“Why didn’t you do them in order?”
“I just wanted to do yours first so I’d know how much time I had left for all the rest.”
“You’re gonna have to do my again,” she said.
I looked over at her in shock.
“This afternoon,” she said. “Last one of the day, just like I told you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said.
“Okay,” she said. “Report to the center gate. It’s time for lunch.”
She started to walk away after he left, but I stopped her.
“You okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said.
“What was all that about?”
“Sometimes because I’m nice, an inmate won’t do what I tell him to,” she said. “I’m sick of it. He’ll think before he disobeys me again.”
“I’m worried about you,” I said. “Let’s go get something to eat and talk.”
“Can’t,” she said. “But I told you, I’m fine.”
“Is Miles doing anything to bother you?”
She shook her head.
“No manipulation?” I asked. “No blackmail?”
She had been avoiding my gaze, but now she looked at me directly, anger and the hint of tears in her eyes. “What would he have to blackmail me with, John?” she asked. “You think I’m involved with him?”
“Are you?”
“No,” she said. “I’m not.”
We were silent a moment.
“John, you know that place where well-intentioned concern becomes unwelcome meddling?”
I smiled. “We there yet?”
She shook her head. “We flew past it several miles back.”
I laughed.
She almost smiled.
“Why don’t I have him reassigned?” I said. “Or transferred. He could be gone by the time you got back from lunch.”
“Did you not hear what I just said?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Whatever you do, don’t do that. Not today. Okay? Promise me.”
“But—”
“I don’t care what you do tomorrow.”
I didn’t say anything, just wondered what was so urgent about today.
“Have I ever asked you for anything, John?” she said. “Anything? Please promise me you’ll do this one thing for me.”
“Okay,” I said.
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
“Why do you think she didn’t want him transferred today in particular?” Anna asked.
We were in her car, but I was driving, headed toward Rudy’s Diner for lunch. Unlike my vehicle, Anna’s was spotless and smelled like floral air freshener and her perfume. It was also new and handled much better than mine, and I was driving a little faster than I should.
“I’m trying not to think about it,” I said.
“Because it means she’s up to something,” she said.
I nodded.
“And whatever it is, she’s gonna do it today.”
“Most obvious would be an escape,” she said.
I nodded again. “But to be working outside the fence, means he’s short. Why run if you don’t have much time left?”
“Why do they do half the shit they do?” she asked.
“Why do any of us?” I said, “But he seems very smart and committed to his family.”
“You think she’s involved with him?”
As I drove, I stole glances at Anna. She was never more beautiful to me than when she was concentrating and questioning, and the force of her intelligence shone through her bottomless brown eyes.
“It’d make the most sense, but I don’t think so.”
When we got into town, instead of staying straight, I took at left on River Road.
“Where are we going?”
“I need to swing by the middle school,” I said.
“Oh, throw you in the briar patch,” she said.
Pottersville Middle School was generally acknowledged to have the sexiest school secretary in the state.
“Why exactly you doin’ a drive-by of PMS?” she asked. “As if I don’t know.”
“Thought I’d ask Kayla why her mom’s acting so strangely today.”
“A, they’re not going to let you talk to her,” she said. “And B, I thought you promised Keli you wouldn’t do anything today.”
I pulled up in front of the school office, placed the car in park, and left it running.
“I promised her I wouldn’t have Josh Miles transferred today,” I said. “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do anything.”
“You think that’s the way she understood it?”
I jumped out of the car without answering her question, walked into the office, and within just a few moments, walked right back out again.
When I got into the car, Anna said, “Told you they wouldn’t let you talk to her.”
“Clearly you underestimate my way with sexy school secretaries,” I said.
“So they did let you talk to her?”
“They would have if she had come to school today,” I said.
“So that explains it,” she said.
“My way with sexy school secretaries?”
“Keli’s just a stressed out single mom with a sick kid,” she said.
“That’s not exactly how I interpreted it,” I said.
“Somehow I knew it wouldn’t be.”
Because of my little detour, Anna and I were late eating and late getting back to the prison. Count had already cleared, the yard was open, inmates back at work. Josh Miles was busy washing the small truck in the CW1 space.
When we got out of Anna’s car, she quickly headed for the main gate, but I started in Josh’s direction.
“You really gotta get a girlfriend,” she said.
“Until then, let me find diversion where I can,” I said.
“Have at it,” she said. “Call me if you need backup, and thanks again for lunch.”
I stood and watched Anna walk away for a moment, enjoying the confident and unconsciously sexy way she moved. A volleyball player in high school and college, Anna’s natural athleticism was aging well. Eventually, I walked over and joined Josh near the truck he was washing.
“You gonna be able to finish all these before you have to return to the compound?” I asked.
“It’s not gonna be my best work, but I can do it.”
I glanced down at Keli’s car, which was still spotless, its polished surface gleaming in the early afternoon sun. It had been a mild winter, even by North Florida standards, and the sun was bright, the warm day more like spring or early summer than February.
“What’re you gonna do to Sergeant Linton’s car?”
“Do it again,” he said. “Do whatever my supervisor tells me.”
“You didn’t this morning,” I said.
“I didn’t realize doing hers last was so important.”
I walked down past the other cars to get a better look at Keli’s, thinking maybe she had gotten it dirty on the other side, but the far side was just as spotless as the side that had been visible to me.
I started to walk away when something inside the car caught my eye. It hadn’t been there just a few hours earlier, and it made my heart start racing. There, in the backseat amidst all the clutter, was a CO uniform.
I walked quickly back over to Josh who had just started on the second car.
“Stop what you’re doing and come with me,” I said.
“But—”
“Now.”
“Yes, sir,” he said.
He dropped his soapy sponge into the bucket of suds and followed me.
The moment we entered the chapel, I put Josh in a chair in the hallway so I could see him through the narrow strip of glass in my door, then went inside my office and called Anna.
“Would you pull Josh Mile’s file for me?” I asked.
“It’s sitting on my desk,” she said. “I think that makes me an enabler.”
“What’s he in
for?”
“Not a whole lot,” she said. “You in your office?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“I’ll be right there.”
A few minutes later, I heard the chapel doors open and close, then Anna appeared at my door, an inmate file in her hand. When she came in, she looked back at Josh.
“What the hell’s he doing here?”
“He’s here for some spiritual counseling,” I said.
“By choice?”
“Anything strange in his file?” I asked.
She sat down in one of the chairs across from my desk, and I shifted slightly so I could still see Josh over her shoulder.
“This is not normal behavior,” she said.
“I know,” I said. “It’s obsessive. I need a girlfriend. Is there anything strange in his file?”
“No,” she said. “If there were, he wouldn’t be working outside the gate.”
“So why’d you come down here?” I asked.
“To try to keep you from doing something stupid,” she said, “but obviously, I’m too late.”
“I haven’t done much yet,” I said. “Why’d you bring his file?”
She handed it to me. “So you could see for yourself.”
I flipped through the relatively thin file. Josh was certainly not a recidivist. I quickly scanned the face card, which had his picture and emergency contact info, the commitment of custody, the contact log, and the various other documents that told the story of a model inmate. There were no disciplinary reports. There were no inmate requests. Josh Miles didn’t get into trouble and he didn’t ask for anything.
He was in on a possession charge, a little less than half of his two-year sentence remaining, followed by another few years of probation.
“Satisfied?” Anna asked.
“Almost never,” I said.
She nodded. “Isn’t that what all this is really about?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Keli asked.
She had walked into my office without knocking, even though I was on the phone. I quickly hung up and looked up at her. I had never heard her talk that way before. Her face was red, she was sweating, and her eyes were narrowed into angry dots.
“Trying to help you,” I said.
“You’re not helping,” she said. “You’re making things worse.”
“What things?”
“You promised you wouldn’t do anything today,” she said.
“I promised you I wouldn’t have him transferred,” I said.
“Why are you doing this?” she asked.
“Because I care about you,” I said. “I don’t want to see you ruin your life.”
“Ruin my life—John, what are you talking about?”
“If you help Miles escape, you’re going to ruin your life.”
She opened her mouth but couldn’t get anything to come out.
I waited.
It took her a while, but she finally managed a soft, “What makes you think—”
“Why does he have to wash your car last?” I asked. “Even after he’s already done it today. Why do you have an extra uniform in your backseat? Why isn’t Kayla at school today? The three of you leaving town together?”
“If I give you the uniform, will you let Josh return to work?”
“Why is it so imperative for him to work this afternoon?” I asked. “Those vehicles can wait until tomorrow to be washed.”
I then realized why she was willing to give me the uniform in her car and why earlier in the day, I had the thought that she was moving like her clothes were too small.
“You’ll give me the uniform in your backseat?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes.”
“What about the one under the uniform you’re wearing?”
She shook her head. “You have no idea what you’re doing,” she said.
She then turned, and, without saying another word, stormed out of my office.
“What’s going on, Chaplain?” Josh asked.
I had called him into my office when Keli left.
“You tell me.”
“Whatta you mean?”
I didn’t say anything.
“Sergeant Linton looked upset,” he said. “Is she okay?”
I remained silent.
“I know how things work around here,” he said, “but I want you to know that I haven’t done anything wrong. Not one thing. Not so much as taking an extra roll when it’s offered to me in the chow line. So, if any of this has anything to do with me, it’s a misunderstanding. I swear.”
“What were you mixed up in when you got arrested?” I asked.
“Why?”
“I’m a curious guy.”
“I know how this is going to sound,” he said, “but it’s true and I can’t help how it sounds. I was holding some stuff for some guys I know and I got caught with some of it.”
I laughed.
“It’s true.”
“I wasn’t talking about what you were arrested for,” I said. “I’ve got your file. I can read that. I’m talking about what you were mixed up in.”
“That was it.”
“How many guys you know in the life get busted for everything they’re doing?”
“None,” he said, “but I wasn’t in the life. I was just—”
My phone rang and I answered it.
“Chaplain, it’s Patricia.”
Patricia was the Admin Lieutenant.
“Do you have an inmate Miles over there?”
“Uh huh.”
“Will you tell him to report back to work,” she said.
“Actually, we’re in the middle of—”
“The Colonel says he’s got to go the chapel on his own time.”
“But—”
“Sorry,” she said, “but he said to tell you he’s not asking, to send him right now no matter what.”
I spent the afternoon in meetings and counseling sessions but was distracted and ineffective, and as it got close to the end of the admin shift, I was no good for anything. Clearing the chapel and sending the inmates back to the yard a little early, I made my way through the gate and back out to where Josh Miles was pretending to re-wash Keli’s car.
“I’m back,” I said.
“You don’t quit, do you?”
“Not known for it, no,” I said.
“You afraid I’m gonna try to escape?”
“It’s crossed my mind,” I said.
“Why not just turn me over to security?”
I didn’t say anything.
“’Cause,” Merrill said, as he walked up, “ain’t enough to stop crime, we got to save somebody, too.”
“Me?”
“No, fool,” Merrill said, laughing. “Kel—Sergeant Linton.”
“We’re here for you, too,” I said.
“Well, you’re wasting your time,” Josh said. “I’m not going anywhere for about eleven months.”
“He got a point,” Merrill said me. “Why he gonna run when he’s so short?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “Josh?”
“I swear I’m not—”
“Why don’t you walk him back to the gate?” I said. “I’ll wait here for Keli.”
“Let’s go,” Merrill said.
“What about my cart?”
“I’ll take care of it,” I said.
“Okay.”
Merrill started walking toward the gate, and Josh joined him without hesitation. They disappeared around the corner of the admin building and I began to place the remaining supplies into the crates on the cart as I waited for Keli.
It was about a quarter ’til four, fifteen minutes until the admin shift ended, and the parking lot was still empty. I hoped Keli would show up soon so I could talk to her without anyone else around.
Flesh and Blood Page 14