Karen had mixed emotions of staying with Nikki and Helen. A fragment of her felt exiled from her rightful habitat and this cut two ways. She liked her own surroundings and her flat was part of her person, and this had been taken away from her by the invasion of her sanctum. Another piece of her liked being elsewhere, on a mini holiday, of being taken out of herself and that was no bad thing. Yet another side of her wanted to just go with the flow and not fight against her destiny. However, her front door was due to be mended today and she would soon be back home, whatever it was that home felt like. The soothing therapy of staying here was transient and all things like this had to pass. She was doubtful that she had been much company for the other two women but both grateful and guilty at the same time to receive theirs. One-sided agreements went against the grain, to take but not give back in equal measure. Deep down, she felt that she had had little choice in the matter.
Helen had already shot out the door in her very conspicuously bright and breezy manner, leaving a whirling draught behind the firmly shut front door. The revving engine announced that she was ready to head off to her practice.
"Is Helen always like this in the morning?" Karen winced at this display of energy. Even
In her slightly more tranquil frame of mind, she found such enthusiasm wearing, first thing in the morning.
Nikki was sipping the last of her early morning cup of coffee. She nodded agreement while she swallowed down the hot liquid and was then able to speak.
"Need you ask? Still, it helps get me moving. It used to be worse when I was having a lie in from working late at night at the club"
"I was wondering," Karen mused aloud. "Did you have words with DI Sullivan just before he saw me? It was as if he had decided to turn over a new leaf and become a reformed character"
"We did have a frank exchange of views," Began Nikki, her lips slightly upturned at the edges in suppressed amusement. "No, I tell a lie. He tried to get smart with me being an old friend of Gossard and I read him the riot act. I did remonstrate with him that he needed to watch his language before talking to you"
Nikki's misleading expression of cherubic innocence did not fool Karen one bit. She was deeply touched by her incredible loyalty.
"There's more here than meets the eye, Nikki," Karen responded with a faint echo of her normal humour and her twinkle in her eye before she continued. "I suppose we'd better get going."
She was content to follow Nikki's car in her unusual angle of journey from their flat to Larkhall. It made life easier that way. As she concentrated on keeping up with Nikki and following her indicators and brake lights, her mind started to formulate what she had to do. She knew how devious Di was and, when cornered, that she was at her most dangerous. Above all else, she knew how she could blur and fudge issues and turn on the dramatics. She knew all this because she had seen her in action in the witness stand at Lauren's trial. She had crossed swords with her so many times over the years and rage swelled inside her as she remembered that most despicable stroke, her underhand dealings in having her holiday photos exhibited in court. It only struck her how long she had endured her as a nagging nuisance verging on a threat when she grasped in her mind the opportunity to kick her out once and for all. This time, Di had gone too far and however drained she had felt, she was summoning up the energy from within herself. It was surprising what long suppressed anger could be harnessed to accomplish.
"I thought I knew just how screwed up Di Barker can get. I married her, for God's sake but this beats anything she's ever done before."
"Do I have your approval to interview her and depending on what she says, sack her or at the very least suspend her pending an investigation."
Grayling drew a deep breath.
"I will do more than that, Karen. If you don't mind, I'll come and sit in on the interview"
"That would be very kind of you, Neil, but….." Karen started to say in a hesitant tone.
"….but you think that my past association with Di would be dragged up into some tasteless domestic row that would disrupt the whole proceedings"
Karen paused. That was indeed what was at the back of her mind only she didn't want to spurn Neil's well-meant offer and to hurt his feelings.
"She might try that one but then again, we both know that she would drag in any irrelevance under the sun. We just have to fence her in, that's all"
Karen exhaled air in sheer relief. A huge weight was taken off her shoulders, that of sole responsibility for what she feared would be a bruising interview just when she was doubting her capacity for endurance. It would be just like the old days.
'In this case, I would love it if you came over, Neil. I could do with your help"
Neil pricked up his ears. There was an undertone in her voice that he could not put his finger on. He let it pass as more pressing business awaited him.
"Be over in half an hour, Karen."
True to his word, Neil presented himself at the gatehouse to be enthusiastically greeted by Ken who told him they didn't see enough of him. Grayling chatted briefly and with a confident stride, presented himself at Karen's door.
"This underhanded scheme has Di Barker's fingerprints all over it, literally," Grayling observed as he had been thoroughly familiarized with the whole story. It helped him gain a clearer understanding and he could see that recounting her story would clear Karen's mind. He noticed with some concern, how drained and washed out looking Karen looked but put it down to the shock of the recent event and the after effects of Ross's death. He was not into families himself but made what he supposed were the necessary mental adjustments to allow for the shock.
"All right, let's wheel her in."
Karen lit up a cigarette while they waited for the knock on the door and Grayling refrained from comment. His strong views on smoking were well known to her and she wouldn't act with apparent disrespect unless there was some strong driving force. He ruled out nicotine addiction - that was too obvious an explanation.
"Come in." Karen called out.
Instantly, Di appeared through the door and her placid blank expression transformed itself into a glare of anger. She loathed and hated her ex husband and it spelt big trouble that a Home Office official was present at the interview. In one lightning flash moment, she put two and two together and knew that she would be fighting for her life.
"I have called you in for a fact finding meeting on a strictly informal basis. Your name has cropped up in connection with the fact that Shell Dockley broke into my house last Monday"
"What's your secretary taking notes for? I'm not on trial here," Di snapped as her head swiveled round and saw Karen's secretary starting to scribble away frantically.
"I was about to explain that my secretary takes no part in the proceedings. She is merely here to provide an accurate written transcript of the conversation which will be made available to both of us and you will have the right to check its accuracy. I am acting strictly within the provisions in the handbook of your conditions of service, which was designed for this purpose. Having been in the Prison Service a long time, you probably know this already. Now can we continue"
Di glared at Karen's firm reply which showed not the slightest trace of weakness and, yes, she had to admit that Karen was within her rights.
"…….now as it happens, I came to no harm but that was only because the situation was handled delicately and professionally. Police involvement in the case is no more than a breaking and entering charge. Nevertheless, what is disturbing is how Shell came to know my home address and was able to locate me"
"Amazing what people can find out these days, someone as cunning as Shell. She and Denny Blood broke into Sylvia's house and tortured Sylvia and nearly burnt her Bobby alive. No one pointed the finger to anyone then as I remember. You were wing governor, then as well"
It's amazing how slippery that woman is, Grayling reflected, as she slid her way into the conversation when Karen paused briefly.
"Ah, but this is different, Di. Sylvia was easily traceable through the yellow pages, through her husband's business as an undertaker. I am a lot harder to trace by any random search"
"What about all the press publicity at the time your son died so tragically. That gives anyone an obvious lead. Shell could have got it from them"
"Don't be ridiculous. As if an escaped inmate would contact the press who would be bound to pass on any details of her to the police," Grayling broke in sharply. "That aside, what you say is simply not possible. Part of my job at area involves contact with the press. I know that they are eager to receive news stories, not to give it out except on the printed page and certainly not their sources of information."
"We have something more tangible to point the finger of suspicion to an inside job, not some talkative overeager newspaper hack," Karen followed up, a tight smile on her face.
"Inside job? I don't know what you're talking about"
"Perhaps I'll refresh your memory," Came the cold response as adrenaline started to seep into Karen's tired system and she reached for the article. "Take a look at this news cutting and tell me who wrote my address on the back."
Karen slid the news cutting across the desk and Di picked it up. She made an elaborate show of reading the article from top to bottom and an intensely scrutinising the handwriting.
"Sorry, Miss, nothing to do with me"
"Don't try to lie to me, Di Barker," Karen stormed, her hand trembling with anger at the brazen nerve of this twisted woman. "I know your writing from all the reports you've completed.
"I agree that the writing looks very much like mine but it doesn't mean it is mine. I mean, there's nothing special about my writing is it. There's plenty of women who write like me"
Karen restrained an all but irresistible urge to slap her across the face. The nearly convincing air of injured innocence infuriated her as she knew that this twisted woman was as guilty as sin but the cold look in her blue eyes betrayed her cunning calculation that, if she faced this out with enough determination, she would walk.
"Ah, but this can be narrowed down a bit. I have talked to Nikki Wade and she distinctly remembers you drawing the letter from Denny Blood to her attention and she left it in your hands to send on to Shell Dockley. What have you to say about that"
"Ah but you said there was only a newspaper cutting. Was the letter from Denny sent on another occasion? Perhaps Nikki got things a bit mixed up"
"Don't prevaricate, Di," Grayling said sternly, his face hard and stony with anger. "There was one letter and one only, the letter Denny Blood sent complete with newspaper cutting and her letter, the one that you showed Nikki"
"I get plenty of letters passing through me." She shrugged her shoulders. "Why should I remember this one especially"
Grayling laid his hand on Karen's. He was as certain as anything that Di had acted in this malicious underhand fashion but they would need the envelope that was in the hands of the police. Above all else, they should not forewarn her of this.
"So you deny having anything to do with deliberately supplying Karen Betts' home address to a one time inmate of this prison enabling the serious and potentially dangerous far reaching consequences of her breaking into her flat? How would you think if, say Natalie Buxton broke into your house"
Instantly, she switched her mask to one of concerned sympathy.
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry, Karen. I wasn't thinking straight. I remember that you and Shell used to get on so well. I never thought more than that. I guess I've been very silly in being so thoughtless. But I do deny doing what you're saying. I wouldn't be professional if I made little notes on prisoner's letters"
"I think we have gained all the facts about the matter that we can get at this stage. You will understand that your side of the story will need to be checked out. You are free to go about your normal duties but you should be prepared to be available at any time to be recalled," Grayling concluded coldly. "Interview terminated."
As soon as Di was out the door, Grayling sprang into action after being frozen in his seat, body and features immobile while the battle was being thrashed out.
"We have to get onto DI Sullivan and get a copy of the envelope faxed over as soon as. Do you think he'll cooperate"
"Oh, I'm certain he'll be more amenable right now than he has been in the past." Karen responded with a hint of a smile on her face.
"Then let's get onto this one."
"Whatever's the matter, Di? You look as white as a sheet. Has Madam got it in for you again? I don't know why we keep going, the long hours we work. We might as well stick a sleeping bag in the corner of the PO's room and have done with it"
"It's all right, Sylv. Nothing I can't cope with. It's a problem over some file but I'll sort it"
"Well, you're a long standing member of the POA and if you want representation, you've only to say so. What's the point of paying your subs if you can't get anything out of it from time to time"
Di smiled faintly. She was uneasy as she suspected that she wasn't out of the wood yet.
The pair of them turned and walked rapidly the other way when Nikki briefly appeared far away in the distance.
The phone lines were buzzing with activity and to Karen's huge satisfaction, the machinery of the local police force snapped into action and the clicking and beeping sounds of Karen's fax machine gave up, bit by bit, a copy of the clearly opened envelope. Fortunately, the reproduction was sharp and clear with good contrast and came very close to being a perfect reproduction of the original. The return fax click clicked its way towards the police station with a copy, back and front, of the newspaper article and a sample of Di Barker's writing and a quick cross check at the police station produced a written opinion of a positive match of all three writing samples. It was amazing how quickly the police were ready to act. The plan had paid off and they were ready to spring the trap snap shut.
"So soon already?" Di asked nervously.
"For the purpose of this interview, this is an extension of the previous fact finding interview which I terminated at 10.34 am and this interview is being minuted," Began Grayling with a confident ring in his voice, which unsettled her immediately.
"You were asked earlier on if you were involved in any way with that newspaper cutting which told Shell Dockley of Karen's address"
"So"
"We have located the envelope in which the cutting was sent to her of which I have a copy. We have had this envelope, a sample of your writing and the writing on the newspaper cutting professionally analysed and they match. It proves beyond doubt that it is your writing on the cutting and on the envelope addressed to Shell, which is standard prison issue. You are the culprit in this utterly shameful episode"
Grayling seemed to tower in his chair and his presence filled the room. Di's face abruptly dissolved into uncontrollable rage and her blue eyes glared at Grayling. For once. Karen was ignored by Di as the mask was ripped off her face and all the pent up hatreds boiled to the surface and blew the top off her surface manner.
"You bastard!" She almost screamed at him with a venom that shook Grayling even as he had prepared for just that moment.
"You've just been waiting for this chance to get rid of me. This is a personal vendetta, nothing to do with some scrappy pieces of paper. I gave you the chance of companionship in our marriage and offered to care for you, to look after you and all you did was to throw in my face your casual pick ups to take to bed with you. God knows how I suffered during our marriage. You behaved absolutely despicably towards me and now you're using some pretext to get back at me. This is a stitch up"
"That is enough," Roared Grayling as he stood up and pressed his hands on the table.
"You have behaved exactly as I predicted you would. When you're confronted with your misdeeds, what do you do? Every time, you launch into a load of dramatics, poor hard done by Di Barker, everybody's victim. You very conveniently ignore the cold blooded way you conspired to take advantage of Nikki's good will, being ever so conscientious in bringing a matter of concern to her attention and, when entrusted with dealing with the matter in hand, you betray that trust and sneak off to exact your private act of vengeance against Karen. Shell Dockley has a reputation for sudden unpredictable acts of violence. Do you remember the way she stabbed Jim Fenner? Something like that could so easily have happened to Karen or any other prison officer"
Di's face turned white at the mention of Fenner's name and Karen winced at the mention. The comparison was rightly made but Grayling was skating on very thin ice, as this seemed likely to set Di off into a further attack of hysterical anger.
"Jim Fenner. Oh yes, I remember Jim Fenner. Nobody else remembers him only you…" and here she turned her blazing eyes on Karen and jabbed in her direction with her forefinger,"…..helped that murdering woman get off virtually Scot free, only a year in prison when she should have been locked up for life"
"……..so in order to 'stand up' for Jim Fenner, you sneaked in those photos of Karen to the prosecution without anyone knowing and tried to smear her reputation, to discredit and humiliate her because you get off on stabbing people in the back. Is that how it happened? It's becoming quite a pattern in your life, isn't it?"
"So what if I did? It would mean that she would have a taste of the misery that other people have to go through. You just get the cream out of life, looks, a child, promotion, a career. Everything falls into your lap while others have to slave on, day after day"
Is this how she sees my life, wondered Karen in utter bewilderment? She was rendered utterly speechless by the totally bizarre way that this woman was ranting on at her. It didn't hurt her but just made her feel totally removed from reality. By some process, which she could not afterwards describe, her out of focus observation of the row between the one time married couple, suddenly sharpened and she put herself centre stage in the unfolding drama.
"As Mr. Grayling said earlier, this has gone on far enough. We've gone round the houses in any and every grudge that you've had against me but the facts of the matter that you have been found guilty of gross misconduct that was calculated to endanger the life of a fellow prison officer. The fact that the prison officer was me is beside the point.
I am informing you that"
In a curiously detached way, Karen's firmly pitched tone of voice cut through the uproar like a sharp knife sliced through melted butter. Di Barker was almost hyperventilating, paralysed in voice, mind functioning and physical movements as the moment of destiny
marched closer. At this second, Karen glanced sidewise at Grayling who nodded in agreement. She paused for a second before she dropped the bombshell that was poised and waiting.
"……..you're sacked. You're going to be escorted to your locker room, all your things cleared out and you with them out of Larkhall. Oh yes, you can rely on me not to give you a good reference. You can be sure of that"
Di broke down in hysterical sobbing, every muscle in her face contorted and her curly brown hair awry. Both of them looked down in distaste at her and a tiny twinge of guilt that she had so lowered herself and it was somehow their fault. Karen picked up the phone and called Nikki who had been waiting anxiously in her office, chain-smoking in anxiety for Grayling and Karen.
Nikki took one look at the frozen tableau and guessed what had happened.
"Nikki, I am asking you as Di Barker's wing governor to escort her to collect her possessions from the locker room and off the premises. You know what it's about"
Nikki gravely nodded, earning herself a glare from Di. So she was in the conspiracy as well.
"Come on. You have to come with me"
She was almost tempted to put her arm round the heaving shoulders of the sobbing woman but checked herself in time. It would have done no good. Nikki held the door open for her and led her away to her locker room while Karen collapsed back in her chair and Grayling drew a huge breath of relief. Both of them felt as if they had been through a wringer and were utterly drained.
Nikki stood back for her, watching Di's every move. She knew that she was in a potentially dangerous situation, just the two of them in the locker room. The sounds of the wing were far away as was any assistance but then again, hadn't she been in a club late at night with the occasional rowdy drunk?
"I must ask you to clear out your locker, Di, surrender your ID and change out of your uniform." Nikki said gently.
"That's right," Di raged. "An ex con who might have been locked up for life tells me, a prison officer of many years standing." She had not got used to the fact that her had stopped dead in its tracks and would soon be relegated to the past"
"You know, Di, you just don't get me. I'm in my late thirties, left school at sixteen and have worked all my life. I've had my own business, well half of it and the only gap is the three years I did time here. Yet you can only see me as an ex con"
After a flash of cold dismissive contempt, Nikki resumed her conversational manner.
"I've sacked barmaids before from the club I ran. Some of them thought they were smart for dipping their hands in the till. I don't like anyone who breaks my trust in them and what's happened to you isn't that different, it's just that there are more formal procedures"
"One of these days, I'll get even with you, Nikki Wade. You had better watch your back in future, every minute of the day"
The taller woman laughed slightly. The words were absurd.
"So what else is new? The only difference is that you'll be on the outside. Now, I must ask you to carry out one last order, if you please"
Di turned her back and wearily slung her clothes into her hold all and handed over her ID to Nikki. She changed her clothes and looked wearily at the door. All the fight had been beaten out of her.
The two of them walked quietly across the wing. Bodybag saw them and was rooted to her feet, her mouth the shape of a nought. She did not expect to see this sight. Politely, she let Di through the sets of gates. She felt naked without her habitual passport to access all parts of the prison. She shuffled out to the gate where a bewildered Ken looked astonished at the two of them. Nikki gestured to him to stay silent and they passed through. She averted her eyes while Di glanced wildly up at the prison walls that she surely can't be leaving. Her car was waiting with a clearer idea of where to go than she had.