Chapter 2 - A Name Inside the Hem
Ortiz kept a hand between me and Dee as the gates slammed shut. Women hurried toward the walls.
"It's state-issued," I told Pike. "The intake officer gave it to me."
"There's no blanket issue for recreation," he said.
"Then you should talk to intake."
His jaw tightened. "Hand it over."
I looked at Ortiz. "Will I get a property receipt?"
"You don't dictate procedure," Pike said.
"I'm asking you to follow it."
He stepped toward me. Ortiz didn't move away. "Sir, the camera recorded the incident. I'll file it. We can collect property in receiving with a witness."
Pike studied her for a long moment. "You just volunteered for an overnight shift."
"Understood."
By evening I was back in Cell C-12, without the blanket. I'd signed nothing. I had, however, slipped a thread from its hem into my sleeve while Ortiz guided me through the receiving hallway. I had seen stitches like that before.
Across from my bunk, Jo Alvarez watched me unlace my shoes. Fifty-four, short gray hair, a soft voice and the watchful eyes of a woman who had counted every bad decision made around her. "You went after Knox on your second day?"
"She came after me."
"Same difference here."
I showed her the thread. Jo stopped breathing for a second.
"Where did you find that?" she asked.
"Blanket seam."
She sat down slowly. "Mina Torres did that. Purple thread. Always three knots. She worked laundry and fixed everybody's torn hems." Jo looked toward the cell door. "Mina died in the infirmary last spring. They said an asthma attack."
I knew Mina's name. It had appeared on a medical-supply discrepancy report I wrote six months before my arrest. A missing inhaler. A medication charge submitted after the patient was already dead.
"Why would Lieutenant Pike care about her blanket?" I whispered.
Jo's hands began to shake. "Because three days before she died, Mina told me she'd hidden something where the people who stole her medicine would never look."
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At lights-out, someone slid a folded piece of paper beneath our door.
On it were five words: SHE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU.
