chapter 125

word count: 2402

during what seemed like hours following the judges decree and  trudy’s actual release,, she paced her cell anxiously.. she had thought that the moment that the judge declared her free to go that she would be given her walking papers and quickly headed out the door.. 

but much to her chagrin,, there was either mountains of paperwork involved in setting her free or the staff at the DOC was just taking their jolly old time doing the paperwork that was involved.. although trudy had no timepiece with which to gauge the amount of time she was being kept in the stark cold holding cell,,  the minutes seemed to pass like so many hours.. 

as she waited impatiently her demeanor was quickly turning sour..  it was taking everything she had not lose her composure and yell at the top of her lungs “what the hell is taking you idiots so long!!!” but because she now understood that would only prolong her stay,, she refrained.

in keeping with her new found desire to maintain some degree of decorum,, she kept her mouth shut,, and paced her cell in a blighted effort to keep warm and just waited.. as she tucked her arms inside her DOC provided orange scrubs, and continued to pace,, she distracted herself from thinking about how long it was taking for them to release her, by pondering where exactly she planned to go once she was released.. 

she had no real home to go to.. john was involved with lisa now,, and he had taken her elly with him.. she was quite sure she would not be welcomed there,, and if the truth be told,, she didn’t really want to see either of them until she was independently established.. once she had a job,, a roof over her head,, and was as visibly changed on the outside,, as she had come to realize she could be on the inside,, maybe then she could approach john and see if he would allow her to re-establish a relationship with her boy.. 

poor elly,, her mind drifted off as she recounted all that she had put him through.. all the men that had come in and out of her life (and her bedroom) since his father had taken what he saw as the only way out when  "he t-boned that tanker at 110 mph,, never even touching the brake.".. 

she reflected on all the drunken brawls he had been forced to witness. all the time she had left him home alone,, unattended,, left to fend for himself, as she pursued any and every man she thought would be stupid enough to fall for her provocative lures and come off with some money as an outward display of his undying gratitude for her sexual favors.... 

she thought about all the time she could have spent with him,, raising him,, nurturing him like the mother she should have been,, but now realized she never was..  she wondered if there was any way she was ever going to be able to make it all up to him.. any way he would ever be able to see past all of that,, and come to accept her,, if not love her.. 

all of this thinking about elly was bringing her down,,  and the one thing she did not need right now was to feel defeated.. she realized she had a bit of a hard road ahead of her.. she realized she had nowhere to go when she was released.. with john and elly out of the picture,, and that damn housekeeper of buzz’s who had in as much told her she would only ever be allowed in that house over her dead body,,  her two most likely prospects had essentially crossed themselves off the list.. 

sure,, she could hit a bar.. no doubt there she could cajole some poor unsuspecting sucker to buy her drinks and take her home with him,, but even she was wise enough to know that would only set her back into the downward spiral that had gotten her here in the first place.. 

“hunt!!” alas she heard the matron call her name.. 

“thank god!!” trudy exclaimed aloud,, as she heard the jingling of keys and watched as the door opened and the matron threw a drawstring plastic bag on the cot.

“get dressed.. you’re outta here.” instructed the matron with not so much as a glance in trudy’s direction.. 

trudy wasted no time emptying the contents’ of the bag on the thread bare cot.. a rumpled form fitting black lace dress,, a pair of black hose with more than an acceptable  number of runs in them,, a pair of barely there panties and her favorite bright red patented leather “fuck me” pumps.. 

“ugh…” trudy groaned as reality took over,, and she recalled the circumstances that proceeded her arrest..  dressed in this,, she was not at all surprised that the guys she had encountered at the pink lady could easily have mistaken her for a male in drag,, as even she was bright enough to realize the flamboyance of the outfit was more than a bit over the top.. 

she pulled the once extravagant dress over her head,, stepped into her panties,, and slipped on her red patented leather pumps.. the hose were too far gone to even attempt,, so she stuffed them back in the bag.. 

for once in her life, she was thankful that she was unable to check her look in a mirror.. she knew she had to look like death warmed over,,  and no matter what she did at this point,, it would be evident to any onlookers that she was indeed doing the ‘walk of shame’ as she departed the station house..  

it wasn’t long till the matron returned for her,, escorted her to the heavy steel door that separated her from the outside world,, and handed over her property envelope... inside trudy found her purse,, her makeup bag,, some gum,, a brush, and a couple of crunched up dollar bills.. 

‘well at least it’s enough to hop a bus.” she attempted to console herself,, all the while knowing it would be a bus to nowhere.. 

as the cold steel door swung closed behind her,, she approached the grated window and asked the matron at the front desk if there was a bathroom she could use.. without a word the matron pointed to the second door on the left..  trudy followed the direction of the matrons finger,, entered the restroom,, and was pleased to find a real mirror in there,, not one of those shiny steel plates that they had on the cell block.. 

she took a good hard look at herself.. the somewhat haggard, newly demure woman that stared back at her was nearly unrecognizable..  

she popped a piece of chewing gum in her mouth,, and ran a brush through her limp straight hair.. all the while realizing that putting her face on,, no matter how expertly she did so,, was never going to be enough to distract from her gaudy ‘left over from last night’ outfit..

“oh well, “ she conceded, as she dotted her face with concealer,, “if nothing else,, at least it will make me feel a little better..” 

***

in their haste to jump into pursuit of the hearse as it sped off from the johnson house,, a less than thorough search of the johnson home had been done.. the uniforms stayed around just long enough to cordon off the yard with the yellow police tape, denoting a crime scene, before leaving just one of their own behind to secure  the scene until the crime scene investigative unit arrived to take over the collection of evidence.. 

in the following moments of silence, tobin took what he saw as his opportunity to escape.. silently he opened the lid of the cedar chest at the foot of mrs. johnsons bed,, and climbed out.. he stealthily made his way to the lace curtained window,, crouched down and took a quick peek at what was going on outside.. 

he spied only one uniform standing sentry at the end of the drive.. he crept to the back of the house,, and ventured a peek out the bathroom window.. nothing but yellow crime scene tape.. if he was gonna take his chances at getting out of here,, he was gonna have to do it now.. 

he opened the bathroom window and crept silently step by step down the ivy covered lattice work that ran he length of the back of the house.. once on the ground he ran straight for the privacy hedge,, scraped himself  through it with some degree of difficulty, and sprinted through the adjoining neighbor’s yard before the homeowner was any wiser.. 

once on the sidewalk.. he straightened his once crisply pressed suit,, ran his fingers through his highly glossed jet black hair,, and swaggered off down the sidewalk as if he had a purpose in his step.. and he did.. he needed to get the hell out of here before the next wave of cops arrived.. 

all of this was way more than he had bargained for when he had acquiesced to old lady johnson’s request that he deliver a hearse..  it was his understanding it was to be one smooth move.. just throw the dick and the old lady in the back of the hearse and deliver them to a safe house nearby.. bing, bam, done.. 

as he strode confidently along the well-manicured sidewalks,, cursing the day he became involved with mick johnson and his equally in-adept family, he kept his eyes peeled for a vehicle that had unknowingly been left unlocked.. that was all he needed.. 

he had honed his hot wiring skills as a teen,, and he knew that once he was in a vehicle he could have that baby on the road in under thirty seconds..  

he had traversed a number of blocks with no luck what so ever before he came upon it.. a gently used ‘95 bronze honda civic.. he chuckled to himself as he recalled an article he had read recently stating that the honda civic was the car most likely to be stolen.. 

“just another statistic.” he said aloud as he slipped behind the wheel and worked his magic with nothing more than a pocket knife and a few twisted wires under the steering column..  in no time flat,, the engine fired up,, and he was off,, slow and easy so as not to attract any attention,, but he hell outta here just the same.

he took his time making his way out of the neighborhood,, but as soon as he hit the main road,, his foot laid heavy on the gas.. he dodged and weaved through traffic ,, the more distance he put between himself and the crime scene the better off he was.. 

as luck would have it he got caught at the red light just outside the parking lot of the 45^th street precinct.. 

“fuck!!” he muttered to himself. “of all the …”

it was then that he spotted her.. a little worse for the ware perhaps,, but there was no mistaking the somewhat disheveled woman sitting on the bus bench just  outside the precinct house was none other than that bastard millers latest squeeze.. 

“now that bitch is gonna be worth some money.. “ he thought calculatedly as he  quickly devised a plan to get her into his car.. it was gonna be risky,, but it was a chance he had to take.. he was gonna get miller one way or another,, and if it just so happened to be by ransoming off his latest piece of ass,, so be it.. 

when the light changed to green,, he yanked a wire loosefrom beneath the steering column causing the car to sputter to a stop just as he crossed through the intersection.. he did his best to guide it to the curb just past the bus stop bench where a dejected looking trudy couldn’t help but notice his plight.. 

“god damn this car!!” he exclaimed as he clicked on his hazard lights and exited the car.. he threw open the hood and feigned pecking around for a moment before he called out to trudy.. 

“ma’am, i hate to bother you,, but could you hold this for me for a minute while i try and start this beast?? this damn wire keeps coming loose and i can’t hold it,, and start the car at the same time..”

trudy,, having nothing better to do,, and no absolutely nowhere to go,, jumped at the opportunity to help.. ‘maybe i can even wheedle a ride outta this guy.’ she thought to herself as she heard herself say aloud, “ i don’t know how much help i can be,, but i am willing to try!!” following her words up with one of her most seductive smiles.. 

‘so,, old habits are hard to break.’ she conceded to herself as she sashayed her way up to the car.. 

“here.” tobin instructed her, “just hold this wire right here and i’ll try and crank her up.”

“got cha!” trudy said as she watched this rather fine specimen of a man take a seat behind the wheel.. the car fired right up.. tobin revved the engine a few times for emphasis,, and then joined trudy at the front of the car..

“thanks a lot!” he exclaimed seething with could only have been genuine gratitude.. 

“don’t know what i would have done without you!!”

“it was my pleasure.” trudy assured him with a delicate smile and sly tilt of her head.. 

“i wish there was something i could do to repay you.” tobin said as he reached for his wallet.. 

“no really,, it was my pleasure.. but there is just one little thing you could do for me,, i mean,, if you have the time…” trudy purred.

“anything!! you name it!!” tobin smiled wide as he thought to himself that no amount of planning could have made this little maneuver any easier than it was becoming.. 

“well i could really use a ride.” trudy slipped effortlessly into her most seductive tone.. 

“sure!!” tobin exclaimed.. “you name it, i’ll take you there.. where do you need to go?”

“well,, “ trudy hesitated as she watched tobin’s expression turn from one of concern for her welfare to one of blatant eagerness to be in her company.. 

“you see that’s a bit of a rub.. as i really don’t have anywhere at all that i need to be…”