A Dangerous and Cunning Woman

by Ethan Johnson

  Bradford spat at Kenner. “This is a set-up. I’ve served this force with distinction for—”

  Kenner raised his hand. “For far too long. Get him out of my sight. Disappear him.”

  The men dragged Bradford from the room. His screams bounced through the corridor until they passed through a third security door. The silence made Diane’s stomach curdle. She could only imagine the horrors that laid deep in the detention block. Sapphire switched the display device off and slipped it into her pocket.

  Griggs had gone from beet red to ashen. His unbearably smug demeanor was now a mask of pathetic misery. His chin quivered, and he said simply, “How?”

  Kenner arm-pointed to Diane. “Make no mistake, Pembrook, you were damned lucky. A convincing argument could be made for tossing you off the force for reckless endangerment, and a whole list of lesser charges. Believe me, Griggs spent many hours in my office giving it his best shot. But the point of command review is not to ship every accused officer off to the firing squad. We conduct a thorough investigation. Frankly, the more forcefully Griggs argued for your guilt, the more I wondered why Tanner was so revered by everyone. Turns out, he wasn’t. Not even close. He was so ignored by all of you,” he paused for effect, “that he was number five on the goddamned most wanted list and none of you even batted an eyelash.”

  Kenner pulled the most wanted list from his files and held it up for the room to see. There, as Diane had remembered, a man called Clarence Mills stared off the page at them. Kenner tossed the list aside and arm-pointed at Diane again. “I should say, everyone except Pembrook. Officer Sorrellis tells me she used to keep her up all night obsessing over the list, vowing to run them all in. That’s the kind of officer I’ve been pushing for, and here she is, right under our noses. There’s going to be a reckoning, people, mark my words. I will continue investigating how it is that Officer Pembrook spent four months in solitary confinement for shooting the right guy.”

  Diane reeled at his remarks. Four months?

  Griggs stepped forward. “I want it on the record that it was I who put a stop to the shameful treatment Miss Pembrook was receiving while her case was under review. I trust she will attest to a vastly improved standard of living after my intervention.”

  “Oh, please. The guards gave me toilet water. I had to pick bugs out of my food.” Diane stepped clear of her leg irons as Sapphire released them.

  Griggs was taken aback. “And I will personally conduct a full investigation into the treatment of prisoners to ensure going forward no further breaches of the law or professional conduct might occur.”

  Kenner shook his head. “No, you won’t, Oliver. You’re suspended pending command review, effective immediately.” He handed Griggs a crisp document bearing the chief’s official seal. “Your gun and your badge. Now.”

  Griggs trembled as he skimmed through the edict. “I’m going to appeal this, Kenner. Straight to the top. Oh, and don’t think for one minute I won’t be calling for a thorough investigation into the lax standards this department has adopted of late. Suspending me and coddling her isn’t making this city one iota safer.” He dropped his gun and badge unceremoniously on the table and brushed past Diane. Kenner gave Diane a wan smile as Griggs left the room.

  Sapphire let out a long sigh. “I thought he’d never leave.”

  Kenner stepped away from the table and gestured to his files. “Take care of that crap, willya?”

  Sapphire nodded. “On it, chief.”

  Kenner turned on his heel and wagged his finger at her. “Not yet. But I like where your head is at.”

  Diane ran her fingers through her hair as a thousand thoughts competed for her attention. What was she supposed to be doing now? Where should she go? When could she see Lyssa? Acquitted, really? She felt the urge to return to her cell. She had become accustomed to the monotony.

  “Sir, where should I—”

  Kenner paused at the door and looked Diane up and down. “Oh, for God’s sakes, man. Take a shower, get some real food in you, and take two weeks to pull yourself together. I need you in top form if you’re going to take down the rest of the most wanted.”

  Tears welled up in Diane’s eyes. “Really, I can go?”

  Kenner gave her a wave as he left the room. “Be back in two weeks. Dismissed.”

  Diane broke down. Sapphire rolled her eyes and set the files down she was starting to gather up and patted her on the back. “Yay, two weeks of your stupid soap opera. Thank God for having other places to be.”

  Diane nodded, then brightened up. “I’ve got somewhere else to be too. Just one thing, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What day is it?”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lyssa pressed her back against Diane’s chest as they sat on Lyssa’s plush bed in her family home in the idyllic suburbs. Diane swept Lyssa’s wild hair aside and kissed the back of her neck. She wanted to melt into her. They had been apart for far too long. The comfy mattress felt like quicksand compared to her thin cot back in her cell. Diane had been free for five days, but she hadn’t fully left the cell block. She still felt the clear air fill her lungs with each breath. Each continuous step beyond twelve feet in any single direction seemed to violate some sort of natural law. She kissed Lyssa again, if only out of defiance. She was alive, and they were back in each other’s arms. In that moment, her life was perfect.

  “Dorrie, come empty the dishwasher,” called Lyssa’s mother from downstairs.

  Lyssa lowered her tablet. Diane was still two months behind on Fortune and Destiny, even after skipping the parts that didn’t involve Alexa Charlevoix. “Be there in a sec, ma,” she replied.

  Diane let out a small laugh. “It’s weird to hear her call you that.”

  “Yeah, well, mothers never do what you want. Ooh, hold on, you have to see this scene. I know you hate Chet Franklin, but this is awesome.”

  Diane rolled her eyes. No, she wasn’t a fan of Chet Franklin, but she focused on the positive in the moment: she was with Lyssa their private sanctuary, away from her fellow officers and the brass. Sapphire knew about the two of them, and to Diane’s knowledge she kept their secret under wraps. She appreciated that Sapphire didn’t use it against her. In return, she tried to keep her relationship out of sight from Sapphire as she didn’t like the way they carried on together.

  Footsteps sounded on the stairs. Lyssa tossed her tablet aside and hopped off the bed. “Get under the covers, quick!” She tugged at her clothes and hurried into the hallway. “I said I was coming, ma. Jeez, God, give me a minute.”

  Diane pulled Lyssa’s comforter up to her chin and listened to Lyssa and her mother bicker in the hallway. A tear rolled down Diane’s cheek as she thought about her own mother. Who was she? Was she still alive somewhere? Her father claimed she was dead. Was she? Or was that just another lie? Was her last name Fellner? Lyssa rumbled down the stairs in a huff and her mother followed, in full lecture. Diane never had that. Or if she did, she was too young to remember it. All she recalled was a sheltered life with her father, broken up with the one job she was able to hold down until he made her quit.

  She looked around Lyssa’s room. She found it almost oppressively feminine. The walls were light pink with white trim around the windows and doors. Posters of hunky movie stars and singers were tacked up on the wall closest to the door. “My parents don’t know I like girls,” she explained. “This helps them think I just haven’t met Mister Right yet.”

  Diane looked over at a shelf loaded with stuffed animals. This was another life experience that had been denied to her, at least to her recollection. Her father was capable of tender moments, but he could be hot-tempered as well. Giving her a plush toy to hold wasn’t how he was wired.

  She sniffed Lyssa’s pillow. It smelled of her. So did the comforter. Diane wished she could take them back to her dorm and have Lyssa’s scent around her each night they were apart. While she was under the Panther Division’s roof, she had to use police-issue
furnishings. It was unusual for a badged officer to still reside in a dorm after graduating from the academy, but Arbor Day had a way of screwing things up long after the event. The police department was still recovering from a sharp reduction in the force for various reasons. Death. PTSD. Apathy. Death. Diane couldn’t keep up with the roster changes each week. Her incarceration rendered all of it moot.

  Footsteps sounded through the door and Lyssa returned from her chores. She closed the door and carefully set the lock. Her mother tended to walk in unannounced. Diane thought it was worse when she was greeted with a locked door. This was not the norm when Diane wasn’t around, she concluded, which made things awkward when Lyssa granted her entry after hastily setting up the appearance they had been doing something completely innocent and not at all sexual in nature.

  “Glad that’s over with. I figure we’ve got about an hour before she starts bugging me again.”

  Diane sat up on the bed. “I need to get my own place.”

  Lyssa gasped. She bounded onto the bed and grasped Diane’s hands. “Oh baby, no, nobody is throwing you out of here. My parents are cool with you staying here for as long as you want. Well, okay, two weeks, but still.”

  “I meant, after that.” She wiped her damp cheek with her knuckle. “I need to grow up and get my own place. Then we can live together and not have to do all this sneaking around.”

  Lyssa grimaced. “Crap, thanks for reminding me.” Her voice rose nearly an octave. “Have you heard the new Midnight Specials track? I so wish I could see them live sometime, but they say they aren’t touring for at least another six months while Jason works on solo stuff.” She turned on a music player and adjusted the volume until she was satisfied nobody could hear them talking beyond her bedroom door. “I wish I could land a freaking job. I’d so beat you to it. Where would we live?”

  Diane shrugged. She only thought about having a place of her own in the abstract. “The city, I guess.”

  “Oh, like, close to work? Wouldn’t that get a little awkward?”

  “Why would it be awkward?”

  “I mean, people checking out your personal life.” Lyssa looked down as she spoke.

  Diane chucked her chin up and kissed her on the lips. “It’s my personal life. They can all buzz off.”

  “I don’t know. I’d like a little air between them and us, you know? How about Hackensack?”

  “Ugh. Gabe’s from Hackensack. Don’t remind me.”

  “Okay, well, what about over by Dover Plaza? That seems like a cute area.”

  “Veronica lives there.”

  Lyssa frowned and smacked Diane’s arm. “Is there somewhere we can live where you don’t have ex-lovers stuffed away?”

  “Ow! They’re not… there are other places we can go. Better places. Heck, anywhere we move to is automatically going to rule.”

  “Oh? Why is that?”

  Diane kissed her playfully. “Because you’ll be there, that’s why.”

  Lyssa giggled and kissed her back. She pushed Diane onto her back and pulled at her top. Diane squeezed her and enjoyed the perverse thrill of fooling around when Lyssa’s disapproving mother was lurking somewhere in the house. Her ardor was cooled in a bracing instant as a thud sounded at the door.

  “Dorrie, why is this door locked? Your pinks are dry. Come get your stuff out of the dryer so I can finish the wash.”

  Diane wiped her lips and scrambled under the covers. She grabbed the tablet from the edge of the bed and dialed up another scene featuring Alexa in her soap opera. Lyssa smoothed out her clothes and opened the door. “Huh, must have popped it by accident.”

  Her mother gave her a hard stare, then grunted. “Set the table when you’re done. We’re having pot roast tonight.” She gave the music player an annoyed glance. “Turn that racket down.”

  “Okay, ma,” Lyssa said. She stopped abruptly after lowering the volume and touched her fingers to her mouth. She wiped her moist lips and gave Diane a quick glance before leaving, whispering “oh, my god.” Diane looked up from the tablet and felt her blood run cold at the thought of discovery and what that might mean for her temporary living arrangement.

  Lyssa returned a few minutes later with a laundry basket under her arm filled with an assortment of pink clothes. She placed it on the floor and closed her door quietly, then she began folding the laundry and putting it away as she went.

  Diane set the tablet down. She had hoped to tack her way forward through her backlog of Fortune and Destiny episodes but now was not the time. Lyssa was oddly quiet, and stiff in her movements. Diane wasn’t sure what to say. She sat up in bed and waited for a sign from Lyssa as to how to react and respond. She didn’t like feeling this way. She liked feeling confident and in charge compared to her impulsive and passive girlfriend. Sapphire was right: Lyssa wasn’t giving the job search her all. Diane thought back to her excruciating push-ups in her cell and saw how differently they responded to adversity. She was supportive and understanding now, but she felt the wedge coming between them as Lyssa placed a frilly top in her dresser drawer.

  She bent over to pick up another item and dropped to one knee. Tears dripped onto the laundry. Diane hopped off the bed and crouched down beside Lyssa. She pulled her close and rubbed her back. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

  Lyssa shook her head. Her voice was barely audible as she spoke. “She knows.”

  Diane sucked in a breath and looked up at a poster featuring a shirtless Kent Brantley. She patted Lyssa and kept her voice down. “About… us?”

  “Yeah,” Lyssa said. “I think you’re going to have to leave sooner than we planned. Like… tonight.”

  “Oh, come on. What makes you think—”

  Her head turned sharply at the sound of Lyssa’s door opening. Her mother stood in the doorway and gave Diane a hard stare. “Keep this open.” She looked up at a picture of a muscular man in tight briefs holding a volleyball under his arm and let off a snort.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Diane said.

  Lyssa’s mother stomped off and soon Diane heard clattering and banging in the kitchen. Lyssa sobbed and held Diane close. Diane patted her back and tried to think of something comforting to say. Her secluded upbringing sheltered her from lots of things. She felt like she was playing twenty some-odd years of catch-up as it was. Was girls liking other girls so terrible? She recalled the look on her father’s face when she told him she had a girlfriend. His face was a picture of contempt. When she learned that word, the definition brought up that image as well. Here it was again, this time from Mrs. Delaney.

  Diane stroked Lyssa’s back. “We’ll get our own place.”

  “Make it quick,” Lyssa said. “I might be sleeping under a bridge if not. Or jumping off of one.”

  Diane kissed her forehead. Fine, she thought, if it was up to her, she’d get it done. Taking down as many of the city’s most wanted was her best shot. Unfortunately, she only had one cartridge in her rifle back at the dorm. It was going to have to be a hell of a shot if she was going to rake in the rewards any time soon.

  Then again, Lyssa told her all she needed was one sure shot. “I’ve got this,” she cooed. “Leave it to me.”

  Diane’s bed in her dorm room was closer to the cot she’d used for four months in solitary confinement compared to Lyssa’s plush queen bed. She struggled to get comfortable as she looked over a fresh copy of the most wanted list. Clarence Mills was gone. He was replaced by a man named Kendall Bending. His rap sheet included drug running and gang activity. She instinctively reached up to her neck to finger her stallion-head pendant and found only bare skin. She looked around for the pendant and came up empty. Sapphire came in from wherever she’d been and tossed a bag onto her own bed. “You’re back early. Like, what, eight days?”

  Diane rummaged through her desk drawer. “Yeah, things didn’t pan out at Lyssa’s.”

  “Ooh, trouble in paradise. Too bad. What are you looking for? You barely own anything.”

  “My horse.”


  Sapphire tipped her head and mouthed, “Your horse…?” She saw Diane’s bare neck and nodded in recognition. “Oh,” she said, “that thing. Here, I forgot you’d be looking for it.” She opened her nightstand drawer and produced the silver pendant.

  Diane took it from her and put it on. “What’s it doing over there?”

  “Well, in the early going, when you first got run in on charges of being a cop killer, in so many words, your fellow officers decided to help themselves to your stuff. Like I said, you don’t own much of anything. I knew how much this thing meant to you, so I stashed it while they rooted around looking for anything else. Your tablet was a piece of crap, so I let them take that. That left the rifle.”

  Diane panicked and rushed to the spot where it had been leaning before she was locked up. The rifle was gone, and along with it, her literal best shot at making enough money to get a nice place of her own. “Who took it? I’ll rip their guts out.”

  “Yeah, I thought you’d say that. To be honest, there were so many of them I couldn’t keep them all straight. It wasn’t Lee Harper. Or Hinajosa. Other than that, it was pretty much a blur.”

  Diane paced back and forth. She felt a strange mix of outrage and nausea. That rifle wasn’t just her ticket out of the dorm. It was a totem from a fallen adversary, just like the stallion pendant. The difference was, she had taken it from her father after she put a bullet between his eyes.

  “I’ll kill them. I’ll kill them all. Goodwin, probably. It had to be him. That smug bastard thinks he can just come in here—”

  Sapphire waved her off. “No, it wasn’t him either. He stood out in the hallway barking orders, that much I remember. Yeah, come to think of it, he was more like the ringleader of the bunch, egging them on, then yelling at them for not coming up with anything good.”