One Step Ahead

Free

      "I haven't heard anything about it, at least not yet," Danny responded. "But even if she did, this is definitely not the way they normally deal with this sort of thing. Yeah, things would be put on hold until they tacked on the extra charges, and found him a new lawyer, but neither of those things would be a reason to keep shit buttoned up like this."

      The elevator jerked to a stop, and when the doors opened, they caught a momentary glimpse of the occupants of the elevator directly across from them just before the doors slid shut. They saw Lee Kimble kneeling next to his father's wheelchair, and the dazed, almost uncomprehending expression on the older man's face sent a flicker of unease through all three.

      They exchanged unnerved glances, and Briar questioned, "Holy shit, you don't think he broke out of jail, do you?"

      "No, that one I definitely don't believe," was Danny's immediate response. "As dangerous as he is, there's no fuckin' way they'd be keeping that under wraps. You guys would have had SWAT teams parked outside your place as soon as they'd gotten word, and his face would be plastered across every TV network in the country. But something's definitely hinky, though, so I guess we should get you guys into this meeting, and maybe you can find out what it is."

      He led them down the corridor, the sound of their bootheels on the tiled floor echoing from the walls, until they reached a door at the far end of the passage. Danny tapped on the door, then opened it wide enough to peer around the frame. "Excuse me, sirs, but Briar and Ashley are here. Do you still want to speak with them?"

      "Yes, we most certainly do," they heard Dean Bledsoe confirm, and Danny stepped back, pulling the door back far enough to allow his companions to move past him into the room. As they crossed the threshhold, he started to close the door after them, but was stopped by the commander saying, "Come in, Officer Belmont. Since you are involved with our current situation, you may as well join us."

      He stepped inside and closed the door, and Garrett Sanger motioned for them to take places at the table where the two detectives were already seated. Both men wore deliberately neutral expressions, giving the newcomers no hints as to what the purpose of the meeting was, so after she had seated herself, Briar demanded, "What's all this about, anyway? We saw Martin and Lee getting into the elevator a couple of minutes ago, and they seemed to be kind of freaked out. Did Hardesty actually die? Or did he manage to escape?"

      "Neither one, actually. Or at least not in the way you're thinking," was Sanger's rather cryptic response to her query. "But before we explain further, I need to make it clear that anything you hear doesn't go any further until one of us says otherwise. Chief MacDevitt is back at headquarters right now working with Nancy Underwood from Media Relations to put together a press conference, and there's certain information that doesn't need to be made available to the general public. Agreed?"

      They all voiced their agreement, and after pausing to glance at Bledsoe, who gave a confirming nod, Sanger sighed and informed them. "We got a call from the warden at the detention center around seven this morning, telling us that one of his guards had called out an alarm a few minutes earlier, when they were doing the morning head count and getting everyone up for breakfast." He paused momentarily, then sighed again, and said, "They didn't get a response from Harris' cell, so the guard keyed himself in, and found a body. It seems that he committed suicide last night, sometime after the final check."

      There was no response at first, merely stunned stares, but after several seconds Ashley recovered himself enough to ask, "This is probably a really dumb question, but are you sure it was him?"

      "Very sure," Dean Bledsoe answered. "We both saw him, and did the formal identification, so his family wouldn't have to. It wasn't a pretty sight, and no matter how things were between them, that shouldn't be their last memory of him."