"SOIT? But that's for '
"For victims of sexual assault. That's right."
Tracey Lamb's name was on the board in the reception wing of Holloway Prison. It said she had a legal visit that afternoon at two o'clock. At one forty-five they took her with the other girls down to the holding celclass="underline" "Cunts' Corner', it was still called, just as it had been the last time she was here.
"You're in room one." Room one: that made sense -the one with the TV for video evidence, nearest to the kangas' station so they could keep her under their noses. "Here's your drawer." Lamb scowled at the officer, held wet fingers to the end of the roll-up to stop it burning, and slung it in the drawer to smoke later. "And the rest." The officer rattled the drawer. Obediently Lamb reached into the breast pocket of her T-shirt for her roll-ups. She had a tiny amount of tobacco as a remand prisoner she was allowed thirty pounds a week and that had to buy toiletries and all her tobacco.
Three K. Just think three grand, straight through your fingers.
"Come on, room one, let's be having you."
She was shepherded out of the cell, down the glass-lined corridor and into the room where Kelly Alvarez waited with her papers spread out on the table.
"Hi, Tracey."
"Yeah, what do you want?"
"I want to just tie up some loose ends about your bail next week -I want to be ready for them this time. Want to have a package to offer." She gleamed across at her client, anxious for a response.
Tracey sat down opposite and scowled. "You never told me I might not get bail today."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry about that, Tracey."
"I'd of skipped if I'd known this was going to happen."
"Tracey, that particular judge has got a reputation for it. I spoke to Prosecution afterwards and he was as surprised as I was." She smiled. Yellow teeth. "But we'll make a new application next week and then there'll be no problem."
"Yeah?" She raised her chin a little and looked carefully at Alvarez. In a week Steven might not be alive if he hadn't got out of the ropes he might still be there, bound to the cupboards and the table in the caravan. Seven days how long would it take? What the fuck would you do with a body f What did he have for water and food? The Cokes and chocolate she'd brought him this morning, and a little water in the bottle under the sink. "How can you be so sure I'll get out next time?"
"Ah, because I've got some inside info." She winked broadly. "Today's judge will be on holiday next week and it'll be someone else. There'll be no problem, I promise you."
Lamb nodded thoughtfully. Accustomed to looking over her shoulder, spotting the sleight-of-hand in every encounter, her senses were perfectly tuned in to certain frequencies and she could tell that Kelly Alvarez was not suited to this profession. She could tell that Alvarez was an idealist who wanted badly to please her clients and she knew exactly how to make this fundamental flaw work for her. "Did you find out how they got me?" she said.
"They had a video of you."
"Just one?"
"Just the one." She held up her copy. "Want to see it?"
"No." She shifted in her chair. "What am I doing in it?"
"You are…" She coughed neatly into a big fist. "You are indecently assaulting a small boy."
"Have you seen it?"
"Yes."
"And? Where are we? What am I wearing?"
"You're on a bed."
"Leopardskin cover?"
"That's the one. They'd had it for years." Alvarez put her head on one side, her eyes sympathetic. "I think it was always going to happen, Tracey. The only good thing is that it's all a long time in the past. They haven't got anything recent a jury will be convinced you've put it all behind you."
"No internet stuff?"
"Uh…" Alvarez started to look uncomfortable at the direction of the conversation. "No," she said cautiously. "The video was the only piece of evidence that's come to light so far."
"OK." There are at least four more videos of you in the stuff Penderecki was holding and a whole pack of Carl's internet stuff. Caffery would have surrendered all of that if he'd been connected. Lamb rubbed her hands over her face and looked over her shoulders at the kangas' station. "Right." She turned back, leaning forward, her voice lower. "I asked you about DI Caffery."
"Yes," Alvarez seemed happy to change the subject, "I was interested in that I asked Prosecution and he hadn't heard of him."
"You sure?
"Certain. I did a bit of asking around and he's with a totally different unit, absolutely nothing to do with the paedophile unit and certainly nothing to do with the investigation. Why? What're you thinking?"
"Nothing." But she was. Her thoughts were pounding along. Something in her kept stretching, stretching as hard as it could towards that money every sinew, every cell. "You reckon I'll get bail next week, then?"
"Oh, yes. I can guarantee you will."
Thirty.
It didn't take long for Caffery to recognize that Carmel Peach was on medication. During the night, Alek had been moved to an annexe room in a new ward, and Carmel sat at the end of his bed painstakingly picking the onions out of a bowl of minestrone soup and placing them in a napkin. She looked as if the pigment had been sucked out of her, as if what was left standing was just the dried-out hide. She had chipped her nail polish into flakes that lay across her T-shirt and jeans, and when Caffery and Souness came into the ward she looked up but didn't recognize their faces. Her mind flicked past them easily and she went back to the soup.
"Alek." Souness sat down next to him on the bed. Caffery closed the door and pulled down the blind. "Alek," Souness said gently, 'do ye know why we're here, son?"
"To give me more grief?" He was wearing a black and silver Elvis T-shirt and two or three pillows supported his back. His sideburns had been trimmed, right up to the grey, and next to him, on the side of the bedside cabinet, a child's crayon drawing had been taped. Kenny from South Park, "Rory' written in brown felt tip at the bottom. "You can't hurt me now." He stared at his big hands, his head drooping. "Not any more. Just do what you have to do."
"We're sorry." Caffery mirrored Souness and sat down on the bed, conscious of the intimacy of sitting so close to Peach. "We're here to say that we're sorry 7'm sorry, but there's still something you're not telling us, Alek. Something happened in your house…" He cleared his throat. "Something happened before Rory was kidnapped. We've got an idea what but we'd like to hear it from you because '
He stopped. Carmel had suddenly sat bolt upright. Without a word she slammed down the napkin, got to her feet, stuffed her feet into a ragged pair of trainers, the backs pressed down under her heels, and walked jerkily around the room, humming loudly to herself, a snatch of music from a car advert, picking things up and putting them down, opening the bedside cupboard and pulling objects out, noisily rearranging them. Seeing her expression Alek put his face in his hands and shook his head despairingly. Caffery leaned forward and spoke in a low voice, above the noise, "I'm sorry, Alek, if this seems insensitive, but it has to be done."
"Da da da daV Carmel sang the tune out loud. Caffery looked up to find her glaring angrily at him. "Da-da da-daV
"Carmel, love," Peach said, 'go and wait outside."
Furiously, silently, she grappled in her handbag for cigarettes and a lighter, not taking her eyes off Caffery, and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. It took him a moment or two, staring at the closed door, to get rid of that angry, war-mask image. He shifted a little, and glanced over at Souness, who shrugged.