‘Was it captured on film?’
‘No. The camera covering the main area of the toilet was out of order. By the time the control room realized it wasn’t working, and had organized someone from maintenance to examine it, the fight was over.’
‘So it suggests a degree of planning.’
‘I honestly don’t know,’ said Goodman defensively. ‘Two of our officers heard the commotion from the toilets. They ran inside and intervened.’
‘You describe it as a fight, but Mr Garrett sustained some major slash wounds. It sounds like he was attacked by the other man.’
‘We can’t be certain. The camera in the corridor outside recorded each man going into the toilets approximately thirty seconds apart, but it was impossible to see which one was carrying the knife. And when the officers went in, the two men were struggling violently on the floor, with Mr Garrett on top of Mr Hughes, punching him, even though he was losing a lot of blood. The homemade knife that was used was a few feet away. It’s been taken away by the police for examination, and we’re awaiting the results.’
‘Can you tell me about the other prisoner — Mr Hughes? What’s he in here for?’
‘Murder. I’m afraid Eric Hughes is a man with a very violent background. He killed a man during an aggravated burglary eight years ago — one of a series of similar crimes that left a further two people seriously injured.’
‘When’s he due for his parole hearing?’ asked Tina, unable to quite hide the cynicism in her voice.
‘The minimum tariff for Mr Hughes set by the judge was eighteen years, so it’ll be another decade at least before he can be considered for release. He may have a violent past but his behaviour since he’s been at Westmoor has generally been very good prior to the incident on Monday.’
‘I’m going to need to speak with him while I’m here.’
‘As I said, he’s already been interviewed by the local CID, and he refused to cooperate.’
‘Maybe I can sweet-talk him into admitting something,’ said Tina with a slight smile.
‘Maybe you can. I’ll see what I can arrange,’ Goodman answered tightly, as if it was an inconvenience.
Tina was used to certain people taking an instant dislike to her — it was the kind of thing that happened when you’d attracted the sort of headlines she had — but she was a little surprised by the cold reception she was getting here. She’d expected more from a man running one of the country’s toughest prisons. ‘Thank you, I’d appreciate that. As for Mr Garrett, I understand he wants to cooperate with the inquiry into the Stanhope attacks.’
‘Yes. He made contact with one of the prison officers this morning, after he saw footage of the bomb in London on the news. He said that he knew who’d done it, but refused to talk to anyone other than you.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘Do you have any idea why that might be?’
Tina shook her head. ‘No. I’ve had no contact with him whatsoever. I’m not even working on the inquiry. At least I wasn’t until an hour ago.’
‘I’m just hoping that he’s not going to attempt to’ — Goodman paused, clearly looking for the right word — ‘manipulate you.’
‘I’m not easily manipulated, Mr Goodman. Tell me, does Mr Garrett sound genuinely interested in cooperating?’
Goodman thought about this for a moment. ‘I think the altercation he was involved in scared him. It shocked all of us. Both men were very lucky not to have been more seriously injured.’ He paused. ‘But Mr Garrett worries me. He’s quiet, he’s controlled, and he’s well behaved and polite to the staff. In that sense, he’s been a model prisoner — at least up until this latest incident. But there’s also no sense that he’s remotely concerned with the gravity of the crimes he’s committed. I’m a great believer in the power of rehabilitation, Miss Boyd, something which I know isn’t a particularly fashionable view among a lot of people in this country. But I believe we could gain a great deal from the Scandinavian model of treating prisoners as individuals who’ve made poor life choices, rather than as amoral monsters who need to be locked up for as long as possible. However, I believe Mr Garrett might be an exception to that rule. I very much doubt that he can be rehabilitated. I’ve spent enough time with him, and the psychiatrists who’ve interviewed him, to know he feels no real remorse for what he’s done. Given that it’s likely he personally killed at least five people, and was responsible for the deaths of many times that number, that makes him extremely dangerous. Coupled with that, he’s highly intelligent. Whether you’re easily manipulated or not, I’d bear this in mind when you’re dealing with him.’
‘Thank you, sir, I will.’
‘We’ve prepared an interview room in the Central Section for your meeting. He should be there by now, so if you’ve got no further questions, I’ll have you escorted down there.’
‘I think you’ve answered everything for me,’ said Tina, getting to her feet.
‘I must admit,’ said the governor as they shook hands a second time, ‘I’m surprised that he asked to see you here, and alone too. It seems odd to me, given your own involvement in the Stanhope siege.’
Tina swallowed her continuing irritation at the way she was being talked to. ‘It was my involvement that helped bring the siege to a successful conclusion, Mr Goodman.’
‘Surely over seventy dead civilians can’t be judged to be a successful conclusion.’
‘It can when you have five hundred hostages and a building wired up to be blown to smithereens. And whatever you or Mr Garrett may think, I’m good at my job.’
Goodman raised a sceptical eyebrow. ‘In my opinion, your methods leave a great deal to be desired, Miss Boyd, so I’d request that when in my prison you work according to my rules.’
Tina held his gaze for a long second, sorely tempted to kick him in the nuts, or at the very least come up with a rude rejoinder, but in the end she thought better of it. ‘Of course, sir.’
The guard who escorted Tina to the prison’s Central Section was the same one who’d taken her to the governor’s office. His name was Thomson, and he looked like he’d been doing the job for years.
‘Did the governor give you his talk on rehabilitation?’ he asked as they walked.
Tina gave a derisive grunt. ‘He said a few words on the subject.’
‘He’s big on rehabilitation,’ Thomson said. ‘He says it’s the whole purpose of the job — that there’s good in everyone, even if in some cases it’s very well hidden. But he spends most of the time in his office, and he doesn’t see what we see.’
‘And what do you see?’
‘I see hundreds of bad men. Every day of my life. Men who wouldn’t think twice about cutting your throat, or raping your daughter. Or even your son. And do you know what the worst part of it is, Miss Boyd?’
Tina looked at him. ‘What?’
‘The public think we run this place. They think the governor and the guards run every prison.’ He frowned. ‘But we don’t. We don’t run any of them. The prisoners do. Right now, the only way we keep order is by treating this lot with kid gloves, and cutting them slack. The minute they decide they don’t want to take orders from us any more, they won’t. It’s as simple as that.’
‘I can believe it.’
‘Maybe if you were running the shop rather than the governor, things would be a bit different.’ He let slip a small smile to let her know he was joking.
Tina laughed. ‘I’m not patient enough, and I can’t stand being nice to people who don’t deserve it.’
‘You wouldn’t last long here then. This place is a tinderbox, Miss Boyd. And when it goes up, there’ll be nothing any of us can do about it. I think about that every day I’m here.’