Jessica pulled a face at him. ‘It’s times like this when I wonder why you’re single.’

‘Through choice.’

‘Yeah, theirs.’

The two of them walked back towards the governor. ‘Did you see everything you needed to?’ he asked.

‘Not much to see, was there?’ Jessica replied. ‘Let’s just say, for instance, that you could get out of that cell. Where would you end up?’

For just a moment, the governor grinned condescendingly at her and then quickly reverted back to his regular expression. Jessica knew he was about to talk down to her in the least patronising way he could manage, while secretly revelling in the moment.

‘Well, let’s say you removed the bars over the window without a screwdriver, even though they are screwed into the solid stone wall and have been painted over. If you got those off and got through the window, which is five times as thick as regular glass and completely shatter-proof, you would still only end up on a patch of land that sits between two of the wings. You would actually be outside of the standard walkways, which would mean you would have to scale an eighteen-foot-high security fence with a roll of barbed wire at the top. Once you had managed that, you would still only be back on the permitted paths.’

Jessica could feel Rowlands shuffling from foot to foot next to her as the governor continued. ‘Once you got to that path, assuming the patrols didn’t see you, or the security cameras, either direction would simply lead you back to the main gates but only through two sets of double-locking doors whichever way you went. Because of that, you would have to scale another eighteen-foot-high fence on the other side of the path which would get you into the rec yard. You could get across the yard easily enough, though there are spotlights, but on the other side are a few more wire fences. The first one is hardened steel which encloses the area, then there is one outside that is eighteen feet high again and similar to the others. If you could get through all of that, you would be at the wall. That’s twenty-four feet high and a yard thick, plus coated with an anti-vandal substance to prevent climbing. If you somehow got to the top of that and avoided being seen by the rooftop security, you could drop down the other side but it actually works out at a drop of around twenty-five feet, eight yards or so. Assuming you landed okay, I guess you’d be scot-free . . .’

He let the statement hang in the air and clearly didn’t need to add anything more.

‘Could you tunnel out?’ Rowlands asked. Jessica was glad he had said it instead of her. The question sounded ridiculous.

‘Well, I guess if you had something to dig with but even then it’s around seventy yards in the straightest line from here to the wall. I don’t know where you would get rid of all the dirt or how you would get out on the other side though.’

He had certainly made his point. Jessica then asked the question she had been worrying about. The governor had been perfectly nice, despite the undertone to his words, but she couldn’t judge how he would react next. ‘Can you trust all of your staff, Governor Gallagher?’

He was certainly taken aback by her directness. ‘Sorry?’

Jessica repeated her question word for word. The man’s eyes narrowed as he thought how he should respond. ‘I’m not sure I like your tone . . .’

‘I’m not sure I’ve liked yours either.’

For the first time that day both of them were being upfront with each other. Jessica wasn’t going to be the one who gave way first.

‘Your super left me his number, you know?’

‘I didn’t ask you about that.’

Governor Gallagher stared at her, his eyes thin as he struggled to control his anger. ‘I trust my staff.’

‘All of them?’

‘All of them.’

As quickly as the mood had deteriorated, Jessica raised it by chirpily changing the subject. ‘Right, that’s good then. I think it’s time to see Mr McKenna.’

10

Jessica didn’t really know why she had tried so hard to wind the governor up. She could have asked nicely or apologised but pointed out it was something she had to ask about. She could even have just left it. Not only had she asked the question and pushed the issue, however, she’d really enjoyed it. Perhaps it was because of the delight he had taken in pointing out how hard it would be to escape or maybe it was because she simply wanted to see what his reaction would be? You could learn a lot about people from how they responded to direct accusations. Some people would shout and swear to try to show they were innocent. Others would evade the question. Some might start to sweat and stumble over their words. Governor Gallagher had not done any of that; he had just seethed with rage. Was that because he was that protective over his staff, or because of something else? Jessica wasn’t sure but his reaction had been interesting.

On the way back off the wing, he took them through to a security booth which contained a bank of monitors linked to the cameras that seemingly watched the whole prison. It was perhaps one final way of showing them how ridiculous they were being. There were a few men and one woman in a small group towards the back of the room as they entered. They all had the same uniform on: dark shoes, dark trousers and a white shirt. Jessica could see each one also had heavy-looking bunches of keys attached to their waist. The governor signalled for one of the men to come over. He looked like the oldest of the group, somewhere in his fifties or so, Jessica would have guessed. He had wisps of hair around the tops of his ears and a few strands combed across his head but was mostly bald. His face had a reddish tinge which, from experience, Jessica knew was most likely the sign of a heavy drinker.

‘Detectives, this is Senior Warden Lee Morgan. He is in charge of the wing you have just been on. I figured it was best if you spoke to him, if only for completeness.’ The governor put special emphasis on that final word, as if to indicate they should finish whatever they were trying to because he would do his best to make life difficult for them if they wanted to come back.

Jessica introduced herself and DC Rowlands and they all shook hands. The warden talked them through his role and made a point of saying how much experience he had. He spewed out a few statistics to show how behaviour had improved on the wing since his promotion and then showed them the monitors for his area.

He talked a good game at least but Jessica felt she had already got into the governor’s bad books that morning so might as well go for the double. She nodded and made approving noises throughout his talk but, as soon as he looked up to her for approval, she put the only question she thought worth asking. ‘Why does Donald McKenna have a cell to himself?’

The warden spluttered slightly and started to repeat something along the lines of what the governor had told them relating to capacities but Jessica cut him straight off. ‘I understand that, Mr Morgan, but I’m talking specifically about Mr McKenna. Why does he have a cell to himself?’

‘Er, well, Mr McKenna has consistently been one of the best-behaved inmates. Some of the other prisoners look up to him because of his religious beliefs and clean living, while others just respect his seniority.’

‘Are there other people who have been here longer?’ Jessica asked.

‘Well . . . yes.’

‘Are there other inmates who are religious?’

‘Yeah . . .’

‘Are most people well behaved?’

‘Yes, of course.’

Jessica nodded slowly and let out a long, deliberate ‘Hmm’. She let it hang and then, for the second time in a few minutes, drastically altered her tone.