Undercover Inmates

by Madison Johns

  I led the way into the bathroom, disgusted at the mess. You’d think the office bathrooms would be tidier.

  “We had better slap on the rubber gloves for this,” I volunteered.

  Eleanor pulled gloves off the cart and we donned them. I swept the stalls and said, “It’s strange about Officer Barlow’s last-minute meeting don’t you think?”

  “Yes, very. I rather like Lopez supervising us, though. Especially when she’s doing it from a lounge.” Eleanor laughed, filling the tissue dispensers.

  I cleaned the mirrors and sinks. “All we need now is a good mop.”

  “I know. You’d think that this prison would buy better mops heads.”

  “I meant it’s time for you to mop, Eleanor.”

  “Why me? What’s wrong with you?”

  “I just swept, and cleaned the sinks and mirrors.”

  “Well, I filled the tissue and emptied the trash.”

  “Fine, I’ll mop if that makes you happy, Eleanor.”

  “Well, one of us better hurry before someone comes looking for us.” Eleanor took hold of the mop, but didn’t do the best job. She was right; the mop was cheap and hardly big enough to do the job quickly.

  Back in the hallway, I admitted, “I’m exhausted already.”

  “Me, too. I wonder what time lunch is.”

  We walked into another office, where a clock on the wall read ten o’clock. “Is that all it is?” I griped. “I would have thought it was much later.”

  “Perhaps we should meet up with Lopez. I bet she can tell us what time lunch is,” Eleanor said.

  We pushed the cart and vacuum cleaner back into the supply room. It wasn’t lost on me that Officer Yates wasn’t there. I rubbed my back as we moved up the hallway. Directly across from the warden’s office was a door. I knocked and then turned the doorknob, but it wouldn’t budge. I pressed an ear to the door. “Lopez,” I called. “It’s Agnes and Eleanor.”

  There was no response. Eleanor said, “Maybe she’s not here now. She might have been caught not looking after us properly, or she was needed elsewhere.”

  “That works for me, but how will we find out what time lunch is. I suppose we’ll have to do more cleaning until someone comes for us.”

  Eleanor sighed. “You’re right. It’s too bad though. Can’t we find somewhere to slack off?”

  I laughed as I retrieved the cleaning cart and pushed it up the hallway. “I hardly think that we should do that on our first day of our work detail.”

  “But they shouldn’t expect us to do that, Agnes. We’re both too old to keep up with cleaning. If this is a cushy job, I’d hate to see what hard labor is like.”

  We moved to the next office. “It seems unusually quiet for this early in the day,” Eleanor commented.

  “That’s my thought, too. Where is everyone?”

  “Lopez mentioned a meeting.”

  “But where would the meeting be if not in one of the offices?” I asked. “We passed quite a few offices already and haven’t seen anyone.” My stomach growled. “Perhaps if we keep walking we’ll find someone.”

  “Or check in with the office guarding the cleaning supplies,” Eleanor suggested.

  “You mean the one that was missing from the supply room the last time we were in there?”

  “Maybe she returned,” Eleanor suggested.

  We moved to the supply room, but when we entered the room, Officer Yates was nowhere to be found. “I’m beginning to worry now, Eleanor. Where is the officer who’s supposed to be stationed here?”

  “I don’t know what to do, but we can’t even get back to our pod without the aid of an officer.”

  We took turns mopping the hallway until the clacking of heels approached us. Officer Barlow and Doctor Franks walked side by side, laughing at something I couldn’t hear.

  “It’s about time,” Eleanor said. “What time is lunch?”

  Barlow glanced at her watch. “It’s only ten. Lunch isn’t until noon.”

  “Don’t we at least get a morning break?” I asked with a hopeful look in my eyes.

  “You’re not at home, you know,” Barlow snapped back.

  “I know, but where were you? I thought you were supposed to be watching us.”

  Fire shot from Barlow’s eyes. “Don’t even presume to question me, Barton!”

  “Maybe I should take them back to the pod. They both look like they could use a break,” Dr. Franks said.

  “Fine, but you know this will be on you if their work isn’t completed today.”

  Franks laughed. “Okay, Barlow. Whatever you say.”

  We put the cleaning cart and vacuum cleaner in the supply room. “It needs to be locked, Barlow,” I said, smiling when her eyes narrowed.

  Chapter Four

  The pod was empty except for Laura, who was sitting in the main room.

  I decided for the moment to mind my own business. Ever since I saw her in the shower room, I couldn’t help but wonder why she was really here. How was she able to become that chummy with another inmate so soon, and smoking a banned cigarette?

  Eleanor and I relaxed in our cell, hoping it would remain quiet until lunch.

  “Boo,” said Char, standing at the entrance of our cell. “How did cleaning the office go?”

  “Exhausting. Luckily they brought us back early for a break. It was more work than I thought it would be,” I said.

  “You’ll get used to it. At least with a job you don’t get bored. Too much idle time spells trouble in here.”

  “Have you ever cleaned the offices?” I asked.

  “No, why?”

  “I just wondered.”

  “Let’s head to the chow hall before the line gets too long,” Eleanor suggested.

  The line wasn’t long at all, but long enough to warrant a ten-minute wait.

  I smiled at Teresa, the woman who hadn’t been very nice to me at breakfast. She slopped something long and white on my tray. “What is this supposed to be?”

  “Lunch. Keep moving. You’re holding up the line.”

  I didn’t respond, and Jana winked at me while placing cornbread on my tray. That’s all I wanted, although there were thin mashed potatoes — or I guessed that’s what it was.

  Eleanor and I sat by ourselves until the woman I had traded with at breakfast sat across from us.

  “Hello again,” she said eyeing my tray. “I didn’t get any cornbread.”

  I shrugged. “Perhaps you should go back up and ask for it.”

  The woman put her meaty paws on the table. “You can’t ask for the cornbread. It has to be given to you.” She smiled revealing a missing front tooth.

  “I’m Agnes and this is Eleanor. I didn’t get your name at breakfast.”

  “Chris, but they call me Crusher,” she said as she clenched a fist.

  I wasn’t about to let that frighten me. And I wasn’t all that happy that Crusher had decided to sit at our table. I had the sneaking suspicion that meant trouble for Eleanor and me.

  “Nice to meet you, Crusher,” Eleanor said. “I wasn’t given any cornbread either. It must be a conspiracy.”

  Crusher stared me down. “Give me your cornbread.”

  “No. It’s the only thing that looks appetizing. I don’t even know what this white thing is.”

  “It’s the warden’s idea of fish,” an inmate said from across the aisle. “I have no idea if it’s fish at all. I think it might be something else. All I know is I get the runs every time I eat it.”

  “It could be because of all the laxatives Dr. Wright gives you.” Crusher said.

  “But how else will I be able to lose weight?”

  “You could quit buying so much from the commissary,” Jessy said from across the table.

  I tried not to react to Jessy. She was annoying enough in quarantine. I had already formed an opinion of her, and it wasn’t good.

  “Commissary? Isn’t that only toiletry supplies?” I asked.

  “Far from it,” an inmate across
from me said. “You can pick up things to make meals even.” She smiled shyly, introducing herself as Carol.

  “I had no idea. We didn’t get the chance to go yet. We had to place our orders with an officer.”

  “You’d better stock up when you get there. You never know when our privileges might be taken away.”

  “They can take away commissary?” Eleanor asked with widened eyes.

  “Yes, and phone calls, even visits.”

  “That’s awful,” I said, catching Crusher’s hand moving slowly to my tray. I yanked it back. “I said I’m not trading my cornbread with you.”

  “I’m not talking a trade.” She slammed her fist on the table. “Give me that cornbread, now!”

  Officer Schulze walked over. “What’s the problem here?”

  I shrugged and Crusher stood up and glared at me. “Nothing. Nothing at all!” She left, leaving me with the feeling that this wouldn’t be the last I’d see of Crusher today. I wrapped the cornbread in a paper napkin and put it into my pocket. It might be a good snack for later. I was too keyed up to eat.

  “Don’t let her push you around,” Carol said.

  Jessy laughed. “Great job. You have angered the mighty Crusher. I’d sleep with one eye open if I were you.”

  I left the chow hall, not wishing to respond to Jessy’s barb. I could hold my own — I’d have to.

  I walked outside as yard time was announced. Eleanor and I sat down and I pulled out my cornbread, breaking off a piece. But when I took a bite, I encountered plastic. I spit into my hand and found a small baggie containing two pills.

  “Oh, no,” Eleanor whispered. “No wonder Crusher wanted that cornbread.”

  “What should I do with it?”

  “You don’t want to get caught with it. Throw it in the trash.”

  I deposited the bag into the trash, cornbread and all. Before I could sit back down, two inmates dove into the trashcan.

  “What are you doing over there?” Schulze asked the inmates.

  They stood with their bodies against the trashcan. “Nothing. We wanted to make sure the trash bag didn’t slip inside again. I’m on trash detail, and it’s not fun to pick it out.”

  “It’s gross,” the second inmate said.

  “Hello there, Agnes and Eleanor,” Yolanda greeted us. “Me and Velma missed you at the chow hall. I thought you wanted to know about Trudy’s death.”

  “We do,” I said as we walked with them to the far side of the yard, where we sat on a bench. “So what happened?”

  “Trudy was really a great lady. She’s been doing hair at this prison for more than two years — until they found her body in the shower room that morning.”

  “How long ago did it happen?”

  Yolanda wiped a tear away. “About a month ago.”

  “It had to be an officer,” Velma insisted. “Nobody else would be out during lockup. Whoever took Trudy from her cell must have done it after the count.”

  “Did she have problems with any of the officers?”

  “Sure. I mean she’d been to solitary when they caught her making hooch.”

  “What is hooch?” I asked.

  “It’s prison alcohol,” Yolanda said. “It’s hard to come by the ingredients, but when you know someone who works in the kitchen, it’s doable.”

  “How was she caught?”

  “During a cell shakedown. Strange thing is that it was happening more and more for Trudy. I suspect someone was trying to set her up.”

  “Someone snitched on her?” Eleanor asked.

  “If they did, nobody found out about it,” Velma said. “Snitches don’t last long in here.”

  “Was Trudy the type to snitch on anyone else?”

  “No, she’d never do that. She was too respected here.”

  “Getting back to the hooch,” I said. “Was it something Trudy usually made?”

  “We’ve all had a hand at it. I’m never shocked when any of us makes a batch,” Yolanda said.

  “So you weren’t close to Trudy?”

  “She did my hair, but that was the extent of it.”

  “Who was she close to?” I asked.

  “It was one of the guards, I tell you,” Velma said.

  “I’d like to check every avenue. At least that’s how I’ve always done it in the past.”

  “Agnes is good at solving mysteries.”

  “I’m glad to hear that. I’m not sure how long the inmates will keep their cool if the person who murdered Trudy isn’t caught. I hope it is a guard and not one of us,” Yolanda said.

  “Who else was Trudy close too,” I pressed.

  “You didn’t hear it from me,” Yolanda said, looking around the yard, “but Kelly Nash was once her friend. She’s in D Pod now. They were separated after they got too many O33s.”

  Eleanor looked puzzled.

  “Sexual misconduct,” Yolanda explained.

  “So they were in a relationship?” Eleanor asked.

  “Yes, a volatile one,” Velma said. “I hardly think she could be involved with Trudy’s murder. They moved her out of our pod before Trudy died.”

  “Are D Pod and F Pod ever in the yard at the same time?”

  Yolanda nodded. “Once a week we have a volleyball game.”

  “You might want to question Fran Wilson,” Velma said. “ And Trudy and Shelly Rhodes were mortal enemies.”

  “That’s certainly turning out to be quite the list for someone who was so well respected.”

  “Mary Phelps might be someone to ask, but she’s the prison drug dealer so you want to tread light with her,” Yolanda added.

  “What about guards? Surely there had to be some she got along with — or didn’t,” I said.

  “Not that she ever mentioned.”

  “Had officers Schulze and Barlow been working the pod before Trudy was murdered?”

  “Yes, but it will be hard to get a guard to talk. They stick together.”

  “Just like us, I suppose,” I said. “Of course, they give Lopez leeway since she’s the trustee. She was supervising us when we were cleaning the offices.”

  “What?” Yolanda said. “Under whose order?”

  “Officer Barlow, I think. She was the one waiting outside the psychiatrist’s office after we cleaned it. I was surprised when Lopez was there to replace Barlow after the way she treated us, watching our every move.”

  “Barton and Mason, come with us,” Officer Barlow ordered as she approached with two other officers.

  I had reason to swallow the lump in my throat now. Whatever was about to happen wouldn’t be good.

  We didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Velma or Yolanda as we were cuffed, heavy hands on our arms as we were escorted back inside.

  “What is this about?” I demanded.

  “Tell it to the warden,” Barlow said.

  I glimpsed Eleanor’s sad eyes as she teared up. “What does the warden want with us?” I asked.

  “We cleaned her office the best we could,” Eleanor pleaded.

  “Silence,” an officer said.

  They led us into the warden’s office and stopped us before her desk.

  Warden Geyer put down her pen and stared up at us. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

  “I thought we did a good job cleaning your office,” I said.

  “I think you forgot to wipe her desk clean, Agnes,” Eleanor said.

  “Thanks, Eleanor, but it was our first day cleaning.”

  Warden Geyer pushed herself up from her desk as the intercom came on announcing that all inmates were to return to their cells for lockdown.

  “This isn’t about how you cleaned my office. It’s about the murder of trustee Maria Lopez.”

  If a chair had been available, I would have collapsed into it. “I don’t understand. We only spoke to Lopez when she replaced Officer Barlow.”

  “And only for a moment,” Eleanor added. “She told us she was going to the warden’s lounge.”

  I glared a
t Eleanor for revealing anything a fellow inmate had told us. “But when we knocked on the door later she didn’t answer, and the door was locked. I wasn’t even sure that was the right door.”

  “Perhaps you can show us, then,” Warden Geyer said.

  I shrugged and led the way from the warden’s office to the door we thought was the lounge. The door was now wide open and the room crowded with deputies. “What’s going on in there?” I asked.

  “Why don’t you take a closer look,” Geyer said.

  Eleanor and I walked into the room, which contained leather furniture, a television and a table near a window with a microwave on it. When we finally were able to move past the line of officers, we saw Maria Lopez’s body sprawled on the floor.

  “Oh no! Who would do this to Lopez?” I asked.

  “That’s what I thought you could tell us,” Geyer said. “I can’t imagine what you were trying to hide here that was worth murdering Lopez.”

  “We didn’t kill her,” I protested. “And how sure can you be that Lopez was murdered? That would require an autopsy.”

  “You can plainly see the bruises on Lopez’s neck,” Geyer pointed out.

  “I’m sure you know that neither of us has the strength to strangle anyone. I have arthritis in my hands.”

  “Me, too,” Eleanor proclaimed.

  “How convenient,” Geyer said, never breaking her composure.

  “We’d be the least likely of suspects. Officer Barlow was supposed to be watching us while we cleaned.”

  “But she suddenly disappeared,” Eleanor added. “Lopez told us that Barlow went to a meeting.”

  “And Doctor Franks disappeared, too,” I said. “Wherever Barlow and Franks were, they came back together.”

  “So they weren’t here when you killed Lopez?”

  “We didn’t kill Lopez! Why don’t you check your camera,” I said. “We’ve never been in this room before now.”

  “I don’t have to review the tapes because I know who the guilty party is.”

  “Good, because it’s not us,” I insisted. “It’s nice that you can’t review the tapes for our benefit, only for your own.”

  “That’s messed up!” Eleanor exclaimed.

  “I want them both searched and taken to solitary,” Geyer ordered the officers.

  “So was there really a meeting today?” I shouted over my shoulder as the officers pulled us from the room. “And why wasn’t anyone else up here today!”