Page 51 of Thick

After I sat, he looked right at me. “Officer Madden. Other than having a man killed while on yard duty, how’s your evening been?”

“Splendid, Sir.”

He looked at Turner. “Yours?”

“Just shy of splendid.”

“Outstanding. One splendid, and one damned near so.” He glanced at each of us. “What happened out there? I’ve got a dead man with a severed carotid artery, two jailhouse shanks, and a blood stain the size of my wife’s Buick in the center of my yard. But, so far, no one saw a thing.”

He fixed his eyes on mine. “Did you see anything?”

The only thing I’d seen was Tate and the leader of the AB’s, Tinkle, walking toward Wheatland’s group immediately prior to his collapse. Telling the warden about it would undoubtedly leave Tate Reynolds to suffer the same fate as Becker Wallace.

I straightened my posture and looked him in the eyes. “No, Sir.”

“Nothing at all?”

“No, Sir.”

His eyebrows raised. “Anything stand out as being odd? Did one of the inmates rush toward him prior to his untimely departure?”

“No, Sir. Not that I saw.”

He shifted his eyes to Turner. “Anything?”

“I was standing post four,” Turner said flatly. “As a group of inmates walked past the non-affiliated whites, I saw the red-haired inmate reach for Wheatland’s neck, and then he walked away. Wheatland collapsed immediately following.”

He stood and shook his head lightly as if distraught by the situation. “I ran to the center of the yard. After dissolving the crowd and securing the inmates, I took Wheatland’s pulse. At that point, he was deceased.”

“The red-headed inmate.” The warden shuffled some paperwork on his desk. “Would that be Haney? Richard Haney?”

“Yes, Sir,” Turner said. “It was Haney.”

“They found an identical shank in his cell. Were you aware of that?”

“I was not.”

“Well, they did.” He clapped his hands together. “Looks like we’ve got our man. My logic is that he made two of them, and if this didn’t work, he’d try again tomorrow.”

“Have you reviewed the surveillance video?” Turner asked.

“I have not. It’s being converted to a readable file as we speak. Based on what you saw, I suspect we’ll charge Haney with murder. That is, if the video produces nothing more.” The warden stood. “You’re dismissed.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

We walked into the hallway and turned the corner. Halfway to the observation station, Turner broke the silence.

“The other two will stand trial for that rape. After this, the DA won’t cut a deal with either of them.”

“What happened today, everything, this is the way it’s supposed to happen? I need to get used to this?”

“It’s impossible to change what happened to that girl. Bringing the men to justice is all the system can offer. Justice was served.”

I continued walking without commenting any further. It was going to take time for me to process everything. Reading about the acts of vigilantes was much different than witnessing them.

Turner was right about one thing, and that much was certain.