Page 105 of Freshman

He snapped on a glove, reached inside and pulled the picture out for Alfie to see.

“Let me guess, you’re going to tell me this isn’t you and it wasn’t drawn by Nate Mathews.”

Alfie squeezed his eyes shut and didn’t bother to deny it.

24

“There’s good news and bad news…”

Alfie looked at his lawyer, Gareth. He didn’t say anything, just waited for whichever one he felt like sharing first.

Gareth sat down beside Alfie with a sigh. He removed his glasses and squeezed the bridge of his nose. Alfie had only known him a few hours but had already learned this was a sign of disappointment, of disbelief.

“They have the drawings, the notes, the text messages Nate sent before his calls, and the call logs themselves, traced to a mobile phone in Nate’s neighbouring cell, 149. The most damning piece of evidence is the CCTV footage of you disappearing into Nate’s cell for forty-five minutes, then redressing yourself on the landing outside.” Gareth slotted his glasses back over his brown eyes and swept a hand over his thinning grey hair. “Of course, we could say you were naïve, went inside fearing for Nate’s safety after the death of the only family member still in contact with him, and that’s where he forced you to have sex with him. That…could be supported by the voicemails he left on your phone.”

When the police first interviewed him, Alfie had denied anything sexual had happened between him and Nate despite what the CCTV footage suggested.

The first time Alfie heard Nate’s voicemail, his heart clenched and he scrunched his eyes shut.

Nate was concerned for him, worried, thinking Alfie was traumatised, thinking he regretted it and was in pain. Alfie wished he’d listened to the messages earlier, basked in Nate’s concern one last time, but instead he was forced to listen in front of two police officers eyeing him with disgust.

“That…” Alfie looked behind himself to check no one was hovering at the window. They were in a box room at the police station, had been for hours while Gareth tried to piece together the evidence against Alfie and the probable charge they would hit him with.

“That wasn’t what happened,” Alfie said.

“For the purpose of shortening your sentence…could it be what happened?”

Alfie shook his head. “It wasn’t rape. It wasn’t forced.”

Gareth nodded once. “Understood. What happened was…a young, infatuated prison officer got seduced by a violent criminal. You were fully under his spell, obsessed with him and the romantic gestures he made, so much so that you didn’t report him and repeatedly broke rules to spend time with him.”

Alfie hung his head.

“He was the aggressor, the pursuer, and you, unfortunately, fell for the charms of a psychopath.”

“Nate isn’t a psychopath—”

“Mr Bridges. I’m trying to make sure you get the shortest sentence possible, and that means you have to play your part of the naïve love-struck teenager, and Mr Mathews has to play his part of the manipulative monster in a cage.” He removed his glasses to press his thumb and finger into the top of his nose again. “They have enough evidence to charge you for misconduct and sexual contact, at the least, with a prisoner. As well as offences related to mobile phone communication between the two of you and the acceptance of gifts. There is no easy way to say it, but you’re going to serve time for your relationship with Nate Mathews.”

“How much?”

“That depends on a lot of things, but mostly whether the judge believes you were infatuated and used by Nate, and for that, your age, your childhood, your lack of life prospects, they can help explain your lapses in judgement.”

“How long?” Alfie repeated, softer than before.

“Two years would be a good result.”

“Two years?” Alfie gasped.

“I said that would be a good result; you’re looking at between two to five years.”

Alfie shook. He hid his hands beneath the table.

“This is the bad news,” Gareth said.

He put his glasses back on.

“The good news is there’s nothing that links you to Nate’s escape. There’s no indication of evidence that suggests you were aiding Nate that day, and it appears to be a coincidence you were in the car when it was run off the road.” Gareth glanced Alfie’s way. “If there had been any evidence, and if they find any in the future, you’ll be looking at ten years behind bars, at least.”

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