Second Chance

Chapter 72

“LIEUTENANT BOXER.” Brenda buzzed me early Monday. “Warden Estes from Pelican Bay Line two.” I picked up the phone, not expecting much.

“You asked if we had ever had a policeman imprisoned here,” Estes said.

I perked up immediately. “And?”

“Mind you, I don't give a shit about some lunatic ravings from Weiscz” But I did go back through the old files. There was a case here that might have some relevance. Twelve years ago. I was the warden at Soledad when this scum arrived here."

I took the phone off speaker, pressing the receiver to my ear.

"They had him here for five years. Two of them in iso.

Then they shipped him back to Quentin. A special case. You may even remember the name."

I picked up a pen and started racking my brain. A cop at Pelican? Quentin?

“Frank Coombs,” Estes said.

I did recognize the name. It was like a headline flashing back from my youth. Coombs. A street cop, he had killed a kid in the projects some twenty years before. Got run up on charges. Sent away. To any San Francisco cop, his name was like a warning bell for the use of excessive force.

“Coombs turned into more of a bastard in prison than he was on the outside,” Estes went on. “He choked a cell mate blue down in Quentin, which is why they shipped him here. After a stay in the SHU's, they were able to cure him of some of his antisocial tendencies.”

Coombs... I wrote down the name. I couldn't remember anything about the case except that he had choked and killed this black kid.

“What makes you think this Coombs might fit?” I asked.

“As I said... ” Estes cleared his throat. "I don't much care about Weiscz's ravings. What made me call was that I asked some of our staff. When he was here, Coombs was a charter member of that little group of yours.

“My group?”

“That's right, Lieutenant. Chimera.”