Chapter two
The two inmates whispered together through the night. Barry told Colin that it was usual to be questioned by the prison officers before being taken to court. As part of the plan, Barry told Colin everything about his life, explaining that it was important to remember as many details as possible. Colin listened intently as Barry spoke about his brothers, his mother and his violent step-father, who had given him regular beatings. Worse still was the abuse Barry had suffered at various foster homes. Colin worried about being able to keep all the facts straight in his head, because one mistake could cause the escape to blow up in their faces.
As Colin went on listening, he thought it was no wonder that Barry didn’t want to leave the prison. After such a childhood, life inside was better. Barry said he was eager to further his education, and in prison he had the chance to do so.
He had begun art classes, and was showing great promise, so much so that he was allowed to keep a sketch-book, a variety of pencils and felt-tipped pens in his cell. Barry enjoyed copying pictures from magazines. He had never had such encouragement at home or school and, although he was a beginner, he was proud of his efforts. The prison art teacher had told him that, if he kept up his progress, he would be allowed to use acrylic paint and, in time, even oils.
The two cellmates became firm friends as they planned the switch, but time was running out. If the idea was to work, Colin had to feel certain he could take over Barry’s identity. As part of the plan they made a point of never being seen together, and they always ate separately. Barry stayed in their cell as much as possible, and always kept his back to the door when the officers looked through the sliding hatch.
Colin went over Barry’s life with him, again and again, so that he could answer any question Barry asked him about himself.
‘OK, so where did I go to school?’ Barry asked.
‘St Thomas’s.’
‘How many GCSEs did I get?’
‘None. You never sat any because you were expelled.’
Barry raised his hand. ‘You’re becoming a good me,’ he said, as they slapped their palms together in a high five.
They were both growing confident that they could pull it off. Eventually, Colin could recall all of Barry’s background, even down to aunts and uncles, addresses, dates of births and foster carers. They had left nothing out.
Colin was very careful not to mention anything to Karen when he spoke to her on the phone. She could sense that he was less depressed, and thought that he was now coping with their separation and prison life. She felt it was safe to tell him that she had asked the baby’s sex at a recent scan, and that they were going to have a beautiful boy. Colin was overjoyed at the news and excitedly told Barry. They were now even more determined to make the escape plan work, so Colin could be with Karen at the birth of their son.
Colin knew he’d be arrested again, and that his escape would put his chance of parole in danger. He decided that, as soon as he had held his newborn son in his arms, and had kissed Karen, he would give himself up at the local police station.
‘It’ll only be a couple of days as her due date is the day of my escape. I’ll convince the officers you had nothing to do with it. I’ll say it was all my idea and I learned all about you from sharing a cell.’
Barry grinned and gave him a big hug. He had never had such a close friend. In fact, he’d not even been friendly with his brothers as they were much younger. He was thrilled and felt that, for once, he wasn’t a Dumbo. Colin clearly liked him, and had been really appalled to hear about his abusive childhood. They agreed that, when both of them were finally released, they would stay friends. They even discussed working together painting and decorating.
‘I doubt my father-in-law will take me back on, so we could set up our own business together,’ Colin said.
‘That would be brilliant. We could do up kids’ rooms with, like, cartoon characters and stuff,’ Barry replied with enthusiasm.
‘Yeah, you draw them and then I paint them in. We could call our company BC designs.’
‘I’m so excited, Colin. I’ve never had anything named after me before.’
Chapter three
With two days and nights to go, Colin was feeling nervous and it was keeping him awake. They had still managed not to be seen together outside the cell, and they even went down to the showers at different times. The truth was Barry didn’t shower that often, and his body odour was at times pungent and offensive. He even slept in his prison outfit, because, he said, he liked to be first in the line-up for breakfast.
It was early evening when their cell door was opened for shower time.
‘I’ll see you after your shower and we can go over everything again,’ Barry said.
‘I don’t want to appear rude or anything, but I really think you could do with having a shower, Barry. It’s been quite warm in here the last few days and…’
‘Sorry. I don’t tend to notice it myself. You see, I don’t really like taking showers, reminds me of school as I used to get teased and bullied about being a fat boy.’
‘Well, we still don’t want to be seen together outside of here so you go shower first.’
Barry nodded and picked up his towel. He was about to leave the cell when Colin stopped him and handed him a bar of soap.
Colin waited twenty minutes before going to the showers, as he suspected Barry would simply jump in and out again and he’d pass him on the stairwell. On entering the shower room, he noticed Barry stepping out of a cubicle and putting a towel round his waist. What Colin saw made him feel sick. Barry had tattoos over his chest, shoulders and right arm. Colin was so shaken he almost fainted. He’d never seen the tattoos before because Barry wore a long-sleeved denim shirt over his standard-issue cap-sleeved vest all the time. He got clean clothes only when he took one of his rare showers, which had always been after Colin.
By the time they had both returned to the cell, Colin was furious. Unable to control his anger, he grabbed Barry and pinned him up against the wall.
‘You are covered in bloody tattoos!’
‘I know. I had ’em done when I was drunk. Well, not all at once. Tattooist spelt some things wrong so I had to have some of them reworked. I got the mermaid and the ship when I went to Peckham and the…’
‘Don’t you understand?’
‘Understand what?’
Colin wanted to slap him, he was so furious.
‘They will ask me to take off my shirt and I haven’t got a single bloody tattoo! They’ll know I am not you straight away. It’s finished. I can’t get out now. You should have told me about your tattoos.’
Colin threw himself on his bottom bunk and buried his head in his pillow, sobbing. Barry felt dreadful. He had never liked undressing in front of anyone, and was always shy about his body. He had just presumed that Colin knew about the tattoos and was surprised that he had never seen them. He felt terrible, and after a couple of minutes went over and tapped his cellmate’s shoulder.
‘I know what we can do, it’s possible we can get round the tats.’
Colin sat up and punched him away. ‘How? How on earth can you think that? Walk out of here and visit a tattoo parlour, should I? Don’t be so stupid. Just stay away from me, because right now I feel like punching your lights out!’
Barry looked totally dejected. At last, Colin pulled himself together and calmly held out his hand. He gripped Barry’s tightly. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean what I said. It’s my own fault. I just got so caught up in the thought of being with Karen again and seeing my son born. It was a dumb idea, and anyway I’d never have got away with it.’