COLONEL LAFORGE WALKED over to the guard, Josette Prejean, who was seated in a chair, rubbing her forehead. He squatted down so he could make contact with her via his one remaining eye. She had a rough look about her, not helped at all by the vicious scar across her left cheek.327Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmhMnAvD7IP
"I don't believe you," he said to Josette in French.
"I'm telling you the truth." Her answer, also in French, was unconvincing----especially given that her eyes were averted----though it could have been due to her nerves. Josette, after all, was royally fucked, at best. Her negligence----if it was just negligence----bordered on the criminally inept.
"You expect me to believe that you were simply checking on the prisoner in the secured room. You, having served a double shift, and having been brutally scarred earlier in the day by the very person lying in that room----you just wanted to check on her well-being before you headed home."
Josette folded her arms. She wasn't going to move off that story.
LaForge looked over a map of the prison. "You could have taken the stairs down to the parking lot garage from E Wing, where you were assigned," he said. "But you took the detour all the way to G Wing because you wanted to check to make sure Mischa was resting comfortably. That's your statement."
Josette's head bobbed up and down.
"And this was acceptable to Coralie? The chief correctional officer let you waltz into the infirmary to pay a friendly visit to the woman who'd attacked you earlier today?"
"She said it was okay." Josette shrugged. "Coralie's my boss."
"And while checking on Mischa's well-being, you decided to violate regulations and arm yourself with a loaded Glock."
"I didn't bring that gun in," Josette snapped. "Mischa already had it."
"Mischa already had the gun?" LaForge searched her eyes, though the guard avoided eye contact. "Mischa Barton somehow got through a secured door in the infirmary, stole a loaded Glock, snuck back into the secured room, and somehow locked herself back in, all without Coralie noticing."
Josette's posture tightened; her shoulders closed in. Classic defensive reaction.
"And you're sure that Coralie told you it was perfectly fine to visit Mischa?"
"Coralie said it was okay. I already told you that."
LaForge rose to a standing position. Josette's eyes peeked up at him.
"I wonder what Coralie will say about that," said LaForge.
He walked out of the room. One of the first directives that LaForge had issued to the local DCRI agents responding to the prison, upon learning of the escape at 4:00 a.m., was to sequester the guards involved in the escape. Most escapes from prison didn't happen without help. The guards were natural suspects. Keep them separated, he demanded, so they couldn't get their stories straight.
They'd been heavily drugged, anyway, and hadn't snapped back to the real world until sometime after five. By the time their eyes opened, Josette and Coralie had long been isolate from each other.
He walked into the next room, H-12.
"Tell me again," he said to Coralie, who was seated in a chair in the middle of the room. Upon superficial appraisal, Coralie seemed even less pleasant than Josette. But he saw something behind those hard, bloodshot eyes, and that something was fear.
"I was off my station," Coralie said. "I already told you. It was----wrong, I know, but I'm the head guard, and sometimes I conduct surprise inspections of the others." Coralie kept her eyes focused on the floor. "Josette must've gone in their while I was gone."
"You didn't see Josette go in there?" When Coralie didn't respond right away, LaForge took her by the shoulders and gave her one abrupt shake. "You didn't see Josette go into the infirmary?"
"No! I keep telling you, no!"
LaForge nodded. One of them was lying. More likely, both of them. Each making up the story that painted herself in the best light.
"G Wing has guard stations at the infirmary, the underground parking garage, and solitary. Why was only one of those three stations staffed?"
"Solitary was empty," said Coralie. "A guard isn't required if...."
"Because you emptied it." LaForge grabbed a file off the nearby table. "Earlier that evening, you transferred three inmates out of LeMitard."
Coralie tucked her chin into her chest. Her breathing was becoming more rapid.
"You cleared out G Wing, Officer. You cleared it out so that you were the only guard stationed there. You cleared a path for Mischa Barton to escape." He threw the file down on the desk. "What did Mischa promise you?"
Coralie's head snapped up. "You think----I helped her escape?"
LaForge watched her carefully as she continued to protest. Her reaction had been visceral, natural----convincing, he thought. She had lied about plenty thus far, but she wasn't lying about this.
He walked out of the room into the hallway, where the local DCRI guy, Chenault, huddled with him.
"The guards were working together, no doubt," said LaForge, looking back at the rooms. "But I don't think they were helping Mischa escape."
Chenault nodded. "You think it was just Josette wanting some payback for Mischa attacking her earlier in the day? Coralie turns a blind eye and lets it happen?"
LaForge made a face. "But with a loaded Glock? That violates twenty different regulations, and it's just plain stupid. She had a canister of OC spray and a nightstick and plenty of other things she could have used. Every guard knows that a firearm is the last resort, because it can be taken away from you."
Chenault shrugged his shoulders. "Then what? If not a conspiracy to break Mischa out, if not an old-fashioned assault---then what?"327Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBlgC9oKf4
LaForge sighed and shook his head absently. "They were trying to kill her," he surmised. He thought more and nodded firmly. "They were trying to kill her and she used that to her advantage and escaped."327Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNjMwauumfg
"Wow. Maybe so." Chenault brought a hand to his chin. "But even if you're right---even if they wanted to kill her----does that get us any closer to finding Mischa Barton?"327Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡink8fENYWA
LaForge thought about that. "It might," he said. "If we can figure out why."327Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmnj5kmoKjB
