Rong had made a little telescope with her hands and was looking around the atrium.

‘I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… ugly.’

‘That’s not a letter,’ said Keisha.

Rong removed the telescope from her eye. Her lip curled in an expression of disgust. Bailey followed her gaze. Amber had just entered the atrium with an inmate who Bailey didn’t recognise.

‘Yeah, I see what you mean,’ muttered Keisha, peering at the inmate who Amber was accompanying.

Despite her long black hair, large breasts and tall, relatively slender figure, the inmate had an unfortunately masculine-looking face, at odds with the rest of her figure.

‘Looks like a bloke,’ said Rong.

‘Probably got a cock,’ said Keisha.

The rest of the gang snickered.

As Amber and the inmate passed the gang, Rong and Keisha began to chant a little taunt.

‘U-G-L-Y, you ain’t got no alibi, you’re ugly!’ Clap clap-clap ‘Ugly!’ Clap clap-clap.

The inmate cowered self-consciously behind her long hair, hiding her face from them.

Amber shot them an angry glare, placing a protective hand on the inmate’s shoulder as she escorted her past the gang and out of the atrium. Bailey got the impression the inmate was relatively new to the prison and unused to the harshness of the place. She’d soon learn.

The gang burst into cackles of laughter and then proceeded to banter about other things.

‘Uh-oh,’ muttered Rong about ten minutes later.

She had spotted Amber marching towards them, her eyes blazing with anger.

Amber was alone now, having delivered the inmate to whatever destination she’d been taking her. She halted in front of them, standing there with her hands on her hips. Her gaze rested on Bailey for a fraction of a second and in that brief look Bailey detected both disapproval and disappointment that she was now sitting with the gang. Bailey would have liked to explain to her that it wasn’t what it seemed, that she was doing this for a very good reason, but her hands were tied and instead she just dropped her eyes in shame.

Amber then proceeded to reprimand Rong and Keisha.

‘It’s not very nice to sing nasty little chants like that.’

‘We were just having a bit of fun,’ said Rong.

‘You’re little better than playground bullies,’ chided Amber.

‘So why don’t you put us in detention,’ hissed Keisha.

‘I’ll put you on the nicking sheet if you don’t watch your tongue.’

Keisha sneered at her and said nothing. Bailey watched them face off and knew that Amber’s intervention was partially for her benefit. She was making a point to Bailey that she was hanging out with the wrong type of people.

Bailey made a mental note that someday, when this was all over, she would catch up with Amber, buy her a drink and explain the truth of the situation.

But for the time being she couldn’t break cover.

Chapter 61

Sharon thought about her cellmate as she walked through the prison. She was an odd one, that Bailey. She kept her cards close to her chest that was for sure, but could she really be an undercover police officer? The very idea of it seemed beyond belief.