Beth

 

Before her shift started, Beth snuck into the men's locker room carefully, making sure no one else was in there. She crept over to Butler's locker and pulled a paper clip from her pocket, straightening it out and fashioning it into a crude lock-picking device.

 

Sure, Butler had broken into her locker to plant the drugs. But he hadn't expected anyone to do the same to him, and his own locker was protected by a cheap padlock that was almost pathetically easy to open.

 

And with her misspent youth as an honorary member of the Carnage Warriors, Beth had picked her share of locks.

 

She opened the door, looking for the spare uniform that every guard kept in their lockers. Prisoners could sometimes throw food—or more objectionable substances—at the corrections officers, and it was important for them to be able to change into fresh uniforms so they could finish their shifts. Butler's uniform was meticulously folded at the bottom of his locker, along with a spare name tag.

 

Beth deftly removed the name tag from the uniform, then closed and re-locked the locker. Hank had been right—if this plan was going to work, securing the name tag was the most important part.

 

She briefly felt light-headed at the thought of Hank. He did want to be with her after all, and he wanted to raise their child together. The prospect of their future together made her deliriously happy...

 

...but no. She had to focus on the task at hand, or else there'd be no future for either of them.

 

During her lunch break, Beth slipped down to the contraband locker, where shivs and other confiscated items were kept. No one guarded this area, since prisoners weren't allowed in this part of Bluebonnet and none of the guards cared about a bunch of junk cobbled together by inmates to kill other inmates. She opened the locker and selected an unused Lullaby that had been taken from a Sinner the previous week. She was careful to wear latex gloves when she touched the handle, and tucked it away in the pocket of her uniform. She had to walk a bit stiffly to make sure the sharpened metal didn't dig into her, but she doubted anyone would notice.

 

When it was time for the inmates to go out to the prison yard for fresh air and exercise, Beth found Foley Cartwright and pulled him aside. She tried to make sure no one noticed.

 

Just looking at Cartwright made Beth's stomach turn. The Sinners were still forcing him to wear makeup, and his hair was being held up by colorful plastic flower barrettes, like a little girl's. Worst of all, his eyes were flat and dead, like a crab's eyes.

 

“I know you've had a rough time since you got here,” Beth whispered. “I thought you might like a chance to get some revenge on the Sinners. Interested?”

 

Cartwright stared at her for a long moment, then nodded slowly.

 

Beth handed him the Lullaby. “On Wednesday at three p.m., you'll be assigned to work laundry duty with Roberto Torres, the leader of the Sinners. The guard on duty in the laundry room is Officer Fitch. He's an incredibly lazy asshole who spends half his time dozing and the other half jerking off in the bathroom. When no one's looking, I need you to use this to kill Roberto, then stash his body so no one finds it until he doesn't show up for count and they have to go looking for him. Remember, go for his throat or his heart. Anything lower than that, he could survive and it's all been a waste of time. Then, when he's dead, you put this in his hand before you hide the body.”

 

She gave Cartwright the stolen name tag.

 

“I don't understand,” he murmured. “What is this? What's your plan?”

 

“My plan is to give you a chance to put down the animal who's been torturing you, without buying yourself a longer sentence or payback from the Sinners. You want it, or not?”

 

“Sure,” Cartwright nodded. “Sure, I can do that.”

 

“Good. Just remember, it has to be on Wednesday between three and four o'clock. You kill him at any other time, or you use this shiv for any other reason, and I'll make it my personal mission to ensure that you never make parole. Got it?”

 

“Uh-huh. Thanks.”

 

Cartwright hid the shiv and name tag, then waddled off slowly, leaving Beth to wonder if his broken mind would make him deviate from the plan and ruin the whole thing.

 

But when Wednesday came and Roberto Torres didn't show up for count before lights-out, Beth looked over at Cartwright and saw him give her an almost imperceptible nod.

 

The alarms blared and Bluebonnet was locked down as Beth joined the other guards in their search for Roberto. Finally, word came in from the laundry room that he'd been found stuffed into an industrial dryer. There was a washcloth stuffed into his mouth, his throat had been slashed from ear to ear, and his genitals had been severed and placed neatly into his pocket.

 

And Captain Butler's name tag was in his hand, as though it had been ripped off during a struggle.

 

Warden Quayle was summoned to the scene of the grisly murder, and Butler was called in at once, still wearing his civilian clothes. Beth stood with the other guards, watching as Quayle pointed to the name tag clutched in the dead man's fingers.

 

“Captain Butler, what is the meaning of this?”

 

Butler stared at the name tag in disbelief. “I don't know how that got there, sir. Obviously, I had nothing to do with this. I was off-duty today.”

 

“Really? Then surely, we can clear all of this up as soon as you provide a solid alibi for where you were during the period of three to four o'clock this afternoon.”

 

Butler's eyes grew wide, and his face grew flushed as he stammered. “I was...I mean, I...I...”

 

You can't, Beth thought with a flash of righteous triumph. Your alibi is that you were balls-deep in a schoolgirl, you fucking pig. Just like you are every Wednesday once school lets out.

 

“I see,” Quayle replied tightly. “I'm afraid I'll have to suspend you from duty until all of this has been worked out. We'll take you into custody until the proper authorities arrive. Officer Lindhurst will assume your responsibilities in the interim. But between you and me, Butler, this is one disciplinary hearing I highly doubt you'll emerge from unscathed. A fiasco like this can cost a man his career, and even put him behind bars.”

 

Butler was dragged away by a few of the other guards, still spluttering and protesting.

 

Beth smiled inwardly.

 

Phase One of their plan was complete.