Beth

 

News traveled fast in prison, and Beth heard about what happened to Hank less than an hour after the Ad-Seg door shut behind him. She heard DiNovi tell Lindhurst, but from the smug look on DiNovi's face and the way his eyes kept flickering over to her, she could tell the news was really meant for her.

 

Her heart felt like it had been replaced by a cannonball. Stealing a few private moments with Hank in the infirmary or the stairwell was one thing, but Ad-Seg was kept under tight watch, due to the dangerous men down there. There were plenty of surveillance cameras, and the COs who were posted there were loyal to Butler. If she tried to visit Hank or even get a message to him, she'd be found out immediately.

 

Worse, she knew that plenty of “accidents” and “suicides” had previously claimed the lives of inmates in Ad-Seg. It wasn't difficult for a group of guards—either on orders from a gang, or just for their own amusement—to cheat the cameras, string someone up or slit their wrists, then act surprised when the convict was found dead the next morning.

 

Hank had been thrown into the most hazardous part of Bluebonnet, and there was no way for her to protect him or even try to comfort him. Her mind kept flashing gory images of Butler and his men savaging Hank in a million different ways.

 

When her shift ended, Beth went to the womens' locker room and changed out of her uniform, desperately trying to think of a solution that would get her and Hank out of there as soon as possible. But her thoughts were clouded by the previous night.

 

She needed to pick up a pregnancy test on the way home today to be sure, but if it was positive, she couldn't imagine what she'd do next. She'd done some quick research online and found out that female COs who got pregnant were able to work in prisons right up to maternity leave—but they were given light duty far from the inmates, to prevent lawsuits.

 

In other words, she'd be banished to some department where she wouldn't be able to help Hank, or see him, even if he magically found a way out of the hole.

 

Once she'd crisply folded her uniform, Beth reached for her civilian clothes and noticed something tucked under them. She reached under, picked it up, looked at it for half a second—and then gasped and tossed it away quickly, as though it were a venomous spider.

 

It was a small plastic bag filled with jagged beige rocks of crack cocaine.

 

“Why, Officer D'Amato,” a voice behind her drawled. “Shame on you.”

 

Beth turned, putting her hands over her body protectively. She was still in her bra and panties. Captain Butler was leaning against the lockers with his huge arms folded in front of him. His scarred lip was twisted upward in a smile.

 

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Beth hissed angrily. “You're not supposed to be in the women's locker room! I could report you for this.”

 

Butler shrugged. “But I'm not in the women's locker room. I'm at the other end of the prison, with four other guards who could testify to that effect. So it'd be my word against yours, and once they found all that rock you've got there, who on earth would believe you?”

 

“That's not mine, and you know it.”

 

“How do I know that? It's in your locker. It's got your fingerprints on it. And if anyone looks into your background closely enough, they'll find out you're connected to the Warriors. So one plus one equals a guard getting paid to smuggle narcotics into a correctional facility. How do you think that'll end for you? Once you're locked away in some other prison, how long do you think it'll take the other girls on the cell block to find out you were a CO? How long do you think you'll survive?”

 

“Anyone could see through that,” Beth replied. “Everyone knows the Warriors in here don't do drugs, and they don't sell them, either.”

 

“You think any of those details are going to matter? You think when these things go to trial, people give a hoot about what goes on between guards and convicts? They don't care. They don't want to hear about it. 'Out of sight, out of mind,' that's how the average person feels about prisons. The judge will smack his gavel, send you to the slam, and then go back to cases involving real people.”

 

Beth sighed. “Fine. So what is this? Because we both know if you were really going to turn me in for what you planted in my locker, you wouldn't be standing there crowing about it.”

 

“You're right. I'm not planning to tell anyone about it this time. This is just a warning, and lady, you'd better believe it's your last one. No more stuff like what happened in the showers. No more sticking your neck out for Hank. If I even suspect you're daydreaming about helping him, you're going to be in cuffs and doing the perp walk faster than you can say 'Harley Davidson.' Am I being fairly clear?”

 

Beth swallowed hard, then nodded.

 

“Good,” Butler grunted, turning to leave. “Now get out of here. And get rid of that bag.”

 

Once he was gone, Beth put on her clothes, staring hatefully at the crack rocks. She supposed she'd have to flush them when she got home, but the idea of having them in the car with her while she drove was unnerving. What if she got pulled over? What if they decided to search her car for some reason, or no reason at all?

 

Goddamn you, Butler, she thought fiercely. I'll make you pay for this. I don't know how, but somehow, someday, I'll find a way to wipe that smirk off your ugly face.

 

She walked out to the parking lot, turned on her car, and carefully circled it to make sure all of the lights were working. Then she drove home, making sure to stay at least five miles below the speed limit.

 

She didn't stop to pick up the pregnancy test.

 

Instead, she went straight home, tossed the rocks into the toilet, flushed it...then vomited and flushed it again.