Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
And although it’d only been mostly innocent, two lonely people spending time with each other mostly because of proximity and convenience, I knew it wouldn’t be a small matter to Sawyer.
It’d be huge.
And I needed to talk to her about that.
I’d intended to talk to her about it this morning.
But then Sawyer had cried out in her sleep, startling me out of my contentedness so dramatically that I’d jackknifed right up in bed.
Then she’d started moaning about some guard named Officer Donner, and I knew that I had to take care of this for her.
Not just for her, though, but for me, too.
Something inside me didn’t sit right, knowing that she was abused in that jail.
And I’d learned all that I needed to know from her former cell mate, Ruthann Comalsky, as of twenty minutes ago.
***
“What are we doing here?” Torren asked as he took in the prison.
I got off my bike.
“I’ve been seeing someone,” I said, hoping they wouldn’t get into who just yet.
But, of course, it was Torren who was the ever so curious one.
“Who?” He asked quickly, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Rolling my eyes, I didn’t answer.
It wouldn’t be long before they figured it out anyway, I just didn’t want to be available for questioning when they did.
Because I knew they would offer their opinions, whether good or bad.
And right now I was already pissed, I didn’t want to have to defend my choices to them, getting more upset in the process.
When I didn’t answer, they went on to the next question.
“If you won’t answer that, then how about you tell us what we’re doing here,” Torren asked.
Sadly, I couldn’t answer that, either, without telling them.
So I just sucked it up and said, “Sawyer Berry was sexually assaulted for eight years while she was here. I want to speak to a few of the guards.”
They both blinked.
“So she wasn’t just a passing fuck for you?” Torren asked carefully.
I nodded. “No, she most certainly is not.”
“She’s the one?” Torren asked.
I shrugged, this time not answering with a yes or a no.
They must’ve realized that it was a sensitive subject right then, and they let it go.
“Well then, by all means, let’s go talk to the fuckers,” Torren said.
I smiled.
That was the good thing about having a club at your back.
They were a band of my brothers, and no age gap between us would change that.
They knew me just like I knew them.
And they realized that if I was protecting Sawyer, treating her like my own, then they’d treat her like family as well.
They’d protect her just as I would.
“Right on, brother,” Kettle agreed, propping his helmet on his handlebars.
I followed suit and made my way to the front doors, where Walker was waiting for us with the door open.
“You made good time,” Walker observed.
I nodded. “Roads were clear.”
He raised his chin at Kettle and Torren, waving us in to follow behind him.
“Warden?” A male guard raised his brow, gesturing to us.
Walker shook him off. “No, they’re feds.”
Well…not technically.
The guard nodded and went back to his post at the front door, eyes scanning the wall of computers in front of him.
“I’ve got to say,” Walker said as we walked down a narrow hallway. “When you called I was surprised to hear from you. Haven’t seen, nor heard, from you in over five years.”
No, he hadn’t.
I tried not to wear out my welcome lest he think I’m only there because I want or need something.
Which I guess was technically true, I just didn’t want to burn a bridge that I might need in the future.
“My girl, she just got out of the Women’s side, and I’ve heard some disturbing things about what’s happening over there. Not from her directly, but from outside sources,” I explained. “I just wanted to look through your surveillance tapes, confirm my suspicions before I go about explaining any further.”
Walker nodded. “Well, I looked at the dates you requested myself during the four hours you took to get here, and let’s just say that I’m not at all happy with what I saw.”
My brows lowered as he came to a stop at a security panel.
I watched as he punched in number after number before opening the door.
I, of course, memorized the number instantly.
I had a photographic memory, and it came in very handy at times like this.
“It’s not what I saw, per se, but what I didn’t see,” he muttered, making sure the door was closed behind the four of us.
My brows furrowed. “And what didn’t you see?” I asked impatiently, tired of hearing him hedge and haw over what he needed to say.
“Nothing. The camera feeds had something over them from the time of seven in the evening until eight in the evening. And you can’t see who did it either, because of the angles,” he answered, looking up at me now just as we made it to another door.
This one was made up of only steel bars and required an actual key from Walker’s pocket to open it.
I couldn’t help but see how easy it’d be to overpower the warden.
Although I counted him as a friend, I felt a little more than annoyed that he wasn’t taking more care to protect himself.
Me or my boys could’ve gotten the key off of him in thirty seconds flat with no one being the wiser.
“So you’re saying that you didn’t notice that the cameras went off at nearly the same time every night?” I confirmed.
He shook his head. “No. Not every night. More like every three days,” he corrected.
“So…like one specific guard’s shift, correct?” I asked.
His eyes widened slightly, but he nodded instead of lying.
Police officers had a code.
Protect your own.
And it looked like the warden and his guards had a similar saying they did their job by.
Needless to say, he answered me, even though I could tell it was bothering him to do so.
“I have four guards on that cell block that work that shift. One of them is in charge of the cameras, and the other three rotate positions on the same cell block,” he answered. “I’ve already called Jody Daniels, the guard in charge on the women’s side, to bring them in. They should be arriving within the hour.”