39
Julia knew they were getting closer to the prison because an unnatural brightness emanated from the woods.
The rain had stopped, leaving the night sky thickly black and heavy with humidity, and a ghostly white light illuminated droplets of moisture in the air, like a spectral haze hovering over the trees.
Julia felt worse as they got closer, and her stomach knotted.
She realized that it was one thing to know Courtney was in prison, and another to go see her there, even on a closed-circuit screen.
Paul must’ve felt the same way because he’d been utterly silent since the tailgater.
She didn’t want to think about any dents on the bumper or scratches on the rental.
She had bigger worries, like whether the driver of the pickup was Kay’s killer trying to intimidate or hurt them, or if he was just a good ole boy making trouble for out-of-towners.
They reached a small sign that read NEW DOVER COUNTY PRISON, then turned onto a road through the woods, which ended abruptly in a vast clearing that contained the prison.
New Dover County Prison was an aging concrete complex shaped like a massive H, surrounded by security lights mounted on the perimeter.
Double rows of cyclone fencing topped with concertina wire surrounded the edifice, and there were peaked turrets at regular intervals with silhouetted guards inside, visible through greenish glass.
Julia had never seen a prison this close, and the sight struck her as horrifying in a uniquely institutional way. Her best friend was locked behind bars for a crime she hadn’t committed, and that utter injustice was lawful.
“This scares the shit out of me,” Paul said quietly.
“I’ll say.”
They passed through an open gate in a cyclone fence, entered prison property, and stopped at a narrow guardhouse to show their IDs to a corrections officer in a black uniform.
He checked their names on a list and raised a reflective bar to let them drive through.
They traveled down a long asphalt road and into the visitors’ parking lot, which was empty except for Bennie and Alex, who stood talking next to their cars.
Uh-oh. Julia hadn’t expected Alex. “Paul, be nice.”
“This fucking guy,” Paul muttered. “What’s he doing here?”
“Just ignore him, okay?” Julia parked next to them, and Bennie came over before they got out of the car.
“Leave your phones and purse. Bring your car keys and driver’s licenses.”
“Okay.” They obeyed, then got out of the car.
Alex flashed Julia a tense smile. “Good to see you.”
“Good to see you, too. I’m sorry I didn’t think to call you.”
“No worries. I know a few C.O.s, and one gave me a heads-up.”
Julia blinked. “What’s a C.O.?”
“Corrections officer.”
Paul sniffed. “You know everybody, don’t you? You’re like the Mayor of Shitsville.”
Alex snorted. “What, no stitches, bro? Better luck next time.”
Bennie snapped, “That’s enough, you two.”
“Oh, come on, Bennie.” Paul gestured at Alex. “What’s he doing here, anyway? Is he even allowed?”
“Arraignments used to be held in courtrooms, so it’s technically public proceeding. Now, follow me.” Bennie turned away and led them to the prison as an uneasy group. Mercury vapor lamps cast hazy pools of light along the road.
Julia felt worse as she got closer. She shuddered to think how Courtney would be feeling right now, expecting them but knowing that they couldn’t visit her. It would make everything harder for her than it already was.
Bennie turned to them as they walked along. “Any of you ever visited a prison?”
“No,” Julia and Paul answered together.
“I spent a night in lock-up.” Alex smiled crookedly. “You stage enough protests, sooner or later they try to make something stick.”
Bennie smiled, then caught Julia’s eye. “I know this place looks intimidating but it’s only minimum security. Nobody’s here longer than two years, and it houses about nine hundred men and fifty women. There’s also temporary holds and inmates awaiting hearings or trial, like Courtney.”
Julia gathered her thoughts. “Will we get to see Courtney?”
“Only onscreen, on closed-circuit television.”
“Will she be able to see us?”
“No, only me.”
They continued down the road, reached a large circular driveway, and passed a black prison bus with grates covering the windows.
They reached the entrance, which had metal doors of pitted green paint under a flat roof, and entered the prison.
There was a large, windowed entrance hall with a dirty black mat in front of double doors of smudged glass.
They entered to find themselves in a waiting room, large and harshly bright, with fifty or so black bucket seats in fixed rows.
The walls were dingy white cinderblock, and the tile floors a grimy gray.
A glass divider painted with smiling cats and dogs walled off a play area for children.
A floor of polished concrete shone dully, and the air felt hot and dry.
Bennie led them to a counter with a bulletproof screen behind which sat an older C.O.
in a black uniform. They produced their IDs with a minimum of conversation, then a female C.O.
appeared, showed them a small locker for their IDs and keys, then ushered them through a metal detector and a sally port that contained three sets of locked and barred doors.
Julia felt her stomach twist as they got farther inside the prison.
The halls were empty and silent except for faint echoes of voices.
The air felt hotter and smelled worse. The foursome was funneled together through a cattle chute to another locked door, which the C.O.
unlocked, pulled open, and slammed behind them with a clang, then locked with a large, crude key.
Julia swallowed hard. She sensed they were passing the point of no return. The C.O. led them into a long hallway that seemed to run the length of the prison, evidently one of the sides of the H. The hall was wide and dim, lined with grimy, scuffed cinderblock walls.
They passed a glass-enclosed room on the right, with a sign on the glass door that read SECURITY CENTER.
It was dark inside the room, and two C.O.s sat before a wall of closed-circuit screens glowing gray.
One of the C.O.s looked over as they passed, then rose and opened the door, poking his head out.
He was beefy and Black, and he smiled at Alex.
“Dudek the Dude! As I live and breathe!”
Alex grinned, and they slapped hands. “Hey, Curtis.”
“What brings you here?”
“The usual oppression by the state.”
Curtis chuckled. “Never change, bro.”
“Never. Give my best to Denise.”
“The hell I will!” Curtis shot back, laughing.
Paul rolled his eyes but said nothing. There were a few meeting rooms on the left, and Julia could see inside the rooms because the top half of the wall was glass and the lower was cinderblock.
“This way.” The female C.O. unlocked the door to the middle meeting room, and they entered.
It was a small rectangle containing three black bucket chairs in front of a table of audiovisual equipment and a medium-size monitor, its screen dark.
The air in the room was hotter than the hallway, bringing up the odor of institutional disinfectant.
“Thank you,” Bennie said for all of them, then the C.O. closed the door and locked them in.
“We’re locked in?” Julia grimaced, sitting down.
“Yes, for security.” Bennie took the seat in front of the monitor.
“Bennie, now what happens?” Paul took the last chair, which forced Alex to stand, but if it bothered him, he didn’t let it show.
“First, the magistrate judge will come on, then Courtney. She’ll be asked if she read the charge against her, has a lawyer, and wants to waive her preliminary hearing, to which she’ll say no.
The judge will set a date for the preliminary hearing, which will be within fourteen days.
” Bennie smiled in a reassuring way. “This is all routine. It will take five minutes. Remember, I’m hoping to get her out at the preliminary hearing. ”
“That would be great.” Alex brightened, and Julia realized that he hadn’t been privy to the previous conversation.
Bennie raised a warning finger. “Keep that to yourself, friend.”
“I will.” Alex glanced at the screen, which was still black.
Bennie shifted her chair closer to the screen. “I emailed them when we arrived, so we should start any minute.”
Suddenly a siren sounded an earsplitting alarm. The announcement system blared a mechanical voice: “We are in lockdown! Repeat, we are in lockdown!”
“Oh shit.” Bennie rose, looking around.
“What’s happening?” Julia jumped to her feet, trying not to panic.
“Oh no!” Paul got up.
Meanwhile a SWAT team carrying long guns and curved body shields poured into the hallway and thundered past. C.O.s hurried this way and that, shouting into walkie-talkies. Shouting and radio chatter echoed throughout the prison, drowned out by sirens and the lockdown announcement.
“There’s Curtis!” Alex bolted to the door and banged on it as his C.O. friend hustled by. “Curtis! Curtis!”
Curtis hurried over, unlocked the door quickly, and talked through the opening. “Alex, get back! I can’t let you guys out!”
“Why the lockdown? What’s going on?”
“Somebody got shanked, a female!”
Oh my God. Julia felt a bolt of fear for Courtney.
Alex gasped. “Curtis, who? It’s not Horan, is it? Courtney Horan?”
“I don’t know, I gotta go!” Curtis turned away, letting the door begin to close behind him and running down the hallway.
Alex caught the door at the last minute and darted from the room. Paul ran after him into the melee.
“No!” Bennie followed, with Julia on her heels.