Bailey felt a twinge of pity for her. It was quite evident that she was mentally unhinged. She was what was referred to in here as a ‘fraggle’ – a headcase. Crazy Mel.

As for the cause of her mental health issues, who knew? Perhaps Doctor Bodie did. But all the drugs she smoked probably didn’t help.

Mel suddenly emitted a loud shriek and stood up sharply, her chair falling over behind her. She stormed out of the canteen, limping furiously to the exit and pushing the swing doors open so hard that they banged violently against the wall.

Everyone fell quiet to watch the scene, which was over almost as soon as it had started. Conversation drifted back to normal with shakes of the head, indicating that this was nothing to be particularly surprised about when it came to Mel.

Her tray of chicken tikka masala lay untouched on the table. Kay was shrugging innocently as if to say ‘what did I do wrong?’

Reflecting on the scene, Bailey wondered if she herself wasn’t too far off becoming a fraggle. After all, hadn’t Kay said that you had to be a bit crazy to want to be an undercover cop, let alone one who’d agreed to infiltrate a prison?

Chapter 54

Leanne was scared. A cold sweat prickled across her skin and a nauseous dread filled her guts.

One minute she’d been in her cell enjoying a game of Connect4 with her cellmate. The next minute, the ABC were all standing there and they didn’t look too happy. Her cellmate had been told to make herself scarce, which she had done so in short order, leaving Leanne all alone with them. And that wasn’t a good situation to find oneself in.

She knew them all by name – Toni, Keisha, Rong and the big one they called Muscles, who was now blocking the doorway, her only avenue of escape. Not that escaping would have done much good. It would only be prolonging the inevitable.

She knew exactly why they were here.

‘I’ll get you the money,’ she stammered. ‘I promise. Just one more week. I promise.’

‘You said that last week,’ growled Keisha.

‘I mean it! Really.’ Against her will, a whiny pleading tone had entered her voice, which she knew would only increase their contempt for her.

‘The time for excuses is over,’ said Toni.

Leanne glanced desperately from one to the next, trying to eke out some glimmer of sympathy or understanding. But their faces were stony and unforgiving. She cowered before them and laughed nervously, as she was prone to do when things weren’t looking good.

‘What are you laughing at?’ snapped Rong, glaring at her cross-eyed.

‘Nothing.’

‘Are you laughing at me?’ Rong’s voice had taken on a low dangerous tone and she leaned in menacingly.

‘N… no.’

‘I don’t like people laughing at me. You laughed at me.’

‘No I didn’t.’

‘Are you saying I’m wrong?’

‘No, you’re right.’

‘No, I’m Rong, right?’

‘Right.’