chapter 107

word count: 1662

the three hours that john, lisa, and the boys spent at the station house seemed like an eternity.. one by one they were called into the interrogation room and even though they were accompanied by both john and lisa,, each of the boys were visibly shaken by the procedure.. 

the office staff at the precinct did everything within their power to entertain the boys that were left waiting while the other was interrogated.. they offered them hot cocoa and donuts,, chips and sodas, even candy bars,, but none of their good will attempts to distract the boys from the happenings of the day were to any avail.. 

they preferred to sit huddled together carry on what they evidently deemed private conversations,, as each time a member of the staff approached them,, all conversation would stop,, and a look of annoyance would greet the well-meaning staff member.

erik was the last to be interviewed and as he, john and lisa exited the interrogation room,, adam and elliot jumped to their feet and asked simultaneously, “can we go now?”

“we sure can!” john said as a distinct look of relief radiated from his smiling face.. “you guys did great!! now let’s get the heck outta here!!”

“c’mon guys.” lisa chimed in,, as she extended her arms and brought all three boys in close.. without a moment’s hesitation,, the boys huddled in around her,, and together they traversed the squad room and headed to the elevator.. 

“i’m starving!” john interjected into the silence that enveloped them as they waited for the elevator. “who’s up for some steak n shake??”

“me!!” all three boys exclaimed heartily.. 

lisa just looked at john and smiled.. and john knew exactly what she was thinking.. they were functioning as a family.. a real family.. neither of them was so naive as to think the struggle was over,, but there was a glimmer of hope,, a light at the end of the tunnel.. together they had foraged thru the darkness,, and together they would walk into the light.. 

***

the crime scene investigative unit had cordoned off the crime scene and was heavily into dusting for prints and securing anything that might even remotely be evidence by the time hank and gil arrived at the scene.

they flashed their badges,, crossed under the yellow security tape and headed straight for the lead detective on the case.. 

“so wadda we got?” hank wasted no time in asking.. 

“well, right now we have a lot of nothing.. not even so much as a viable partial.. whole thing has been wiped down cleaner than your mama’s kitchen.. definitely the work of some pro’s. right now we are waiting on a tow truck.. we are gonna haul it in and tear it apart and see if we can get something..”

“what about the blood spatter?” gil interjected.

“consistent with a single gunshot to the head, looks like a  .45 but we are gonna have to wait on ballistics for that and a dna on the blood and brain matter to tie it to johnson..”

“hurry up and fuckin’ wait!” hank exclaimed with disgust.. he knew the drill,, he was just exasperated.. 

“this is personal with me,” he informed the lead detective,  “one of the boys that found the body was my grandson,, and the other two are fosters living with my daughter and her fiancé. i need to be kept in the loop on this.” 

“you got it!” assured the lead. “what i know, you know..”

an exhausted hank looked over at gil. “can you run me back to my car?? i wanna go check on lisa and the boys..”

“will do.” gil said as the two of them crossed back under the yellow security tape and headed toward the car.. “want me to go with you?”

“na, they been through enough today.. i don’t want it to look like we are ganging up on them.. just need a little family time, ya know?”

“no problem, buddy. just thought i’d offer..”

they drove to the precinct in silence.. only the constant chatter on the radio persisted,, and fortunately none of it was a call to action for either of them.. as gil pulled up beside hanks car he let hank know he was available if he needed anything.. hank thanked him with a smile and a wordless nod of his head.. 

gil waited till hank was safely behind the wheel of his vehicle,, and then found a parking spot closer to the precinct entrance... he might as well check on what was going on with simone while he was here.. 

***

due to the fact that both trudy and simone were charged with crimes involving the safety of a police officer, neither of them had been released into the general population after they were suited up and turned over to the department of corrections.. 

behind the scenes it had been decided to house the two of them together in hopes that they would confide in each other as to the nature of their respective crimes,, and in the end,, be used as witnesses against each other when the cases eventually went to trial.. 

trudy of course was oblivious.. she was just happy to be locked down with simone.. just when it seemed as if she had no one left to turn to,, simone had come into her life,, and the way she saw it the god’s had smiled upon her when the matron put them in a cell together.. 

she had never really had a woman friend before, and the fact that simone had kissed her and stirred up a curiosity trudy had never even known existed inside her didn’t hurt either.. in fact it kind of caused butterflies in her stomach every time she thought about it.. if the truth be told,, trudy was more than the least bit interested in pursuing that kiss.. and very possibly finding out what it would lead to.

simone on the other hand was more practiced in the art of deception and understood that they would never have been locked down together if there hadn’t been an ulterior motive on the part of the powers that be.. knowing as she did that they had only been put in the same cell to gather evidence against each other,, and realizing that she had already spilled her guts to trudy in order to make her understand she never had any real designs on gil, simone understood all too well that she had to endear herself to trudy in such a way that when they offered her a lighter sentence,, or even a release in exchange for damning evidence against her,, trudy would be unwilling to provide them with it.. 

simone knew she had caught trudy off guard,, but in a good way,, with that kiss in the holding cell.. . she also knew that trudy felt as if she had been abandoned by all the men in her life..  and since none of them had come to her rescue thus far,, it was highly likely that she had.. 

it was evident that the most valuable tool that she had to use against trudy at the moment was to emphasize the fact that all the men she had previously been able to manipulate with her sexual prowess had abandoned her,, and that she was the only person on the face of the earth that truly gave a rats ass about her right now.. 

she quickly decided that the way to go about that was to engage trudy’s blatant sexuality.. after all that is what had endeared her to all the loser men she had in her life,, and if she was lucky,, she could gain trudy’s undying loyalty in much the same way.. 

she went about testing the waters by taking a seat on the cot next to,, but not so close to be obvious to trudy..

“how ya holdin’ up?” simone asked with genuine sounding concern.. she reached over and brushed a stray wisp of hair from trudy’s cheek.. when she did so,, she saw what could easily have been mistaken for an innocent blush come to trudy’s cheek.

‘this is gonna be easier than i thought.” she prided herself as she allowed her hand to glide gently down the side of trudy’s face before withdrawing it.. 

“i’m good..” trudy said meakly.. “well considering the circumstances i mean.”

“i’m just glad i can be here for you..” simone assured her,, as the two of them gazed almost shyly upon each other.. 

“i mean, i would hate to think of you having to go through this alone,, and if you don’t mind me saying it aloud,, it doesn’t look like there are any knights in shining armor lining up to help you out of this mess.”

“no, no it doesn’t.” trudy almost stumbled over her own words.. her mind was racing. she was so intoxicated with the thought of feeling her hungry lips pressed once again against simone’s, that she had nearly forgotten about the fact that not one man in her vast array of sexual partners had even attempted to intervene on her behalf.. 

“looks like it’s just me and you, huh?” simone said as she slid just a tad bit closer to trudy. 

“me and you against the world…”

“ya, ya, just you and me..” trudy responded breathlessly as she erased the space between them,, took simone’s face in her gentle hands and engaged her in what was very possibly the most earth shattering kiss trudy had ever encountered.. 

“just you and me.” simone reassured her,, as trudy’s eager lips parted once again,, and simone dove in for the kill… 

‘hook, line, and sinker..’ simone mused to herself as she gently slid her hand up trudy’s trembling torso and cupped  her magnificent breast in her hand ,, gently rubbing her fully erect nipple between her thumb and forefinger.

oh yeah,, she could do this.. after all,, she had learned from the best..