Play dumb

Holding your composure as best you can, you meet the Warden's gaze. "You said it was about Doe."

"That I did." The warden sits back in his chair for a moment, then pulls open the right hand drawer on his desk, pulling out a bottle of cheap whiskey. Two mismatched glass tumblers, once presumably crystal clear, now permanently fogged by too many washings with the prison's hard water, follow. Without asking, he pours some into each glass, although reserves the lion's share for his own. A few drops splatter on the worn wooden desk, where spots in the varnish attest that this is a frequent occurrence.

Warden Allen picks his up, then, almost as an afterthought, motions at the other glass. "Drink." The size of the warden's desk, and the position of the glass are such that you have to actually lean out of your chair a bit to pick up the glass, leaving you feel more than a little **** as you lean over the desk, the warden's steely gaze on you the entire time, even as he drains half his glass before you've even fully seated yourself again.

Mechanically, you raise the glass to your lips and **** yourself to take a swallow. It burns as it goes down your throat, a testament more to it's low quality than it's high potency. The warden tops off his own glass, so you feel obliged to take another drink when the warden suddenly breaks the silence.

"Prisoners like this Doe pose a problem for prisons, and the people that work in them. Don't you agree, John?" The warden sets the bottle down, his eyes never leaving you as he sets the bottle down, perfectly centering the bottle in the ring that will forever mark the bottle's favored position on the desk. Still without moving his eyes from you, his hand grabs his glass, and he quickly tosses back another half of the glass.

You take a moment to try to find a neutral answer. "Doe isn't quite like any prisoner we've ever had before," you admit reluctantly.

The warden grunts a little, before filling up his glass again. You wonder idly why he doesn't wait until the glass is empty to refill it each time. "Word from the guards in your area is that you seem to have developed a special relationship with Doe."

A sick feeling immediately spreads through your stomach, and you know it isn't the whiskey causing it, but it isn't helping it either. "I was hoping it wasn't that obvious," you say weakly.

The warden grunts again. "If I was your age, John, and I had a prisoner that looked like Doe, I'd probably have the same thing going on." The thought of the Warden and Doe having a relationship was both simultaneously amusing and revolting to you at the same time, but at the same time you were puzzled over the Warden's reaction. Given what he knew, you expected him to be yelling at you, and for him to be calling guards into his office to arrest you.

You're trying to think of how to respond to the warden's statement, but can't think of anything to say. Instead, it is the warden who next breaks the silence.

"The thing I have to know, John, is how is she?"

The directness of the question catches you off-guard, especially the way the warden is asking it. Not accusingly, but rather earnestly, as if much depended on your answer. You try to come up with a way to deny everything, but all you can come up with is the truth.

"She's good. She's very good. The best I've hard." A curious sense of release comes as you say it. Like you've given yourself up to your fate.

The warden looks at you for a moment. "Then you'll be willing to fill out the appropriate paperwork?"

Now you are generally puzzled. Paperwork? "Sir?"

"For her early release." The warden looks at you as you start back at him dumbly. "For good behavior, which you just attested to. You said her behavior has been very good while under your watch."

Technically, her behavior was very bad while under your watch, but you suddenly understand what the warden has been asking about. He doesn't know, you realize.

You take another swallow of the whiskey, and it goes down much more smoothly than the previous two. "You're going to let her out early?"

The warden sighs. "It's not the way I'd normally like to do things. But it's hell having such a high profile prisoner in here. The media keeps showing up to do their stories. Her fans keep calling and writing us, and hanging around outside. Not to mention that we have to keep your cell block mostly empty just to keep her secure."

The warden refills his glass before continuing. "If we let her out early, those problems go away. The thing is, I need to have two of her three guards sign off on her being a model prisoner before we can do that. Now Jason, for whatever reason, has already agreed to do so. But 'Grandma' has made her opinion of Doe well known, so I know what her answer will be when I ask her. So it's up to you, John. Your vote decides on whether Doe stays in here for finish up her sentence, or goes home early."

You suddenly realize that even though your secret is still safe, you face another dilemma. If Doe gets out early, then she won't really need you anymore, will she? After all, deep in your heart, haven't you always known that your relationship with her is based entirely on your power over her as a guard, and your ability to provide to her what she needs. And what she needs is what's in that packet you smuggled in to her, and not some low-paid, no-future prison guard who is at best a distraction for her while she's behind bars.

But whatever her feelings for you, you do have definite feelings for her. As much as you don't want to lose Doe, you know that she is probably less suited to prison life than any other prisoner you've seen. She belongs in Hollywood, with beautiful people, expensive food and clothes, and the finer things in life. None of which you are, or can provide. So you can choose to keep Doe with you for a while longer, until she serves out her sentence, despite the harm that will cause her, or you can let her out early, and likely lose her forever.

"So what's it gonna be, John," the warden presses. "I can't make the decision for you, and you won't catch flak either way you answer. But does she stay in here or go home?"