Jailbird by Caro Savage

Author:Caro Savage [Savage, Caro]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books

51

It was raining outside, a soporific patter which threatened to lull her to sleep even though it was only three in the afternoon. Lying face-down on Poppy’s bunk, Bailey would almost have felt cosy in here, were it not for the persistent jabbing pain of the tattoo needle drilling its patterns into her flesh.

Poppy knelt astride her, concentrating intently on the intricacies of the design, pausing occasionally to dip the needle in the pot of ink that stood on the chair beside the bunk.

‘It’s like the penthouse suite up here,’ said Bailey. ‘You’re lucky – you’ve got a nice view. You can see over the walls.’

Poppy lifted the whirring tattoo gun from her back for a moment.

‘Sometimes when I’m bored I look out of the window and try to count the sails of the windsurfers on the reservoir. On hot days, I wish I could swim in there. It’s so close… yet so… you know.’

‘Well, actually, taking a shower in here is kind of like having a swim in the reservoir. That’s where the prison pipes in all its water from apparently.’

‘How d’you know that?’

‘Maggie cornered me and some others while we were waiting to use the phone. She’s a veritable fountain of knowledge about the prison.’

‘Oh god, I should have known! That woman is so bloody tedious! She always manages to pin you down and then she talks at you and you just have to stand there and listen to her.’

‘So I guess that means you’re not interested in hearing about the meaning of the name. I thought it was kind of interesting.’

‘It’s named after some river or something. Yeah I know all about that.’

‘She told me that when this place was built in the 1800s it used to draw its water directly from a subterranean tributary of the River Foxbrook. But the river dried up in the thirties after they dammed it in order to build the reservoir.’

‘I find history so boring. It’s all in the past. What’s the point of knowing about it? Who cares?’

‘Don’t they say those who forget history are condemned to repeat it? History helps us to learn from our mistakes. And mistakes are the reason we’re in here, aren’t they?’

‘I’m not sure that knowing about the local reservoir is going to make much of a difference.’

Bailey laughed. ‘Yeah, maybe you’re right.’

‘Talking of mistakes, though… How exactly did you get those scars? I know you said you don’t like to talk about it…’

As part of her undercover role, Bailey knew that she needed to have a plausible explanation for her scars. However, because people often felt awkward broaching the subject with her, she was generally able to avoid having to go into too much detail.

‘It was…’ Bailey paused to choose the appropriate words, ‘…an abusive partner.’

She knew how many of the women in here had been in abusive relationships of one form or another and that this answer wouldn’t sound particularly unusual.

‘He did that to you for no reason?’ asked Poppy.

‘I guess he had his reasons.

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