Like This, for Ever

but youwouldn’t believe how bad the library is. I’ve written to the minister.’
    ‘The minister?’
    ‘Secretary of State for Education. I mean, you’ve got all these women locked up – talk about a captive audience, makes sense to give them something useful to do. And people learn through books, don’t they? You taught me that.’
    ‘And you want the minister to …’
    ‘Provide some decent books, of course. Even if they’re only secondhand. I’ve only been here a couple of months and I’ve read everything in the library already. Ten years down the line I’ll be able to recite them. Imagine it, Lacey, ten years reading the same thirty-seven books. What? What’s the matter?’
    Lacey had reached across the table, taken hold of the other woman’s hands. ‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I’m so sorry you’re in here. It’s all my—’
    The prisoner was looking round, alarmed. If they made a scene, Lacey might be asked to leave early. Then she leaned forward. ‘No, listen to me,’ she said. ‘I’ve been in prison since I was fifteen years old. A worse prison than this, by a long shot. Here, it’s warm and clean. There’s food and company. I can plan for the future. By the way, are you involved in the vampire murders?’
    Even here, there was no respite from the evil that was following her around. Even here? What was she thinking? Here was where the evil of humanity was concentrated. Even if it never felt that way.
    ‘They’re calling them that already?’ said Lacey.
    The prisoner nodded. ‘Since that bloke was on the telly this morning. The twenty-four-hour news channels have been full of it. The girls here have been talking about it all day. Funny how uptight they get about kids being murdered. So is the Lewisham team dealing with it?’
    ‘They are. But I was never part of that team. I was just drafted in to help out with – well, you know, last autumn.’
    ‘But you told me you’d been asked to join them.’
    Lacey nodded. A couple of months ago, Dana Tulloch had told her she had a place on the Lewisham Major Investigation Team if she wanted it. She’d been seriously considering the idea. Then she’d been sent to Cambridge.
    ‘I’m not sure it’s for me, after all,’ she said, thinking that most people would assume she was talking about a specific posting. On the other hand, the woman across the table wasn’t most people.
    ‘What? Lewisham specifically or the Met in general?’
    Lacey’s eyes fell to the table-top.
    ‘What else will you do?’
    Lacey looked up. ‘I’ll think of something. Private security, maybe.’
    ‘This isn’t you.’
    ‘We all have our tipping points.’
    ‘I could help.’
    ‘What with? Career advice?’
    ‘If you want, but I meant the case.’
    ‘Well, first up, I’m not part of the investigating team, and I know nothing more than what I’ve heard on the news. Second, how can you possibly help with the abduction and murder of four young boys?’
    The woman shook her head. ‘Oh, typical police two-dimensional thinking. Do you have any idea of the criminal knowledge in this room alone?’
    Lacey looked round. As usual, most of the visitors were men and children. Some older women, who looked like they might be prisoners’ mothers. The prisoners themselves all sat facing the same direction, the north wall, all dressed alike in royal-blue overalls. Women of varying ages, the oldest in her sixties, the youngest barely out of her teens. None appeared to be anything out of the ordinary. They were the sort of women you’d see on a bus, in the super market, waiting for their children outside school. Perfectly ordinary-looking women, who’d been convicted of some of the most serious crimes in British history.
    ‘I can get a focus group together,’ the ordinary woman across the table was saying. ‘Brainstorm a few ideas. Try and come up with the motivation. We could build you a profile of the killer. I’m sure we’d do a pretty good job. There are some very twisted people in here, you know.’
    ‘You don’t say.’
    ‘Seriously, we’ve been talking about little else all morning. What do you think about this clinical vampirism business?’
    ‘I haven’t really given it much thought,’ said Lacey.
    ‘Oh, come off it. I know you, you’ll be poring over every single detail you can get your hands on. The consensus here is we’re not sure. A lot of the women in here cut themselves, you know. My roommate does it. I asked her about it