Page 20 of Girl, Entangled

The downside, Ripley had said, was that there was no coming back. Word traveled quickly inside, and once you committed to the role of snitch, you were in it until you were killed or released. But even if you were released, those people you snitched on didn’t forget, and one day they might be released too.

That could be exactly what had happened with Billy Hayes.

A door opened on the far side of the waiting area and a man came through it. The lanyard around his neck said MARYLAND DPSCS and below it a name strip that said R. KOWALCZYK.

‘Hello, agents. I’m sorry to keep you. I’m Roy, the shift commander tonight. What can I help you with?’

Ripley shook his hand first, then Ella. Ripley did the introductions and said, ‘We’re investigating a homicide that took place last night. We believe the victim is a former inmate here.’

‘Gotcha. Can you tell me which inmate?’

‘Billy Anthony Hayes. Remember him?’

‘Oh, lord.’ Roy bit his lip then sighed. To Ella, he seemed genuinely upset by the fact. ‘That’s a shame. Billy was fine, as far as inmates go. Can I ask what happened?’

‘Hanged in Rock Creek Park,’ Ripley said. ‘You’ll find out soon enough from the press, but that’s the gist of it. Did you know Hayes well?’

‘Not well. I transferred over from Hagerstown last spring. By then Hayes had a year left on his sentence and his unit wasn’t one of mine. I knew his name. I’d seen him in the corridor. That’s the lot.’

‘Anything special about Hayes?’ Ella asked.

Roy laughed. ‘Sounds to me like you already know.’

‘Know what?’

‘Hayes was our man on the inside, as much as we tried to hide that fact. But nothing stays secret in here for long. People found out.’

Ripley asked, ‘Anyone in particular dislike Hayes? Could be an inmate, guard, anything.’

‘Not my area. I don’t do politics, but follow me and I’ll take you to some guys who might be able to help you.’

***

Anyone who said prisons were a holiday camp had never been in one. As far as Ella was concerned, aside from war zones, these were the closest things to hell on earth. The noises that emerged from the closed cells were unique to prisons. It was the music of bored, caged men who were either barreling towards or had already succumbed to madness.

Ella and Ripley split at the bottom of the stairwell. Ripley peeled off with the shift commander toward another part of the jail, and Ella took the long way round with one of the prison officers. They agreed to meet at the hobby-craft shop when they were done. A lot of prisons in the US had little stores where they sold things made by inmates in hobby programs. In a lot of cases, it kept them busy and out of trouble.

‘Billy Hayes was the best prisoner I ever worked with, at least,’ Ella’s escort said. His name badge read A. PELL.

‘How so?’

‘No hassle. He kept to himself and followed orders. And of course, he gave us the intel. We couldn’t ask for more.’

The walkway up to the top tier ran along the open face of the cell block. It was a steel gallery with a mesh barrier on the drop side and a row of doors on the other. The inmates were all locked away for the night, but it didn’t stop them making noise.

‘Anyone in here have it in for Billy Hayes? Enemies, grudges, anything?’

‘Suffice to say, nobody in here had a problem with him at first. Once word got out Hayes was our inside man, he became public enemy number one. We had to guard him day and night. We couldn’t even escort him through the kitchen when a single inmate was out. Hayes had a schedule all to himself.’

‘Someone snitched on the snitch,’ Ella said.

‘Yeah.’

‘Any idea who?’

Pell gestured around. ‘Got your 8 Ball on you?’

‘Left it at home.’