Vincent Zandri - The Innocent

Rifle shots ring out in succession.

I am curiously aware of everything around me, as if four days without food has somehow, suddenly, enhanced my senses.

I see the rebel inmates take hits, one after the other. I see them drop dead in the yard.

I hear the cries of the wounded, the screams of the gut-shot. I am up and running for the inmate with the shiv pressed against Pelton’s throat. I catch the inmate from behind, run the blade across the back of his neck while he stares distracted and shocked at the hordes of troopers pouring over the walls.

I have just enough time to run the blade through the thick skin, digging deep until I feel the edge of the blade skip across his spine, finally piercing his spine, severing the nerve bundle. His reaction to the blade buried in his neck is more immediate than it was for the appearance of the troopers. He throws his head back, drops the shiv and the empty.38 onto the concrete catwalk. He falls back, looks up at me with wide-open eyes. He moves his mouth, but he cannot talk. Pelton falls beside him, takes hold of my leg. He is panting, bleeding, crying.

At least he is alive.

And as for Norman? He lies on his face, oblivious or dead. I don’t know which. The rebel inmate standing over him presses the trigger of the M-16 again and again, only no rounds burst from the barrel. The rebel inmate flips the M-16 over, butt first. He lifts the weapon by the barrel with two hands, swings it back like a war club.

I have to stop him.

I can make it if I lunge after him.

But I can’t move.

Wash Pelton has me by the leg. He won’t let go of my fucking leg. The rebel inmate takes a deep breath, tightens his stance. The butt of the rifle is up. I reach out for Mike, but I can’t reach out far enough or fast enough. Then it happens. Two separate shots from a sniper’s rifle nail the rebel inmate square in the chest. The sound of the bullets entering his barrel chest are like a baseball bat swung fast and hard against a feather pillow. The inmate’s eyes go wide. His body is not thrust against the stone wall of D-Block like in the movies. He just goes wide-eyed, lets out a breath, and drops down onto Mike Norman.

It’s then that Pelton stands, takes hold of my hand with his, holds them up to surrender to the uniformed men come to save our lives.

IT WAS MY TURN to cook. At least that’s what I told Val when she arrived at my home in Stormville on a Sunday night nearly three weeks after the escape.

“Shouldn’t I be cooking for you, boss?” she said, spooning out the strips of stir-fried boneless chicken and fresh vegetables drowned in a marinara sauce and pouring it over a bed of hot pasta. “I mean, as a celebration of your recent exoneration.” She wore a cashmere V-neck sweater and a tan skirt, white pantyhose, and little brown shoes with buckles.

“Salud” I said, lifting my glass of Chianti. “Keeper Marconi is not going to jail after all. In the words of the grand jury, hastily assembled on my account I might add, ‘No Bill of Particulars is to be filed against Mister Marconi.’ “

“I especially enjoyed the part where the judge apologized to you for the hell you were put through.”

“I felt I deserved every word.”

We clicked glasses and listened to Zoot Sims skillfully hit highs and lows on his soprano sax. From the dining room, I could see the television in the living room. I had the picture on with the sound down because Val and I were both waiting for the Channel 13 news to begin at six. When it did, I got up from the table, turned down the volume on the stereo and, using the remote, turned the sound up on the television so we could hear, loud and clear, Chris Collins’s report from the Albany County Courthouse.

“Today Commissioner for the Department of Corrections, Washington Irving Pelton, was arraigned on numerous charges, including drug trafficking and conspiracy, as well as the murders of former Green Haven Corrections Officer Thomas D. Walsh, Jr. and Stormville Police Department Detective Martin Schillinger,” said Collins, from where she stood on top of the marble steps of the county courthouse. She wore the red mini-dress with matching blazer that I liked so much. Her hair seductively framed her face, making her black eyes seem even wider than they really were. Behind her a group of reporters rushed Wash Pelton as he was escorted out of the courthouse by an army of navy-blue uniforms. Pelton kept his head down and used the wide collar of his raincoat to block his face. His wrists were locked in cuffs. “Pelton was arrested late last week at his home in Albany after a hidden video camera captured not only his confession that he was the ring leader of a massive drug operation inside and outside of Green Haven Prison, but also his confession that he’d shot-point-blank -both Walsh and Schillinger. The videotape is said to have come directly from Green Haven Warden Jack ‘Keeper’ Marconi, although sources have not yet made a positive ID regarding who made the tape available to Newscenter 13. What we do know is that Judge Sclera, overseer of the grand jury, acquitted Keeper Marconi just this morning of all charges stemming from the escape of cop-killer Eduard Vasquez from Green Haven. And in light of recent events, charges against Marconi and Vasquez’s long-time girlfriend, Cassandra Wolf, for the murder of Vasquez will be dropped.

“In other developments, Cassandra Wolf agreed to give full testimony concerning her knowledge of the major drug-running scheme that has plagued Green Haven for the last twenty-four to thirty-six months. In return, Wolf should receive total immunity. For now, she has been released on her own recognizance. According to inside sources, Wolf is willing to implicate all parties involved, living and dead. Reports also indicate that Corrections Officers Logan and Mastriano are among those Wolf has set her sights on exposing.

“And in further developments,” Collins went on, “Doctor Arnold Fleischer was arrested last evening at Newburgh General for his role in artificially manufacturing Mastriano’s coma, which had attracted the attention of the entire nation. Also arrested was A. J. Royale, the dentist from Newburgh, who, it is said, performed unnecessary dental procedures on Eduard Vasquez in order to justify the many field trips outside of Green Haven. And Republican senatorial hopeful John ‘Jake’ Warren was found attempting to board a plane bound for Switzerland only four hours after being released from custody this afternoon. As of now, pending arraignment for his role in the Green Haven conspiracy, he awaits trial without bail inside the same holding cell at the Albany County Jail in which Keeper Marconi was detained a few weeks ago.”

I pointed the remote at the television and cut the power.

“Looks like Chris Collins has her Emmy award-winning story,” I said, sitting back down at the table.

“Don’t you want to see the rest of the report?” Val said.

I took a mouthful of the hot chicken and pasta, tasted the rich marinara sauce. I washed it down with a swallow of wine. At the same time, I shook my head.

“She’s just going to tell us that Wash Pelton is also the number-one suspect in the killing of Eduard Vasquez, and she might speculate on whether or not Pelton will get life or lethal injection if convicted of all three murders.” I took another bite of food.

Val took a small sip of the wine and sat back.

“He’s white, boss,” she said. “He’s rich. He’s a politician. People in high places owe him money and favors.”

“Ten years,” I said. “Tops, after the reduction of charges, of course.”

“With parole,” Val said, picking at the food on her plate, “he’ll be out in seven.”