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“It’s kind of fishy. Don’t you think?” Kerry said.
Garcia-Bell nodded again, but kept silent.
“But I don’t even care. I’ll take my freedom however I can get it,” Kerry added, stuffing the painting and some pictures into the box of her things. “I wonder if my mother is here with Tyrian? Who am I kidding? Of course not. That would be too much like right for that woman.” She put a picture of Tyrian and her mother into the box after looking at it for a second. “Let me not be so mean. My mother has her bad sides, but she’s done what she can to support me through this. Taking Tyrian in—that was big for her. And I know she loves him.” Kerry looked around and shrugged her shoulders. “Guess that’s all,” she said. “Got everything.” She went to pick up the box, but Garcia-Bell stopped her.
“Wait,” Garcia-Bell said.
“What?”
“You forgot one.” Garcia-Bell went to the bed and sat down, leaning under the top bunk to pull the picture of Tyrian and Jamison from beneath the springs.
“Oh, thank you.”
Garcia-Bell got back up and handed the picture to Kerry. “I know it’s your favorite,” she said.
Kerry looked at the picture for a second. “Got me through some tough nights.” She walked the picture to the box and slid it in.
Garcia-Bell was behind her, feeling like she wanted to say something just in case she never saw Kerry again.
“Okay,” Kerry said, still facing away. “Guess I’m ready to go.”
“Ke—” Garcia-Bell stopped herself. Funny how she could fight for anything, but when it came to matters of the heart, she was always trying to find the right words. “Kerry!” she forced out.
“Yes.” Kerry turned around to see Garcia-Bell looking at her with red eyes. Quickly, she remembered everything the woman in the next cell had said about her teasing Garcia-Bell, knowing the woman had a crush on her. “What’s up? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” Garcia-Bell said. “I’m just . . . I just wanted to say—” She reached out and grabbed Kerry’s hand. “I wanted to say thank you—thank you for being my friend. You know? I’m grown and I think you’re probably the best friend I’ve ever had. And I’m kind of sad that you’re leaving.”
Afraid at what was coming next and not wanting to embarrass Garcia-Bell by turning her down, Kerry tried to thwart the emotional outpour with “Don’t be sad—”
But Garcia-Bell stopped her. “Wait, let me say this. I’m sad because I don’t know if we will ever meet again. But I want you to know that I learned a lot from watching you. How you carry yourself. How much you love your son. And I think what I really like about you is that I never felt like you wanted anything from me. Everywhere I go, everyone wants something. No matter what, they plotting to get it. But you just—you wanted a friend, I guess. And I’m happy I got to feel what that’s like. And that you didn’t judge me, you know, because of how I looked. I know I don’t look like other women, but I am a woman. And you always treated me that way. Never worried about me trying to come on to you or accused me of trying to get with you. I respect you for that. I’m going to miss you.”
“Wow!” Kerry said, now returning the grip Garcia-Bell had on her hand. “I’m going to miss you too. And thank you for being my friend too. You helped me. You really did. I wouldn’t have made it here without you. I mean, my best friend is like on the other side of the world, but with you here, I never felt like that. I felt like I had someone right here for me.”
Kerry opened her arms to Garcia-Bell and the women hugged and cried on each other’s shoulders and promised to stay in touch.
After meeting with the warden, Kerry was led to a small room near the exit of the jail where Lebowski, his assistant, and Val were waiting for her. It was awkward to see Val at that moment. Kerry was looking for someone to hug, to connect with in the excitement of what she’d been waiting for, but she and Val had been enemies for so long when Jamison was alive, it actually felt funny to be happy to see her. Or that this was the first connection she’d see to her old life.
Still in her jail jumpsuit, Kerry hugged her enemy-turned-friend anyway, and then Lebowski, who instructed her to change into a brand-new gray conservative suit and matching heels his assistant was holding in a garment bag.
“I tell you, I didn’t see this coming at all. Not one bit,” Lebowski admitted as Kerry was handed the garment bag and with nowhere else to go, she began to change right in front of them. “When my phone rang at seven AM, I thought it was a joke. No negotiations from the DA for weeks and suddenly he’s making a move? And this one? Who knew? You’d think someone was bribing the man, the way he’s moving so quickly. Wouldn’t be a surprise with the sort he hangs out with. You know?”
Val shrugged her shoulders and smiled. “Just a change of heart. Even the devil reserves the right to change his mind and do good sometimes. Right?”
“What happened? What did he say?” Kerry asked, stumbling into her new clothing. In recent months she’d become accustomed to undressing, showering, and dressing in front of total strangers.
“He held a press conference at his office and said there were no findings to the charges held against you and that you would be released immediately. It was over as soon as it began,” Lebowski explained still sounding stunned by the move. He was wearing his navy blue suit with the dated padded shoulders that made him look inches taller, wider, and stronger. On his lapel was his Masonic pin. He knew every television station in the city, including the national news networks, would have journalists and cameramen waiting outside the jail to see Kerry released. While the case had lost most of its trac
tion due to all of the eccentric conspiracy-theory talk, it was still a good headline: Girl from the right side of the tracks marries a guy from the bad side and then she kills him.
“So, that was the only reason? But that’s always been there. What’s the change for?” Kerry finished buttoning her suit jacket with echos of Auset’s charge in the library just hours ago coming to mind somewhere in the background of her thoughts.
“Probably the same politics that got you here in the first place,” Lebowski whispered, though no guards were in the room. “I told you, this whole thing smelled like a cover-up from the start.”
“What do you think, Val?” Kerry asked, noting how quiet the commonly loud and central Val was.
“I have no idea. Maybe it’s just a blessing,” she answered. “Have to take them as they come. Right?” Val smiled and shrugged again uncertainly.
“You know what? You’re right. Who cares?” Kerry chirped with a smile bigger than Val’s. “I’m free. I get to go home to my—” Kerry paused. “Is my mother here? With Tyrian? Did anyone call her?”
