The clerk thought a moment.
“Maybe starting with an R?” Sara prompted.
The clerk snapped his fingers. “That’s right. Rufus, Rufus Harms. Sounds like a hick.”
“Did the caller identify himself?”
“No. He got pretty upset.”
“Anything else you can remember?”
The man thought a bit longer. “He said something about the guy rotting in a stockade, whatever that meant.”
Sara’s eyes opened wide and she started to race out.
“What’s this all about, Sara? Does this have anything to do with the murders?” the clerk asked. Sara kept going without answering. The clerk hesitated for a moment and then looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then he picked up his phone and dialed a number. When it was answered, he spoke quietly into the receiver.
Sara almost sprinted up the stairs. The reference to the stockade had shown her that there was a big hole in Fiske’s list. She reached her office, grabbed a card from her Rolodex and dialed the number. She was calling Military Police Operations. Fiske had covered both the federal and state prison populations, but he had not thought of the military. Sara’s favorite uncle had retired from the Army as a brigadier general. She knew very well what a stockade was: Rufus Harms was a prisoner of the United States Army.
She got through to Master Sergeant Dillard, the corrections specialist on duty. “I don’t have his prison ID number, but I believe he’s incarcerated at a military facility within four hundred miles or so of Washington,” she said.
“I can’t give you that information. The official procedure is to send a written request to the deputy chief of staff for operations and plans. Then that department, in turn, will send your request to the Freedom of Information Act people. They may or may not answer your request depending on the circumstances.”
“The thing is, I really need the information now.”
“Are you from the media?”
“No, I’m calling from the United States Supreme Court.”
“Right. How do I know that?”
Sara thought for a moment. “Call directory assistance for the general number for the Supreme Court. Then call the number they give you and ask for me. My name is Sara Evans.”
Dillard sounded skeptical. “This is highly unusual.”
“Please, Sergeant Dillard, it’s really important.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds. “Give me a few minutes.”
Five very long minutes later the call was put through to Sara’s phone. “You know, Sergeant Dillard, I’ve gotten information from your office before about military prisoners without going through the FOIA process.”
“Well, sometimes the people here are a little generous with the information.”
“I just want to know where Rufus Harms is, that’s all.”
“Actually, it wouldn’t really be a problem with any other prisoner.”
“I don’t understand. Why is Rufus Harms so special?”
“Haven’t you been reading your newspaper?”
“Not today, no, why?”
“Maybe it’s not real big news, but the public ought to know, for its own safety if nothing else.”
“The public ought to know what?”
“That Rufus Harms escaped.” In concise sentences, Dillard filled her in on the details.
“Where was he incarcerated?”
“Fort Jackson.”
“Where is that?”
Dillard told her and Sara wrote down the location.
“Now I got a question for you, Ms. Evans. Why is the Supreme Court interested in Rufus Harms?”
“He filed an appeal with the Court.”
“What sort of appeal?”
“I’m sorry, Sergeant Dillard, but that’s all I can tell you. I have rules to go by too.”
“All right, but I tell you what. If I were you, I’d hold off working on his appeal. The courts aren’t open to dead people, are they?”
“Actually, they can be. What exactly did the man do?”
“You’ll have to check his military file.”
“How do I do that?”
“You’re a lawyer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but I don’t do a lot of work with the military.”
She could hear him muttering a bit over the phone.
“Since he’s a prisoner of the military, Rufus Harms is no longer technically in the United States Army. Along with his conviction he would have been given either a dishonorable or a bad-conduct discharge. His military records would have been sent to the St. Louis Military Personnel Records office. Hard copies are kept there. It’s not on a computer database or anything. Harms was convicted about twenty-five years ago, so his records should have been transferred to microfilm, although the personnel office is a little behind on that process. If you or anyone other than Harms wants his records, you have to use a subpoena.”