The Devil in Love (A John Mulligan Story)

Chapter One

Chapter One

John Mulligan didn't see a lot of point in education, lord knew it hadn't done him any good. What he did know was how to play the system, and adult education courses looked good to the parole board; which is how he found himself sitting in a classroom waiting for his first GCSE English lesson in over fifteen years.

Thanks to good behaviour, and shopping some of his competitors, he was in a minimum security prison and had his first parole hearing in six weeks. Life here was pretty relaxed, he could wear his own clothes, he had his own 'room' rather than sharing a prison cell, and he could spend his own money on certain things.

Some of the inmates worked for a small wage but he opted not to, because he didn't need the money. The police had seized what 'illegal earnings' they could but John wasn't daft when it came to money matters. His investments were actually owned by companies he had set up in Switzerland and the Caymen Isles, and the police had been unable to touch 90 percent of his assets.

The inmates were busy chatting when she came in, nothing raucous, just general disorder, and though she held her hands up for quiet, hardly anyone paid attention.

"Excuse me!" she called. "If you'll just be quiet for a moment, please, you can resume your conversations shortly."

John sat back and watched her, firstly because she was pretty and secondly, because her words interested him.

"Right. I realise that most of you are here because it looks good on your record and actually have no intention of learning anything. That's fine with me, feel free to do as you wish, I only ask that you keep to the rear of the classroom and try to keep the noise down. Those few who do want to learn, please make your way to the front of the room."

John looked at his companions. Danny, a white collar thief in for embezzling, and Marcus, a stockbroker who was in for fraud. He decided that getting under the teachers skin would be much more fun that either of them, so with a smile and wink at his friends, he made his way to the front of the room.

She began getting her supplies out of her bag while the class shifted around, and by the time she was done, everyone was seated again. She perched on the side of her desk, putting her feet up on a chair and addressed the handful of men who were at the front.

"Right. Well, it's a good sign that you want to learn, and I promise I will try and make the dry old subject of literature as interesting as I can for you. I'm Karena, by the way."

"Not Miss?" John asked, smirking. "Well, that's going to make my fantasies about you a lot less interesting."

"So you're the comedian," she said, sizing him up.

"Am I?" he asked, enjoying her scrutiny.

"What's your name?"

"John."

"Well, you have a ready wit, John, just be sure to tell me when it's ready." She did her best to disguise her smile, as the others sniggered behind their hands.

Far from taking offence, John rather liked her sharp retort, he enjoyed a woman with brains.

She brought out a copy of Hamlet and smiled as they groaned in unison.

"Yes, I know, dry old Shakespeare, and while I'll agree that the language is dry, the themes of his books are anything but. I'd like to start with the famous 'to be or not to be' speech. Does anyone know what that speech is about?"

"Fate?" asked one of the younger men.

"Anyone agree or disagree?" she asked.

"Fate implies something that can't be changed. I'd call it chaos," another inmate said. "To be or not to be? What does it matter?"