By
Jan
Chapter 10
“So,
Ms Johnson, you’re saying Ms Wade was jealous of Detective Sergeant Gossard?”
the prosecuting council demanded.
Trisha
looked helplessly at her lover standing in the dock and received an encouraging
smile.
“We’re
waiting, Miss Johnson.”
“I
didn’t say that,” Trisha protested. “She…”
“Just
answer the question, Ms Johnson,” the prosecuting council interrupted quickly.
“Was Ms Wade jealous of Detective Sergeant Gossard? Yes or no?”
“Yes,
but…”
“On
the night in question,” the prosecuting council again cut short her words. “Was
Ms Wade showing signs of jealousy?”
“Objection,
m’lud!” the defence council interposed. “My learned colleague is asking for
conjecture from the witness.”
“Overruled!
I’ll allow this line of questioning, Mr Sydney, but move it along, please,”
Judge Jackson remarked almost irritably.
“Thank
you, m’lud.” Claude Sydney smiled fawningly as he turned his attention back to
Trisha. “I repeat, Ms Johnson, on the night of the murder…”
“Objection!
It hasn’t yet been established that a murder was committed, m’lud!”
“Sustained!
Strike Mr Sydney’s last comment from the record. Rephrase your question, Mr
Sydney.”
“Yes,
m’lud. Ms Johnson, we’ve established that Ms Wade was jealous of DS Gossard’s
attentions to you. Did you encourage his attentions?”
“No,
of course not!” Trisha exclaimed incredulously. “Nikki and I have been together
for seven years, I love her and I wasn’t interested in anyone else, particularly
not Gossard.”
“Then
why should she be jealous of him?”
“Every
time Gossard came into the club, he used to paw me…make advances towards me.”
“And
you’re sure you didn’t encourage his attentions?”
“Objection,
m’lud! Ms Johnson has already given a satisfactory answer to the question.”
“Sustained!
Move on, Mr Sydney!”
“Yes,
m’lud,” Sydney inclined his head at the judge. “Let us go back to the night in
question. Was DS Gossard drinking in the club that night?”
“I
didn’t see him.”
“So
he came in after the club was closed?”
“Yes,
he said he’d seen Nikki leave and he wanted to talk to me.”
“What
about?”
Trisha
shrugged. “I don’t know. He started to talk and before I knew what was
happening, he’d grabbed hold of me and tried to kiss me.”
“What
did you do?”
“I
pushed him off and told him I wasn’t interested.”
“Come
now, Ms Johnson. Do you expect us to believe that a man who was a husband and a
father as well as a respected police officer would just try and force his
attention upon you without any encouragement?”
“I
didn’t encourage him!” Trisha exclaimed. “He tried to rape me!”
“Ms
Johnson!” Sydney’s voice rose imperceptibly in the quiet courtroom. “I put it
to you that you encouraged Detective Sergeant Gossard’s attentions!”
“No!”
“You
invited him to the club that night after you knew Ms Wade would have gone to
take the staff home!”
“No!”
“She
came back and caught you and you pretended Detective Sergeant Gossard was
raping you!”
“No,
it wasn’t like that!”
“Then
you cooked up this cock and bull story between you to discredit a good man!”
“Gossard
tried to rape me and Nikki killed him to protect me!”
“Admit
it! You led him on and Ms Wade murdered him in cold blood!”
“No!”
“Objection,
m’lud!”
“Leave
her alone, you bastard!”
All
eyes turned to the dock, to look into the face of the accused glowering hatred
at the man laying into the woman she loved.
Sydney
gave a sly smile. He couldn’t have hoped for a more satisfactory outcome! “No
more questions, m’lud.”
A
minimum of ten years! A minimum of ten years!
The
words reverberated round and around in Nikki’s head as she paced up and down
the middle of the cell. No, it couldn’t be happening. They’d got her mixed up
with someone else. She wasn’t the remorseless killer she’d heard described in
court. That was someone else…someone who felt no guilt. She’d only been trying
to protect someone she loved. She laughed bitterly. But that was her. She didn’t feel guilty! She was
glad Gossard was dead then he wouldn’t hurt any more women and she’d told them
as much. She’d do it again to save Trisha…she’d told them that too.
Trisha!
She couldn’t survive ten years without her…without touching her…without
smelling her…without tasting her. Oh, Trish! Her heart cried longingly.
She’d
been in HMP Larkhall for two weeks and every morning of those two weeks she had
woken hoping to find it was all a dream.
She
heard the cell door being unlocked. “’Mornin’, Nikki my love,” prison officer
Lorna Rose greeted her matily as the heavy door swung open.
“Miss,”
Nikki muttered. Lorna Rose was her personal officer. She was a friendly, trendy
young woman in her mid-twenties but what did she know about the needs of a
thirty-year-old lesbian.
Nikki
picked up her plate and mug and went and stood in the breakfast queue. She
looked around her whilst she waited. She wasn’t like these women. Most of these
were losers, druggies. She was a successful businesswoman. Not rich but
comfortably off.
“Do
you want servin’ or not, Wade?”
Nikki
turned at the sound of the voice she had come to hate. Shell Dockley! She
looked scathingly at the peroxide blonde. “Tea and toast, please.”
Dockley
splashed tea into her mug then picked up a burnt slice of toast and tossed it
onto Nikki’s plate. “Only the best for a cop killer!” she sneered.
Nikki
gave a bitter smile. This was how it had been since the first day. Dockley was
‘top dog’ on G-Wing or like to think she was…targeting the younger, weaker
women, not that she was cowed. She’d dealt with harder cases than Dockley
before now. “I wasn’t hungry anyway,” she remarked smugly as she walked away.
She
sat down at a table and lit a cigarette then took a crumpled up piece of paper
from her pocket…a letter from Trisha. It was just a note really. She’d never
been much of a letter writer but it said everything she needed to know in a few
short lines …that Trisha loved and missed her. She felt tears prick her eyes
and sniffed. The envelope had been opened when she received it and she couldn’t
bear that someone had read the words meant only for her.
Trisha
walked into the visitors’ room and her eyes lit when she saw Nikki sitting at
one of the tables. As she reached the table, Nikki stood up and they embraced,
their lips touching fleetingly before a middle-aged woman barked across at
them.
“That’s
enough of that, Wade!”
“What’s
her problem?” Trisha demanded as they sat down, one either side of the table.
“That’s
old Bodybag!” Nikki told her with a grin. “Thinks dykes are unnatural.”
“A
face like hers is enough to turn anybody straight,” Trisha laughed softy.
Nikki
reached across the table and held her hand. “I’ve really missed you,” she said
passionately.
“I’ve
missed you too, babe,” Trisha agreed huskily. “You’ve lost weight.”
“The
meals in this place don’t encourage overeating,” Nikki remarked cynically. She
looked at Trish, her eyes softening with love. “How are things with you?
Managing to cope without me?” she teased.
“Nikki,
I can’t cope without you. I…” Her voice broke and she looked down at the table,
tears welling up into her eyes.
“Darling,
I’m sorry! That was a stupid thing to say,” Nikki replied apologetically. She
looked on helplessly as the tears slid down Trisha’s cheeks. “Don’t, babe,
please,” she begged as she reached out and gently stroked away the tears with
her thumb.
Trisha
forced a weak smile. “I’m sorry, Nik. These past few weeks have been hard
without you.”
“They’ve
been hard for me too.”
“I
can’t help feeling it’s all my fault. If you hadn’t been protecting me…”
“Shhh,”
Nikki placed her fingers over Trisha’s lips. “Don’t ever think like that. None
of this is your fault.” She smiled encouragingly. “Come on, tell me what’s been
happening.”
Trisha
spent the remainder of the precious minutes of visiting time telling Nikki all
her news. Nikki smiled, her heart almost breaking at each new disclosure but
she had to be strong for Trisha’s sake.
Eventually,
Sylvia ‘Bodybag’ Hollamby declared that ‘that was their lot’. The two women
stood reluctantly.
“I’ll
see you in two weeks, “ Trisha promised.
Nikki
nodded, her eyes taking in every detail of her lover’s face. This was all she
had to get her through the long days and nights in this godforsaken place.
“I
love you,” Trisha murmured softly.
“I
love you too.”
They
moved together, hurriedly making their farewells to each other until Bodybag’s
voice once more came between them.
“Back
to your cell, Wade!”
Nikki
watched Trisha leave then turned away. Now all she had to do was get through
the next two weeks until she saw her again…and the next two…and the next!