by Misty Malone
"Well, we have to find out who else was involved. Who were the actual thieves for sure, and was anyone involved other than them and the local police. If no one else was involved, as soon as we find Joe, you're safe to go on with your lives. If there's anyone else involved, we'll have to find them, too, because the story's out, and to anyone else involved, the four of you were their demise."
"Okay. I hope you find Joe and get this all figured out quick."
"Eager to become the town hero that helped bring down the bad police officers?"
"No, no, no. I'm not looking forward to that publicity at all. I am ready to get on with my life, though, and so are the others."
"I understand. We're trying to get to the bottom of it as quickly as we can."
"I appreciate that."
"Sit back and enjoy your vacation while we do our work."
"If it felt like a vacation, it'd be a lot easier."
"I'm sure it would. If you think of anything that may help us find Joe, tell one of the guys here right away."
"Oh, I will, and thank you for keeping me informed as to what you've found."
"It's the least we can do."
"Thanks. I'm anxious to learn who was the actual leader. I assumed it was Chief Nelson, but that's probably because he's the head of the police department, so I just assumed he'd be the head of this, as well."
"The assumption makes a lot of sense, but I don't think he was in charge."
"It would seem odd having someone else calling the shots, telling him what to do."
Lieutenant Berry nodded in agreement as they shook hands and they went back out to the kitchen where Alana and Kelli were fixing dinner.
Alana smiled. "Lieutenant, we're fixing lasagna for dinner. Why don't you stay and eat with us? We've got plenty."
"As good as lasagna sounds, I need to get back to work on solving this thing. I can see how you guys are suffering here, being forced to watch television and movies, and eat things like lasagna." They all laughed. He turned serious as he said, "I know this isn't as easy as I make it sound, and we're trying to get you back home as soon as we can. Thank you for your patience with us."
Cal thumped the lieutenant on his back and said, "I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you for keeping us safe, and on such short notice."
Lieutenant Berry nodded gruffly. "Just doing our job. I'll see you again as soon as I have more information. Anything you need me to send over with the next officer?" They talked a few minutes before he left, again zig zagging his way through town a few times before being convinced no one was following him.
* * * * *
The four of them fell into a routine over the next few days. They were all getting restless, eager to get back to their lives. John got daily updates on what was happening. By now they believed there was no one else involved, so they were just looking for Joe. They had an APB out for him, but everything pointed to him staying in state, watching what was happening. There had been a few reported sightings, and all had been within a fifty-mile radius. For that reason, they didn't want any of the four being out in the public until they found him or had reliable information that he was out of the area.
Cal and John had their hands full keeping the women patient and inside. They were tired of being cooped up and wanted to at least be able to go outside and get some fresh air. They both believed Joe was probably long gone by now, possibly even out of the country to avoid getting caught, and there was no reason they should still be locked up.
John had another situation with Alana, though. Every time they were alone she was quiet and antsy. They both knew why. He tried to get her to relax the afternoon of their fourth day there. They were in the library with the door closed for privacy. "Alana, is there anything you'd like to do that would help you calm down?"
"I'm sorry, John, but I can't stand waiting for a spanking. It's not fair. If you're going to spank me, you should be able to just do it and get it over with."
"I know, Sweetheart. I agree. I don't like making you wait, either, but—"
Alana, who was getting grouchier and downright rude at times lately, interrupted. "You told me the first time you talked to me about spanking that a spanking was a quick and easy way to get your point across. It was quick and then it was done and over with."
"I remember saying that. Normally I like to do it right at the time, or as soon thereafter as is possible."
"Well, I hate this waiting. It's cruel and unusual punishment, having to wait this long, knowing what's coming."
John, who was getting frustrated with her attitude, said, "We can take care of it right here, right now if you want."
She looked at him, shocked. "Not here! Everybody would hear us!"
"Well, I suggest you stop complaining, then, or I will take care of it right here and now."
She harrumphed and turned away from him.
"And lose the attitude or we'll be talking about that, as well, when we do take care of it."
She sat there quietly for several minutes. She turned to him then and quietly said, "I'm sorry, John. I just don't now how much longer I can take this."
"Honey, I know it's hard. You've been through a lot the last week, and now staying here as a prisoner, as you and Kelli seem to think, and having a spanking over your head. It's hard, I know, and I'm sorry about all of it." He took her in his arms and hugged her.
"But it's not your fault, John. I'm sorry I've been acting like such a bitch."
Without a word, he reached around and gave her bottom a good swat. "Not only do you know better than to use that kind of language, but I don't ever want to hear you refer to yourself like that again. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Sorry."
"Okay. But next time you'll be getting more than one swat for that."
"I'm sorry. I've been in a bad mood, and I'm sorry. I know it's not your fault."
He pulled her in against him, her head resting on his chest, and they talked about things they planned to do once they were free to go.
As had become their routine, they went out to the living room a little before eleven o'clock, so they could all watch the news before going to bed.
Just before the news came on that night, John went to talk to Agent Barstow. When he returned, he sat on the couch next to Alana, using his arm to pull her in against his chest to watch the news together. He leaned over and whispered, "There's something I want to talk to you about before we go to bed tonight."
She nodded. "Okay."
Chapter 12
They listened to the news, but there was no new information. The mayor had named Lieutenant McConnel as the Acting Chief of Police, and as such he would be doing what needed to be done to fill vacant positions within the police department. There was still an ongoing search for Patrolman Dexter Joseph Decker.
After the news Kelli said, "Well, that told us nothing, again."
"Are you ready for bed, Sweetie?" Cal asked her.
"Yep. I'm tired, even though I didn't do anything all day. Are you ready, Alana?"
"I'll be up in a little bit. John wants to talk about something first."
"Okay. Do you want me to wait up for you?"
"No, go ahead. I'll try not to wake you when I come in."
John took her hand and led her down the hall. She looked over at him, asking, "Where are we going?"
"Someplace where we can have some privacy." He opened the door to the office and with a hand on her back, encouraged her to go in. He followed her in and shut and locked the door.
"John, I thought the office was used by the agents."
"It is," he confirmed, "but I asked if we could use it tonight and they said no problem."
She was confused as she asked, "Why did you want to talk in here instead of the library? We can shut the door there, too, for privacy."
"It's not as private as this, though. This room has been soundproofed."
Alana didn't quite catch the full meaning of that. "Okaaaay," she stated hesitantly.
&nb
sp; "So we're going to take care of that spanking you've been dreading. Then it'll be over with and you won't have to worry about it any more." He was unbuttoning his cuffs and rolling up his shirtsleeves while he was talking. He sat down on the couch and said, "Okay, honey, come on over here so we can get this taken care of.
Alana looked at him, her face pale and her mouth dropped open. He stood up and took a couple steps to reach her. He gently took her hand and led her back over to stand in front of him as he sat back down on the couch. "Okay, Alana, do we need to talk about why this spanking is happening?"
Alana tried to back away, even though he was holding both of her hands. "No, John, we can't do this now."
"Why not, honey? I thought about what you said this evening, and you're right, it's not fair for you to have to wait all this time, dreading this spanking. So I remembered that Brad had said this room was soundproofed and I asked him if we could use it tonight."
"Did you tell him why?"
"No, of course not. I told him we need to talk a couple things out and you're afraid of being overheard. He was really understanding about it. He said he could easily see how it would be really difficult to feel free to talk. As long as someone's in the house, there's the chance they could overhear something." He grinned and said, "He made sure to let me know that they won't be using the office tonight, so if we feel a need to just hold each other and relish the closeness, go ahead and use the room all night. I told him I didn't think we'd need to do that, but thanked him for the offer. It is good to know we can take our time and enjoy some close time afterwards without having to hurry it."
"But tonight?"
"Why not tonight?"
"I'm not ready."
"Honey, you've been saying you're tired of waiting."
"I am, but I was told we can't yet, so I'm not ready now."
"Well, honey, you don't always get to pick when you want a spanking. When you earn one, you will get it. Generally it will be at the time you earn it, or as soon as we get home. We couldn't this time, and I'm sorry about that. This afternoon when I saw how upset you've become having to wait and anticipate, I knew I had to do something. Now, do we need to go over why you're getting this spanking, or can you tell me why?"
She sighed and just stared at John, still trying to pull away. He said, "Alana, this spanking is going to happen, and it's going to happen now. I understand that you've set your mind to accept that it's not going to happen for a while yet, so I'll give you a few minutes to wrap your head around the idea that it is going to happen right now. I suggest you use these next few minutes to do just that. If you spend it trying to figure out how to get out of it it's not going to help either of us, because it is going to happen and it's going to happen now."
She studied him, but didn't say anything. He could usually tell what she was thinking, but not this time. She had a totally unreadable expression. He gave her a full two minutes without saying anything, but kept his stern expression in place. Finally, just as he was about to call time's up and pull her over his lap, ready or not, a tear escaped from her eye and strolled down her cheek.
"I'm sorry, John. I have been complaining about having to wait, and it was actually very thoughtful of you to arrange this so we can get it over with. It just caught me so off guard, I wasn't at all ready for it."
His smile warmed her heart. "Are you ready now, Sweetheart?"
"It's going to hurt and I don't know that I can ever be ready for that part, but I'm definitely ready for it to be over with. So to answer your question, yes, my head is ready to accept this now."
"Good. If you're not ready in your mind to accept it, it won't be very effective. If you fight it the whole way through, you're not accepting in your heart that you deserve it and it won't do you any good. All you'll get out of it is a sore butt. If your head is ready to accept it, that means you know you deserve it?"
"Yes."
"Good. We're partway there already. Now, can you tell me why you're about to get spanked?"
"Because I got us all into this whole mess, and I'm really sorry, John."
"Whoa, wait, back up. You did not get us into this mess, young lady. That is not what this spanking is all about. Is that really what you thought you were getting spanked for?"
"Basically, yes. I mean, the actual thing I did was buy some shoes when I wasn't supposed to, but buying those shoes is what got us all into this mess. That's why it's going to be such a horrible spanking. I deserve it," she added, tears streaming down her face.
"You're right that this spanking is because you bought more shoes when you knew you didn't need any and it wasn't within your budget. It is not for this mess we find ourselves in. Honey, it's not your fault that you got a pair of shoes with a ruby in the box." She started to argue, but he held up his hand to stop her. "I will admit that if you hadn't bought the shoes, you wouldn't have gotten the ruby. But you are going to get spanked for buying the shoes. That there happened to be a ruby in the box was not your fault, and you are not getting spanked for that."
"I'm not?"
"No. You're not the one that put the ruby in the box. Anyone could have gotten that particular box. As a matter of fact, I've thought about that, and I have to admit that if someone was going to get that box with the ruby in it, I'm glad you got it."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because you did the right thing. It took you longer than it should have, and we'll talk a little bit about that, but you eventually did the right thing and came to me with it. We were able to stop the jewel thefts because you did the right thing. It was in a rather roundabout way and we had some luck, but thanks to some right choices and quick thinking, we're all okay and the thieves have been stopped."
"That's true, I guess," she mumbled.
"It is true. I've thought about what could have happened if someone else got that box of shoes. They might not have seen the ruby at all and thrown it away with the box. Or they could have found the ruby and kept it. Or they could have taken it to try and sell it, which could have been a real mess if whomever they tried to sell it to thought it was one of the stolen jewels and called the police. You know, all pawnshops and jewelry stores have heard about the thefts, and they all know that if they buy something that turns out to be stolen, they have to give the item to the police department and they're out whatever money they paid for it. So when there's jewel thefts around, they're going to be extremely careful about buying a ruby like that."
"I didn't know that."
"It's true. And if they would have gone to the police department, it's hard telling what would have happened."
"The person may have been in danger," Alana said.
"They may have been. There's also a good chance the police would have done nothing, other than heave a sigh of relief that the missing ruby was back and they didn't get caught."
"So my finding it and turning it over to you—"
"Was the best thing that could have happened as far as stopping the jewel thefts and the culprits being reprehended."
"So it's really not my fault that we're in this mess?"
"No."
"Thank you. I thought this was going to be really horrible, because of the mess I got us into."
John paused before rubbing her hands with his thumbs. "Honey, this isn't going to be an easy spanking. We talked about that already. This is the second time you're getting spanked for breaking your budget by buying shoes you don't need."
"And trust me, I really learned my lesson this time. I will probably think about this whole fiasco every time I buy a pair of shoes from now on."
He chuckled. "Yes, I imagine you probably will." He squared his shoulders then and said, "But the fact remains, you were spanked for this same thing and did it again, and fairly soon after the first time. Obviously the first spanking didn't have that much of an impression on you, so this one needs to get your attention."
Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I understand what you're saying, John, and I trust you to do whatever you feel you n
eed to do. I do know that I will never look at buying shoes the same way again, though, no matter how much you spank me or anything else that happens."
"I believe you. Now, do you understand what you're getting spanked for?"
"Yes. For ignoring my budget and buying more shoes, and for not coming to you as soon as I found the ruby."
"That's right. Okay, time to pay the piper, young lady." He unfastened her jeans and pulled them down to her knees, then guided her down over his lap and helped settle her into place. Without any more words, he started the spanking. He was expecting the usual yelling and squirming, but it didn't happen. She jumped a little each time his hand landed on her bottom and a few ouches escaped, but overall she took the spanking very well.
"Honey, this room has been soundproofed. They've assured me they've tested it thoroughly, so no matter how much you yell or scream, no one will hear it."
"Good."
That's all she said. John continued the spanking, but was baffled. He was sure she was sore, and she was involuntarily jerking now when he'd give her a harder swat than others or if he gave her two on the same spot. So why wasn't she yelling and screaming like normal, and squirming for all she was worth to get off his lap? After another dozen firm swats he stopped, keeping his hand on her bottom.
"I'm going to start the talking part of your spanking now, Alana, to make sure you remember why you're being spanked, but I have to ask, are you okay?"
"Yes. I mean, other than my butt really hurts."
"You're usually yelling and fighting me much more by now. What's going on?"
"I guess it's because I know you're serious now and—" She started crying harder now, but tried again to finish her thought. "—and I understand now why you—now I—" She started sobbing now as she blurted out, "I get it now!"
John paused. He was glad she got it now, but he wasn't quite sure he did. She was sobbing and sniffling, and he knew that since he wasn't spanking her now, and hadn't been spanking hard enough for her to be sobbing like that, this reaction was from her thoughts and her guilt, not from the pain. If it was from the guilt, that was good. That meant she did get it. Thinking back over her words, he asked, "What do you mean you know I'm serious now?"