Kzine

Excerpt from “Real Predictions”

The warden walked down the long corridor with his first-line supervisor. The harsh fluorescent lights above them were covered with steel beams and mesh.

“Nothing unusual about the cell,” Owens was saying, his voice holding a combination of nervousness and defensiveness as he looked up at his new boss. “She was in here for life, right? No perks for long-term. This solitary stuff, though, was meant to be temporary. The last warden, Remis, a real hardliner, know what I mean? He thought it’d take her down a peg or two. She’d been acting pretty sure of herself. Kept saying she’d find a way out of here. So she wasn’t allowed any visitors. There’s been just me and the correctional officer.”

“I’m familiar with those details.”

They went through two electronic gates into a small foyer. The cell stood opposite with the solid metal door open.

“What’s the possible egress?”

“What? This metal door you’re holding onto is the only way out, end of story. Straight into the hall. You see any other way? This cell was made to spec and lacks for nothing in the security department. Check the pipes, solid. The vent? She’d have crawled through that if she was the size of a rat, and she was a lot bigger than that, although there was a similarity in personality type, you ask me.” He glanced at the warden. “I heard she sent you a message.”

“Keep that confidential. We can’t determine yet what it means.”

“I’m guessing everybody already knows. Not much stays secret for long in a prison, now, does it? She’s slippery, but she loves letting you know she’s won. Sammy Peters is like the Roadrunner — remember him?”

“Before my time.”

“There was this Wile E. Coyote. Always messed up. He made really great plans, see, to catch the Roadrunner, using this Acme company. It was—”

“I want to talk to someone who knows how this cell was built,” the warden said.

Book categories: Crime, Mystery, and Short Stories