Belinda nodded, looking askance at the two other women at the table. Briony bit into the dry as dust sandwich and made a face. What Belinda had said had worried her. ‘Wait until you’re sentenced.’ It was as if everyone had already found her guilty.. She took a sip of the hot sweet tea and that made her feel better. It was the stewed tea of her childhood. A, reminder of home. She felt a lump rise in her throat as she thought of what she had come to. Hastily swallowing it down she said: ‘Who is Mariah working through? That Tracy the screw?’

Belinda nodded.

‘Then tell her I want a message out of here today. I want to see my brief, and quick.’

Belinda nodded once more. The sheer force of the little woman’s attitude and her commanding presence hit home.

Gradually conversation started up between them and they chatted amicably until the bell rang for them to go back to their cells. It was as they walked up the stairs to their landing that the trouble started. Marilyn, the most hated screw in Holloway, stood arms akimbo in front of Briony. The buzz of conversation on the landing died out in seconds. Blank faces were swiftly averted. Briony felt the hair on the back of her neck rise as she looked into the hard face before her. Other screws were standing with the inmates, waiting to see the result of this confrontation.

‘I don’t like you, lady.’ Marilyn’s voice dripped venom.

Briony raised her head slightly to look her in the face.

‘You got the “lady” right, anyway. Now get out of my way.’

Even Belinda moved back as Marilyn’s arm came up. Briony grabbed at her uniform front and, jerking it as hard as she could, swung her body and turned, sending Marilyn careering down the iron stairs. Briony walked down after her slowly. Then, kneeling on the floor, she said in a whisper: ‘I don’t like you, fat girl, I don’t like you at all. You push me too far and I’ll see you dead. That’s a promise.’

Standing up, she tidied her hair and walked sedately back up the stairs and on to the landing. The buzz of conversation started up again as soon as she was safely inside her cell.

The prison was as quiet as it was ever going to be. The hollow sounds of people coughing, and others moaning in their sleep, could still be heard.

Briony lay in her bunk, her face white and strained. She had to get out of here, she had to get away!