Read Online Lost Innocence: The Accused. Part One by John Daysh - Free Book Online Page B

Drive me around and
translate a bit.”
    “… Can."
    “ Good, then let’s
go.”
    They left the studio.
Nigel thanked the landlady with a thousand on the way out. She was
shocked.
    Pang rushed ahead
down the stairs, opened the back door of the car and then helped
Nigel climb into the back. He got into the front and
waited.
    Nigel fumbled around
in his trouser pocket, pulled out another piece of paper and handed
it over. Pang’s smile turned upside down as he read it.
    “ You know the
place?”
    Pang nodded then
drove away like a chauffeur.
     

 
    TWELVE
     
    JOHN AND I were walking the
yard.
    “ Where are
the guards?”
    “ They watch
from air conditioned rooms and only come out when officials are
visiting.”
    “ You said
they were lazy.”
    I noticed some scratch marks and faded blood stains high up on a wall.
“What happened there?”
    “ An inmate
must have tried to escape. I saw a guy use two suction devices like
the ones used to carry glass sheets to help lever himself up. He
reached half way before being spotted by a blue shirt.”
    “ What
happened to him?”
    “ The blue
shirt called a guard. He was ordered to come down, but didn’t. They
shot him in the leg, he fell and later in the cell, he removed a
blade from a disposable razor, slashed his left wrist then wrote a
suicide note on the wall with his right hand – in his own blood.
Suicide is really common in here and nobody bats an
eyelid.”
    I was about to comment when ‘Bald Guard’ appeared and
called me over. I turned to John and smiled. “That must be my
dad.”
    “ Good for you mate.
Get out of here.”
    I followed the guard
and was taken to the interview room. A guard on the other side
ushered someone in but it wasn’t my dad who’d come all this way to
see me; it was my grandfather.
    He took a few steps
towards me, sat down, placed his hand on the mesh and waited while
I did the same. His eyes flickered back and forth between where our
palms faced, only the mesh between us. We picked up a phone with
our other hand.
    “ I saw that in a
movie, but it’s usually a glass partition. What are they trying to
pull in here?”
    It was lovely to see
him. He could take a tragic situation and make it funny. I loved
him for that.
    “ How’s the food on
your side?”
    “ It’s terrible. I’ve
lost weight.”
    “ I can see that, you
look grubby too.”
    His smile faded to a
frown. “Listen, I’m not sure how much time we have. I know what
happened and I sympathize but if this goes to Court, you could be
stuck in here for ages.”
    “ Where’s my
dad?”
    “ He’s here in
Bangkok. He had an accident.”
    “ What happened? Is he
okay?”
    “ He was hit crossing
the road, but he’s fine. He just can’t move around too
much.”
    “ Was he
drunk?”
    “ He’d had a
few.”
    “ Have you seen
him?”
    “ Not yet. I wanted to
see you first. Look, I’ve more than enough cash to settle this.
Your mum said they had already offered you a way out.”
    “ They did, but only
if I accepted the case against me and paid my way out.”
    “ You mean it wouldn’t
go to Court?”
    “ That’s right but if
I fought the case and lost, I’d have a record and never be able to
come here again, that is, after serving my sentence.”
    “ Would you want to
come here again?”
    “ I have my reasons
and I didn’t do anything.”
    “ I know you didn’t,
but they don’t care about that. They just want money and I want to
get you out. Your mother’s worried sick.”
    It hit a nerve when I
thought about her and what she must be going through. I could still
hear her frightened voice in my head.
    “ I’ll offer a decent
stash of cash to make this go away. You ready to go
home?”
    “ I’m meditating with
an Ozzy guy in here. He was arrested for smuggling
heroin.”
    “ Glad you’re keeping
such good company.”
    “ It’s not like that.
John’s a good guy.”
    “ Good guys don’t
traffic drugs, Mike.”
    “ He did it to save
his