‘She wanted out. But you know how it is…’

‘Blood out…’

‘Apparently she was going to snitch on us. I guess that ain’t going to happen now.’

Now it all made sense. The talk of being one member down and the dark looks that had passed between the gang whenever the subject arose. Natalie was the missing member. Natalie was a snitch. Natalie had wanted to leave the gang. And there was only one way to leave. Blood out.

The question Bailey was dying to ask was on the very tip of her tongue…

‘Right, that’ll do for today,’ said Poppy, wiping the blood and excess ink from the tattoo. ‘It’ll take a few more sessions to get the details completed, but I want to make sure it’s perfect.’

The moment had passed. Bailey felt a rush of frustration. She had been tantalisingly close to finding out the truth, she was sure of it.

She got off the bunk and put her clothes back on before glancing at her watch. Twenty minutes of free association time left. She hoped the queues at the phones weren’t too long.

Chapter 45

‘And that’s the reason it’s called HMP Foxbrook. Because of the River Foxbrook.’

Bailey stood in the queue for the phones half listening to Maggie as she cheerfully regaled the waiting line of inmates with facts and tales about the prison’s history.

Maggie was there to clear the queue and make sure that all the inmates went back to their cells when free association ended, which it would in about eight minutes’ time. But she appeared to be enjoying the opportunity to explain the etymology of the prison’s name to what was essentially a captive audience.

Bailey looked at her watch anxiously and willed one of the phones to become free soon. She had reached the very front of the queue and she was impatient to update Frank with what she had learned.

She glanced behind her. Some of the inmates were making a point of yawning widely, but that didn’t seem to deter Maggie from her mission to educate them on the more obscure points of the prison’s background. As prison officers went though, Bailey thought that Maggie seemed a good type and she did actually find some of her facts quite interesting.

Noticing a phone become free, she quickly hurried over to it. There were six minutes left within which to make the call. She punched in her PIN number and then dialled Frank’s telephone number. Rita answered after two rings.

‘Hello, Sullivan Knight Solicitors. How can I help?’

‘It’s Bailey Pike speaking. I’d like to talk to Mr Knight please.’

‘Just putting you through.’

She got to listen to five seconds of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata’ before Frank came on the line.

‘Have you found out how the drugs are getting into the prison?’ he said, bypassing the usual pleasantries.

‘I’m still working on it,’ she said.

‘Well work harder. The drugs squad are on my case. They’re the ones ploughing cash into this operation and so far they haven’t received any actionable intelligence from you.’