Them

Only through the evil acts of Janelle Stone had Detective Gilbert begun to learn the true definition of the word terror. She was absolutely terrified, not to mention totally stunned with disbelief at what was happening. She never would have guessed it. She knew Janelle was evil and vindictive, but she never knew she would go so far as to have her kidnapped and held hostage and at her cruel, twisted mercy, all in the name of revenge. She had simply been doing her job, and she had done it correctly, as her superiors had instructed her to. Other than telling Stone what she didn’t want to hear, never once had she personally broken any laws. If she was in this situation simply because she had lied to Stone about liking her in hopes of getting her to open up and confess to other crimes she was suspected of—and because she pissed her off with the potato chips and her constant presence—then she definitely had every reason to be afraid. She felt tears in her eyes at the thought of Heidi and Timothy. Gilbert didn’t cry easily, but the thought of never seeing them again saddened her to the core. They were her whole world and gave her a reason to go on living and to make sure she got home alive at the end of the day. She couldn’t let Janelle take that from her. But how did two restrained people overpower three armed guys and a lunatic? She had every reason to believe that in the end, she would be killed. And then what, she wondered, further torturing herself. Would her body be dumped somewhere it would never be found, leaving Heidi to forever wonder what became of her? That’s what she assumed would likely be the case. She knew Stone had money, but what she didn’t get was how the hell she was able to acquire accomplices to help her carry out such a sophisticated job. She just wouldn’t have thought Stone smart enough to pull off an entire operation like this. When she thought back to the days of guarding her at the hospital, the nut job had seemed pretty dumb overall. Her vocabulary was lacking, and she just seemed incredibly naïve. Eventually, she slowly caught on to at least some things. Gilbert had worn a wire each time she watched Stone. One day, she finally convinced her to share something she’d done that society definitely wouldn’t agree with, after telling her a bullshit story about how she also disliked Blacks, how they were always a problem, and how she had accidentally hit one on a deserted road and left them there. She could tell Stone wasn’t sure whether or not to believe her. As she wrote in the journal she thought was private, she had been lied to so many times by police officers that she didn’t know what to believe. When confession time rolled around, Gilbert was ready and eager for her to admit to attacking her husband’s pregnant niece and pushing the woman’s mother into the pool, knowing she couldn’t swim. Instead, she got a tale about bullying a fellow student in school, and regretting prank-calling her ill grandmother before she passed. When her journal was scanned, as it always was when she was out of her room for physical therapy, one passage showed that sometimes even Janelle Stone could figure things out, and therefore, they had to switch tactics. Gilbert's been almost pressuring me to confess something to her,Stone wrote. I’m not sure her own confessions are real, but I decided that since I can’t get rid of her never-ending presence and constant smothering, I might as well make it therapeutic. She keeps telling me she’s there if I want to talk about anything, so I figured it was time to finally take her up on her offer. I told her about the prank phone calls I made to Nana before she passed, and how I always felt bad for doing it. "That’s it?" she said after I was done, and I thought it was weird that she had a slight look of disappointment on her face, as if she expected more. It was then that I was pretty sure she had been hoping I’d tell her I harmed Stephanie and Ramona. It’s like they just can’t accept that if Stephanie’s boyfriend wasn’t involved, she very likely was the victim of a home invasion. Nor can they seem to accept that Ramona's case was an accident. It’s like they’re just itching to find something they can pin on me just to fuck with me. So yeah, I’m kind of torn and stuck in a case of uncertainty where the cops are concerned. They claim they care, that they’re there for me to chat with, that they’re protecting me, and that the deal is for real—but their words and actions sometimes suggest otherwise. One time, I swallowed wrong and started coughing and choking on a bit of food, and Gilbert did absolutely nothing but sit and stare at me. She never asked if I was okay or needed more water or anything. Then there was a time when my blanket slipped off my bed. I assumed she would kindly pick it up as most people would, but again, she just sat there motionless. I waited a few seconds, and after she continued to sit there silently, I finally had to ask her to please pick up the blanket. As if annoyed that I’d asked, she picked it up and threw it on the bed. Didn’t even help to straighten it out. So how can this woman claim to like me and to be there for me when she does things like this? I’m sorry, but that’s just not the action of a caring person. It’s like her words say one thing, but her actions treat me like I’m a fucking criminal in custody. Stone had been absolutely correct to be suspicious, and yes, she was a criminal in custody, not simply a victim under protective watch. And no, her probation officer wasn’t her ex-probation officer, and she wasn’t going to a safehouse and then to Florida either, if she didn’t get back with her husband. She was going to jail and then prison for a very long time. Beaches and pizza were not in her near future.