The Governor had adopted that pained look which he always took with Terry, who constantly seemed to find something to have a go at him about.

‘Look, we’ve covered this before,’ said the Governor. ‘It’s not going to happen. You’ll just have to make do.’

‘Just like we always have to make do?’ Terry shook his head in disgust. ‘The police have them.’

‘You’re not the police.’

‘Exactly. Our job is so much tougher than theirs is, yet we get treated so much worse. Every minute of our working day consists of dealing with violent, suicidal, mentally ill and substance-addicted criminals. All they have to do is arrest them. In terms of contact time, we have to interact with these people on a much more frequent basis.’

‘While I understand these objections,’ said the Governor, ‘I don’t want them to be getting in the way of the current police investigation. I want you to give the police your fullest co-operation.’

Since the murder, police detectives had been in the prison conducting an investigation, but as far as Amber had heard, they hadn’t made much headway into solving the case.

‘Bloody coppers,’ muttered someone behind her. ‘Coming in here. Walking around like they own the place, like they deserve some kind of respect. Well, we’re the ones who deserve respect. More than them.’

There was another disgruntled murmur of assent among the assembled prison officers.

‘That’s enough whinging,’ snapped the Governor. ‘The sooner you help them clear it up, the quicker they’ll be out of your hair. And the sooner they’re out of here, the better because it’s not the kind of thing that looks good in the newspapers.’

Amber knew how much the Governor cared what people thought of him. She’d been in his office one time when she’d first started and remembered seeing a big framed photograph on the wall depicting him standing next to the current Home Secretary with a proud grin on his face.

‘One more thing,’ said the Governor. ‘I should also remind you that with this murder the inmate was mutilated… scalped. The scalp was missing from the crime scene and still hasn’t been found. This is also something you need to look for when you carry out the cell search.’

There was a chorus of groans and whistles of disgust.

‘Scalped?’ whispered Amber. ‘Why on earth would someone do something like that?’

Maggie shuddered. ‘Beats me.’

‘Let me get this straight,’ said Terry. ‘We’re looking for a human body part?’

‘That’s correct,’ replied the Governor uneasily.

‘It’s not part of our job remit to be looking for human body parts,’ huffed Terry. ‘There are hygiene issues for one thing. We haven’t received adequate training to deal with this kind of situation. We’ll see what the union has to say about this.’

‘Just get on with it!’ snarled the Governor and turned and marched out of the room.

Chapter 7

The cell was fitted out in exactly the same way as almost all of the other cells in the prison – two metal-framed bunks, a stainless-steel sink, a mirror, a toilet, a small table in the corner and a single barred window seemingly designed to let in only the most miserly amount of light.