James Grippando - Last Call

"She takes vitamins."

"Quite the wiseguy, huh? Maybe I'll stick you in a cell with a real wiseguy. See how you like sucking Italian dick."

"There ain't no Mafia in here."

"How do you know, chump?"

Theo couldn't tell him that he knew more about his fellow inmates than the guards did. Only Andie and her boss at the FBI, the state attorney, the director of the Department of Corrections, and the TGK warden were privy to the special arrangement that had gotten him arrested on sham charges and landed him in Isaac's old bunk pending a trial that would never happen. To everyone else, he was just a regular inmate.

"'Cause I don't smell any garlic."

MacDonald smiled insincerely, then got his ugly face right up in Theo's. "Listen to me, boy. I know Reems was your old buddy. I know you're in here because you helped him after he got on the outside."

"Me and my lawyer say I didn't do it."

He threw a forearm to Theo's throat and pushed him back against the wall. "I don't care what you or your lawyer says. Nobody cares."

Theo wanted to clock him, but he couldn't do his job from solitary confinement.

MacDonald said, "Do you think I enjoy coming to work every day and babysitting scum like you? I had a good record here. I was up for promotion. Then your friend Isaac busts out and makes us all look like Keystone cops. I'm pissed about that. You understand what I'm saying, Knight? I'm pissed'' he said, thumping Theo's chest for emphasis.

The anger was all over MacDonald's face, but he didn't take that proverbial one step too many – he didn't say "I'm pissed, and I'm going to make you pay for it."

He ripped the photo of Trina off the wall, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it at Theo as he left.

Theo picked it up, flattened out the creases, and put it right back on the wall.

"MacDonald's an asshole," said Moses, as he entered Theo's cell.

Theo said, "You heard?"

"It ain't like I had my ear to the wall, dude. I'm just a couple cells away."

"It's cool," said Theo.

Moses leaned against the wall. "So, you and Isaac go back a ways?"

"Long, long ways," said Theo. "Before I was on death row."

"Isaac was cool in my book," said Moses.

"That so?"

"Yeah. It's a pretty short book, too."

"I'm sure he was honored."

Moses smiled, seeming to like Theo's sense of humor. He started out of the cell. "Walk with me."

"Where to?"

"I got a date. Come see."

Theo followed him out onto the cell block. Free time and recreation lasted until shower time at 8:00 p.m., so the block was abuzz with inmates who were watching television, playing dominoes, waiting in line to use the telephone, shooting the breeze, or just wandering around and trying to shake off the boredom. Theo followed Moses past the bank of telephones and up the stairwell that led to the laundry room and infirmary Moses took a seat on the third step from the top and peered through the bars that covered the stairwell's only window.

"Right on time," he said. "Have a look."

Theo went to the window and sat one step below Moses. In the distance, beyond a nine-foot-high chain-link fence that encircled the yard, a woman with long brown hair stood beside a car that was parked on the shoulder of the road. She was wearing a long yellow raincoat, even though the sun was setting on a clear and warm evening, not a rain cloud in sight. She unbuttoned the coat, grabbed the lapels, swung open the left: side, closed it, swung open the right side, closed it. She continued teasing in this fashion, and it was obvious even from a distance that she was naked underneath her coat, top and bottom, her tan lines highlighting the points of interest. She moved like an exotic dancer to spice things up, bending over and grabbing her ankles every now and then to tempt them with her ass. The show went on for several minutes before she spotted a vehicle approaching, jumped in her car, and drove off.

"Whoa," said Theo. "Who was that?"

"My grandmother," he said. "She takes vitamins."

They shared a little laugh and knocked fists together.

Theo didn't want to move too quickly on Moses, and he definitely didn't want to come across as too hungry for information about Isaac's escape. An indirect approach would test the waters. "Hey, man. How's a guy go about gettin' tits in here?"

He wasn't talking about what they'd just watched; "tits" was code for drugs in prison.

"What kind of tits you like?" said Moses.

"White tits. Fine white tits. Tits so fine and white you can breathe them up your nose, taste them in the back of your throat, and feel them go straight to your head."

"No problem," said Moses. "Just gotta know who to ask."

"I don't think I'll waste my time asking MacDonald."

"You don't go wasting your time on nobody."

"For tits, you mean?"

"For everything. You go through me."

"Thanks, dude. But I don't need you for everything. Just certain things."

"You're not listening to me, brotha'. For anything and everything. You go through me."

It wasn't an offer. It was an order.

"So, you got yourself the TGK exclusive?" said Theo.

"You learn quick."

Theo nodded. He could have pressed for specifics beyond drugs, but he sensed that he'd already pushed far enough for one sitting.

Moses rose and leaned against the stair rail, looking down at Theo from the higher step. "I like you, Knight. You and me can be cool. But don't even think about muscling in or going around me. 'Cause I'll beat the black right off you."

For the sake of his undercover mission, Theo forced himself not to respond in any way. He simply swallowed what he was feeling and let Moses walk down the stairs and return to the cell block, unharmed and alone.

Theo decided to stay put until his anger subsided. He looked out the window again, his gaze drifting toward the spot where Moses' dancer had been shaking her naked ass. That little display hadn't been about entertainment. It was Moses' way of telling the new guy that he had contacts to the outside.

Theo pondered that for a moment, and it occurred to him that he hadn't really focused on the woman's car – what man would have? But he seemed to recall that it had looked new, and a thought crossed his mind.

He wondered if it was the one Isaac was supposed to have gotten.

I'm here to see Theo Knight," Jack told the guard at check-in, handing over his Florida bar card. "I'm his lawyer."

In another decade, Jack's mere announcement of his arrival would have triggered only dread and self-doubt. Back in the bad old days, he had been Theo's only hope. Jack's visits to death row were never without news to deliver, and it was rarely good. Had his client believed in killing the messenger, Jack would have been dead long ago. Things were different now, of course, not the least of which was the fact that TGK would routinely allow a face-to-face visit between an inmate and his lawyer, no glass partition and telephone – which meant that Theo could pop the messenger right in the snout if he didn't bring good news this time.

The guard searched Jack's briefcase and patted him down.

"Come with me," he said, and he led Jack to the meeting room.

Attorneys and inmates met in an area separate from the main visitation room, a more private place where they could communicate confidentially. The fluorescent lights overhead were so bright that Jack almost needed sunglasses. The floor was bare concrete, and the cinder-block walls were pale yellow with no windows. Jack was taken to a small Formica-topped table and left to sit and wait. Two minutes later, the door opened, and Theo entered.

"Hey, stranger," said Theo.

The guard said, "You got twenty minutes," and then left the room.

Theo went around the table, and Jack rose to return the bear hug.