Page 25 of I’ll Be Watching You

“Tony, please escort the Angelharts to the visiting area. Then ask Mr. Nelson if he’s willing to speak with them.”

“Yes, sir.”

I followed, still trying to make sense of what had happened since Monday night.

Liz Swanson saw something in the medical records that she shouldn’t have. And now she was dead.

And now my father was locked away in one of the most secure prisons in the country.

Whatever the connection was between Liz, Dr. Klein, and my father, I would find it.

No matter what.

Chapter Nine

Ava Angelhart

“Maybe you should go to the car and call Aunt Rita,” Margo said. “She’ll be able to get answers. I’ll talk to Nelson.”

Ava had been in shock since learning Cooper had been transferred to Supermax. It seemed inconceivable, yet it had happened. She could hardly think of anything other than immediately getting on a plane and going to him. She would do that as soon as possible.

But first, Margo would insist on her telling everything she knew. Ava dreaded the conversation. She didn’t know if she should say anything. Was Cooper’s transfer a warning for her to remain silent?

Yet . . . she’d kept quiet for three and a half years and now an innocent woman was dead and Cooper was gone.

“Mom.” Margo put her hand on Ava’s arm. “We’re going to find out what happened and get Dad back.”

“Yes,” Ava said, though she didn’t have Margo’s apparent confidence. Maybe it was an act. Or maybe her daughter was simply stronger than she was.

What would Margo think when she knew the truth? Would she hate Ava? Hate her father?

Ava said, “We’ll call Aunt Rita after we speak with Ken. I know him.”

Margo frowned but didn’t argue. Ava didn’t know if she could handle another argument with Margo, not right now. In the warden’s office, Margo had asked necessary questions when Ava’s mind went blank. She was so grateful that Margo had seemed to sense that Ava was on the edge and taken charge when she hadn’t.

They waited a good ten minutes before Ken entered the visitors’ room. Ava felt like she was walking a tightrope without a safety net, and Ken was the only lifeline within reach.

Ken Nelson was a small man with thick black hair liberally threaded with gray and dark eyes that appeared bottomless. He’d already served six years of a minimum ten-year sentence for fraud and money laundering. He was greedy, not violent, and showed little remorse for the victims of his scams. But he liked Cooper, and Cooper said Ken was a good cellmate.

This morning, he looked wary, almost nervous. He glanced at the guard—it wasn’t Tony who had brought him in—and sat down across from Ava and Margo. “Hey, yeah, you’re here about Coop.”

“What happened, Ken?” Ava asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know. One minute he was, um, talking.” He looked pointedly at Ava; Ken knew that Cooper had been talking to her. “And then we heard the door at the end of the cellblock open, so Coop tossed me the phone and I hid it. Thought for certain the asshole across the way had ratted me out or something, but naw, it was two guards coming to get Coop, said he was being transferred.”

“At two in the morning?” Ava asked in disbelief.

“Yeah. Swear to God, that’s what happened. And Coop asked, like, ‘Does my lawyer know?’ And one of the guards said two US Marshals were here to transport him, the paperwork is in order, and they don’t know if his lawyer was told, that’s above their pay grade, yada yada. They weren’t jerks about it, just very matter-of-fact. Everyone likes Coop, even the guards.”

“Have you heard anything?” Ava asked. “Anyone talking?”

“Nothing. Everyone’s asking questions, no one has answers. Like I said, we all like your husband.”

“Did Cooper make any other calls last night?”

Ken didn’t say anything.

“It’s important,” Ava said.