Page 4 of Hold On

She shot him a smile, and left. Dr Roberts had been kinder than most. Dominic suspected he’d not fooled her as he’d fooled others.

He sat down again and waited.

An hour later, Sturdy’s bulky frame filled the doorway. “Ready?”

Dominic stood, picked up his bag of books and followed. Each door that was unlocked took him a step closer to freedom and still Dominic didn’t count his chickens. He imagined them clucking around his feet as he walked, trying to trip him up.

Sturdy led him to a room just off the reception where another officer was waiting. He took the bag of books and began to check them.

“Strip search,” Sturdy said.

What would I want to sneak out of here?But he stripped to his boxers.

Sturdy smirked. “Those too.”

Dominic did as he was told, squatted, spread his arse cheeks. If Sturdy hoped for humiliation, he’d failed.

Once Dominic was dressed, he completed endless, seemingly unnecessary paperwork.

“There’s no property to be returned to you,” Sturdy said. “What happened to it?”

“I never had any.”

“No travel warrant required?”

“My brother is picking me up.”

“No discharge grant. Your savings account makes you ineligible.” Sturdy took a bank book from a folder, something used by the prison to record transfers to Dominic’s account, along with a bank card, and handed them to him. “Sign for them.”

Dominic signed.

Sturdy bent his head and whispered. “Sixteen thousand pounds? Fucking hell. Shouldn’t be allowed for fuckers like you.”

Dominic’s heart beat a little faster.

Sturdy put two containers of pills in front of him. “Your prescription. Don’t take it all at one go.” He chuckled. “Here’s your national insurance card. This is a list of telephone numbers. Details of your probation officer, time of your appointment. License conditions.” He lowered his voice. “The probation service might decide you need MAPPA.”

Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements would mean he’d have more people watching him. Three people had died by his hand, which classified him as a persistent violent offender. Dr Roberts had recommended against MAPPA.

Dominic put everything in the bag with the books.

“This way.”

He’d been warned he might have to wait until they were ready to let him out, but he followed Sturdy through another two sets of doors. At the final exit, Sturdy came up right behind him, his breath a whisper on Dominic’s neck. “This is it. Miran Kilic says he’ll be seeing you.”

Oh shit.Dominic turned. “I’d like to see the head of clinical operations.”

“What? Fuck off.” Sturdy opened the door. “Get out of here.”

“No.” The irony didn’t escape him. All this time and now he was refusing to leave.

The rage that flashed over Sturdy’s face had Dominic curling his toes inside his trainers, but he stood his ground.

“Leave now.”

Dominic looked up at the camera. “I’d like to see the head of clinical operations, please.”

“If you don’t walk out right now, I’ll find a reason not to let you leave for a considerable period of time,” Sturdy whispered. “All I have to do is make it look as if you’re hitting me. Not difficult. Your choice.”

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