By
Jan
Chapter 11
Nikki
looked in disgust at the breakfast Dockley had begrudgingly slapped onto her
plate…a sausage that was burnt to a crisp and a fried egg so like rubber she
could have soled her shoes with it. She had put up with it for weeks but this
morning something inside her snapped. She tipped the plate upside down and
watched with satisfaction as the offending food items dropped onto the equally
offensive porridge.
“Watch
it, you dozy cow! Somebody’s got to eat that!” Dockley exclaimed.
“I
don’t think so,” Nikki remarked smugly. “It’s only fit for pigs. Maybe you
should feed it to the screws.”
As
Dockley dug her hand into the porridge to remove Nikki’s breakfast, the tall
inmate grabbed her wrist and forced her hand down into the gooey mass.
“I
am sick of taking your crap!” Nikki hissed. She nodded towards Dawn, the other
servery assistant. “Now, tell her to give me a decent breakfast for a change!”
“OK!
OK! Give it ‘er!” Dockley wailed. She looked over Nikki’s shoulder and the pain
and fear in her eyes turned to triumph. She gave a strangled cry.
“What
the ‘ells going on ‘ere?”
Shit!
Nikki muttered under her breath as she heard the detested voice of Principal
Officer Jim Fenner behind her. She released Dockley’s wrist and turned to face
the PO, a supercilious look on her face.
“Well?”
Fenner looked from Dockley to Nikki and back again. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,
sir,” Nikki replied smugly then turned and looked at Dockley, daring her
to lag in front of all the other women who were waiting to be served. “Is
there, Shell?”
Dockley
opened her mouth then thought better of it and quickly shook her head.
Fenner
leant in close to Nikki. “I’m watching you, Wade. One wrong move and I’ll ‘ave
you.”
“In
your dreams, Fenner!” she muttered sarcastically as she watched him walk away.
Since she’d been in Larkhall, she’d come to realise that Fenner was a bent
bastard. She had seen the way he looked at the women and she was almost certain
something was going on between him and Dockley. She turned back to the servery.
Dockley was wiping her hands on a cloth and firing daggers at Nikki. “Think
I’ll just have tea and toast, thanks, Dawn,” she said with a smirk.
Sighing
wearily, Trisha let herself into the house. The nights were the times she
missed Nikki the most. After a long day, they used to come home and unwind over
a drink or fall into bed and lie in each other’s arms talking or…She shook her
head. She didn’t want to go there. She missed Nikki’s physical presence and she
ached to make love to her again.
In
the months since Nikki had been in Larkhall, she had lived her life around the
fortnightly visit that meant so much to them both. She had been Nikki’s only
visitor; both loathe to relinquish the precious time they had together to
anyone else. She went through her days as if in a trance, thinking only of the
next time she saw Nikki.
The
club was becoming too much for her to manage on her own but it was Nikki’s
dream and she had to keep it going.
She
took a few hours off the following night and went round to see Mynah. Chris,
Mynah’s partner and a doctor at the local hospital, was on late shift so over a
glass of wine Trisha found herself pouring her heart out.
“Honey,
you can’t put your life on hold until Nikki comes home again,” Mynah told her
after she had listened sagely. “She loves you, she wouldn’t want you to become
a hermit.”
“But
it’s my fault she’s in prison,” Trisha replied tearfully. “How can I go out
enjoying myself, knowing she’s locked away in that dreadful place?”
“It’s
not your fault! Get that idea out of your head!” Mynah retorted. “Nikki was
protecting you and what happened was a dreadful accident but it wasn’t your
fault and it certainly wasn’t hers! Talk to Nikki, tell her how you feel and
I’m sure she’ll say the same thing.”
“She
already has done.”
“There
you go then. We can’t both be wrong.” Mynah nudged her playfully in the ribs
and Trisha smiled at her. “Next week, Chris and I are going out with some of
her colleagues from the hospital, why don’t you come with us?”
“I
couldn’t…” Trisha began but Mynah swiftly interrupted her.
“No
need to answer now. Think about it and let me know later.” She put her arm
around Trisha and hugged her. “You’ll get through this, honey, and Nikki will
be home before you know it.”
Nikki walked down the wing,
her sharp eyes taking in everything. She used to go round the club the same way
trying to stop trouble before it started. Shell Dockley was talking to a young
inmate…Lucy somethingorother. She watched as Dockley grabbed hold of the
youngsters arm and saw the look of satisfaction in her eyes as the girl
squirmed. She knew Dockley was bullying some of the other inmates, trying to force
them to get drugs brought in but like all bullies she was also a coward and in
the weeks since their confrontation at the servery Dockley had left her alone.
She went up behind the blonde inmate, grabbed hold of her shoulder and spun her
round. “Leave her alone!” she ordered then turned to Lucy. “Beat it!” The girl
didn’t need telling twice and she scurried off.
“What the ‘ell you playin’
at, Wade?” Dockley’s face contorted angrily.
Nikki glared at her
menacingly. “If I so much as see you look in her direction again, I’ll knock
the living daylights out of you!”
“Fancy ‘er for yourself?”
Dockley mocked.
“Just keep your filthy mouth
shut!” Nikki retorted, her fingers digging into the soft flesh on Shell’s upper
arm until she suddenly started yelling out in pain. Nikki realised why she was
making so much noise when someone grabbed hold of her and she was yanked round
to face…Fenner!
“You just won’t learn, will
you, Wade?” Fenner snarled. “But I’m sure a few days on the block will knock
some sense into that thick skull of yours.”
Nikki struggled to free
herself from his ever-tightening grip. “Take your hands off me, you shit!” she
exclaimed. “I’m not one of your tarts to maul about!” She felt her wrists being
grabbed and a burly PO jerked her arms behind her and another one grabbed hold
of her head.
“Take her down to the
block!” Fenner ordered. “And don’t bother about being gentle with her!”
Struggling all the way,
Nikki was dragged down to segregation and pushed into a cell. As she started
back at one of her captors a fist slammed into her stomach and, winded, she
sank to her knees.
Laughing, the two PO’s left
the cell leaving Nikki doubled up in pain. A few days on the block, Fenner had
said and she was due a visit from Trisha tomorrow. She had no one except
Trisha. She had waited two long weeks just to see her again and now because of
her own stupidity it wasn’t going to happen. She rolled onto her side still
clutching her midriff and lay still, tears of pain, loneliness and desolation
streaming from her eyes. She was alone again!
Trisha
drew up outside the restaurant where she had arranged to meet Mynah and Chris.
She didn’t know now why she had agreed to come but Mynah had been dogmatic and
wouldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. As she got out of the car, Chris came out of
the restaurant to greet her.
“Saw
you arrive and thought you might feel a bit nervous coming in on your own,”
Chris told her thoughtfully.
“I
haven’t felt this nervous since my first date with…,” she stopped and a
stricken look crossed her face. “Chris, maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
“Come
on, it’ll do you good,” Chris said kindly. “I’d like you to meet someone. She
hasn’t been at the hospital long and she doesn’t know many people. Thought you
could take her under your wing for the evening.”
They
went into the restaurant and Chris led the way to a table where eight other
people, including Mynah, were seated. She made the introductions, leaving a
bespectacled, dark-haired woman until last. “And last but not least this is
Aileen Palfreyman…Aileen, Trisha Johnson.”
The
two women smiled at each other and as Chris slid into the seat next to Mynah,
Trisha realised that the only other vacant seat was next to Aileen. She sat
down and pushed her handbag under the chair.
“Do
you work at the hospital too, Trisha?” Aileen Palfreyman asked suddenly, whilst
they were eating their meal.
Trisha
grimaced. “Good grief no! I’m part owner of a nightclub.”
“Well,
if you don’t mind me saying, you don’t look the type,” Aileen replied candidly.
“And
what is the type?” Trisha asked with a twinkle in her eye.
Aileen
shrugged. “A sleazy middle-aged man.” She gave an attractive laugh. “You said
you were part owner, is your partner a sleazy middle-aged man?”
Trisha
turned away trying to quell the tears that were threatening to overwhelm her.
She felt Aileen’s hand cover hers.
“I’m
sorry, Trisha, have I said something to upset you?” Aileen said softly, the concern
in her voice unmistakable.
Trisha
looked at her and forced a smile. “You weren’t to know but my partner is my
girlfriend.”
Aileen
released her hand. “Oh, right. I understand.”
“No,
I don’t think you do,” she replied kindly. “I’ll tell you sometime but not now,
it’s too painful. Tell me what you do.”
“I’m
a consultant gynaecologist,” Aileen told her modestly.
“I’m
impressed” Trisha said honestly then added with a twinkle in her eye. “
Although you don’t look the type.”
Aileen
smiled. “And what is the type?”
“A
sleazy middle-aged old man!”
Both
women laughed causing Mynah and Chris to look at each other and smile. It was a
long time since they had heard Trisha laugh. Maybe now she would start living
again!
Nikki
replaced the receiver and pulled out her phone card. Every time she tried to
ring Trisha these days the answerphone was on. She knew the club was still
doing well but surely she didn’t spend all her days and nights there. She
strolled back towards her cell as Sylvia ‘Bodybag’ Hollamby’s voice echoed down
the wing.
“Lock-up
in ten minutes!”
“Hold
on, Nikki!”
Nikki
turned as she heard her name being called. It was Carol Byatt a young woman she
had befriended. Carol was in for shoplifting and she was also pregnant.
“Did
you get through to Trisha?” Carol asked as she reached Nikki.
“Bloody
answerphone was on again!” she exclaimed impatiently. “It’s her night off so I
thought she would be in. She knew I was going to ring her.”
“Wade,
back to your cell!” Bodybag ordered as she stalked past. “Byatt, upstairs!”
Nikki
and Carol raised their eyebrows at each other. “Would it hurt her to say
‘please’ once in a while?” Nikki remarked wryly.
“Might
break her heart, “ Carol grinned then added as an after thought. “If she had
one. See you tomorrow.”
Nikki
nodded. “See you.” She watched as Carol crossed to the iron staircase before
going into her cell.
Next
morning the wing was buzzing with excitement. A new wing governor was taking
over…a woman if the rumours were to be believed. It had been a harsh regime
under the old wing governor and with Jim Fenner carrying out his orders things
couldn’t get any worse.
Nikki
was standing with Carol when Simon Stubberfield, the Governing Governor entered
the wing flanked by Fenner and a woman wearing a grey two-piece suit. They
walked down the wing, Stubberfield talking animatedly.
“Do
you think that’s her?” Carol nodded her head towards the woman.
“Does
it matter? When you’ve seen one wing governor, you’ve seen them all,” Nikki
exclaimed cynically not even trying to keep her voice low. “The screws are all
bent and she’s probably no better. Come on, let’s go for a walk.”
Helen
Stewart turned and looked after the tall inmate walking out of the wing. The
woman obviously had no respect for authority; she hadn’t even bothered about
being overheard. She could see she was going to have trouble with that one!
“Ready,
Helen?” Stubberfield’s voice broke into her reverie.
Helen
gave a wry smile. “As I’ll ever be, Simon!”