“I really appreciate you stopping by. I realize this is not your shift, and you don’t have to talk with me. I’m looking into this very unofficially.”

“I understand, sir,” he said. “I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Thank you,” I said. “But please call me John. I was just about to walk down to Classification. If you’re headed that way we could talk while we walk.”

“Yes, sir,” he said. “That’d be fine.”

We walked down the asphalt road of the upper compound. We were alone. It was still early. The inmates hadn’t been released from the dorms yet.

“In the early morning hours of Tuesday, two weeks ago from today, two inmates started fighting in the infirmary,” I said. “We’ve been told you were away from your desk and that Captain Skipper had to come break them up.”

He nodded.

“Where were you?” I asked.

“I’m surprised they didn’t tell you,” he said. “When Captain Skipper came into the infirmary, he sent me to Confinement to pick up an incident report. When I got back, he was gone. Nurse Strickland told me that Captain Skipper had left word for me to take Jacobson to Confinement. So I turned right around and went back to Confinement, this time with Jacobson in tow. Strange thing was he made me fill out the DR. I wasn’t there. Didn’t witness it, but I had to write the report. I didn’t want to, but I did it. I know how to follow an order. Later, when everything went down in the sally port, I was glad that I was not in the infirmary just before it happened.”

“What time did you get back to the infirmary that morning?” I asked.

“I didn’t,” he said. “I was in Confinement until a few minutes before seven. When I walked back up to Medical, Officer Straub was about to go in to begin his shift. I gave him a report of the night’s events. He went in. I walked up front.”

“Who else was in the medical building that night?” I asked.

“Johnson and Jacobson, Nurses Anderson and Strickland, the orderly, Jones . . . and another inmate was there for a while.” He tilted his head back and closed his eyes to concentrate on recalling the nearly forgotten name. “Thomas. Anthony Thomas was there for a while, and that’s it. Oh and Captain Skipper. He’s everywhere.”

More than anything, including the case, I wanted to talk to Anna about contracting the infection, but I just couldn’t. Not yet.

So we talked about the case, about all that had happened, what it meant, who might be behind it.

“So you don’t think Skipper killed Johnson or Maddox?” she said.

I shook my head.

“Why?”