as Miss Stewart. She was a YO, only nineteen, and she had a little girl. Maddy her name was. Rachel had this picture of her. Not long after she arrived, Fenner got her a job in the wing office, making tea and that. Bet that's how he picks up all his birds," Then realising that Karen had also been one of Fenner's women, "At least the ones on the inside anyway." Jo, who had been focussing solely on Denny, raised a questioning look at Karen. Correctly interpreting Jo's glance, Denny said, "That wasn't how it was with Shell and Maxi, they were both too," Denny turned her head this way and that looking for the right word, "Too hard, too strong, too much top dog of the wing to ever get a job making cups of tea for Bodybag, Sylvia Hollamby all day. Good thing they weren't ever here together. But it was after Fenner got Rachel the job that he started screwing her."
"How did you become aware of this?" Asked Jo.
"It was friggin obvious. She couldn't leave him alone, like a bloody lapdog she was. Then he put her up on enhanced, so as she'd have her own cell. But the stupid dickhead put her in the one next to Shell. Let's face it, if you've got two women on the go, you don't put them next door to each other, do you." Jo privately thought John could learn a lesson from this. "Then Shell tried to use Rachel to get Nikki Wade searched by the DST. She got Rachel to write to them saying Nikki Wade had drugs in her cell. I think it was when Fenner had a go at Shell for it that she worked out he must be sleeping with Rachel." Here, Denny faltered. Going on would mean telling Karen, someone she was beginning to like and respect, things that Denny knew would alter Karen's view of her. Sensing something of this, Karen said,
"Denny, whatever you did then, you won't be punished for it." Denny laughed scornfully.
"A few days down the block ain't the problem, Miss."
"Then what is?" Denny gave Karen a hard, level stare.
"I don't want Yvonne knowing about this," Denny said quickly. The light dawned in Karen's mind. It wasn't so much her disapproval Denny was afraid of, but Yvonne's.
"She won't," Assured Karen. Giving her one last, wary glance, Denny continued.
"Shell might have been Queen of the wing in those days, but it was me who got everything done. Searching new cons for drugs, protecting Shell, warning off Rachel Hicks, you name it. I ain't proud of it, but that's how it was." She hesitated again, but seeing no sign of recrimination from either of the two women, she said, "We poured hot tea over her at first, made it look like an accident, even old Bodybag thought it was. She made the big mistake of whining to Fenner. He had a go at Shell. So, Shell got me to kick the shit out of her. Rachel thought she was meeting Fenner for a shag, but instead she got a kicking from me." By now, Denny was looking steadfastly at the floor, refusing to meet the gaze of either woman. "Jesus," She said suddenly, "I never meant for her to go and top herself." Jo briefly touched Denny's hand.
"Denny, one thing I've learnt during my career, is that if a person chooses to kill themselves, that is absolutely their choice and no one else's. No matter what you or anyone else said or did, that final decision was Rachel's and hers alone."
"Then, we found out that Rachel's mum was bringing in her daughter to see her. They're not usually so hard about searching people with kids, so Shell told Rachel to get her mum to bring in some drugs for her. Rachel tried, she phoned her mum and asked her, but she said no. Shell threatened her, said that if Rachel's mum didn't bring the drugs, she'd get someone to hurt Rachel's kid. But Rachel's mum didn't bring her kid, because she'd put her in to care. Shell kept winding Rachel up, and Rachel trashed her cell. Instead of putting her down the block, Miss Stewart put her back on basic. I think she thought that Rachel having her kid put in to care was," Again, she searched for the right phrase.
"Extenuating circumstances?" Supplied Jo.
"Yeah, yeah," Agreed Denny. "Mr. McAllister came to see her." Then, at Jo's questioning glance, she added, "He was Rachel's personal officer. He tried to talk to her but Rachel didn't want to know. Fenner came to see her. I don't know what he said to her, but if it was anything like some of the things he's said to Shell, it was probably a version of why had he ever shagged anyone like her. That's basically what he said to Shell when he came back after being suspended. After lock up, Rachel wouldn't stop crying. I told her she was getting on my tits but it didn't make no difference. Eventually, me, Crystal and Zandra went to sleep, and when we woke up in the morning, she was dead. I shouldn't never have done half the things I did to Rachel, but I ain't taking all the blame."
"I don't think anyone's asking you to," Replied Jo, attempting to get her head round the subculture of violence and fear that had clearly sent the unsuspecting Rachel in to the waiting arms of Fenner.
"Will any of that help?" Asked Denny, clearly not wanting the revealing of her past wrongs to have been in vain.
"It might," Said Jo, "But I may need to talk to you again."
"Sure, whatever," Replied Denny, giving Jo a small smile. When Denny had left to return to the wing, with a promise from Karen that she would come and se her later, Karen asked her secretary to make her and Jo some coffee.
"So, any thoughts?" Asked Karen, lighting a cigarette.
"Plenty," Admitted Jo. "I never knew so much could go on in a prison that the officers clearly had no idea about."
"Yes, it does take you by surprise at first. Some of the scams Yvonne got going while she was here, don't bear thinking about."
"How do you do it?" Asked Jo, "How do you remain so calm in the face of a story like the one we've just heard?"
"I have to," Replied Karen succinctly. "When you defend someone in court, you have to believe that they are, without doubt, innocent in order to defend them properly. Perhaps as an extension of that, I know, that the vast majority of people who come to me are definitely guilty. But if I ever dwelt on the crimes they'd committed either outside or inside prison, I wouldn't ever be able to help most of them. Take Denny for example. Clearly, her bullying of Rachel Hicks did play a part in Rachel killing herself. But if I even briefly thought about this fact every time I saw Denny, there's no way I'd be able to remain impartial enough to help her change her outlook on life." Jo was impressed with this argument.
"John was right," Said Jo, "You would make a good barrister." Karen grinned.
"Fighting my corner is something I've always been good at. But, as a single parent and a female wing governor, I suppose it comes with the territory. I had Ross when I was eighteen, and I appear to have been justifying myself ever since." Realising they had the raising of young children without a father's support in common, Jo was again reminded of her words to John on Monday of how Karen's situation could so easily have been her own.
"I need to know some more about Michelle Dockley," Added Jo. Karen walked over to her filing cabinet and dug a thick folder out of the bottom drawer. Handing it to Jo, she said,
"When Shell was transferred to Ashmore, I broke one of the rules that until then I'd always adhered to. I made a copy of Shell's prison file, just in case this day should ever arise. If you want a word of warning, I wouldn't make any of that bedtime reading." Opening the file, Jo was greeted to the affirmation that Michelle Dockley was currently serving life for murder and torture. Quickly realising that it would take her a good couple of hours to go through everything in there, Jo said,
"Tell me about when she was supposedly beaten up by Fenner." Returning to sit behind the comforting barrier of her desk, Karen began.
"It wasn't long after I'd arrived here. It was a Monday afternoon if I remember rightly. I was keeping an eye on some of the inmates during association, and Fenner suddenly appeared from Dockley's cell, which was on basic at the time, looking flustered. He said that he'd told me she was trouble. I went in to her cell and her face was covered in bruises. I asked her what had happened and she at first said nothing. When I wouldn't take nothing for an answer, she said that Mr. Fenner had done this to her. I took her to see Helen Stewart who was wing governor at the time, and Shell told Helen that Fenner had been forcing her to sleep with him. In his report, Fenner said that he'd caught her using a mobile phone. Considering that it wasn't all that long after this that his wife left him, I suspect that Shell was phoning her. During the interview with Helen Stewart, Shell also alleged that he'd been doing the same with Rachel Hicks. Helen's and my reports, plus one written by Fenner are all in there," She said, gesturing to the folder.
"So, what made her withdraw the allegation?"
"I don't know. There are so many questions that only Dockley has the answers for. I know that with her criminal record and her prison record that she wouldn't make a credible witness, but she seems to hold most of the more valuable cards where Fenner's concerned."
"Do you think she'd talk to you?"
"I'm the only one she ever really did talk too. She told me things that she'd certainly never told anyone else."
"Do you ever wish there were things you didn't know, things you hadn't heard?"
"About twice a week, I'll come across a file for a new inmate, and think, I wish I could unknow that."
"Defense work can be a bit like that. Like you said, belief in a client's story is the one absolute certainty you must have in order to do the job. But when they're found guilty, you feel the need to excise a part of your memory, to go back to before that client, that case." Jo's thoughts briefly strayed to George, and how defending Merriman and Atkins had made her reassess her whole way of thinking.
"You're thinking about George Channing," Guessed Karen correctly. Then, at Jo's amazed look, she said, "Just before the closing speeches, when she told me about Ritchie's having been pressured in to a lot of what he'd done, I remember her saying that they were as guilty as sin and that there wasn't anything she could do for either of them now. I asked her why she'd taken up the case, and her cryptic response told me that this time, political expediency had been considered to be far more important than justice. I got the feeling that she was under as much pressure to deliver, as perhaps Ritchie had been."
"That's about the size of it," Replied Jo, hiding her surprise at Karen's astuteness. "George has learnt recently that cabinet ministers aren't all they're cracked up to be."