Chapter 15 (Present day)
Dominic had just sat down behind his desk when the phone started to ring. He sighed as he reached out to answer it, "yes Penny," he said to his receptionist on the other end of the line. "I have a Miss Stewart on line one for you Mr Macalister," she said in her cheery sing song voice. "Thanks so much, I might be on with her for a while, could you hold all my other calls?" He said. "Certainly sir," she sang down the line.
"Helen," he said cheerfully, "I didn't expect you to get back to me so soon. I'm hoping you have some good news for me." "I had a look at the proposal you emailed me last night Dom, and I must say it's very impressive. I can see why the home office would give you the go ahead so quickly. It really is very well thought out." Helen said, "and I won't lie, I'm intrigued."
"That's great Helen; it was all your idea actually. I just hope I'm doing your vision justice," he said sincerely, "although I was hoping I'd be able to twist your arm a bit more and talk you into joining me to make this all a reality. Have you given working here with me any more thought? I don't mean to push you but I'd like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible."
"That's actually why I'm calling Dominic, what you said at dinner last night has been running through my mind all night. I'd like to be a part of it, but I'm going to need some reassurances and to know exactly what my part in all of this is going to be. Would it be ok if I came in when you have a moment so that we can discuss the specifics?" Helen asked tentatively.
She could hear paper rustling on the other end of the line, "let me just have a quick look at my diary but if memory serves I think I can fit you in at 15:30 today if that's ok with you?" Dominic said. "15:30 sounds good, I'll try not to be too late," Helen said. Dom chuckled, he could hear the smile in Helen's voice, and he'd always thought she was at her most beautiful when she had a smile on her face. "Brilliant," he said, "I'll come down and meet you at the gate."
Helen screeched to a halt in the prison's parking lot at 15:39. Not bad, she thought to herself as she stepped out of her silver Peugeot 308. She gave the car a little pat on the bonnet as he made her way toward the gates. In her book less than 10 minutes late constituted being on time. She stood for a moment and looked up at the imposing gates, it had been ten years since she had last walked through them and sworn that she would never be back but never the less, her she stood, about to walk through them again. For a moment she wondered if she was making the right choice. It would be far easier to just turn around and walk away. And even though a small part of her really wanted to do that, she knew that she would regret it. This was her second chance to see something she had sown the seed for all those years ago actually come to fruition.
The creek of the door swinging open jerked her out of her reverie. "Ah Helen, sorry, I hope you haven't been waiting long," Dominic said as he gestured her forward, "my last meeting ran over by a few minutes." Helen stepped through the door and allowed the guard to do a quick search of her hand bag as she sighed in. "No problem at all, and I'd actually just arrive," Helen confessed with a slightly sheepish look. "Right on time it seems," Dominic said with a grin.
Helen walked along next to Dominic as they wound their way through the narrow corridors toward Dom's office, they chatted good naturedly about nothing in particular. Penny greeted them at the door with tea, sandwiches and a huge smile. I though you and Miss Stewart would enjoy a spot of tea with your meeting," she said as Dominic held the door to his inner office open for Helen. "Thank you Penny," he said as she placed the selection in the middle of his desk and made a bee line for the door.
Helen chuckled, "going all out I see," she said as she maneuvered herself into one of the chairs and grinned up at Dominic who was now blushing furiously. "Yeah well," he said pulling at his shirt sleeve, "if a good sandwich can help my cause I'm all for it". He finally looked up into Helen's eyes as she watched him from across the desk. She smiled her patented Helen Stewart smile at him, "don't worry, I'm all yours... As long as these are really good sandwiches."
Dom snorted as he poured them some tea. "Ok, let's get this show on the road then," he said as he handed Helen her cup. "I'm going to cut right to the chase Helen. I need someone to run this programme. Truth be told, Being the number one and all the shit that comes with it on a daily basis just eats up all my time and I can't see myself putting in the time that is needed to make this thing work, nor can I just hand it off to anyone. I've put too much work into it for that. This is pretty much where you come in; the way I see it this is your baby as much as it is mine. I want someone I can trust, and I can't think of a better person than you."
He cleared his throat and looked directly at Helen, "I get to pick my team, and I pick you. Which is probably the smartest thing I'll ever do because I know you are going to make me look good," he said, a small smile starting to tug at the corners of his mouth.
Helen had known she wanted this the moment she walked through the front door and the fact that Dominic seemed to be as fired up about it all as she was made it feel that much more right. She pretended to mull over it all for a while, she couldn't make it look too easy now could she. She nodded her head slowly before answering, "Alright, I think we could give this a go, but its going to have to sit on the back burner for a little while. We can sort out all the legalities so long and put the ground work in place but I can't take the reins on this thing until after this little tyke has come into the world," she said rubbing her belly lovingly.
Dominic nodded, "I understand," he said, "Realistically, it's still going to take us at least two months to get everything sorted. We need to source staff, I don't want just any old P.O out there on that wing, and find places for the inmates already on the wing that aren't lifers as well as draw up some criteria to decide on who gets into our little pet project. Much of this you can do from home for now, but I will need you to come in every now and then. Basically you'll hold a wing governor post, on paper at least, but it will be far more complex than that. Unfortunately the pay isn't really going to reflect that though, I'm sorry."
Helen grinned, "It's ok Dom, I still work in the prison service, and I know what the pay is like. Speaking of which, I'll need to run this past my current supervisor, I don't think they'll be too impressed with me if I just up and leave." Dominic cleared his throat and looked away sheepishly for the second time in the past half hour. "Don't be angry, but I sort of already spoke to your boss about it, when I first started drawing up the plans I gave Alfred Dunn a call and asked if he thought you would be interested and to find out if their office could spare you. He was reluctant at first but I seem to have won him over in the end. He knows that I made you the offer."
"Well I never Mr Macalister, I never took you to be a sneak." Helen said, making him blush. "I'm sorry Helen, It wasn't meant as an affront. I was really just trying to see if getting you on board was going to be possible. Frankly, I can't see myself going through this without you." He said to his shoes. When he looked up at her, Helen was smiling at him, "its ok Dom, I forgive you. Just don't do it again," she said with a touch of authority.
"Let's quickly chat about staff," Dominic said, changing the subject deftly. "I think we need a few senior officers with open minds and a wealth of experience as well as a good mix of junior officers. I want to start a new breed of officers, ones that are here to facilitate rehabilitation and learning above banging them up and throwing away the key." "I agree," Helen said, "Got any in mind?" Dominic hesitated for a moment, "I have asked Karen Betts to be part of the team, I know you two didn't part on the best of terms, but she is a good officer and I think she'd be a good fit." "OK," Helen said, "She is a good officer and very experienced. She up for it? And does she know she'll be working with me?" "We spoke at length about her role here if you took the position, and she is happy with it." Dominic said.
"I'd also like to add Mark Waddle to the list; He's good with the women and a fair man. There are also two youngsters I've had my eye on, Aaron Chambers, who is currently on G wing and Stephanie Daniels from D wing. I'd like you to meet them soon and see what you think." He said. "Similarly, I think we should try to get a full time psychologist on staff and look at getting more of our girls into an educational programme." Helen nodded, she seemed to have done a lot of that over the past hour, "So far we seem to be on the same page. I'd like to meet the staff you mentioned early next week, Monday if possible, so that I can get to know them all a bit, get a feel for their strengths and weaknesses. I don't really have much time, my Caesarean is booked for two weeks Friday so I need to try and get as much done before then." "No problem," Dominic said, "consider it done."
Helen's phone chirped, she looked at her watch as she dug it out of her hand bag, "bloody hell, we've been at it for an hour and a half. Time fly's when you're having fun. I've got to run Dominic, I promised to meet Nikki and Claire for an early dinner across town but I really did enjoy this. It's good to see a dream becoming reality eventually. Let me know about meeting the others ok? Oh, and thank Penny for the sandwiches, tell her they swung the vote." "Definitely," Dominic said, showing Helen out, "I'm so glad we are doing this Helen, It's been a while since I've had a friend inside these walls."