As a police officer, Bailey felt a similar way about snitches herself, but this was a means to an end. And, anyhow, if all went to plan, it wouldn’t turn out like a normal snitching.

Shelley did an about-turn and headed towards the stairwell which would bring her out on the top landing closest to where Toni was situated.

Bailey glanced around, checking that no one had seen her talking to Shelley. She waited until Shelley had begun to climb the stairs and then she took action. She marched rapidly in the opposite direction towards the central atrium.

There were three main stairwells in each house-block – one by the central junction of the four wings, one in the middle of each wing and one at the far end of each wing. Shelley had taken the one at the far end of D-Wing. Bailey took the one by the central atrium, paralleling Shelley’s ascent, going up two stairs at a time, as fast as she could without drawing too much attention to herself.

She reached the top floor at exactly the same time that Shelley did. Peering along the landing, she saw Toni clock Shelley and rapidly begin to walk away, head down, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

‘Hey you! Stop!’ barked Shelley.

Toni continued walking, her hands tucked into the pockets of her tracksuit top, pretending she hadn’t heard Shelley, making out like she thought Shelley wasn’t talking to her.

‘Toni!’ shouted Shelley. ‘Stop right there!’

Toni halted without turning around. She gritted her teeth and cursed.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’ said Shelley.

Toni forced a smile onto her face. She turned around slowly, her hands still in her pockets. She smiled at Shelley. Shelley didn’t smile back, her face like granite. She paced slowly up to Toni, almost leisurely, knowing she had caught her bang to rights.

‘Just heading back to my cell,’ said Toni.

Bailey rapidly advanced along the opposite side of the landing to where Shelley was confronting Toni. She kept to the wall, unobtrusive, scurrying in the direction of the stairwell that Shelley had just ascended. She looped around it and began to work her way stealthily along the landing so she was right up behind Shelley, just a few metres away.

‘Empty your pockets,’ she could hear Shelley saying.

‘I don’t have anything on me,’ said Toni.

‘I don’t want to have to repeat myself. Now empty your pockets.’

‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘You’re in big trouble and you know it. Dealing drugs’ll get you an extra forty days in nick.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

But Toni was looking panicky now. Her eyes were darting around furiously, looking for some way out of the situation. But she was stuck and she knew it.

The landing had gone silent and all the inmates were now watching the show. They’d known exactly what Toni was up to. And they knew that if she emptied her pockets, which she would have to do in a matter of seconds, she’d be in big trouble. Bailey could feel the tension and anticipation in the air.