The man in my arms was Danny at his greatest.
He loved me. I knew it then more than I had ever known it. Danny loved me and I loved him, and I didn’t care if I lived or died anymore. As long as I was his and he was mine.
But my heart was breaking because Danny’s whole life came down to knowing if he’d done well. If he’d done the right thing. If his life, his work, everything he’d done to save and protect, had been done well.
Only I knew the full truth—that every hour he’d spent in the dark, shivering from cold, he’d spent for me. Every blow he’d suffered he’d suffered to save me. Every cry of agony, every moment of torment, every turn of the screws—all for me, because he loved me.
And still he was surely wondering if he’d done well. I could feel it in his quivering skin and I wanted to scream my love for him. I wanted to take his place in that moment and weep my regret for putting him through such suffering on my behalf.
But all I could do was hold him and offer those simple words with tears streaming down my face. “You’ve done well. I’m so proud of you, Danny. Nothing matters now, you’ve done it all so well, it doesn’t matter what happens now. I’m so, so proud of you.”
My words didn’t calm him. They pushed him deeper into that place of unyielding emotion, and I knew that I’d touched something beyond his own understanding, a core of his being that was beyond his unflinching control.
For long seconds the hard yard remained silent around us. They were giving us time to endure our own kind of suffering, but they could not know just how much healing was flowing between us.
And then, as suddenly as his tears had begun, he pulled them back with a deep breath and swept me to one side, slightly behind him.
I saw the reason: Keith was walking toward us, mouth twisted in a wicked grin that made him look like he was wearing a Halloween mask.
“So sweet, isn’t it?” The man stopped, eyes on Danny. “To be in the arms of the woman you love.”
Danny watched the man approach then stop close enough to speak without putting himself in danger of being overheard by the inmates.
Danny could have reached Keith and broken his neck before any of them could stop him, but in doing so he would leave Renee exposed long enough for one of them to end her life.
You’ve done well, Danny. Terrible emotion he hardly understood surged through his chest again, and he forced it back down.
Godfrey was there, and Randell, and a few others Danny recognized. Godfrey had tears on his cheeks. The rest looked on, stoic.
“She loves you, Danny.” Keith spoke in a gentle tone. “Trust me, I’ve been with her for ten days. She loves you as much as my wife loved me. But my wife’s dead, isn’t she?”
He knew then that Keith had killed Celine. He had followed her out of state and murdered her.
“You took everything from me,” Keith said. “My wife, my career, my life. All of it.”
“How did you find me?” Danny asked.
“It wasn’t easy.” Keith kept his voice low. “Your mistake was telling me too much in your little game of manipulation. I figured out you were a priest—your little story about the pedophile helped. A year ago I heard about a priest who’d cut a quiet deal with the DA. Having connections in the department does have its advantages, even for the scumbags they force out. So I checked it out and I found you. How could I ever forget that face?”
“My face was covered.”
“Not the whole time. I saw your reflection in the window, when you pulled your ski mask off as you were leaving. I’m a cop, remember? I notice things.”
Danny was asking the questions not for himself as much as for Renee. He had to buy her time. He had to reset the stage somehow. He’d once played a game with this man and won; now he was caught in Keith’s game, playing by new rules. The only way out was to reinvent those rules.
“Why didn’t you just have me killed at Ironwood?”
“I didn’t want you dead. I wanted more. And when I told my brother-in-law how a man of the cloth had betrayed his vows, destroyed me, and murdered my wife, he had a better idea. And I liked it.”
The warden was Keith Hammond’s brother-in-law. He probably never knew that Keith had abused his wife. Worse, he believed that Danny was responsible for his sister’s death.
“That’s right,” Keith said. “My wife, Celine, the one you so lovingly took from me, is Marshall’s sister. She’s dead because of you. When I was in a better position, I helped Marshall out from time to time. Got him a job in the prison system. Now, as you know so well, he’s a warden. A bit religious for my tastes, but hey, it works for him.”
The warden stood across the room with his hand predictably in his pocket, watching them with smug assurance. Pape had mentioned the murder of his sister when he told Danny his tragic story, but at the time Danny had no reason to connect the name to his own life.
“The part of his thinking that resonates with mine is that what comes around goes around,” Keith said. “You took my wife and now I’m going to take yours. You took away my playmate, now I’m going to replace her with yours. An eye for an eye. How does it feel?”
“I didn’t kill Celine. You did.” Danny looked over at Pape. “Surely you know that much.”
“He knows that you would say anything to save yourself,” Keith said. “Don’t be absurd.”
Danny saw no value in pursuing the truth of the matter. Keith had obviously anticipated the charge.
“You saw Renee in my arms, Danny boy. I like it best when they come willingly without knowing what awaits them.” Keith spread his hands in an open invitation. “Of course, you can always try to stop it. Prove the warden’s theory that you really haven’t changed and need more correction. He’d love nothing more. He’s become a bit obsessed with you, a man of the cloth who should know better. I think you remind him of himself.”
Danny looked at Renee, who was watching him. He’d forgotten how beautiful she was, how strong and yet so innocent; how smart and yet so naïve.
She wasn’t smiling but her eyes were bright, full of courage. Her sweet voice still whispered in his ears. You’ve done well, Danny. But he hadn’t. Not if he allowed them to torture and kill her. Not if he died, because his death would undoubtedly precede hers. They would never allow her to live now.
He scanned the room again. There was only one unpredictable element in the hard yard: the members. The anxiety that had pushed him up out of deep meditation had vanished, replaced now by a stoic resolve to let his training guide his path. He could not allow any more emotion. Renee’s life might depend on his ability to exercise acute control over his mind and body.
Danny showed his hands in a sign of surrender and slowly stepped away from both Renee and Keith toward the others. No one stopped him.
He eyed the line of members. Godfrey. Randell. All of them staring.
“You’re all fine with this?” he asked them.
“Of course not,” Pape said. “Do you think a good father likes to beat his child? My children feel as much regret and sorrow as I do.”
“I didn’t ask you. I asked them.” Danny moved closer, toward the center of the room, eyes on the other members. “She’s an innocent woman. The warden’s going to torture her in an effort to break me. That doesn’t bother any of you?”
“No one’s innocent,” the warden said.
“And that includes you. But here you stand, judging us all.”
“It’s my role in this sanctuary.”
“And it’s mine to speak the truth.” Danny looked at his cellmate and spoke before the warden could. “How about you, Godfrey? You’re just going to stand by and let this happen? Or you, Randell? You saw what he did to Slane…you think you’ll escape the same fate? He can’t let any of you leave this place now. You know too much. The warden will destroy all of you to protect his precious sanctuary. You’re just going to blindly follow him?”