“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.”
I was glad that the men’s side was the one that handled all the legal stuff.
The courtroom was on the male side, while they shared an infirmary between the two.
A fifteen-foot-high brick fence spanned the separation between the two sides, with security guards on both sides being able to monitor the walk between them.
Neither one of them had access to the other prison’s tapes, though.
Warden Walker was bigger than just a ‘warden.’
He was also a retired special forces officer that was in charge of both units. He kept such a strong leash on both units that I was truly surprised that this entire thing went by unnoticed to him.
“Speak of the devil,” Walker muttered, going to his door and opening it.
I didn’t look up at the door, instead keeping my eyes on the video monitors on Walker’s wall.
There was a woman there. Possibly around thirty-five or forty.
She had blonde hair tucked up into a tight bun on the back of her head. Her eyes were hard, shoulders stiff.
She looked pissed off, and she hadn’t even heard what we had to say yet, because then she’d really be pissed.
“Thanks for coming, Jody,” Walker said, holding out his hand.
She took it, but her eyes went to the three of us standing behind Walker.
“What can I do for you? You know today’s a busy day for us. We have an inmate that wasn’t scheduled for release for another two months being released, and I wanted to look into why,” Jody said, crossing her arms in a defensive move.
I smiled inwardly.
Good luck with that. I covered my tracks well.
Ruthann was getting out whether Miss Jody liked it or not.
She was nervous.
“It’s been reported by a prisoner that she’s been sexually assaulted. On the days she claimed it happened, I’ve looked back over the security feeds during those times, and they’re nonexistent. Something was placed in front of the camera, and the video is a blank piece of paper for exactly an hour,” Walker said.
I watched Jody’s face during Walker’s explanation, and I knew immediately she had no part in the assaults.
She was horrified.
“That’s why you had me call the four guards in on B shift?” She asked, horror evident in her voice.
Walker nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly why.”
“Motherfucker,” she breathed. “Goddamn motherfucker.”
Walker’s office phone chimed, and I watched him as he picked it up, frowned, then said, “Show the first one to the conference room. One at a time, please. Wait till the other leaves before you let the next one in,” Walker instructed before hanging up and crossing his arms.