During the journey home in the car, Barbara was sandwiched between Dominic and Gina in the back seat. She was pale and withdrawn and Dominic and Gina respected her silence, as they didn't feel over talkative themselves. They knew Barbara of old and knew that she was utterly incapable of hurting a fly, far less her husband. That she had eased her second husband, Peter, out of the extremity of his painful illness only made them more certain of Barbara's innocence as they knew that Barbara would never want to lose her freedom. The charges seemed so totally absurd that anyone could tell that a mile away but the cross examination had given them that cold feeling inside. What they knew to be the facts pointed one way but the proof in the opposite direction.
The two prison officers walked gently either side of Barbara and led her through the prison gates. Nikki was already there and, impulsively, she hugged Barbara and took her by the arm towards the scowling face, cold blue eyes and very so made up Natalie Buxton who couldn't resist making a crack as they came up level to her.
"I suppose I'd get tucked up into bed if I were up on trial, Miss Wade." "You'd get what you'd deserve, that I do promise you." cut back Nikki tersely. She was gratified to see the other woman's face slightly redden and to hear the Julies laugh at one of Nikki's immortal one liners. Natalie Buxton tossed her head in the air and slid off. Nikki smiled to herself that she had the luxury of choosing whether or not to verbally cut Natalie down to size or have her up before her on a Rule 43 charge. She was a nuisance at the most as her sources of information and the evidence of her own senses stopped the manipulative little madam from being the real menace to the good running of the wing. The time would come, she foresaw, that she would throw the book at her.
All this passed like a flash in her mind as she escorted Barbara to the Julies' tender care.
"Hey Babs, how did you get on? Oh, it was like that, was it?" Julie Johnson added at the end, spotting the pained expression on Barbara's face.
"I'll get you a nice cup of tea, Babs." Added Julie Johnson."Be back straightaway"
"I'm not sure what to do right now, Barbara. I'd love to stay and talk but you might not be in the mood"
"It's all right, Nikki, we'll look after her." Julie Saunders added with a reassuring smile at Nikki's genuine concern and her uncharacteristic nervousness.
"I'll be around later on and tomorrow first thing. Gotta go."
It was curious that she had adopted that parting expression that Helen used so often when she was a prisoner and Helen was the wing governor. She always felt a pang of regret and sorrow, which she couldn't put into words. Now she was doing the job, she understood that restlessness that, whatever she was doing, there were a thousand other jobs she needed to do. She would have liked to have gone off with the Julies to their cell like in the old days but she knew that it wasn't to be. In any case, she had to periodically remind herself that she could and should delegate jobs as it wasn't the case that there weren't willing volunteers to help her out.
In the evening, the Julies went to Barbara's cell and it wasn't until the cell door was shut that she poured out her heart. It was like a dam breaking.
"The worst part of today is that I know I'm innocent. I keep thinking again and again back to when Henry was at his worst, as he became weaker and weaker and I spent all day and into the night looking after him. It was horrible to see him gradually going downhill and that there was nothing I could do about it. I'd been through this before with Peter and I was so determined that this time my will and faith would somehow keep him alive. Well, I was in the dock and this afternoon, I heard that clever barrister of theirs question their pathologist and argue so cleverly that poor Henry could have died in no other way than that I had helped him on his way. What can I say against it, I had no witnesses. You don't think that way when you're on your own, you're desperate and run off your feet. I would never have done that to Henry"
Barbara broke off as she dabbed her handkerchief to her eyes and tears coursed down her cheek.
The Julies hugged her. It was the natural thing to do. They gave her time till she had cried out her fears and recovered herself a little that, with practiced timing, Julie Johnson spoke in a casual tone of voice.
"What was that pathologist like?"
"That made it worse. She wasn't some hard faced hatchet woman out to get me. She was nice, Irish, a little like Roisin in her manner. She believed in what she said"
"That don't mean she was right"
"It's one thing to know it, it's quite another to prove it. Right now, it's looking good for them"
"Has Jo asked her questions and tried all the legal stuff on her"
"That's not till tomorrow"
"There you are. Problem solved. They ain't heard the other side of the story. You'll be all right." Julie Saunders answered her with all the warmth and powers of reassurance she could summon up.
"You think so?" Barbara answered, her face brightening a little.
"Course I do. I bet you, even as we speak, Jo is planning and scheming away at how to pull the rug out of her feet and prove she was wrong. Don't forget, we've seen her and she's one of the good ones and she cares."