Wolf Untamed (SWAT - Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) - Paige Tyler Page 0,81
him.”
Diego caught the looks Trey and Hale gave him at the mention of Bremen’s college background. They had to be thinking what he was—that delirium was a drug and Dave had shared a cell with a man who was either a biologist or a chemist. No way that was a coincidence.
“Are you saying Bremen started protecting his cellmate?” Hale asked.
The three correction officers exchanged looks and frowned.
“None of us ever really figured it out,” Clark admitted. “It seemed that when Bremen was around, no one bothered Cowell.”
Diego tried to sort through that. Did Bremen pay off a few of the prison’s top dogs to keep Dave safe? That had to be it, right? He seriously doubted a guy who was a scientist would be intimidating enough in the physical sense to make the other inmates back off.
“Can we talk to Bremen?” Diego asked. “See what he’s willing to tell us now that his cellmate has been released.”
Clark shook her head. “I wouldn’t have a problem with it, but unfortunately, Bremen was killed about six months after he got here. His body was found in the laundry area when he missed a head count. Strangled to death, though there were also multiple lacerations, including some that looked like bite marks.”
Damn. They could really have used whatever the guy knew about Dave.
“Was Dave involved?” Trey asked.
“There were rumors there’d been arguments in their cell in the days before Bremen’s death, but nothing we could ever use,” Clark admitted. “The case remains open and is likely to stay that way.”
“What happened to Dave after that?” Diego asked.
Clark sighed. “That’s where things get strange.” Unzipping the backpack she’d brought with her, she pulled out a laptop, then set it on the table and booted it up.
“There was a huge fight in the cafeteria two days after Bremen died,” Beasley said as the sergeant clicked through folders on the desktop. “Everybody knew it was a move against Cowell, someone probably planning to shank him or something. But that’s not what happened.”
Clark spun the laptop around so Diego, Trey, and Hale could see the screen. On it was a video showing the cafeteria crowded with tables, chairs, and prisoners. It wasn’t difficult to find Dave, even in the dull-white, shapeless uniforms all the men wore.
“See the big guy with the bald head walking across the room toward Cowell?” Clark said from the other side of the table, as if she’d watched the footage a hundred times. “Keep an eye on him. He’s the one with the shiv.”
Diego didn’t watch the man as the sergeant suggested. Instead, he kept his eyes on Dave. Two large men were seated on either side of him, and Diego would bet money they were working with the one with the homemade knife. Probably there to make sure he didn’t jump aside at the last second.
Even though Dave was looking down at the food on his tray, the set of his shoulders and the way his gaze drifted left and right to the men hemming him in suggested he knew something was coming. Of course, none of that explained why the man was grinning like an idiot.
The bald guy dived forward then, arm coming down to drive a slender piece of metal deep into Dave’s exposed back. But right before the weapon hit its mark, the big guy to Dave’s left jumped up and slammed his serving tray into the attacker’s throat. A split second later, the man to Dave’s right stood and punched the inmate on the other side of him as the guy got to his feet.
Things got crazy then as the entire cafeteria full of inmates began punching and kicking each other, food and serving trays flying everywhere. Prison guards in heavy riot gear quickly moved in to start separating the major combatants.
Dave remained in his seat through the entire event, eating his food and smiling at the scene around him.
“The guy with the shiv ended up dead with a crushed larynx,” Clark added as the footage came to an end. “The man who killed him insisted he didn’t do it even when we showed him the video. He swears it couldn’t have been him and that he didn’t remember any of it. The other big guy—the one who started the brawl—told us the last thing he remembered was walking into the cafeteria. After that fight, no one ever bothered Cowell again.”
“Tell them about the parole board meeting,” Beasley said, leaning forward. “That was even crazier than the riot.”