Show of Evil

They stopped at the check-in desk while the guard unlocked a drawer and removed her bag.

'I got some powder and lipstick and a comb in here and a little mirror,' she said. 'Why don't you do a little repair job on your face. Make both of you feel good.'

 'I don't want her to be here.'

'Well, she is, honey, so give her a break.' The guard handed her a small compact, a mirror, and a comb. Edith took them haltingly, stared in the tiny mirror, and shuddered. She started to dab her face with powder.

'Here,' the guard said, taking the compact, 'let me do that.' She started working on Stoddard's face.

 'What's your name?' Stoddard asked.

 'Cheryl Williams,' the guard answered: 'Used to work in a beauty parlour before I decided to become a cop.'

She powdered the pallor away, put a thin line of lipstick on Stoddard's lips, and combed her straggly hair back, then took off her own barrette and, pulling Stoddard's hair tight, slipped it on. She stepped back and admired her work.

'There,' she said. 'You put a smile on and she'll leave here a lot happier than when she came.' She held the mirror up so Stoddard could check herself out.

Stoddard smiled for the first time in days. 'Thank you,' she said.

'Sure. Tell her the food's good. They seem to worry a lot about that.'

When Edith Stoddard entered the small visitor's cell and saw Venable and Angelica, she stopped cold, her shackled arms dropping stiffly in front of her and her eyes blazing with fury.

'I told you, I didn't want her…' she started, but she didn't finish the sentence. Angelica, overwhelmed at the sight of her mother in the drab prison clothes and handcuffs, rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her.

'Oh, Mama!' she sobbed. 'I love you. Please listen to Ms Venable. We need you, Mama. I need you.' She clung to Edith Stoddard, her shoulders shaking as tears suddenly flooded her face.

Stoddard looked at Jane Venable, her face clouded with anger, but finally her eyes closed and her lips trembled and tears crept from her closed eyes.

'Oh, Angel,' she said in a shaky voice. 'I love you so much.'

'Then please, please listen to Ms Venable. Please do as she says. Please trust her.'

Stoddard pushed her daughter away and fixed a hard stare at her.

'Now, Angie, you listen to me. I know what I'm doing. You trust me.'

'I want you to come home,' the young woman sobbed.

'Well, that's not going to happen, dear. You must adjust to that. You're going to have to spend a little more time with Dad and keep his spirits up.'

Angelica suddenly pulled back from her. 'And who keeps my spirits up, Mom? You just sit here and do nothing. You let them write about you in the papers and everybody at school says you must be guilty because—'

'I am guilty, Angie. Get it through that thick little head of yours. Let me handle this.'

'Fine,' her daughter spat at her. 'Handle it, then. And the hell with the rest of us.' She whirled around and banged on the door. The guard opened it and she left the room.

Edith Stoddard sank into a chair. 'Why did you do that? What possible reason could you have for doing that to both of us?' she asked Venable.

'Edith, look at me.'

The older woman slowly raised her eyes, eyes filled with anger.

'I found the room, Edith.'

Stoddard said nothing. The expression in her eyes changed from anger to fear.

'I found the room in the closet, you know the room I'm talking about.'

Stoddard said nothing.

'How long did Delaney keep you in this kind of bondage?'

'It wasn't like that.'