Alan nearly smiled as he marvelled at a woman’s knack of having not only the last word, but putting you well and truly in your place while having it.

Sadie sat with Donald Lewis in the recreation room. The TV was blaring. Neighbours’ Australian slang was reverberating around the room.

‘I’d give her one.’

Someone called out from the card table. ‘You’d give my fucking granny one!’

Timmy glowered at Lewis and Sadie as he watched them playing dominoes. Sadie caught his eye and Timmy read the hopelessness there. Sadie’s hair was back in a neat pony tail, and her face was devoid of make-up. She was wearing a regulation denim shirt and tight-fit jeans, nick fashion for a gay’s straight clothes. Gone was the shirt tied under the breastbone, the swaggering walk, the thick eyeliner. She was conforming to what Lewis wanted in a partner.

Everyone was amazed at Lewis’s decision to take Sadie on board. He liked young fresh-faced boys with muscular bodies and clean-cut good looks. There was method in Lewis’s madness, but as yet no one had sussed out what it was.

‘Get me a cup of tea, Timmy, there’s a good lad.’

The room was static with tension as Timmy hoisted his huge bulk out of his chair and stood up. Every man in the room, screws included, knew that old Timmy loved Sadie in his own way. Outside the confines of prison Timmy wouldn’t have given her the time of day. But as a man who had spent over half his life locked up in top security, he had two sets of principles, one for the inside and one for the outside.

Outside, Timmy had his wife and children, whom he adored in his own rough fashion. Inside, he always picked himself up a galboy. He liked the sex, the friendship, and the fact that the boy needed him.

Timmy didn’t know the exact meaning of love, could not have explained it to himself or anyone else. What he did know was he liked being with someone, liked looking after someone, and they took the place of his wife, Vi. He could share confidences with them, and they made the time pass that bit quicker. Sadie had been his wife, lover and child all rolled into one.

Now she was with Lewis, and it was small consolation that he knew Sadie wasn’t pleased about it. Another galboy might have enjoyed the notoriety Lewis could afford them, but Timmy knew that Sadie had a lot of affection for him. She was genuine, in a world where that was a hard-won commodity. Sadie was a diamond.

Lewis watched Timmy amble from the room, his hugeness a balm to Lewis’s ego.

‘What’s the matter, Sadie, missing your old beau?’

She concentrated on the dominoes. ‘You know me better than that, Mr Lewis. But Timmy and I were good friends.’

Lewis outlined the delicate features of her face. ‘Do you know why I picked you, Sadie?’