Last Call

"Right, Jack?" said Andie.

"Right," he said, snapping out of it. "I have no interest in talking to the press."

"Warden?" she said. "Does that sound fair to you?"

She grumbled, but Andie had left her little choice. "All right," she said. "But if I don't like your line of questioning, I'm shutting things down. Understood?"

"Sure," said Jack.

The warden picked up the telephone and told his supervisory CO to send up Jefferson. It was as if the call had been expected. Less than a minute later, Jefferson entered the warden's office.

The warden made the introductions. The mention of Andie being an FBI agent triggered a twitch in Jefferson's eye. The warden explained that Jack was a criminal lawyer – folks in law enforcement always seemed to omit the part about his being a criminal defense lawyer – and that he had a few questions to ask. Then Jack offered his hand, not merely to be polite, but to get a read on just how high Jefferson had raised his defenses. As expected, it felt like two gladiators meeting just minutes before one of them fell in a pool of his own blood.

Jefferson took the wooden chair in front of the warden's desk and sat at an angle, half facing the warden, half facing Jack. His spine was as rigid and erect as the chair back.

Jack asked, "How did you happen to find Mr. Knight and Officer MacDonald in the interrogation room?"

"I was walking by on my normal rounds and heard a man screaming. It's not soundproof. Thought I should check it out."

Jefferson described what he saw upon entering and further informed Jack that although he wasn't MacDonald's supervisor, he had seniority and told MacDonald to leave.

Jack said, "Theo told me it was your idea to go to the infirmary."

"I suppose you could say that."

"Theo told you he wanted to go back to his cell, but you insisted on taking him to the infirmary."

"If he'd looked in the mirror, he would have agreed with me."

The warden interjected. "If Jefferson had taken him to his cell, I'm sure we would have had a lawsuit on our hands for denying medical treatment."

"You'll have much worse on your hands if you keep interrupting me," said Jack. It a

Andie broke the tension, and Jack decided to let the FBI take the lead for a minute. "Officer Jefferson," she asked, "how many patients were in the infirmary when you brought Mr. Knight there?"

"Just one. He was asleep, snoring, at the other end of the dormitory."

"Here's something interesting," she said. "I checked the registration log for the infirmary before coming up here to the warden's office. No one was signed in for an overnight stay."

"So?"

"Didn't it strike you as odd that someone was sleeping in there?"

Jefferson pursed his lips, considering it. "I guess I didn't really look at the registration log."

Andie had it on the floor beside the couch. She handed it to the guard. "Somebody signed in Theo Knight, right?"

Jefferson didn't even look at it. "Yeah, I did."

"So it was plain to see that no other inmates were signed up for an overnighter, yet someone was asleep inside, right?"

"Let me see that," said the warden as she reached over the desk and took it from the guard. "There's at least a dozen other names here."

"All from previous days," Andie said.

Jefferson said, "I didn't really focus on the dates. I was more worried about getting Goliath off my arm and into bed before he dropped to the floor."

Jack jumped back in. "Then how do you explain the fact that another inmate got in there before you and Theo?"

"Beats me," said Jefferson.

"Was the door locked or unlocked when you and Theo got there?" said Jack.

"Locked."

"So either the other inmate had a key or somebody let him in."

The warden said, "Probably one of the guards brought him there and just forgot to sign him in."

"Maybe one of the guards conveniently forgot to sign him in. A guard named Jefferson."

"Maybe you should have your head examined," said Jefferson.

The warden sat up, glaring. "What are you saying, Swyteck?"

"Jack, ease up," said Andie.

"No," said Jack. "I'm not going to sit here and pretend I don't know what's going on. This was a setup."

The warden rolled her eyes and threw an arm in the air. "There you go again, getting all conspiracy crazy."

Jack looked at Jefferson, his focus tightening. "You told Theo you were coming right back with the keys to the handcuffs."

"I couldn't find MacDonald."

"Couldn't find him," said Jack, "or didn't look for him?"

"I looked. I didn't see him. I wasn't going to put out an A.P.B."

"So, you were happy to let the prisoner lie there overnight, without being checked out by a physician?"

"The physician wasn't in the building."

"You could have called him in."

"Hey, Knight didn'teven want to go to the infirmary. So I didn't push it. I figured he'd be fine till morning." He looked at the warden. "Look, I went off duty an hour ago. Is this going to take all night?"

"No," said the warden. "Go home."

"I'm not finished," said Jack.

"Yeah, you are," said the warden. "Go home, Jefferson."

Jefferson rose and left the room. As the door closed, Jack and the warden locked eyes in a tense stare.

"Don't forget our understanding," said the warden. "No press."

"No problem," said Andie.

"No cover-ups," said Jack, his gaze still firmly on the warden. "I'll see to that."

Chapter 34

Theo received a thorough checkup from the on-call physician. The doctor didn't detect any broken bones, but Theo would have to visit an outside medical facility for X-rays and a follow-up examination. He taped Theo's ribs, gave him an antibacterial ointment for the rope burn around his neck, and wrote a prescription for a painkiller.

"Vicodin?" Theo said hopefully.

"I'm giving you Demerol," the doctor said.

"Good enough," said Theo. "Can't wait to wash it down with a couple shots of Herradura Afiejo."

The doctor peered over the top of his black-rimmed reading glasses, giving Theo a reproving look.

Theo was about to ask where he thought an inmate would get tequila, much less good tequila. But lately, just about anything seemed possible in this place.

"Thanks for your help, Doc," said Cy.

The doctor packed his bag, and the guard escorted him to the locked exit door. Theo and his uncle remained behind in the examination room. Theo was seated on the table, transferring an ice pack back and forth from his swollen knee to the fingers Mac-Donald had stepped on. Cy leaned against a poster on the wall that, appropriately enough, warned of the dangers of hypertension.

"Is all this worth it?" said Cy.

Theo was breathing in and out, trying to get comfortable with tape around his ribs. "All what?"

"Guard beats the crap out of you. Some inmate you don't even know tries chokin' you to death. What're you trying to prove?"

"Ain't tryin' to prove nothin'. Just want to find out who took a drive-by shot at me in Overtown."

"And you think you gotta be in prison to do that?"

Theo inhaled deeply and grimaced with pain. Big lungs were no friend to bruised ribs. "Jack and I agreed that finding the guy who helped Isaac on the inside was the best way to find out who tried to shoot me on the outside."

The guard returned to the examination room. Cy looked at him crossly. "Can I have a minute with my nephew? We're talking family here."

The guard said, "I'm here to keep an eye on him."

"Two minutes," said Theo. "Cuff me if you want."

The guard glanced at Cy, and he backed down out respect for the old man, not any concern for Theo. He cuffed Theo to the rail on the examination table, stepped outside the room, and waited nearby at the reception desk.