* * *
The cell is cold as I hear shouts throughout the concrete walls. The cell doors are open, but it’s still early enough that no one’s moving around.
“You a cop?” my cellmate asks me as he lies above me.
“Obviously not a very good one.”
It surprises me when my cellmate laughs along with me.
“Be careful; don’t let too many people know that.”
Glancing towards the door, I see a small group of men walking closer.
“I feel like it’s too late for that.” Pushing myself up from the cot as I attempt to stand my ground.
“I remember you. You were there when my boys and I got lockedup.”
“Yeah, I remember, and did I do anything?” I laugh, shaking my head.
“What?”
“I may have shown up, but did I try to do anything? I questioned you, and what did I say?”
I watch as their anger rises more.
“I told you to shut the fuck up, to stop talking, because you were burying yourself.”
The inmates step towards me again; I know where this is going.
“Enough,” comes from past them. “He’s one of mine.”
The men look over at the voice as it comes into view. The gray beard and hair covering most of his face surprise me, but between that and the inmates’ faces, they tell me that whoever just came in runs this place.
“Man, look. I’m not really interested in the chummy cliques around here.”
“Ash.” The one word, the name, causes the men who came in here to intimidate me to leave without another question.
“What?”
He pauses for a moment as he glances up at my cellmate and nods for him to leave.
“Ash Anderson.”
“He’s been dead for 10 years.”
“God, has it been 10 years?” he asks me, shaking his head.
“How do you know Ash?”
Laughing, he nods his head. “I think the more important question is how a cop knows the former president of an outlaw biker club well enough for me to know they’re connected?” He sits down, looking at me. “Could it be that he was neverreallya cop at all?”
“What do you want?”
“Nothing. I’ve just come to introduce myself. I’m Tripp, Ella’s my niece.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve heard about you. You set someone on fire.”
“Yeah…” he nods his head, not one bit ashamed of what he did. He pauses for a moment before continuing. “Ash came and saw me a few weeks before he was killed, told me if the kids or you ever end up here, to watch out for them.”
