Page 54 of In Death, Love Survives

Caleb flags down an officer I don’t recognize to leave. This one is sizing me up as if there’s anything either of us can do to each other here.

He grunts and leads Caleb out as another officer approaches to take me back.

I may not know the full extent of what’s going on with me being here at Roper, but I know if I don’t get out soon, I’ll probably end up dead.

Monday rolls around,and if I’m using Nova’s scale, I’m a fucking ten today. I’m being led into a special meeting with my attorney, and then this afternoon, I get to see my girl. If there are any good days in prison, I venture this is the best of them.

I’ve been meaning to ask her about this scale, and maybe I will today.

Walking into the room, I see that my attorney, Michael, is already present.

“Morning, Michael,” I say as I take a seat.

Officer Walls vacates the room, leaving Michael and me alone in it.

“Wolfe. How are you?”

“As good as I can be.”

“Good, good. That’s good to hear,” he says while flicking through some papers strewn across the table.

“Is everything okay?” I ask hesitantly.

“It is. Well, mostly.” He shrugs as he looks through the paperwork.

“Mostly?”

Michael continues to shuffle through the documents until he comes to one particular piece of paper. He finally acknowledges my question.

“Wolfe. As your attorney, I’m here to support you in any way I can. It’s my job to get you out of this situation legally and as fast as I can.”

What’s he getting at?

“Go on.”

I lean forward and tent my fingers against my mouth.

“I’m going to speak plainly.”

“Yeah, don’t give me any bullshit.”

“You and I both know that there is something wrong going on here.”

He looks around the room and spots the video camera on us.

“We do.”

“Your case is a tricky one because of your unconfirmed history. This is a small town, thinking they’ve caught a big fish.”

“I’m realizing that more and more every day.”

Michael frowns as he pushes his glasses up his nose.

“You weren’t meant to be on this side of the state.”

“A mistake I recognize.”

“We’re dealing with a long history of corruption.”