Allison Brennan by If I Should Die A Novel of Su nse (v5.0)

Author:If I Should Die A Novel of Su nse (v5.0) [nse, If I Should Die A Novel of Su]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-09-18T11:50:36+00:00

TWENTY-NINE

Sean and Patrick sat in a small, windowless meeting room off the assistant warden’s office at the state prison in Ogdensburg, twenty minutes west of Canton, right on the St. Lawrence River. They’d been reviewing Paul Swain’s prison records for nearly an hour: Sean reading Swain’s file and Patrick scouring the visitor logs.

Swain had been a model prisoner at the beginning; then, after a year, he started getting into fights and spending more time in solitary than not. Authorities had confiscated more than a dozen cell phones over the six years he’d been in the prison, plus four handmade knives. He’d killed a fellow inmate in a prison riot, earning him another twenty years on his twenty-five-to-life sentence. It was only recently, in the last year or so, that he had stopped getting into trouble.

“Look,” Sean said to Patrick, “The first time he got into serious trouble was a week after his wife died.”

“Makes sense. Wanted to be a model prisoner and not lose visitation rights with his family. Abigail visited him twice a week, once alone and once with their son.”

“Did Ricky visit after she died?”

“No, but James Benson did.”

“That could be another reason for Paul acting up—Benson not bringing his son to visit.” Sean thought back to Ricky’s letters from his mom. Sean had only skimmed most of them, but he had the impression Abigail was constantly apologizing for her husband to her son. Had she been trying to fix a bad relationship before she died?

“Benson visited the first Saturday of every month like clockwork,” Patrick said.

“Any other regular visitors?”

“After Abigail Swain died—Reverend Carl Browne visited twice a year, until a year ago last March. That was his last visit.”

“March? That’s when Swain’s behavior took a dramatic turn for the better.”

“He had another visitor in March. A week before Browne.” Patrick paused. “Joe Hendrickson.”

“Hendrickson?”

“Stayed for ten minutes.”

Neither Tim nor Adam knew about a connection between their father and Swain. His sudden visitation was of definite interest.

“Who else that month?”

“Other than Benson, no one.” Patrick looked at the months before and after. “Except Jon Callahan. The last week of February, ten days before Hendrickson. Wait—” Patrick flipped through his notes, “Callahan also visited twice during the first year of Swain’s incarceration.”

If Callahan was as involved with Bobbie Swain as Sean thought, what was he doing meeting with Paul Swain? Were the brother and sister back on good terms? Perhaps Callahan was a messenger.

Sean’s phone vibrated. It was a text message from Dillard.

The divers found a body. We just made a positive ID of James Benson.

“They found Benson’s body,” he told Patrick. He hadn’t known the guy, but he was saddened by the news.

He responded to Dillard.

Don’t forget his cell phone records. I’m particularly interested in the twenty-four hours after the arson fire.

Dillard sent back:

Got the preliminary report. No effort made to stop, signs that he sped up then turned sharply off the bridge. Possible DWI, accident, or suicide. More later.

Suicide? Sean hadn’t expected that. “Why would Benson protect Ricky

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