Part One Hundred And Twenty Three
On the Wednesday evening, Karen was sitting alone in her flat, listening to some soft music and working her way through a stack of incident reports, adding her own comments as to provisional punishments for the inmates concerned, and as ever trying to juggle the numbers of well or otherwise behaved prisoners with the basic, standard and enhanced cell spaces on her wing. She'd discovered some time ago that moving the pieces round on a chessboard often achieved quicker results than attempting to do it by names on the computer. The white pieces represented the prisoners due to be moved either to or from enhanced, the black pieces basic, and the pawns of both colours those on standard as they had the greater number. If the pieces were on black squares, this indicated a cell for more than one prisoner, and the white squares signified single cells. She would write the names of inmates who required a move of cell for whatever reason, and balance them in front of the relevant chess pieces. It was a system that had never yet let her down. Her computer was in the corner between the kitchen and the balcony doors, and the chess board and all her papers were laid out on the small table surrounded by four chairs which wasn't far away. She was drinking white wine, and that together with the music was helping her concentration by slightly relaxing her brain. Rolling her eyes at the brevity of Sylvia's report, because Sylvia hated using a computer at any time, Karen wondered just what she was going to do about the serious shortage of officers on her wing. Grayling's response had simply been to say that if any new officers applied, G wing would be given priority, but that didn't help the immediate situation. Picking up the phone, she dialed Helen's number.
"Helen, it's Karen. I need a flash of inspiration."
"Sounds interesting."
"Not really. Now that Fenner's gone, I've got no one to even make the pretence of helping me to keep the officers on my wing in order as well as the inmates. I could do with definitely one but preferably two experienced officers. I wondered if you had any ideas." Helen thought for a moment.
"Have you ever thought about Dominic McAllister?"
"Dominic? But I thought he was in Greece."
"It might be worth finding out," Replied Helen. "He had the same ambition as both of us, to make the prison service a better place. It was a bloody awful waste when he resigned. If he is back in the country, you might be able to persuade him, especially if you could make it worth his while." Then, breaking off to listen to something Nikki was saying, Helen came back with, "Nikki says, what about Gina?"
"Gina Rossi," Karen said, digesting the idea. "I'm not sure she'd work on the same wing as Di Barker again. Besides, she was firmly sticking to working with men the last I heard."
"That figures," Said Helen, "But which would you rather have, Di Barker who goes after everything in trousers, or Gina who won't take shit from anyone."
"Good point," Replied Karen, "And if I could persuade Dominic to come back, that'd be another reason of getting Di transferred. I always suspected he left because she was ruthlessly pursuing him without any sign of being deterred."
"Let's not forget that you thought I was interested in Dominic," Said Helen with a laugh. Karen joined her.
"Put that down to my initial wing governor phase of naivete."
"We all go through it," Said Helen. "When I first took over G wing, I thought that giving inmates the opportunity to anonymously report drug users and drug dealers was a good idea."
"Jesus," Said Karen with a sardonic smile, "Not with Shell Dockley on the scene."
"No, not my most successful attempt to get the inmates on side," Replied Helen. "But give Gina and Dominic a try. You never know." Ending the call, Karen wrote both names down and wondered if she would be able to persuade two good officers to come back to her wing.
At about half past eight, the doorbell rang. Wondering who would be calling on her on a Wednesday evening, she got up to answer it. Standing on the doorstep was Cassie.
"Hello," Said Karen, looking pleased to see her. "Come in."
"Nice flat," Said Cassie, as they walked in to the lounge.
"Would you like a drink?" Said Karen, "Because I really shouldn't drink an entire bottle of white wine when I've got to work tomorrow." Saying that a glass of wine would go down a treat, Cassie watched Karen move in to the kitchen to get Cassie a glass.
"Is this the Luddite way of assigning prisoners?" Asked Cassie, looking at the name cards dotted all over Karen's chessboard.
"I'm no stranger to computers," Said Karen, handing Cassie a glass, "But this way has always achieved better results." Karen took a seat on the sofa, whilst Cassie sat in an armchair near her.
"How are you?" Cassie asked, after drinking some wine.
"I'm existing," Said Karen ruefully, "Doing nothing but work and worrying about Yvonne. How is she?"
"Miserable," Said Cassie succinctly. "But I think she'll be okay. Let's face it, she'll have to be."
"I didn't want to have to do that to her," Said Karen, "But I had to."
"I know," Said Cassie gently. "I haven't come here to try and persuade you to go back to her. If that happens, it'll only happen when you're ready for it. I probably shouldn't have, but I told her a few home truths last week. With hindsight, I don't really think that telling her to grow up was such a good idea." Karen couldn't help first rolling her eyes and then smiling. "I know," Said Cassie, "Typical me, foot in gob as always."
"I bet half of central London was privy to that little exchange of views," Said Karen dryly.
"Yes, not the quietest row I've ever had. But she'll get over it."
"I feel a complete cow for breaking it off with her, just when she's likely to need someone there," Said Karen, turning serious again. Cassie lit a cigarette.
"Breaking the law, or being involved with someone who does, isn't something most people do lightly. When I pulled my stunt with the bank I worked for, I really thought I wouldn't get caught. But Roisin knew better. She tried to make me put back the money I'd taken, but by then, the damage was done. She was horrified by what I'd done, and for a while, I think she blamed me for her being in prison and away from her kids. If you don't know whether you can deal with what Yvonne did for Lauren, then being in a relationship with her would only lead to disaster."
"When did you become so wise?" Asked Karen with a smile, remembering the mouthy young woman who'd accosted her on her return from holiday, demanding answers to all sorts of questions about when Roisin would be coming back to the wing.
"Being in prison and seeing Roisin getting hooked on heroin made me grow up," Said Cassie. "It made me alter my values, the way I saw things. It made me realise what was important."
"That's sort of what I need to do about Yvonne," Said Karen, taking a swig from her glass. "I need to make my mind up as to whether it's more important to me to stay on the right side of the law, or whether I can love her at the expense of pretty much every principle I've ever had."
"Don't make that kind of a decision in a rush," Said Cassie, "Because if it's the wrong one, you'll only end up regretting it. If the police catch on to Lauren, Yvonne's going to have to make a few decisions of her own. It's not only you who's got to decide what their priorities are, Yvonne's got to do that as well. She'd be missing out on something really special if she can't try and really put her past life behind her. She's always made this pretence of hating everything Charlie represented, but it hasn't stopped her from falling back on it when nothing else seems to make sense. She knows we'll all be there for her, and so does Lauren, but there's only so far that we can all go with them. Lauren might not have meant it like that, but they're in this together." Karen shuddered.
"I don't want Yvonne going back behind bars. It'd kill her to go through all that again."
"I know," Said Cassie, "Which means that they're both going to have to be extremely careful about what they say if the law start poking their noses in." Karen felt torn. On the one hand, she felt fear and confusion and worry for Yvonne, and on the other, she was good friends with a Judge, and had maintained a working relationship with two barristers until all this had happened. She found that she didn't know whose side she was on any more, or even if sides could be determined so clearly. She felt like the bridge between good and bad, right and wrong, and considering the final conversation she'd had with Jo, she might very well mean the difference between freedom and captivity. A while later when Cassie left, she gave Karen a hug and said,
"Please don't stay away just because of what's happened. You're welcome for dinner or a drink any time."
"I'll take you up on that," replied Karen with a smile, thinking that some occasional normality might just do her good. When she stood in her doorway downstairs and watched Cassie drive away, Karen marveled, not for the first time, about how possible it was for a person's opinion of another to change. Before she'd got to know Cassie and Roisin through Yvonne, she would have thought of them simply as two inmates who'd saved Grayling's life and got out on a pardon as a result. But they were people, with lives and children, and a home and who loved each other. Cassie had said that prison had made her grow up, and Karen wondered if Lauren would, at some point in the future, be subjected to the same inexorable process of change in personality as Cassie and Roisin had been.
On the Wednesday evening, Karen was sitting alone in her flat, listening to some soft music and working her way through a stack of incident reports, adding her own comments as to provisional punishments for the inmates concerned, and as ever trying to juggle the numbers of well or otherwise behaved prisoners with the basic, standard and enhanced cell spaces on her wing. She'd discovered some time ago that moving the pieces round on a chessboard often achieved quicker results than attempting to do it by names on the computer. The white pieces represented the prisoners due to be moved either to or from enhanced, the black pieces basic, and the pawns of both colours those on standard as they had the greater number. If the pieces were on black squares, this indicated a cell for more than one prisoner, and the white squares signified single cells. She would write the names of inmates who required a move of cell for whatever reason, and balance them in front of the relevant chess pieces. It was a system that had never yet let her down. Her computer was in the corner between the kitchen and the balcony doors, and the chess board and all her papers were laid out on the small table surrounded by four chairs which wasn't far away. She was drinking white wine, and that together with the music was helping her concentration by slightly relaxing her brain. Rolling her eyes at the brevity of Sylvia's report, because Sylvia hated using a computer at any time, Karen wondered just what she was going to do about the serious shortage of officers on her wing. Grayling's response had simply been to say that if any new officers applied, G wing would be given priority, but that didn't help the immediate situation. Picking up the phone, she dialed Helen's number.
"Helen, it's Karen. I need a flash of inspiration."
"Sounds interesting."
"Not really. Now that Fenner's gone, I've got no one to even make the pretence of helping me to keep the officers on my wing in order as well as the inmates. I could do with definitely one but preferably two experienced officers. I wondered if you had any ideas." Helen thought for a moment.
"Have you ever thought about Dominic McAllister?"
"Dominic? But I thought he was in Greece."
"It might be worth finding out," Replied Helen. "He had the same ambition as both of us, to make the prison service a better place. It was a bloody awful waste when he resigned. If he is back in the country, you might be able to persuade him, especially if you could make it worth his while." Then, breaking off to listen to something Nikki was saying, Helen came back with, "Nikki says, what about Gina?"
"Gina Rossi," Karen said, digesting the idea. "I'm not sure she'd work on the same wing as Di Barker again. Besides, she was firmly sticking to working with men the last I heard."
"That figures," Said Helen, "But which would you rather have, Di Barker who goes after everything in trousers, or Gina who won't take shit from anyone."
"Good point," Replied Karen, "And if I could persuade Dominic to come back, that'd be another reason of getting Di transferred. I always suspected he left because she was ruthlessly pursuing him without any sign of being deterred."
"Let's not forget that you thought I was interested in Dominic," Said Helen with a laugh. Karen joined her.
"Put that down to my initial wing governor phase of naivete."
"We all go through it," Said Helen. "When I first took over G wing, I thought that giving inmates the opportunity to anonymously report drug users and drug dealers was a good idea."
"Jesus," Said Karen with a sardonic smile, "Not with Shell Dockley on the scene."
"No, not my most successful attempt to get the inmates on side," Replied Helen. "But give Gina and Dominic a try. You never know." Ending the call, Karen wrote both names down and wondered if she would be able to persuade two good officers to come back to her wing.
At about half past eight, the doorbell rang. Wondering who would be calling on her on a Wednesday evening, she got up to answer it. Standing on the doorstep was Cassie.
"Hello," Said Karen, looking pleased to see her. "Come in."
"Nice flat," Said Cassie, as they walked in to the lounge.
"Would you like a drink?" Said Karen, "Because I really shouldn't drink an entire bottle of white wine when I've got to work tomorrow." Saying that a glass of wine would go down a treat, Cassie watched Karen move in to the kitchen to get Cassie a glass.
"Is this the Luddite way of assigning prisoners?" Asked Cassie, looking at the name cards dotted all over Karen's chessboard.
"I'm no stranger to computers," Said Karen, handing Cassie a glass, "But this way has always achieved better results." Karen took a seat on the sofa, whilst Cassie sat in an armchair near her.
"How are you?" Cassie asked, after drinking some wine.
"I'm existing," Said Karen ruefully, "Doing nothing but work and worrying about Yvonne. How is she?"
"Miserable," Said Cassie succinctly. "But I think she'll be okay. Let's face it, she'll have to be."
"I didn't want to have to do that to her," Said Karen, "But I had to."
"I know," Said Cassie gently. "I haven't come here to try and persuade you to go back to her. If that happens, it'll only happen when you're ready for it. I probably shouldn't have, but I told her a few home truths last week. With hindsight, I don't really think that telling her to grow up was such a good idea." Karen couldn't help first rolling her eyes and then smiling. "I know," Said Cassie, "Typical me, foot in gob as always."
"I bet half of central London was privy to that little exchange of views," Said Karen dryly.
"Yes, not the quietest row I've ever had. But she'll get over it."
"I feel a complete cow for breaking it off with her, just when she's likely to need someone there," Said Karen, turning serious again. Cassie lit a cigarette.
"Breaking the law, or being involved with someone who does, isn't something most people do lightly. When I pulled my stunt with the bank I worked for, I really thought I wouldn't get caught. But Roisin knew better. She tried to make me put back the money I'd taken, but by then, the damage was done. She was horrified by what I'd done, and for a while, I think she blamed me for her being in prison and away from her kids. If you don't know whether you can deal with what Yvonne did for Lauren, then being in a relationship with her would only lead to disaster."
"When did you become so wise?" Asked Karen with a smile, remembering the mouthy young woman who'd accosted her on her return from holiday, demanding answers to all sorts of questions about when Roisin would be coming back to the wing.
"Being in prison and seeing Roisin getting hooked on heroin made me grow up," Said Cassie. "It made me alter my values, the way I saw things. It made me realise what was important."
"That's sort of what I need to do about Yvonne," Said Karen, taking a swig from her glass. "I need to make my mind up as to whether it's more important to me to stay on the right side of the law, or whether I can love her at the expense of pretty much every principle I've ever had."
"Don't make that kind of a decision in a rush," Said Cassie, "Because if it's the wrong one, you'll only end up regretting it. If the police catch on to Lauren, Yvonne's going to have to make a few decisions of her own. It's not only you who's got to decide what their priorities are, Yvonne's got to do that as well. She'd be missing out on something really special if she can't try and really put her past life behind her. She's always made this pretence of hating everything Charlie represented, but it hasn't stopped her from falling back on it when nothing else seems to make sense. She knows we'll all be there for her, and so does Lauren, but there's only so far that we can all go with them. Lauren might not have meant it like that, but they're in this together." Karen shuddered.
"I don't want Yvonne going back behind bars. It'd kill her to go through all that again."
"I know," Said Cassie, "Which means that they're both going to have to be extremely careful about what they say if the law start poking their noses in." Karen felt torn. On the one hand, she felt fear and confusion and worry for Yvonne, and on the other, she was good friends with a Judge, and had maintained a working relationship with two barristers until all this had happened. She found that she didn't know whose side she was on any more, or even if sides could be determined so clearly. She felt like the bridge between good and bad, right and wrong, and considering the final conversation she'd had with Jo, she might very well mean the difference between freedom and captivity. A while later when Cassie left, she gave Karen a hug and said,
"Please don't stay away just because of what's happened. You're welcome for dinner or a drink any time."
"I'll take you up on that," replied Karen with a smile, thinking that some occasional normality might just do her good. When she stood in her doorway downstairs and watched Cassie drive away, Karen marveled, not for the first time, about how possible it was for a person's opinion of another to change. Before she'd got to know Cassie and Roisin through Yvonne, she would have thought of them simply as two inmates who'd saved Grayling's life and got out on a pardon as a result. But they were people, with lives and children, and a home and who loved each other. Cassie had said that prison had made her grow up, and Karen wondered if Lauren would, at some point in the future, be subjected to the same inexorable process of change in personality as Cassie and Roisin had been.