16

There was a buzz that prisoners could join up for jogging on the moor. I put my name down and it came out in the draw. The system was simple. We had shorts, vests, socks and trainers and then a waistcoat with an identity beacon of some description sewn into it and the waistcoat was locked on. This meant that if any of us decided to abscond, that was the word the notice used, we would be easy to track. Not only that, we would be just outside the perimeter fence initially so that wasn’t much of an incentive to run off. We were in groups of twelve and it was noticeable that the twelve I was in were extensively strung out by halfway round the first lap and half had given up by the fifth lap.

A skinny and apparently very fit prisoner jogged up beside me.

‘Jake, somebody wants to talk to you.’

‘Who?’

‘Bennie.’

Bennie was a long-sentence, Cat A prisoner. He was in for a gangland killing but it was said that he’d killed at least eight times. Despite that, he was articulate, funny, easygoing and was one of the group that spent a lot of time with Peter Jackson. They played bridge and chess and seemed to follow intellectual pursuits. There were about eight of them; two or three were always with Peter Jackson and one of those was often Bennie. I’d often seen Bennie in the gym; he was fast and physically powerful. Not a heavyweight, like Harry, but clearly ‘useful’, that was the term used.

‘What about?’

‘No idea,’ said the jogger, who I hadn’t seen before.

‘When?’

‘Association tomorrow. Walls have ears and no ears within range.’

Association was a ritual really. The prisoners from two wings were in the yard for about an hour just walking around or sitting on the benches and the benches were scattered around and moved so there were no set positions. Some kicked a ball and some had basketballs and there were three basketball nets so the odd game arose.

‘You mean Sergeant?’

‘Bennie says anybody.’ The jogger speeded up and was soon way ahead of me.

I later talked to Harry about the meeting.

‘Should be safe at association with just the two of you. Keep walking, make it slow and we’ll track you just in case,’ said Harry.

The next afternoon at three we were on association. I was chatting with a couple of guys from my newly formed class with Sergeant and Boy Pritchard from D-Wing. Bennie wandered past and I wandered towards the direction he was heading.

‘What’s this about, Bennie?’

‘You shouldn’t be here.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Peasmarsh.’

‘I shouldn’t be in any prison. I didn’t kill the FBI guy.’

‘Aha, yes, you were supposed to go to Brixton.’

‘I did go there and then they sent me here. So what do you want to talk about?’

‘A dead major.’

‘There isn’t anything to talk about. A sergeant shot the major. The sergeant was found guilty, sent here and executed by somebody.’

‘You were part of the defence in the first trial, why?’

‘Because the killing was justifiable; the major was high on cocaine and wanted to take the platoon out of the defensive position. When he was told they didn’t have the weaponry to do that he threatened to shoot a sergeant. So the major was shot and killed by Jase Phillips.’

‘You know that’s shit, Jake.’

‘What’s shit? It’s what happened.’

‘He was a killer.’

‘Who was a killer? The major or Jase?’

‘The major.’

‘We were all killers; we were in the army.’

‘You’re deliberately not understanding, Jake.’

‘Then tell me.’

‘You really believe that Jase Phillips killed Major Carmichael to save the lives of some soldiers?’

‘Yes.’

‘And why do you think he was killed in here?’

‘Because The Family takes revenge.’

‘Supposing it was something else.’

‘Then tell me and I’ll know. On the other hand, don’t tell me, but either way if I find out who killed Jase, I’ll kill him. I don’t care why Jase was killed.’

‘How come you ended up in Peasmarsh?’

‘I requested it.’

‘From who?’

‘As part of the deal to get me repatriated I had to go into a high security prison. I was given a list of prisons and this was the newest. There was also the opportunity that if I came here I could find and kill whoever killed Jase.’

‘I don’t believe you.’

‘I really don’t care what you believe. I’m here and somebody has a marker on them and when I see it they’re dead.’

‘They?’

‘Well it may be more than one person and somebody may have told the killer or asked the killer to do it.’

‘You would kill the person who gave the order?’

‘Oh, yes, but he or she may not be in here, so when I get out I’ll kill the co-conspirator.’

‘So that person may decide to take you out.’

‘Bring it on, Bennie.’

Bennie was thinking. He was a good interrogator but lacked experience. I now knew for certain Bennie was closely connected to the killing but didn’t do it. He probably knew who did and who gave the order, so it wasn’t random, and he may have known why it was done; it was something to do with Carmichael being a killer and Jase knew about that.

‘Can you tell me why Jase was killed?’

‘No, but I’ll tell you that Jase believed something that may or may not have been true. He thought it was true and that’s what got him killed.’

So, I had a bit more information. It was definitely not about the battle situation; it was about something that Jase believed Carmichael had done. A something that, if it leaked out, meant Major Carmichael’s name would be blackened and perhaps The Family would be in disrepute. It was about a killing or was it more than one killing? I was only a little further on but I was further on. I’d also put myself at risk because I’d said I would kill the killer and whoever gave the order. I knew it wasn’t Mabry and if it was commanded in here I was very vulnerable.