Chapter 2 - The Woman Who Wouldn't Kneel
One inmate silently slid a napkin across her table toward me. Written in ballpoint ink was a warning: DON'T DRINK ANYTHING THEY HAND YOU.
My name is Harper Ellis. I was thirty, formerly an emergency medical technician, and exactly nineteen hours into an eighteen-month sentence for breaking into a contractor's office after police said my sister had run away. The judge called my actions reckless. He was right. He didn't know what was inside that office.
Fitch led me into a corridor that smelled like bleach and warm wiring. "I hear you're making friends," he said.
"Someone threw lunch at me."
"Morgane keeps order. You'd be smart to let her."
"Does she work for you?"
He stopped walking. "You think you're clever because you found a place to ask questions. In here, questions are privileges."
Medical consisted of two exam rooms and a counter behind bulletproof glass. Dr. Vivian Shore stood with my chart open, though she had never met me.
"Headaches? Insomnia? Agitation?" she asked, checking boxes before I answered.
"No. No. And I'm upset someone dumped food on me, if that counts."
She clicked a pen. "You may be having trouble adjusting. We can help you sleep."
On the counter lay a yellow transfer form bearing a black barcode. I recognized one line before Shore covered it with her clipboard: OUTSIDE SERVICES / AUTHORIZATION 24701.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Administrative paperwork."
Fitch moved beside the door.
"I'd like my regular medications documented and no new ones unless you explain them," I said.
Shore's expression tightened. "You're not in charge of the clinic, Ms. Ellis."
"No. But I'm still in charge of answering questions about my own body."
An officer named Nia Brooks, stationed by the medicine cart, looked up at that. She tapped her pen three times against her badge.
May you like
When I left, the napkin in my sleeve had been joined by a tiny square of paper. Someone had tucked it beneath the cuff of my prison shirt while Shore distracted me.
It contained four words: LEAH CAME HERE ALIVE.
