Page 5 of Freshman

“So, what did he say, fish?”

“It’s Alfie, and we’re moving to nights on H-wing. Ben and Dan are on G.”

The twins smiled and high-fived.

Marie and Glen shared a worried look, but Henry just shrugged.

“It’s more pay,” Henry said to them.

“More insults and threats,” Marie added with a shudder.

One of the twins snorted, then muttered, “Oh yep, definitely more of that, but these ones mean it.”

Glen rubbed Marie’s shoulder. “We’re all in this together. It’ll be fine.”

Alfie turned his head and inwardly tutted. All in this together. That included Glen and Marie shacked up in the toilet and Henry, their senior officer, asleep in his chair.

The greatest team of unity ever.

Alfie turned at the squeeze of his shoulder.

Henry looked up at him and offered a weak smile. “Don’t listen to the things they’ll yell. Just do your job, and none of them will get you.” Henry stopped talking but didn’t release Alfie’s shoulder.

Marie and Glen moved away to talk between themselves, and Henry turned back to Alfie with a serious expression.

“No riling them up.”

Alfie drew his eyebrows together. “Riling them?”

“No opening the hatches on the doors and teasing them with your face, blowing kisses and that kind of stuff.”

Alfie brushed Henry’s hand from his shoulder. “Why the hell would I do that?”

“You might find the thought of frustrating them funny, but I’m telling you now, they’ll find a way to get you back, and it won’t be pretty.”

Alfie scrunched his face and stepped back from Henry. The old man had always thought it was strange Alfie wanted to work in a correctional unit at such a young age. After four months, he had come to a sordid conclusion, and no amount of telling him he wasn’t interested in sexual thrills from the prisoners could convince him otherwise.

“I’m just here to do my job,” Alfie said.

Henry nodded. “Exactly, keep that stuff private. Express your fantasies in the comfort of your own bed.”

Alfie shook his head and went to swap his keys for his house ones. He walked out of Larkwood, kicking out at the kerb in frustration.

When Alfie arrived home, he was too annoyed to sleep and curled up on the sofa with a bowl of cereal by his chest.

The protocol for H-wing was the same as G. Any prisoner at high risk was regularly checked throughout the night. They were kept in the lower cells for easy access. Between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m., there was the dreaded roll call. Every prisoner had to be accounted for, and that meant waking them and asking for their names. The prisoners of G-wing whined, complained and called Alfie every curse word they could think of. It wasn’t pleasant, but Alfie could handle their name-calling.

At 4:30 on their first shift on H-wing, Henry stumbled from the office with a yawn. “It’s time for H’s roll call.”

Alfie nodded and took the clipboard of cell numbers and names from him. “Should I radio for Marie and Glen?”

He frowned at the thickness of the papers, then looked to see Henry holding the other clipboards, only he wasn’t holding any.

Henry clacked his tongue to the roof of his mouth, then bunched his cheeks in a pitiful expression. Alfie waited, not knowing what the hell was happening on the old man’s face. He worried it was a stroke until Henry finally spoke.

“The thing is, Ryan wanted you to do the first roll call alone.”

Alfie rocked back on his heels. “Alone?”

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