Act I The automated warning had already sounded. Thirty seconds remained. Twenty-seven-year-old Rachel Morgan held the wall-mounted receiver close, her eyes wet beneath the cold fluorescent lights…

Act I The nurse had already called Margaret Ellis’s name when the medicine slip disappeared from her hand. At fifty-eight, Margaret moved carefully through the prison clinic…

Act I The chair leaned visibly to the left. Not enough to collapse. Enough that nobody could pretend it had passed inspection. Forty-one-year-old inmate Daniel Mercer stood…

Act I The old woman’s hand stayed against the glass for only a few seconds. That was enough for Officer Bradley Knox. Twenty-nine-year-old inmate Ryan Walker stood…

Act I The law book was sitting unused less than three feet away. That was what made it worse. Thirty-three-year-old Daniel Mercer stood at the end of…

Act I The water had barely reached Rebecca Hale’s shoes when she apologized. Twenty-two-year-old Emma Carter stood on the wet tile with a cleaning towel in one…

Act I Aaron Miles was already struggling to keep up when Officer Grant Keller ordered the line to move faster. Thirty-year-old Aaron limped through the narrow cellblock…

Act I The gray uniform landed in the wrong cart. That was the entire mistake. Twenty-eight-year-old inmate Sarah Collins saw it immediately and reached for the shirt…

Act I The patch of winter sunlight was barely three feet wide. Sixty-seven-year-old Harold Mercer stood inside it with both hands gripping the front of his faded…