Read Online Blood of the Lamb by Michael Lister - Free Book Online

out of here.” To me, “I want to see you in my office when y’all are done.”
    I nodded.
    When he had stormed out of the room, Fortner looked at Coel. “You need a minute before we do this?”
    He shook his head. “He should’ve never let her in,” he said. “That’s my statement. And that’s all I’m saying without my lawyer.”
    “What?” Fortner said. “Come on. I’m just trying to find out what happened.”
    “It sounds like y’all’re lookin’ for someone to hang this on,” Coel said.
    Fortner continued to plead and reason with him, but he refused to reconsider. Finally, I stood up and switched off both recording devices. “Okay,” I said. “No statements. Nothing official, just some information off the record. How about just answering a few simple questions?”
    “Like what?” he said.
    “Like who were the inmates who went to the bathroom or the water fountain or into the hallway for any reason while Nicole was in my office?”
    He nodded slowly. “I want y’all to find who killed her. Hell, I’d like to find the bastard myself, but I’m not gonna take the fall for somethin’ that was Stone’s fault.”
    I nodded.
    He studied me for a long moment, then nodded to himself as if agreeing with himself about some internal decision we were not privy to.
    “Abdul Muhammin,” he said. “I remember him because I couldn’t believe he was attending a Christian service, and it was the first time I’d ever seen him without his koofi.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “I thought that was strange, too.”
    “He’s a chapel clerk, isn’t he?”
    I nodded.
    “You need to ask him about it,” he said.
    “Plan to,” I said. “Who else?”
    “Paul Register,” he said.
    “The one they call Chester the molester?” Fortner shouted. “Good God. How could you let him out there with her?”
    “She wasn’t out there,” he yelled. “She was inside a locked room with her mother. And I was standing at the sanctuary door watching. But the point is, she should have never been inside here in the first place.”
    “We all agree on that,” I said. “Who else?”
    “Cedric Porter,” he said.
    “Inmate from public works?” Fortner asked. “I thought he was an atheist. Does he come to church?”
    “I’ve never seen him there before,” I said.
    “Probably just came to see Bunny like the rest of ’em,” Coel said. “Hell, a lot of them stayed in the bathroom during most of the sermon.”
    “Why’d you let ’em?” Fortner asked.
    “Because I was by myself,” he said. “They pulled Whitfield to help get education back to the dorms. At the sanctuary door, I could see the hallway, the sanctuary, and both office doors.”
    “Sorry,” Fortner said. “You did good. You were in a no-win situation.”
    Obviously grateful for what Pete had said, Coel looked at him for a long moment, then slowly nodded his head, a grave expression on his face.
    “Any other inmates come or go?” I asked.
    “Dexter Freeman,” he said. “Y’all know him?”
    “I do,” I said. “I’ve worked with both him and Register.”
    “They’re both in on sex charges,” Fortner said.
    I nodded, then looked back at Coel. “Did you ever leave your position at the door?”
    He shook his head.
    “Not even for a moment?” I asked.
    “One time,” he said. “Bunny opened your office door and motioned for me to come over.”
    “Which door?” I asked.
    “The one in the sanctuary,” he said. “I walked over and she asked me how to place an outside call. I told her, then went back to where I was. But I saw her and the little girl at that point and they were fine.”
    “And no one else came or went?” I asked.
    He shook his head.
    “What about staff?”
    “Well, let’s see,” he said. “There was you.”
    “I know I was there,” I said, and I heard a harsh sarcasm in my voice that reminded me that Stone wasn’t the only one on edge. “I meant anyone else.”
    “And Theo Malcolm.”
    “The school teacher?”