Chapter 9 - When Everybody Stood
Lucia flipped the tray.
The sound of metal striking concrete echoed across the dining hall.
Ana’s food scattered.
Lucia stepped on the bread.
“You eat when I say you eat.”
Ana looked at the camera.
Then she smiled.
“Perfect.”
Everything that followed happened fast.
The recorder came out.
The green light came on.
Warden Keller entered with investigators.
And Renee stood.
“She takes our commissary.”
Lucia snapped, “Sit down.”
Renee shook so hard Ana could see it from across the room.
“No.”
Jasmine rose next.
“She had someone destroy my family pictures.”
Miss D lifted one hand. “I kept receipts.”
Three women became five.
Five became eight.
Then twelve.
The room changed before Ana’s eyes.
Lucia’s power had always depended on isolation. Every woman believed her trouble was personal, embarrassing, impossible to prove.
Now they were hearing the same story from every corner of the room.
Keller ordered Lucia separated from the population pending investigation.
Lucia did not resist.
She only looked at Ana.
“This won’t protect you.”
Shaw stepped between them. “That’s enough.”
Lucia laughed.
“No, it isn’t.”
As officers escorted her out, Ana saw Phelps in the corridor.
The throat gesture was small.
But clear.
Ana reported it immediately.
Phelps denied everything.
“I scratched my neck.”
Shaw requested that he be removed from inmate contact while the allegation was reviewed.
The request was denied by a regional supervisor because there was “insufficient evidence.”
That phrase made Ana furious.
At 2:00 a.m., the unit lights came on.
“Torres!” an officer shouted. “Stand by your bunk.”
Four officers entered.
Phelps was one of them.
“Emergency search,” he said.
They tore through lockers, bedding, hygiene kits, legal folders.
Then Phelps reached beneath Ana’s mattress.
His hand came out holding a small plastic bag.
Inside were six prescription pills.
Renee gasped.
Ana stared at them.
“They’re not mine.”
Phelps smiled.
“Of course not.”
The officer beside him opened a disciplinary form.
Possession of unauthorized medication.
Ana could lose good-time credit.
She could be moved to segregation.
More importantly, she could be labeled unreliable before the investigation even began.
Phelps leaned closer.
“You wanted proof,” he whispered.
May you like
Then he held up the bag.
“Now we have some.”
