No way out

Chapter Fifty

I bolted for the door, Lucy and Nardelli racing behind me. It was full dark and cold, stadium lights burning the walkway from the administration building to the women’s dormitory, the Farm silent. There was no siren sounding an alarm, no flight of corrections officers toward the dorm, no hint of trouble until I yanked on the front entrance to the dorm and nearly wrenched my shoulder fighting a locked door.

“Great,” Nardelli said, flipping her cell phone open, telling whoever was listening to send a SWAT team and a hostage negotiator.

She snapped her phone shut and tried the door again as the superintendent and Bonner caught up to us.

“Door’s locked,” Lucy said.

“Of course it’s locked,” the superintendent said. “That’s called security.” She clicked on her radio. “It’s Superintendent Fibuch. Open up if you’re secure.”

An officer swung the door open, and we stepped into a hall that ran the length of the dorm, the Women’s Recreation Area near the opposite end. There was an open sleeping area to our right where two dozen women in jail-issued jumpsuits sat on steel cots, an officer keeping them well away from the hall, the women silent, their faces lit, waiting for something to happen, not certain whom to root for. We joined another officer who was standing ten feet farther down the hall past the sleeping area, not taking his eyes off of Jimmy and Kate.

“What’s your procedure?” Nardelli asked the superintendent, her voice quiet enough that Jimmy couldn’t hear.

“There are officers at every exit. The building is secure. There’s no place for him to go, so we’ll wait him out.”

“Who’s your hostage negotiator?”

“We don’t have one. My officers and I are trained in verbal judo, how to defuse tense situations, but none of us qualify for hostage situations.”

“I’ve got a SWAT team and a hostage negotiator on the way,” Nardelli said. “They’ll be here in less than thirty minutes. What weapons do your officers carry?” she asked.

“Just pepper spray. Our residents are nonviolent.”

“Except for Jimmy Martin.”

“He doesn’t belong here. I was forced to take him because the county jail was full.” The superintendent glanced at the gun on Nardelli’s hip. “Firearms aren’t allowed in here. I’ll have one of my officers take your gun back to the administrative building. You can pick it up when this is over.”

Nardelli covered the butt of her gun with her hand. “You’ve got a man holding a shiv against a woman’s neck sixty feet from where we are standing. What’s the range on your pepper spray?”

The superintendent reddened. “I run this jail, Detective, and guns are not allowed.”

“And this is a crime scene, and I’m running it. You don’t like it, take it up with the chief of police tomorrow morning,” she said, turning to the officer who’d let us in. “What’s he doing?”

“Not much. He yelled at us to back off or he’d kill the woman. We’re giving him plenty of space. I can’t tell for certain, but it looks like her neck’s bleeding.”

The hallway was lit with ceiling fixtures that gave a dull yellow cast to the brown walls and checkerboard linoleum floor. Jimmy was holding Kate in a shadowy area between two fixtures, making it hard to tell if the officer was right. The poor lighting worked to Jimmy’s advantage, disguising his actions, making it more likely he could stab Kate or slit her throat before we knew he’d done it.

“Did Jimmy know we were coming?” I asked the superintendent.

“Ethan called me, and I told him.”

“How’d he react?”

“Indifferent. Same as always.”

“Has he been in any trouble since he got here? Any reason he’d have to carry a shiv?”

“No. Most of our residents are drug and alcohol abusers, and they’re pretty passive. If they have a history of violence or they appear likely to be violent when we do our intake evaluation, we send them somewhere else. They survive in here the same way they do on the streets, by being invisible and not threatening anyone.”

“How has Jimmy gotten along with them?”

“He scares them. They give him room, not trouble. I don’t know why he’d risk getting caught with a weapon.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Lucy said. “He wanted it in case he had a chance to escape, either to overpower an officer or take a hostage, both of which he just did.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But this isn’t an easy place to escape from. Even if he gets out of the building, he’s still got to get through a lot of officers, electronic gates, and barbed wire. A shiv will only get you so far.”

“Why then?” the superintendent asked.

“Self-protection. Somebody in here scared him. I’d appreciate it if you could give me a list of everyone who’s visited Jimmy and everyone who’s checked in since he arrived.”

“Who are you looking for?” Nardelli asked.

“Someone like Jimmy, someone who didn’t belong here.”

Bonner cupped his hands, shouting down the hall. “Jimmy! It’s me, Ethan Bonner. Let Kate go.”

“Fuck that, Bonner. They let me go first, then we got something to talk about.”

“Jimmy, you know that’s not going to happen. Let her go before this gets any worse.”

“Only one way it’s going to get worse, and that’s if they don’t let me out of here.”

“Okay, okay. Just take it easy. Let me see what I can do.”

Nardelli looked at Bonner. “Don’t even ask. You made your fee speech, counselor,” she said. “Now sit tight and shut up. We’ll handle this the rest of the way.”

She stared down the hall for a moment and then called to Jimmy.

“This is Detective Nardelli. I talked to you right after your children disappeared. I’ve got someone on the way over here to talk with you, see what we can work out.”

“There’s nothing to work out. You heard what I want. Make it happen.”

“It’s not up to me, Jimmy. That’s why I’ve sent for someone you can do business with. Until he gets here, you’ve got to make sure Kate doesn’t get hurt because if she does, there’s nothing anybody can do for you. We clear on that?”

“Either I get out of here, or there’s nothing I can do for her. We clear on that, Detective?” he said, stepping into the light.

Kate let out a cry as Jimmy let go of her arm and grabbed her hair from behind, yanking her chin up, the shiv now visible at her neck. He retreated into the shadow, pressing his back against the wall and making himself a smaller target, Kate providing cover.

“He’s clear, I’m clear, we’re all clear!” Kate yelled. “So do us a favor and move back, give us some room. Jimmy and I have things to talk about, and all this attention isn’t helping.”