Page 8 of Pieces of Perfect
Lorelei dialed Serenity and together they added Reagan to the call.
“So what do you think?” Reagan asked after Lorelei read Greenstone’s letter aloud. “Will this trip be worth it?”
“We have to take the chance,” Serenity replied.
“I agree with Serenity,” Lorelei said. She’d already decided she owed that much to the woman who’d tried to take her in and care for her as a baby. But she couldn’t say she knew what to make of Greenstone’s response. He seemed polite and well-educated. But was he truly interested in helping them?
That remained to be seen.
CHAPTER FIVE
Three weeks later, Lorelei met her sisters in Memphis, where they rented a car for the ninety-minute drive to Parchman, which was located in unincorporated Sunflower County in the Mississippi Delta region.
“This is quite the notorious prison. You know that, right?” Serenity said as she pulled into the lot designated for visitors and put the car in Park. She’d insisted on being the one to drive, saying it helped with the motion sickness that came on so easily since she’d gotten pregnant.
Lorelei got out the passenger side and watched as Reagan covered her eyes to shield them from a broiling hot sun as she left the backseat.
“Notorious in what way?” Reagan asked.
“Corruption, abuse, gang violence.” Serenity opened the trunk so they could put their cell phones and purses inside. “The structure itself is falling apart. You’ve never heard about this place?”
“No.” Reagan sent them each a worried look. “Is there a reason I should have? Has it been in the news recently?”
Serenity closed the trunk. “What I read on the internet was from a little over a year ago. That’s pretty recent.”
They all made sure they had their I.D.s.
Reagan slid hers in the pocket of her black slacks as they started toward the entrance. “You read up on the prison?”
“I was curious,” Serenity said with a shrug.
Lorelei had Googled “Parchman Farm,” too. She’d been so anxious about this visit that she’d followed quite a few of the links and read several articles. “Back in 1901, when the Mississippi legislature bought the Parchman Plantation so they could build a prison here, they set up a system where they used a few trusted prisoners to help the guards keep the others in line—trusties, they were called—and they used a big whip for discipline.”
Reagan looked appalled. “I can only imagine how well that worked out.”
“Apparently, it worked better than what came after,” Serenity said. “Or just as well. Gangs have taken over where the trusties left off.”
“I read about that, too,” Lorelei said. “I don’t know if it’s still true, but there was a time in the not-so-distant past when gang leaders were calling the shots here, including where various inmates would be housed.”
“Where were all the correctional officers?” Reagan asked. “What were they doing?”
“This prison has been severely understaffed for years,” Serenity said. “They’ve tried to get enough money from the legislature to raise salaries, but I couldn’t find anything that indicated they ever received it.”
“Morale was low, people were quitting left and right,” Lorelei added.
Serenity lifted her long dark hair and began to fan herself to relieve the heat. “And that sort of thing filters over to theinmates, you know? A couple years ago, they had nine deaths in one month.”
Reagan wiped off the sweat that was beginning to bead on her forehead. Lorelei was hot, too, but she was used to the heat and humidity in the South. Reagan and Serenity couldn’t seem to get over how hot and sticky it was. “You mean they were taken out by rival gang members?”
“Some were killed that way,” Serenity told her. “But not all of them. There’ve been quite a few suicides, too. Conditions here are said to be deplorable.”
Lorelei agreed. “Some of the pictures I saw online showed water pouring into the prison whenever it rains.”
Giving up on trying to cool herself off, Serenity dropped her hair. “Not to mention toilets that don’t work, sinks that are missing, food and water that are unsanitary, rats the size of cats.” She waved a hand. “You name it.”
“And you two are only saying somethingnow?” Reagan muttered. “What are we doing here again?”
“We’re going to meet Daddy Dearest,” Serenity joked.
