Never mind the list

John took the list from Holly and started reading.

“I don’t like how any of this sounds, Holly,” John said as he got further down the page.

Holly laughed. “None of us did, girlie!”

A soft ping sounded and the cell door slid open. Holly jumped up, grabbed John’s hand a dragged him towards the opening.

“Come on, there’s someone I want you to met.”

John tried protesting, but Holly hushed him.

A few minutes later, they stopped in front of another cell. Holly motioned for John to be quiet as she knocked on the frame of the door. After waiting a few seconds, she used her hand to make some odd gestures.

While John waited for this nonsense to stop he thought he heard the sound of a keyboard being used. Finally Holly dragged him into the cell.

She spoke in a whisper. “John, this is Momma.”

The woman in the cell raised an eyebrow in question.

Holly continued.

“Momma, this is John. And I think you need to listen to his story. John, tell her everything and leave out no detail.”

“Well,” John started when Holly motioned for him to speak softly.

John related everything to Momma. Once he was done, the older woman looked at him in total disbelief.

Holly took this moment to explain something to John.

“You see, Momma here, used to work for the courts until a coworker outed her and she got sent here. Somehow she found a leftover keyboard that was used during construction. She can access our files but can’t change anything. Maybe there is some way she can help.”

As Holly was talking, Momma flipped a panel in her cell to reveal a keyboard and computer monitor. She had already entered John’s ID when she let out a low whistle.

John tried to see what was on the screen but Momma had already concealed it again.

“What? What did it say,” John asked.