The Escape Read online

  ‘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.’

  ‘You still can,’ Barry said excitedly.

  ‘It’s over, so let’s just drop it. OK?’

  ‘I’ve got a case full of felt-tipped pens and I can draw my tattoos on you. I could pat them down with your mouthwash to make them look older, more faded. I can do it, I know I can.’

  Colin swung his legs down from his bunk and shook his head in despair at Barry’s idea. He knew his cellmate was only trying to be helpful and, not wanting to upset him too much, Colin forced a smile.

  ‘It won’t work, and anyway that would make you an accomplice. Without the tattoo problem I could have said you had nothing to do with it. Even if you could draw anything like the ones you’ve got, it’s too dangerous. They’ll know you had to be in on it.’

  ‘Now you just listen! I don’t care if they charge me with helping you escape or add months on my sentence . . .’

  ‘But you’re on remand and haven’t even been given one yet, so you might just get released,’ Colin said gloomily.

  ‘I don’t want to be released. I want to stay in prison, studying art and learning how to paint with oils. You are the best and only friend I have ever had, and I really want to do this for you. Besides, you are going to give yourself up after the birth, right?’

  Colin nodded but was still uncertain. Barry sat beside him on the bed.

  ‘We’ve come too far. You have worked so hard and learned every detail of my life and you have an amazing memory. You are really intelligent, you know that, right? Well, I’m not and I know that. It’s not like you’re breaking out to go robbing or assaulting anyone. You’ve got a good reason ’cos you want to hold your newborn baby boy in your arms. Give me a chance, Colin. Please, let’s just see if I can make this work?’

  Chapter Four

  After a lot of discussion, Colin caved in, and decided that he should at least give the fake tattoos a try. He began to unbutton his shirt.

  ‘Start on the right arm, as you’ll never have the time to do my chest and shoulders. I could maybe get away with just rolling my sleeve up for the guards. Let’s see how it looks first, before we decide to go ahead as planned.’

  Barry grinned and went to his small cupboard and took out his case of felt-tipped pens. He began to select the pale blue, navy blue, green and dark brown.

  ‘It’ll be lights out soon, so I’d best get cracking.’

  Colin took off his shirt and turned sideways for Barry to begin drawing on his arm.

  ‘What I’ll do is wet a tissue with mouthwash, and sort of press it against it to make it fade. I’ve had some of these tats since I was fourteen, so they’re old.’

  ‘Why did you get a ruddy mermaid?’

  ‘’Cos I’d never been to the seaside, and now I could say I had.’

  Barry’s ideas sometimes amazed Colin, but he said nothing as his cellmate concentrated and started to draw on his arm.

  Colin kept getting up to check how it was going in the metal mirror above the small desk shelf. It was a very slow business as Barry wanted to make sure the tattoos were not only the right size but looked real. He knew the duty officers at the release desk would have details of inmates’ tattoos to check against, as they had recorded all his when he first came in to Barfield. The mermaid was only half drawn when it was time for lights out. Colin had to admire Barry’s work, and said it looked very realistic. Barry thought that the green was a bit too bright on her fish tail and would need to be faded down.

  The next morning, Barry worked for an hour before bringing his breakfast of a bacon roll and coffee to the cell. Colin was so nervous he couldn’t face eating and was worried that during the night the mermaid had become a little smudged. Barry went over the outline again, dabbed it with mouthwash and sprinkled talcum powder on it. His main worry was that he’d lost his yellow felt-tipped pen that he needed to draw her wavy blonde hair. He fiddled with the pens he did have, testing and mixing the different shades in layers on his notepad. In the end, the best match he could come up with was a watered-down orange.

  Colin was getting more and more impatient as it was taking so long. Barry still had to do the outline and colouring of an anchor and chain on his shoulder, and they only had one day left to get it all completed. Colin tried his best not to put too much pressure on Barry, who sat concentrating very hard.

  They both jumped when they heard the sudden sound of keys rattling in their cell door. Colin quickly pulled on his shirt and Barry pretended to be drawing in his art book as an officer unlocked the door.

  ‘You two want to go down onto the wing floor to play in the table-tennis competition?’ the officer asked.

  ‘Thank you, sir, but we were about to have a game of chess,’ Barry replied.

  ‘Very brainy. I’ll leave you to enjoy your game then,’ he said, then turned and left the cell.

  Colin breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Just as well he didn’t check.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We don’t have a chess set, Barry, only dominoes!’

  ‘Oh yeah, I forgot. You are really clever, and I just reckoned you’d know how to play chess.’

  Chapter Five

  After a couple of hours the drawings were taking shape and Colin grew more relaxed. They were making good progress and were both thrilled that nearly all the tattoos had been completed by lunch time.

  ‘Only one more night to go,’ Barry said as he checked his work on Colin’s body, making some finishing touches. He felt much more confident now the job was nearly done, and started to pack away his felt-tipped pens before lunch. Meanwhile, Colin carefully buttoned up his prison-issue shirt over the freshly drawn tattoos. He was constantly afraid he would smudge them.

  The cell door opened as an officer entered.

  ‘Anything nice for lunch today, sir?’ Colin asked, trying to appear calm.

  ‘Well, there’s prawn cocktail to start, followed by best fillet steak, mushrooms and fine-cut chips, with lemon tart for dessert,’ the officer said with a cheeky grin.

  ‘Sounds good to me, sir, will you be joining us?’ Colin asked, playing along with the joke.

  ‘I’d love to, but my wife would never forgive me for not eating her home-made ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches.’

  ‘Well, I’d be happy to eat them for you and let you have my lunch,’ Barry said, joining in with the banter.

  ‘Believe me, the wife’s sarnies aren’t much better than what�
�s served up in here,’ the officer said, and they all laughed. ‘Which one of you is Marsden?’

  ‘I am, Sir,’ Barry replied nervously.

  ‘You’re to report to the wing duty office right away.’

  ‘What do they want?’ Barry asked in alarm, and clenched his fists tightly to stop himself from shaking.

  ‘You are leaving for court at eight tomorrow morning. They want to go over the details, so look sharp, son.’

  ‘Yes, sir. Be right down, sir,’ Barry murmured as he followed the officer out of the cell.

  Colin was worried sick and couldn’t face any lunch. Once again, he was becoming anxious and close to tears as he paced around the small cell, wondering when or if Barry would return. Neither of them had expected a meeting the day before the court appearance. Colin was terrified that something might be wrong, and that they’d been found out. He calmed himself as he realised that they’d both have been summoned if the plan had been rumbled.

  He sat on the edge of his bunk bed. ‘Be positive,’ he thought and he began to copy Barry’s signature over and over again in his notebook. His friend had simple handwriting and, after only a little practice, he could almost do it with his eyes closed. Even so, in the pit of his stomach, he worried that everything they had planned and done so far might have been a waste of time.

  It was nearly an hour before Barry came back to the cell. He was carrying a large clear plastic bag and, as the officer locked the door, he gave Colin a big smile and thumbs up.

  ‘You won’t believe our luck. I heard them saying that there are new officers coming onto the wing in the morning who won’t have ever seen either of us.’

  ‘What did they want with you?’ Colin asked nervously.

  ‘I, well, you pretending to be me, have got to be at the screws’ office on the ground floor straight after breakfast. You need to put all my personal belongings in this plastic bag. I, I mean you, will then get escorted across to the release area, before being taken to Clapham Magistrates’ Court.’

  ‘This is madness, Barry. If I escape, I’ve then got to get all the way over to Croydon. We’ll never get away with it.’

  ‘Yes, we will. I heard them talking about a shortage of prison vehicles, and the senior officer said to use a taxi.’

  ‘A taxi! Are you joking?’

  ‘Nope, that’s what I heard. Apparently, they regularly do it when they’re short on paddy wagons and the prisoner is low risk like me.’

  ‘Which officer is going to accompany you? Sorry, I mean me. What if he knows you?’ Colin asked.

  ‘I clocked the rota on the wall and it’s an officer from another wing. Like I keep telling you, I’ve only been in here four weeks, so none of the screws knows me.’

  ‘But he may recognise me and know I’m not you.’

  ‘Not when you’re wearing my glasses. The lenses are so thick even my mum would think you were me.’

  ‘How on earth are you going to see then?’

  ‘Don’t worry, I got a spare pair.’

  Colin was now really worried that they would never pull it off. But Barry insisted they had come so far that Colin couldn’t back down now and miss seeing the birth of his son.

  ‘So it’s tomorrow then, eight a.m.?’ Colin said nervously.

  Barry nodded and clapped his hands, really enjoying the adventure. He had never been happier or felt so positive. Nor had he had such a close friend as Colin who depended on him so much. It all made him feel good about himself.

  ‘We can do it, Col, but don’t give anything away tonight when you talk to Karen on the phone. Take some deep breaths, keep calm and act normal.’

  Chapter Six

  They were lying on their beds, waiting to be let out for dinner, and had not spoken for a while. Colin broke the silence and asked Barry if he ever made phone calls home.

  ‘No, not got a phone card and there’s no one who’d listen anyway. Nobody gives a toss about me. They never did.’

  ‘I do. I care a lot about you, and I won’t ever forget what you’re doing for me. I owe you big time.’

  Barry beamed. It felt great to have a friend like Colin. It was a deed well worth doing, just to know that he could help him be present at the birth of his son.

  As usual during dinner, they ignored each other and ate at separate tables. The changeover officers had just begun their shift and would be on duty for the night. The next shift would take over before breakfast, at 6 a.m. the next morning.

  After dinner, Colin joined the telephone queue to call Karen. She was very down, saying that she was so heavily pregnant she could hardly move.

  ‘The last scan was good, and everything’s on schedule for the birth tomorrow. Mum’s going to take me to the hospital. She’s even packed a bag for me.’

  ‘I love you so much and you’ll be fine,’ Colin said, desperately wanting to tell her he would, if all went to plan, be with her.

  ‘I wish you were going to be with me, Colin. I miss you so much and I really need to see you. It’s been weeks and I don’t know how I’ll be after the baby is born. I hope I’ll be able to travel to the prison. My mum has bought a VW for me to use so that will help. I know I’ll be able to bring the baby with me at visiting times, but it’s just not having you here to give me support, and I get really scared.’

  ‘You keep strong, darling. I will be thinking of you and our baby every minute of the day.’

  ‘I know, but it don’t help, because I miss you so much.’

  Colin was getting upset as she started to cry. He changed the subject, trying to distract her by asking if she’d thought of any other names to call their son. They often talked about this, and she had said that her favourite name was Justin, after the pop singer Justin Bieber. Colin said that he had been thinking about what name he would like the baby to be called.

  ‘Why? You’d agreed to him being called Justin.’

  ‘I know, but can we call him Barry instead and maybe have Justin as a middle name?’

  ‘Barry!’ Karen exclaimed.

  ‘Yeah, do you like the name?’

  ‘No, I don’t. What do you want to call him Barry for?’

  ‘Listen, darling, next time I see you I will explain it all.’

  The prisoner behind him tapped on Colin’s shoulder, and pointed to his watch. Time was up on his call. Not wanting a row, Colin said goodnight to Karen and hung up. He had so wanted to tell her that he would soon be with her, but had managed to stop himself. He couldn’t help being really happy, as he was starting to feel more and more certain that he could pull it off. Until now, he had been doubtful, but hearing her voice made him very excited. He was nervous, yet he firmly believed that in only a few hours he would be with Karen.

  Chapter Seven

  When Colin returned to his cell, Barry was looking at a comic on his bunk bed.

  ‘Guess what we decided to call him?’ Colin asked with a big smile.

  ‘You’d told me Karen wanted to call him Justin.’

  ‘I changed her mind. We want him to be called Barry.’

  Barry sat up, his eyes brimming with tears.

  ‘You mean that? You would do that?’

  ‘Yeah, if that’s all right with you?’

  ‘Of course it is. Wow! That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me. I really appreciate it, Colin. Thank you so very, very much.’

  ‘That’s OK. Let’s just hope it all goes to plan in the morning.’

  The lights went out, and they both lay on their bunks as the cells were locked up for the night. There were the usual catcalls and tinny radio sounds that would continue into the wee hours. Neither of them had a radio. They had talked about maybe getting one, but they had no money and no one brought one in for them. They had sometimes watched television in the communal TV room, but deliberately never together, so if one saw a show he would tell the other all about it.

  ‘Do you want a final run-through?’ Barry whispered.

  Colin whispered back that it would be a good i
dea. Quietly, they went through all of Barry’s relatives, his childhood and school days until they had covered everything. At last, they fell silent.

  ‘Not long now,’ Barry said after a while.

  ‘Fingers crossed,’ Colin answered, yawning.

  After a few minutes, he could tell that Barry had fallen asleep because he snored, but Colin just couldn’t get to sleep himself. He was too wired, thinking about what it would be like to see Karen and how she would react. He thought about her parents, and worried that her father might tell the prison or police where he was. He decided that he would explain to Karen’s mum and dad that he had been let out on day release for the baby’s birth.

  If everything was on time and the baby was born on the due date, he was certain he would get away with it. They had planned that Barry would stay in the cell all morning and not go down for his lunch or mix with the other men on the wing. He prayed that Barry, who would have to pretend to be him, gave nothing away before he himself got to court and carried out the final part of his escape. He also hoped that he would have plenty of time before the prison officers started asking Barry questions and found out the truth.

  Unable to sleep, Colin paced round the cell. He looked over at Barry, sleeping like a baby apart from the snoring. He sincerely hoped that his friend would not get into deep trouble for helping him. Colin had considered tying Barry up and gagging him, but quickly realised that was a stupid idea which could give away everything at an early stage. He had even suggested that Barry should say that he was threatened and forced to do the tattoos and swap places, but Barry had rejected the idea. He would rather just play dumb and act as if he had forgotten about the arrangements for his court appearance. He also told Colin that he did not mind getting months added to his sentence, as he preferred prison life to his life outside.

  Colin had tried to make him aware of what it could mean, as Barry had not even been convicted of a crime yet, but was on remand until the magistrates’ court sent him for trial. It was during that conversation that Colin learned exactly why Barry was at Barfield.