Last Seen Alive

Chapter Twenty-Two

Song: Oblivion by Bastille

The prison loomed ahead of them, with walls so grey, even the sky above the prison looked less bright. Almost as if the prison was sucking the life out of it. 

The area was clear of trees, which—as Michael explained to Kelsey—was standard practice for prisons so anyone escaping or planning to infiltrate the building would be easily seen and captured.

Michael stopped the car at the boom gate and a prison guard approached from a small structure just inside the gate. He handed his badge over and told the guard his business there.

"And the lady?" he asked, nodding at Kelsey when he gave Michael his badge back.

She leaned over the centre console and angled her face to see the guard better through the window. Her hair brushed against Michael's chin when she did so, showering him with a fruity scent and a mad urge to run his hands through the soft curls.

"I'm his plus one," she announced proudly, bringing him back to the present.

He choked on a laugh and she turned her head toward him, an innocent look on her face. From this angle, she was close enough for him to see that her lips were twitching with the struggle not to laugh and ruin her façade of innocence.

"It's a badge, not a wedding invitation, Harris," he said, barely containing the urge to laugh himself.

"Ahh, well, it was worth a shot," she shrugged, drawing back to her seat.

"She's helping me with an investigation so I brought her along," he explained to the guard.

"Okayyy," the guard dragged the word out. "Unfortunately, we're in the middle of transferring an entire wing of prisoners so I can't let anyone in without a badge or proper credentials for security's sake."

"The rules say the prison can grant the right of passage to anyone accompanied by an officer of the law."

"And how do I know she's not forcing you to get her in so she can help a prisoner escape?"

"Does she look like someone who can force me to do anything?" Michael scoffed.

"Hey!" Kelsey protested, slapping his arm in annoyance.

The guard shook his head. "It doesn't matter what it looks like to me. These were orders from the Head Office. If you'd like to challenge the law, you can take it up with them."

Kelsey sighed. "It's okay, I can just wait in the car. We're wasting time out here you could be using to get information that will lead us to Scottie and Lydia."

"If I didn't need you in there, I wouldn't have let you one foot outside Pinehive, let alone to a whole other city," Michael said.

He stared out the window, deep in thought before letting out a long, drawn-out breath and grabbing his phone from the dashboard with a look of resignation.

Kelsey watched him curiously as he made a call and put the phone to his ear, face hard as stone.

"I need a favour," he said, skipping all pleasantries, and that only made her more curious.

"I need to see a prisoner with my associate, but she doesn't have a badge and the prison guard says they can't let her in because of some law your office introduced and a transfer that's going on."

He paused, listening to whatever the other person was saying, then rolled his eyes and said, "Not that it matters, but yes, it's her."

He was definitely talking about her. Kelsey raised an eyebrow at him when he glanced at her but he quickly looked away again.