Chapter 4
After a week or so of lingering around in the small town center's coffee shops and pizzerias, Katniss finally got what she wanted. It happened on a Sunday when she was in a small, independent bookstore and the assertive spy walked right in. The store was a tiny one, so it wasn't hard for them to spot each other, and maybe the suspect was playing a game as well, but something made her go over to the undercover agent and say hello.
"What are you reading, a book about banking?" she asked mockingly.
"No," replied Katniss flatly. She tried not to seem too interested in her target, she was after all just the mouse to her cat. Johanna sat down next to her, taking off her coat and picking out a random book from one of the shelves. The two of them sat in silence for a while in the dim, dusty old book store. Light filtered in through the windows, and every now and then the bell on the front door would ring as someone came in or left. You could smell the old pages of the books and the tension in the air between the two women; a suspect and her hunter.
After a while Katniss spoke up, the only way to get closer to Mason was by trying to get to know her. "So, no wood chopping today?" she asked.
"No, I love the boys but sometimes a girl just needs some alone time."
"You're not exactly alone though."
"You know what I mean, it's not like I was expecting to see you here."
"Oh, do you come here a lot?"
"Yeah, I guess I do, I like it in here."
"Me too."
"Well," she smiled, "Then I guess I'll be seeing you a lot." Johanna got up, bought the book she was reading and waved to Katniss as she left the book store. The girl waited a while, and then quickly drove home to the apartment. She got her boss on the line and told him all about Johanna and how they met and how the case was going.
"Excellent! Simply excellent!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, I think I just need some more time with her to make her gain my trust so she doesn't flee and I'll have her home in no time at all," Katniss said confidently.
"Clever girl, I knew you could do it. Alright, try to wrap it up though, you never know with Mason, she's tricky. Do you need any back up, Everdeen?"
"No sir, I think I've got it under control."
"Perfect! Marvelous! Alright, keep me updated."
Over the next few weeks, Katniss had been frequenting the small book shop in Johanna's town. The two of them grew pretty close and got to know plenty about each other, or plenty of lies? It was hard to tell when Johanna was telling the truth or covering up something that could link her to illegal espionage and being wanted by the United States Government. But when Johanna was talking about little things she loved, it was easy to see she was being perfectly honest. When she talked about how she loved the scent of pine or the sound of her axe slicing a tree trunk on half, her dark eyes grew wider and lit up, her chin tilted toward the ceiling and her smile became less smug and more sincere. Her lip uncurled and her smile beamed, you could tell when she spoke of the things she loved. But she only loved material goods, she never spoke of anyone she was friends with, no family, no one of significance in her life. Katniss supposed being in her line of work was difficult and getting attached to people wasn't precisely an ideal or wise thing to do. The two of them spoke and sat down to read for hours on end every weekend, Katniss could taste how close she was to closing the case and dragging Mason back to the agency in America.
"Hey," Johanna began in her bird-like voice, "Do you want to learn how to use an axe?"
"What?" Katniss asked as a few short giggles escaped her lips.
"An axe, come on, it'll be interesting."
"No, I don't really think I'd be very good at that type of thing..."
"What are you, brainless?"
"No!"
"Obviously you're not going to be good at it at first, that's why I want to teach you."
"Um, okay if you really want to..."
"Come on, brainless," the dark-haired girl teased as she grabbed the other girl's wrist and dragged her out to her car. They arrived at the lumber yard, no one else was there and it was the time of day when all of the trees became silhouetted against a bright watercolored sky of oranges, pinks and purples. Johanna unlocked the door to the little shed and picked up a shiny axe.
"Here, watch me do it first," she instructed as she placed a log on the platform and swung down chopping it perfectly into to halves. The wood pieces fell to the floor with a thud and she offered the tool to her pupil. "It's easy."
Katniss took this heavy instrument and stared down at the wood, she concentrated hard, it's just like hitting a target, she thought. She raised it up high above her head shakily and swung down with all of her might. The axe landed on the platform the wood rested on, embedding it's edge into the surface. Johanna laughed and removed it, "Here I'll help." She put her arms around the other girl and grabbed her hands firmly, together they swung the axe and chopped the wood perfectly. "See? Not so hard," she teased.
They spent the rest of the night practicing with the axe, chopping wood at tossing it at targets. They laughed and talked and axed things until the moon shone brightly in the center of the night sky.
"I haven't had a friend who's a girl in a hell of a long time," remarked Johanna.
"Really? It's just you and those macho men all the time?"
"Haha, yeah I guess so."
"Lucky girl!"
"It's nice though, to have a friend like you I mean." Katniss couldn't decipher whether or not this was one of her tricks, one of her lies.
"Yeah, you should come over some time we can do each other's nails," she laughed.
"Maybe I will."
Katniss walked through the door and collapsed on her bed, she was exhausted from all of the exercise of learning how to use an axe. Why was the person she was trying to get thrown in prison teaching her how to use a weapon? Did Johanna really not suspect Katniss of being a narc or someone suspicious? Johanna hardly seemed like the type to make friends or trust people, she was always wrapped up in a blanket of mystery, maybe this was all part of her plot too to deceive Katniss.
Just as she was about to drift off into sleep, the phone rang. She let it ring a few times and then swung her arm over and lazily picked it up.
"Hello?" she asked with sleep dripping off of the word.
"Katniss?" asked the voice on the other end. It was her fiance.
"Hey, Peeta."
"Katniss, I miss you so much, are you close to finishing up this case?"
"Yeah, I'm really close, sweetheart I promise I'll be home soon."
"It's been months..."
"I know, I know... I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, it just gets lonely around here, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. I feel really bad, I never meant for it to take so long but I've been working really hard and I'm almost there."
"I'm so glad."
"Mm, me too. So how is everything else going with you?"
"It's good, the bakery is doing great! Everyone always asks about you."
"Aww."
"Yeah, and I can't wait for you to get home so we can start planning the wedding."
"That'll be great. Okay, well I'm sorry I have to go, I'm so tired. I had such a long day..."
"Don't worry about it, do whatever you need to do to wrap things up and come home."
"I will. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, I love you."
"You too," she dropped the phone back on the receiver and dropped into cold sleep.
The next time she saw Johanna it was at the woman's home, she had invited her to paint nails and do "girl things." She was rough and she was strong, and no one ever said nail polish diminished any of that. The house was quaint and small, it was decorated as if it were a log cabin with warm rustic decor. Katniss and Johanna lied on the floor in the living room watching The Breakfast Club. Katniss dragged the dark red polish along the other girl's fingernails contemplatively.
"What's wrong, brainless, never painted nails before? Don't fuck mine up, okay?"
"I won't," she protested. She thought of Johanna, and how much she'd grown to know her and... like her? The girl was spitfire and sass with a good amount of smug, but she was nice to Katniss. She had become her friend and gained her trust just as she planned, but now things were different. It broke her heart to think of the day when handcuffs were placed upon her pale wrists, the day she would no longer see Katniss as a friend. But no, this girl no matter how much friendship she had shown her, this girl was a criminal and somehow between each fingernail she polished Katniss seemed to forget that. Between each inside joke, each joking punch on the arm, each teasing nickname or smile, this girl was dangerous. Her file even claimed that she had killed people in the past, this girl was no friend. But the charade had to go on.
"So," chirped Johanna, "Got any boyfriends?"
"Actually, I'm engaged."
"Oh wow, almost a married woman! What's he like?"
"He's a baker, and he's very kind and he cares about me a lot. He misses me a lot."
"He doesn't live with you?"
"No, he lives in America. I'm only in Canada for a little while on business, I'll be home soon though and that's when we're going to get married."
'I'm only in Canada for a little while,' the words rang through Johanna's ears and her face fell. Don't get attached, she thought. Never get attached. "Well, that sounds lovely," she said through a forced grin.
"Yeah. What about you? You must be all the rage with your lumberjack friends."
"Ha, yeah I guess I am. But no, I mean I'm single at the moment."
"Oh."
"It's just, I want them to respect me and everything. If I start sleeping with one of them, they won't look at me the same. It's like that unfortunately, I'll never understand why it has to be so unequal."
"I know what you mean."
Johanna shrugged, "Let me do your nails now, give them to me."
The night wore on and the two girls started falling asleep on the couches. Katniss stared at Johanna through heavy eyelids, moonlight shining on her toned skin. She was wearing old flannel pajama bottoms and a T-shirt with a hole in it or two and she let Katniss borrow something similar. Her arm dangled off the side of the narrow couch, her fingers grazing the floor slightly, her hair lay messy over her closed eyes and her mouth was a little bit agape. This girl was not friend-material, but then why did Katniss so enjoy being around her?