“Oh. Right. Well, we know now. The warden told us. Burroughs knew the copter couldn’t see him in the tunnel, so he made the warden stop in the middle of it where no one could see him. Then he carjacked another car. We have roadblocks set up.”
“Is there CCTV in the tunnel?”
“No. They have like a booth in there, but it’s rarely manned anymore. Budget cuts.”
“Uh-huh. Sarah?”
“Yeah, Max.”
“Where’s the warden’s son?”
“He’s by the infirmary with his father.”
“He okay?”
“Yeah, just procedure.”
“Please send the warden and his son in. I want everyone else out of the room.”
They cleared out. Five minutes later, Sarah opened the door, and Philip and Adam Mackenzie entered the room. Max did not glance in their direction. His eyes remained on the computer monitor.
“Tough day, huh, guys?”
“You can say that again,” Philip Mackenzie said. The warden stepped toward Max and stuck his hand out. Max pretended like he couldn’t see it. He bounced bumper-pool-style between the television screen and the map.
“How did he get the gun?” Max asked.
Philip Mackenzie cleared his throat. “He took mine when I wasn’t expecting it. You see, I had brought the inmate—”
“Inmate?”
“Yes.”
“Is that what you call him?”
Philip Mackenzie opened his mouth, but Max waved him off. “Never mind. Detective Semsey filled me in on all this. How he took your gun and forced your son here to give him his uniform and then he made you take him to his car at gunpoint. I got all that.” Max stopped, stared at the map, frowned.
“What I meant to ask is,” Max continued, “why are you lying to me?”
The silence filled the room. Philip Mackenzie stared at Max, but Max still had his back turned. He turned his furious glare toward Sarah. Sarah shrugged.
Philip Mackenzie’s voice boomed. “What did you say?”
Max sighed. “Do I really have to repeat myself? Sarah, didn’t I make myself clear?”
“Crystal, Max.”
“Who the hell do you think you’re talking to, Agent Bernstein?”
“A warden who just helped a convicted child killer escape from prison.”
Philip’s hands formed two fists. His face reddened. “Look at me, dammit.”
“Nah.”
He took a step closer. “When you call a man a liar, you better be ready to look him in the eye.”
Max shook his head. “I never bought that.”
“Bought what?”
“That look-me-in-the-eye stuff. Eye contact is so overrated. The best liars I know can look you straight in the eye for hours on end. It’s a waste of time and energy, maintaining eye contact. Am I right, Sarah?”
“As rain, Max.”
“Warden?” Max said.
“What?”
“This is going to be bad for you. Very bad. Nothing I can do about that. But for your silent son here, there may be a sliver of daylight. But if you keep lying, I’ll bury you both. We’ve done that before, haven’t we, Sarah?”
“We enjoy it, Max.”
“It’s kind of a turn-on,” Max said.
“I sometimes tape moments like this,” Sarah said, “and then I use it as foreplay.”
“Feel my nipples, Sarah,” Max said, jutting his chest out toward Sarah. “They’re hard as pebbles.”
“I don’t want to get written up by HR again, Max.”
“Ah, you used to be fun, Sarah.”
“Maybe later, Max. When we throw the cuffs on them.”
Philip Mackenzie pointed at Max, then Sarah. “You guys finished?”
“You crashed the car through the gate,” Max said.
“Yes.”
“I mean, you slammed your car through a half-closed gate at full speed.”
Philip grinned, trying to look confident. “Is that supposed to be proof of something?”
“Why did you hit the gas with such enthusiasm?”
“Because a desperate inmate was pointing a gun in my face.”
“Hear that, Sarah?”
“I’m standing right here, Max.”
“Big Phil was scared.”
“Who wouldn’t be?” Mackenzie countered. “The inmate had a gun.”
“Your gun.”
“Yes.”
“The one that your secretary says you never wear and never keep loaded.”
“She’s wrong. I keep it holstered under my jacket, so people don’t see.”
“So discreet,” Sarah said.
“Yet,” Max continued, “Burroughs managed not only to see it, but to pull it free and threaten you both with it.”
“He caught us off guard,” Philip said.
“You sound incompetent.”
“I made a mistake. I let the inmate get too close.”
Max smiled at Sarah. Sarah shrugged.
“You also keep calling him inmate,” Max said.
“That’s what he is.”
“Yeah, but you know him, right? He’s David to you, no? You and his father are old buddies. Your son here — the so-far-silent Adam — grew up with him, am I right?”
A flash of surprise hit the warden’s face, but he recovered fast. “That’s true,” Mackenzie said, standing up a little straighter. “I’m not denying it.”
“So cooperative,” Sarah said.
“Isn’t he though?”
“And that’s why—” Philip began.
“Wait, don’t tell me. That’s why Burroughs was able to get close enough to get a gun your secretary swears you never wear—”
“Or load,” Sarah added.
“Or load. Thanks, Sarah. Yet somehow Burroughs was still able to reach into your jacket, unsnap your holster, and pull the loaded gun free while the two of you stood and did nothing. That pretty much it, Warden?”
Adam spoke for the first time. “That’s exactly what happened.”
“Whoa, it speaks, Sarah.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t, Max.”
“Agree. Let me ask you another question, Warden, if you don’t mind. Why did you visit David Burroughs’s father yesterday?”
Philip Mackenzie looked stunned.
“Sarah, do you want to fill the warden in?”
“Sure, Max.” She turned toward Philip. “You took the eight-fifteen flight on American Eagle to Boston yesterday morning. Flight three-oh-two, in case you’re interested.”
Silence.
“I can see the gears a-whirring in his head, Sarah.”
“Can you, Max?”
Max nodded. “He’s wondering: Should I admit I visited my old buddy Lenny Burroughs — or should I claim I was in Boston for another reason? He wants to do the latter, of course, but the problem is — and you know this, Warden — if you lie about it, you have to wonder if Sarah here will be able to track down the Uber or taxi you took from Logan to the Burroughses’ house in Revere.”
“Or vice versa, Max,” Sarah added.
“Right, Sarah, or vice versa. The taxi you took back to the airport. And before you answer, let me just warn you: Sarah is damn good.”
“Thanks, Max.”
“No, Sarah, I mean it. You’re the best.”
“You’re making me blush, Max.”
“It looks good on you, Sarah.” Max shrugged his shoulders and turned toward the Mackenzies. “It’s a tough choice, Warden. I don’t know what I’d do.”
Philip cleared his throat. “I was in Boston visiting a sick friend. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Max took out his wallet and smiled. “Dang, Sarah, you were right.”
She put out her palm. “Five bucks.”
“I only have a ten.”
“I’ll give you change later.”
Max handed her a ten-dollar bill.
Philip Mackenzie plowed ahead. “You’re right, of course. I’m close to David. And he’s been acting irrationally lately. So yes, I wanted to speak to his father about it. Like you said, Lenny and I, we go way back—”