railings and looking down at the ones. Shepherd joined them - to have stayed in his cell while all hell was breaking out would only have drawn attention to him.
Four prison officers rushed in from the bubble carrying two metal stretchers. The prisoners on the twos and threes cheered and yelled obscenities. Rathbone came out of Needles's cell, his face pale.
Two officers went into the cell with a stretcher, and two minutes later they came out carrying Needles. He was shivering, his eyes wide open, his stomach covered in blood. The other two officers went inside with a stretcher for Dreadlocks.
More officers came on to the spur and started to usher the inmates back into their cells. 'Come on, there's nothing to see,' said one.
'What happened, boss?' asked Lee. The officers were applying dressings to the wounds on Needles's stomach.
'Nothing,' said the officer.
'We're supposed to be getting our tea,' said Lee.
'Get back in your cell or you'll be on a charge,' said the officer. 'I'm easy either way.'
Down on the ones, Dreadlocks was carried out on the second stretcher. They took him straight to the stairs and up to the twos. His leg was drenched in blood, despite the tourniquet. More prisoners were crowding against the railings, trying to get a better look. The officers were shouting for them to get back into their cells.
'Would you look at all that blood!' said Lee.
The officer put a hand on Lee's arm. 'In your cell, laddie, or you're on a charge.'
Lee backed away from the railing, complaining, but headed for his cell. Shepherd followed him. He glanced up and saw Carpenter staring down from the threes. Carpenter wasn't watching the action on the ground floor, he was gazing thoughtfully at Shepherd. Then he pushed himself away from the railing and Shepherd lost sight of him. He followed Lee into the cell and the prison officer clanged the door shut behind them.
At five o'clock the prisoners were shouting and banging on their cell doors. Tea should have been served at a quarter to but the doors had remained locked after the injured men had been carried out of the spur.
'This is a bloody liberty,' said Lee. 'We're entitled to our food.'
Shepherd lay on his bunk and stared at the ceiling.
'What do you think happened down there?' asked Lee. 'Did you see all that blood?'
'Dunno,' said Shepherd.
'Looked to me like Needles and Bunton had a set-to with shivs.'
Bunton must be Dreadlocks, Shepherd realised. He hadn't known his name. Hadn't cared.
'Thought they were tight, those two,' Lee went on.
'You never know,' said Shepherd.
Down below they heard cell doors being unlocked. Lee started banging on the door again. 'Come on, we're starving here!' he yelled.
At five thirty Rathbone unlocked it. 'What's going on?' Lee asked.
'We're doing the landings one at a time.'
'You can't,' said Lee.
Rathbone grinned. 'Jason, we can do what we like.' He gestured for Lee to go and get his meal. 'You too, Macdonald.'
'I'm not hungry,' said Shepherd.
'If you don't eat, it's got to go down on your report,' said Rathbone. 'Save me the paperwork and get your tray, will you? You can always give it to Jason.'
Shepherd climbed down and went to the ones with his flask. The doors there were already locked.
He had chosen the roast turkey option, and had it with mashed potatoes and carrots, then a raspberry yoghurt. He filled his Thermos with hot water and headed back to his cell. Lloyd-Davies was by the bubble. She waved over at him. 'Bob, I got you on the gym list for tomorrow.'
'Thanks, ma'am,' said Shepherd.
'No need to thank me, your name was next on the list,' she said.
As Shepherd walked back to his cell he realised what had happened: Needles or Bunton, possibly both, must have been on the gym list. Two birds with one stone.
Shepherd and Weston were supposedly under the supervision of Hamilton while they cleaned the twos, but he was in the bubble talking to Tony Stafford. Weston worked in silence, humming, as they moved methodically along the landing with their mops and buckets.
Shepherd heard footsteps behind him. It was Carpenter, holding a mop and bucket. He smiled at Weston. 'Give us a moment, will you, Charlie?' he said.
Weston picked up his bucket and headed to the far side of the landing.
Carpenter put down his bucket and began to mop the floor. 'What's your game, Bob?' he asked.
'It's not a game,' said Shepherd.
'That's three men you've put in hospital now,' said Carpenter. 'Are you taking on Digger, is that it?'
'I don't want to run the spur, I just want out of here.'
'And how does crippling cons achieve that?'
'Needles started it.'
'This isn't the fucking playground,' said Carpenter.
'If I hadn't given it to him, he'd have given it to me,' said Shepherd.
'You carry on this way you'll fuck it up for everyone.'
'How does me taking care of myself fuck it up for you, Gerry?'
Carpenter stopped cleaning. 'If cons start fighting each other we're going to be banged up twenty-three hours a day. That's one. We're going to have the cells turned over every day for weapons. That's two. And if the governor thinks Tony Stafford's lost control of the block, he'll be moved. That's three. Any one of those fucks up my life, and I'm not going to stand for it.'
'That'd be a threat, would it?' asked Shepherd.
'You want to fight me now, do you?' asked Carpenter.
'I don't want to fight anyone. Like I said, I just want out of here.'
Carpenter started mopping again. 'You carry on like this, they'll put you in segregation.'
'The only way they'll know what happened is if someone grasses,' said Shepherd. 'And if someone grasses, they'll have me to deal with.'
'Now you're the one making threats.'
Shepherd looked across at him. 'It's only a threat if you're planning to grass me up,' he said.
'I don't have to grass anyone up,' Carpenter sneered. 'I'm perfectly capable of taking care of business myself.'
'So I don't have a problem. I wanted out of my cell, so I had to take care of the Bosnian. Needles was planning to cut me up, so I took care of him.'
'And what next?'
Shepherd shrugged. 'Like I said, I need someone on the out to get my case sorted. One way or the other.'
Carpenter leaned on his mop. 'What if I help you get a message out? Will you stop sending inmates to hospital?'
Shepherd grinned. 'I'll be as good as gold.'
'Let me think about it.'
They heard the buzz of prisoners arriving back from the workshops. Carpenter picked up his bucket and headed for the stairs.
Shepherd smiled to himself. He'd just picked up two nuggets of gold from Carpenter. He had a vested interest in Tony Stafford running the block. And there was something in his cell that he didn't want found.
'You're going to be late for school,' said Sue Shepherd, ruffling her son's hair. 'You're always like this on a Monday.'
'This toast's burnt,' said Liam. He was sitting at the kitchen table, his backpack on the chair next to him.
'It's not burnt. It's fine.'
'It's black.'
