by Geonn Cannon
“Worst part of prison? Boredom.”
Ari opened her eyes and saw who had spoken: Elise Gilpin. She was leaning against the door to Ari’s cell, smiling nervously.
“Sorry to disturb your nap. I saw you come in here and thought maybe we could hang out. My cellmate is kind of... terrifying? I’ve never seen her sleep, and I think she has bullet scars on her back.”
“Come on in,” Ari said. “I don’t know where my cellmate is, but she won’t mind if you sit on her bed for a while.”
Elise came into the cell and sat down. “Cool, thanks.” She smoothed her hands over the knees of her uniform. “I just can’t get comfortable in here. I’ve never been good about strange places. Hotels and stuff like that. So this is kind of like the absolute worst case scenario for me.”
“I was just thinking it was like college,” Ari said.
“Did you go to college?”
“No.”
Elise smiled. “So you mean it reminds you of the movie version of college.”
Ari said, “Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Nothing wrong with that.” She started to pull her feet up on the mattress, then seemed to change her mind since it was someone else’s bed. “So the story is starting to get around about you. Private investigator, wrongfully accused. Some people even claim to have read about you in the news.”
“Missing Melody?” Ari said.
“No, Katherine Gavin. I used to read about her daughter all the time in the tabloids. I was glad to hear she’d actually managed to stay clean. People are saying you’re the one who made sure people knew she was on the straight and narrow when she died.”
Ari said, “Wow. Information travels fast in here.”
Elise shrugged. “You jumped the boogieman for no reason. That got people talking. A couple of people happened to recognize your name, so gossip spread like wildfire. I participated ‘cause it kept them from focusing on me. So thank you for the camouflage.”
“Happy to help.”
“So is it true?”
“Depends on the story, I guess,” Ari said. “Katherine Gavin, that was me. Missing Melody, yes.”
Elise said, “The gist is that you’re some kind of do-gooder who defends the little guy. You go after bad guys everyone else thinks are too big to take down.”
“The underdogs,” Ari said.
“Yeah.”
Ari said, “I try. I’ve been the little guy. Hell, I think I still am the little guy. But I’m good at what I do, and I’ve gained enough success that I can work for the people who need help the most.”
“I respect that.”
Segura arrived at that moment. Ari looked past her to see she was being “escorted” by Vogel. Segura looked at Elise and pressed her hand against her chest.
“I leave for five minutes and you’ve already got a new roommate? I expected a little loyalty from you after everything we’ve been through.”
Elise was already up off the bed. “Sorry about that. Willow and I came in at the same time, so I thought we should stick together a little.”
Segura said, “I’m just teasing. Feel free to stay and chat.”
Ari looked at Vogel and noticed the collar of her uniform blouse was flipped. She gestured to her own collar as casually as possible. Vogel reached up, felt what was wrong, and fixed it. She nodded her thanks to Ari.
“I should probably get back to my own cell before lights out. Right, officer?”
“Probably smart,” Vogel said.
Ari was already getting accustomed to the rhythms and rituals of prison life, and that meant being in bed and bored for the next little while until she was actually able to sleep. She’d gotten a book from the prison library, even though part of her imagined only getting halfway through it before she was a free woman again. It would be a hassle to find another copy at the public library or buying a copy at an actual store. Even worse would be if she managed to finish the book while she was still in prison. That would mean something. It would mean she really was a prisoner and there was no quick fix to the situation.
She left the book where it was and settled her mind. For once, she was in a mess that she couldn’t do anything to fix. She couldn’t go out and beat down doors or question people. Her life was entirely in the hands of Dale and the British pack. The Brits had saved her ass once before, so she wasn’t concerned about that. And Dale...? What wouldn’t she trust Dale with? She had provoked a madwoman into kicking her ass on Dale’s say-so. She’d let her mother bite her because of a plan that Dale came up with. There was no limit to how far she trusted Dale.
There was no way to know when exactly Dale went from her friend and employee to something more. She knew that love had turned to being in love well before they went to bed together. But as for the moment when she first looked at Dale and saw something more than just her best friend...?
She remembered an afternoon when they’d been working together for about three years. It was winter, and Dale called in sick. It was the first time since hiring her that Ari had been all on her own, and she realized not only how much it sucked, but how much she didn’t want to do it if Dale hadn’t been there. So she’d closed down the office at noon and went to Freshy’s to get some soup. She didn’t know when she began to fall asleep, when her memories morphed into dreams, but sometime before lights-out she was back in the building where Dale lived when they first met.
The door opened to reveal Dale, in two layers of sweats, holding a mask of Kleenex over the lower half of her face. At some point she’d tried to tame her hair with a Scrunchie, but now it had amassed on one side of her head like a living creature clinging to her skull. She was wearing her glasses, which she very rarely did in public.
“Don’t come in.”
Ari smiled and held up the to-go bag. “Chicken and rice!”
“I’m serious. Both our paychecks depend on you not getting sick. I can’t infect you.”
Ari brushed past her into the apartment. “The wolf is very resilient,” she said. “Come on, you need to eat.” She took the soup to the couch and kicked away some balled-up Kleenex. The TV was showing a muted sitcom on a syndicated channel. Ari sat down and opened the bag, taking out the two containers of soup. Dale shuffled over to join her. “I didn’t know if you would feel like having crackers, so I got you crackers. You can just leave them in the bag if you’re not up to it.”
“Thank you,” Dale said meekly. She dropped onto the couch and sniffed, coughed, and groaned. “It does smell good.”
“You can smell it?”
“No. It just seemed like a nice thing to say.”
Ari smiled. “Well, take my word for it, it does smell good.” She looked at the TV. “Oh, I remember this one. Antonio is using that dog to pick up women even though he’s allergic.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Man, the nineties... sometimes I miss them. Hey, if you ever want to use the wolf to pick up chicks in the park, I’d happily be your wingwoman. Wingwolf. Wing... something.” She looked and saw that Dale had slumped over, chin on her shoulder and arms wrapped around herself. “Aw, poor kid...”
She gently guided Dale down so she was more horizontal, then searched for a blanket to draw over her. Dale only began struggling when Ari tucked it around her shoulders.
“No, too hot...”
“Okay... okay.” Ari left the blanket at Dale’s waist. “Is that good?”
“Mm.”
Ari smiled. She plucked some of the used Kleenex off the couch and moved them to a trash can. The stuffiness made her breathe oddly. She looked like she was dying. Ari reached out and used two fingers to brush a stray hair away from Dale’s lips and then used the back of her hand to test Dale’s temperature. Warm, but not dangerously so. She was probably going to be okay soon. Sitting on the couch, seeing her in pain and unable to do anything to help, made her realize just how deep her feelings ran. She touched Dale’s cheek again and Dale shifted on the cushion.
“Am I drooling on the pillow?”
“No,” Ari said, smiling.
“Good.” She burrowed deeper into the back of the couch. “Thank you for taking care of me. You’re a good puppy.”
Ari laughed out loud. “No one calls me puppy.”
“I do.”
Ari began to argue, then decided she didn’t care. She patted Dale’s hand, which was still loosely clinging to one of her Kleenex. “Okay,” she said, assuming Dale wouldn’t remember it when she woke up. “You can call me puppy if you want to.”
It was the first and last time Dale had used the pet name until they started dating. Ari couldn’t remember her using it before that day, so maybe it really had been a turning point in their relationship. Whatever it was hadn’t been clear in the moment. Ari just knew she had a swelling of affection for the woman who had dropped into her life and made everything easier and more fun, and helping her feel better in a time of need was the least she could do.
She moved Dale’s feet, laying them across her lap, and retrieved the remote so she could unmute the rest of the TV show.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Dale was moving so quickly that she passed Diana in the police department lobby without seeing her. Diana stopped and called out her name, and Dale skidded to a stop to go back.
“What’s wrong?” Diana asked.
“Someone’s going to try and kill Ari in prison.”
Diana said, “Come with me.”
Dale explained her reasoning as she walked with Diana out to her car. “It could be another prisoner or a guard who has been paid off.” She pushed her fingers into her hair and scratched, face twisted with worry. “How likely is this, Diana? Be honest with me. Am I just driving myself crazy here?”
They had arrived at Diana’s car, and unlocking the door gave her a chance to think before she answered. “Prison is dangerous, obviously. And Cecily has a lot of influence even without the whole succubus thing you mentioned. But there have to be limits to her reach. No matter how powerful she or her firm might be, she can’t just call up a murder in prison. That being said, I think we should at least warn Ari or the guards that something could happen. Just in case.”
“That’s all I ask. Thank you.”
“Hey, don’t run off. I didn’t think the fingerprints on the car would go anywhere, but we actually got a lead. Two perfect prints on the driver’s side door matched a guy named Hector Cook. He’s got a string of charges... assault, domestic violence, breaking and entering, car theft - but there’s one thing in common with them all: GG&M always gets the charges dismissed.”
Dale said, “Why would they bother with him? Sounds like a common punk.”
“And how does he afford them? His nonsense is well below their pay grade. So I figured it was worth a visit to see what he had to say. You’re welcome to come along, but you have to stay in the car.”
“Absolutely.”
When they were on the road, Dale said, “Thank you for everything you’re doing for this case. I know you probably have your own cases to deal with.”
Diana said, “My lieutenant is giving me some leeway on this one since he agrees there’s something hinky going on. He trusts my instincts.”
“Does he know you and Ari used to date?”
“Uh...” She shrugged. “He knows we work together a lot. There’s no need to tell him the whole sordid history of how we met.”
Dale said, “Probably not.”
She looked out the window. Their route to Hector Cook’s home took them past downtown. Even though the “correctional facility” wasn’t visible from where they were, Dale imagined she could feel it when they drove past. Part of her had always been aware of its presence, but now it was like a dark and ominous hole in the middle of the city she loved. Ari was there, she was locked away and out of reach, and that made it the most horrible place in the world.
“Ari is going to be okay,” Diana said softly.
“I know.” She faced forward and said it again, louder. “I know. She always is, right? She always gets out of whatever jam she gets into. But it just takes once, Diana. And if this is the one time she doesn’t get out of it, then she’s either in prison for the rest of her life or she gets killed in the next few days. Forgive me for worrying.”
Diana drove in silence for almost a mile before she spoke. “Every time Lucy goes in for a treatment, I worry there will be some horrible discovery or the medicine will stop working. I go in every time bracing myself for a doctor to come out and tell me I should start preparing for the worst. She probably thinks the same thing every time I leave for work. I wish there was some easy answer or that it goes away, but it doesn’t. It can’t. Worry comes with the love.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Dale said. “Logically, I mean. Physically, I could do without the butterflies in my stomach every time Ari’s out of my sight.”
“Side effects of love are so harsh. We should just dump them both and drive off into the sunset, Thelma and Louise style.”
“Become nuns,” Dale said.
“It would be so much less stressful.”
Dale said, “Yeah. Less sex, though.”
“Oh, god, you’re right. Never mind.”
Dale laughed. “Thanks for taking my mind off of it, though.”
Diana said, “No problem.”
Hector Cook’s address directed them to an acupuncturist shop in the International District. Diana parked at the curb and double-checked her information. “One-A.” She leaned forward to look at the building through the windshield. There was an open stairwell next to the shop entrance. “I guess that means apartments on the second floor. Stay here.”
“I could be back-up.”
“Stay in the car,” Diana said again. She unfastened her seatbelt and got out of the car. As she crossed in front, a man came down the stairs. Dale had seen his picture when Diana checked the file and knew he was the guy, and Diana recognized him as well. “Hector Cook?”
He half-turned toward her. “What do you want?”
“I need to ask you a few questions about your lawyers.”
Cook turned to face her fully. Dale didn’t see the gun before it exploded at waist-level; it had barely cleared his belt before he pulled the trigger. Diana must have seen something suspicious because she was reaching for her weapon when she was hit. She rocked back on her heels and hit the car. Cook aimed better the second time, and Diana’s body twitched as the second bullet hit her in the chest. She dropped out of sight below the end of the hood. The whole exchange took less than two seconds.
Dale was completely frozen. Cook noticed her and adjusted his aim. Every muscle in her body tensed as if it could turn to steel to stop the bullet. When a third gunshot sounded, Dale let out a scream and pressed back into the seat. But the windshield remained intact, something she only noticed when Cook collapsed inward on himself and fell onto the pavement.
Dale’s hands were shaking worse than they ever had as she figured out how to open the car door and maneuvered herself out onto the sidewalk. Cook was lying a few yards away with blood darkening the back of his shirt. Dale somehow ended up on her hands and knees crawling forward until she could see around the front of the car. She saw Diana’s shoes first, her legs spread out in front of her on the pavement. Then she saw Diana propped up against the front of the car, slumped to one side like a rag doll, breathing heavily with her phone pressed against her ear.
“Diana?”
“Get back in the car, Dale.”
“You were shot!”
“Vest.” Diana was watching Cook, making sure he was really down. She spoke the address into her phone while her other hand held the gun as steady as possible on the suspect. “Dale, get back in the fucking car right now.”
Dale didn’t think she would win an argument, so she got to her feet and returned to the car. Not that it would protect her if Cook jumped back to his feet and opened fire again. It was only a matter of seconds before she heard the sirens. Seconds later the first squad car came around the corner wi
th its lights shining. Two more followed in quick succession, followed by an ambulance. Dale decided it was safe to get out of the car and went to Diana again.
“So,” Diana said, “I guess he was involved.” Her voice was shaking and her face had become deathly pale. She tried a smile but it didn’t last long.
“I’m so sorry,” Dale said.
Diana shook her head. “Don’t. Don’t do that, don’t take the blame. Just doing my job.” She swallowed hard. “I need you to--”
“I will.”
“In person. One of the officers will take you back to your car. Do not pull up to my house in a squad car, Dale.”
Dale nodded. “I’ll go right now.” She kissed Diana’s cheek and moved back so the EMTs could take position around her. Dale pushed her hair out of her face and looked around for someone in a uniform. She chose one man at random and ran to him. “I need a ride. I need to tell Detective Macallan’s wife that she’s okay.”
He nodded and motioned for her to follow him. “Come with me.”
Dale cast a final look back at the scene, then followed him to his car.
#
Lucy was a comic book artist and worked out of their home. Dale parked in front of the house, silently congratulating herself for being able to drive when she felt like she was about to throw up every thirty seconds. She kept hearing the gunshot, seeing Diana fall, and worried she’d only imagined the good outcome. Her hands were still shaking. She realized she should have called Gwen and Milo with an update, but it was too late now. She needed to tell Lucy before the news got out some other way.
She had to knock twice before Lucy answered. “Dale! Sorry, I was in my studio and had the music blasting...” Her smile fell. “What’s wrong? Is it Ariadne? I can call Diana...”
Dale said, “Diana’s fine. She was wearing her vest.”
The color drained from Lucy’s face. She reached out and put her hand on Dale’s shoulder, her fingers tightening until Dale was certain she would draw blood. She didn’t care.
“What happened?”