Page 46 of Rat

“No, he didn’t.”

Sebastian took the phone from Rory and shoved it in his pocket. He dropped the scraps of fake rat in the bag, then smiled.

“All done.”

“Done?” Ollie asked.

“Yep.”

Ollie opened his eyes. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” Sebastian said, “and don’t worry about the maggots. I’ll speak to Teddy when he comes back on the wing.”

“Yeah?” Ollie said.

“Yep.” He turned his attention back to Rory. “We’ll speak later, but…”

“But what?”

“Make sure you have a damn shower first…”

Rory waited patiently for Sebastian to explain. The lights went out, and the only glow came from the floodlights in the yard. He drummed his fingers on his stomach, looking at the ceiling of their cell, waiting, but Sebastian didn’t say anything until Rory sighed.

Sebastian chuckled below him. “You want me to tell you about the rats?”

“Yeah.”

“Only people I trust know about the rats.”

Rory didn’t bother telling Sebastian he could be trusted. He didn’t think it would come out of his mouth convincingly enough.

He rolled onto his side and muttered at the wall, “That’s me screwed then.”

Sebastian snorted. “It’s quite simple, really. The officers and the governor think the prison’s got a rat problem. Sometimes food packages have beennibbled, and there’s ratdroppingsall over the floor.”

Rory screwed up his face. “Gross.”

“Except, I just get someone to scratch up the packages. And the rat droppings? Burned grains of rice.”

“Okay, so no rats…”

“Occasionally there is, but that’s not the point. The point is, the governors and officers believe there is. They worry about health and safety reports. So they hire an exterminator, and he puts boxes of poison outside the prison. He can’t put them inside—inmates would kill each other.”

“Yeah, I bet.”

“I have a friend on the outside; he makes the rats look and feel real.”

Rory shuddered, and the bed shook. “It fooled me.”

“He throws them over the fence, and the officers won’t go near the dead rats. They get inmates to put them in the bins, then Vince, Einstein or myself pick them up when we can.”

“And inside the rats?”

“Drugs, alcohol, phones, aftershave, chocolate, whatever will fit.”

“Why did you want me to get you drugs when you’re already doing it yourself?”

“I didn’t really. I wanted to know what you’d do to get my protection.”

---