Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I was glad that the men’s side was the one that handled all the legal stuff.
The courtroom was on the male side, while they shared an infirmary between the two.
A fifteen-foot-high brick fence spanned the separation between the two sides, with security guards on both sides being able to monitor the walk between them.
Neither one of them had access to the other prison’s tapes, though.
Warden Walker was bigger than just a ‘warden.’
He was also a retired special forces officer that was in charge of both units. He kept such a strong leash on both units that I was truly surprised that this entire thing went by unnoticed to him.
“Speak of the devil,” Walker muttered, going to his door and opening it.
I didn’t look up at the door, instead keeping my eyes on the video monitors on Walker’s wall.
There was a woman there. Possibly around thirty-five or forty.
She had blonde hair tucked up into a tight bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were hard, shoulders stiff.
She looked pissed off, and she hadn’t even heard what we had to say yet, because then she’d really be pissed.
“Thanks for coming, Jody,” Walker said, holding out his hand.
She took it, but her eyes went to the three of us standing behind Walker.
“What can I do for you? You know today’s a busy day for us. We have an inmate that wasn’t scheduled for release for another two months being released, and I wanted to look into why,” Jody said, crossing her arms in a defensive move.
I smiled inwardly.
Good luck with that. I covered my tracks well.
Ruthann was getting out whether Miss Jody liked it or not.
She was nervous.
“It’s been reported by a prisoner that she’s been sexually assaulted. On the days she claimed it happened, I’ve looked back over the security feeds during those times, and they’re nonexistent. Something was placed in front of the camera, and the video is a blank piece of paper for exactly an hour,” Walker said.
I watched Jody’s face during Walker’s explanation, and I knew immediately she had no part in the assaults.
She was horrified.
“That’s why you had me call the four guards in on B shift?” She asked, horror evident in her voice.
Walker nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly why.”
“Motherfucker,” she breathed. “Goddamn motherfucker.”
Walker’s office phone chimed, and I watched him as he picked it up, frowned, then said, “Show the first one to the conference room. One at a time, please. Wait till the other leaves before you let the next one in,” Walker instructed before hanging up and crossing his arms.
“If you all will follow me, I’ll take you to the conference room and then we can get started with the questioning.”
Four hours later, I watched as the four guards on the shift responsible for making Sawyer’s life hell, were loaded into the back of separate police cruisers.
They were being taken to the police station where they would then be questioned further.
I’d planned on a different course of action when I’d arrived, but with so many witnesses, I realized that I’d never be able to get away with what I really wanted to do.
“Take it easy, Silas. I hope next time we speak it’s under better circumstances,” Walker said as he shook my hand one final time.
After he disappeared back inside, it left just the three of us standing there, waiting.
Kettle, Torren, and I were waiting outside the huge brick wall for Ruthie to be released.
“So what’d this girl do to get in there?” Kettle asked to pass the time.
“She killed her husband,” I answered.
There were a few moments of stunned silence while they digested that.
“And why are you trying to get her out early? Just because she’s your girl’s friend?” Torren asked.
There was no accusation in his tone, only curiosity.
They knew there was more to it than that, so they patiently waited for me to explain.
I took a bite of the sandwich I’d had Torren run up to the corner deli to get, chewed, and then explained.
“According to one of the conversations I had with Sawyer, Ruthann was beaten, nearly to death, by her husband when the cops finally showed to intervene. He was arrested, but arraigned less than two hours later, only to come back for her. She was able to get away once again, but the cops weren’t able to do anything from there until his trial. Trial date comes and the husband is let off with an ankle monitor and a slap on the wrist telling him to stay away from his wife. Ruthie was in jail because her husband tried to beat her to death, and instead of taking it lying down, she shot him while he was taking a piss.”
“Well fuck,” Torren said.
I nodded. “Fuck indeed.”
***
Sawyer’s eyes narrowed on me as I pulled up to the back of Berry’s house.
She was pissed, that I could tell.
Then again, having a woman on the back of my bike that wasn’t her had to look bad.
“Take your helmet off before my woman goes postal on your ass,” I ordered Ruthie.
Ruthie immediately complied, pulling the helmet that Sawyer usually used, off her head and shaking out her wild mane of red, curly hair.
Instantly, Sawyer went from ragingly pissed off to stunned.
Then she started to cry.
Her hand rose up to her mouth, and she covered it as a cry escaped her lips.
I pulled to a stop finally and shut the bike off.
With both feet on the ground, I smiled at Sawyer and held out my hand for Ruthie.
Ruthie used it to step free of the bike, then immediately started running full tilt toward Sawyer.
Sawyer caught Ruthie, and both women went down to their knees as they wailed and cried.
“Looks like you did well,” Kettle surmised.
“Looks like you are going to get some good hea…” I gave Kettle a glare that could wither his balls to raisins.
Needless to say, he shut up.
I got off my bike and walked up to the two women, stopping beside them to look down at them.
Sawyer was babbling about how happy she was to see Ruthie.