Chapter 16 - Smoke and Paper
The fire was small.
The damage was not.
Someone had used the alarm as cover to enter the evidence room.
The original ledger disappeared.
So did one prepaid phone and a bag containing commissary receipts.
Ana heard about it from Grant the next morning.
“They lost the book?”
“Not exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“Shaw scanned every page before storing it.”
Ana exhaled.
“Good.”
“But whoever took it didn’t know that.”
“Which means they’re scared.”
Grant nodded.
Deputy Warden Sloane denied involvement.
His attorney called the ledger “the fantasy notes of a manipulative inmate.”
Then investigators matched three of the ledger dates to security logs showing Sloane personally overriding camera-repair priorities.
On another date, he had approved a surprise unit search twelve hours after the ledger claimed Lucia had received the list early.
The walls were closing in.
That made everybody more dangerous.
Lucia requested to speak with Ana.
The request should have been denied.
Ana surprised herself by accepting, under supervision, through glass.
Lucia sat on the other side in an orange restricted-housing uniform.
“You look tired,” Lucia said.
“So do you.”
Lucia smiled faintly. “I heard they found my notebook.”
“They did.”
“And then lost it.”
“They copied it.”
For the first time, Lucia’s smile cracked.
Ana saw the calculation behind her eyes.
“You think you won,” Lucia said.
“No.”
“You destroyed Phelps.”
“Phelps destroyed Phelps.”
“You destroyed Sloane.”
“If he’s guilty, he did that himself.”
Lucia leaned closer to the glass.
“You still don’t understand this place.”
“Then explain it.”
“People like Phelps and Sloane don’t create women like me. Women like me create men like them.”
Ana shook her head. “That’s just another way to avoid responsibility.”
Lucia’s eyes hardened.
“You think everybody standing up in that dining hall changed something?”
“Yes.”
“It changed who gets blamed.”
“No. It changed who gets heard.”
Lucia stared at her.
Then she said quietly, “Ask Renee who gave me her sister’s address.”
Ana froze.
Lucia leaned back.
“Phelps didn’t know it.”
The call ended.
Ana walked out of the interview room with one question pounding in her head.
May you like
If Phelps had not supplied the address—
who had?
