Definitely Dead by Kate Bendelow (howl and other poems TXT) 📕

his eye. ‘She must be nearly walking by now.’ McGreevy spun round, face flushed with anger and Nowak’s mobile phone in his hand.

He shoved his face into Nowak’s, visibly seething. ‘Don’t you fucking threaten me, you piece of shit.’ He held the phone aloft for the other wardens to see. ‘Get this bastard out of here and in solitary ready for a cavity search. I want a torch shone so far up his arse, his eyes and ears light up. Naylor too.’

Nowak laughed and smiled as he passed McGreevy. Davis, the youngest of the wardens, led Nowak away from the cell as his colleague followed with Naylor. Lowering his voice so only Davis could hear him, Nowak said, ‘Don’t you forget who pays your fucking wages. Make that phone disappear, okay?’

Davis nodded mutely, his face growing as pale as his shirt. Although McGreevy couldn’t hear the exchange, he knew exactly what was going on, and was in no doubt whatsoever that Nowak had just passed some instructions or other. Well, he might have other screws on his corrupt payroll, but McGreevy’s morality was without question. Especially now Nowak had had the nerve to mention his granddaughter. He would bend over backwards to ensure he and Naylor were held to account for the mobile phone, and for the witness intimidation which Dominique Barton had just reported.

68

Maya’s peace of mind was almost restored. The prison had acted promptly following Dominique’s complaint against Naylor. Whilst she was still very shaken up at the thought of her break-in and what had happened to poor Jet, Dominique had continued to reassure her that everything would be okay now. She had to put all thoughts of Naylor to the back of her mind and carry on as normal.

Ever the optimist, Maya was confident that it would be only a matter of time before things settled back down and she started to feel safe again. Even Spence had stopped calling her but if she was honest, she didn’t know if she was happy about that or not. She was determined not to think about him either. It was easier that way. She decided the sensible thing to do for now was to follow Kym’s advice about keeping her head down at work and home.

She arrived at work and parked up at the same time as Jack Dwyer. Perhaps now was the right time to start building bridges.

‘Morning, Jack. Listen, I’m glad I’ve seen you. Thanks for giving me the heads-up about Spence being in the traps the other day. I’d have been mortified if DS Turner had marched me out of the office in front of everyone to give that statement.’

Jack nodded. ‘I thought I owed you one. I recognised him as being the barman from The Eagle. He was there the night we went in. I didn’t realise he was such a good friend of yours. You gave the impression you didn’t like him.’

Maya shrugged. ‘It’s complicated.’

‘Well, Turner reckons your alibi has got him off the hook for now, but that still doesn’t explain the knife and bloodstained items they found in his house.’

Jack was frowning at her as he spoke, and Maya suddenly saw the situation through his eyes. He was judging her for her association with a suspect the same way DI Mitton and Kym had. For a moment, Maya wondered yet again if she was wrong about Spence being a good guy. Had she made another misjudgement in character? Was he as innocent as he claimed or was he playing her for a fool? She had spent all this time worrying about her association to Naylor being made common knowledge, yet she had associated with another potential criminal, and now everyone at work seemed to know about it.

‘I don’t know how those items ended up in his house, but what I do know is that he was with me and my friends at the time of the assault. That’s all I can say. It’s got nothing else to do with me,’ Maya stated adamantly.

‘Well, just be careful. If he is found culpable, it’ll bring your reputation into disrepute.’

‘I’m well aware of that, Jack, thank you,’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Don’t take offence. I’m just trying to look out for you as a friend, that’s all,’ said Jack.

‘I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself, but I appreciate the sentiment,’ she replied curtly. They headed into the station and both went their separate ways. There was something about Jack that riled her, and she didn’t believe for one minute that he was looking out for her as a ‘friend’. He was the type of person who always had an ulterior motive and only ever looked out for number one.

As Maya walked into the office, she was greeted by Chris, Elaine and Connor who were cackling away, clearly discussing something smutty. Generally, the office chat centred around food or sex, so she wasn’t surprised. She grinned wryly as she caught up on the conversation.

‘So,’ said Chris. ‘I’d only been seeing her a few months. Suddenly her dad dropped dead on the same day she found out he wasn’t her biological father after all. She’d been drowning her sorrows and next thing I know she’s as frisky as hell. Must have been the grief. Well, I wasn’t going to say no.’ He gave a sheepish grin as he scratched his stubble. ‘Although with hindsight screaming “who’s the daddy” as I shagged her wasn’t very tactful.’

Connor groaned and Elaine let out a peal of raucous laughter as the phone rang. Shaking her head at Chris, Maya recognised the internal number as being the lab and she reached across to answer it.

‘Is that SOCO’s answer to Scooby Doo?’ said Ewan.

Maya laughed. ‘It certainly is. Hi, Ewan, take it you’ve got news about the suicide note?’

‘Yes, I treated it with ninhydrin, which enhanced several fingerprints. I photographed them and passed them on to Sue in the fingerprint unit. She’s loaded them onto the fingerprint database and has just let