Janelle Stone was trying really hard to believe Officer Gilbert had a fondness for her, but Janelle had been “screwed over” enough by law enforcement, and Gilbert wasn't the greatest actress. Even she couldn't deny—and would readily admit—that it was a tough role for her to play because she was not only not naturally good at acting, but Stone disgusted her just about as much as Charles Manson or Ed Gein.
"So what kinds of things are you guilty of doing?" Stone asked Gilbert in a conspiratory voice one day.
"Oh, well, you know, this and that," Gilbert said, hoping that Stone would accept her vague reply. Of course, she wouldn’t, though.
"You can tell me. I’ll keep your secrets. I won’t write anything down either."
"That would be nice."
Stone pushed on. "Did you beat someone up or something?"
"Well, not exactly. But I have kept money."
"What do you mean you’ve kept money?"
"Drug busts."
It took Janelle's tiny mind a few seconds to get it. "Oh! So when busting dealers, you’d pocket their money instead of turning it in?"
Gilbert nodded. "Maybe sometimes."
"Hey, someone’s got to spend it."
Gilbert almost laughed at that one, right along with the other officers who were secretly listening to the recorded conversation in another room. "Now that I told you one of mine, can I get one of your secrets?"
"I wish I had one to tell you, since you’ve been open with me, but there really isn’t anything secretive I can share."
Hoping she wasn’t pushing it—and that Janelle wouldn’t become suspicious—Gilbert asked, "So you didn’t really have anything to do with the death of your family members? I heard they were absolutely terrible, and I couldn’t say that I’d blame you if you did."
"No, I didn’t. Besides, they were my husband’s family members. And also, what happened in Ramona’s case was just a freak accident."
"Oh, that’s true," said Gilbert, Stone none the wiser. "What about the pregnant woman attacked in her house, though? What’s your take on that?"
"I always figured the boyfriend had something to do with it. If not, then I’m guessing a random home invasion."
After an awkward moment of silence, Janelle finally filled it with a silly smile and said, "I still can’t believe you like me."
Gilbert forced a smile and said, "I guess life is just full of surprises."
“Are you really for real? It's just that you weren't always very nice to me, and I sometimes felt like you were trying to start arguments with me at times.”
“I'm really for real, and again, I'm sorry I didn't handle myself better.”
"But what can we actually do about it?"
"Well, let’s just say that if you don’t get back with your husband, I might be around."
“Might?”
Gilbert’s eyebrows shot up suggestively again.
Janelle looked utterly amazed and said, "Oh wow, that is so sweet. It means a lot to me, because if my family won’t help me and my husband won’t take me back, I could be looking at the streets."
No streets, Gilbert thought gleefully. Just a long stretch in prison.
"So what else have you done?"
"What else?"
"Illegal, that is. Are you really that corrupt of a cop? Because you seem so by the book."
"Except for that one incident, I am."
"How much money did you make off with?"
"A few grand."
"Good for you. Better spent by you than by a dealer."
"Yeah. Criminals don’t deserve much, especially if they don’t clean their act up."
"I agree."
Gilbert didn’t feel bad for falsely getting Stone’s hopes up. But she sure felt bad for her stupidity. Almost anyway. Anyone who could be so blind and have their head buried so deep in the sand was definitely worth pitying.
"I hit a person on the road."
Janelle eyed her intently. "Really?"
"I had a few too many one night after a party, and I rarely drink, mind you. But that night I was a little tipsy, and I knew damn well I shouldn’t get in that car. I just didn’t have it in me to bother anyone else for a ride that night. So I drove myself, and that’s when I hit some guy who was crossing the street."
"Oh my God!" Janelle exclaimed naively. "What did you do?"
"Nothing."
Janelle’s eyes practically bugged out of her head. She started to talk, then motioned behind the curtain and mouthed, Is anyone listening?
"No, no one’s in the room but us," Gilbert answered, but of course, there was Officer Walker behind the curtain, practically clamping a hand over his mouth so as not to burst out laughing.
"So you were never suspected?"
"Naw," Gilbert said with a wave of her hand. "He was just a poor old Black guy no one cared about."
A flicker of suspicion crossed Janelle’s features. Maybe even she wasn’t dumb enough to miss that Gilbert was embellishing things a bit too much.
"Anyway, that’s all I got. But as they say, we all have skeletons in our closets, and that’s okay. It’s what makes us human, after all, right?"
"Yeah," said Janelle, seemingly unsure of what to think.
As always, Gilbert and the other officers would learn more through Janelle’s “private” journal.
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