So she’d had to just sit there and watch, wincing inwardly when Amber got hit, feeling secretly relieved when Terry had finally arrived.

‘That fight was very revealing,’ Sharon continued. She picked a toenail clipping out of her hair and flicked it onto the floor. ‘I was sitting at the table right next to them.’

‘I didn’t exactly get what it was about. I think one of them was accusing the other one of stealing her boyfriend or something.’ It seemed pretty standard, run-of-the mill stuff to Bailey.

‘I’m surprised no one’s noticed it.’

‘Noticed what?’

‘Knowledge is power.’ Sharon tapped her nose.

Bailey realised that Sharon was deliberately obfuscating, being all coy about whatever secret she seemed to know. She appeared to enjoy playing these little games and Bailey guessed it was her way of gaining validation.

Bailey sighed and played along. ‘So what are you going to do with this “knowledge”?’

Sharon smiled and rubbed her thumb and forefinger together in the universal sign for money.

Blackmail of some sort.

As Bailey recalled, that was the reason that Sharon had ended up in here in the first place. A leopard doesn’t change its spots, she thought.

She watched her cellmate cutting her toenails and reminded herself just how dangerous Sharon was. Bailey was terrified that she would reveal something in her sleep that Sharon could exploit to her advantage, like the fact that she was an undercover cop. Although everything seemed okay for the moment, she knew she would have to continue to tread very, very carefully around her.

Chapter 48

There was no reason given for the summons, merely an order to come to cell 319 in C-Wing at 2 p.m.

Bailey paced briskly along the second-floor landing of C-Wing, navigating her way through the various groups of inmates who were lounging around. Sunlight filtered feebly down through the begrimed skylights high above, hinting that it might be quite a nice day outside.

She looked at her watch. It read 13:59. She arrived at the cell, pausing for a moment to catch her breath. It wouldn’t look seemly to be too flustered. Then she stepped into the doorway, tensed, prepared for anything.

Toni was sitting on the edge of the lower bunk, alone in her cell. She smiled up at Bailey with all the warmth of a crocodile, her gold tooth glinting. She patted the bunk beside her. ‘Don’t be shy. Come on in. Take a seat.’

Bailey hesitated for a fraction of a second, then went in and sat down next to her, but not too close. She shivered. The cell seemed unusually cold. Or maybe she was just scared.

She glanced around. The decor was relatively sparse. On the desk were an Xbox and a stack of violent video games, along with a copy of Mein Kampf and a large academic textbook entitled Principles of Human Anatomy.

‘I don’t think me and you have had the chance for a proper one-to-one catch-up yet, have we?’ said Toni.