Chapter 1
“You know what really killed me? It wasn't that you left. Everyone leaves – Da' had left. No, what killed me is that I thought you somehow wouldn't. As if you didn't have your own motivations for anything you did.” She said these words without a hint of anger. This was something that had simply happened. What could be done about it now?
When the woman seated across from her didn't respond, she continued, a smile lingering at the corner of her lips. “Though to be able to say it without screaming means I've come a long way, yeah?” She was goading for a response. Anything.
“You have.”
“Is that all you have to say? Really?” She raised her eyebrows, taking a lengthy sip of coffee for comedic effect.
“What do you want me to say?” Was that a hint of irritation coming from the woman across the table? Her blue eyes flashed. “I didn't leave you. I left the prison, you should know that. I was forced to resign.” A pause. “An inmate was murdered under my care. You were all under my care, not just you.” The woman broke eye contact briefly to look around the small café. Perhaps this wasn't the place to truly have this conversation.
“That doesn't sound like the Miss Davidson I knew. Conceding so easily.” She chose to ignore the hitch in the woman's voice when she said not just you.
Just like she would have had before, she willingly took the bait without hesitation. “I didn't concede. There were two choices. I could've been fired, which would have looked worse than a resignation. Franky, I was barely thirty. I needed to make sure my career could stay intact.” Her hands tightened around the mug. Relax. She let out a small sigh. “I didn't want to leave. My resignation was a bit more of a clandestine operation.”
“Clearly.” Franky looked at Erica Davidson in earnest. She leant across the table conspiratorially, lowering her voice to a near whisper. “And that day in your office? That had nothing to do with it?” She grinned, “ 'cause I reckon it might have at least made it a bit easier for you to go. Or harder, depending on how you looked at it. I'm sure the tongue that went down my throat would see it that way.”
Of course the “altercation” in the governor's office had made her departure both of those things. Franky could always see right through Erica; even now it simultaneously excited and frustrated her. Erica was still barely able to admit to herself, even these few years later, that it was she herself who had really closed the distance between them that afternoon (or rather, “stuck her tongue down her throat”, as Franky crudely just put it). The eventual day that she had been called into a meeting with Channing, she was ready to defend herself and deny the events in her office had even occurred -- despite feeling like it was written all over her face. Much to her surprise (and relief), that had not been the reason given for letting her go. In retrospect, Erica always wondered how much Channing really knew about her feelings regarding her special ward. He had seemed more than eager to suggest she find a distraction equally as willing to “not get caught”. Maybe he hadn't actually been suggesting himself.
Erica looked at Franky incredulously, throwing her hand in the air. A gesture to signify the other people around them. “Do you really think this is the place to be having this conversation? Christ Franky,” she hissed. She remained hunched towards Franky over the small table, glaring.
Franky smiled and sat back, putting the distance between them that Erica had not (though she probably should have). “Where else are we going to have it then?”
Erica rolled her eyes, and realized that she finally had the opportunity to redirect discussion. “I was under the impression that we agreed to meet here to discuss the terms of your internship with the OPP. Unless you've decided to intern elsewhere?” Her voice oozed smugness.
Franky had to laugh. She had almost forgotten how much she missed their back and forth banter. “I haven't signed anything yet.” As she said it, Erica smirked and pulled the appropriate paperwork from her briefcase. “But, really,” she said seriously, running her finger across the edge of the papers now placed in front of her. “I do want this internship. You happening to be there has nothing to do with it.”
It was Erica's turn to let out a chuckle, albeit a stifled one. “It's just an added bonus, then?”
Franky smiled in agreement. “Yeah. Something like that.”