In a second interview following Janelle's three-day coma, she was asked by the interviewer whether or not she thought the hospital staff had tried to kill her.
“Well,” she began, “it's funny that I've been hearing this non-stop ever since because if I hadn’t, the answer would be no.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, why would anyone want to kill me and risk going to jail for it?”
“Perhaps because you've been suspected of doing some terrible things,” the interviewer suggested with a hint of sarcasm.
“We're all suspected of this and that but that doesn't mean people always want to kill us.”
“Well, I think your case may be a little extreme. Don't you think?”
“Not really. I think I'm just an ordinary everyday person just like you and anybody else. I have my strengths and I have my faults.”
“But we're not all accused of kicking pregnant women.”
Janelle's eyes darkened. “Yeah, well, fortunately, we're not all about to be attacked by one either and therefore forced to defend ourselves.”
“Oh,” said the interviewer sarcastically.
“So exactly what is this interview supposed to be about? Is it to rehash past things I was acquitted of or to ask if I think someone's trying to kill me?”
“Well,” the woman said with a slight snort, “our job is to remain neutral.”
“Oh, that's funny. I mean you guys always say that and then you attack people with all these false innuendos and accusations. So are you sure you're neutral?”
“All we want to know is your take on what happened with your medication.”
“I already told you. I think they screwed up. People make mistakes. They're only human. Meanwhile, I don't see why they would risk my life and their freedom just to supposedly get a break from me. If you need a break from inmates then why get into this line of work if you can't handle them?”
The interview ended with Janelle expressing a growing suspicion and concern in her journals which were read by the guards before she mailed them home to her husband so she could later type them up. She did, however, admit that she had no way to prove whether or not anyone intentionally tried to harm her. No names were ever mentioned, and if any prison officials were investigated, it was kept under wraps.
Janelle had just been released when she was informed that a mistake had been made when it came to her sentencing. She was led to believe she would walk away free and clear once her release date came but she would find out the next day when Boris, her probation officer from the past who came to visit her, told her she would be expected to do two years of standard probation.
“Oh, no,” Janelle promptly informed him in her best authoritative voice. “They told me this was it and that's the way it stands.”
“If you don't report when you're supposed to, you get arrested,” Boris said sternly and matter-of-factly.
“Well, I'm sorry but this time I'm putting my foot down. I've had enough of being jerked around and given such ludicrous sentences for petty crap that others barely get a slap on the wrist for. They said no probation so no probation it is.”
Once again Boris ordered her to report or else he would be back to arrest her.
“Not gonna happen,” Janelle challenged as Boris stepped out and she closed the door behind him.
Much to her husband's delight, who had been standing right behind Janelle listening to the entire exchange between her and her PO, his wife packed a bag and promptly left the house, promising to get in touch when it was “safe.”
“I hate to do this but please understand. If I stay, they're just going to keep screwing me over. I can't come to the house at all because this is the first place they’ll look, and I can't call because they'll probably have a tap on the line.”
“Do what you have to do,” her husband said.
Janelle quickly gave her husband a hug that he didn't return and left the house to scrounge for food and to sleep on people’s rooftops. Janelle was grateful for the fact that most houses in the area were one-story with flat roofs, making it easier to hide as long as she lay down flat and in the center of it. The only risk would be when she was coming and going. She usually climbed onto them by hopping onto a nearby block wall. She also knew she had to remain as still and as quiet as possible so as not to alert the occupants below. She cringed when helicopters flew over for fear of being spotted and the authorities contacted as to why a body appeared to be lying on the middle of someone's roof.
After a few days, she began to have doubts and regrets since she knew she couldn't scrounge out of trash cans and sleep on rooftops forever. She had to do something. Something had to change and as much as she hated to admit it and didn't believe she deserved it, a jail cell would be a hell of a lot more comfortable than someone's roof not to mention the fact that they would feed her better even if she hated the bland or overly spicy shit they served.
But she wasn't quite ready to give up just yet. Knowing it wasn't safe to return home yet, she decided to take a chance on Deanna for whatever it may be worth and see if she would give her something to eat and let her sleep on her couch for the night. Ah, to think of just one night of comfort and a full stomach. A shower would be a wonderful bonus on top of it all. She stunk like hell. She was lucky it wasn't summer since the desert got so stifling hot. It wasn't cold either, but she was filthy, hungry, and exhausted. To be able to sleep somewhere and not have to worry about bugs crawling all over her would be wonderful.
It was just after 10 p.m. when she went to Deanna and Spencer’s back door. She sensed the hesitancy behind the door since she was sure they weren't used to people coming to their back door, especially at 10 at night.
“It's me, Janelle,” she called out.
Spencer opened the door and she quickly filled him in. “If I could just get a bite to eat, a quick shower, and a few hours of sleep on your couch, I would be so forever grateful. I came to the back so I don’t put you at risk of getting in trouble.”
Spencer and Deanna were very understanding. Perhaps a little too understanding for Janelle's comfort. But her need for basic necessities overrode any alarm bells going off in her head telling her that their sincerity and eagerness to help her wasn't the least bit genuine.
After taking the quickest shower of her life, Janelle was almost surprised not to open the door to find a bunch of cops waiting to arrest her. Hmm...maybe they were sincere after all.
They then gave her a tuna fish sandwich and threw a sheet on a small couch they had by their dining area in back of the house. Then they turned in for the night, closing their bedroom door.
Janelle wanted to creep down the hallway and listen in on what they might be saying because she still wasn't sure she wouldn't awake to any nasty surprises but her exhaustion won out and she drifted off as soon as her head hit the pillow.
It seemed like just moments later when she awoke to the reflection of alternating red and blue lights flashing on the room’s old dark paneled walls.
Damn those motherfuckers!
They had called the cops after all. Without thinking, Janelle shot up and ran out the back door, that mysterious and amazing athletic prowess propelling her large body faster than any Olympian had ever run and up onto a nearby rooftop so she could still overhear some of the activity on the ground as the cops failed to understand how she could escape so easily and where she might have gone.
When the cops gave up, sleep claimed her once again as she huddled against the chimney that stuck up from the roof she slept on but not before she resolved to give up and go home as soon as she had the energy to get there.
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