Chapter 10: present day.
Nikki blinked as a bright light cut across her line of vision. She had no idea how long she'd been standing there staring at the massive wooden door that separated her from the inmates of HMP Larkhall. She had promised herself that she would never again cross the thresh hold into the Hell that lay beyond that door, but here she was. Granted the circumstances were very different but she couldn't help but be repulsed by the place. Somehow it seemed to just suck every bit of happiness out of her soul, like a succubus, she thought, just without the beautiful façade.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as the doors open, allowing her passage. Wondering if there was anybody still around that would recognise her here these days she stepped into the small courtyard where a Guard as broad as a brick shit house greeted her with a look of boredom. "Name?" he mumbled in a thick Yorkshire accent. "Nicola Wade," Nikki replied, "I'm here to see Miss Montgomery." The guard, whose upside down nametag read Sykes, ran his pudgy finger down the list of expected visitors until he found Nikki's name midway down the page. He checked her credentials, asked if she had any firearms or other dangerous weapons in her possession and rummaged through her briefcase looking for any form of contraband. "It's harder getting into this place than getting out," her attempt at humour falling flat. Sykes just stared at her unblinkingly, "You are cleared to enter Miss Wade, please follow the officer to the visitor's room."
Nikki fought to control the nausea that had begun to build from the moment the first set of gates were closed and locked behind her; she'd vowed that she would show no signs of weakness. Frankly, she couldn't afford to either, one whiff of fear in this place and the vultures started to circle.
The colour scheme had changed and she didn't recognise any of the officers but this place still made her want to run as far away from it as possible. The officer showed her into a dull, pokey little room with a scarred desk and two wooden chairs that looked none too comfortable. "Montgomery will be here shortly ma'am," her escort said curtly as he turned and abandoned her, closing the door behind him.
Putting her briefcase down on the table she turned to the single small window in the room, she'd almost forgotten how tiny it was. The bars obscured her view of the grey London sky and turned the courtyard below into a cobbled patchwork as she peered out. The memory flashed from a corner in her mind, there was Helen, rushing across the courtyard, coffee in hand and late as usual. Those small glimpses she got of her had kept her going for days back then.
She was so lost in thought that she hadn't heard the door open behind her, "well, look what the cat dragged in." Sylvia Hollamby's voice caught Nikki by surprise. Surely the old bag couldn't possibly still be around? "Sylvia," Nikki replied without turning away from the window. She was unable to keep the icy tone out of her voice, "haven't quite managed to move up in the world over the last ten years have you." "You always did have a mouth on you Wade, pity I can no longer give you the punishment you deserve," Sylvia sneered as Nikki turned to face her, "how they let a murderer like you out onto the streets never mind practice law I don't know. And now here you are, trying to help other criminals just like yourself weasel their way out of their debt to society, makes my blood run cold."
Neither woman seemed to notice Alex as she stood quietly watching the exchange between her solicitor advocate and her jailer. She'd heard rumours about Nikki Wade, but the stories had become a bit of a mixture of fantasy and legend over time that these days she wasn't sure what the truth was. Frankly she didn't really care; anything that got old body bag all riled up was fine with her.
She'd been intrigued when the letter from Chapman and Howell had come last week. At first she'd thought there had been some mistake but it had her name printed boldly on the envelope. Claire Walker had made a good argument for an appeal, so good in fact that it almost had Alex convinced that she had a chance of actually getting out of this place.
The pre Larkhall Alex, the one who believed in fairy tales and the inherent goodness of all of human kind would have been swept away by Claire's words, but things had changed. People from her previous life would hardly recognise her these days. This place had stolen her innocence. Today's meeting was nothing more than a change of scenery, something to distract her from the mundane monotony of life in prison. So far it was proving to be an interesting distraction; she had not been expecting Nikki Wade in person. She was a rather imposing figure in her dark suit, impeccably cut to fit her tall frame. Alex had never seen such intense dark eyes, and when Nikki's gaze eventually fell upon her she found that she was unable to look away.
"Miss Montgomery, please forgive my rudeness, I'm Nikki Wade, old Body bag here has a way of making me forget my manners," Nikki said, the corner of her mouth turning upward as Sylvia Hollamby opened and closed her mouth like a stunned puffer fish. "Run along Sylvia, we wouldn't want to keep you from your tea now would we?" she said, her dark eyes twinkling. Alex could not stifle the giggle that escaped from her lips as Body bag turned and left in a huff.
Nikki's gaze slid over the girl in front of her. She'd lost weight; she could see it around her eyes. Her stance was defensive and Nikki knew Alex was appraising her as well. Her eyes were sharp and cautious as she looked at Nikki, who smiled at her to try and break the ice. Nik knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park, she recognised the stubborn set to her jaw and the look of mistrust in those green eyes was unmistakable.
Alex took the chair that Nikki motioned her towards and crossed her arms across her chest, never letting her eyes stray from Nikki's face. "Right, let's not beat around the bush," Nikki said as she snapped open the clasp of her briefcase, "basically, Claire and I are part of a pro bono initiative set up by our firm as you will know from the letter sent earlier in the week, we have been reviewing your case files and from what I've seen there is a good chance that we can get you out of this shit hole. Now I'm not making any promises just yet, our legal system can be somewhat, unpredictable shall we say but as I said, I'm cautiously optimistic." Nikki hoped that the straight to the point approach would work; she got the feeling that trying to use kid gloves with Alex would not go down well. Just a few minutes with her and she already knew there was more depth to this young woman than she'd expected. Even though Alex had become rather adept at hiding anything that was going on in her head Nikki got glimpses of passing thoughts while watching her eyes. If there was one thing Nik was good at it was reading people and she was finding Alex a challenge, and boy did she enjoy a challenge.
"Our investigator has turned up a few leads already that we are looking into, there seems to be a witness that didn't come forward at the original trial. With your permission we'd like to start looking into what happened to you two years ago and how things managed to end up with a guilty verdict with the crap they presented at your trial," Nikki said with feeling. She looked up into Alex's eyes; all she got in response was a noncommittal shrug. "Look Miss Wade, I know you mean well, and you have my permission to do whatever it is that you want but please, don't expect me to be bouncing around with joy because frankly I can't afford to even hope for the best in here. If you have hope it's just one more thing that can be taken from you. So you do what you have to do and I'll do the same," Alex said as she stood and walked toward the window Nikki had stood in front of only moments ago.
Nikki nodded; she knew exactly what Alex meant. She remembered how she'd felt when Helen had started talking about her appeal. It was probably best this way. She liked this girl, she couldn't quite put her finger on exactly why just yet but she'd learned long ago to trust her gut when it came to such things. "Good," Nikki said as she rose to her feet, "We'll be in touch Miss Montgomery. I will keep you abreast of any new information, now that I have your go ahead we can start getting the wheels rolling." Nikki stretched her hand out as Alex turned from the window, "It was nice to meet you Miss Montgomery," she said as she felt the strong fingers enclose hers. "Please, call me Alex," she said just as they heard the rustle of keys from beyond the door. Their half hour was up. A young man came into the room; he smiled at Alex, "Ready to go Ali?" He asked. Nikki was surprised to see her return his smile, "As ready as I'll ever be Mr Chambers," her face changed and for a moment she saw the girl in the photo from two years ago. It was good to know she was still in there; it gave Nikki just that little bit more drive to put this right. This girl could have a normal life, a life she deserved. The young P.O turned to Nikki and added politely, "If you wouldn't mind waiting a minute Ma'am, there will be an officer here shortly to escort you out." He touched Alex's elbow gently, letting her precede him out of the room. Nikki packed up her briefcase and stepped out into the hallway to await her escort. Who, with her luck was probably Sylvia, whom she knew would get an immense amount of pleasure out of making her late.
She looked at her watch and then longingly at the locked gate that stood between her and the outside world. "Bloody Sylvia," she mumbled under her breath. "Nikki?" called a vaguely familiar voice that she just couldn't quite place. She looked up to see a dark haired man walking toward her. Still she was hitting a blank. It wasn't until he got closer that she recognised his smile and his bright blue eyes. "Oh my God, Dominic! What in hell's name are you doing here? I thought you were in Greece with that gorgeous wife of yours. Helen showed me the wedding photo you mailed her. Congratulations mate." Nikki said, a genuine smile lighting up her face.
"Yeah, we stayed in Greece for a few years but I felt like I needed something more. Came back, went to uni. Kind of always wanted to make a difference you know," he said looking sheepishly at her. Nikki laughed, "Yeah, you martyr types, like being tortured don't you? I would have stayed on a beach somewhere if I were you mate." "Well then why aren't you camped out on that beach somewhere yourself? And anyway, I had a good role model. How is Helen by the way?" "Yeah well, seems we had the same role model eh. Said role model happens to be fat and very grumpy these days," Nikki replied, unable to supress the laugh when she saw the shocked look on Dominic's face. "Her words, not mine," Nikki said with her hands up in the air in a defensive pose, "She's about eight and a half months pregnant and utterly over it at present." Dom chuckled, "Congratulations Nik, your first?" "Yeah, she's due to go in for her C-section in a week and a half. I must say, I'm rather excited to meet the little tyke," Nikki said as they walked through the prison.
Before she was even fully aware they were standing in front of the large door that would take her out into the real world again. "Thanks for walking me out Dom, I really appreciate it. You and Nat should come and have supper with us sometime soon," Nikki said as she took her car keys from the gate guard. "That sounds fantastic Nikki; I'd love to see Helen again. I actually have a few things I'd like to run past her if she's keen to listen to my ranting." Dom looked down at his watch, "Blimey, sorry Nik, got to run, no rest for the wicked," he said, nodding to Sykes who nodded back, a sneer crossed his face as soon as Dominic had turned to leave. "You must be one special lady to have the number one walk you to the gate," he said as he opened the large door for Nikki. "Well I never," Nikki said with a chuckle as she made her way back to the car.