Out of the corner of his eye, Roman cocked his head and raised his brow. “Dude, you forgot her name?”
“I didn’t forget I only learned her name yesterday.” Dante said under gritted teeth. He flashed at the woman whose badge read Gerti. “Gerti, wow, what a traditional name. Is it short for Gertrude?”
“How did you know?”
“My favorite Zia, my aunt, her name was Gertrude. She taught me everything I needed to know about women.”
“Such as?” Roman snarled outwards.
“A woman always loves to be asked how she’s doing. Don’t you?” Dante flashed Gerti a smile. He managed a smug look back at Roman while Gerti nodded. “You know how it is, right?”
A red blush touched her cheeks. Dante put her at about fifty in age. She clicked her white tipped nails against the keyboard. “I do. And if you’re new to town, there’s a hotel you can go to rest or what not,” she gave him a wink.
Dante held up his ring finger and waved his hands, “Thanks for the offer but ah.”
Gerti was wise enough to apologize profusely and work faster to help him out. “Well, it appears she has a visitor right now and with visiting hours almost over, I’m not sure if you’ll have time.”
“Who?” He asked quickly. Gerti raised an eyebrow at his rushed tone. “I’m sorry, it’s just well, I was supposed to keep an eye on her for my wife and I’d very much like to not be in the doghouse.”
“Well, if your wife is Harley Tomasello, you’re too late. She already signed in and is with her. And with one seat per partition, there’s only supposed to be one person at a time. You know you’re more than welcome to sit with me until she’s free.”
Dante reached into his pocket and flipped open his FBI badge. She peered close. “I need to get back there now.”
“Yes, right away.”
Gerti flagged for a uniformed officer who led Dante and Roman down the hall. Dante walked through the white sterile wall wondering which had more power, the ring or the FBI badge. Either way, he was a few steps closer to Harley and Hannah. Black skid marks from resistant prisoners stained the floor. Through the doors Dante noticed the similar glass partitions connecting the conversations by a black telephone mounted against the wall. Where he came from, the phones were fitted with a listening device, something every prisoner and visitors never seemed to be mindful of, despite the large black lettered plaque at the top of the glass. Women in orange jumpsuits sat on one side of the glass. Each partition held a loved one-or not-hanging on their every word via the phone between them.
He found Harley’s backside first. She wore a black tank top of some sort and black pants stopping at her knees. Her hair hung in a ponytail down the center of her back. She could pass for an Undesirable. It surprised him he wasn’t as angry anymore with Harley for leaving him again. The anger subsided when he realized why she left so suddenly.
Opposite of her booth was empty. Her friend Tai stood against the wall. So much for only letting one person back there. He and Roman stood back while Hannah came out of a side door with a group of other women in a line. Hannah’s hands and feet were chained and shackled. Approximately eight hours in the slammer and Dante blew out an inward curse, knowing she’d been through the hazing process. Her hair was a mess, her eyes wide and scared. The corner of her mouth bruised with purple and blue.
The minute Harley laid eyes on her she jumped from her seat and slammed her hand against the glass partition. “What in the hell is going on here?” Harley demanded from a rifle-clad officer.
“Inmate fell,” he shrugged and went back to his iPhone.
Fell, my ass, Dante thought to himself. He made a mental note of the man’s face and build. Italian, maybe Puerto Rican—given their location, but more than likely on Leonardo’s payroll. It would be interesting to take a peek at the guard’s bank account. He was willing to bet his left nut the account recently received a boost. Hannah hadn’t been here that long. Of course, Leonardo had people on the inside, that’s how he got the drop on a lot of people. Dante balled his hands into fists and stepped forward. Roman laid a hand on his shoulder to stop him and nodded his head at the interaction of everyone in the visitor’s lounge. Older, har
dened women flanked either side of Hannah at their booths while she sat down. Dante spotted the predator eyeballing Hannah—mentally circling her for intimidation. It was standard procedure for new inmates to be apprehensive. Harley paused whatever she was going to say. Dante stood mesmerized by the sway of her hair as she studied the woman behind the wall in the next partition and then leaned back to get a view of the woman visiting the inmate.
Harley reached over to the visitor at the bench beside her and grabbed the older woman’s throat. The guard on duty stepped forward but Tai pushed off the wall with a swift high kick that left him flailing backwards against the corner of the wall by the door.
“Understand this,” Harley gritted through her teeth barely needing the phone from either partition as she held on to some inmate’s frail grandmother, “Anything else happens to my niece, I follow this woman home and do the exact same thing. Do I make myself clear?”
The woman visiting the grandmother backed up and nodded her head toward Harley and then toward the other women inmates. Dante fought against the hard-on rising in his pants. Was it possible to be any more attracted to Harley right now?
Harley and Hannah sat down and talked in hushed tones over the phone. But not for long. An alarm sounded off. Harley squared her shoulders and motioned for Hannah to do the same, encouraging the girl to stay strong. Hannah pressed her hand against the window. Tears welled in her eyes. Dante’s heart ached for the sight. Call it Catholic guilt, but this was somehow his fault. He should have caught Leonardo a long time ago. He should have put a bullet through his head when he had the chance. Fuck trying to get him to stand trial.
“I’m going to get you out of this, just hang tight,” Harley said to Hannah.
The doors to the inmates’ side opened and law enforcement ran inside and the prisoners knew the drill and lined up, raised their shackled arms as far as the chains allowed and knelt down with their noses pressed against the wall. The doors behind Dante tried to push open. He and Roman leaned back and used their weight to keep them off.
“Yo,” Dante yelled toward the women. Harley’s eyes locked with his, stretched open as if to contemplate the how and why he was there. Dante nodded his head toward the red exit sign on the other side of the room where the security guard began to come to. “You guys need to get the hell out of here, now.”
“I’ll hold them back,” Roman shouted over the alarm, “and meet up with you later.”
The guard on the ground struggled to get up. In his haste to get to his feet or stop the uniformed man reaching for Harley, hands stretched and tried to grab her shoulders. Seeing red, Dante ran forward, arms stretched, and guided Harley and Tai up with him and ran out the exit, stepping over the older grandma gasping for air and the security guard coming to. Outside the doors, their footsteps squeaked against the floor until they made it outside where the bright light blinded them.
“Are you kidding me?” Harley screamed at him, “What is up with you still following me?”