Michael Lister - Power in the Blood

“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.

“What’s this I hear about another death in town last night?” Stone asked.

It was Pottersville; I should have known that everybody knew it by now.

Tom Daniels looked blankly.

“It was Russ Maddox, the president of the bank in town,” I said.

“Was it a natural death or murder?” Daniels asked.

“I don’t believe they know yet,” I said.

“It figures,” Daniels said, “hicktown sheriff ’s department. They couldn’t find their own assholes with two hands and a flashlight.”

I let that one slide. This was not the time nor the place.

“Well, we need to monitor that pretty closely. It would be an unlikely coincidence that the only two murders to occur in Potter County in years were this close together and unrelated.”

“Yes sir, I agree,” Daniels said. “I think Jordan should be our liaison with his dad’s department.”

“That’s a very good idea,” Stone said. “We sure don’t know much yet, do we? Is there anything else?”

“I called the chaplain at Calhoun Correctional, where Shutt worked before transferring here,” I said. “He said that he got nothing but complaints about Shutt,”

“Yeah, but,” Stone interrupted.

“From staff as well as inmates,” I continued.

“Okay,” Stone said. “We’ll watch him very closely. Anything else?”

“The chaplain had us do an analysis of some of the carpet in the back of the chapel,” Daniels said.

And thus the serpent raised his ugly head.

Stone lifted his eyebrows and tilted his head severely to the left. I was seeing his puzzled look, and perhaps an annoyed look as well. “What’s this?” he asked.

“I was told that inmates were having sex in the chapel,” I said, telling only a half-lie.

“What bearing does that have on this case?” Stone asked.

“I’m not sure. At the time I heard it, I was in the very early stages of the investigation and I wanted to consider every possible lead.”

“We did find small traces of blood and semen. Which means someone has been having sex on the floor in there.”

“Well, whether or not it has anything to do with this investigation, it must be looked into. We cannot have inmates having sex in the chapel,” Stone said, his anger showing slightly, which is more than I had ever seen it show before.

“Just wait; there’s more,” Daniels said, enjoying every minute of this. “The lab also found traces of vaginal fluid and female pubic hair.”

Stone kicked his desk, pushing his chair backwards, and stood up. “What? That can’t be right. There must be some kind of mistake.”

“It’s no mistake,” he said.

“Chaplain, what the fuck has been going on in your chapel?” Stone yelled.

“It sounds like you answered your own question, but that’s exactly what I am trying to find out. That’s why I asked the inspector to take the samples. I assure you it is not happening when I am here. I was told that things like this are going on at night.”

“I just can’t believe this,” Stone said again. He was shaking his head, which he had turned to look out the window behind his desk. His back was to us. “Inspector, I want you to look into this personally. This kind of shit does not happen in Edward Stone’s institution. I want daily reports from you. I want to be informed every step of the way. Now, you two get out of here and go find out what’s going on in my institution.”