By
Jan
Chapter 14
Reb
lay back against the pillows and watched as Sylvia’s head started nodding. She was
still in bed in the Infirmary and Sylvia had been posted to make sure she
wasn’t subject to another attack, not that it would have done any good because
the officer had been dozing almost as soon as she sat down. However, only she knew that another attack wasn’t
going to happen. They had been getting too close so she had had to put them off
the scent. She had lurched around the room banging against the bunks, the
table, her locker, even the sink to leave bruises and make it look as if she
had been beaten up. Afterwards, she had banged the back of her head against the
wall; not hard enough to break the skin and leave any evidence but just hard
enough to leave a bump. She had slumped to the floor in pain and that was how
Hunt had found her and called for assistance but it had done the trick and now
they were looking for her attacker.
Suddenly,
Sylvia started to snore; great shoulder shaking snores and Reb smiled,
momentarily softening her features…she felt a strange kind of affection for the
old woman; she had been the only one he
could rely on.
“How
are you feeling, Rebecca?” Doctor Alex Gilbert asked kindly as he walked up to
Reb’s bed.
Sylvia
visibly started as his voice awakened her and she smoothed down her uniform
skirt guiltily.
“I’m
fine, thanks, doctor. When can I go back to the wing?” Reb asked impatiently.
“I
would have thought you’d prefer to stay here out of harm’s way,” Alex replied
with a wry smile. After what Helen Stewart had told them he found it hard to be
pleasant to someone who might have attacked Karen.
“I
think I’d rather be with my friends.”
Alex
frowned. From what Helen had said the girl didn’t seem to have many friends on
the Wing either. “I’ll keep you here another night for observation and then I can’t
see any reason why you shouldn’t go back to the Wing tomorrow.”
Barbara
looked at her cellmate compassionately as the young woman walked onto the Wing
just before lunch the following day. Rebecca had taken quite a beating and she
now regretted thinking she was responsible for the attack on Miss Betts.
“How
are you?” She asked with concern.
“Bruised
and aching,” Reb answered honestly. She had done a good job on herself and her
injuries and pain were genuine.
“You
take it easy for a few days,” Barbara suggested. “Why don’t I get your lunch
for you?”
Reb
gave a smile of triumph and not the one of friendship it was purporting to be.
“Yes, why don’t you.”
On
hearing Karen had been discharged from hospital Helen called in to see her on
her way to a meeting with Rebecca Morgan’s mother.
“How
are you feeling?” she asked solicitously as she sat in Karen’s kitchen and
watched her pouring boiling water into two coffee mugs.
“Well
enough to be going back to work next week,” Karen replied as she placed a mug
of black coffee in front of Helen then sat down in the chair opposite her.
“That’s
wonderful news!” Helen exclaimed. Just a few more days and she would be out of
Larkhall for good!
“I
thought you might be pleased,” Karen remarked with a smile.
Feeling
guilty at the selfishness of her thoughts Helen regarded the blonde woman
intently. “Are you sure you’re well enough to be going back so soon?”
Karen
frowned, that was a question she had asked herself many times since she made the
decision to return to work. “It’s the first time I’ve been in the firing line
so to speak and I must admit it hasn’t done wonders for my confidence but I
love my job so if I don’t go back whoever stabbed me will, in a way, have taken my life.”
“I
suppose I can understand that,” Helen agreed. “But it gets to the point where
you realise there is more to life than work.”
“Ah,
but that’s because you have Nikki to go home to at night.”
“What
about you and Alex?” Helen asked with a teasing smile.
“It’s
early days yet but I’m hopeful.”
“You’re
smitten then?”
“Have
you made a decision yet about what you’re going to do when you leave Larkhall?”
Helen
laughed out loud as Karen neatly sidestepped her question but you only had to
see Karen and Alex together to realise they were both smitten with each other.
“I’ve decided I’m going to be a kept woman.”
“Smart
move.”
“Only
for a while though. I’d only ever wanted to work in the prison service but now
my long-term career prospects have taken a bit of a shake up, I’ll have to give
it some more thought.”
“I
don’t know why you resigned, Helen. Jim was the only one likely to drop you in
it with regards to Nikki and since he…well, since he’s no longer around you
could have carried on working at Larkhall.”
“I’d
always have been worried that someone vindictive would find out. This way I
don’t have to keep looking over my shoulder.”
Karen
looked up at the wall clock and saw it was almost lunchtime. “Are you going to
stay for lunch? I can make us a sandwich.”
“That
would be lovely but I’ve got an appointment with Rebecca Morgan’s mother so I
should be making tracks.”
“Is
that wise?” Karen asked dubiously. “If Morgan is mixed up in this you should
let the police deal with it.”
“Since
she was beaten up I’ve nothing to go on except a gut feeling and the police
aren’t going to accept my woman’s intuition as hard evidence,” she replied
cynically.
“Just
be careful, Helen,” Karen warned as they stood up from the table
simultaneously. “If Morgan gets wind that you’re probing into her background…”
“Don’t
worry, Karen. She’s not going to get wind and if I find out anything I’ll go
straight to the police,” Helen promised.
As
she knocked on the door of the Morgan household Helen couldn’t help but wonder
if this wasn’t a wild goose chase. Morgan herself had suffered a severe beating
so what did she hope to achieve by coming here?
After
a short while a tall, slender woman opened the door. “Yes?” she asked
quizzically on seeing Helen standing there.
“Mrs
Morgan?” The woman nodded and Helen continued. “My name is Helen Stewart. I’m
the Wing Governor at Larkhall…”
“Larkhall?”
Mrs Morgan interrupted anxiously. “Is something wrong with Rebecca?”
“Rebecca
is fine,” Helen assured her swiftly. “May I come in?”
“Of
course. Where are my manners?” Mrs Morgan stood to one side to allow Helen to
enter then, after closing the front door, led the way into the living room.
“Please sit down,” she invited then perched on the edge of an armchair.
Helen
sat down on the settee then took time to study the other woman. She was pretty
in a mousy-kind of way and she guessed, using her daughter’s age as a guide,
probably in her mid-forties. Her eyes were kind and warm in complete contrast
to Rebecca’s flinty stare that had sent a shiver down Helen’s spine on more
than one occasion.
“Would
you like a cup of tea?”
Helen
was on the point of refusing then realised that while the lady of the house was
in the kitchen she could have a good look around the room. A good look around
the room for what though? She realised that Mrs Morgan was waiting for her
reply and forced a smile. “That would be lovely. White, no sugar, thank you.”
When
she was alone she looked around her. Whilst the room wasn’t expensively
furnished it was clean and tidy. The only item to hold any interest was a
bookshelf against the wall on which stood an array of photograph frames of all
shapes and sizes. She stood up and casually walked across to it. Nearly all the
photographs were of Rebecca at some point in her life…at school, on holiday;
the mother obviously doted on her daughter. She caught sight of a small frame
holding a picture of a man and wondered if it was Rebecca’s father. She bent
over for a closer inspection then stepped back sharply as if she had been
slapped. ‘Oh, my God!’ she whispered.
“Is
something wrong?” Mrs Morgan spoke behind her and nearly scared her half to
death.
“No,
I…I…would you excuse me, I’ve just remembered I have a meeting,” she stammered before
dashing out of the house as if the hounds of hell were after her.
Mrs
Morgan frowned as she went and closed the front door. What on earth was all
that about? She hoped all the staff wasn’t like the Wing Governor. “Load of
loonies the lot of them!” she exclaimed then shook her head with a smile when
she realised she had been talking to herself.
Helen
sat behind her desk breathing rapidly, the enormity of what she had just learnt
slowly sinking in. It all fell into place now. She picked up the telephone and
spoke quietly into it. “Would you have Rebecca Morgan brought to my office,
please? Wait, on second thoughts, get me the police!”
On to Chapter 15 – Final Chapter