James Grippando - Last Call

"Now it's your turn to choke," said Theo. He knew he could have killed him if he'd wanted to. But dead men don't talk. He squeezed tightly, but not too tightly.

"Jefferson!" he shouted into the darkness.

Just after 2:00 A.M. Jack and Uncle Cy were in the infirmary with Theo, waiting for the on-call physician to arrive. Theo downplayed his injuries, but the evidence of his beating was obvious. Jack got a full recitation of the evening's events while Andie Henning did a physical inspection of the infirmary and then the two of them went to the warden's office for an emergency meeting. Cy remained in the infirmary with his nephew.

Warden Beth Johnson was the only person at TGK who knew about Theo's undercover assignment. At least she was supposed to have been the only one. The abuse Theo had taken at the hands of Officer MacDonald and the fellow inmate's attack in the infirmary raised serious questions. Jack had no intention of leaving TGK without the answers.

Johnson was seated in a squeaky office chair behind a typical government-issue gray metal desk. Jack and Andie sat on opposite ends of an old couch, trying way too hard – as only people trying to deny the attraction do – to put distance between their bodies.

"You two have some kind of contagious disease or something?" said Johnson.

Their responses tumbled out together- "Me? Huh? No." But they quickly took her meaning and relaxed a little.

Johnson was known around TGK as the hard-ass with the great ass, which was basically a handy way of saying that half the inmates wanted to kill her, and the other half wanted to bed her. She was definitely attractive, though the conservative Laura Ashley attire toned things down. Some said that being the mother of three children was the only qualification she needed to become a jail warden, but she was also smart, tough, and savvy, with framed diplomas from Duke, the University of Virginia, and Emory University hanging on the wall behind her desk. Had she taken her law degree and entered private practice, Johnson would have been a formidable opponent for Jack or anyone else on the opposite side of the table.

"Whatever," said Johnson. "To put it in bottom-line terms, I can't tell you how this happened tonight. I'm still trying to figure it out for myself."

"Let's break it down," said Andie. "We have two distinct situations here. MacDonald is an internal disciplinary matter. He abused an inmate as part of an interrogation. Jack and I are both upset about that, but it's not something we need to deal with in the wee hours of the morning."

Johnson said, "Let me assure you, TGK has internal investigative procedures that can adequately deal with Officer MacDonald."

"The state of Florida has a few criminal statutes that also come into play," said Jack.

The warden bristled.

Andie said, "That will all run its course in due time, Jack."

Her tone might have sounded condescending if their past dealings had not taught Jack something about the nuances of her voice. Jack knew she was just trying to keep peace between him and the warden.

"I see your point," said Jack. "But the infirmary is another matter. That was clearly a second attempted hit on Theo. Somebody was trying to finish the job they botched in Overtown."

"Hold on," said the warden. "Before we go riding off into la-la land with conspiracy theories, we need to deal with prison realities. Inmates attack other inmates. That's a fact. It's usually about nothing – one guy doesn't like the way the other one looked at him."

"This one wasn't about nothing," said Jack.

"How can you be so sure?" said the warden.

"Let me talk to the punk who tried to strangle Theo, and I'll prove it to you."

"His names Holloway," said the warden. "But I can't let you talk to him."

"Why not?"

"He's in solitary and already demanded to speak to an attorney. If I send you down there, some lawyer will claim I used you as my agent to violate his constitutional rights."

"Then bring CO Jefferson in here," said Jack. "I'll show you."

The warden stiffened in her chair. "You expect me to let a criminal defense lawyer interrogate my own correctional officer before I've even talked to him myself?"

Jack said, "You got something to hide, Warden?"

"No, but-" She stopped and looked to Andie, as if expecting the FBI agent to side with her.

Andie said, "It beats having to talk to the Miami Tribune !"

"Is that a threat?" said Johnson.

"No," said Andie. "It was more of an appeal for a promise from Jack. This stays out of the newspapers, right?"

Jack had to contain the urge to smile broadly and say, "Smooth move, Henning." She had threatened the warden, and seeing her pull it off so skillfully, with absolutely none of the repercussions flowing in her direction, served to remind him why he'd been so attracted to her. Before. Months ago. Not anymore.

"Right, Jack?" said Andie.

"Right," he said, snapping out of it. "I have no interest in talking to the press."

"Warden?" she said. "Does that sound fair to you?"

She grumbled, but Andie had left her little choice. "All right," she said. "But if I don't like your line of questioning, I'm shutting things down. Understood?"

"Sure," said Jack.

The warden picked up the telephone and told his supervisory CO to send up Jefferson. It was as if the call had been expected. Less than a minute later, Jefferson entered the warden's office.

The warden made the introductions. The mention of Andie being an FBI agent triggered a twitch in Jefferson's eye. The warden explained that Jack was a criminal lawyer – folks in law enforcement always seemed to omit the part about his being a criminal defense lawyer – and that he had a few questions to ask. Then Jack offered his hand, not merely to be polite, but to get a read on just how high Jefferson had raised his defenses. As expected, it felt like two gladiators meeting just minutes before one of them fell in a pool of his own blood.

Jefferson took the wooden chair in front of the warden's desk and sat at an angle, half facing the warden, half facing Jack. His spine was as rigid and erect as the chair back.

Jack asked, "How did you happen to find Mr. Knight and Officer MacDonald in the interrogation room?"

"I was walking by on my normal rounds and heard a man screaming. It's not soundproof. Thought I should check it out."

Jefferson described what he saw upon entering and further informed Jack that although he wasn't MacDonald's supervisor, he had seniority and told MacDonald to leave.

Jack said, "Theo told me it was your idea to go to the infirmary."

"I suppose you could say that."

"Theo told you he wanted to go back to his cell, but you insisted on taking him to the infirmary."

"If he'd looked in the mirror, he would have agreed with me."

The warden interjected. "If Jefferson had taken him to his cell, I'm sure we would have had a lawsuit on our hands for denying medical treatment."

"You'll have much worse on your hands if you keep interrupting me," said Jack. It annoyed him that the warden seemed less than eager to find out who was behind this latest attempt to kill his best friend.

Andie broke the tension, and Jack decided to let the FBI take the lead for a minute. "Officer Jefferson," she asked, "how many patients were in the infirmary when you brought Mr. Knight there?"

"Just one. He was asleep, snoring, at the other end of the dormitory."

"Here's something interesting," she said. "I checked the registration log for the infirmary before coming up here to the warden's office. No one was signed in for an overnight stay."

"So?"

"Didn't it strike you as odd that someone was sleeping in there?"

Jefferson pursed his lips, considering it. "I guess I didn't really look at the registration log."