Chapter Twenty-Seven

The last argument the Warden had with his father was about John. Where John was and why he wasn't making a greater effort to find him. As the Warden had John murdered over Daphne, there was no way to resolve that argument. Now that his father was dead, that was something that the Warden had to live with, but Daphne was the ultimate prize in his life, and he wasn't going to let anyone get in the way of enjoying his prize. Nothing was going to get in his way. Or so he thought as he was finally sitting back behind his desk in his office, and he couldn't wait to get Daphne back in there leaning over his desk. His Receptionist walked in, and she had a grave look on her face. The Warden knew better than to question it and get to the truth.

"What is it?" the Warden asked.

"Daphne had a visitor while you and Mallory were away," the Receptionist replied.

The Warden didn't like the sound of that at all.

"Was it Fred?" he asked.

"Yes, but that's not the worst part," the Receptionist said. "It was a conjugal visit and it happened because something went wrong with the paperwork,"

Hearing that broke the Warden's heart, he stood up immediately.

"Why didn't you call me about this?" he asked outraged.

"I-I-I tried to," the Receptionist said nervously.

"THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAVE ME A MESSAGE?" he yelled.

"I was scared to," the Receptionist admitted. "You know how you're being monitored by certain agencies in this country about your connections outside the prison. If I had left a message about you and Daphne, it might have piqued their interest,"

The Warden sighed, annoyed.

"I will deal with those agencies," the Warden said.

"Okay," the Receptionist replied.

"If something like this happens again, you call me or leave me a message!" the Warden said, nearly shouting. "Have you got it?"

"I-I-I got it," the Receptionist said nervously.

As the Warden walked out of his office, it was obvious where he was going, and the Receptionist felt so sorry for Daphne.

XXXXX

Daphne didn't want to go outside that day. She knew the Warden was back and tried to avoid him as much as possible. But that wasn't going to happen as the Warden entered her cell, grabbed her by her shoulders, picked her up and shoved her against the wall. Daphne couldn't believe it, and she thought she would pass out from the shock of being shoved against the wall.

"I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID WHILE I WAS GONE!" the Warden yelled. "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID YOU LYING LITTLE SLUT!"

Daphne started crying as she had no idea the Warden would react like this.

"WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF YOU FUCKING WHORE?" the Warden yelled.

"I-I-I'm not a whore!" Daphne said, terrified.

"THEN WHAT ARE YOU?" the Warden yelled again.

Daphne thought back to the first day she arrived at the prison, and there was only one answer she could give.

"I-I-I'm your property," she replied nervously.

The Warden didn't say anything as he looked at her carefully. She was scared, but there was still some defiance in her eyes.

"Are you lying to me?" the Warden asked calmly.

The fact that he was calm now terrified Daphne even more.

"N-N-No," Daphne said, scared.

The Warden grabbed her shoulders again and held them tightly.

"ARE YOU FUCKING LYING TO ME?" he yelled.

And that was the breaking point for Daphne, and she leaned forward and vomited. The Warden let go of her in time, and none of her vomit got on his suit: Just on the floor of her cell. Daphne collapsed on her hands and feet.

"That better not be morning sickness," the Warden said.

Daphne looked up at the Warden, scared and confused.

"What?" she asked.

"I know you fucked Fred while I was gone," the Warden replied. "That's a major violation of my rules. The only one that's allowed to touch you is me. So why did you fuck Fred?"

Daphne was so scared she couldn't speak. Her fear annoyed the Warden, and he grabbed Daphne by her shoulders.

"You're going to the infirmary," he said. "And the Doctor better not tell me the news I don't want to hear. Have you got that?"

"Y-Y-Yes, I got that," she replied. "And Fred wore condoms. We were safe. I don't think I'm pregnant,"

"Then why did you vomit?"

"Because you were scaring me,"

The Warden thought that was a fair answer but still needed answers. He dragged Daphne out of her cell and into the infirmary.

XXXXX

An hour later, Daphne was still in the infirmary. The Warden didn't stick around, and she was grateful for that. She just needed a place to cry after the Warden's verbal attack. The Doctor knew that she was scared, and he dealt with other prisoners who were scared as well until they got used to life in prison. Daphne looked at her with hope, and the Doctor knew he had to shut that down immediately.

"Miss Blake, I am the prison doctor," the Doctor said. "I'm not anyone's friend here. I'm not a shoulder to cry on. I'm just here to do my job and go home at the end of each day,"

Hearing that made her feel defeated, but she knew she had to live in the real world. The world that had no hope for her.

"But I will tell you this," the Doctor said. "You're not pregnant,"

When it came to her life, she was relieved that she wasn't pregnant. On the other hand, she wished that she was because if Fred had been the father, he would have been able to look after their second child, and the child would be safe from Coolsville Prison. That's the naïve fantasy that Daphne needed to hold onto at that moment in her life.

XXXXX

Two hours after work, the Warden travelled to a phone booth still operating. To his knowledge, it wasn't monitored by any agency interested in investigating him. He had something serious on his mind, and nothing would get in the way of that. Once inside the phone booth, he dialled the number he knew well and waited for it to be answered. A moment later, it was.

"Hello," the male voice said when he answered the phone.

"Hi, Boss," the Warden said. "It's me, and I've got a problem. It's Fred, Daphne's fiancée,"

The Boss didn't say anything for a moment.

"What about him?" the Boss asked.

"Daphne arranged for him to have a conjugal visit while I was away, and I want to stop that from happening," the Warden replied.

"How do you want to stop that from happening?" the Boss asked.

"I want Fred dead," the Warden replied.

The Boss sighed impatiently.

"No, that's not going to happen, and Daphne will keep having conjugal visits from Fred," the Boss said.

"What?" the Warden asked, shocked.

"You need to listen very carefully," the Boss said. "We have given you more than enough help to get Daphne into your custody in your prison, and killing Fred wouldn't benefit us, or you, in the slightest,"

The Warden couldn't believe what he heard as he was confident his real Boss would help him.

"What are you talking about?" the Warden asked.

"What I'm talking about is that if you prevent Fred from seeing Daphne, then he would be in a position to go to the media and point out that he's not allowed to see his fiancée," the Boss explained. "That's going to raise a lot of questions, and that's more trouble than it's worth, and if you kill him, that's going to raise more questions and attention than we need,"

The Warden was doing everything he could to stay calm, but he found it impossible.

"If you're not going to murder Fred, then what am I supposed to do?" the Warden asked.

"The answer is very simple," the Boss said. "You need to figure out a way to keep Fred away from her,"

"Do you have any suggestions?" the Warden asked.

The Boss had heard enough, and he hung up. The Warden couldn't believe the Boss had hung up on him like that. He got out of the phone booth and returned to his car with no other options. He drove up to the hill in front of his prison just to clear his head and think, but he was surprised once he got up to the top. The Mystery Machine was parked up there, and it was rocking. It was apparent there were people inside having sex.

"Well, well, well, Mr Jones," the Warden said to himself. "Are you cheating on your fiancée?"

The Warden couldn't believe his luck and waited for the Mystery Machine to stop rocking. It did after ten minutes, but he heard two voices he wasn't familiar with inside.

"Jinkies!" the female voice said.

"Zoinks!" the male voice said.

The Warden felt sick because he knew Fred and Daphne, didn't use those expressions. A moment later, the van's back door opened, and Velma and Shaggy got out of the van. Disappointment crushed the Warden as he drove away as he couldn't believe that Velma and Shaggy were the ones having sex and not Fred with another woman. As he drove away, the Warden never felt more disappointed.