Bailey realised she had to do something right now to make Carly go away. As the undercover training instructor had repeatedly drummed into them, the ability to think on your feet and use your initiative were key attributes of being a successful undercover police officer. And right now she was thinking pretty hard…

She flicked her hair aside to reveal the jagged scar on the side of her face.

‘See this?’ she muttered.

Carly’s eyes widened. She nodded.

‘Seen it before?’ said Bailey.

Carly shook her head. Bailey had obtained the scar some time after dealing with Carly, so Carly wouldn’t have known her with the scar.

‘Quite recognisable, isn’t it?’ She injected a mean tone into her voice.

Carly nodded, staring at the scar.

‘I can give you one just like it if you want. Then everyone will recognise you very easily.’

Carly’s eyes widened in fear. She shrank away from Bailey.

‘Now fuck off and don’t bother me again,’ hissed Bailey.

Carly cowered and scuttled away out of the canteen.

The rest of the gang laughed and sniggered.

Toni patted her on the back. ‘Way to go, champ!’

Bailey breathed a sigh of relief and brushed her hair back down over her scar.

She might have deflected suspicion this time, but that didn’t mean this was the end of it by any means. Knowing that there was someone in here who could potentially identify her as a policewoman made her very, very uneasy. It made her situation inestimably more precarious. She couldn’t afford to let it eat away at her though. She took a deep breath to calm herself. She’d just have to roll with it and pray that her act just now had done the trick. Hopefully she wouldn’t be seeing any more of Carly Potson.

Chapter 37

Bailey lay awake on her bunk in the darkness of the night, pondering her progress so far. From below came the gurgle of Sharon’s snoring and the sporadic creak of the springs in her mattress as she shifted position in her sleep.

Beyond the locked cell, distant sounds echoed through the sepulchral Victorian edifice. The clang of a door opening and closing. The croak of muffled sobbing. The shout of a prison officer barking something to someone.

She’d been in here for almost three weeks, but it felt like considerably longer. She supposed it was good that she had adapted to prison life so quickly, but on the other hand, she had almost forgotten what life was like on the outside. Either way, she felt like she was making good headway in her investigation now that she had succeeded in infiltrating the gang.

It hadn’t taken long, of course, for Sharon to notice her bruises and nascent tattoo, along with her new lunch buddies in the prison canteen. Sharon knew exactly who the ABC were and what they did, and apart from a few minor asides, she was uncharacteristically restrained when it came to asking Bailey about her involvement with them. Bailey guessed Sharon held them in the same wary regard as everyone else in the place. At the very least, she was grateful for anything that might help to keep Sharon off her case.