Pretty Dangerous (4 page)

Mrs. Suarez waved a hand at her without
looking around. She turned to MiMi. “If you want to talk, I can
stay a while.”

“I’m good. I’ll help Luz.” MiMi started to
walk off, but Mrs. Suarez grabbed her arm.

“Listen, I know you’re not the typical
inmate. I’m sure you can learn from one mistake and put this behind
you,” Mrs. Suarez said quietly.

MiMi was in no mood for a heart to heart.
“Thanks. Do you want the pencils and note pads on the shelf or in
the cabinet.”

Mrs. Suarez took the hint and neatly switched
gears. “Hmm, oh put them in the cabinet. Luz, could you take that
cloth and dust a bit. This room stays locked, so they don’t clean
in here as often as they should.”

“Sure thing,” Luz called back. When MiMi got
closer, Luz winked at her. “Hey, cheer up. We both know your girls
gone get you out.”

“It’s not my girls I’m worried about. I don’t
want to talk about it,” MiMi grumbled.

“Sure. I know how it feels comin’ back from
court.” Luz gave her a sympathetic look. “But we need to talk.”

“Luz, I really don’t...”

Luz checked to make sure Mrs. Suarez was
preoccupied across the room at her desk. “Not about that. Remember
I told you to watch Diana?”

MiMi frowned. “Yeah.”

“She’s got a guy on the outside. I wouldn’t
call him a boyfriend. They hook-up whenever. You know how that
goes.” Luz pretended to concentrate on dusting chairs and desks,
but stayed close to MiMI.

“Not really.” MiMi glanced over at Mrs.
Suarez as well.

“They do some business together, and party
whenever,” Luz whispered.

“Uh-huh.” MiMi nodded. What Luz meant was
Diana and the man would get involved in mutually profitable
criminal business. They also had casual sex when it suited
them.

“This guy Bruno wants Diana to find out if
your boyfriend is trying to move money, drugs and guns. He wants
in. So we got to make sure you stay out of her way for a while.

“Exactly how am I supposed to pull off that
miracle? She’s in our cell. Besides, I’m not going to tell her
anything because there’s nothing to tell.” MiMi’s stomach tightened
with anxiety.

“She got moved to another cell while you were
in court,” Luz whispered. She smiled when Mrs. Suarez looked up at
them. “We’re going to clean the tops of the bookcases and that file
cabinet.”

“Great idea. I’ll bet there’s enough dust up
there to grow crops,” Mrs. Suarez replied. She went back to grading
assignments.

“Why did they move her?” MiMi kept her back
to Mrs. Suarez. She looked down as though sorting through the
workbooks used in class.

“I don’t know. Anyway, my pals won’t let her
sit next to you at lunch. Just stay outta her way.” Luz moved away
humming as she dusted. Then a few minutes later, she moved
back.

“With any luck, I’ll be out and on a plane
tomorrow,” MiMi said. “And I’m not scared of Diana.”

“The little college princess talking tough,”
Luz teased.

“I handled Carissa when she got in my face,
didn’t I?” MiMi shot back. Two days after she’d been on the cell
block, the woman had tried to bully her.

“You held your own. Just remember the fight
moves I taught you in the yard.”

MiMi thought about her parents, Roderick and
others who had tried to bring her down. “Screw being the ‘princess’
everybody thinks they can mess with. From now on, I’m going to be a
warrior queen.”

“You better save that for when you get outta
here. This ain’t your world,” Luz said.

“It is now,” MiMi said fiercely. When she
slapped a stack of books on a shelf, Mrs. Suarez jumped. MiMi
smoothed the angry expression from her face and smiled. “We’re
through, Mrs. Suarez.”

Two hours later, MiMi sat perched on a table
with her feet resting on the bench attached to it. She watched four
other inmates play cards. The recreation room had two other tables
and single plastic chairs scattered around. Guards observed from a
command station a few yards away. One female guard walked the
floor, alert for signs of trouble. Elise, a young Haitian woman,
kept yawning.

“Hey, America,” Elise said without looking up
from her cards. She liked calling MiMi by the nickname some of the
women had given her. “After this hand, I’m out.”

“Okay, why you tryin’ to get out now that you
got most of my cigarettes? Nah, I’m gonna win them back.” A tall
woman from La Romana, a city near the Dominican Republic capital,
frowned at Elise.

Elise grinned at her, head tilted to one
side. “You can’t win them back ‘cuz I’m that good. Besides, there’s
always another game on another day.”

“Humph,” the woman grunted. She mumbled a few
words, but said no more.

“Hey, you’ll probably win from me. I’m
terrible at cards,” MiMi spoke up to defuse a possible problem.

“Rich America, you don’t smoke. Hey, I bet
you got some nice lipstick or mascara with my name on it,” the
woman replied. The disgruntled creases in her brow smoothed out as
she smiled at MiMi.

MiMi was about to reply when she saw movement
to her left. Diana strolled up with two other women. She sat on the
other end of the table. Her two friends stood, arms crossed. The
guard seemed to be busy making notes on a log. The card players
were intent on the game. At least they acted like it. MiMi felt the
atmosphere press in on her.

“Yeah, she’s got money. Why not just give it
out to your friends and skip the game?” Diana spoke languidly.

“I’ll decide who gets what when.” MiMi kept
her tone casual as well. She saw the card players tense. Several
cleared their throats.

“I woulda asked you in private, but sense you
got me moved, I had to come find you,” Diana said softly. “What lie
did you tell the assistant warden, rata?”

MiMi looked at her briefly then away. “You’re
delusional. I’m no rat.”

“She says your loco, demente,” one of the two
women explained when Diana glanced at them.

“Big English words to insult me. You better
watch yourself, rata,” Diana spat.

To be called out as a snitch was dangerous in
prison. Only a month ago MiMi would have tried to talk her way out
of a confrontation. But that was before she’d been kicked around
one too many times. Every disappointment and let down flashed
through her like a hot stake pushing her to the edge.

MiMi stood to face Diana. “I’m not the rat,
Diana. Tell everybody how you got special treatment before they
cleaned this place up. We’d all love to hear the story of who you
gave up.”

“Perra,” Diana growled.

“Yeah, I’m the bitch ready to take that hot
man of yours. He’s been sending me love notes since he saw me in
court the other day.”

“That’s bullshit. Mateo doesn’t even know
you,” Diana shot back, now on her feet with her hands balled into
fist. Her irrational jealously about her lover was legendary.

MiMi smiled. “He’s out with charges still
pending, right? He managed to get close. I thought he was going to
ask about you. I was looking good, so I guess he changed his
mind.”

Diana growled and took a swing at MiMi with
an open hand. MiMi didn’t run. Instead she caught the hand, twisted
it hard and jerked Diana closer. A sharp kick to Diana’s side made
her scream. The other two women tried to join the fight, but three
card players blocked them.

“Nah, Diana started it. Let her finish it,”
Elise said.

Diana rushed head first to tackle MiMi.
Instead she ran into MiMi’s foot. The tip of MiMi’s sneaker clipped
Diana’s chin just as three guards ran up. Two grappled with the
battling women to separate them. The third guard stood with a baton
raised, a warning for the other inmates not join the fray. Three
more guards raced to the lounge. They barked orders for the women
to return to their cells.

“You must like it here, Señorita Landry,” a
guard shouted as she shoved MiMi away from Diana.

“I defended myself,” MiMi said. She breathed
heavily from the fight and the effort to speak coherently.

“She’s tellin’ the truth,” an inmate being
herded out shouted. “Take a look at the video.”

More inmates joined in the chorus as everyone
picked a side. The guards barked warnings at them. Reinforcements
helped clear the lounge. MiMi and Diana were taken to be examined
in the prison clinic. Aside from bruises, neither of them had been
seriously hurt. Both were ordered to cool off in solitary
confinement. After reviewing the video, the supervising guard and
assistant warden let MiMi return to her cell. Her dinner arrived on
a tray twenty minutes later. Luz came back from an evening group
session and sat on the floor. She watched MiMi eat for a few
minutes.

“They still letting you out tomorrow,” Luz
said finally.

“I cursed being watched all the time, but I’m
loving those cameras now,” MiMi said around chews. The beans and
rice at least were still warm. “My first meal will be a shrimp
po-boy when I get home.”

“Or maybe they just want you outta here. The
last thing the government wants is an American princess getting
messed up in here.” Luz grinned at MiMi.

MiMi paused with the spoon halfway to her
mouth. “Sounds like you know a lot. You heard something?”

“Me? Nah, I ain’t got no ears in here,” Luz
replied mildly. “The Americans get testy when one of their own gets
hurt. US reporters would have a good time splashing the news all
over.”

“You pay attention.” MiMi gazed at her. She
developed a different assessment of the young woman.

Luz gave a gruff laugh as she flipped the
pages of a graphic novel with a moral lesson. “What, I’m not the
dumbass third world skank you thought I was? I may not have a
college degree, but I know stuff.”

“Like how Diana got moved to a different
cell,” MiMi said quietly.

Luz turned slowly on the bench to face her.
“Some friends did us both a favor. Leave it at that.”

MiMi put the plate on the bed. “What’d she do
to you, Luz?”

Luz stood and walked to the front of their
cell. She leaned against it casually for a few seconds, the graphic
novel in one hand. After looking around she sat next to MiMi. Luz
again turned pages of the graphic novel.

“Nothin’ you want to know about. Unfinished
business, she thinks it’s over.” Luz’s soft voice sounded
dangerous.

“Great, and now she thinks I jacked her
instead.” MiMi grabbed one of Luz’s comic books. She stood and went
to the bars to double check no one was nearby to listen.

“You’ll be out of the country and out of
reach by tomorrow. Diana got plenty of enemies anyway. She gonna
look for somebody closer to home to blame anyway,” Luz replied.

MiMi looked around at her. “Like you.”

Luz flipped the book closed and drew her legs
up to wrap her legs around her knees. “I can take care of me. Stop
tryin’ to be somethin’ you ain’t.”

MiMi studied her for a few minutes. She
crossed her arms. “I tell you who I am, a fed up former princess
sick of being played.”

****

True to her word, Willa showed up the next
morning at ten thirty with Mr. Columba. They presented the release
paperwork to the warden. MiMi watched in surprise as the process to
set her free went smoothly. Her heart pounded each time the warden
or officer in charge paused to scan a sheet of paper. Forty-five
minutes later they were in the rented Toyota Rav 4. MiMi let out a
gasp once the SUV cleared the heavy yellow gates.

“Get us the hell out of here,” MiMi said, her
voice shaking.

Willa turned around in the front passenger
seat. She grabbed MiMi’s hand, squeezed it hard, then let go. For
the next few miles, no one spoke. The drive from San Cristobal to
the airport in Santo Domingo was a short fifteen miles. Jazz drove
as though she’d lived in San Cristobal. She even let out a few
choice words in Spanish for bad drivers. When Willa turned around
to stare at the bandage on her hand and the bruises, MiMi knew what
was coming.

Willa raised both her dark salon contoured
eyebrows at her. “You want to talk about it?”

“They told us you got into a fight with a
tough girl, but you’re okay,” Jazz blurted out. She glanced at MiMi
in the rearview mirror before looking at the road again.

“My former cell mate came at me. I’m gone and
she’s still locked up. End of story.” MiMi looked out of the
window.

“Something about you is different.” Willa
studied her. When MiMi didn’t answer, she tapped her on the knee.
“Hey, us three been through a few things together. We’re on your
side.”

“Not like your high and mighty parents.” Jazz
spoke with her characteristic bluntness. “And don’t shush me,
Willa. I’m just speaking truth.”

MiMi swallowed hard as a tear managed to
escape before she could wipe it away. “Obviously we’re not the
Cosbys.”

“Humph.” Jazz glanced at Willa and seemed to
decide not to say more.

With a deep breath in and out, MiMi pushed
aside her sadness. She’d long ago learned to live without warmth or
true affection from her parents. They’d given her money, cars, and
a nice private school education. She’d always managed to take
advantage of the privileges that came with being Drexel James
Landry’s daughter. She’d looked for love elsewhere. At least now
she had her friends. She looked at Willa.

“Diana thought I’d told the guards something
to get her in trouble and out of my cell. I put my foot up her
behind, convinced her she got it wrong.” MiMi smiled when Willa’s
eyes went wide.

“You got into a fight, a fist flying real
fight?” Willa’s open mouth formed a wide circle. She glanced at her
sister.

Jazz slapped the steering with one hand.
“Give up the juicy details.”

“I got in a lick upside her ugly head and
kicked her in the kidneys.” MiMi giggled when Jazz hooted.