with the day-to-day living in that place, which was as bad as any stories I had heard, let alone worrying that something was wrong with my family while there was nothing I could do about it. The only thing I could do was write to my solicitor and ask him to find out what was going on. What an agonising wait to hear back from him that was! A week later, when I was pulled off my shift in the laundry as I had a visitor, I knew it had to be important for them to interrupt me at work. I really believed . . . prayed . . . it was Nerys who’d managed to get special dispensation from the governor to explain to me the reason for her silence. I was terrified it was something to do with my daughter but grateful that I’d be receiving some answers at last. My visitor wasn’t Nerys but my solicitor, Charles Gray. The grave expression on his face sent a chill through me.
‘He told me he that he was most surprised to receive my letter as he’d not been approached by my wife to have any papers drawn up concerning a power of attorney. After I’d been in touch by letter, he paid a visit to the house. A woman answered the door. When he announced who he was, she introduced herself to him as Nerys Thomas and seemed very surprised when he explained to her the reason for his visit. She told him that I must have had a brain seizure since the last time she had seen me. On her last but one visit I had informed her to contact a solicitor and have her given power of attorney so that she could take care of the business on my behalf and be able to access funds in my bank accounts to look after herself and my daughter. She showed him her copy of the document she’d had drawn up, which I’d signed.
‘Having handled not only my affairs but my father’s before him, Charles Gray knew my signature well enough to know this wasn’t faked. The firm Nerys had used to draw up the documentation and deal with the legalities was a very reputable one.
‘Charles then asked her why she hadn’t visited me since I’d assigned my affairs over to her and told her that I was extremely worried something had happened to either her or Lucy. He said she seemed really shocked that I was so worried as, after I’d signed the papers and given them back to her, I’d told her that I was handing over everything I owned to her as my way of apologising for the humiliation I’d brought on her by what I’d done. I’d also said that I couldn’t expect her to wait ten years for me, so she was to divorce me and feel free to meet someone else. My only stipulation had been that she should raise Lucy on my behalf, with the child believing that her father was dead so that she didn’t grow up with the stigma of being related to a convicted criminal. I’d left her in no doubt that I meant what I said as I was going to make sure that she didn’t receive any more visiting orders.
‘She told Charles Gray that she had done her best to talk me out of it but I wouldn’t budge. Therefore she’d had no choice but to build a future for herself and Lucy without me in it. She asked him to give me her best wishes when next he saw me.
‘I was struck dumb by these revelations and started to question if indeed her version of events was the truth and I was losing my mind. Then Charles asked me why, when I’d checked over the document and seen what it stated wasn’t actually according to my instructions, I’d still gone ahead and signed. That was when the truth dawned on me. Nerys hadn’t wanted me to examine the document before I’d authorised it. She had obviously brought Lucy along with her that visiting time, against my wishes, in order to distract me from the document until the very last minute, so that I wouldn’t have time to check through it. Then a terrible thought hit me like a sledgehammer. It could only have been Nerys herself behind my being put away in the first place.
‘I could see by the look on his face that Charles was thinking