Chapter 3 - The Report That Put Me Here
I didn't sleep. I lay on a mattress thin as cardboard and watched the strip of hallway light beneath the door until it turned gray.
Jo found me staring at the note. "Maybe somebody's trying to get in your head."
"They're succeeding."
"Good. Being scared means you'll check the locks."
Six months earlier I'd been a purchasing compliance analyst for HalePoint Medical, the private company supplying three state prisons. I was twenty-nine, a little boring, and annoyingly good at reconciling invoices. When I found thirty-seven inhalers billed to patients who never received them, my boss told me to correct the spreadsheet. I refused.
The next morning investigators found a forged authorization bearing my employee code. HalePoint accused me of diverting medication and falsifying procurement records. Their lawyers had a clean story and a witness willing to repeat it. Mine had a missing server log and a public defender with fourteen other cases. I took a plea after being warned a trial might bring a much longer sentence.
My younger sister Beth said I'd made the wrong choice. We hadn't spoken kindly since.
"They picked me," I told Jo. "Maybe because I was the one who noticed."
"And maybe they picked you because somebody knew exactly where you'd end up."
At breakfast, Dee sat at the end of our table. Her right hand was wrapped in a bandage; she'd struck the bench trying to grab the blanket. She took one look at me and pushed my orange across the tray.
"You made your point," she muttered.
"I didn't come here to make one."
"Then listen. Pike told me to get your blanket. He said it came through intake by mistake. He promised me a private call with my son if I brought it back."
"How old is your son?"
"Twelve." Her face closed. "Don't use him against me."
"I won't."
Dee leaned forward. "He also told me to make you scared enough to ask for transfer."
The cafeteria door opened. Pike walked in, carrying a clear plastic evidence bag. Inside was the gray blanket, its hem freshly torn open.
May you like
He raised his eyes to mine and smiled.
"Mercer. Good news. We've found a reason to search your cell."
