Page 43 of The Chain House
“Don’t they ever.”
“Is it him?” Sam asked. “Is that Justice Minks?”
“Yes,” Batise said. “Although even I only saw him a few times without his mask.”
Bingo, Sam thought. “Did he always wear the Guy Fawkes mask?”
“No, he had several others. That was just his favorite.”
“Who was he to you?”
“He was part of The Collective.”
“Was he in your inner circle?”
Just when Sam thought he wouldn’t respond, Batise said, “Yes.”
“Did he live in your house, on the ranch?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“He arrived four months before …”
“The massacre?” Sam asked. Batise nodded, solemnly almost, maybe as close as he’d get to ever admitting his involvement. “Some called him your Bruce Davis. Or Tex Watson. Was he your right-hand man?”
Batise extended his right arm, wiggled the fingers on his right hand theatrically. “Oh, I don’t know about that. But we did have our talks, he and I.”
“What would you talk about?”
“Life,” he said. “The future.”
“And what does this have to do with Mallard Malone?”
“Because Minks must have gotten his hands on the book. The final one,” Batise said. “Book One.”
“Why does this surprise you?”
“Because he’s not in the chain.”
“Billy Boyle smuggled the manuscripts from the prison. Who was next? What did Boyle do with them? Who handled the correspondence with the publisher? With the editor? Who handles the money, Sal?”
“Now we’re in overload, Sam Harper. Too many questions at once. Don’t be a novice.”
“How could Justice Minks have gotten his hands on the final book if he’s not in the chain?”
“He’s clever. And ruthless. And he won’t stop until he gets what he wants.”
“What do you think he wants?”
Batise leaned back in his chair, as if to think, but Sam couldn’t tell if his movements and mannerisms were coming from a true place or were just amusing theater to him. He tried again, knowing he was getting close to something, knowing Batise would stop talking when the warden returned. “You said earlier that Minks must be Mallard Malone’s biggest fan. Why?”
Batise leaned forward again, as if to speak out of the guards’ earshot. “Because in the final book, Sam Harper, Oliver Crown abducts the governor’s wife.”
Sam glanced toward the office door. “Why? Why, in the book, does Oliver Crown abduct the governor’s wife?”
“Because in the last book, The Breakout, there’s a certain someone on death row. The leader of a famous cult he called The Collective. And they lived on a ranch known as Freedom. And he’s made a career on death row of … of … finding ways to stay his execution. But he’s due to die in less than twenty-four hours, when …” he gestured toward Sam, as if asking him to finish his thought.
