“Gwen I don’t like this.” Scott said to the young blonde woman he had come to respect the hell out of because she was tenacious and the only one that had balls enough to call him on his shit as well as take on the bastards in the prison.
“Then don’t think about it, this is my job, now go do yours so I can do mine.” She winked at her boss making the situation just a bit lighter with a joke. She kept her gaze level and he shook his head before heading back to the door he came through.
“Just be careful Gwen, you know you’re the heart of this place for a lot of us old fogies.” He looked back over his shoulder then left.
After she was alone Gwen closed the door and collapsed back into the chair at her desk. She looked through the files covers first; she had a firebug, a rapist/murderer, a pedophile, and a lifetime thief. Nothing she hadn’t seen before, but she picked up the file on top about the thief, then the firebug, the pedophile, by the time Gwen finished the other files she had the one about the rapist/murderer left. She just left her hand on the cover. For some strange reason she couldn’t open it for some time.
She stared at the name. Kody McQueen, he was a murderer and rapist. She had dealt with many before but for some reason this one touched her, just his name sent shivers down her spine. When she finally cracked the file open Kody’s sheet was longer than her arm. His life of crime started young, all violent crimes Gwen had to be shocked that he was not placed into jail for life before now. She shuddered and decided this file was best kept for Monday.
By the time she glanced at the clock her nine-hour Friday shift was done, she had to collect her things fast or else she would be waiting at the pier for about an hour before she could start on her way, and the traffic heading North to her parent’s home was never nice and flowing at this time of day, she was lucky if she got up to thirty miles an hour most the way.
Gwen grabbed her purse, case file bag and looked over her office before closing it and sprinting out of the office area so she wouldn’t be stopped on her way home. Gwen saw the gossip queen of the administration area walking her way, she cursed internally before grabbing her cell phone then speaking as if someone had called her.
“Hey dad, yes I remember dinner. I am just leaving work now.” She gave a wave to the gossip hound named Alison and kept walking pretending she didn’t want to interrupt her non-existent caller.
“I will pick that up on the way dad.” After she stepped into the elevator and the doors closed she closed her phone and gave a heavy sigh of relief. She didn’t dislike Alison but Gwen just did not want to be associated with all the drama and gossip that seemed to happen between most the females in the administration building, it was almost like a high school turf war. Gwen just was over that stuff and would not return there. She left high school early because she couldn’t stand that crap, why would she do it in her adult life?
She barely made it to the docks in time, by the time she sat down she was out of breath, her chest rising and falling rapidly, she sat down and just ignored the world around her while she waited for the ferry to trudge its way through the stormy waters and dock on the other side where she would be able to get in her car and listen to her music all the way to her family’s house.
Gwen loved her Lexus RX 350, it smelled like new just like the day she purchased it, and the expensive Starbucks roast she favored in the morning. Out of habit she locked the doors and started driving immediately, it didn’t take her long taking the back roads through Steilacoom and DuPont to get to I-5 North, but she did hit the Fort Lewis traffic, soldiers just got off and many were leaving to celebrate the weekend.
“Damn it” She cursed loud as she gripped the wheel, Gwen loved to drive fast so this gridlocked, and the slow-crawl traffic was grating her nerves. Normally, Gwen suddenly wished she had something to put in the front seat that could fool others into thinking she was allowed to use the HOV lane, but sadly there was nothing, plus Gwen dealt with the wrong side of the law every day, she didn’t want to become one of the people that belonged on that side as well, even if it was just a little traffic infraction.
By the time Gwen got to her mom and dad’s house she had several missed calls and texts from them both. She shook her head and her hair fell loose and walks into the house she called home for most of her life. The smell of her mother’s famous spaghetti meat sauce danced in her nose and tantalized her taste buds. She closed the solid door behind her, locking it out of reflex.
“Mom, dad I’m home.” She announced herself, the friendly Rottweiler Mayhem came running towards her, he jumped the last steps of the grand staircase and barreled into her knees, Gwen fell to the ground and the dog held her still while he cleaned her face and tried to nibble on her.
“Enough Mayhem OFF” Her father’s voice a gruff command to the dog.
Mayhem immediately listened to his owner; he happily trotted over and sat to the left side of Gwen’s father, panting with a wide smile on his face. Gwen sat up and wiped her face off on the sleeve of her coat and continued to laugh.
“Hey dad, I see Mayhem hasn’t changed still.” She was breathy at this point.
“No he will always be like this, a bundle of damn energy.” Steven extended his hand to help his daughter off of the hardwood floor.
Gwen took her father’s hand and stood up and moves into a shallow embrace of a hug. “So dad how’s business?”
“It’s good, I wish you would join us instead of dealing with the miscreants at the prison.”
“It is a little early for that talk, isn’t it dad?” Gwen asked and looked at her watch to emphasize her point.
“Yes but what you do is dangerous Gwen, we just worry about you. Please think about it, really what is holding you down there besides that job?”
“Don’t know dad, but let me go talk to mom for a bit before we start?”
Gwen’s father brushed her off. He worried terribly for his daughter but she was as pig headed as her mother always was, chasing an impossible dream, her dream however was so much more dangerous to her health. Steven petted the massive beast at his side on the boxy head of his. His tone softened as his emotion started to shine through. “Come on Mayhem, she will see eventually let’s go outside and play ball.”
Gwen slipped into the kitchen and snuck up behind her mother, and grabbed her sides. Marie jolted from the shock of being grabbed, she turned around expecting to see her husband and instead saw her daughter, her beautiful daughter Gwen.
“You little shit!”
“Hello to you too Mom” Gwen was barely able to speak she was laughing so hard, which caused Marie to take the wooden spoon and lightly pop her daughter on the arms and speak through gritted teeth.
“You. Stop. Sneaking. Up. On. Me”
Gwen still was only able to laugh as her mother inflicted the short bursts of pain before her mother pulled her into a hug. Gwen’s mother gave the best hugs, she hugged hard and wasn’t afraid to let emotion shine through, you felt loved after you were hugged by Marie, and with her kind words coming forth after you knew it.
“How was your drive up here baby?” Marie asked after she retuned to her sauce, tasting it to make sure it was just right for her family’s consumption.
“It was ok Mom, just took longer than I would have liked it to.” Gwen shrugged
Marie gave her daughter the mother look. “Gwen eighty miles an hour is your slow setting, just calm down and relax. You know you speed through life like you do and you won’t realize when you miss an important stop sign.”
“Ok mom, who’s the guy and how do you know him?”
“Its not a guy,” Marie looked everywhere except the blue eyes of her daughter, suddenly busying herself with everything else. “Okay it’s a guy, he is a new doctor at the clinic and he’s single and he is a work-a-holic like you are my dear.”
“Mom you are incorrigible” Gwen chuckled but sighed internally at her mother.
“He is a great guy honey, you have to use what you got, and I want a grandchild.
”
“You might be waiting for a while mom, I’m just too busy now,” Gwen looked for an out, “I’m going to set the table for you mom.”
Gwen grabbed the pile of dinner dishes and carried them to the dining room before her mother could object or launch another question or male on her tonight. She shuddered at the thought of her mom attempting to arrange a marriage for her, she loved her mother but Marie was not the best person for her daughter’s love life.
Marie watched her daughter scramble for dear life, she shook her head. That daughter of hers was so strange; it was almost like she was afraid to be romantic. It had been that way since she was in college. She was very sought after in high school then Gwen just turned it off one day. She just came home and didn’t accept dinner requests or have any suitors come to meet her or Steven. Marie had assumed it was the pressures of graduate school getting to her but those pressures left and her daughter took a job in Pierce County and from what she knew Gwen never went on dates.
“Gwen,” Marie called to her daughter. “Are you a lesbian?”
At those words Gwen choked on her saliva. “What? Mom! Oh my dear God, no I am so not having this conversation with you. I like men you will get your grandchildren eventually but not right now so cool it, please?”
Gwen went about her business after that incident with her mother, it was always some sort of awkwardness when Gwen would visit, she loved seeing her parents but the conversation sometimes she could do without. By the time Marie and Steven were ready for dinner and the table was set the sun was setting, the colors in the sky beautiful, pinks and oranges meld together. It was simply astonishing to her how amazing the sky was. Tomorrow it would be this again, assuming it didn’t rain that was.
Marie and Steven finished cooking the meal together while Gwen was in her own little world watching them, debating about wandering her childhood home. They were one of those classic couples, still were in love with each other after so many years together. Marie looked at her husband lovingly before offering him a quick sample of the sauce, he tasted and the groan from the deliciousness that he had in his mouth. Marie’s spaghetti sauce was the highlight of his week.
The small family sat down to eat dinner; conversation ebbed between mouthfuls of spaghetti, garlic bread, and corn. Steven, Marie, and Gwen retired to the parlor so they could talk more, which of course continued the conversation of Steven and Marie and their want for Gwen to leave her job at the prison so she could work in her father’s clinic. Respectful as always Gwen denied the pressures her parents tried to press upon her and soon announced that she had to leave.
“Do you really need to go home and be alone when you can stay here tonight?” Marie asked her daughter with a raised brow.
“Yes mom, I have a cat I need to take care of and make sure he doesn’t crap everywhere in my house.” She fibbed, Mr. Whiskers was more of a neighborhood cat, he came to visit every so often but she did not own him, no one did but he was a good patsy to get her out of more talk about her job.
Marie and Steven took turns hugging their child and saying their goodbyes. Gwen gave her parents one more hug before exiting through the front door and heading to her car. She exhaled in a sigh of relief and knitted her fingers around the steering wheel and laid her head against it before speaking to no one.
“God, this is getting harder and harder to do.” Gwen loved her parents, but the emotional toll it took on her to disappoint them with her life decisions was enormous. She debated about hiring an escort to start attending the Friday dinner just to shut her parents up about her love life for a while. Gwen laughed to herself, then put her car in gear, and started on her way home so she could relax the rest of the weekend and not spend more time on that desperate thought. Monday was still going to be hellacious for her after all.
CHAPTER THREE
Monday came too early for Gwen. Her morning ritual ran slower than normal. She already knew what was waiting for her at work, it was a lot of paperwork, intake evaluations, and then a parole hearing about one of her patients she didn’t feel was properly rehabilitated but today was his last chance to prove to her that the therapy took and that he was ready to be released. Gwen was on autopilot as she moved around her house and through her drive. She must have been speeding because she got to the docks a few minutes earlier than she normally did.
“Thank God there were no police today.” She laughed to herself as she boarded the small passenger boat, even though she could most likely dust off her rusty flirting ability and get out of the ticket Gwen didn’t want to risk her insurance rates on a skill she didn’t possess. She took her normal spot on the small ferry and zoned out, she was inside of her own mind and preferred it that way for soon she would be back at work and dealing with what most people considered the scum of the universe.
The day flowed and Alison kept her normal distance from Gwen, she hoped that Alison had gotten the hint that Gwen didn’t want to divulge her personal life to the entire office, or end up the subject of a large gossip ring. She was happy being the office area pariah that meant her life was still just hers she was content while she ate her lunch.
After lunch Gwen picked up the file for the parole hearing, one of her more aggressive natured patients a low level pimp that beat his prostitutes to death, and only one was able to testify, he left her scarred permanently. The pimp was named Moreau; most people called him Z for his last name. Most criminals did not use their full names with everyone, and if they used a name the name would most likely use a false name for their own criminal safety and for the safety of their business. Gwen reviewed the photographs of the prostitute that finally brought him down was Calla, her scar led from her left ear to the corner of her lip, her face was permanent snarl, she looked like a very unpleasant woman. The bruises from multiple beatings, her recount of breaking the bitches where the pimp, Z, would viciously rape women to make sure they could handle the world he was forcing them into. The women either made it through, crying, bleeding, and degraded or they died in the process. Calla worked her way to become the bottom bitch for Z and she sat in on multiple rapes, she testified for the state in return for immunity on her crimes.
Gwen kept reading and looking through the huge case file from the district attorney all the evidence was catalogued and each piece more gruesome than the last, she turned on some of the tapes from a wire that Calla wore one evening, Gwen had a chill run down her spine. She thought of the man that he had hosted in her office multiple times, his sociopathic behavior still troubled her, she knew he was not going to get paroled because of what she had written in her reports, he had not in her opinion made enough progress.
Gwen’s heart gave a start when the appointment reminder popped up; it was suddenly two in the afternoon and nearing time for the hearing to start. She closed her books and put them in her briefcase that she was taking with her to the hearing, the district attorney’s file and her own weighing it down slightly but she made it there with plenty of time, she even had time to refill her coffee cup before the panel was asked to assemble so they could cover the history of the case at hand and set the outline of how the discussion would flow. Scott Wickam cleared his throat immediately grabbing the attention in the room and the conversation stopped.
“Lady,” he nodded to Gwen before he continued addressing the other members of the parole board. “And gentlemen this heading is for the case of Moreau “Z” Zelis, he was found guilty by a jury of his peers, the district attorney did a good job and closed two murders and three rapes, but there were more that were tied him but he would not admit to those, this is his third attempt at parole, the district attorney did not seek the death penalty and Miss Bjorkman has more information on his progress that she will share during the trial, are there any questions before we go into the room?”
Gwen looked around before she heard Torrian Ford speak up, “Yeah, why can’t we fry his ass? He’s always on my fucking case.”
“Mr. Ford, please watch your mouth these proceedings are
recorded. I don’t need anyone looking into what we do here, that’s an unnecessary bitch to deal with and we have a lady present.” Again Scott nodded to Gwen and she rolled her eyes at her boss with a careful smile.
“Sorry boss, and ah sorry doc.” Torrian gave a sly smile to Gwen, he knew she didn’t like to be called doctor but she had to be called that in front of the board so they knew her position. He was there to keep order and give the guard’s opinion of the prisoner in question.
Gwen only nodded to Torrian, she was getting into her business mode, she had many thoughts running through her head, and her brows were knitted together in annoyance or frustration. Torrian kept his eyes on the woman, her svelte body was stilled, he could tell she worked out and he could so dig that. His smile spread as he thought about Gwen working out, and what would naturally come after if he had his way with it. Torrian started to walk towards Gwen but before he could speak he heard the warden call for everyone to assemble, it was time for the hearing.
Gwen took her seat to the left of the warden; Scott Wickam cleared his throat and called the room to order. All of the paper rustling stopped as did the side conversations and Scott continued with his command of attention in the room.
“Today we are here to review the case of Moreau “Z” Zelis convicted of murder, rape, and assault with a deadly weapon. He was convicted on the seventh of September of two thousand and five. A jury of his peers for the previously stated crimes has convicted Moreau Zelis and we do not take this issue of parole lightly; we are here to review evidence and conduct a parole hearing for Moreau “Z” Zelis. The members of the board please state your name, spell starting on the left.
Torrian spoke up first, “Torrian Ford. T-O-R-R-I-A-N F-O-R-D. I am the lead prison guard here at the prison and have had numerous interactions with Moreau Zelis in the prison daily contacts.”
The Deadliest Secret (The Deadliest Series) Page 2