There. She’d said it. She’d finally done it. She’d broken cover.

It had been a momentous decision to make. And it went against everything she’d been taught. But she’d really had no choice in the matter. She now felt a vertiginous sense of apprehension at what the next few moments would bring.

The Governor sat there, staring at her over his steepled fingers. It was hard to tell what he was thinking. Then he raised his eyebrows in realisation.

‘I thought I recognised you. You’re the one who jumped off the balcony.’ He nodded slowly. ‘I believe there were certain issues surrounding your… uh… mental stability.’

‘I assure you I am completely mentally stable. I jumped off the balcony for a very good reason. I did that in order to infiltrate—’

‘I think you’d be better off talking to Doctor Bodie than to me,’ he said. ‘Why don’t we—’

‘Listen to me!’ she hissed.

He recoiled, taken aback. He suddenly looked a little bit scared.

‘There isn’t much time,’ she whispered. ‘There is a drugs ring operating inside this prison. They are using a breach in security to smuggle drugs in.’

‘That’s a ridiculous assertion! We follow security procedures extremely rigorously in this prison.’

‘There’s an old disused well in the prison laundry. One of your prison officers – Terry – is using this well as a conduit through which to transport drugs into the prison.’

‘If you’re a police officer then why wasn’t I told about you?’

‘We had no idea how deep the rot went. We couldn’t risk letting on about this operation to anyone who worked here.’

The Governor bristled a little and frowned.

‘These are very serious allegations.’ He looked up at the clock. ‘And they’re not something that we can adequately address in the next sixty seconds or so. Come back and see me tomorrow and—’

‘No! We have to act now.’

‘I’m starting to lose patience with you, Bailey. Now as I said—’

‘Inmates are being murdered in this prison, in case you hadn’t noticed! They’re being scalped and murdered. One of them was an undercover policewoman and she was also my friend.’

The Governor went silent.

Bailey continued, ‘The murders are being committed by a killer known as the Hairdresser. You may have heard of him. He gained notoriety for murdering prostitutes in the Midlands some years ago. He started off by taking the hair of his victims. Now he’s taking their scalps.’

‘The “Hairdresser”?’ said the Governor, rolling the name off his tongue sceptically.

‘His real name is Leonard Lee. He’s getting inside the prison via the same breach of security which is being used to bring the drugs in.’

‘This disused well?’

‘That’s right.’

He looked at the clock, then smiled pleasantly at her. ‘You’re out of time.’

‘We’re all out of time. Leonard Lee kills on a sixteen-day cycle and the next murder is due to take place tomorrow. We have to call the police, lock down the prison and locate the well, so we can catch him. If we don’t take action now then someone will die.’