‘Sure, Mel. I’ll let you chill out. Just one thing though. When we were… uh… chatting the other day, you said a word. You said…’ Bailey braced herself. ‘…Hairdressa.’

At the sound of the word, Mel visibly tensed and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. Again, Bailey felt the bite of certainty that she was onto something, that Mel knew something. She was determined to find out what it was.

‘I was just wondering what you meant when you said that.’

Mel blinked and shuddered. ‘Mel doesn’t want to talk about it.’

‘It’s something to do with your past, isn’t it?’ said Bailey. ‘Is that why you take so many drugs, Mel? To forget about something that happened in the past?’

Mel rocked gently, staring back down at the dirt, her voice now wobbling unevenly. ‘Friends… all my friends… all gone now.’

‘Tell me what you meant, Mel,’ Bailey persisted. ‘What did you mean when you said Hairdressa? Is it a person?’ She paused. ‘Is it the killer?’

Mel stared at the ground mutely, trembling, her eyes open wide.

‘If you’re scared, Mel, I can protect you,’ said Bailey. ‘Tell me who the killer is and I can protect you. Tell me and we can all be safer. Do you know who the killer is? I think you know.’

But Mel was now lost in some trance of memory. She seemed to have forgotten that Bailey was there.

Bailey snapped her fingers in front of Mel’s face. Mel jerked her face up at Bailey, her teeth bared in a snarl. Bailey flinched, almost toppling over backwards. She recovered her balance and fixed Mel with a firm gaze.

‘I think you know something, Mel. I think you know something very important. I think you know who the killer is.’

Mel’s demented bloodshot eyes bored into Bailey. ‘Mel knows… Yes… Mel definitely knows…’

Bailey’s breathing quickened. Excitement seized her. She was almost there.

‘Tell me what you know, Mel,’ she whispered. ‘Tell me who the killer is.’

Mel opened her mouth, ready to speak and spill whatever she knew. Bailey leaned forward in anticipation.

Then Mel abruptly closed her mouth. The derangement in her eyes had receded slightly to be replaced by a sly and calculating look.

‘What’s it worth?’

Bailey did a double take. ‘Sorry?’

‘I said what’s it worth? Ain’t nothing for free in here.’

Bailey sighed. ‘Okay. How much money do you want?’

Mel shook her head and licked her lips hungrily.

‘I don’t want no money.’

Chapter 71

In the open palm of Bailey’s hand were three cling-filmed rocks of crack cocaine. As a member of a drug-dealing gang, getting hold of them hadn’t presented her with too much of a problem.

Mel sat entranced on the edge of her bunk, staring at them with a slavering hunger.

The two of them were alone in Mel’s cell. Mel’s current cellmate, the one who practised yoga, didn’t appear to be around at the moment and Bailey was hoping she’d remain absent until Bailey had finished her forthcoming business with Mel.