The phone rang when she was in the bathroom, but by the time she’d picked it up, there was only a dial tone.
The second call came just as she was closing the door of her room on her way down to breakfast. She dashed back inside and grabbed the phone, to hear a voice she recognized on the other end of the line.
‘Good morning, Officer Kolowski,’ she replied.
‘The news isn’t good,’ said the detective, who didn’t deal in small talk. She collapsed on to the bed, fearing the worst. ‘I spoke to the warden of Lavenham just before I came off duty, and he told me that Bradshaw has made it clear he doesn’t want any visitors, no exceptions. It seems that Mr Jelks has issued an order that he’s not even to be informed when someone asks to see him.’
‘Couldn’t you try to get a message to him somehow?’ begged Emma. ‘I’m sure that if he knew it was me—’
‘Not a hope, lady,’ said Kolowski. ‘You have no idea how far Jelks’s tentacles reach.’
‘He can overrule a prison warden?’
‘A prison warden is small fry. The DA and half the judges in New York are under his thumb. Just don’t tell anyone I said so.’
The line went dead.
Emma didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard a knock on the door. Who could it possibly be? The door opened and a friendly face peered in.
‘Can I clean the room, miss?’ asked a woman pushing a trolley.
‘I’ll only be a couple of minutes,’ said Emma. She checked her watch and was surprised to find it was ten past ten. She needed to clear her head before she could consider her next move, and decided to take a long walk in Central Park.
She strolled around the park before making a decision. The time had come to visit her great-aunt and seek her advice about what she should do next.
Emma headed off in the direction of 64th and Park, and was so deep in thought about how she was going to explain to Great-aunt Phyllis why she hadn’t visited her earlier, that what she saw didn’t fully register. She stopped, turned and retraced her steps, checking every window until she reached Doubleday’s. A pyramid of books dominated the centre window, alongside a photograph of a man with slicked-back black hair and a pencil moustache. He was smiling out at her.
THE DIARY OF A CONVICT:
My time at Lavenham maximum security prison
by
Max Lloyd
The author of the runaway bestseller
will be signing books in this store
at 5.00 p.m. on Thursday
Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the author