Margaret’s voice trembled: “It connects our prison to another.”
Inside the tunnel they found traces of secret meetings—blankets, food wrappers, cigarette butts, even small pieces of jewelry. The smell of human presence was palpable. Someone had been using this passage for months, maybe years.
Fiona looked at the objects with a tense stomach. “This was planned,” she whispered.
The interrogations began that same day. Every prisoner denied involvement until one woman, Evelyn March, broke down.
“It started small,” she said through tears. “We just wanted to feel alive again. Some guards knew. They didn’t stop it.”
Margaret leaned forward. “You’re telling me my employees were part of this?”
Evelyn nodded. “Two of them. They thought they were helping. The men from St. Alders came through the tunnel at night. It wasn’t violent. It was secret and stupid.”
That evening, two guards were arrested. One of them admitted to having discovered the tunnel months earlier but had remained silent. “They seemed happy,” he whispered. “I thought nothing bad would happen.”
Two days later the news was all over the country. The two prisons were closed for investigation. Television crews besieged the gates. The public was furious. DNA tests confirmed that several men from St. Alders were the fathers. The evidence was incontrovertible.
Margaret resigned soon after. Before she left, she visited Fiona’s office. “You were the only one who didn’t close your eyes,” she said quietly. “Without you, this wouldn’t have come to light.”
Fiona looked tired but determined. “Behind these walls, everyone is human,” she replied quietly. “They felt lonely. They reached out for something forbidden. But once the rules are broken, everything else falls apart.”
