Page 69 of Good Bad Girl

“I can’t.”

“Then I will,” Clio says. “I’ll wait here until you come back out.”

Frankie shrugs. “Suit yourself.”

Frankie

Frankie walks fast, she needs to talk to Liberty as soon as possible and find out what she does and doesn’t know about her daughter. Once again, the conversation with the woman in the pink house did not go according to plan. She realizes that she left the keys in the van but doubts she needs to worry. Frankie doesn’t think Clio would steal a camper van; the woman is always getting taxis, she probably can’t even drive. She whispers the number of steps left before she reaches the main prison entrance.

Twenty. Nineteen. Eighteen. Seventeen.

Once Frankie is inside the main door, the overheated air hits her. She nods a silent hello to the guard on the desk and tries to smile, toact normal, but it isn’t easy. There are twelve short steps to her locker, where she leaves her bag and phone, since she can’t chance setting off the scanner two days in a row. Frankie heads to the front desk and signs in, then she walks through the double doors to the scan and search room. Nobody stops her today. Whenshe gets to the door leading to the courtyard, Frankie reaches for the biggest key in the set attached to the belt on her uniform. She unlocks the door and breathes deeply, gulping down the cool air as she steps outside.

There are fifty-eight steps across the courtyard, then the big key again as she allows herself inside prison block B. She feels herself relax a little as she locks the door behind her. There are five steps to the bottom of the stone staircase, then forty steps up. She is a little out of breath by the time she reaches the top.

Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven.

She counts down the final steps to the library door, reaching for the smallest key on her belt in preparation. Then she lets herself inside, her trembling fingers making it tricky to slot the key in the lock. As soon as she is in, she closes the door firmly behind her. The sight and smell of all the books on the shelves makes her feel instantly calmer.

A bell rings in the distance, just like the bells that used to ring when Frankie was at school. She checks her Mickey Mouse watch and sees that she only just made it in time. There is a knock on the library door before she even reaches her desk. Frankie heads back the way she came, opens the door, and is met by one of the guards on duty today. The short, stocky woman looks unfamiliar, which means she must be new.

“Delivering your library volunteers,” she says gruffly, handing Frankie a clipboard with a list. Frankie thanks her and takes it, staring at the names printed on the sheet of paper. She ticks the inmates off one by one, relieved when she sees Liberty’s name. Frankie needs to talk to her alone.

“You all know the drill,” she says to the rest of the inmates. “Tidy the shelves, put up the posters, and arrange the chairs so we’re ready for the author visit today. Liberty, can I have a word?”

Liberty follows her to the office but neither of them speaks until the door is firmly closed.

“I got your message,” Frankie says.

“Sorry about that, Miss Fletcher. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You said you know where my daughter is.”

Liberty nods. “Yes. She’s here.”

Frankie stares at the girl, wondering if she has misheard. “You traced my daughter’s phone to the prison?”

Liberty shakes her head and her blond curls shake with it. “There was no need to trace the number in the end. Your daughter shared my cell last night.”

Frankie takes a second to process the information then heads straight for the door. “I have to go to her—”

“No, miss. That’s the thing. She was here, but now she isn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“They released her.”

“What? When?”

“Just now.”

Patience

I didn’t believe them at first when they said they were going to release me. It turns out leaving a prison is almost as complicated as arriving at one. There were a lot of forms—most of which I didn’t understand but signed anyway because the guard said I had to—and a lot of “security checks” but eventually I was taken from the prison block to the main building. My clothes and my belongings were returned to me, including Edith’s silver ladybug ring, which I slipped on my finger straightaway.

Being walked out of the prison was the strangest part of it all. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over having my freedom stolen from me, or take freedom for granted again. Everything seems more special than before; even looking up at the sky and hearing the sound of birds. All the things most people get to enjoy every day without realizing how lucky they are. I’m hoping that this nightmare is finally going to end.

My optimism turns into fear when we reach the outside gate. What if this is a mistake and they aren’t really going to release me?Even if they do, I don’t have anywhere to live now and I don’t have a job. I’ve lost everything that I worked so hard for, everything and everyone that mattered. But then the guard opens the gate and I see my mother’s blue and white camper van in the prison car park.

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