After Anna(94)

‘Right, Dr Kildare.’ Noah sensed Peach was the chatty sort. He set his toilet kit on a narrow metal shelf next to an open toilet and a urinal.

‘You got in late. Normally they don’t do intake this late. They tell you your job assignment?’

‘No.’ Noah unfolded his single sheet and tucked it around the thin mattress.

‘You gotta get a good one. I work in the leather shop. I make boots. That’s the best. There’s a waiting list. The only people who work there are lifers. They gotta die for something to open up.’

‘What else is a good job?’ Noah got the sheet on, and the buzzer sounded, reverberating in his ears.

‘Try laundry.’ Peach eased back into his bunk. ‘Garment sucks. Kitchen sucks. Wood shop’s decent. Friend of mine works there. He can put in a good word. He knows people.’

‘Thanks.’ Noah finished making his bed, then went to the sink, brushed his teeth, and washed up. He’d already relieved himself at intake. It was one of the things he hated most about prison, the lack of privacy. He would have to come to a place of acceptance.

‘You don’t talk much.’

‘I’m tired.’ Noah climbed up into his bunk, stretched out, and clammed up, in prison mode. Suddenly another buzzer sounded, and the lights went off abruptly.

Peach clucked. ‘Damn, I wasn’t at the end of the chapter. It’s good you got here. I could do a lot worse.’

‘It’s mutual.’ Noah looked at the ceiling. He could hear men talking, praying, and singing, the noises echoing in the dark cellblock. He heard a congested cough nearby, but he couldn’t see who it was because there were walls between the cells. He diagnosed it reflexively, as sinusitis.

‘I been here twenty-one years. It’s no picnic, but you get used to it. People get used to anything. Put your hand over the side.’

‘What?’

‘You heard me. Put your hand over the side.’

‘Why?’

‘Just do it. I ain’t gonna hurt you.’

Noah let his right hand drop and felt Peach give him a paper bag. ‘What’s in it?’

‘What’s in what?’

Noah shifted onto his side and looked inside the bag, in the dim light from the window. It was a makeshift first-aid kit with a roll of gauze, a small bottle of Betadine, dental floss, and a heavy industrial needle, glinting in the half-light. The needle was contraband, which could get him thrown into the RHU, the Restricted Housing Unit, or solitary confinement.

Noah asked, ‘Peach, why did you give me this? Are you setting me up?’

‘Don’t be stupid.’

Noah’s thoughts raced. He’d been right about the undercurrent. Something was going to happen.

‘Get some sleep, doc.’





Chapter Sixty-six


Maggie, After

Maggie pulled up in front of Kathy’s house with Caleb in the backseat. She’d told him only the basics about why they were going to Congreve, not wanting to confuse him. Happily, he was plugged into his earphones and immersed in a video game on his phone.

‘Hey girl.’ Maggie opened the car door, letting Kathy in, bundled in a parka and snowboots.

‘Maggie, hi. Hi, Caleb.’ Kathy climbed in, closing the door. ‘I can’t believe this, can you?’

‘Amazing.’ Maggie hit the gas, and they took off in the pouring rain. She’d booked three seats on the next flight, and with any luck, they’d get to Congreve by dinnertime. ‘I’m still trying to figure it out.’

‘Me too.’ Kathy looked over, her eyes alive with animation. ‘I mean, the real Anna could be alive.’

‘I know.’ Maggie had thought of nothing else, newly energized. ‘But where is she? Why would anybody do this? And who was the imposter?’

‘I don’t know.’ Kathy shook her head.

‘She was impersonating Anna. They look a lot alike.’ Maggie tore through the suburban streets in the rain, the windshield wipers pumping frantically, matching her mood.

‘I know. I saw from the picture you texted me.’

‘I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t recognize my own daughter.’ Maggie kept her eyes glued to the traffic, which was light.

‘You couldn’t. The last time you saw her, she was a baby. Florian kept the pictures. You couldn’t see the way her face changed over time.’

‘You would think a mother would know.’ Maggie had been kicking herself ever since Ellen had called.

‘I wouldn’t have. It’s crazy how much alike they look.’

‘It happens. I get people all the time that say they know somebody who looks like me.’ Maggie had been thinking nonstop, but was happy to have Kathy as a sounding board. ‘It must have to do with Anna’s inheritance. Maybe that’s what was behind this whole thing. Maybe that’s why the girl was pretending to be Anna.’

‘That would make sense. I was thinking that’s why she bought the Range Rover right away.’

‘Yes!’ Maggie blew through a yellow light. ‘I think I see how the misidentification happened. I didn’t bring the imposter with me when I went to see Ellen the therapist, or James the lawyer. I went to see them alone. So they would have no idea that the girl I was talking about wasn’t the real Anna, because they didn’t see her.’