Chapter 13 #3
“You don’t know my mama. When she sets her mind to something, she doesn’t care. It’ll get done no matter who she has to hurt.” Nate dropped onto the bunk and lay there, his hands behind his neck. “Nobody cares. She’s gonna hurt somebody and nobody cares.”
He’d been back in his cell for about twenty minutes when another guard walked up. “Ivitts.”
“Yeah?”
“Come with me.” Nate stepped out of the cell and waited while a second guard put on the leg irons and the chain that ran from his wrist irons to the belt they fastened around him. At least that way it was a little easier to walk. Not much, but a little.
The guards—three of them—walked him down the catwalk, down the stairs, and into the cafeteria. From there, they went out a set of doors he’d never seen in use before and down a long hallway. It came out in a small room, and they led him through doors on the other side of the room.
They were in another hallway—a very, very regular-looking hallway.
There were doors here and there with names on them, like in an office building.
Nate couldn’t imagine where they were going.
Was this some kind of medical thing? Was there a doctor there somewhere?
The hallway ended in a large area with chairs scattered here and there among potted plants, occasional tables, and an area rug or two.
The door on the far side had a plaque on it, and for the first time, Nate felt a measure of hope.
Warden Hiram Massey
Kentucky State Penitentiary
On the adjoining walls were other doors, and most of them were for deputy wardens.
One was for an ADA coordinator, and Nate knew what that meant—inmates with disabilities.
The door to the warden’s office opened and a woman stood there.
She stepped aside as a Kentucky State Police trooper stepped out and nodded to her.
Then she looked toward the little group with Nate.
“Warden Massey will see you now.” She held the door as the guards led Nate into a small room that looked to be a secretarial area.
The second door opened, and another man held that as the guards ushered Nate into the warden’s office.
“Mr. Ivitts, I’m Warden Massey.” Behind the warden was the guard who’d been in the visitation cell with Nate.
Apparently the guy had seen how crazy Margie actually was.
“Yes, sir. Thank you for seeing me, sir. I … Thank you so much.”
“Yes, well, I got a call before about this. Have a seat. I’ve asked Deputy Warden Taylor to sit in with us, if that’s okay.”
“Sure, sir. Whatever you want.” The guards helped Nate drop into a chair in front of the warden’s desk, then took up positions behind him on either side.
“I understand you had a visitor earlier today. Your mother, a Margie Ivitts?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And there was a lot of commotion and yelling during this visit. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Would you like to tell me what that was about?”
“Yes, sir. She’s got it in her head that my ex-wife and her boyfriend are some kind of slave owners and sex perverts and stuff.
That they’re gonna hurt my kids. But I know that’s not true.
I talked to Gina one night on my phone allotment and she sounded fine.
Happy even. And I couldn’t give them that, so if this guy can, I’m okay with it. ”
“‘This guy’ would be named Kyle Miller?”
“Yes, sir. He came to see me.”
“I see that on the records. And what did you talk about?”
“He was mostly concerned about letting me know that he’s taking care of them and that my mother seemed dangerous to him.”
“And why would he think that?”
“Because she tried to have my daughter kidnapped.”
The warden fixed him with a piercing stare. “But she hasn’t been arrested for it.”
“That’s because they haven’t managed to tie her to it. But I know she did it, sure as I’m sittin’ here.”
“That’s a pretty low opinion of your mother.”
Nate shrugged. “She’s crazy. That’s all I can say. She’s lost her mind.”
The warden sat back in his chair and his face softened.
“I should tell you that everything you just told me, I’d already confirmed with the Christian County Sheriff’s Office, the Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hopkinsville Police Department as true.
The Kentucky State Police echoed all of it.
I also know that your former in-laws are fine, upstanding people, as are Mr. Miller’s family, by all accounts.
They gave me what details they have, which aren’t enough to arrest your mother, but there’s no doubt in my mind that all of you are right—she was behind that. ”
“I wish they’d find something.”
“She didn’t give you anything you can tell me?”
“I wish she had, but she didn’t. But, sir, I think she’s planning something. If she is, it’ll be pretty awful. I mean, we’re talking about a woman who tried to have her granddaughter kidnapped. I don’t think there’s anything she wouldn’t do.”
“Including hurting someone?”
“Yes, sir. Including hurting somebody.”
“Since you know her so well, do you have any suggestions?”
Nate thought for a minute, but it did no good.
“No, sir. I wish I did. She’s just gotten so unpredictable that there’s no telling what she might do.
This is all about her. It’s not about the kids, even though she says it is.
She wants her way, and she won’t stop until she gets it, no matter who she hurts.
I mean, it’s like,” Nate said, trying to collect his thoughts, “… it’s like she can’t understand how much it would hurt the kids if she hurt their mama.
Can’t grasp that idea. Just wants her way, no matter what.
I think that’s what makes her …” He stopped.
Could he say it? He had to. “Dangerous. I think she’s dangerous, sir. I really do.”
“Okay, well, my contact with KSP is a Trooper Obermark, and I’ll be calling him to tell him what you’ve told me. Anything else that you think could help?”
“No, except please, please stop her. Please? I don’t want her hurtin’ nobody.
I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but you can’t let her hurt them.
Please?” Nate could feel panic building in his chest, and he didn’t know what to do.
It seemed to him that the warden really wasn’t taking the whole thing too seriously, and that was a huge mistake.
“I mean, sir, I don’t know what else to say, and I don’t know what she’s capable of, but she’s up to no good.
Please don’t let her hurt nobody. Please? ”
“We’ll do what we can. Thank you, Mr. Ivitts. If I need anything else, I’ll be in touch.” The warden nodded to one of the guards and the two men helped Nate stand.
It was over, and he hadn’t convinced the warden.
He was sure he hadn’t. As the guards helped him to his feet, he couldn’t help himself.
“Please, sir, please? Don’t let her hurt them?
Please? My kids … I treated them and their mama horrible.
They didn’t deserve that, and I don’t want them hurt no more.
Please? Help them, please?” The warden said nothing, just stared down at the papers on his desk as though Nate wasn’t even there.
“Come on, Ivitts. Visit’s over.” The guards marched him toward the door, but as they reached the opening, he turned his head to look back.
The warden never looked up.
Hope sank into Nate’s shoes. No one was going to help Gina or the kids. They wouldn’t help Kyle or his little girl either. His mama was going to hurt them and there was nothing anyone could do.
Well, that was bullshit. He was about to show them that when Nate Ivitts knew he’d done wrong and wanted to right it, he’d stop at nothing. That would be his number one mission, to stop her. He wasn’t sure how he’d do that, but he would.
They stripped the restraints from him and shoved him back into his cell. As they walked away, Griff rolled over on his bunk to face Nate and grinned. “So you saw the big dawg.”
“Yeah.” Nate climbed up, sat on the edge of his bunk, and dropped his head into his hands as his elbows rested on his thighs, folding down on himself in despair. What could he possibly do to help?
“And what did he say?”
“Oh, he believes me, but he’s not gonna do nothin’. My crazy mama will kill my ex and her boyfriend, maybe even his little girl, and they ain’t gonna do nothin’.”
Griff’s eyebrows shot up. “His little girl? Yore mama would do that?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t surprise me at all. I’ve gotta do something, but I don’t know what.”
There was silence for a minute or two before Griff’s low, slow voice penetrated Nate’s thoughts. “I might know somebody who could help you.”
“I doubt it.”
“I might. How you feel ’bout bein’ somebody’s sweetie?”
Nate snorted. “I ain’t no queer.”
“You don’t gotta be. Just for a nut or two. That’s all. If’n they could get you outta here, I mean …”
“Get me outta here? Somebody could do that?”
“Man, ain’t you got no sense? Ever last damn one o’ them boys could walk outta here anytime they want. They stay ’cause they’s runnin’ this place and it’s their kingdom, yo. In here, they got all the power. But if’n you want out, I think they can make that happen.”
Images roared through Nate’s mind. Bent over, looking at his own dick while some big boy from another cell block … On his knees, rimming some guy’s … Sucking some burly inmate’s … How long would any of those things last? A few minutes? Half an hour? An hour?
How long did dead last? Forever. That’s what Gina and Kyle would have if Margie killed them, and he was afraid she would. Would it be worth it to let some big guy bang him from behind to save Gina and Kyle?
Nate thought about all the times he beat the shit out of Gina, all the times he’d let his kids down, left them with nothing to eat, slapped Briley around.
He’d embarrassed and humiliated both kids with his drunken antics.
Gina had cried buckets of tears trying to deal with him, and he responded by knocking her around. He was a total embarrassment.