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"Back to your cells," shouted Mr. Hagen. The officer looked surprised when he saw an unopened packet of twenty cigarettes pass between the two prisoners. "Found another customer for the alternative service you offer, have you, Louis?" he asked with a grin.
Da
"Fu
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
MINUTES TURNED INTO hours, hours became days, days ended up being weeks in the longest year of Da
"I'll have been released long before then," he promised her.
"But I still want you to take them," she insisted.
Beth and Christy had visited Da
In Da
Dr. Beresford killed in car accident read the headline on the front page of the Mail on Sunday. The article went on to tell its readers that Lawrence Davenport's star was on the wane, and the producers of The Prescription had decided to write him out of the script. Davenport was to be killed off in a tragic car accident involving a drunk-driver. He would be rushed to his own hospital where Nurse Petal, whom he had recently ditched when he discovered she was pregnant, would try to save his life, but would be unable… The phone rang in Spencer Craig's study. He wasn't surprised to find it was Gerald Payne on the other end of the line.
"Have you seen the papers?" Payne asked.
"Yes," said Craig. "Frankly I'm not surprised. The show's ratings have been going west for the past year, so they're obviously looking for some gimmick to give them a boost."
"But if they ditch Larry," said Payne, "he's not going to find it that easy to get another part. We certainly don't want him going back on the bottle."
"I don't think we should be discussing this over the phone, Gerald. Let's meet up soon."
Craig opened his diary, to find several days were blank. He didn't seem to be getting quite as many briefs as he had in the past.
The arresting officer placed the prisoner's few possessions on the counter, while the desk sergeant made a note of them in his log book: one needle, one small packet containing a white substance, one match box, one spoon, one tie and one five-pound note.
"Do we have a name, or any ID?" asked the desk sergeant.
"No," replied the young constable, glancing at the helpless figure slumped on the bench in front of him. "Poor bastard," he said, "what's the point of sending him to prison?"
"The law's the law, my lad. Our job is to carry it out, not to question our masters."
"Poor bastard," the constable repeated.
During the long, sleepless nights ru
He tried to concentrate on the essay he was writing on The Count of Monte Cristo-his GCSE set text. Perhaps, like Edmond Dantès, he would escape. But you can't build a tu
How well the two of them had come to know each other during the past year. In truth they had spent more hours together than he and Bernie had ever done. Some of the new prisoners even assumed they were brothers, until Da
"You're every bit as bright as I am," Nick kept telling him, "and when it comes to maths, you've become the teacher."
Da
"Got some news fur ye, Da
Da
"Ever come across a fucker called Mortimer?"
Da
"Well, he's shown up here," said Big Al.
"What do you mean?"
"Exactly whit I said, Da
"You're a diamond," Da
"A rougher stone, perhaps," said Big Al, "but wake me up when yer mate gets back, 'cause I have a feeling it may be me has got something tae teach you two fur a change."
Spencer Craig sat alone nursing a glass of whiskey as he watched Lawrence Davenport's final episode of The Prescription. Nine million viewers joined him as Dr. Beresford, with Nurse Petal clutching on to his hand, gasped out his final line, "You deserve better." The episode won the show's largest audience share for over a decade. It ended with Dr. Beresford's coffin being lowered into the ground as Nurse Petal sobbed at the graveside. The producers had left no chance of a miraculous recovery, whatever the demands of Davenport 's adoring fans.
It had been a bad week for Craig: Toby being sent to the same prison as Cartwright, Larry out of work, and that morning the date for Cartwright's appeal had been posted on the court calendar. It was still several months away, but what would Larry's state of mind be by then? Especially if Toby cracked and in return for a fix was willing to tell anyone who would listen what had really happened that night.