Blood of the Lamb

Blood of the Lamb Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: Blood of the Lamb Read Online Free PDF
Author: Michael Lister
Tags: Fiction, General, Mystery & Detective, Religious
there should be a minimum of three officers on duty.
    Inside the bathroom, to my shock, I discovered Abdul Muhammin, one of the clerks assigned to the chapel. I had never seen him or any other Muslim at a Christian worship service.
    “What’re you doing here?”
    “Using the bathroom,” he said. He posture and tone were defiant and challenging, his muscular body flexing as he began to bow up.
    “No,” I said. “In the chapel?”
    “Hearin’ Bobby Earl,” he said. “Dog’s doin’ good for hisself.”
    Suddenly, he was different, his demeanor relaxed and playful, as if he and I were friends just hanging out, talking about old times and people we knew.
    “You’re a fan?” I asked.
    “Shit,” he said, “I shared a cell with ‘im at Lake Butler. I came to make sure he don’t forget a nigga’.”
    “You and Bobby Earl—”
    “Yeah,” he said. “Bobby Earl’s my boy. He like the Jimmy Swaggart of jailhouse religion.”
    “Well, you need to get back in there,” I said. “You wouldn’t want to miss him.”
    He nodded slowly, rubbing his chin as if contemplating something profound. “All right, Chap. I’m on my way.”
    “Is anybody else in here?” I asked.
    “I am,” a disembodied voice rose from within the stall.
    “Who’s that?”
    “Inmate Cedric Porter, sir,” he said.
    “It’s time to get back to the chapel,” I said.
    “Yes, sir,” he said.
    When I left the bathroom, I checked on Bunny and Nicole through the window of my office door. Nicole appeared bored, Bunny sad and restless, and I wondered how much of their lives were spent waiting on Bobby Earl’s seemingly eternal sermons to end.
    I stepped out of the air-conditioned chapel into the humidity and heat of the dark night, and walked up to the control room where I asked to see the memo giving Bobby Earl and his family authorization to enter the institution and conduct the special program.
    There wasn’t one. Never had been. No one knew anything about it until Mr. Stone called and told them to let Bobby Earl and his family through the gate and to escort them to the chapel.
    I borrowed the phone and called Anna at home.
    “Sorry to disturb you,” I said, thinking but you do me all the time .
    “Are you okay?” she asked, her voice full of concern. I never call her at home.
    “Did you run a FCIC/NCIC check on Bobby Earl and Bunny Caldwell?”
    “Not yet,” she said. “When’re they supposed to be coming in?”
    “Tonight,” I said.
    “Not gonna happen,” she said. “I haven’t—”
    “It already has.”
    “What?” she asked in shock. “I haven’t seen anything on it.”
    “You still the only one who runs the checks?” I asked.
    “Yeah,” she said. “Which means they shouldn’t be there tonight. So how the hell’d they get in?”
    “Stone,” I said.
    “Well, he can do that.”
    “Even without a background check?”
    “Not supposed to,” she said. “But he can. He has the authority.”
    “Why wouldn’t he?”
    “Check?” she asked. “Maybe because he knows Bobby Earl so well. Knows he’s not related to any of our inmates. Knows he’s not a convicted felon.”
    “Or knows he is.”
    “What?”
    I told her. As I did, I stared absently into the control room.
    The dark night made the light in the control room seem even brighter, putting the two officers inside on display like fish in an aquarium, the condensation on the glass reinforcing the illusion.
    “And an inmate in the chapel says he was Bobby Earl’s cell mate at Lake Butler.”
    “Oh, my God,” she said. “John, you better keep a close eye on him.”
    “I will,” I said. “Thanks.”
    Once in the chapel again, I looked into my office. Bunny Caldwell, who was sitting in my chair, waved to me. She smiled, too, which was something to see, and for just a moment the sadness left her eyes. I waved back. She smiled even bigger and I motioned her over to the door, which was still locked.
    “You okay?” I asked after she had unlocked
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