Blind Fury by Lynda La Plante Page B

very attractive woman, I want you protected.” Hardwick gave her a kindly smile.
    “So you think he is dangerous?” Anna wanted to be clear about this.
    “No. It is, as I said, just a precaution—and I will also have to request that the other inmates in the secure unit are locked in their cells. Usually, they have free access to their open spaces, and we do have some problematic inmates in there. There are four officers on duty at all times, and the security level is tight.”
    “But you don’t think Mr. Welsh could be physically dangerous?” Anna repeated.
    The governor hesitated and then shrugged. “To be honest, I wouldn’t put anything past him, and as he has written to you personally, Detective Travis, he may have some kind of ulterior motive in requesting you to be here in person. I sincerely doubt that he could have any information regarding your inquiry, and I feel this could simply be a ploy to have you meet with him. You have to understand the lengths inmates go to to relieve the day-to-day boredom.”
    He tugged at his right earlobe. “It’s rather like working with children at school, but the prisoners have no lessons, just twenty-four hours of every day to think up schemes and ways to create problems of every possible kind to aggravate the officers, themselves, and other inmates.”
    “Because they have nothing else to do?” Barolli asked.
    “That is partly the reason, or one could call it bloody-mindedness. We try at Barfield to lessen that aggravation in any way we can, because obviously, these are not children, and their ‘games’ can have severe repercussions. The prisoners held in the inner secure prison are specifically the ones we have found difficult to control, or who refuse to take any of the many productive courses we have on offer.”
    “Does Welsh have any other visitors?” Barolli asked.
    “No, he has never requested a visitor’s order.”
    “In five years?” Anna asked, surprised.
    “He has had no visitors,” the governor said quietly.
    “What about other prison agencies? I know many people working in that capacity often become friendly with an inmate.”
    “No, there is no one. He has made no friends with anyone from Social Services, male or female. He has obviously had the opportunity but has always refused to join in any of the interactive out-of-cell activities, even in the secure unit, which is a controlled environment.”
    Anna asked if they could be given a list of inmates with whom Cameron Welsh had been locked up or had shared a cell.
    “He has never shared a cell. He refused to ever be placed with another inmate, and he created major problems when placed on the sex offenders’ wing.”
    “I know he’s earned a degree while he’s been here. Did he have a tutor or work within the educational department?”
    “No. He earned his degree with the Open University.”
    “But surely he would have had to be interviewed?”
    “Apparently not.”
    “So during his sentence, he has never been close to any other prisoner?” Anna needed a precise answer.
    “He worked out in the gym, so he could have made contact with another prisoner, but that would have been some time ago. They do have a small gym in the secure unit that he uses daily.”
    “What about the other inmates in the secure unit?”
    “Well, obviously, he has to be in contact with them, and I can give you their names—they are a drug dealer, a Mafia-connected prisoner, and a terrorist. Although we have facilities in there for eight inmates, we currently have only four, which will enable you to interview him with the cells on either side unoccupied.”
    Barolli asked for the other inmates’ records to ascertain if any of them could have contacts involving their case. It took some time before both he and Anna were able to determine that all three had been held at Barfield before the women in question were murdered. This meant that whatever “information” Welsh claimed he had could not have been passed