Page 114 of Stolen Ones

Sixty-Eight

‘Thank you for coming back,’ Kim said as Warden Siviter got out of a blue Corolla in the external car park.

‘I’d only been home long enough to shower and change but I was told it was urgent.’

The woman was dressed in jeans, a buttoned-up cardigan and trainers. She wore no make-up, and her curly black hair was still damp.

‘I need to talk to you about Alexandra Thorne.’

‘Is everything okay?’ she asked, glancing towards the prison. ‘Was she able to help with your enquiries?’

The story she’d told to get a late visit.

‘Everything is fine and no, she was no help at all.’

‘Oh, okay, then what can I help you with?’

‘She mentioned something about a parole hearing,’ Kim said, hoping she’d heard wrong.

‘It’s on Friday. Why, is that a problem?’

‘It’s not if you have no plan to recommend her release.’

‘She has shown great improvement in—’

‘She hasn’t,’ Kim shot out. This was exactly what she’d been afraid of. Alex never had only one plan. ‘Please trust me in knowing that she will never change. She can’t. She is a true sociopath. She is cold, calculating and ruthless. Every action is self-serving and designed—’

‘That’s actually not true,’ she said, holding up her hand. Kim’s unease was growing by the minute. She’d hoped the warden’s first response would have been the assurance that she knew Alex’s capabilities and that she would not be recommending her release, now or ever. The fact they were still speaking about the subject was of great concern. If the warden doubted that fact, even for a minute, Alex would have found a way to exploit it.

‘Only the other day she stopped a fight in the dinner hall at risk to herself. I think she’s changed.’

‘Really, she hasn’t. Who was fighting?’

‘One of the seasoned prisoners assaulted a new inmate, and Alexandra stepped in and broke it up.’

‘You saw this?’

‘Yes, she was nowhere near when Emma just decided to—’

‘Emma?’ Kim asked, remembering a girl with the same name being a crony of Alex’s from a previous visit.

‘Is she friends with Alex?’

‘They share a cell actually.’

Kim wanted to shake the woman into understanding.

‘And this happened right in front of you, and you just happened to see Alex play the hero?’

‘I always nip to the hall before…’

Realisation dawned followed closely by suspicion. ‘You think she planned it for me to see?’

‘I’d bet my dog on it, and if you knew me better, you’d understand the certainty I feel with that statement. I understand that you stand firmly behind the process of rehabilitation. You have to and so you should, but you should also acknowledge that for some people it doesn’t work. They can’t change. They don’t want to change.

‘I’ve known Alex for a few years now, and you have only seen the side of her that she wants you to see. If you recommend her release, innocent people will suffer.’

Siviter folded her arms. ‘You know we can’t make decisions based on that alone. We have to observe the behaviour, mark the changes, accept the truthfulness of the remorse shown for the crime. There are many things to consider.’