confidence.” He was looking in the side-view mirror.
“SAPD is still following us, aren’t they?”
“Yep.”
It made her angry; she quashed that feeling down quickly. She couldn’t afford the anger; she couldn’t afford any emotion clouding her judgment. She also couldn’t lose them without breaking the law, and she didn’t want to give them a reason to pull her over.
“It would help if you could do some research for me while I drive,” Lucy said. “Do you know the warden, Kathy Pine?”
“No.” He pulled out his smartphone and looked up the juvenile detention facility. Lucy knew where it was.
“I’ve met her once briefly, when she gave a report to a joint gang task force,” Lucy said. “Back when I was working with Brad on active warrants. She’s smart, she’s been in this business for a long time, I don’t even think Elise Hunt could bullshit her.”
“Would she have had much interaction with Elise?”
“I don’t know. I only know a little about her management style. What little I heard, I liked.”
Garrett found an article and skimmed it, then summarized it for Lucy. “Her philosophy is based on mentorship,” he said. “She works to get these girls out of the cycle they’ve found themselves in so they don’t land in prison once they’re out of juvie. She makes a point to know their histories, so when they’re released she can match them with employers or school programs or rehab centers or whatever they need. But the biggest problem is the gangs, and it’s hard to get the kids out once they’ve joined.”
“True,” Lucy concurred. “It’s really hard when you have old friends trying to pull you back in.”
Garrett nodded. “They often don’t have parents, or their parents are in prison or part of the drug culture.”
“Elise isn’t a gangbanger, but she would join if she needed something from them.” Like stealing sixteen kilos of coke to plant on a federal agent. That sounded like Elise, the type of grand, bold plan that was as much a crime as theatrics.
Garrett said, “Pine sounds like the real deal—she’s tough when she needs to be, but believes in second chances. Since she’s been here—five years next month—the recidivism rate has dropped nearly in half, staff retention is high, and the percentage of eligible girls getting their GED before leaving is a hundred percent.”
“That’s—wow.”
“If you’re eligible for a GED and earn it, you can reduce your time with court approval. So instead of getting out at eighteen, you can get out at seventeen if you apply yourself, do your work, pass the test. Definitely gives them a leg up.”
Lucy ignored the SAPD officer who parked on the street next to the administrative parking lot of the detention center, and entered the building.
She didn’t have an appointment, but talked herself and Garrett into Kathy Pine’s office. It took nearly twenty minutes, but then the warden called her in.
“I remember you, Agent Kincaid,” Kathy said. “You came to my presentation for the joint gang task force.”
“Good memory.”
“You had good questions. You said your husband had an appointment with me this morning. That would be Sean Rogan?”
“Yes. He’s sorry he couldn’t make it and was unable to call.” She decided not to mention he’d been arrested. “I tried to get here earlier.”
“I told him over the phone that I couldn’t give out information about Elise Hunt or anyone else here, but he insisted on meeting. Wanted to show me a threatening letter that Elise sent to someone. Do you have it?”
“No. It was sent to a woman who has been since murdered. I testified against Elise.”
“Yes—I remember reading your name in the files.”
“And I felt she should have been tried for crimes as an adult, including racketeering, kidnapping, accessory to murder, murder, unlawful imprisonment, and escaping from custody.”
“Serious charges.”
“Of which I am certain she was guilty, but we’ll never know because she pled to lesser charges and was sent here. Elise is a game player, and she manipulated the court-appointed psychiatrist.”
“Her files were sealed when she turned eighteen and was subsequently released. They will be expunged when she’s twenty-one if she maintains a clean record.”
That was news to Lucy. “I thought they were already expunged.”
“No. Those were the terms of her release.”
Lucy hadn’t known, though she didn’t know how it might help her. “But she’s not on probation.”
“Not exactly.”
“You’re going to have to explain.”
Kathy chose her words carefully. “There are times when the court will listen to the warden in cases with unusual circumstances.”