Betrayal - Fern Michaels [71]
“You tell Gertie I said to get her ass in gear and start breeding the dogs. I’ve still got families on a waiting list. We don’t know when or if I’m coming home anytime in the near future. Life goes on, Kate. I don’t want you or Gertie to wait for me. Tell her to start breeding or I will kick her old ass if I ever do get out of this place. Your parents would flip over in their graves if the kennel were to close down. I made a promise to them, and I’ll keep it, Kate.”
“She just wanted to wait for you. She knows there’s a waiting list. I’ll tell her to hop to it. Now, tell me how you pass your days while you’re here.” Kate wanted to talk about something else. She couldn’t bear to think of the kennels without Alex.
“They’re not very exciting, but it’s not as bad as the holding center in Orlando. At least here, we have a bit more freedom. There’s a library. I’ve read every John Grisham book there is. I’m working on another Stephen King now. I never realized just how brilliant he is. You should read his books, the guy has one hell of an imagination. When I’m not reading, I work out. They have a gym. It’s not state-of-the-art, but it’s better than nothing. A few of the guys here are actually quite decent. They’ve been screwed, too. It makes me wonder about the justice system, Kate. I realize that Sara was behind all this, but what does it say when a system allows innocent men to rot in jail because they just happened to be the unlucky bastards who were actually innocent, but in the wrong place at the wrong time? Brad and Ron, two of my cellmates, were charged with possession. Neither of them ever took drugs in his life. Then all of a sudden Brad gets divorced, his wife starts dating a cop. Brad thinks the cop is abusing their seven-year-old daughter. Next thing he knows, he’s charged with possession of cocaine, and, boom, he’s in prison. Same thing with Ron, but no wife involved. A business associate screwed him out of a large sum of money. When he filed a suit in small claims court, the dude lost the case. Again Ron was pulled over on a bogus traffic stop. The officer found heroin in his trunk. That arresting officer just so happened to be the brother-in-law of the business associate.”
Kate had watched too many episodes of Law & Order. All convicts claimed they were innocent. All had been framed or screwed in one way or another. She’d let Alex continue to believe in his cellmates’ innocence. He didn’t have many friends right now. He needed someone to confide in while he was in prison.
“Then I hope the persons responsible for planting the drugs get caught. If they’re police officers, this certainly wouldn’t be a good place to wind up.”
“You can say that again. Ron told me a few months before I got here a former cop was killed. He didn’t say what he was in for. Apparently some of the guys didn’t like his attitude, and they killed him. So, no, I would say a cop’s as good as dead once he’s inside.”
Kate was horrified at the ease with which Alex had adjusted to prison. He spoke as if he’d been there for a long time.
God, I have to get him out of here. He’s changing already, and I don’t like the changes I’m seeing. I’ll drive to Naples before heading back to Asheville. Coleman Fitzpatrick and I are going to have a serious discussion.
Chapter 21
Kate knew their time was almost up. She’d had two wonderful days with Alex, but given the thought of leaving him behind, knowing what she was leaving him to, almost made her wish that she could stay with him, even if it meant she’d have to spend her days in prison. She told him this.
“Somehow I don’t think that would be in your best interest, Mrs. Rocket. Some of these men in here haven’t touched a woman in thirty years. It’d be like feeding you to the sharks. Besides, I need you on the outside. I’ll take care of the inside,” Alex teased. His mood had lightened considerably.