Power in the Blood (24 page)

“You want to run that by me one more time?” Anna said.

“You heard me. And the two people who have died recently both have ties to Skipper and each other.”

“What do you mean?” Anna asked.

I told them. When I finished, they were both silent. I could see the wheels turning in Anna’s head. I knew that wheels were also turning in Merrill’s head, but I couldn’t see them.

“It’s just not possible,” Anna said at last. “There’s no way he could pull it off. It would take . . .”

“Help from higher up,” Merrill said.

I shrugged. “It’s a possibility.”

“At least,” Anna added. “But he couldn’t do it without getting caught.”

“He could do it without help from Patterson or Stone. They’re never here during the late shift. Besides, he is getting caught,” I said. “We’re catching him.”

“No
we
are not. I am just a weak little woman,” Anna said. Merrill and I both laughed as hard as we ever had at anything. “I’m serious,” she said. “We need to call FDLE and let them handle it.”

“I plan on telling FDLE, and the inspector, as far as that is concerned, but I need to know a little more first.”

“Like what?” Anna asked.

“Evidence. Like some proof of money swapping hands,” I said.

“How are you going to get that?” Anna asked.

“I was hoping you would have an idea.”

“You’re joking, right?”

I shrugged. “I would be happy to entertain any suggestions either of you might have.”

“Why don’t you get his niece’s help? You’ve slept with her recently, haven’t you?” Merrill asked.

“As recently as last night,” I said, “but enlisting her help would be tricky. And you weren’t supposed to mention it.”

Anna sat up and leaned forward, her eyes growing wide and slightly wild. “What did you say?” she said to Merrill. Before he could answer, she said to me, “What did he say?”

“As it turns out, I started seeing Laura Matthers this past week and she is Russ Maddox’s niece.”

“Whoa, wait just a damn minute. Why wasn’t I aware of this?” she asked.

“I was going to tell you today. It just happened this weekend.”

“You all are joking, because I know the next time you sleep with a woman, it will be in a marriage bed.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ve been having a hard time convincing these jaded men of that.”

“Why would they think that you did?” she asked suspiciously.

“When Dad called, Laura answered the phone, and technically we were sleeping and technically we were together, but we were not sleeping together, if you know what I mean.”

“Your dad called in the middle of the night, and she answered the phone?” she asked in disbelief.

“She tried to wake me, but couldn’t.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“It’s true. It was the first good night’s sleep I’ve gotten in over a year. That was until I was awakened to go to the scene of a murder.”

“If you slept like that, then this is serious, and I should have known about it.”

“It was just one of those things that happened. It almost all took place this weekend.”

“Your weekend was a hell of a lot better than mine,” Merrill said.

I shrugged. “It was a grace.”

“She really loves you,” Anna said.

“You don’t even know her,” I said.

“I wasn’t referring to Laura, but to God,” she said with a warm smile. Her eyes twinkled.

“I really love her.”

“And Laura knows that?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“You said that you saw Johnson on the tape. Was there anybody else on it?” Merrill said, changing the subject.

“Actually that is the only one I saw, and it was very short. Russ is what you might call a minute man. I thought maybe you would be willing to come over tonight and watch the others.”

“If it’s all men, I couldn’t do it. You know that,” Merrill said with an exaggerated shiver.

“I have no idea what’s on the other tapes.”

“Just the same, you better count me out,” he said still shaking his head as if to rid it of the mental pictures his mind was developing.

“Sounds like you may have some repressed or latent homosexual desires,” Anna said to him.

Merrill did not respond. He looked as if he had heard nothing.

“Are you saying this is a cultural thing, Merrill?” Anna continued. “Like, for example, heterosexual black men can’t tolerate even the thought of homosexuality, black men are more well-endowed, and they won’t perform oral sex on a woman.”

“Generally, I’d have to say those things are true,” he said.

“Well, I’ll help you review the tapes if you want me to, John,” she said.

“I hate to ask you to watch those things, but I’d really enjoy your company.”

“Okay, it’s a date. I’m a married woman going to a minister’s house to watch homemade porno tapes. Sounds like fun.”

“People gonna start calling you Jimmy Swaggart,” Merrill said to me.

I let that one go. “Let’s not call it a date,” I said to Anna. “And I definitely think that Merrill should have to join us.”

“Yeah, Merrill, you can’t break up the three musketeers,” Anna said to him.

“The three stooges,” he mumbled.

“Hey, Moe, so you’ll join us?” I said.

“I’ll come, but I’m not watching.”

Anna started to say something, and from her expression I knew what it was going to be. I held my hand up to stop her and said, “We better break up this little meeting before it degenerates any further. I’ll see you both tonight at six o’clock at my house.”

“Let’s make it seven. I need to eat first,” Merrill said, and with that we were walking out the door.

I went back to my office and ordered flowers for Laura. I had them write on the card, “The scent of peaches still lingers.” I also ordered flowers for her uncle’s funeral.

Next, I called her to see how she and the family were doing. Last night, or rather early this morning, she took the news exceptionally well. I first considered that she might be in shock, but later determined that she was genuinely okay.

“Hello,” she said.

“Laura?” I asked.

“No, this is Kim. Who’s this?”

“This is John Jordan. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine. How are you?” she said.

“I’m good,” I said.

“Listen, let me grab Laura,” she said. “I know she’s dying to talk to you.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I can just tell. She’s like spazzing out over you.”

“Thank you, Kim. That’s good to know.”

In a moment, Laura picked up another extension and, after Kim noisily hung up her extension, said, “Hey, you.”

“Good morning. How are you doing?”

“I’m okay,” she said. “Actually, I’m having contradictory feelings. Coming off the high of a wonderful weekend with you and then the shock of Uncle Russ’s death.

“How’s your mom handling the loss of her brother?”

“She’s okay. They weren’t real close. He was so weird. He was not really close to anyone that I know of. Still it’s a shock.”

Scenes from the video shown on the screen of my mind.
He was very close with some people
, I thought, but had the good sense not to say it. Instead, I said, “Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes. Could you come by after work?”

“I certainly will,” I said, and, though I never made it, I meant it when I said it.

I said good-bye and hung up just as there was a knock at my door, followed by Mr. Smith bringing an inmate pass in and laying it on the desk before me.

“Brother Chaplain, I think you better talk with this inmate. You need to hear what he need to say.”

“Okay, send him in.”

“Chaplain, I need to talk with you right away,” Jefferson Hunter said when he entered my office. Mr. Smith closed the door, and I motioned for Hunter to have a seat.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked.

“Chaplain, you know I ain’t down with the religion thing, and I really don’t like white people none much, but I got the four-one-one you need.”

“No matter what the information is, I cannot pay you for it in any way.”

“No, I know you wouldn’t. That’s why I’m here. You okay. They’s lots of mean sons a bitches around here, but you different. When my mother passed, you really helped me a lot and I remember that.”

“Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

“Chaplain, you in trouble, in danger, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

“See, they’s this dude what handles things for people on the ’pound. Now I ain’t gonna say his name, but I want you to know he come up to a small group of inmates. Some real badasses, you know. He say he got lotsa money for a hit. He say it’s protection on the ’pound and about three hundred in canteen. I never heard anyone offer that much for anything. Then he say who he want hit. It you.”

I was silent. I couldn’t believe it.

“It really surprise me, you know, because you the most popular chaplain we ever had. Everybody on the ’pound say you really care and shit. So when he say he want a hit on you, I just really couldn’t believe it. I thought you should know. But I mean, I ain’t no squealer or nothin’. I just doin’ you a solid like you done me when my moms was dying. So we straight, and you didn’t hear it from me.”

“We’re straight. And thank you. I know you didn’t have to do it. I appreciate it.”

“Just stay off the ’pound awhile, and watch your back,” he said, rising from his seat. And then he left.

No sooner had he gone than Mr. Smith knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

“Brother Chaplain, are you okay?”

“Yes, thank you. How much weight should I give to what he says?”

“About most things, an ounce to nothin’. But about this thing, a ton. He know what he talkin’ ’bout. He a bad dude. I still can’t believe he come up here and told you. You really liked on the ’pound. That’s why I can’t believe this is happenin’.”

I had made a deal with the devil, and I knew it would come back to haunt me. I knew better than to deal with the devil of course, but I didn’t feel as though I had a choice. I also didn’t realize that it would come back to haunt me quite so soon. But even as we sat down, I could hear the slithering serpent hissing my name.

“What have we got so far?” Edward Stone asked.

We were back in his office on Monday afternoon discussing the investigation.

“We’ve got a lot for such a short time into the investigation,” Tom Daniels replied. “Let me go over what we know, and then we can discuss what we think. We know that Johnson was murdered. He was put to sleep in the early morning hours last Tuesday. We know that his body was kept in the caustic storage closet.”

“We do
know
that now?” I asked.

“Yes. The lab tested the cleaner that we found and some fibers that were found on the floor in there and made a match. We think he was drugged between six and seven.”

“Which means the medical shift would have just been changing,” I said.

“Right,” Daniels said, “but security wouldn’t have changed yet.”

“You both act as if staff members are the only ones being considered here,” Stone said.

“That’s the way it looks. It would be nearly impossible for an inmate to orchestrate all this,” Daniels said.

“Don’t forget that this murder took place in a prison where there are over twelve hundred criminals, four hundred of them killers,” Stone said.

I wanted to say that there were far more than twelve hundred criminals here, but I decided to keep that one to myself.

“I’m not ruling out inmates or inmate involvement, but we’d probably know a lot more than we do now if an inmate had done it. They almost always tell on each other.”

“Just don’t rule out the possibility that an inmate did all this,” Stone said. “In fact, an inmate named Jacobson is in confinement, and he was there with Johnson the night he was killed. I had Captain Skipper search his cell this weekend, and an entire bottle of sleeping pills was found. Apparently, he’s been saving them up. Keep that in mind. Now, what else do you have?”

“We haven’t ruled him out,” Daniels said. “I think he’s involved somehow. We also know that Johnson was an active homosexual and that he was on drugs, not small stuff either. Where he got it, we do not know. We know he spent a lot of time in medical and confinement. And, I want you to know that much of this information was gathered through us working together and sharing information,” he said and nodded in my direction.

I felt bad for keeping so much from him, but I still didn’t know what it meant and who I could trust.

“I’m pleased to hear that,” Stone said. “What about motive? Have you found any real motives yet?”

Daniels looked at me and said, “That’s his department. I’ve been working primarily on the physical evidence while he’s been asking the questions.”

They both looked at me. “I’ve looked into Johnson’s life somewhat, and I believe that his death was connected to either his prostitution or his drug use, but how or who did it, I do not know yet. I also don’t believe that it is purely coincidental that much of this case and other problems originate in confinement and medical.”

“That may be due to the fact that the worst inmates are the ones in confinement and many times medical, too. They go to the box for discipline. Many times they go to medical for fighting, sex, and drugs.”

I didn’t say anything. I just sat there and nodded my head. It seemed to me as if Stone was unwilling to hear anything negative about his institution. I wondered, so I tried something out on him. “I’ve gotten a lot of reports about what goes on here at night. I’ve heard that there are both institution and statute violations taking place.”

“What?” Stone asked in shock. “Listen, Chaplain, you’ve got to learn that an inmate will say anything. They lie. They can’t help but lie. Of course they’re going to tell you that illegal things take place. They don’t like it here. But guess what? They’re not supposed to like it here.”

That answered that question. I was glad that I didn’t share with them everything I knew. My only other hope was that Daniels would remember not to discuss the chapel situation in front of the superintendent. I had asked him to examine a sample from the chapel floor where Molly had alleged her husband had raped her. If that were mentioned in front of the superintendent, it would open another whole can of worms. With everything that was going on, I couldn’t figure out if Stone was in on it or not. I also wondered if they had heard about the death of Russ Maddox.