‘And that’s the reason it’s called HMP Foxbrook. Because of the River Foxbrook.’
Bailey stood in the queue for the phones half listening to Maggie as she cheerfully regaled the waiting line of inmates with facts and tales about the prison’s history.
Maggie was there to clear the queue and make sure that all the inmates went back to their cells when free association ended, which it would in about eight minutes’ time. But she appeared to be enjoying the opportunity to explain the etymology of the prison’s name to what was essentially a captive audience.
Bailey looked at her watch anxiously and willed one of the phones to become free soon. She had reached the very front of the queue and she was impatient to update Frank with what she had learned.
She glanced behind her. Some of the inmates were making a point of yawning widely, but that didn’t seem to deter Maggie from her mission to educate them on the more obscure points of the prison’s background. As prison officers went though, Bailey thought that Maggie seemed a good type and she did actually find some of her facts quite interesting.
Noticing a phone become free, she quickly hurried over to it. There were six minutes left within which to make the call. She punched in her PIN number and then dialled Frank’s telephone number. Rita answered after two rings.
‘Hello, Sullivan Knight Solicitors. How can I help?’
‘It’s Bailey Pike speaking. I’d like to talk to Mr Knight please.’
‘Just putting you through.’
She got to listen to five seconds of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ before Frank came on the line.
‘Have you found out how the drugs are getting into the prison?’ he said, bypassing the usual pleasantries.
‘I’m still working on it,’ she said.
‘Well work harder. The drugs squad are on my case. They’re the ones ploughing cash into this operation and so far they haven’t received any actionable intelligence from you.’
She didn’t take his harsh tone too personally. She remembered now that he got like this whenever he was under the cosh.
‘Leave it with me, Frank. You know I’ll deliver the goods one way or another.’
‘Do you have anything that you can tell me?’
‘Natalie Spakes was scalped.’
‘I already know that. You, on the other hand, as an inmate, are not supposed to know that. We haven’t made that information public.’
‘Word gets around fast in here. Same signature. Same killer. I’m ninety-nine per cent certain it’s the gang. Did you know that she used to be a member? And she wanted out. Apparently she was planning to blow the lid on their activities.’
‘Yeah I know. Her boyfriend mentioned it. He’s pretty cut up about her death. They’ve got a kid you know. A four-year-old. The kid’s the reason she wanted to leave the gang. She was hoping that by snitching she could get out earlier so she could be with him. I can’t understand why she joined them in the first place.’
‘Protection. Prestige. Peer pressure. Who knows? You wouldn’t understand unless you were in here. Being in here twists your perspective on things.’
‘The murder investigation team are working off the possibility that a member of staff may have been involved, if not in actually committing the crime, then at least in facilitating it. She was found dead in a locked cell in a particularly secure and heavily monitored part of the prison. Somebody with access to a set of keys must have been complicit somehow. What’s more, the cameras to that part of the prison went down shortly before the murder happened. They thought it was a technical glitch, so they called an engineer out, but he wasn’t able to get there until the next morning, by which time the deed had already been done.’ He paused. ‘It turns out that some wires had been cut.’
‘Cut?’
‘Apparently there was a small vulnerability in the wiring leading to the segregation block. Anyone who knew about it – staff or inmate – could have cut those wires.’
The fact that the murder had taken place in the segregation block had been a strong hint to Bailey that a member of staff was embroiled in some way, but the news of the wire cutting illustrated just how audacious and determined the perpetrators actually were.
‘The whole thing must have been planned out in advance,’ she said. ‘It looks like the drugs ring and the murders are all tied up together. If a member of staff was involved in Natalie’s murder, then I bet that same person or persons is helping the gang get the drugs into the prison. We just need to work out who they are.’
‘According to the rota, there were over thirty prison officers on duty that night – Friday the seventh of June. They’ve interviewed all of them, but no one seems to know anything. Like I mentioned before, the staff aren’t particularly co-operative and the inmates even less so.’
‘What about forensics? DNA? Surely that must have thrown up something.’
‘Inconclusive. Just like with the other two. When it comes to DNA, there’s just too much opportunity for cross-contamination to make it a reliable source of evidence. Even in segregation, Natalie’s clothes, her bedding, her food, could have come into contact with numerous members of staff and inmates through a variety of means.’
Maggie came over to Bailey and tapped her wristwatch, indicating that her time was almost up. Bailey nodded and smiled, waiting until she’d moved away before continuing.
‘The fact that she was murdered in segregation means that they’re sending a clear message that no one is safe from them,’ she said.
‘If a member of staff is involved, then we need to find some way to narrow it down. Currently there are just too many contenders and not enough information to pinpoint any one of them as a feasible suspect.’
Maggie had come back again and was now gesturing for her to tie up the call.
‘Look I have to go now,’ said Bailey. ‘I’ll do my best.’
And she hung up.