Chapter 26 - Meeting with the warden

"Aw, Dean – they are just adorable."

Dean beamed like the proud father he was and pointed to the picture in his wallet.

"The oldest one is Margaret," he told Ellie over the noise of the spin dryer. "She just started school this year and she loves it. Bright as a button, just like her mama. And the little one is Abigail; she's almost four years old."

They were in the laundry room, working through this week's dirty shirts and dusty uniform trousers. It was the first time Ellie had a proper talk with Dean alone and with the help of his family she had finally managed to get the young guard to break out of his cautious shell. He had almost become all chatty.

"They sure do look like their mother," Ellie said with a smile, gazing at the beautiful, fair-haired woman next to Dean and the girls in the picture. "How long have you two been married?"

"Eight years," Dean responded warmly and turned of the spin dryer. Ellie handed him his wallet back and helped him empty the tub, so they could hang the last of the laundry.

They had been away from E-block all morning. It was the day of Delacroix' execution and Ellie could already sense the dispiriting density it in the air, when she had arrived at work, so she was more than a little relieved when Bill called in sick and Dean stood in need of a helping hand in the laundry room. She found it heartbreaking to watch Delacroix play fetch with Mr. Jingles in his cell, when she knew that the mouse would be without his beloved spool-partner before the day was out. Doing something as familiar as laundry helped to make the day a bit more bearable and Ellie suddenly understood why the prison still made the guards do such dull work, instead of outsourcing it to someone else.

When she mentioned it to Dean, he grinned.

"Cold Mountains Laundry Therapy," he said with dryly, "you try to tell that to my wife, I don't think she's gonna find it quite as amusing."

Halfway through the hanging they got company, when Brutus arrived at work.

"Hey, Brutal," Dean greeted him, when Brutus walked through the door. Ellie flashed a warm smile at him.

"'Morning. How're you guys doing here?"

"Almost done."

"Swell, 'cos they need you back in E-block, Dean," Brutus said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.

Dean looked like he had just been ordered to jump into the spin dryer. "Now? Why?"

"You have the shower-duty, remember?" Brutus held the door for him. "So you better hurry up. I'll finish your job here, don't ya worry."

The dutiful Dean didn't seem all convinced, but he pinned the last shirt to the clothesline and left. When Brutus had closed the door after him, Ellie couldn't hold back her chuckle.

"That was a really scheming move."

"Only the part about him having to hurrying up," Brutus said wryly and came over to her by the clothesline. "The rest was true, swear to God." He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "But if Paul wanna make me his messenger boy I wan' some proper benefits." He kissed her cheek from behind, then moved his mouth to her temple, his voice dropping into the deep baritone, that could drive Ellie crazy. "Like being alone with you for just two seconds…"

Ellie smiled and craned her neck to kiss him back.

"You don't think we have more than two seconds?" she asked.

"No, 'cos I got a message for you too: The warden just called E-block; he wanna talk you."

"About what?" Ellie asked in surprise and turned around to face him. Warden Moores hadn't talked to her since the week she arrived.

"Dunno," Brutus responded, "but I promised Paul I'll take you to his office ASAP." He smirked. "P'haps he's gonna scold you for foolin' around with one of his guards."

"No, he's not," Ellie said quickly, but she couldn't but smile a little through her concern.

Brutus stroked her arms.

"Don't worry," he said softly. "I'm sure everything's fine. The warden is a good man."

"I know. And just so you know it: I don't fool around with anyone."

"No?"

"No," she said sincerely and smiled up at him. "Especially with guys who leave me flowers by the bus stop."

"They were still there?" he said casually, though the corner of his mouth twisted into his half-shy grin. "Gosh…"

"They were and they were beautiful." She tiptoed to kiss him. "Thank you."

oOo

When she arrived at Hal Moores' office a couple of minutes later, his secretary told her to walk right in. The warden glared up from his paperwork and gave her a small smile, when she knocked on his open door. He looked pale and tired and it seemed that he had aged ten years since the last time she had talked to him.

Poor man, she thought, her heart cringing for him. There had been no progress with his fatally ill wife; Paul had told her that she was now at home, just waiting to die. It was heartbreaking. But she couldn't tell him that. The warden didn't know that she knew it, and she had promised Paul not to tell him.

It's hard enough for him without having the whole prison looking all sad-eyed and mourning on his behalf, when he walks around…

"Miss Brent," he said and got to his feet, "come in. I'm sorry I had to drag you away from your work with such short notice."

"That's quite all right, Mr. Moores."

"Please, sit down," Hal Moores said gently and motioned towards to chairs in front of his desk. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Water would be nice, thank you."

"How have your stay here been so far?" the warden asked, when he had sent his secretary for a glass of water. "Are you happy to be here?"

"I can't complain," Ellie said, wondering what this meeting was truly about. She had a hard time believing that she was just here for a chit-chat. "Everyone has been so nice to me."

"That's good…" Hal Moores said and was then interrupted by someone knocking on the office door. Ellie was expecting the secretary, so she was a bit stunned when Paul walked in. He looked slightly confused as if he too couldn't quite figure out was he was doing here.

"Sorry, Hal, I didn't knew you wanted to talk to me as well."

"I know," Moores said, sounding apologetic. "But I thought it would be best if I told you both."

Ellie gazed from the warden's grave face to Paul and all her alarm bells started to jitter. What was this about?

The secretary came in with refreshments and then the men sat down, facing each other. Hal Moores cleared his throat.

"I had a call from the governor this morning…"

Paul groaned. "Is this about Percy again?"

"No," Moores said softly, unaffected by the interruption. "It's about Alice Reardon." He paused. "The governor has changed her sentence to life. She will be moved to the women's prison in Grassy Valley in two weeks time when they have room for her."

Ellie's stomach dropped, like someone had forced her to eat stone.

"What? Why?" Paul burst out and Ellie was glad that one of them was still able to talk.

"Mitigating circumstances, I believe," Moores said. "Because of the abuse."

"But she doesn't want that," Ellie said, her voice hollow. "She wants the death penalty. She…"

She stopped herself. Didn't she? Alice weird behavior since Bitterbuck's execution had made her wonder what the old woman truly wanted.

Paul glanced to her side, waiting for her to continue, but Ellie kept quiet, caught up in her own thoughts.

"There's nothing I can do about it," Moores said, looking from one to the other. "It's out of my hands."

"I know, Hal," Paul muttered. "If anything it could only make it worse. If the case's being handed to the wrong judge, she could end up in a mental hospital, drugged and on suicide-supervision for the rest of her life."

The warden looked at Ellie.

"No one else knows about it yet," he told her. "So take your time, miss Brent, and tell her when you think she's ready."

Ellie nodded without a word.

"And if you find it to difficult," Paul added. "I could talk to her instead. I wouldn't mind that at all."

"Thank you, Paul" Ellie said quietly. "But I think I should be the one to tell her. I owe her that much."

oOo

"You al'right?" Paul asked her when they crossed the dusty yard outside of E-block.

"Yes… well." Ellie hesitated. "I didn't quite expect this to be honest. I thought they had made up their mind, so we didn't have to go through all this. I thought she was…"

"Safe," Paul finished for her, when she couldn't find the right word.

"Yes," she said silently. "If you are allowed to use that word on a condemned woman."

"That depends on whether she agrees with you or not," Paul said gently.

"Well, that's the problem," Ellie admitted. "I'm not sure what she wants anymore."

"Then you'd better find out," Paul said soberly and she could only agree with him.

"I will talk to her tonight," she promised, more to herself than to Paul. "When we are in the infirmary – far way from all of this."