Nikki's quick mind thought carefully about her gameplan. The first day or so would decide one way or another if she could mark her authority on her diverse group of officers while another part of herself stood back amazed at how far she had gone already. She was up high on the possibilities that opened up to her but aware also as a tightrope walker was of what one tiny slip could mean. She would make her bid for willing acceptance of who she was without interference from her past. In games of cards she had played when she was little, she had been a readier student than her older brother that she should lead from her strongest card. So it would be and, on her brand new scrap pad, she listed her officers and, with the help of her secretary, the arrangements were made. This was a little touch of luxury that would take time to get used to as everything up till now had been done by herself unless Trisha did it, for good or bad.
Gina smiled broadly when she picked up the phone in the PO's room.
"Guess I'm first in line."
"Yeah, Gina, we know that you'll still be the blue eyed girl around here, in or out of uniform," Muttered Di.
"Never mind, Wade's put her nose out of joint," Bodybag cut in viciously." I bet Gina thought she was there for life."
"The name's Nikki, Sylv. Better get used to it."
Nikki nervously fumbled through a sheaf of reports which she had tried to reassure herself with but they only had the reverse effect. This altogether more formal way of dealing with staff was a different kettle of fish instead of just a casual natter to barmaids in a slack moment. All she could do was to build upon what she had done in her life, what she had learned and to adapt it to who she was.
She flashed a bright smile at Gina and gestured her to the chair. In that split second, she flashbacked to the many times when she had slouched in a bored contemptuous fashion in the hotseat. She knew how it felt.
"I meant what I said earlier on . I'm really grateful that you've been holding the fort, Gina. Even on a quick glance, everything feels fine."
"Hell, I've been happy to kick Sylvia's arse from time to time but all the paperwork scares me. It makes me nervous," Gina confessed frankly.
"I would never have thought you'd be nervous of anything."
"You must really love the idea of budgets, reports and everything else and all the responsibility that goes with it. I'm happier doing my old job on the wing though the extra money has come in handy."
"And how do you see your present job?"
Gina sat back in her chair turning the question over in her mind. This woman certainly doesn't waffle.
"I like to think that I'm a good listener and I can keep my eyes open to what's around and I can help prisoners. Mind you, I call a spade a bloody shovel but not to be rude, like. I reckon anyone half way decent respects that more than a load of bullshit that sounds good."
Gina stopped short after her words had rushed out in a stream and hears them in mental replay. Where were the usually carefully acquired buzzwords that Sylv was so fond of bending her ear about as rule number one in meeting the new boss? She was always clumsy at that sort of thing and couldn't convince herself let alone anyone else. Last time she tried that, Karen nailed her bang to rights on the real reason she first came to G wing.
"That's the way I feel, Gina. That sounds like we'll get on fine unless we have an honest disagreement. To continue, are there situations that you have trouble in tolerating in dealing with prisoners. There's good and bad as in any walk of life."
"When I suspect that I've been taken for a ride, Nikki. I think carefully before I stick my oar in. There's only so many chances anyone gets. If anyone's honest and straight, I've learnt not to mouth off like I used to and I'll give them the time of day."
Immediately Gina felt comfortable and relaxed as Nikki's sharp, friendly intelligence drew out ideas in herself that she'd not really thought of before. She'd always acted by instinct even though it had sometimes got her into trouble in the past. It was interesting that her boss had derailed past experience of that other woman who looked like her who had been here in the past. There was only one niggling question in the back of her mind that demanded to be asked.
"Tell me one thing, Nikki. There's a question I was going to ask you."
"That's what I'm here for."
"Well, it's a bit awkward but it's like this," She began, half anxious, half relieved to get this off her mind. "What if you find yourself with a group of prisoners who start a demonstration because they thought that one of theirs was done down, a matter of injustice and you arrive in the middle of it. How would you feel about it, and what would you do and get us to do?"
Instinct told Nikki that her credibility was on the line. This was nothing like the theoretical questions that she'd handled at her interview.
"You mean something like that demonstration that I started that the Peckham Boot Gang kicked off into a full scale riot?" Nikki asked directly.
Gina nodded.
"I've talked that one over with Helen many times and I think she was totally screwed by Sylvia Hollamby." Nikki nearly said Bodybag but corrected herself just in time.
"It could have been pretty easily sorted out at an early stage without everyone being fired up on both sides with me leading one side and Helen on the other. It should never have happened and I would expect any prison officer to handle any situation with a bit of nous rather than going in feet first. If I were in Helen's shoes as the situation ended up, I would seek out anyone who could explain to me any legitimate demands, anything I didn't know about and try and get some sort of agreement so that nobody feels that they've been humiliated and loses face. Where you get a bunch of thugs like the Peckham Boot Gang that just want to kick off with no reason, there's only so much rope that I would give them before ordering in the heavy mob. You do what you have to do but no settling private scores. Force is last resort but I wouldn't hesitate to use it if it seemed right. I believe in being just but not being a soft touch and everyone should know where they stand with me but not afraid to explain to me if they thing I'm wrong and just why."
Gina's face broke into a broad smile. She had got herself a new boss for real. In return. Nikki was hugely relieved that she had passed the test. The conversation drifted away from what Nikki had to talk about and ambled its way on a more relaxed, friendly level. It was with regret that Nikki was compelled to draw the conversation to a close.
Nikki broke into a wide smile as Dominic was next to come in and took a seat.
"If I had any lingering doubts at the back of my mind about you being the next wing gov, Nikki, they're gone for good after this morning."
Nikki's smile widened as this very kindly man treated her with real respect. He had that knack of getting to the heart of the matter, a quality that she warmed to.
"How do you see yourself in the way you do your job, Dominic?" She had to ask though she suspected what the answer might be.
"The way I've always done it from the word go. Mind you, I've learnt a few things along the way and I'll never stop learning," came the simple but far reaching reply. "I made up my mind where I stood and ignored what Sylvia and Jim Fenner banged on about, and since I came back, added Di Barker to the list. If there's any good in a prisoner, I think I can bring it out of them."
Nikki nodded. She remembered. There was no need to quiz him much further and they drifted off in friendly reminiscences of what they had both done since they had temporarily gone their separate ways from Larkhall. Dominic grasped that the self reliant, independent woman before him had a past that made her grow that way.
Her interviews with Paula, Selena and Colin had a similar thread running through them where she elaborated on her background and what transferable skills she had and casually mentioned that she had noticed them before from the visitor's gallery in the Old Bailey even if they had not noticed her. She talked to them of what authority and freedom meant to her and gradually drew out from them their views on what being a prison officer meant to them. By being open with them, they opened out more than they would have done.
Now for the difficult bit, Nikki sighed as Colin was the last to leave and she lit up a cigarette. It felt strange sitting back comfortably in her chair of office and to wait for prison officers to come to her. Her past experience had been of being part of a procession being taken somewhere to be lead to this very room.
"Morning Sylvia," Nikki greeted the scowling woman who mumbled something back at her and fell silent in that aggressive way of hers.
"I'm getting a few fundamentals straight first. I used to call you Bodybag and you used to call me Wade. That's going to stop on both sides. Times have changed and both of us have to act like professionals to each other. To me, you're Sylvia and to you, I'm Nikki."
"I prefer to call you ma'am, if you don't mind," Bodybag said in choked tones.
"Mmm, that's making me sound like a character out of a Victorian novel. As you please, Sylvia."
Nikki's pleasant reply and chirpy flow of words only angered the other woman. She sensed for the first time the power emanating from the other side of the desk. This discomforted her because of the novelty of the situation. She had always hated change even when she was a teenager.
"Now Sylvia, how would you describe the way you do your job?" "I see myself as something of a mother to the ladies in my charge." An ingratiating smile spread over her face as she tried to flannel her way through the situation. Even if her lips hurt, anything was worth it at this stage to keep this infernal woman off her back. "My job is more of a vocation than anyone else….ma'am." "Wrong, Sylvia, You see them as cons to be locked up in their cells for as long as possible and to be punished severely. At best you are the parade ground sergeant major and they are a bunch of raw recruits to be harangued at every turn. You work for the monthly pay check and the pension at the end of it."
Bodybag blushed. She knew that that was the simple truth.
"Now my problem is, how do I change your forty to fifty years of listening to the wrong lessons in life. How do I convince you that I'm not out to humiliate you at every turn, you and all the other prison officers in my charge? Are you going to believe that I'm not going to set you up as the floorshow for the entertainment of the prisoners? Believe me, these are the last things I have on my mind for you or anyone else."
"I know you, ma'am, and you'll never change."
"Wrong again, Sylvia. It's you that won't change and you only make a rod for your own back. You really must have the strength to change your mind. I wish I could help you make that break. This is something I could do, for your benefit and mine."
Nikki's softly spoken words were pitched with the urgency of a straight emotional appeal. Despite her bitter memories of the woman, she meant it. In turn, a prickling, uncomfortable feeling welled up in the other woman. It made her uniform feel too tight on her and her firmly buttoned up shirt was too tight at the neck. She could not speak.
"I'm asking for either of two answers from you, Sylvia," Nikki spoke at length as she tried again to get through that suit of armour of ancient prejudices that corseted her in.
"One is that you are willing to accept changing your ideas but I may be kidding myself that I'll get it. The other is that you will simply do as you are told and no more. What I won't have is your appetite for private vengeance."
"What do you mean?" stammered Bodybag.
"I mean this. You go in for settling scores. For instance, I remembered what happened that night Shell Dockley stabbed Jim Fenner. She was instantly put down the block and Helen Stewart questioned her at length and, when she got answers which were obviously a pack of lies, told her that she would stay there till she came up with the truth. Personalities aside, that was perfectly right. I know that you had to go one better and you and Dr. Nicholson connived together to ship her out to the muppet wing. That was clean against what Helen had ordered. She was in charge of the lifer's unit and it was her call. If she hadn't been in charge, then Karen would and I know that she felt the same. You pull another stroke like that and I won't just demote you like Karen did but I'll run you out of the prison service. Got that clear?"
"Who told you all that load of tommyrot?" Bodybag spluttered.
"Helen and Karen both did," Nikki said shortly. "Now you'd better get back to the wing and think very carefully over what I've told you."
That was a mistake, Nikki reflected as she reached for a cigarette. You can't let someone like her get to you even if you put the fear of God into her.You've got the toughest nut to crack yet. She relaxed back in her comfortably padded swivel chair as she felt more in command of her room. For once, this was her space, somewhere she did not have to share with someone like Trisha. Just then, the phone rang.
"Nikki Wade," She intoned automatically.
"I can see you've taken to it like a duck to water," laughed a dearly loved Scottish brogue into her ear. "Only a quick call but I couldn't resist asking you how you've gone on."
"Well, I've talked to both the prison officers and then the prisoners, had a quick verbal fencing match with the worst of them."
"And you won."
"Naturally. I've talked one to one with all the prison officers, bawled out Body…., I mean Sylvia, telling her that one dirty trick and she's out. All I've got is Di Barker to go. My throat is so dry from too much talking."
"Hardly too much, sweetheart. You do realise that you have no more late nights at the club and, right now, I'm having very delicious thoughts of what I want to do with you when you get home."
The totally seductive way in which Helen talked down the phone to her roused feelings of desire that were a forcible reminder of how much had changed. Conversations with Helen last time around were hardly like this.
"I'll be ready for you, darling, once I'm home."
She had to admit that it was a good act. Di Barker simulated just that slight nervous smile and attentiveness to every word from Nikki. She thought she'd give her quite a long length of rope with which to hang herself with.
"Take a seat, Di.You'll forgive the build up of tobacco smoke in the room."
Di just smiled blandly in reply to Nikki's polite gesture.
"Any reason why you've seen me last, Nikki? I was kind of curious."
"No reason. Everyone will be treated equally in my eyes but someone had to be seen last."
"I was surprised you ever wanted to come back to this place."
"I thought I had explained myself perfectly well earlier on. It's your attitude to being a prison officer that I wanted to discuss."
I wasn't wrong, Nikki thought to herself. This is a battle of wills that has kicked in straightaway in ever so polite tones.
"You know me, Nikki," She smiled in return. "There's good and bad in everyone, that's my motto. I like to think that I've been around long enough to know my way round here."
"Indeed, but you've hardly answered my question. People change. I've been away from here for a few years and I don't take anything for granted. That's my way."
"Well," Di kept smiling, her big brown eyes as limpid as a pool. "I believe in really talking to prisoners, trying to understand their problems and maybe doing something to help them."
Nikki's bright smile felt as if it were frozen on her face and was turning into a grimace. On the surface, she was saying the right words.
"And what's your attitude to authority, Di, in particularly mine which is over you?"
"As I said, I'm surprised to see you back. Last time I saw you was outside the Old Bailey, damning us all to hell before rushing off with your partner, I mean why ever do you need bolts and bars in your life? You've had enough of that in your time, I'm sure, I thought to myself when I first saw you today. It'll take time to get my head round you being back here as I'm set in my ways but I'm sure I'll give you the support that I think you'll deserve."
Nikki gritted her teeth to hear these homely Yorkshire tones and knowing that she was anything but the way she appeared. Only that last disguised snipe at her revealed what she was like. She wasn't being paranoid. That was impossible with Di.
"I'll give you back just as much as you gave Karen that time you slipped those holiday photos to the prosecution barrister at Lauren Atkin's trial." Nikki's smooth tones gently slid in the knife. "Don't forget, I was in the public gallery. I saw and heard everything and I've got a good memory."
"You can't prove it, Nikki," Di suddenly glared back at her as her tone of voice hardened. "What I have said is the solid truth."
"As far as it goes, Di.I'll be frank with you. You're experienced and you certainly have some of the qualities that I would look for in a prison officer. I've studied your reports carefully and it matches my recollections."
"Why thank you, Nikki," Di gushed with false praise, changing back to her earlier manner in a flash.
Nikki temporarily gave up and talked of lighter matters for a while. This woman is as slippery as a snake and quick witted. She had little choice but explain at length what she expected of her.
"Okay, we'd better move on. If you have a problem with anything I do or say, I expect you to tell it to my face. I'm relaxed about it if that is what you do. What I won't stand for is if you go behind my back or set up others to do your dirty work. It's been done before."
"You won't have anything to worry about me, Nikki."
A slow calculating smile spread all over her face as she sensed that Nikki might let her guard down. She paused just long enough before she struck.
"You and Helen? We were right about the pair of you and the real reason why Helen Stewart resigned just when she had got to the top, just like Karen Betts."
"You work that out for yourself, Di. Karen and I were right when we sat in the gallery and heard all about how you'd deliberately switched the drugs test. Crystal came close to starving herself to death to prove she was innocent of taking drugs. Caring for prisoners, I think not. You know that people in glasshouses really shouldn't throw stones. I think we understand each other. The door will open for you, Di. Better get out while the going's good."
Nikki had never before felt so cool, so poised and sure of herself and the situation she was in as she turned the screw on Di. The other woman glared daggers at her, turned as red as a beetroot, got up and stalked out.
Nikki sat back in the sudden calm after the door slammed behind Di. She looked at her watch. Was it that time already?