looked at it, a sneer quirking the corner of his thin-lipped mouth. 'You better do better than fucking that.'
Jimmy nodded then picked up the packet of cigarettes from the bed, put them in his pocket and slapped the man back-handed, hard across his face.
'The fuck you think you're doing? I got rights, you know.'
A snort of laugher came from the guard outside and Jimmy clicked his fingers to get the man's attention. 'First rule. You don't swear in my presence.'
'Fuck that.'
Jimmy hit him hard again, the other side of his face this time, open-palmed.
'Jesus Christ!'
Skinner hit him back-handed again. 'Or blaspheme.'
Neil Riley scrambled up on the bed, putting his back to the wall and held his hand up at Skinner. 'All right, you made your f—' He caught himself. 'You made your point.'
Skinner nodded. 'Good.'
'And I don't know what you want to see me for. I don't know anything about anything.'
'You know Kevin Norrell, don't you?'
'I knew him.'
Skinner leaned in pointedly. 'He isn't dead yet, Riley.'
The sallow-faced man looked surprised. 'I thought—'
'What did you think?'
'I heard he was dead, that's all.'
'And where did you hear that from?'
Riley shrugged. 'Word gets round. What do you think, this place is a Carmelite nunnery? You think nobody talks?'
Skinner was a little surprised, and ignoring his own rules, said, 'What do you know about the fucking Carmelites?'
'I went to a convent primary school.'
'I thought that was just for girls?'
'No. Some are mixed up to a certain age.'
Skinner caught himself. 'Can we get back to the fucking point here?'
'I was just saying.'
'Never mind all that bollocks, just tell me who told you Norrell was dead.'
'I don't know, what does it matter who told me?'
'Someone took five inches of sharpened steel and tried to make a shish kebab out of his organs with it. Maybe that was the guy who told you, that's what matters.'
Riley shook his head. 'Get real, Detective. Whoever did it is going to keep his mouth shut, isn't he?'
Skinner glared at him for a moment or two, resisting the urge to slap him hard around the head again just for the fun of it. 'Let's get back to the point, shall we?'
'Which is?'
'Which is: you were a friend of Kevin Norrell.'
'Says who?'
Skinner looked around the cell. 'You see anyone else standing in this fucking room?'
