Kara's View of Autumn

by Carl Hamlin

  Kara took extra precautions, but on her own terms. In spite of the fact that the woman was known to be volatile, and had a boyfriend with a bad record, Kara refused to cooperative with suggestions for extra surveillance and to always go out with a partner.

  Susan had overheard Kara’s end of a heated conversation with her supervisor over the matter. Susan was twelve, but she understood what was happening. That was not to be the last such incident of that nature, and Susan had never stopped worrying about her mother’s safety and her judgment in such cases.

  Shortly after she began her relationship with Roger, one of the few men on her caseload had violated his terms of probation, and Kara had obtained a warrant for his arrest. It turned out that while on her way to go home one evening, Kara saw the man walking into a tavern.

  Without calling for backup, she went into the tavern, came up behind him and handcuffed him. The six foot three inch man was shoved out to the sidewalk and patted down in full view of his tough friends. Unable to make a reasonable attempt to run, he was guided to Kara’s car. She opened the back door, pushed him in, then drove him to the jail and had him booked.

  Enraged that a small and beautiful woman had so boldly ambushed and humiliated him, he had vowed in front of other inmates that he would kill Kara upon his release. Thanks to an informant, the threat was made public and resulted in more charges. Shortly before he was to be arraigned for the threat, he committed suicide in his cell.

  At the time of his apprehension, Kara had been publicly congratulated by her peers, and privately chewed out by her boss for not having called for back up at the arrest at the tavern. For Susan, it was an unsettling reminder that her mother took chances with her own safety, and seemed to always be trying to prove how she could do things on her own volition.

  It would not take long for Roger to hear of her exploits, and when they began dating, he cautioned himself that such tendencies would likely result in some testing of their relationship, if such a relationship would come to be.

  It did indeed turn out that a relationship bloomed. When Roger asked Kara to dinner, there was simply something about him that allowed her to resist her typical impulse to politely say “Thank you, but no.” This man was mature, understood her work and shared the attribute of being a grandparent.

  Kara decided that it was finally time for her to give a relationship a try. No one who had ever asked her out in her adulthood had seemed as safe as Roger had.

  They began slowly and cautiously by going out to dinner a few times. They talked freely, although Kara was not necessarily candid. She spoke at length of the things currently going on in her life, but seemed to shove the past into the background.

  What rattled Kara’s cage was that she quickly became physically attracted to Roger. She had blotted that emotion from her consciousness since her late teens.

  Roger had become attracted to Kara as quickly as she had to him. Those who worked with her only saw her dressed in business-proper slacks and jackets. At one department holiday event, she had worn a dress, and was the object of many an admiring glance.

  However, as her attraction grew, her manner of dress changed when she was going out with Roger. The slacks gave way to dresses and skirts, and as the dating continued, her appearance grew more alluring.

  Kara was invited to come to his apartment for a dinner cooked with his own hands. She realized the possibilities that going to his apartment presented. At that point, she was ready to move on with life and allow herself to explore what was finally reawakening inside her.

  The afternoon of that Saturday, she went out and purchased a new dress that was a little more daring than any others she owned. She was well aware that she had a good figure and shapely legs, so she found the right dress to emphasize those features. As she shopped, she felt emotions that were unfamiliar to her.

  As she tried the navy blue dress on, she gazed in the mirror in a way that she had not in decades. She felt her face turn warm as she looked at the image she reflected. There was a neckline that was just a little daring, and the hem was higher than she was accustomed to. That was when she had to accept the fact that she was feeling the same desire for Roger that she knew he was feeling for her.

  That night at his apartment, they enjoyed fine steaks and wine. When they sat down on his sofa, Kara felt the imminent change in her life. They found themselves embracing and indulging in long kisses. Kara found herself running her fingers on his chest between the buttons of his shirt with one hand, and stroking his thigh with the other. Kara was entranced and aroused when Roger scooted her dress up in the back and he began to caress her bottom.

  He stood and asked if she would like to go to his bedroom. She could barely speak, but nodded her agreement.

  She felt as if she were a virgin again at fifty-nine. It had been decades, and she had never had the experience of making love to a mature and skilled man. However, Roger was to be that very one.

  As they caressed and kissed, as they undressed each other, for the first time in her life she felt the gentle and sensual touch of a man to every part of her body. In the course of mere minutes, her almost lifelong aversion to lovemaking was brushed away by his gentle and whispered words, his fingertips and his lips.

  Kara looked at herself in the mirror one more time before heading downtown to the office. She was dressed, as usual, in a pantsuit and athletic shoes that were designed to appear fashionable. She leaned close to check that her level of makeup was adequate, but not abundant.

  She opened the door to the attached garage, looking around with her hand on the butt of the .38 Special she carried in the belt holster. With the blessing of her property owner, she had extra ceiling and wall-mounted lights installed in the garage, so that when she flipped on the lights, anyone there would have been surprised and momentarily disoriented by the brilliance.

  She got into the Ford sedan with county license plates and backed out of the garage. As she drove to the downtown of Blanton, she mentally reviewed the e-mails that had arrived on her phone the previous evening and even early that morning. She had somehow managed to learn to read the messages on the small phone screen while stepping into a pair of panties or buckling her bra.

  Nothing startling was contained in the messages. The Chief probation Officer was on the warpath at the end of the previous day, and the mood would be predictably tense in the department on this day. Brad McKormack would have no harsh words for Kara. She had saved his hide too many times for him to be anything but grateful and respectful. He also understood that of the two top officials in the department, the most talented one was not the one drawing the fattest paycheck.

  Kara did not mind. She had no yearning for meetings with the county administrator or the board of commissioners. Nor did she want her picture in the newspaper. She had been hired in as a twenty-five year old assistant case aid to the pool of probation officers. After several years of fighting off the stereotype provided by her feminine appearance and physical attractiveness, she was taken seriously. Once she became a full-fledged probation officer, she began to move through the ranks.

  She was given a caseload of women, but she always had to be on guard, especially during home visits. Many were more than capable of mayhem, and too many had men in their lives who were of the nature to be worthy of a keen eye of caution on Kara’s part.

  Through the years, Kara had earned a reputation of knowing when to push a confrontation and when to back off. The potential peril of the job was heighted when budget cuts made it necessary for her to take on some male probationers.

  In fact, Kara had solidified her legendary status a few months earlier when, on her sixtieth birthday, she had made a visit to verify a residence of one of her charges. She stumbled upon him conducting a drug deal in his back yard. She was able to chase down the thirty year-old man, handcuff him and hold him until a pair of officers arrived to take him in for probation violation.

  It would take her twelve minutes to reach the parking lot outside the sprawlin
g and outdated concrete block office building built decades ago to house half the number of staff who worked there on a daily basis. That was where she and a staff of fifteen worked through the unnecessary follies of the community’s less than esteemed residents.

  During the day, Kara worked in a world dominated by male co-workers steeped in their own often out-of-control machismo. Those who worked under her did not initially take well to Kara being the boss. Shortly upon her arrival as the new chief deputy, she had fired a warning shot to those who though that they could pay her just a cursory nod to her authority.

  Kara had served previously as a grievance arbitrator, and knew what disciplinary charges would stick and those that would be dismissed. In her first week as Deputy Chief, a long-time probation officer who set out to be her self-appointed tormentor disregarded a directive she had issued and boasted of it. She summarily demoted him, and when his grievance appeal went down in flames, no one challenged her again.

  Kara at home was another person. Her rented half of the duplex was decorated in soft pastels, and plants were in abundance. Her Persian cat Minka had a wicker bed on the bedroom floor, and another in the living room.

  The extra bedroom was where she had her easel for watercolor painting, and the walls of that room were adorned with her framed works. The only masculine touches were the Chicago Bears pennants in the bedroom, living room and kitchen.

  That love of pro football was one thing of which she could readily banter with her mostly male co-workers. She was also one of several Bears fans at work, and they banded together to taunt the fans of other teams. Once Susan was grown, Kara would often travel to Chicago to watch their games, sometimes climbing into a van with some of her staff for a rowdy Sunday outing. She could tailgate with the best of them.

  Chapter 2

  She pulled into her reserved parking space and glanced across the street to the courthouse. There were two news vans from local network affiliates on hand, and reporters were holding microphones and being filmed as they reported.

  Kara walked into the building and greeted the security guard in the lobby of the drab building. She exchanged her morning barbs with the Lions fan, and then began to trot up the stairs to her second-floor office. As she walked up, she happened to notice two sheriff’s deputies hovering in the back of the lobby and standing vigil.

  She exchanged greetings with two staff members who had arrived earlier than she and asked, “Why all the hubbub?”

  The newest and youngest probation officer glanced at his smart phone. “I got a text from my buddy the deputy bailiff over there. There are going to be two hearings on evidence in requests for retrials. One of them is for Dan Harlow.”

  “But why the news vans? Those hearing take place every week.”

  “Rumors are going around….evidence abuse may be widespread.”

  Kara shook her head and walked on to her office. She had just sat down to check voice messages when the chief probation officer walked in and closed the door behind him.

  Brad McKormack sat down and handed Kara a file folder. “One more……please?” Kara nodded and moaned. McKormack displayed a contrite smile. “I wish you didn’t have to carry a caseload, Kara. You have more than enough admin work to do around here.”

  Kara sighed and leaned back. “I know you don’t usually come in this early and close the door just to give me another case.”

  Brad looked down and laughed. “Damn…you know me don’t you? Well, I wanted to you to know that the word is that Dan Harlow may get released today. Looks like our side blew it on the drug evidence. He is probably going to walk today. And….after three years in the house…..he won’t be a very pleasant man. Not that he ever was.”

  Kara seemed to look away into space. “Okay….anything that affect’s Marjorie’s conviction?”

  “No. Nothing to overturn her forgery charges. Those were pretty solid.”

  Kara watched as her boss stood up to leave. She displayed a coy smile. “Brad…..I suppose there’s no way we can convince personnel that I’ve been here five years longer than they think?”

  He flashed a middle finger. “Wouldn’t I already be gone?” He walked to the door and grabbed the knob, and then turned to face her with a fake sneer. “Chicago Bears, my ass.” Kara laughed as her boss and friend walked out.

  Kara leafed through the file on her newest member of her probation caseload. This one was male, but it was for a simple marijuana trafficking conviction. The man’s father was one of her high school classmates, and she was vaguely familiar with the errant son.

  It was not a difficult case at first glance. He has escaped jail time, likely due to the fact that his record was clean prior to the trafficking conviction. What sobered her most was that the budget strain appeared to be showing no signs of easing up, and more cases would be landing on her desk.

  In frustration, Kara had brought along paper clips and copy paper she had picked up during her last trip to the office supply store to get toner for her home printer. She also fished a pack of ink pens from the plastic bag.

  Brad was gone and she had put away the new supplies. Now she had to deal with fact that before the day was over, Dan Harlow would likely be a free man.

  Kara logged onto the records database. She had to wait, as the system was slow and outdated. Finally, she looked at the computer screen and reviewed the sentencing file on Marjorie Harlow. Dan Harlow was a thug, but he dearly loved his troubled wife Marjorie.

  Kara had experienced much over her years in the probation department, but one incident that gave her pause was the day she testified against Marjorie Harlow for probation violation. As she testified, the dark, piercing eyes of Dan Harlow nearly burned through her.

  As Kara sat in the audience after her testimony, two rows away from the angry, seething husband, Marjorie was sentenced by the judge to the state prison for six years. It was the inevitable fate for the woman who had a history of check theft and other forgery counts, but as she left the courtroom, Kara felt a target on her back. Dan Harlow had two convictions on minor weapons charges, and two convictions for assault.

  That day in court was three years ago, and she was extra careful of her environment until the day when Dan Harlow was arrested for trafficking crack cocaine. She assumed he would still be in prison when she retired, and perhaps she would have followed her family members to another location by then. Instead, she would have to once again go into a high state of personal alert.

  It was the middle of the afternoon and she was in the middle of signing off on performance evaluation reviews when her personal cell phone chimed. She smiled when she saw that it was Roger calling.

  “Hey, Lover. How’s my handsome man?”

  “Concerned.”

  “Why?”

  “It was just on the radio that Dan Harlow was released.”

  Kara rubbed her head. “Yeah…..I know. It was some kind of evidence problems.”

  “I want you to watch your back. Everybody over here knows him, too. He’s bad news.”

  Kara began to speak in a sultry voice. “If I’m watching my back, what are you going to be watching?”

  “I seem to forget what they call it, but I see it wiggle when I’m walking behind you….Oh wait…..behind….that’s it.”

  “Lover…..I’m glad you like that thing.”

  “Seriously….do you want me to stay with you for a while?”

  “Of course I do. But don’t do that because of Dan Harlow. I’ll be okay.”

  “Kara…..I think we’ve been through this once before.”

  “And….if I recall correctly, I lived through that.”

  “Please, Kara…….you don’t have anything to prove anymore. Everyone knows you can hold your own in a crisis. But you need to accept any back up you can get. Don’t think he doesn’t know where you live. Maybe you should come and stay at my place.”

  Kara sighed. “No, Roger. I could use the bonus sex, but I’m not going to allow him to run my life.”

 
“Uh, can we go back to where you said you could use some more sex?”

  “Bye Lover……I have a meeting to get ready for. See ya’.” She put the phone back in its holster, and was still smiling when the knock on the door told her that her first performance interview of the day was right on time.

  It was late in the afternoon, and Kara was almost done with the final performance interview she had scheduled for the day. Only one had presented any difficulty, that being with one of the more senior probation officers who had vocally opposed her promotion to the position he had wanted and assumed he would get.

  As he had during the last two annual interviews, the older man, now one year from retirement, had attempted to throw her off track as he asked questions of her. He hinted at age discrimination and made subtle hints that he was being treated unfairly because he had been her rival for Chief Deputy.

  The interview had taken twice as long as the others, but expecting it to be difficult, she had scheduled extra time on her calendar to allow him to vent. If he followed the same pattern as in the past, he would return the next morning and go about following orders and speaking to her in a neutral tone.

  It was the late afternoon when Brad McKormack entered Kara’s office. “Just wanted you to know. Deputies and Blanton officers are going to be keeping our Mr. Harlow under surveillance.”

  “For me?”

  “In part. It’s consensus that this guy can’t stay out long before getting his hands dirty again. With this evidence blow-up, we have to get the message out that we haven’t had our balls cut off.”

  Kara laughed. “I guess it’s too late for me.”

  “Sorry. I’m tense today. Got any Valium in your desk?”

  “No. Just go out and drink heavily in a crowded bar where lots of people know you. Remember, Brad……we have an image to keep up.”

  “Oh, wait.” She pointed a finger upward. She opened a drawer and pulled out a small bottle. “Having hot flashes?”