By
Jan
Chapter 15
“Hi,
Nikki,” the soft dulcet tones of the Wing Governor spoke from the doorway.
Nikki
smiled at the sound of Helen’s voice and looked up from her book. “Miss
Stewart, hi,” she said pleasantly.
Helen
came all the way into the cell. Since that day in her office there had been an
uneasy sort of peace between them. “What’s that you’re reading?”
Nikki
closed the book and placed it on the bunk beside her. “’Jane Eyre’. I’ve always
fancied myself as ‘Rochester’. Just got to find myself a ‘Jane’,” she replied
raising suggestive eyebrows. A teasing smile played around her lips when she
realised how uncomfortable Helen was looking.
“I’ve…er…noticed
you spend a lot of the time reading or in the library,” Helen began
tentatively. “Have you ever considered further education? You could do an
English Lit course.”
Nikki
gave a surprised laugh. “Further education? Me?”
“Why
not?” Helen continued with more confidence. “There’s always the Open
University.”
“Do
you know how long it is since I left school?” Nikki demanded incredulously.
“So?
You’re never too old to learn. Why don’t you give it a shot?” Helen asked then
with a smile added, “For me?”
“Why
not? For you,” Nikki agreed cautiously. “What would I have to do?”
“For
now, just leave it to me.”
“Thanks,
Helen…I’m sorry…Miss Stewart,” she apologised quickly.
“I
don’t mind, as long as no one else hears you. It beats bloody ‘ma’am’,” she
added under her breath.
“Sorry?”
Nikki frowned.
“Nothing,”
Helen laughed. “I’ll find out about that course for you. See you later, Nikki.”
“See
you…Helen,” she said softly.
Helen
walked down the wing, greeting several of the inmates. She couldn’t believe the
change in Nikki Wade these past few weeks. She seemed to be trying to keep out
of trouble and was actually beginning to co-operate.
The
words blurred as Nikki looked down at her book. She really enjoyed talking to
Helen Stewart and at least she treated people like human beings. She closed the
book and tossed it back onto the bunk. What a bloody joke! The highlight of her
day was flirting with one of her gaolers!
“I’ve
decided to move Nikki Wade onto G3,” Helen announced at the next briefing. She
hesitated slightly, waiting for the repercussions at her words and she wasn’t
disappointed.
“You
what?” Fenner, who had been leaning nonchalantly against the filing cabinet,
exploded. “The biggest bloody trouble-maker in Larkhall and you’re putting her
on Enhanced!”
“She’s
been really trying…”
“Well,
you’re right there, since the first bloody day she came in here!” he
interrupted facetiously.
Helen
cast him a scornful look. “As I was saying, Nikki is really trying to improve
her behaviour. She’s being co-operative; I’ve even got her to agree to take an
Open University course. I think she should be rewarded.”
“Why
don’t we give her a weekend pass?” Sylvia Hollamby put in sarcastically.
“I
agree with Helen,” Dominic McAllister ventured bravely.
“Nothing
new there then,” Fenner muttered in disgust.
“This
is getting us nowhere!” Helen retorted. She looked around at her officers
defiantly. “My mind is made up. Sylvia, I’ll leave you to tell Nikki the news.”
“That’s
right, give me all the plum jobs,” Sylvia grumbled under her breath.
Helen
sighed. Apart from Dominic, she always seemed to be at loggerheads with her
staff. She let Sylvia’s comment go over her head and stood up. “That will be
all, thank you.” She walked out of the office knowing that as soon as her back
was turned the knives would be out.
Nikki
was lying on her bunk, smoking, when Bodybag appeared in the doorway of her
cell wearing an expression that would have turned milk sour. “What can I do for
you, Sylvia?” she demanded insolently before taking a long draw at her
cigarette and blowing out a thin stream of smoke.
“You
can give me less of your cheek for a start,” Sylvia replied caustically. “Get
your things together, you’re moving out!”
“What?”
Nikki rose slowly to her feet. “I haven’t done anything! You can’t ship me
out!” she exclaimed frantically. She couldn’t leave Larkhall and…
“Helen
Stewart, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to move you onto G3.” Sylvia
sniffed disapprovingly. “If it was up to me, you’d be on the
block…permanently!”
“Enhanced?
I…I don’t understand,” Nikki replied, totally bemused.
“Me
neither!” Sylvia agreed. “Now, hurry up, I haven’t got all day!”
Nikki
tossed her cigarette into the toilet and hurriedly gathered together her
belongings. She couldn’t believe it…Enhanced! Never in her wildest dreams did
she think she would ever move from Basic.
Tears
filled her eyes as she looked around what would be her home for the foreseeable
future. It was amazing what a pair of curtains and a duvet could do for a girl!
“I’ll
be watching you, Wade!” Sylvia threatened. “One wrong move and I’ll have the
greatest pleasure bouncing you all the way back down to G1!”
“Don’t
worry, Sylvia,” she promised with a mocking smile. “I’ll make sure I don’t give
you any pleasure!”
The
prison officer gave her a suspicious look, at a loss to know whether she was
joking or not, before sniffing loudly and waddling out of the cell.
Helen
closed the front door wearily behind her and dropped her bag in the hallway.
“Don’t
take your coat off!” Sean ordered from the living room. “We’re going out.”
She
raised her eyes to the ceiling then forced a smile to her lips as he came into
the hallway to join her. “Where are we going?” she asked trying to sound
enthusiastic.
“Out
for a meal with Charles and Sarah.” He kissed her cheek then steered her in the
direction of the front door, stopping only to give her time to pick up her bag.
“I
do wish you wouldn’t do this, Sean,” she said tetchily as she opened the front
door.
He
looked at her in surprise. “I thought you would enjoy it after being stuck in
Larkhall all day.”
“That’s
just it, I’ve been stuck in that place all day now all I want to do is crash
out!”
“Come
on,” he coaxed. “We won’t stay out too late then when we come home I’ll massage
your feet for you.”
“Helen
smiled resignedly. “You certainly know how to get round me, don’t you?”
He
laughed and kissed her hard on the lips. “Anything for you.”
“Anything?”
she asked teasingly. Sean nodded. “How about giving the women some gardening
tips?”
“You
are joking? Right?” he asked hopefully.
“Wrong!
I’m not joking. Some of the women take a real interest in the garden and I
think they would enjoy a talk given by a professional.” Helen smiled to herself
at his sudden look of interest. She knew she had him hooked now she had
flattered his fragile male ego.
“OK,”
he agreed. “I have a free day next week. Will I get to meet your precious Nikki
Wade?”
Helen
looked at him in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“Well,
there aren’t many nights when her name doesn’t come into the conversation.” He
locked the front door and pushed the keys into his pocket.
“Don’t
exaggerate, Sean!” she retorted. “I’ve mentioned her a couple of times.”
“It’s
a little bit more than that, Helen,” he replied accusingly. “I was beginning to
think you had a fixation with her.”
“You’re
talking crap! She’s just another prisoner!” Even as the words left her lips,
she knew that wasn’t strictly true. Maybe she had been singling Nikki out as a
special case. “Come on, let’s go!” she snapped and hurried down the steps.
It
was lunchtime and the smell of over-cooked cabbage filled the air. Nikki pushed
her food thoughtfully around her plate. On her way down to the dining room she
had bumped into the Wing Governor on the stairs. It was the first chance she’d
had to speak to her about the move to Enhanced and it had been embarrassing
having to feel grateful to a screw but Helen’s smile of pleasure at her words
had made her glad she had taken the time to thank her. Helen had said ‘don’t
let me down’ but she knew that was something she would never do.
“Miss
Stewart has arranged for a landscape gardener to come in and give us a talk,”
Monica announced as she slid into the seat beside her.
“When’s
this?” she asked before taking a drink of luke-warm tea from her mug.
“Next
Thursday,” Monica replied, shaking salt over her shepherd’s pie. “It’s up on
the notice board. I thought I might go. How about you?”
“Yeah,
why not? I can pick his brains.” She took a mouthful of food then grimaced.
“Bloody hell! There’s more gristle than meat in this pie. No wonder you never
see any rats around this place!” she exclaimed then added with a smile. “Apart
from Fenner!” She dropped her cutlery onto her plate in disgust and leaned back
in her chair. “I bet you’re looking forward to seeing Spencer tomorrow, aren’t
you?”
Monica
laid her knife and fork down and pushed her plate away. “I can’t wait,” she
said happily. “It will be lovely to see him again.”
“What
about Spencer’s father? Did they ever meet?”
“Only
once,” Monica replied sadly. “When he saw Spencer had Down’s Syndrome he didn’t
want to know.”
“He
sounds like my father. He couldn’t cope with knowing I wasn’t perfect either,”
came the bitter response.
“Well,
you didn’t turn out so badly,” Monica said kindly.
Nikki
laughed in surprise. “I don’t think he would agree with you there, Monica. I’m
serving life for killing a copper.”
Monica
took hold of her hand and gripped it tightly. “You were helping a friend,
Nikki.”
“Yeah.
Pity you weren’t the judge,” she said wryly.
Nikki’s
heart sank when she saw Shell Dockley and Denny Blood heading in the same
direction she and Monica were. She nudged Monica. “I don’t bloody believe it!
Those two don’t know one end of a spade from another so why are they going to a
gardening talk?”
“You
know Dockley, any excuse to skive off,” Monica muttered.
“If
she starts any bother I’m going to thump her! Helen…” she stopped, mentally
reprimanding herself for the use of the Wing Governor’s first name but Monica
seemed not to have noticed. “Miss Stewart organised this as a treat for us and
I’m not letting those two spoil it.”
The
guy giving the talk was a bit of a wimp but he seemed to know his stuff and
Nikki listened appreciatively to what he had to say.
Unfortunately,
Shell and Denny had other ideas and took every one of his comments as a sexual
innuendo.
“Why
don’t you shut it, Shell?” Nikki exclaimed after a while. “Some of us are
interested.”
“Have
you got a garden at home?” Sean asked Nikki, grateful for her intervention.
“No,
but I did quite a bit of gardening a few years ago,” she informed him pleasantly.
“And I work in the prison garden.”
“Let
me know if you need any help,” he offered.
“Thanks,
I’ll remember that,” she replied gratefully. “And thanks for coming today.”
“Thank
Helen, she badgered me into it,” he said with a grin.
“Did
I hear my name mentioned?” Helen asked as she suddenly appeared beside him. She
smiled at Nikki. “Everything alright?”
“Yeah,
it was great, thanks,” the inmate enthused. “Very informative.”
“You
owe me,” Sean teased as he slipped an arm around Helen’s shoulders.
She
felt strangely uncomfortable at his action, especially when she saw the
surprised look on Nikki’s face and felt she owed her an explanation. “Sean is
my…”
“Fiancé,”
he put in proudly. “She asked me to marry her this morning.”
Helen
groaned inwardly at his admission. He had mentioned marriage that
morning but she hadn’t given him her answer, although he seemed to take it for
granted she would say ‘yes’.
Nikki
looked taken aback. “Well, I’ve learnt quite a few things today,” she said
bitterly. Her eyes lingered on Helen before she turned with a muttered ‘Miss’
and blindly left the room.
Helen
watched her go, suppressing an uncontrollable urge to chase after her.
“Are
you going to treat me to lunch?” Sean asked as he slid his arms around her.
“If
you like,” she gave him a weak smile, although she felt like slapping him. In a
matter of minutes she felt he had undone all the good work it had taken her
weeks to achieve with the inmate.
Nikki
slammed compost into a plant pot and stabbed at it with a trowel. The Wing
Governor had a boyfriend…so what? She should have known there was someone
waiting at home for her, the woman was too beautiful not to have a partner. Not
that it had anything to do with her. She slammed more compost into the plant
pot as tears misted her eyes.
The
potting shed door opened and she turned her head and found Helen standing
there. “You kept that one quiet, didn’t you?” she said accusingly.
Helen
gave a surprised laugh. “Sorry but it’s not really any of your business.”
“What
are you doing here then?”
“I
don’t know,” she admitted honestly. “But I don’t have to explain myself to
you.”
“Fine!”
Nikki snapped. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’m busy.”
“Does
it upset you that Sean and I are getting married?” Helen persisted
“Why
the hell should it?” she exclaimed.
“That’s
what I’d like to know,” Helen replied. “Nikki, just what is your problem?”
What
was her problem? The Wing Governor had a boyfriend and was getting married and
she was as jealous as hell, that’s what her problem was! She looked at Helen,
shaken by the sudden acknowledgement of her feelings for the woman. Beth, Ros,
Annie, Trisha and all the other women she had known…Helen Stewart meant more to
her than any of them. She turned away, afraid her emotions would be revealed in
her eyes.
“Nikki?”
Helen said questioningly. “Are you alright?”
“I’m
fine,” she replied off-handedly. “Now, do you mind leaving me alone!”
“As
it happens I do mind!” Helen retorted. “Why are you being like this?”
Nikki
whirled round, her lovely face contorted in anger and confusion. “You really
want to know?” she snapped.
“Of
course I want to know. We were getting along so well, I thought we were
friends.”
“Friends!”
Nikki scoffed.
Helen
shook her head. Her patience with the fiery inmate was beginning to wear a bit
thin. “What the hell is this all about, Nikki?” she demanded.
“You
really want to know?” Nikki repeated sarcastically. She grabbed hold of Helen’s
hand and held it against her own breast. “It’s about this!”
THE END…(or is
it the beginning…?)