The Escape

Chapter thirteen

The search for Barry Marsden went on, but the police still had no idea where he was. They returned to his home address and this time his mother was in. She had been shocked to hear that he had escaped from the court, and claimed to have no clue as to what he was up to or where he could be. When the police searched the house, she became vicious, outraged that they doubted her word.

‘Believe me, if Barry had turned up here, I would have reported him immediately. He’s never done anything but cause me trouble,’ she said bitterly.

‘Sorry, we’re just doing our jobs, ma’am,’ a fresh-faced policeman replied as they went on searching the house.

As his mother had insisted, he wasn’t there, but, as the police were leaving, they asked for a list of anyone she thought he might be in contact with.

‘None of the family, I can tell you that for certain. He’s just a ruddy loser,’ she said with a coldness that sounded cruel.

Eventually, she gave the police some names and numbers, but told them it was a waste of their time. The police thanked her, but felt no further forward than when they had started.

Barry’s other relatives and known contacts were also questioned, but no one had seen or heard from him, and no one seemed to care a jot about him. The prison authorities were not happy. They didn’t care that Marsden was a low-risk prisoner. The fact was, he had escaped and that made them look bad in the public eye. When the police reported back that they were unable to trace Barry, the Governor of the prison ordered the cell to be searched for any clues. He also said that Barry’s cellmate, Colin Burrows, was to be brought to his office for questioning.

By late afternoon, East wing was buzzing with rumour and speculation among the inmates. A prisoner returning from a different court had heard two officers in reception talking about a prisoner who had escaped. The officers were trying to lay the blame squarely on the female officer who’d escorted Barry Marsden.

‘What, the wimpy guy with the jam-jar glasses?’ a fellow inmate asked.

‘Yep, so don’t expect the screws to be in a good mood tonight.’

Barry was lying on Colin’s bed reading a comic when the officers unlocked and flung open the cell door. Then they dragged him into the corridor so they could carry out a search. He’d managed to take off his glasses and hide them in his hand without being seen.

‘Governor wants a chat about your cellmate, Barry Marsden. Seems he’s disappeared. You know anything about that, do you?’ one officer asked, and poked him in the chest.

‘No, sir. He’s at court, sir.’

Barry kept his head down and tried to slip his glasses into his pocket. The officer, wondering what he was trying to hide, grabbed his hand and twisted it hard. Barry yelped in pain and dropped the glasses. That was the moment the game was up, as the officer pulled his head back by the hair and recognised him as Barry Marsden, the presumed missing prisoner. At the same time, they found the art pad and felt tips that Colin had hidden under Barry’s pillow.

The other prisoners on the block, who were watching through their cell-door windows, shouted, swore and banged loudly on the doors. They were outraged at the way a helpless fellow prisoner was being treated. Barry picked up his glasses, put them back on and moved slowly along the landing. The officer got impatient and grabbed hold of him, forcing him to walk faster. Some of the prisoners recognised Barry now he had his glasses on, and knew that it must have been Colin Burrows who had escaped. There was more jeering and swearing at the officers. It was part shock and part admiration of an inmate who had so daringly escaped using the identity of his cell-mate.

Barry was really scared as he was manhandled and dragged through the corridors to the Governor’s office. He was shaking uncontrollably as he stood to attention in front of the Governor’s desk with a prison officer either side of him. At first, he still tried to pretend to be Colin, but one of the officers gave him a hard clip round the back of the head. He then claimed that prisoner Burrows had never told him anything about an escape plan. The Governor, who was now seething with anger, got up from his desk and went nose to nose with Barry.

‘I’m not a fool, so don’t make it any worse for yourself, son. Just admit that you helped him with his escape plan because YOU had to know about your court appearance, right?’

‘I might have been told, sir, but I just forgot about it.’

‘Well, you’d better start remembering quickly, or you’ll be in solitary confinement for months, without so much as a piece of chalk to draw with!’ the Governor shouted, and again an officer slapped the back of Barry’s head hard.

He was really frightened now, and couldn’t face the thought of being in solitary with no art book, felt tips or pencils. Sobbing and terrified, he changed his story and admitted that he had known about the plan. He said he was scared of Colin Burrows and had to agree to let him take his place for the court appearance.

‘Did Burrows threaten you?’

‘Yes, sir. I was afraid not to do exactly what he told me.’

‘Do you know where he was planning to go?’

‘All I know is that he was desperate to be with his wife. She’s having a baby, sir, and he said he would do anything to be there at the birth.’

‘Did he say which hospital?’

‘No, sir.’

‘Take him back to his cell,’ the Governor snapped angrily.

He was worried that the press would get hold of the story, and that he and his staff would be made to look like a bunch of incompetent fools. He also knew that it could mean the end of his career in charge of Barfield Prison.

As Barry was dragged back to his cell, he got a huge cheer when the inmates saw him. They all started singing as loud as they could, ‘There’s only one Barry Marsden’, repeating the words over and over. The officers felt they were being made to look like idiots and, in anger, threw Barry back into his cell. He hit the floor and wall really hard, hurting his right shoulder and arm. He wasn’t sure if he’d broken it, but he didn’t dare say anything as he knew the officers wouldn’t care anyway.

‘You are going to get a lot of extra time inside for this. Believe me, we’ll be watching your every move from now on.’

The cell door slammed shut as Barry crawled onto Colin’s bottom bunk and curled up in pain. The cell was a mess after the search. The officers had broken all his felt tips into pieces and thrown them in the toilet.

The fact was many of the prison officers were going to be investigated for having allowed the escape to occur. The male officers had all been smug at first, trying to blame it on the female officer who’d escorted Colin on the court run. They now realised they were all in big trouble, and there were plenty of excuses as the officers argued and accused each other. Prisoner Burrows had fooled everyone who had dealt with him that morning. If just one of them had done his job properly and checked more closely, they would have recognised the switch and prevented the escape. Now some of them might even lose their jobs.