‘Half an hour in your head and the information is yours.’
This time Kim’s head rolled back as her laughter exploded. It was genuine and Kim had to wonder how it was that her best laugh of the day had come from Alexandra Thorne.
‘That’s like saying I have a stick of dynamite but I only want to blow up part of your house. The rest of it would be pretty useless afterwards.’
‘You give me too much credit,’ Alex offered with a smile.
‘It wasn’t a compliment. You’ve tried and failed, and I’d rather see you rot behind bars for as long as—’
‘Not caught him yet then, your psychopath?’ Alex asked, raising one eyebrow. ‘Only you still seem to be a little stressed. Is he winning the game?’
‘None of your fucking business,’ she snapped.
‘I could help if—’
‘Alex, how many times do I have to say I want nothing from you, and if that’s your way of trying to keep me here, it’s not going to work.’
She stood. There was something she had to do. The unease in her stomach from Alex, given her refusal about the recommendation, meant only one thing.
‘I’m leaving now. It’s been just fabulous seeing you again but I’m bored.’
‘Are you going to see her?’ Alex asked.
‘Fuck off.’
‘You really should visit your mother. For your own sake.’
‘Why do you do that?’ Kim asked.
‘What?’
‘Act as though you care. We both know you don’t, that you can’t, so why bother with the pretence?’
‘It’s what friends do.’ Alex shrugged.
The shrug came after the words. Forced. Not genuine. Leakage.
‘We’re not friends. I’m leaving, and I’d say take care of yourself but I’d really prefer you didn’t.’
Kim strode towards the officer with only one thing on her mind.
‘Pretty much,’ Alex called out.
Kim stopped and turned. ‘What?’
‘You said that was pretty much all you wanted to know about your father, if he was dead or alive. You said pretty much but not all. There’s more that you want to know but won’t ask.’
Damn the woman. Yes, there was one more burning question in her mind that would never feel the outside of her lips.
‘To prove to you that I do care as much as I’m capable of caring for anyone, I’m going to give you a gift.’
Kim met her gaze. The intensity sizzled between them. She couldn’t look away, even though she suspected that Alex couldn’t possibly know the question that haunted her.
‘The answer is no. He never knew about you and Mikey.’
Damn the woman to hell and back. She saw the triumph in her eyes at knowing what her question was.
‘Fuck you, Alex, and by the way you’re… you’re fucking leaking.’
She swallowed down the emotion in her throat as she approached the officer.
‘I’d like to see Warden Siviter. Now.’
Sixty-Eight
‘Thank you for coming back,’ Kim said as Warden Siviter got out of a blue Corolla in the external car park.
‘I’d only been home long enough to shower and change but I was told it was urgent.’
The woman was dressed in jeans, a buttoned-up cardigan and trainers. She wore no make-up, and her curly black hair was still damp.
‘I need to talk to you about Alexandra Thorne.’
‘Is everything okay?’ she asked, glancing towards the prison. ‘Was she able to help with your enquiries?’
The story she’d told to get a late visit.
‘Everything is fine and no, she was no help at all.’
‘Oh, okay, then what can I help you with?’
‘She mentioned something about a parole hearing,’ Kim said, hoping she’d heard wrong.
‘It’s on Friday. Why, is that a problem?’
‘It’s not if you have no plan to recommend her release.’
‘She has shown great improvement in—’
‘She hasn’t,’ Kim shot out. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. Alex never had only one plan. ‘Please trust me in knowing that she will never change. She can’t. She is a true sociopath. She is cold, calculating and ruthless. Every action is self-serving and designed—’
‘That’s actually not true,’ she said, holding up her hand. Kim’s unease was growing by the minute. She’d hoped the warden’s first response would have been the assurance that she knew Alex’s capabilities and that she would not be recommending her release, now or ever. The fact they were still speaking about the subject was of great concern. If the warden doubted that fact, even for a minute, Alex would have found a way to exploit it.
‘Only the other day she stopped a fight in the dinner hall at risk to herself. I think she’s changed.’
‘Really, she hasn’t. Who was fighting?’
‘One of the seasoned prisoners assaulted a new inmate, and Alexandra stepped in and broke it up.’
‘You saw this?’
‘Yes, she was nowhere near when Emma just decided to—’
‘Emma?’ Kim asked, remembering a girl with the same name being a crony of Alex’s from a previous visit.
‘Is she friends with Alex?’
‘They share a cell actually.’
Kim wanted to shake the woman into understanding.
‘And this happened right in front of you, and you just happened to see Alex play the hero?’
‘I always nip to the hall before…’
Realisation dawned followed closely by suspicion. ‘You think she planned it for me to see?’
‘I’d bet my dog on it, and if you knew me better, you’d understand the certainty I feel with that statement. I understand that you stand firmly behind the process of rehabilitation. You have to and so you should, but you should also acknowledge that for some people it doesn’t work. They can’t change. They don’t want to change.
‘I’ve known Alex for a few years now, and you have only seen the side of her that she wants you to see. If you recommend her release, innocent people will suffer.’
Siviter folded her arms. ‘You know we can’t make decisions based on that alone. We have to observe the behaviour, mark the changes, accept the truthfulness of the remorse shown for the crime. There are many things to consider.’
Kim fought the frustration that her plea of ‘because I said so’ was falling on deaf ears.
‘Okay, read her file properly. Take the time to completely understand the type of person you’re dealing with. Look at every situation and find the ulterior motive. Please just do these things before you make a final decision. You know your recommendation holds a lot of weight with the board.’
Siviter hesitated before nodding. ‘I’ll take a look.’
Kim thanked her and got into the car with the weight of uncertainty heavy on her shoulders.
She had done her best to keep the evil woman behind bars.
She just hoped it was enough.
Sixty-Nine
‘Everybody rested?’ Kim asked. It was a minute after seven, the coffee was made, Penn’s Tupperware box of Rocky Road pieces was open and a slab of it was already sitting on Alison’s desk.