Convictions by Julie Morrigan Page B

defeat,’ said Ruth. ‘In fact, that’s the main reason I’m here. Her mum asked me to have a word and to try and get her to change her mind.’
    ‘Good luck with that. The fight’s gone out of her. She needs to find that fire again. Incidentally, I’ve given Leanne something to do to keep her out of the way while you talk to Tina.’ Mary and Ruth stood together. ‘Oh,’ said Mary, ‘and that’s another thing. She’s gone back to being called “Tina”.’
     
    ***
     
    Ruth found the door to Tina’s room slightly open, and she could see the girl lying on her bed, her face buried in the bunny toy. She tapped on the door then went in.
    ‘Hey,’ she said, sitting down on the bed and resting her hand on Tina’s shoulder, ‘how’re you doing?’
    Tina took the toy away from her face. Her eyes looked bloodshot and sore. ‘Thirteen years,’ she said to Ruth. ‘That’s a minimum of six and a half. Three years here, then three and a half years on an adult wing. If I’m lucky.’
    ‘It’s a lot more than we expected,’ Ruth agreed. ‘But that’s all the more reason to launch an appeal. It’s such a big sentence that you’re almost guaranteed to get it reduced.’
    ‘Appeals can go both ways,’ said Tina. ‘Leanne told me that. She said her mum appealed against her sentence and the appeal judge increased it.’
    ‘That only happens in very rare cases when the original sentence is disproportionately lenient. Yours is disproportionately severe. Your chances are excellent, and the worst that is likely to happen is that the original sentence is allowed to stand.’
    ‘But Leanne says—’
    ‘I hear you’ve decided to go back to “Tina”,’ Ruth said. ‘What made you do that?’
    ‘It was hearing the judge in the courtroom yesterday talking about “Christina Snowdon”. He made her sound evil. I don’t want to think of myself like that.’ She put the bunny to her face again and Ruth saw her shudder.
    ‘You aren’t like that, love. You’re a good kid who has had some very bad stuff to deal with, that’s all.’ She squeezed Tina’s shoulder. ‘Now come on. Where’s the Tina I know? The one who’s going to work for Vanessa and qualify to be a hairdresser, and live in that smashing little flat above Vanessa’s salon?’
    ‘That’s another thing,’ Tina said. ‘Vanessa’s getting married. She’s moving away.’
    Ruth cursed Penny for not telling her. ‘She’ll open another salon, though. And it’s not like hers is the only salon in Sunderland. You’ll get a job at one of the others.’
    ‘I’ll be too old to be starting out when I get out, plus people might not be comfortable with an attempted murderer using scissors around them. Vanessa understood. No one else will. Let’s face it,’ Tina said, ‘no one decent will want to give me a job when I get out. I might as well have put those scissors in me, not in Mr Cotter. My life is over.’
    Ruth comforted Tina as she sobbed into the soft toy. ‘You mustn’t think like that,’ she counselled her. ‘It’s not true, for a start. You have your whole life ahead of you and there’s no reason why it can’t be a good one.’
    ‘Leanne says—’
    ‘Take no notice of Leanne, she doesn’t know everything,’ Ruth said, angry at the influence the girl had over Tina. ‘Look, you take a couple of days to think about things and decide what you want to do. You don’t need to make any hard and fast decisions right now.’
    ‘Okay,’ Tina said, drying her eyes on the bunny’s ears. ‘Ruth?’
    ‘What, love?’
    ‘Will you come back and see me in a bit? Maybe we can talk things through when I’m less upset.’
    ‘Of course I will, love. One day next week. Do you want your mum to come, too?’
    Tina nodded. ‘Yes, I want to see her. But not to talk things through like this.’ She looked at Ruth, her face serious. ‘Mum gets too worked up. She has no patience. You and Mary let me work things out for myself, even if it takes