As he instructed the inmate on exactly how to do his job, he spoke in slow, even tones. I had seen him stare down a gang of inmates, two with shanks, the same way. I had also seen him wipe out an entire gang by himself, never raising his voice and never acting as if it required much effort either.

“Sarge, you got a minute?” I asked as I came up behind him.

He stood, nodding at me and pointing at the row of peas to the inmate.

We walked away from the garden and the inmates working there for some privacy.

“I was thinking of planting some sugar snap peas and needed some help.”

“Shee-it. Your ass ever planted anything in your life?”

“Not too late to start, is it? Really am about to put some sod around my trailer.”

“Want some advice?” he said.

“From an expert like yourself? Of course.”

“Put the green side up,” he said, a broad smile creeping across his face, revealing his startling white teeth.

We were both silent a moment.

He glanced back in the direction of the garden. I could tell he was not happy with how the inmates were planting the peas.

“It’s hard to get good help these days,” I said.

“Yeah. Speaking of which, I heard about what you did in the sally port on Tuesday. Pretty impressive for a skinny white boy.”

“I’m not skinny,” I protested. “I’m fit.”

“You’s fit before all that shit in Atlanta,” he said. “Now you skinny.”

He stood directly in front of me, positioning himself between me and the sun, the shadow he cast keeping me from needing the shades I had left in my office. He was always doing things like that and never mentioning it.

I could see my reflection in his glasses. I looked distorted, like my face was too big for my head and body. Merrill towered over my six feet by about four inches, totally eclipsing the sun.

“Anyway,” he continued, “you did good. Showed some of these rednecks that a man can be civilized and have balls too.”

“Did Johnson work for you?”

“On paper.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Oh really?”

“He was assigned to Outside Grounds but never came. Each month I got a note from Captain Skipper saying he using Johnson other places, just go ahead and give him credit for working out here.”

“And you did it?” I asked, a little surprised.

“Captain say do it, I do it,” he said, falling back into his favorite dialect for expressing his frustration. “I not smart enough to think for myself. Don’t ask no questions. No sir.”

Merrill thought for himself all right, and asked plenty of questions. As smart as any man I’d ever met, Merrill had been unable to attend college. Instead he had spent much of his time at the public library and already had a much better education than most college graduates.