After Anna(114)

Maggie dove for it and grabbed it, just as the back door flew open.

Caleb stood in the threshold, holding his phone high. ‘I called 911! I said it was an emergency!’

‘You little bastard!’ Connie raged, scrambling to his feet. ‘I’ll kill you!’

‘No!’ Maggie fired the gun just as Connie lunged for Caleb.

‘Bitch!’ Connie fell, grabbing his leg in pain. Blood drenched his right thigh.

‘Go, go, go!’ Maggie grabbed Caleb by the shoulder and ran with him into the living room. Kathy yanked on the doorknob. The door fell to the side.

Maggie, Caleb, and Kathy bolted onto the porch, raced down the snowy stairs, and ran away from the house.

Suddenly the sound of sirens pierced the frigid air. Police cruisers zoomed toward them, red lights flashing.

‘Help! Police!’ Maggie dropped the gun as she ran. The three of them ran toward the cruisers.

‘He’s inside!’ Maggie shouted, as the police cruisers swerved to a stop, spraying snow from their tires. Their doors flew open, and uniformed cops ran out, heading toward the house.

Connie ran limping to his truck.

Another police cruiser veered around the other corner, its sirens blaring and lights flashing. It halted, its big high beams cutting through the darkness, spotlighting Connie amid the snow flurries. Uniformed police jumped out with their guns drawn, blocking him in.

‘Freeze!’ the police shouted, coming up behind him. ‘Hands up!’

Connie stopped, trapped. Then he dropped to his knees in the swirling snow, raising his hands.





Chapter Eighty-one


Noah, After

Noah regained consciousness as he was half-walked and half-dragged down the hallway by COs Evesham and Stanislavsky. Pain arced through his skull. His ribs ached with every step. Blood ran down his forehead, warm and wet. He blinked to clear his eyes.

‘You’re not going to get away with this,’ Noah said hoarsely.

CO Evesham sniffed. ‘You refused to cuff up. You threatened my personal safety. You resisted in a dangerous manner. We’re writing you up for misconduct.’

‘Everybody knows what you’re up to, Evesham. I told them you were the CO who took me to my cell. You left the door open for Jeremy Black. You’re going down for that.’

‘I locked the door. I had nothing to do with the door’s being open. Must’ve been another CO who came after me.’

‘You’re a liar.’

‘Wrong. The matter’s been investigated and resolved. Officially.’ They reached the stairwell to the ACU, but instead of going up the stairs, they took a right down another hallway.

‘Where we going?’ Noah could barely hold himself up. Blood poured into his eyes. ‘You’d better be taking me to the infirmary.’

‘The RHU. You’ll get my write-up later. You got Class I charges. Threatening a CO with bodily harm, resisting arrest, and insubordination.’ They reached a maroon-metal door that read RHU. CO Evesham unlocked it, and they hustled Noah into a long hallway that had doors like the ACU isolation cells.

Noah thought about running. He was in too much pain. There was nowhere to run. He had no choice but to let them throw him in a cell. At least he would be safe.

CO Stanislavsky went to the first cell door and unlocked it. Noah stood aside. Blood ran down his face.

‘Get in.’ CO Evesham opened the door, but the cell wasn’t empty.

Inside was John Drover.

And in his hand was a homemade shank.





Chapter Eighty-two


Maggie, After

Maggie, Kathy, and Caleb sat in the small waiting room of the homey Tipton police station, having finished giving their statements to a group of federal, state, and local law enforcement. Wooden chairs matched a table that held back issues of People magazine, and the air smelled like stale coffee. Maggie was waiting to find out about Anna. The authorities were still interviewing Connie, and she’d been told that he was making a complete statement in return for a plea deal.

The waiting area was separated from the office by an old-fashioned wooden door with a glass pane, and Maggie kept checking to see what was going on. Uniformed local police, assistant U.S. attorneys, local assistant district attorneys, and FBI agents flooded the small room, which held only a few wooden desks with outdated computers. Atop a line of battered gray file cabinets sat an old TV playing The Weather Channel on mute, next to stacked case files and a clutter of New England Patriots and Red Sox paraphernalia, including a David Ortiz bobblehead.

Maggie felt pure dread that the worst had happened to Anna, but she told herself to keep the faith, and she worried about Caleb, since the horrific scene at Elma Tenderly’s. She was still amazed that he’d had the presence of mind to run out the back door and call 911 when Connie and Roy had burst into the house. She hadn’t had a chance to talk with him about what had happened, and it had to have been traumatic. He seemed okay under the circumstances, sitting next to her with his phone in his lap. During the interview, he’d absorbed everything with wide-eyed interest. She would help him process it later, and he could talk about it in therapy, too, when they got home.

‘How you doing, sweetie?’ Maggie asked him, ruffling his hair.

‘I’m okay.’ Caleb nodded with a smile.

‘You must be tired.’ Maggie checked the wall clock. It was almost one o’clock in the morning.