I Will Find You(36)
Two of the other men in the room were federal marshals under his command. The other four were with the prison system or local police. Max sat down in front of the computer monitor. His right leg jackhammered in what would probably be diagnosed as restless legs syndrome if Max ever decided to look into it. Everyone in the room watched Max as he replayed the end of the video over and over.
“You got something, Max?” Sarah asked.
He didn’t reply. Sarah didn’t press it. They both understood what that meant.
Still staring at the screen, Max asked, “Who here from the prison is highest ranked?”
“I am,” a meaty man who’d sweated through his short-sleeve dress shirt said. “My name is—”
Max didn’t care about his name or rank. “We are going to need a few things pronto.”
“Like?”
“Like a list of any visitors Burroughs had in recent days.”
“Okay.”
“Any close family or friends. Cellmates he might have talked to or who’ve been released. He’s going to need to reach out to somebody for help. Let’s get eyes on them.”
“On it.”
Max rose from the chair and began pacing again. He gnawed on the nail of his index finger, not gently or casually, but like a Rottweiler breaking in a new toy. The others exchanged glances. Sarah was used to this.
“Is the warden back yet, Sarah?”
“He just arrived, Max.”
“We ready?”
“We ready,” she said.
Still pacing, Max gave a big nod. He stopped in front of the laptop and hit the play button again. On the tape, Warden Philip Mackenzie was stepping out of his car and waving his hands in the air toward the helicopter filming him. Max watched. Then he watched it again. Sarah stood over his shoulder.
“You want me to bring him in now, Max?”
“One more time, Sarah.”
Max started the video from the beginning. Periodically he would leap with the grace of a wounded gazelle from the computer screen to the map, trace the route with his gnawed-on index finger, go back to the computer screen. All the while Max fiddled with the dozen rubber bands—exactly a dozen, never eleven, never thirteen—he kept around his wrist.
“Semsey,” Max barked.
“Right here.”
“Give me the play-by-play of this ending.”
“Sir?”
“When did Burroughs get out of the car?”
“In the Wilmington Tunnel. You see here?” Semsey pointed on the map. “That’s where the warden’s car entered the tunnel.”
“You were talking to Burroughs?”
“Yes.”
“As they entered the tunnel?”
“He hung up right before that.”
“How long before that?”
“Uh, I’m not sure. Maybe a minute. I can check the exact time.”
“Do that later,” Max said, still staring at the computer screen. “How did the call end?”
“I was supposed to call him back when the copter was ready.”
“That’s what he said to you?”
“Yes.”
Max frowned at Sarah. Sarah shrugged. “Go on.”
“The rest, well, it’s all on the video,” Semsey said. “When the warden’s car enters the tunnel, we lose sight of them.”
They play that part on the computer screen.
“Burroughs knew that, right?” Max said.
“Knew…?”
“He mentioned there was a copter in the air, didn’t he?”
“Oh, yeah, I guess so. He made the copter, what, fifteen minutes earlier. He told us to get it away from him.”
“But you didn’t comply.”
“No. We just moved it farther away so he couldn’t see or hear it.”
“Okay, so they enter the tunnel,” Max prompts.
“They enter. Our copter waits on the other end because, well, we can’t see into the tunnel. The ride from one end to the other shouldn’t take more than a minute or two.”
“But it took longer,” Max says.
“The warden’s car didn’t emerge for over six minutes.”
Max presses the fast-forward button. He hits play again when the warden’s car exits the tunnel on the other end. Almost immediately, the car pulls to the shoulder. The warden gets out on the driver’s side and starts to wave furiously.
The end.
“So what do you think?” Max asked Semsey.
“About?”
“What happened with Burroughs.”
“Oh. Right. Well, we know now. The warden told us. Burroughs knew the copter couldn’t see him in the tunnel, so he made the warden stop in the middle of it where no one could see him. Then he carjacked another car. We have roadblocks set up.”
“Is there CCTV in the tunnel?”
“No. They have like a booth in there, but it’s rarely manned anymore. Budget cuts.”
“Uh-huh. Sarah?”
“Yeah, Max.”
“Where’s the warden’s son?”
“He’s by the infirmary with his father.”
“He okay?”
“Yeah, just procedure.”