The next day, Nikki entered Larkhall with a lighter heart than she had had for the last few weeks. She still felt pretty bleary eyed from last night's disturbed sleep, but she was sure that she could manage to get through another day. "Morning, Nikki." Selena addressed her with new respect as she headed for her office while Nikki smiled vaguely in reply. She was too tired to register the fact that Selena viewed Nikki with new respect, because of her sharp-eyed sympathetic insight into her last year's work. It was akin to Karen's own brisk and businesslike style of previous years, yet with her own subtly different colorations.
She picked up all her typed up reports, which were nicely sealed up in envelopes. She resolved to commit them to Karen's care and see them off her hands. She had got to the point that they weren't going to be any better than they were and, with almost maternal pride, popped them under her arm and headed for Karen's office. Without any preamble, she strolled in and spoke before Karen had focused her full attention on her.
"I've done the lot, Karen."
"I'm impressed. I can see by the lines under your eyes that you've worked really hard on them. Did you have any problems"
"Nothing I couldn't solve… with a bit of help with Helen in practicing one of her experiments in forcing me into a role-play"
Karen grinned at the vision it conjured up. She predicted that, for all the training and her advice, Nikki would have stamped her own individualist twist on them.
"Well, I'll study them with great care and I must congratulate you. The first time is always the hardest"
"Isn't it always"
Karen laughed at Nikki's humour and the general good mood. It did her good to experience the lighter side of life, rather than be an unintentional player in a heavy drama. A ray of sunlight played over her face. She didn't want to talk business but an early morning phone call made it convenient to broach the matter with one of her wing governors.
"Well, now you're here," Karen continued in a more serious tone of voice. "I want to let you know that the go ahead has been given to recruit a limited number of prison officers. Area will be organizing it through the local paper and the Jobcentre."
"I can't believe it, Karen. I thought those tight-fisted bastards in the Home Office were turning the screws on us, at the same time as expecting us to lock up more prisoners…..or am I missing something"
The faintest smile curved the corners of the other woman's lips in reply and Nikki got the message.
"How did you hear of this, Karen"
"Neil phoned me just now to give me advance warning. He smuggled it through the budgets under Alison Warner's very nose. He knows how we're struggling for staff."
Not for the first time in Nikki's life, she immediately felt acutely embarrassed by her occasional tendency to launch into impulsive generalizations.
"I'm sorry, Karen, for bad mouthing the one honest guy along with everyone else. I should have known better"
"You're ninety per cent right, Nikki. Neil would say that himself"
Nikki smiled fondly and warmly at this very remarkable man who had aided her own entry into her job and whose unique Machiavellian skills were deployed so protectively around them. She couldn't help thinking that while she was a club owner, her environment was virtually all female, and that her change of job had steered some strong male friends in her direction.
"Well, tell us the news, Karen. How many new POs do we get"
"Not as much as Neil would have liked. I've has a preliminary look at the needs of the wing as a whole and you get two more prison officers. You must know that all the other wings are similarly stretched. "
Karen mentally noted favourably to herself that while the other woman's face fell, she accepted Karen's word that this was her fair share of what she had to offer. Another wing governor might have asked questions and pushed for more prison officers, pleading some spurious special case. Instead, Nikki lit a cigarette and thoughtfully contemplated how her rosters could be best helped. It wasn't much but it would ease the pressure.
"What gets to me is how much the bloody politicians mouth on about being tough on crime and locking up criminals and when it comes down to it, they want the job done on the cheap. We don't exist in their world unless anything kicks off."
"It's not all bad, Nikki. It's just the prison service. You'd better get used to it. It will take the heat off your staffing problems, especially during the summer. You found out all about that one, as soon as you started last year"
Nikki fell silent, as her fingers let her cigarette end smoulder away by itself. Her frame of thinking drifted back to her past, when she was on the lookout of a barmaid at her club. It made her start to think of whom she wanted to see on her wing. In a flash of inspiration, Josh Mitchell jumped immediately into her mind.
"I guess that the vacancies have got to be advertised openly, but does it stop us touting for custom?"
"Plans are being made for the advert to go out in the local paper and Jobcentre as we speak. We can't pull strings directly to get someone into the job"
"Does it stop us asking anyone we know who might be suitable to apply for the job"
"Of course not……" Karen started to say automatically, until the penny dropped. She looked sharply at Nikki and could sense her train of thought.
"You have someone in mind, Nikki. I can tell by the look on your face"
"I know one guy who would be ideal for the job. He is just the sort of caring human being that we need"
"….and his name is……"
"Josh Mitchell." Pronounced Nikki confidently.
It was Karen's turn to fall silent. The name of Josh Mitchell had mixed memories for her. Karen had been much closer than Nikki to the events that had seen his unfortunate exit from Larkhall. Her mind was invaded by images of Crystal, proudly declaring that while she was pregnant, she was a virgin. She remembered Josh's initial keenness to be prison officer, when Di Barker of all people had put him up to it and also that he had cooled off fast, when Crystal had become pregnant. He could have stuck it out and have faced the consequences with a reprimand, but he had chosen to resign for no clear or good reason. She might be accused of being a bit old fashioned, but she was not keen on any prison officer who hadn't got staying power for the job.
"What's the problem, Karen?" Nikki enquired gently.
"Aren't you jumping the gun a bit? Have you talked to him about the matter"
"Well, no. Until you mentioned the vacancy I had no reason to." Admitted Nikki.
"Exactly. You're assuming for a start that Josh wants to come back to the prison service. For all we know, he might be happy where he is"
"The last I saw of him, he and Crystal could do with the extra money"
"You know that that's nowhere near a good enough reason"
"I know that but there's more to this one than you're letting on. For some reason, you have a problem with Josh coming back here." Nikki suggested gently.
Karen sighed and told the story of what had happened to Josh last time. It was strange hearing of this fragment of the past through Karen's eyes as, for once, Helen hadn't been at the center of the matter and Nikki had had no eyes for the matter as she had her own fish to fry.
"One look at Josh and you can tell he's the faithful type. The only problem last time around was that he and Crystal were opposite sides of the bars. Things are different now and he's bound to be more settled. History doesn't have to repeat itself, Karen. What happened with Crystal won't happen with another inmate. There's no reason why it should"
"Nikki, you are such a romantic with an impossibly positive view of life." Chided Karen.
"Even after three years on the inside?" countered Nikki. "It's not that we're giving him the inside track to get the job. You never know, there are a limited number of places and there could be candidates that are better suited for the job than Josh somewhere out there"
"You think that there are loads of people queuing up, who are also cut out for the job? They don't grow on trees. Think carefully, Nikki." Warned Karen.
"Ok, let's agree that, if Josh is willing, he takes his chances in open competition. You can't say fairer than that"
Karen reluctantly nodded in agreement. When she came to think of it, she might be overcompensating in being fearful in case bad experiences repeat themselves.