by D. A. Maddox
From Robbie’s parents, nothing.
Stupid, she thought, wearily starting the quarter mile concrete and linoleum trek through the halls of protective custody to her overnight office. Even if you beat the charges against you, you will never win reelection if you abandon your son, Senator McNeal. And I am sure that is all that matters to you.
Robbie’s system was regular, but slow. He was asleep already. Good.
She’d go through a whole pot of coffee before morning, she was sure, keeping tabs on his vitals. He still had the “vitamins” in his bloodstream. He’d wake up three or four times just by popping wood in the night.
“The healthy thing to do will be to take care of it,” she’d told him, helping him back into the jumpsuit. “You will sleep better, after. No one will be watching. You will not see another soul until the morning comes.”
She didn’t mind staying the night. Right now, in the “small hall” for their few female inmates, her husband would be working straight through until Monday, planning and interviewing volunteers for the judicial debasement of one Cassie Stratham. Evidently, she had given quite the interesting interview. And so, Nurse Reyes-Garcia didn’t exactly have anything to go home to tonight.
But at the end of “D” hall, at the top of the small flight of steps that terminated at her office door, she found she had a visitor—none other than Madison Louise Piper.
“Hi,” she said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, which she quickly—and more than a little sheepishly—tucked into her purse. She straightened her glasses, made a feeble attempt at a smile. “Sorry to bother you.”
She was sitting on the top step. Her hands were trembling.
“Hello,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia said. “What brings you to my door at this hour, Miss Piper?”
And who got you in here?
“Can I talk to you for a minute? I’m really sorry.”
She ascended the steps, opened her door. She passed inside, flicked on the light, giving Maddy her back but leaving the door open. She drew out her phone. Sent a quick text to both Officer Thompson and Officer Kersey, thinking it unlikely either of them would answer.
“Nurse Reyes-Garcia?” Maddy said, her voice plaintive, bordering on distraught.
“Come in,” she said. “Have a seat. Wait for a minute. I need to inform my colleagues that you are here. It is most irregular.”
Maddy came in, demurely taking the folding metal chair instead of the nice one by the desk. Fresh trepidation clouded her lovely countenance. She really was quite fetching with that look on her face.
“I suppose you did not know any better,” she said. “Do not be so concerned. I do not think you will find yourself in any real trouble.”
Maddy took a breath and let it out, wiping away fresh tears. “I think I already am,” she said, balling her hands into fists, putting them determinedly in her lap. “I … have a confession to make, ma’am.”
“Really?” said Nurse Reyes-Garcia. “How interesting.”
Her phone beeped. Officer Kersey.
Yeah, boss?
Nurse Reyes-Garcia turned from Maddy again to answer. Little sniffles in the background. Are you still on the grounds? she texted, making Maddy wait with her, not speaking to her.
Just barely. One foot out the door.
A quick glance over her shoulder. Maddy ran her fingers through her hair, blinked those big, green eyes at the floor. Delightful.
Do not go home yet.
“Stay here,” she said to Maddy, adopting the tone she used for new inmates on Day One. “I need to call someone.”
Not her husband. Alejandro and his crew were not an option for Madison Piper, not with all they already had on their plate. Pity.
She returned to the stairs, to the hall, shutting Maddy in her office alone.
****
“So, as I understand it,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia said as it drew on toward midnight and the box of Kleenex on her desk grew increasingly depleted, “you and the other girls knew Robbie was coming and did nothing to stop him. You waited for him deliberately.”
“Yes,” Maddy said, her voice scarcely more than a breath. She felt as though a hole were widening beneath her feet, a veritable well of hopelessness and shame. “That’s right.”
And she waited. Judgment would follow. Harsh words, then probably another call. There’d be charges against all three of them. She’d lose her best friends—and then there would be another price to pay. What would her parents think?
“Miss Piper,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia went on, her features softening somewhat, “I am no lawyer, but you’ve broken no law I ever heard of. You did not encourage Robbie to commit this crime. There was no incitement. You did not say, ‘Hey, Robbie, how about you crawl through this ceiling to the girls’ toilet and watch me shampoo my hair?’”
Maddy was surprised at herself when an errant giggle escaped her lips. “Well, no,” she managed, rolling her eyes. “Not when you put it like that.”
“No. But Michael did—or so believes Officer Jenny, based on a slipup he made during her training session with him—”
“Wait,” Maddy said, and was surprised at her success when Nurse Reyes-Garcia paused. “What?”
“Something about him knowing his way around the gymnasium attic. About working there as a janitor, I believe.”
But now it was Maddy who paused. She was stricken, stunned.
“If anything,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia then said, “you are guilty only of waiting to report him. There might be a minor violation there—or that may be stretching it, since you have come forward with this information tonight. As I said, I am no lawyer.”
“Still feel pretty rotten about it,” she muttered. Relief—and a new anger—heated her blood in waves and rivers.
“You should feel rotten about it,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia answered simply. “It was a real queen-bitch thing to do. We all have done things we would take back, if we could. In your case, what you have done could easily be rectified by an activation of our Special Penitents’ Clause, if you were willing to put it on paper. No reasonable person would argue you didn’t deserve it.”
Maddy’s eyes widened. What was Nurse Reyes-Garcia suggesting?
“But as I see it, you should not be making this confession only to me, Miss Piper.”
Maddy nodded. “You’re right,” she said. “I should make it to Robbie.”
But the slight upturn at the corner of the nurse’s lips made her uneasy.
“To Robbie,” she agreed, “and to the world, perhaps?”
“I’m sorry,” Maddy said. “What do you mean, ma’am?”
“Absolution, Miss Piper,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia answered. “Your own peace of mind.”
“But … how?”
“I can arrange it, Maddy. It is my specialty.” She stood, offered her hand. “But you must be very, very certain it is what you want.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Fulfillment
By then, the special Bonus Extended Episode of Consequences, Live! was already underway.
Nurse Reyes-Garcia had known all along from Officer Thompson about what Madison Piper, Jasmine Forshay, and Heather Westley had done. She’d filed the report on Michael Schulsky right after Thompson had shown her the video of Maddy’s “punishment” at the hands of her friends. Had Nurse Reyes-Garcia learned about it in time, she never would have allowed Michael to take part in Robbie’s discipline.
Based on that video, she had anticipated Maddy’s confession, and was surprised only at how long it had taken her to make it.
And so, at the same time Nurse Reyes-Garcia had offered the young woman her box of tissues, Officer Kersey was already scrambling to get the TV crew back online. They’d run it on an hour’s delay, just in case Maddy got cold feet at the critical moment. Didn’t want to tease the audience and then not deliver. It would be the replay, prime time Saturday night, that got the most viewers.
Not that Helena Reyes-Garcia cared much about any of that. The audience served only to
amplify the humiliation, thus enhancing the effectiveness of a young person’s discipline. It would almost equalize the penalty Robbie had paid. Almost.
None of this, she reflected, leading Maddy by the arm down the hall that led to Intake and Processing, exonerated Robbie. He had done wrong. Later, he had exonerated himself by paying the price. He had deserved much of what had been done to him—but he also deserved this.
“The handcuffs look good on you, Miss Piper,” she said. “How do you feel?”
“Frightened,” Maddy whispered, head down. “I don’t know if I can do this.”
“You will be fine, Miss Piper,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia said. “I will make certain of it.”
****
Robbie sat up, stared down at his loins. “Really?” he said aloud. “Dude, are you serious?”
A knock at his cell door. Robbie sat back, surprised. It had to be past midnight—and no one ever knocked at his cell door.
From the other side, a man’s voice, vaguely familiar: “Mr. McNeal, you’re up?”
In more ways than one, Robbie thought, then stood, straightening his jumpsuit as best he could to cover his involuntary erection. “Sort of,” he said, finding his eyes still dry, even with the bottle of water on his nightstand all but gone. “Not really sleeping well tonight.”
“Got something for you,” said the voice, and Robbie remembered Officer Bernie Davies from Intake, the well-clipped mustache and the sharp widow’s peak. “I’m coming in, okay?”
Why was everyone being so polite to him now? It was disorienting. “Sure,” Robbie said, shrugging at no one, helpless to quell his own sarcasm. “Schedule’s kind of wide open.”
The lock clicked, and in Officer Davies came, bearing with him another set of what looked like his clothes from court. “Sorry for the hour,” he said, “but you’ve got a surprise visitor, and you’re to look presentable. Orders from Nurse Reyes-Garcia.”
A visitor? Now? What the hell?
“If those are just going to get wired to stripping cables, I think I’ll just keep the old ball-and-chain PJ’s.”
Officer Davies snickered. “Oh, no, you won’t. You’re still a prisoner here. You will do what I tell you. And these are your real clothes, Mr. McNeal. Those others were show props.”
“Yeah. Figured that one out on my own, thanks. Who’s the visitor?”
It’s Dad, Robbie thought. There was no one else he could imagine who might have the power to wrangle a jail visit with him outside of normal visiting hours—and who would want him to look “presentable”. It’s got to be Dad. Damn it. Couldn’t he have waited until tomorrow?
Officer Davies’s answer only cemented his confidence in the guess.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” he said. “Let’s go, kid. Get your things on.”
Robbie complied, resigned to this impending bit of unpleasantness. But when he pulled the pants on, he realized that he’d been wrong. Someone had planted a small gift in the front left pocket. And whatever the giver had been thinking when he (or she) had planted it, it certainly had had nothing to do with Robbie’s father.
****
Maddy stepped out of the Intake station and into the hall. At the end of it there was a door labeled “Interview Room”. It was where Nurse Reyes-Garcia had said they’d be going. It would be where Robbie would be waiting for her.
She looked down on herself, to her hands folded in front of her at the waist, to the steel cuffs encircling her wrists, to her feet that wore only plain white socks. Unlike Robbie’s green jumpsuit, hers was red. It was short-sleeved, nearly to the shoulders. There was no undershirt, but Nurse Reyes-Garcia had allowed her to keep her bra and panties.
After the inspection.
“Well, you were not lying,” she’d said, with her head right between Maddy’s legs, with her fingers parting her in a clinical, almost casual way—then wiping her moistened index finger against the inside of Maddy’s thigh. “We are close to the point of no returning. Are you sure you want to go through with this?”
The nurse had had her phone out. Audio-only for now, she had promised. She needed a record of consent, she’d said, prior to the signed relinquishment of rights—especially since Maddy was, technically speaking, still as free as anyone her age could be in the United States of America.
But the official paperwork would follow. After that, she’d have no say in what happened to her.
“I—I don’t know,” Maddy had stammered. “But … I have to. Yes. Yes, I’m sure.”
“Heather and Jasmine did not seem so conflicted. They are back at their school dormitory by now, most likely asleep, completely untroubled by any of this.”
“That’s them,” Maddy had said, suddenly defiant in spite of the fact that this frumpy woman in her forties was staring between her legs with an expression that was almost hungry. “This is me.”
Robbie won’t hurt me, she’d said to herself. Over and over again, she repeated those words in her mind.
And, God, she’d actually gotten wet for Robbie’s nurse—whose hand now once again closed over Maddy’s arm at the elbow crease, gentle but surprisingly strong. It was a grip that communicated reassurance but no compromise. “Time, dear,” she said. “Forward march.”
Maddy sucked in her breath and shuffled forward, knees rubbery with apprehension. The door before her seemed to grow all too quickly, the distance shrinking as though seen through a zoom lens. Here we go, she thought. I’m really doing this.
“Honey, breathe,” Nurse Reyes-Garcia said. “My word, why must all of you young people insist on not breathing?”
Maddy let her wind out through her teeth, which she had to clench to keep from chattering.
But between her legs, a slow and strangely comforting fire burned.
****
If Robbie had felt some surprise at the return of Officer Kersey and her tripod camera, it was as nothing compared to the look of shock and mortification written all over Maddy’s face when Nurse Reyes-Garcia brought her in. Her wide eyes were fixed on that camera as Officer Kersey focused it on her, panning a slow rising shot from her socks, past her shackled middle, and up to the hot blush high in her cheeks.
But as soon as she was in the room, however distracted by the camera she may have been, Robbie saw only her—in a prison uniform.
“Matron, what—” he started, briefly engaging Nurse Reyes-Garcia.
Maddy turned to him. “It’s okay,” she said through trembling lips. “Robbie, I’ll explain.”
“Did you do something? Are you in trouble?”
“Yes,” she said. “And … yes.”
And just like that, she was crying. Robbie wanted to run to her, to comfort her. She was only ten feet away, still right by the door.
But Officer Davies caught him at the shoulder. “Wait, son,” he said. “Let her talk.” Then, to Officer Kersey. “My, she’s a cute one, ain’t she?”
Officer Kersey shrugged. “Fucking cock-tease is what she is. If you’ve seen one teenage whore, you’ve seen them all.”
Okay, Robbie thought. She’s back to playing bad cop again. Jesus, what an asshole.
“Hold on,” he said, suddenly angry, and also feeling an instinctive need to protect Maddy against this abuse, which he couldn’t imagine how she had earned. “Stop with that, already. Right now.” Then, “Will somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Officer Davies: “I said, let her talk, Robbie.”
Nurse Reyes-Garcia, to Maddy: “Go ahead. Speak your piece.”
Maddy brought her head up, eyes streaming in front of the camera. She was suddenly, oddly serene in spite of the tears. “It’s your punishment, Robbie. I could have stopped it. I could have prevented all of this.”
Robbie tilted his head, curious.
“I’m not—well, it’s not like I’m under arrest, or anything. But I just had to tell you … I mean, this is kind of voluntary on my part…” Here, she turned her hands wrists-up, miserably showcasing the cuffs f
or all to enjoy. “But I deserve it. I could have just stopped you, Robbie. I should have stopped you, but I didn’t.”
Oh, I get it, he thought. That.
“And I took part in your punishment. I … took money for doing it. And—and I’m sorry.” She seemed to choke on every word.
But of course she’d been paid. God only knew what the state was making in TV revenues, thanks to her. As for the rest, he’d already deduced all of that on his own. Naturally, they’d known he was coming. They’d been fully dressed when, like a dumbass, he’d accidentally revealed himself. None of this was news to him, none of it surprising—
But to Maddy, it was still hell. And this was how she had decided to deal with it, to escape that hell. By offering herself up for some small share of the punishment Robbie had received.
God, he thought, is this really happening?
Maddy, do you really want this?
He didn’t get it. She’d done nothing wrong. But…
For some, Nurse Reyes-Garcia had said, it would be wish fulfillment.
And there she stood by Maddy’s side, holding her out in front of her like a mother might reveal a long-coveted gift to her favorite son on his birthday.
“It would have been different,” Maddy said, her words gathering coherence and a little strength, “if Michael hadn’t told me you were going to do what you did. It would have been different if you’d … seen anything, I guess. If you’d gotten away with it and been somehow caught later, but—”
Robbie eased out from Davies’s grip on his shoulder. He came around the interview table, cut the distance between him and Maddy by half. But there he stopped and regarded her. He’d never imagined her in such—what was his Matron’s word for it?
Distress. Maddy was a damsel in distress. Yeah. That worked.
“Do you wish I’d gotten away with it?” he asked evenly.