‘I know you’re angry at being here,’ said Harris. ‘No one comes into a place like this of their own volition. But there’s no point in fighting the system.’

‘I’m not fighting anyone, Ed.’

‘Call it passive resistance, then. Call it what you want. But you’re here and you have to accept that. This place runs on co-operation. If you co-operate, your time in here goes smoothly. If you make waves, you’re the one who’ll get wet.’

‘I’ve already had the pep talk from the screws.’

‘Armed robbery, right?’

Macdonald shrugged carelessly.

‘You could get twelve,’ said Harris. ‘Play by their rules and you could be out in six. Play by yours and you’ll do the full twelve. Is it worth an extra six years inside to prove a point?’

‘What happened to innocent until proved guilty?’ asked Macdonald. ‘I’m on remand.’

‘The prison is full of innocent men,’ said Harris. ‘Nine times out of ten the guys I speak to swear on their mothers’ graves that they’ve been fitted up.’

‘Some of us were,’ said Lee.

‘Jason, you were caught with a knife in your hands and a Pakistani shopkeeper bleeding at your feet.’

‘I was provoked,’ said Lee.

Harris raised an eyebrow incredulously, then turned his attention back to Macdonald. ‘The point I’m making is that we all choose our own paths in here. Guilty or innocent, you’re inside until the system has finished with you. All I’m saying is that you have to think about what you’re doing.’

‘I know what I’m doing, Ed.’

Harris pushed himself off the wall. ‘I’ll drop by again in a couple of days, see how you’re settling in. Has Jason here explained the whys and wherefores?’

‘Pretty much.’

‘You couldn’t have a better guide. He’s been a guest at half a dozen establishments like this. Take it easy, yeah?’

Harris left, and the prison officer locked the door.

‘What’s his story?’ asked Macdonald.

Lee finished his cornflakes and washed his plastic bowl in the small stainless-steel sink by the toilet. ‘Murder, suspicion of,’ he said. ‘His trial’s in a couple of months. Topped his missus.’

‘And he’s offering advice to me?’

‘He’s a thief. A good one. Did a three-stretch in the Scrubs and when he came out his wife said she was gonna leave him and take the kids. He snapped. Picked up a bread-knife and damn near severed her head. Provocation, if you ask me. I mean, wives are supposed to stand by their men, right?’

Macdonald lay down on his bunk. ‘That’s what they say, Jason.’ He sighed. He read the information sheet that Harris had given him. ‘“You can talk to a Listener about anything in complete confidence, just as you would a Samaritan,”’ he read aloud. ‘“Everything you say is treated with confidentiality.”’ He looked over at Lee. ‘Is that right?’

‘Supposed to be,’ said Lee.

Macdonald stared up at the ceiling. There was only one person he could trust, and that was himself. Everyone else was a potential threat, and that included his cellmate.