Page 23 of The Happy Family

‘Yeah. Didn’t sleep well. Noise from the other cells.’

‘Yeah, I heard it was noisy last night.’

The reason we are making chit-chat is because there is another officer standing within earshot of us. But he either gets bored of the mundane things we are talking about or has some business to attend to elsewhere because he moves after a minute, leaving Jack and me to truly talk.

‘I spoke to Reid,’ he tells me.

‘Thank you.’

‘It was no problem. But I’m not sure he listened to me.’

‘You said what I told you to say?’

‘Yes, every word of it.’

‘Then that’s enough. He won’t be able to stop thinking about it now. We just have to give him some time to get his head around it and then see what happens.’

‘I’m not sure he’ll do anything,’ Jack replies. ‘He seemed angry.’

‘That’s to be expected. We’re accusing his girlfriend of being a criminal. He’s hardly going to be happy about that.’

‘I suppose…’

I sense a little uncertainty from Jack, or maybe it’s nervousness. After all, he has taken a risk for me by passing on a message to somebody on the outside when he shouldn’t be getting involved in a prisoner’s personal business. If his employer was to find out that he is trying to help me prove my innocence, he could lose his job. He’d certainly lose it if they found out our relationship went even further than that. But I’ll do my best to protect him, and he’s no fool either, so together, I’m sure we can make it work. He wouldn’t have given Reid his name, so he won’t know who Jack is and how he is connected to me. He’ll just assume he is a friend, perhaps. He’ll never suspect I have a prison officer on my side. But I’m a resourceful woman. Unfortunately, not quite as resourceful as Luna seems to be.

I couldn’t believe it when I saw the news about Sadie. Television is one of the few things we get in here that connect us to the outside world, so when I saw the news bulletin about the woman in the coma and the names of the people involved, I knew something terrible had happened. I also knew that what was being reported in the news was not factual, but simply what Luna had told everybody to report.

I am onto her, and I warned Sadie about her. Within hours, Sadie was in a coma, one she may never wake up from. No coincidence. Luna might not have attacked Sadie, but Sadie was at that house because she was trying to save her family, and Luna is lucky that she has been silenced. Just like she has silenced me. But I’ll find a way to catch that bitch.

‘I checked in on your mother,’ Jack says then, switching subjects but to one that is just as important to me as Sadie and Luna.

‘How is she?’

‘Not good. I’m going to see if I can fast-track your application for day release to go and visit her.’

‘Thank you so much,’ I reply, genuinely meaning it. That’s because time is of the essence when it comes to my poor mum, who is currently in hospital fighting a losing battle with cancer. I got the news she was ill and was devastated, her diagnosis even harder to take when I’m stuck in here, unable to spend time with her. Now she is deteriorating and I don’t know how long she has left. That is why I have applied to visit her before she passes away, and it is possible that the prison might approve my request.

It certainly helps that Jack is working to expedite that process. Of course, any visit will see me accompanied by a police officer so that I can’t try to escape and I will be brought back here as soon as the visit is done. But the important thing is that I get to see Mum one more time while I still have the chance.

If she dies before I get to say a proper goodbye, it’s just one more reason for me to hate the person who put me in here.

That person is Luna.

I am convinced of it.

I don’t have any evidence yet.

But I will.

And I hope that bitch is ready when I do.

FIFTEEN

LUNA

One month with my baby. One more month of Sadie not waking up. And yet another month of dealing with all the paranoia of my past.

I wish I was as pure and innocent as Jude.