“This is where the suffragettes went on hunger strike,” Flick told him. “Percy’s wife was force-fed in here.”
“My God.”
They went in. The air smelled of strong bleach, as if the authorities hoped that disinfectant would kill the bacteria of crime. Paul and Flick were shown to the office of Miss Lindleigh, a barrel-shaped assistant governor with a hard, fat face. “I don’t know why you wish to see Romain,” she said. ‘With a note of resentment she added, “Apparently I’m not to be told.”
A scornful look came over Flick’s face, and Paul could see that she was about to say something derisory, so he hastily intervened. “I apologize for the secrecy,” he said with his most charming smile. “We’re just following orders.”
“I suppose we all have to do that,” said Miss Lindleigh, somewhat mollified. “Anyway, I must warn you that Romain is a violent prisoner.”
“I understand she’s a killer.”
“Yes. She should be hanged, but the courts are too soft nowadays.”
“They sure are,” said Paul, although he did not really think so.
“She was in here originally for drunkenness; then she killed another prisoner in a fight in the exercise yard, so now she’s awaiting trial for murder.”
“A tough customer,” Flick said with interest.
“Yes, Major. She may seem reasonable at first, but don’t be fooled. She’s easily riled and loses her temper faster than you can say knife.”
“And deadly when she does,” Paul said.
“You’ve got the picture.”
“We’re short of time,” Flick said impatiently. “I’d like to see her now.”
Paul added hastily, “If that’s convenient to you, Miss Lindleigh.”
“Very well.” The assistant governor led them out. The hard floors and bare walls made the place echo like a cathedral, and there was a constant background accompaniment of distant shouts, slamming doors, and the clang of boots on iron catwalks. They went via narrow corridors and steep stairs to an interview room.
Ruby Romain was already there. She had nut-brown skin, straight dark hair, and fierce black eyes. However, she was not the traditional gypsy beauty: her nose was hooked and her chin curved up, giving her the look of a gnome.
Miss Lindleigh left them with a warder in the next room watching through a glazed door. Flick, Paul, and the prisoner sat around a cheap table with a dirty ashtray on it. Paul had brought a pack of Lucky Strikes. He put them on the table and said in French, “Help your-sell” Ruby took two, putting one in her mouth and the other behind her ear.
Paul asked a few routine questions to break the ice. She replied clearly and politely but with a strong accent. “My parents are traveling folk,” she said. “When I was a girl, we went around France with a funfair. My father had a rifle range and my mother sold hot pancakes with chocolate sauce.”
“How did you come to England?”
“When I was fourteen, I fell in love with an English sailor I met in Calais. His name was Freddy. We got married-I lied about my age, of course-and came to London. He was killed two years ago, his ship was sunk by a U-boat in the Atlantic.” She shivered. “A cold grave. Poor Freddy.”
Flick was not interested in the family history. “Tell us why you’re in here,” she said.
“I got myself a little brazier and sold pancakes in the street. But the police kept harassing me. One night, I’d had some cognac-a weakness of mine, I admit-and anyway, I got into a dispute.” She switched to cockney-accented English. “The copper told me to fuck off out of it, and I gave him a mouthful of abuse. He shoved me and I knocked him down.”
Paul looked at her with a touch of amusement. She was no more than average height, and wiry, but she had big hands and muscular legs. He could imagine her flattening a London policeman.
Flick asked, “What happened next?”
“His two mates came around the corner, and I was a bit slow to leave, on account of the brandy, so they gave me a kicking and took me down the nick.” Seeing Paul’s frown of incomprehension, she added: “The police station, that is. Anyway, the first copper was ashamed to do me for assault, didn’t want to admit he’d been floored by a girl, so I got fourteen days for drunk and disorderly.”