Page 59 of The Coworker
When I testified against Shane, I felt so certain he was the one tightening that necklace chain around my neck, trying to kill me. But the more I think about it, the less certain I feel. There was something that happened that night I am missing. One little detail that has escaped me.
I’m sure of it.
Hunt leans in close to me—too close. “I could make him really pay for what he tried to do to you. Nobody on the outside gives a shit about him. I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. I could throw him in isolation for weeks—or months. I could have him beaten up so badly, he won’t be able towalkanymore. Just you say the word.” He winks at me. “Nelson thinks I’ve been torturing him, but he has no idea.”
My chest tightens. “I don’t want you to do that.”
“What part?”
“Noneof it.” I swallow a hard lump in my throat. “I… I want you to lay off Shane.”
“Excuse me?”
“You need to stop.” I raise my voice, trying to seem more confident than I feel. “You need to treat him like a human being.Now.”
He cocks his head to the side. “I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands. You’re the one who took a job where one of your patients is a man who tried to murder you. What do you think Dorothy would say if she knew about that?”
Wow, yet another excellent point. This guy is on a roll.
“In fact,” he says, “if you want to keep this job, maybe you should think about making some time to grab that drink with me after work.”
I lift my chin. “Actually, I have a boyfriend.”
“You mean Tim Reese?” Hunt laughs at the shocked look on my face. “Come on, the guy’s at your house every night. You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes.”
I can’t believe my ears. I’m suddenly incredibly sorry that I started this conversation. And even sorrier that we’re alone in this room together. “You’re spying on me?”
He shrugs. “I drove by your house a few times. I recognized Tim from high school. A boring but safe choice. Also…” He bares his slightly yellowed teeth at me. “I find it kind of interesting that you have a kid in fifth grade. You’re kind of young to have a son that old, aren’t you? Who were you dating ten years ago, anyway?”
Oh no. No, no, no…
“I bet Nelson would bereallyinterested to hear about that,” he muses. “I’d sort of like to see the look on his face, you know?”
“Please don’t tell him,” I gasp. “Please.”
Hunt flashes me a smile that makes me want to punch him in the nose. “Don’t worry, Brooke,” he says. “Your secrets are safe with me. But you better be a little nicer to me. For starters, from now on,youcan bring coffee tomeevery morning.”
“Fine,” I snap.
He gives me a long look, and I brace myself for more demands. But they don’t come. He just shakes his head at me.
“What a waste, Brooke,” he mutters. “All for that scumbag.”
With those words, he jerks open the door to the examining room and storms out.
Chapter 33
My daily goal is to get Correctional Officer Steve Benton to smile.
Officer Benton is my first stop every day when I enter the penitentiary. I can’t say that I still don’t get a little jolt of fear when I walk past the prison yard with the guard towers lining the fence. I’ve never seen any of the guards up there with their rifles, but I know they are up there. Ready to shoot if they need to.
But once I’m inside, it’s the same old routine. I pass the waiting area, and Jan at the front desk knows my face by now, so she immediately hits the buzzer to open the metal bars and waves me inside—I barely even jump anymore at the sound. And my next stop is the security check-in with Officer Benton.
“Good morning!” I chirp as I lay my purse down on the table in front of him to go through the metal detector. “How are you?”
Benton grunts. “Fine. You?”
“Oh, the usual.” I step through the metal detector, holding my breath like I always do. It doesn’t make sense, but I do it automatically. “I had a visit with Mr. Barrett yesterday—you know, the guy who was an English teacher on the outside? He’s such a flirt.”
