Page 158 of After Anna

“Oh my God!” Kathy bolted to the door and tried to hold it closed.

“Open up, youbitches!” one of the men shouted, banging on the door.

And in the next moment, the hinges gave way.

Chapter Seventy-nine

Noah, After

“Where are we going?” Noah walked between CO Stanislavsky and CO Evesham. He scanned the hallway looking for escape routes, but there were none. The hallway was long, with security cameras mounted near the ceiling.

“We got a phone you can use,” CO Stanislavsky answered, his tone noncommittal.

“Where is it?” Noah kept his tone equally noncommittal. He didn’t want to alert them to the fact that he suspected anything. Adding to his nervousness was his complete disorientation. He wasn’t familiar enough with Graterford to know where he was in the prison. Behind him was the locked door of the ACU and ahead of him lay another locked door.

CO Stanislavsky sucked his teeth. “We’re improvising, since we can’t take you back to Cellblock C. The muckety-mucks are still here because of the Jeremy Black murder and they’re using up the conference rooms.”

“So where are we going?” Noah asked again. They came to the end of the corridor, but there were no windows in the metal doors so he couldn’t see what was on the other side.

They stopped, and CO Evesham extracted a jangling set of keysfrom his belt and unlocked the door. “Dr. Alderman, please stand aside.”

Noah did as he was told. They hadn’t answered his question. He worried they were waiting for the right moment. CO Stanislavsky kept sucking his teeth, apparently nonchalant.

CO Evesham unlocked the door, and Noah’s heart began to pound. Adrenaline dumped into his bloodstream, his body alerted for fight or flight. He reminded himself he was bigger than he used to be. He could throw a punch if his hands were freed. He could sprint if he had to do that, too.

“Go ahead, Dr. Alderman.” CO Evesham gestured him through the open door, and Noah passed through with CO Stanislavsky behind him.

“This way,” CO Stanislavsky said, as they walked down another hall.

Noah fell into step. They went down a short flight of stairs, then entered another long cinder-block hallway, which felt stifling. They must’ve been closer to the boiler room.

Noah’s heart thumped hard. He looked for a place to run, but there was nowhere. The security cameras were at regular intervals. He told himself they couldn’t disable every security camera. Still he had no idea where they were. It seemed suspiciously off the grid.

“Where are we going?” Noah asked again, as they encountered another hallway and another set of metal doors, which CO Evesham moved to unlock and then held open.

“Stand aside, Dr. Alderman.” CO Stanislavsky motioned to the corridor as the door swung wide open.

Noah was about to run for his life when he saw that CO Evesham was walking down the hallway to a metal door and just as he was about to unlock it, two female COs came out. They laughed when they almost collided with CO Evesham.

“Mark! What are you doing down here?” the one CO asked, a blonde whose name tag readLUNDY. She held a tinfoil tray of half-eaten vanilla sheet cake.

CO Evesham gestured at Noah. “Our celebrity inmate needs to talk to his lawyer, and the conference rooms are full.”

“Oh Jeez.” CO Lundy made a funny face. “We woulda cleaned up if we knew company was coming.”

“Yeah,” said the other female CO. “We woulda baked a cake! Oh, wait, we did!”

The COs laughed merrily, then stood aside as CO Stanislavsky gestured Noah forward, saying, “The phone is all yours, Dr. Alderman. Press nine to get an outside line. It’s unmonitored. You have fifteen minutes. We’ll wait outside.”

“Go ahead, Dr. Alderman,” CO Stanislavsky said, impatiently.

“Would you uncuff me, Mr. Stanislavsky?” Noah asked, turning to offer them his wrists.

CO Evesham burst into laughter. “Stan, you dumb Polack! How’s he supposed to dial the phone?”

The COs laughed again, and CO Stanislavsky uncuffed Noah and closed the door behind him. The room was a small kitchen with a round Formica table and blue-Plexiglas bucket chairs. Against the wall was a wood cabinet, an old white microwave, and a tan landline. Noah crossed to the phone and pressed in Thomas’s cell number. The call was picked up after two rings.

“Thomas, it’s Noah Alderman.”