The men in the rec room were getting excited now. It didn’t take a lot to get them going. Normally it was a child sex case or a rape case on the television that really sent them over the edge.

One of the men got up and shook his fist at Paul Keating’s picture on the television screen. ‘You ugly bastard! The Queen should tell him and all the Australians to fuck off out of it. We don’t need them anyway. Load of ponces they are!’

Sadie joined in the argument. ‘I don’t know what they’ve got to shout about out there - they’ve got a bigger gay population per capita than America even.’

‘What’s bleeding shitstabbers got to do with it? You should have been put down at birth, you and that Aussie ponce!’ As soon as Arnold Da Silva had opened his mouth he regretted it.

Lewis’s voice came out in a thin hiss. ‘What’s that you just said, Arnold?’

The whole room went quiet. Even the two screws took a step towards the door.

Da Silva licked his lips nervously. ‘I never said nothing, Mr Lewis, only a load of old crap.’

Lewis smiled menacingly. ‘If you stopped to think once in a while instead of spending your days wanking you might get an insight into a bit of real life. We are all detained here at Her Majesty’s pleasure. She owns this nick so to speak; we have all allegedly broken her laws. On your court documents it had “So and So versus the Crown”. The Queen, I hasten to add, wears that crown. The Crown Prosecution Service put us all behind bars. If I met the fucking Queen I would not only snub her, I’d nut her.’

Devlin O’Grady, an Irish terrorist awaiting shipment to the Maze, clapped gently. ‘Well said, Mr Lewis.’

Lewis smiled and resumed his game.

‘As all our briefs said before we got sent down, “I rest my case”!’

Sadie’s words brought laughter even from Lewis, and the atmosphere lightened once more. The screws laughed along with the cons and peace was thankfully restored.

Georgio left the room and went to his cell, glad to find it empty. Lying down, he put his arms under his head and stared at the wooden slats of the bunk above him. He had to get out of this place. Lewis was baiting him with every word, with every movement. Knowing he wanted to hurt Donna was killing Georgio, especially since he couldn’t do anything about it. Only wait.

It was the waiting that was the worst.