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‘Now that’s a group I’d volunteer for,’ Stacey said as she saw Penn steal a glance at his watch. He looked her way and saw that she’d clocked it.
‘I’m not going to get out in time, am I?’
It was already five and there was no chance they were leaving on time tonight.
‘I can cover, matey. It’s your anniversary. Just take an hour and come back. I’m sure the boss won’t mind if—’
‘We’re swamped, Stace.’
He wasn’t wrong, but the offer was genuine. She knew he’d do the same for her. Still, knowing Penn as she did, he’d never expect anyone to take up his slack.
‘Back in a sec,’ he said, taking his phone out into the hall.
His hunched demeanour told her he really didn’t want to make the call, but the job often required changing plans and short-notice cancellations.
She just hoped that six months in the relationship could wear it.
FIFTY-TWO
‘I can’t remember everything about all of them,’ Baldwin said, ‘but they were a nasty little bunch. Top dog was definitely Ian Perkins. He was the oldest and had been in the longest. Also guilty of the most serious crime.’
‘Which was?’ Bryant asked.
‘Murder. His brother.’
‘Jesus,’ Kim said. ‘For what?
‘Sexual abuse. His brother abused him from the age of seven. Finally told his parents when he was twelve. They didn’t believe him so Ian killed his brother a week later.’
‘No self-defence or extenuating circumstances?’ Bryant asked.
‘Luke was fast asleep in bed when Ian knifed him seven times.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘He showed no remorse for the act, and his parents disowned him; they didn’t go to his trial and never visited him at Welton. Completely cut off from the family.’
So many different points of view on that one. The abuse must have been horrific to endure. No doubt it scarred the boy, but he’d had the courage to speak. His parents had ignored him. Were his extreme actions understandable? She wasn’t sure. In any case, his family had picked a side and it hadn’t been his.
‘That’s rough.’
‘Trust me, you wouldn’t have felt sorry for him for long. He transferred out of Welton and into the adult prison system when he was twenty-one.’
‘Isn’t that late?’
‘It’s the highest age to transfer. He could have gone earlier, but he was under appeal, so they kept him until the maximum.’
‘And both Eric and Paul were in this gang?’ Kim asked, bringing his attention back to her victims.
‘Yeah, along with another three. Let me think. Nathan Yates, Dean Newton and a quieter kid, Leyton something. I can’t remember.’
Bryant didn’t need telling to write down the names they were missing.
‘So, Eric and Paul…?’
‘They really were awful. I’m not sure how they would have been singly, but as part of that group they bullied every new kid, smacked around the younger ones, stole stuff, intimidated everyone. The guards had trouble controlling them all. They spat, threw things and possibly worse.’
‘Go on,’ Kim urged.
