After Anna(100)

Roger picked up his legal pad, rising. ‘We have done everything that we are responsible to do and we will continue to do so.’

Whitaker rose, his expression softer. ‘Ladies, I’m doing everything that I can reasonably do and so is my staff. But you have to understand, a snowstorm like this stretches everyone to the limit. Chief Vogel will get back to you at his earliest, I promise you.’

Roger added, ‘Yes, he will, though I would caution you to remember that this is a missing person case that is almost eight months old. It is simply not going to be resolved tonight. My advice is to see if there are any rooms at the Congreve Inn, hunker down during the storm, and by the end of the week, I’m sure you will hear from the Chief. We gave him your contact information.’

Maggie rose, fuming. ‘Thanksgiving is the end of the week. Nobody’s rushing around except to buy turkeys. It’s snowing. That’s what I’m hearing from you. Will you at least call Chief Vogel and tell him the information I gave you? Maybe he has some ideas or leads.’

‘Will do.’ Roger nodded.

‘Tonight? As if a life depended on it? Because it could. Did you even file a missing persons report or should I do that? Just tell me the process.’

Roger pursed his lips. ‘The process is more informal than what you’re used to, in larger cities. We spoke with Chief Vogel, and you can follow up, but as I said, later. All of the area police are being deployed to deal with the snow emergency, and this matter may be dealt with after the storm, in just a day or two.’

Kathy stood up, touching Maggie’s arm. ‘Honey, you know what? Maybe they’re right. Maybe we should just go to the hotel, check in, take a shower, and wait it out.’

Maggie turned to her, confused. ‘Why should we let them off the hook? They have all the information. They’re barely lifting a finger, and that’s okay with you?’

Kathy put an arm around her. ‘Maggie, listen. We’ve had a long day, and this has been upsetting. We can call the Chief after a good night’s sleep. I think we need to decompress and debrief.’

‘You do?’ Maggie asked, nonplussed.

‘Yep, let’s get Caleb and go.’ Kathy shouldered her purse and started shaking everybody’s hands. ‘Gentlemen, thank you so much. We know you’ll do your best to find Anna and that you’ll stay in touch with us.’

‘Thank you.’ Roger smiled tightly, shaking Kathy’s hand.

‘Yes, thank you.’ Whitaker shook Kathy’s hand, then offered his hand to Maggie. ‘Maggie?’

‘I’ll be damned if I’ll shake your hand!’ Maggie snatched up her phone and purse.

‘Gentlemen, thank you, bye.’ Kathy tugged Maggie from the office, collected Caleb from the waiting room, and hustled them all out of the Administration Rotunda into the cold and dark.

‘You want to go to the hotel?’ Maggie stopped her under the portico, zipping up her coat.

Kathy looked back slyly. ‘How long have you known me, girl? I got an idea.’

‘What is it?’

‘Race me to the car.’

‘Me first!’ Caleb called out, taking off.





Chapter Sixty-nine


Noah, After

Noah experienced the night as a horrible blur, COs running into the cell, taking the dead inmate away, locking down the cellblock, and taking him, Peach, and the other inmate into the security wing for questioning. Police and prison officials interrogated Noah for hours, and he told them what had happened, except about the contraband needle. He’d grabbed the needle off the floor during those first moments of confusion, palmed it, and dropped it in the hallway outside the cellblock.

They finished questioning Noah by dawn, deciding not to write him up because they credited his account that he didn’t know about the fight or that their cell door was unlocked. He hadn’t been given a chance to coordinate his story with Peach, but they’d been in jail long enough to know not to snitch. The higher-ups knew that Noah had just arrived at the prison, which gave credence to his story, and they had an internal problem, since a CO must have intentionally left their cell door unlocked. Noah assumed it had been CO Evesham, unless a different CO had done it after he and Peach had fallen asleep. He’d heard the stories of guards who would leave a cell door unlocked at night, looking the other way so the inmates could fight, sell drugs, or have sex. In any event, it wasn’t his problem.

But during the process, Noah had had the realization that he had no control over anything. He had always been the guy who had everything in control, even in medical school. That was what his notetaking had been about, and the belief that hard work would lead to success and happiness, as if to control the process was to control the outcome. But there was no logical relationship between process and outcome, in life. And it had taken everything that had happened to him to arrive at that understanding, starting with Anna’s moving in and ending at Graterford, being questioned about another life he hadn’t been able to save. But learning that lesson had cost him Maggie, Caleb, and his freedom.

His family.

By morning, Noah was permitted to shower and change, with a CO posted. But Noah didn’t trust even him. The COs would be no friends of his, now that he’d caused one of them to be disciplined or fired. He began to feel shaken by the violence he’d seen. He couldn’t get the images out of his head, and now that he knew he had no control, he felt even more vulnerable.