A Killer’s Soul by Thomas Fincham

Author:Thomas Fincham [Fincham, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-29T16:00:00+00:00

SIXTY-THREE

Jo pulled her sedan into the parking at Larch Corrections Center. She killed the engine. She opened the door, prepared to slip out, but then she shut it.

She leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes. She then pressed her hand to her forehead and shook her head repeatedly. Harrison was dead.

“How did this happen?” she whispered. “I knew that something was wrong, but I never thought it would be this bad.”

Lewis will have to be told, she thought. But I need to figure this out first.

She cleared her throat and took a deep breath to compose herself. She then exited the car, approached the front gates, and was buzzed inside.

The warden, a tall man with slicked-back hair and a three-piece suit, greeted her in the main office.

“Agent Pullinger?” he said. “I’m Warden Freeling.”

Jo took his hand and shook it. “Warden,” she said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed at the situation.”

Freeling nodded. “This all happened in an instant. An inmate named Hank Riva got into an altercation with another inmate named Billy Weems. It appears the two of them have a history at another penitentiary. Weems pulled a knife, Riva disabled him, and then he used the knife to kill Harrison McKinley.”

“How did your officers not frisk the inmates for contraband?” Jo asked.

He held up his hands. “The situation does not reflect well on me,” he said. “I understand that.”

The muscles in Jo’s jaw tensed. “It’s appalling, Warden. Harrison McKinley was in the process of being absolved of murder. I had more questions to ask him, questions that, I’m afraid, will remain unanswered.”

The warden continued to offer Jo his apologies. He then led her to a room where the corrections officers who’d broken up the fight were waiting for them. One of them had blood on his uniform. Jo suppressed the urge to shudder when she realized it was most likely Harrison’s.

The guards relayed to her exactly what the warden had said. Weems attacked Riva, who, in turn, attacked Harrison.

“Where is Hank Riva now?” Jo asked the warden.

“I placed him in the solitary housing unit,” Freeling said. “I figured you’d want to have a chat with him.”

She nodded. “I do.” She paused and then said, “Answer me this: do you know what prompted him to attack Harrison?”

Freeling shook his head. “I don’t have the slightest clue. What I can say is that Riva has been incarcerated here before. He’s a repeat offender. He was given a psych evaluation during his last stint at Larch a few years ago. The psychologist deemed him to have sociopathic tendencies. This came as no surprise to me. His jacket is padded with multiple convictions of sexual assault, kidnapping, and alleged murder-for-hire. I’m surprised he wasn’t locked up sooner.”

Murders for hire, Jo thought. Maybe he just committed another.

“Take me to him,” she said.

Freeling led Jo down a series of hallways and corridors. They arrived at a cramped passageway. A steel door with a wire-mesh window was at the end of it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.