Liam's jaw dropped. 'You and Mummy are getting divorced?'
'Oh, God, no!' said Shepherd. He picked up his son and cuddled him. 'It's just a joke. Like a play at school. Pretending.'
Liam frowned. 'You're pretending to get a divorce?'
'That's right.'
'But you're still coming home, aren't you?'
Shepherd kissed him. 'Of course.'
'What's going on, Dan?'
Shepherd put his son down in front of the colouring book and waited until the boy was absorbed again before he answered. 'Carpenter's outside.'
'The man you're after?'
Shepherd nodded. 'He's got a visit from his wife.'
'So?'
'So if you and I fake an argument, it gives me a chance to get closer to him.'
'How?'
Shepherd could see she wasn't happy with the idea, but it was too good an opportunity to miss. He leaned across the table and took her hands in his. 'If he sees us argue, it gives credence to my legend. My cover story,' he whispered. 'If you go out cursing me, I can start spilling my guts to Carpenter. Husband to husband.'
'And what about . . .?' whispered Sue, gesturing at Liam.
'We'll say it's a play,' he said.
'I like plays,' said Liam.
Shepherd tapped the colouring book. 'You've missed a bit,' he said.
'I can't believe you want to use us like this.'
'I'm not using you,' said Shepherd, but even as the words left his mouth he knew it was a lie.
'Isn't it bad enough, you being away like this?'
'The sooner I get what we need, the sooner I'll be back home.' An officer walked by the window, picking his nose. 'Please, just do this one thing for me.'
'But it's not one thing, is it? It's always like this. Out all night, whispered phone calls when you're home, you coming back battered and bruised. Now you're dragging me and Liam into it.'
Shepherd sat back in his chair and sighed. She was right. 'I'm sorry,' he said.
'Did you know he'd be having a visit today?'
'No,' said Shepherd.
'So it's just a coincidence that you've both got visitors at the same time?'
'Absolutely.' As soon as the word left his mouth, Shepherd wondered if it was the truth. Hargrove had fixed up Sue and Liam's visit to Shelton. Had he known that Carpenter's wife was due today? Hargrove knew that Shepherd was having a compassionate visit in a private room so he wasn't putting Sue and Liam at risk, but he had given Shepherd the chance to get closer to Carpenter.
'He's got children?'
'Three. Boy and two girls.'
'Why would a family man do what he does? Doesn't he know the damage drugs do?'
'He knows, he just doesn't care.'
'But everything he has, everything his family has, is based on the misery of others.'
'I don't think guys like him give it a second thought,' Shepherd told her. 'When you talk to them, they regard drugs as just another commodity. It's like they're running an import-export business. They buy product, move it from place to place and make a profit on each deal.'
'So he's no conscience? No sense of right and wrong?'
'If you talk to guys like him, they usually say they're no different from cigarette companies. They say that nicotine is addictive, and that cigarettes kill far more people than any class-A drug.'
'They should just legalise everything and have done with it.'
Shepherd grinned. 'Yeah, but what would I do then?'
'Spend some time with your family, for a start,' said Sue. She reached across the table and stroked his cheek. 'You should be at home. With us.'
'Soon,' said Shepherd. 'I promise.' He pressed her hand to his cheek.
'What do you want me to do?' she asked.
Shepherd took her hand and kissed it. 'Are you sure?'
'If it gets you out of this hell-hole quicker, I can hardly say no, can I?'
'Thanks, love.'
'You haven't told me what you want me to do yet.'
'I need Carpenter to think we're on the rocks,' Shepherd said. 'You can storm out and through the visitors' room. Curse me something rotten. Tell me you'll set your solicitor on me.'
'Oh, Dan! I
'I'll know you won't be serious.' Shepherd ruffled his son's hair. 'What about you, Liam? Do you want to play a game?'
'What game?'
'When you go Mummy's going to shout at me. We'll say goodbye and then when we open the door Mummy's going to pretend she's angry with me.'
'And she'll be acting?'
'That's right. Like in a play. Is that okay?'
'Sure.'
'Chip off the old block, isn't he?' said Sue, but Shepherd could tell she didn't think it was a particularly good thing.
'You're definitely putting on weight,' said Bonnie playfully. She was sitting with Carpenter in row E, close to the wall. She had been to the canteen, run by volunteers from the Women's Voluntary Service, and got them Diet Coke and KitKats.
'I told you, it's the food in here,' said Carpenter, 'and I'm lucky if I get to the gym four times a week.'
'You said they let you use it every day.'
'Yeah, but if they don't have enough staff they don't open it. And the screws here are forever taking sickies. One of the perks of the job.'
Bonnie patted his stomach. 'Sit-ups,' she said. 'You don't need a gym to do sit-ups.'
Carpenter laughed. 'Soon as I'm out you can put me on a diet,' he said. He pushed the two KitKats towards her. 'These won't help.'
'You think I'm joking?'
'Honey, I'll be so glad to be out I'll eat anything you give me.' He sipped his Diet Coke. At the table next to him a West Indian prisoner was cuddling a baby, smothering its tiny face with kisses. His right hand slid inside the child's nappy. A couple of seconds later he coughed and he used the same hand to cover his mouth. It had been done so subtly that Carpenter doubted that any of the officers would have seen the drugs transferred even if they'd been watching. Carpenter looked up at the CCTV cameras. None was pointing in the West Indian's direction. The baby started to cry and he handed it back to the mother.
'I wish you'd let the kids come and see you,' said Bonnie.
Carpenter shook his head firmly. 'No way. I'm not letting them see me in here.'
'They're not stupid, Gerry. They know what's going on.'
'It's one thing to know I'm in prison, it's quite another to see me in here.' He flicked his yellow sash. 'Wearing this thing, sitting at a table that's screwed to the floor, goons in uniforms watching every move we make. I don't want them seeing that.'
'What if they sentence you?' asked Bonnie. 'What if you get sent away for fifteen years? Does that mean you won't see them for fifteen years?'
'That won't happen,' said Carpenter flatly.
'It might.'
'Trust me,' said Carpenter.
