“At any one time, The Providence Dispatch is working on dozens of stories, some of which never advance to the point of meeting our high standards for publication. It is our policy, therefore, never to comment on work in progress. I can assure you, however, that the editors of this newspaper have no desire to see Kwame Diggs released from prison.”
“Sounds about right,” Mason said.
“To Iggy,” Mulligan said, “it will smell like red meat.”
“All right, then,” Lomax said. “Time for you both to put your cards on the table. Mason, while you’ve been trying to prove that Diggs was framed, Mulligan and Gloria Costa have been trying to connect him to something that could keep him in prison legally.”
“Good,” Mason said. He turned to Mulligan and asked, “What progress have you made?”
“You first, Edward,” Lomax said. “What have you got so far?”
“First off, it’s obvious the drug charge against Diggs was bogus.”
“How do you know that?”
“There’s no way a visitor could have smuggled marijuana past Supermax security,” Mason said, giving a quick rundown on the guards, the thick glass, and the drug-sniffing dog.
“Was the security that tight back in 2005, when the drug charge was filed?” Lomax asked.
“It was. I checked. The guards I talked to all say sneaking drugs in there would have been impossible.”
“Bullshit,” Mulligan said.
“What do you mean?”
“A guard easily could have done it.”
“Oh,” Mason said. “I should have thought of that.”
“So your case that Diggs was innocent of the drug charge completely falls apart,” Lomax said.
“Maybe not,” Mason said. “I did some research and learned that Diggs is the only prisoner in the history of Supermax who has ever been charged with having drugs in his cell. That’s pretty odd, don’t you think?”
“Odd, yes,” Lomax said. “But it doesn’t prove anything.”
“I suppose not.”
“What about the assaults on the guards?” Lomax asked. “What are your sources telling you about that?”
“That they were both faked.”
“Let’s start with the assault on Galloway,” Mulligan said. “How many sources have you got on that?”
“Just Pugliese.”
Mulligan smirked.
“You believe him, don’t you?” Mason said.
“I do. He’s a straight shooter. But I’m not the one you have to convince.”
“You’re saying I need another source?” Mason said.
“Of course you do,” Lomax said.
“But who is that going to be?” Mulligan asked. “There were only two other witnesses, Quinn and Galloway himself, and they both swore under oath that the assault happened.”
“Maybe they bragged to their friends about setting Diggs up,” Mason said. “That’s what Araujo did after he faked the 2005 assault charge.”
“Tell me about that,” Lomax said.
“A day after the charge was filed, Araujo talked about it with other guards in their break room. He said the warden had asked him to file a false complaint to keep Diggs in prison. The other guards treated him like a hero, backslaps and fist bumps all around.”
“Who are your sources for this?” Lomax asked.
“Two former guards, Chuckie Shaad and Tyrone Robinson. The warden came to Shaad first and asked him to file a false complaint against Diggs. Shaad told me he thought Diggs deserved to stay in prison forever but that he wasn’t willing to lie in court to make it happen.”
“Did he and Robinson both go on the record?” Lomax asked.
“Robinson did, but I don’t think I can quote him.”
“Why not?”
“The warden fired him for coming to work high on cocaine.”
“You’re right. You can’t,” Lomax said. “What about Shaad?”
“I can use what he gave me, but he doesn’t want to be named.”
“Okay,” Lomax said. “What else have you got?”
“Robinson and Shaad both said guards were always trying to provoke Diggs into taking a swing at them.”
“How?”
“By calling him names. Pervert, child killer, the n-word.”
“Did they tell you how Diggs reacted?”
“They said he just smiled at them. Diggs told me the same thing. He claims he’s too smart to give them what they want.”
“You’ve been talking to Diggs?” Lomax asked.
“I have. His new lawyer set it up. I’ve interviewed him three times already, and I’m going back again Wednesday.”
“You should have told me about this before, Edward,” Lomax said.
“I suppose I should have.”
“What else has Diggs been saying?”
“He insists the drug and assault charges were fabricated, but he hasn’t been any help proving it.”
“So why are you going to see him again?”
“I’ve been interviewing him about his life. Moving to Warwick when he was seven, how hard it was being the only black kid in the neighborhood, his interest in black history. Stuff like that.”
“Sounds boring as shit,” Lomax said.
“It’s not, actually,” Mason said. “I was thinking that if my investigation washed out, I could always write a profile.”
“Have you asked him about the murders?” Mulligan asked.
“I have. He still says he’s innocent… So, do you think I have enough to write the abuse of power story yet?”
“If I understood you correctly,” Lomax said, “you’ve got one on-the-record source for the Galloway case and one not-for-attribution source for the Araujo assault.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you’re not even close.”
Mason’s shoulders slumped. That profile might be the only thing he’d be able to get in print after all.
“Your turn, Mulligan,” Lomax said. “Rundown what you’ve got.”
“A year before the Medeiros murders,” Mulligan said, “somebody broke into a house three miles from where Diggs lived and stabbed a woman named Susan Ashcroft.”
He quickly ran through the details of the crime, the circumstantial evidence linking Diggs to it, and his hope that the killer’s DNA might still be found on something stored away in the evidence boxes.
“How long since you asked the Warwick cops to look for them?” Lomax asked.
“A week.”
“And they still haven’t located them?”
“Not yet. Chief Hernandez says a lot of evidence from old cases has been lost or thrown out.”
“If this doesn’t pan out,” Mason butted in, “I might have something that could keep Diggs locked up for a while.”
“Out with it,” Lomax said.
“A few months before Becky Medeiros was killed, Diggs torched her car. It’s only fourth-degree arson, though. The most he could get for it is three years.”
“Where’d you get that?” Lomax asked.
“Diggs told me about it.”
“Did he say why he torched her car?”
“He said she called him the n-word, and it made him mad.”
“Why the hell would he tell you this?” Mulligan asked.
“We were talking about how angry he used to get when people disrespected him. That was one of the examples he gave me.”
“Interesting,” Mulligan said. “One problem with it, though.”
“What’s that?”
“It never happened.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Gloria and I searched the news archives for all the crimes that occurred in Diggs’s neighborhood around the time of the murders. The Dispatch printed every police incident in the West Bay edition back then, and there was no mention of this.”
“Maybe the reporter missed it,” Mason said. “Or maybe the item was cut for space.”
“I suppose that’s possible,” Mulligan said. “But I’ve also been talking to a retired cop who was the lead detective on the murders. If it had happened, he would have known about it. But he never mentioned it either.”