“I know that. What, you think I’m stupid?”
“Not at all.”
“If I let you in and it turns out I wasn’t supposed to, then my keester’s in a lot of trouble.”
“Well, I was just thinking that you might want to check with your superior. That way, it’s not your call and you can’t get in trouble.”
The guard picked up his phone. “I was already going to do that,” he said in a very unfriendly tone.
He spoke into the phone for a couple minutes and then hung up.
“Somebody’s coming on down.” Michael nodded. “Where you from?” the guard asked.
“Washington, D.C.”
“How much does somebody like you get paid?” It was clear that whatever sum Michael stated would be too much.
He took a deep breath as he observed the approach of the uniformed officer. “Actually, not nearly enough.”
The young guard quickly stood and saluted his superior officer. The officer turned to Michael. “Please come with me, Mr. Fiske.” The man was in his fifties, with the lean build, calm but serious manner and closely cut gray hair that helped mark him as career military.
Michael followed the man’s precise strides down the hallway to a small office. For five minutes Michael patiently explained what he was doing there without really revealing any information of substance. He could do the lawyer-speak with the best of them.
“If you tell Mr. Harms that I’m here, he’ll see me.”
The man twirled a pen between his fingers, his eyes dead center on the young lawyer. “This is rather puzzling. Rufus Harms just received a visit from his lawyer not too long ago. And that person wasn’t you.”
“Is that right? Was his name Samuel Rider?” The man didn’t answer, but the momentary surprise on his features made Michael inwardly smile. His hunch had proven correct. Harms’s former military counsel had enclosed the typewritten sheet of paper. “A person can have more than one lawyer, sir.”
“Not someone like Rufus Harms. He hasn’t had anyone for the last twenty-five years. Oh, his brother visits pretty regularly, but all this interest in the man has us puzzled. I’m sure you can appreciate that.”
Michael smiled pleasantly, but his next words were spoken in a firm manner. “I hope you can appreciate the fact that a prisoner is entitled to speak with an attorney.”
The officer stared at him for a few moments and then picked up the phone and spoke into it. He hung up and looked back at Michael without speaking. Five minutes passed before the phone rang again. When the man put it back down, he nodded at Michael and said curtly, “He’ll see you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
* * *
When Rufus Harms appeared in the doorway of the visitors’ room, he looked confused as his gaze settled on the young man. He shuffled forward. Michael rose to greet him and was met with a bark by the guard behind Rufus.
“Sit down.”
Michael did so immediately.
The guard watched closely until Rufus took a seat across from Michael, and turned to the lawyer. “You were previously instructed as to the rules of conduct during visitation. In case you forgot any of them, they’re posted clearly right over there.” He pointed to a large sign on the wall. “No physical contact is permitted at any time. And you are to remain seated at all times. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Do you have to stay in the room? There is such a thing as attorney-client confidentiality. Also, does he have to be chained like that?” Michael asked.
“You wouldn’t ask that if you’d seen what he did to a bunch of guys inside this place. Even all chained up he could snap your skinny little neck in half in two seconds.” The guard moved closer to Michael. “Maybe at other prisons you get some more privacy, but this isn’t like other prisons. We only got the biggest and the baddest here, and we have our own set of rules to operate by. This is an unscheduled visit, so you got twenty minutes before the big bad wolf here has to go to work cleaning toilets. And we got some real messy ones today.”