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CHAPTER
47
THE WORDS UNFREEZE Adam in a second. He turns, two hands on Cole’s chest, pushing him away. The man stumbles backward onto the floor, and in two quick strides Adam is bending over him, a knee on his chest, pushing him down.
“What the fuck do you mean?” he shouts, all restraint gone. “Who are you talking about?”
Cole laughs. “There are three others. Three more you’ll never find.”
“Who? Who are they?”
He raises a fist. To punch him, to threaten him, he doesn’t know. But the guards grab his arms, pulling Adam off Cole and forcing him out the door.
“I need to know, I need to talk to him,” Adam shouts as he’s bundled away. “We’re not finished!”
“You’ve done enough,” the guard replies in a strong Scottish accent. “Leave the doc alone.”
“Why are you protecting him? Don’t you know what he did, the sick fucker, he killed—”
But before Adam can say any more, the guard is on him. He’s pushed up against the wall, his skull banging against brick, a hard forearm against his neck. Adam gasps, pulling at the man’s arm, but the guard stands firm.
“Don’t say another word about the doc, you hear me?” the guard says, his face barely inches away from Adam’s. Adam struggles for breath, his eyes watering. He can see another officer watching them from across the corridor, his eyes wide, but he does nothing to stop his colleague.
“Do you hear me?” the guard repeats.
“Yes,” Adam wheezes, and the pressure is released. He falls against the wall on the other side, coughing, lungs heaving.
“Now fuck off,” the guard barks. And with a final hard shove, he grabs Adam by the scruff of his shirt and pushes him, leaving Adam stumbling backward down the corridor.
He can’t believe it; he turns in astonishment at the audacity of the guard. He should report it, seize the footage, but he’s stunned, in shock, and starts walking toward the exit. His mind is reeling as he collects his mobile phone and belongings. How are they so under his spell? It’s no wonder they still haven’t received the visitor logs from the prison, if this is what’s going on. And how could there be more? More bodies, more victims, that they haven’t found?
He leaves and walks across to his car, but as he does so, he notices another man behind him. The other officer from the altercation in the corridor. The one who did nothing. Anger swirls, and he turns to confront him.
The guard sees him coming and drops his gaze to the concrete, walking fast in the opposite direction. But Adam is close and quickly makes up the ground between them.
“Why didn’t you stop him?” Adam shouts. The guard tries to ignore him, but Adam reaches out and grabs his arm. “Why didn’t you intervene when that bastard assaulted me?”
“Get off me,” the guard growls, but Adam holds tight. The man glares. “You don’t have a fucking clue, you cops. No idea how a prison operates.”
“So tell me.”
The guard glances around. The car park is deserted, no one is watching them.
“There are rules. Not the ones you think you know about, but others. Unwritten. That you obey whether you’re a screw or a con.”
“What’s that got to do with Cole?”
The guard’s short and tubby, Adam guesses early thirties. Shoulders hunched, back stooped. He certainly doesn’t look like the sort of man who’d be high in the pecking order.
“It’s got everything to do with Cole.” He pulls, annoyed, at the grip Adam’s still got on his arm. “He’s smart. The governor loves him because he doesn’t cause trouble. If anything, he keeps the peace, knows what to say to keep the prisoners in line. They respect him.” He glances around again. “He knows stuff.”
“Like what?”
“Like …” He thinks for a moment. “There was this prison officer. A woman. She was shagging one of the inmates.” He shrugs. “It happens. But Cole, he found out, don’t ask me how, and blackmailed her. Gossip says she was doing all sorts of stuff for him before it came out. Smuggling contraband, drugs, fags. The lot. Passing messages and letters. God knows how much shit went down on the outside as a result.”
“What happened to her?”
“She quit. Had a breakdown, I heard. So you don’t mess, DCI Bishop.” He says his name distastefully. “In there, you leave well alone. Unless you want something nasty to happen.” He shakes his arm clear of Adam’s grasp, then takes a few steps back. “Which I personally don’t. Now fuck off. Before someone sees us talking.”
