Night Sun

by Tom Barber

  ‘Williams, Anderson, any evidence of them getting out through the fence line?’ the captain asked over the radio.

  ‘Checking perimeter but fence looks intact, Cap. No cuts or holes.’

  They used the truck, Marquez thought, having returned to the control room after her call with Archer and catching the latter part of the exchange; men that big wouldn’t try to run on foot, they’d be too easy to spot and wouldn’t get far, forced to rest regularly given their physical size. They’d need a set of wheels. Near her, the sergeant started to pass out some papers hot from the printer, the three brothers’ mugshots on each page. ‘Where are you standing on this?’ the Gatlin captain asked the Marshals, as off-duty members of the prison staff who’d been called in started to gather in the doorway, taking a sheet each before leaving to return to their vehicles, the manhunt beginning.

  ‘Our supervisor confirmed we’re reassigned to the case, but you take the reins for now,’ the lead deputy told him. ‘These are your boys; figure y’all want to be the ones to bring them down. Just let us know what we can do to help.’

  ‘911 call came in to local PD a minute ago, sir,’ a CO said, entering the room quickly. ‘Laundry truck’s been found.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘Down a dirt track off Route 58. Caller said the driver’s had his throat cut up, but he’s still alive.’

  The CO stood back as the Gatlin captain and Marshals immediately moved past him, and moments later several vehicles sped out towards the front gate.

  Marquez watched as they left. The prison staff’s embarrassment and anger caused by the escapes was clear, but the additional concern when they’d discovered who exactly had broken out had created a charged atmosphere in the room. Kidnapped a college student. Kept her in a basement for a couple weeks, raped her repeatedly then dismembered and dumped her body. Bite marks found on her remains. What Archer had said on the phone was right. With men capable of that on the loose and no doubt determined to stay that way, southern Virginia’s police authorities now had a major incident on their hands.

  The Gatlin prison staff duty sergeant had remained behind, along with the other members of the on-duty COs, and the rest of the riot squad who were waiting for their two guys to return with the Loughlins’ bedclothes. ‘This pair of inmates who were found dead in the laundry,’ Marquez asked the sergeant, walking over to him. ‘They were tight with the Loughlin brothers, you said?’

  He nodded. ‘Hoffmeier and Kattar. Pair of degenerates doing life. Tried to rip off a mansion when they thought the family was on vacation, turned out they were still home. Did a good job redecorating the inside of the house with all five of them, using a couple of shotguns.’

  Marquez looked at the camera monitors showing the locked-down prison block. ‘The place is secure again right?’

  ‘Yeah, C Block’s gonna be like a closed bank vault for forty eight hours after this.’

  ‘Before you do that, can I ask a favor? If it’s safe?

  ‘Depends what it is.’

  ‘Can you show me exactly where Hoffmeier and Kattar’s bodies were found?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’m a detective,’ she said. ‘I get curious. The brothers escaped from the laundry. I might see something that could help.’

  ‘Where the hell is he?’ Billy Loughlin asked for the fifth time, back in his full prison orange jumps again and sitting beside his brother in the passenger seat of the car they’d taken off the elderly woman, whose body was now dumped in the corn several miles back near where they’d left the laundry truck.

  ‘Think he’s just gonna be standing out here with his thumb out?’ Brooks answered, his seat pushed all the way back like his brother’s to accommodate their size. They’d pulled up on the side of the highway beside another cornfield not far from Gatlin’s minimum security camp. The old woman’s blood had stained the seat, the wheel and the center console and although Brooks had wiped it down as best he could, the interior was still a mess. But it didn’t matter; he’d dump the car soon enough for another. Their current ride wasn’t what he was worried about, getting ahead of any impending roadblocks was, and he knew police would be setting them up real soon.

  ‘We’re wasting time,’ Billy said, looking behind them anxiously. ‘He might not have made it.’

  ‘We gotta give him a chance. You want to just leave him behind?’

  Billy paused. ‘No.’

  ‘We wait.’

  Like the laundry truck driver earlier, both men saw a car speeding towards them down the highway; the brothers watched it approach silently, each still holding his shiv by their leg in readiness, but the vehicle didn’t slow and it shot past them. Once the car was gone, Brooks and Billy relaxed slightly and it was then they saw their younger brother Craig finally emerge from the crops, blood and dirt staining the front of his prison jumps.

  He sprinted towards the vehicle as fast as his bulk would allow, pulled open the back door and jammed himself inside, breathing heavily. Brooks was flooring it before he’d even shut the door but as Billy turned to talk to Craig, he swore when he saw police lights behind them in the distance. ‘Shit, they found us!’ he said. ‘We waited too long!’

  Brooks checked the rearview mirror and saw his brother was right; cruisers were coming up behind them, quickly gaining in their far more powerful vehicles. But as they watched, the police cars suddenly slowed and positioned themselves until they were parked directly across the road, ready to block any vehicles trying to head out of the area.

  Brooks grinned as his two brothers whooped and high-fived each other, realizing they’d beaten the response.

  ‘Told you we had enough time,’ he said as they sped on down the highway, leaving the roadblock behind.

  EIGHT

  Frank Lupinetti’s transfer out of USP Gatlin had been the only real task of importance early that morning at the federal prison, but with the riot followed by the discovery of the three Loughlin brothers’ escapes, things had changed. The former NYPD lieutenant/cutting board for the other inmates had almost been forgotten for the time being, a long way down the list of concerns for the Marshals and prison staff, but not by the two NYPD detectives who’d driven seven hours south to escort him to his new home.

  Archer had been put through to the warden at USP Lewisburg in Pennsylvania, another eight hours’ drive north from where he and Marquez were now; the prison official had already heard about the incident at Gatlin but Archer was able to provide more details. ‘Someone lit a fuse in there, huh?’ the warden said.

  ‘Yeah, and I’m currently with an inmate who was supposed to be shipped your way today. I’d like to make sure he still gets there if you’re willing to accept him.’

  ‘The former cop. Lupinetti?’

  ‘That’s him. A colleague and I came here from New York to accompany the Marshals providing the transport, but they’ve got other priorities right now with these prisoner escapees. Frank’s sustained a couple of minor injuries but we can still get him out of here and on his way to you before this has to be rescheduled.’

  ‘Was he involved in starting this riot? Trying to stop himself being transferred?’

  ‘Doubt it. He wasn’t exactly clinging onto the bars to stay in Gatlin.’

  ‘If the Marshals sign over responsibility and we clear it with the prison, a transport bus could extradite him here, Detective. They do it every day around the country. But you mind me asking, why so urgent?’

  ‘Lupinetti was involved in the death of a friend of mine; she was a cop too. And he’s been claiming he’s got information on corruption involving people still wearing a badge in the NYPD, so we’ve been ordered to make sure he gets to you on his feet, not in a box. He stays in Gatlin any longer, we think that’s looking doubtful.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘It’s probably all bullshit but we can’t take that risk, and every minute this son of a bitch is outside prison walls, I want to be close by. He’s responsible for a lot of people getting hurt and kil
led in his time. And he’s slippery, Warden. We need him out of here and secured in your facility. Then we can question him and find out what else he knows. If it’s anything at all.’

  A pause followed. ‘Like I said, I’ll need to contact the Marshals Office and make this official. If they agree to sign him over, I’ll see if there’s a prisoner transport in the area and connect you to them. The Gatlin warden needs to ink the paperwork too. I know you’re in a hurry to get Lupinetti out, but we have to follow procedure. He’s a prisoner of the federal government.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Archer said, ending the call and walking back into the hospital, saw the television was now showing the news. Three fugitives escape USP Gatlin after riot, the headline from the local station, WJHL, was telling viewers, providing the brothers’ mugshots and allowing Archer to see each of them for the first time. The trio of Loughlins were all variations of the same theme; Brooks was starting to go bald, the sparse hair he still possessed straggling down his neck, but he wore a full beard. Billy had the same shade of sandy-colored hair which was also starting to thin and a similarly large beard to match; Craig had shorter hair with less of a beard and was clearly the youngest by a few years, but had the same mean, close-set eyes as his brothers. Marquez had said all three individuals were the size of a barn door so alone, each was a problem; together, they’d be formidable. But they weren’t Archer’s issue right now. The man who’d murdered his friend was.

  The Lewisburg warden came back fifteen minutes later, having spoken to the Marshals Office for Virginia’s Western District who’d confirmed they were more than happy to let someone else take Lupinetti. Archer was then connected with an extradition agent supervisor who worked for one of the transport companies the PA prison’s boss had provided details for, tasked with picking up and delivering prisoners around the country.

  ‘How bad was this inmate hurt?’ the man at the other end asked.

  ‘Not bad enough not to travel.’

  ‘Any chance the local jail could do a courtesy hold until morning? We can try to help you out, but this isn’t like delivering a pizza, man. I could arrange for a bus to swing by before 10 am tomorrow.’

  ‘I checked. The cells are full. They’re having to house spill-overs from another prison across the county. USP Lee.’

  There was a pause. ‘We’ve got a transport forty something miles east of you. I’ll give them a call and see if they’ll detour to come pick you and your prisoner up. You said you were at the hospital?’

  ‘At Jonesville. Yes.’

  Marquez was back inside C Block at Gatlin in the laundry area and was looking at the drying blood that had pooled and stained the floor to merge into one large puddle. The bodies of the two instigators of the riot, Hoffmeier and Kattar, had already been transported out along with the other dead from inside the prison. They’d be in the county morgue tonight lying on shelves alongside the two COs the pair had helped murder when they’d set all this off.

  ‘You come across Hoff and Katt when you were looking for Lupinetti?’ the Gatlin sergeant who’d reentered the block with her asked. Two riot officers were standing behind them, providing an escort just in case of more trouble.

  ‘Didn’t quite make it this far. Any word yet on who killed them?’

  He shook his head. ‘Some of the inmates might know, but we won’t find out until an investigation starts. Even then they most likely won’t tell us shit and the camera covering this area went dead too. The Loughlins probably knocked it out, but we’ll have to check the others and see who we can ID down here around the same time.’

  ‘It had to be the brothers.’ As Marquez was speaking, she looked around; her eyes settled on one of the empty laundry baskets and she walked over to it. She checked the locks were on the wheels, then gripped the rim. One of the riot officers saw what she was intending to do and moved forward to steady it. Using him for support, she stepped up and inside the large basket then crouched down out of sight.

  She fit easily.

  ‘Brooks and Billy are a lot bigger than you, girl,’ the sergeant told her.

  ‘You’re over six foot. You try.’

  They swapped and the sergeant found that he fit pretty easily too, the flexible basket designed to take large bundles of clothing.

  ‘And some of these would be placed in the back of the truck?’ she asked.

  He nodded. ‘Pick-up takes about twelve of them at a time.’

  ‘So a large man could squeeze in and cover himself.’ As she steadied the basket while the sergeant climbed back out, Marquez glanced again at the large pool of drying blood and caught its metallic scent mixing with the other unpleasant odors, the lingering smells of burning and dirty laundry making the air sour and acrid. She thought of the hundreds of caged prisoners in the same block with them right now, many responsible for some horrendous crimes, walking proof of how dark and dangerous the human animal could be.

  For an instant she imagined the inmates’ doors opening again and the four of them here standing in the laundry, trapped.

  ‘Thanks for showing me,’ she said. ‘Let’s get back outside.’

  As they passed through the last gate, the sergeant relocking it behind them, the guard called Anderson was waiting. ‘Got more details from the work camp. One of the three prisoners who made a run for it got a set of opened handcuffs buried in his neck; the other got hit over the head with a rock. Craig Loughlin just boosted himself up to a double murder charge.’

  ‘Maybe he felt left out,’ the sergeant commented. As he, CO Anderson and the riot officers pushed for more details, Marquez’s phone rang. It was Archer.

  ‘What’s the latest?’ she asked, parting from the group.

  ‘I’ve set up a transport with the warden at Lewisburg. Lupinetti’s out of here in the next hour.’

  ‘With who? A private company?’

  ‘Yeah. I called Shep and he did a background check. The company are legit; perform transfers like this all over the country every day. They’re detouring here to get us, but we need the release paperwork from the prison. The Virginia Marshals Office already sent over signed approval.’

  ‘Figured you’d make something happen. I’ll get it inked and be there soon as I can.’ Hanging up, she saw an ambulance loading up two injured riot officers then caught sight of the warden exiting the control center and ran over to intercept him.

  ‘Don’t get cushy,’ Archer said, stopping in the doorway to Lupinetti’s room, the former NYPD cop still cuffed to the bed. ‘You’re gonna be rolling out of here before the end of the hour.’

  The remaining color drained out of Lupinetti’s face. ‘You can’t take me back to Gatlin. I won’t last another night in that place.’

  ‘You’re not going back there. He been causing you any problems?’ he asked the hospital guards.

  ‘Just earache.’

  ‘He’ll be gone shortly. If he tries anything, shoot him,’ he told the guards before heading out again, ignoring Lupinetti’s parting comment.

  He waited out front and fifteen minutes later an ambulance swung into the space outside the hospital. Marquez stepped down from the front seat, holding a folder.

  ‘That was fast,’ he told her. ‘You get his signature?’

  She nodded. ‘With the Loughlins out there, the prison wants one less thing to worry about and are pleased for Frank to be someone else’s problem. The warden confirmed everything with Lewisburg. When he was signing the document for me, he got a call from one of his guys out on Route 58 where the laundry truck was dumped.’

  ‘And?’

  ‘Back was opened up, driver slumped over in the cab with his throat cut open. Bunch of footprints around the vehicle. Brooks and Billy Loughlin are big guys, so must have tucked themselves up in a couple baskets like they were piking off a diving board. The sergeant and I checked to see if they could fit and we think it’s possible. The COs at the prison can’t figure out any other way they could’ve got out.’

  ‘Through the laundry? How did
that CO at the gate not check properly?’

  ‘He looked pretty distracted with everything going on. Sirens going off, the guy shouting down at him from the tower and us showing up too. He can’t have done a proper search. Wouldn’t wanna be in his shoes if turns out that’s how they escaped.’

  ‘Search teams using dogs yet?’

  ‘Not gonna work. The brothers’ jumpsuits were dumped outside the truck and drenched in bleach. They poured it all over the back and cab too so the K9s can’t get a scent. The guards who went to their cells found their sheets and pillowcases were soaked in the stuff too. Like we agreed earlier, this was carefully planned.’

  ‘Least if the brothers are on foot, they can’t have got far.’

  ‘Officers found blood spatter further up on the highway near the turn off to the track where the truck was left. Just located an old woman’s body dumped in the cornfield. The Loughlins must’ve flagged her down and stolen her car.’

  ‘Which means they could already have beaten the roadblocks,’ Archer replied. ‘And be out of Virginia too. We’re not far from Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.’

  ‘Staff at Gatlin think Brooks and Billy would’ve waited for Craig; he didn’t break out at the same time to run by himself. He’d need their help. But he’d also have needed time to get to where they were, which would’ve slowed them down.’

  ‘So they might still be in the county.’

  ‘Let’s hope so.’ Behind them on the wall inside the hospital’s entrance, the TV was showing the mugshots of the escapees again and the two detectives stepped inside to watch the live report. ‘The sergeant told me the two prisoners found dead in the laundry at Gatlin used to run with the Loughlins,’ Marquez said to Archer. ‘Looks to me that the brothers used them to get the riot started and then killed them before hiding in the back of the truck. I’ll bet the two who died thought they were getting out too, otherwise why help?’

  ‘But Brooks and Billy would know there’d be way more chance of getting past the gate with only two of them in the back instead of four,’ Archer replied. ‘And Craig must’ve used the two guys at the labor camp to get out before killing them too.’ He thought about the escapes. ‘What about the laundry truck driver? Think the guy was involved the same way and they double-crossed him?’