Power in the Blood Read Online Free PDF Page B

giving inmates a security evaluation and a job assignment, as well as determining whether or not they are a risk or are themselves at risk in open population, is the classification department. Since Inspector Daniels made it clear that he did not want me working with him, and because the feeling was mutual, I decided to conduct a little inquiry of my own, beginning with a classification officer named Anna Rodden.
    Anna Rodden, God bless her, was Potter County’s only true feminist. She was intelligent, strong, spiritual, and beautiful. The last she tried to conceal behind the first, saying, “I do not wish to be judged by the shape of my ass, but on my true assets.”
    I once asked, “And once you’ve been judged on your true assets?”
    “Then one may, if one is so inclined, evaluate the shape of my ass, which I must admit, is truly an asset” was her reply.
    Anna, who in many ways was like my sister, was in fact my sister Nancy’s best friend all through school. She had always been successful at nearly everything she did, with the exception of hiding her beauty. In fact, her attempt at repression made the subtle fire of her sensuality smolder. Her sexuality, buried just beneath the surface, threatened to make men lose their religions and, in the process, find new ones. Judging by her husband’s expression of eternal bliss, it was not an idle threat.
    “Anna,” I said after tapping on her door.
    She was seated behind her desk wearing a sleeveless white silk blouse, a fire-engine red skirt, with the matching jacket draped over the back of her chair. Her long brown hair was gathered in a single long ponytail at the nape of her neck held by a red-and-white bow. The white of her shirt made her olive skin look even darker. She was dark in other ways too. She was, like most women, dark and mysterious, only more so. As she looked up from her work, I was again amazed at the depth of her seemingly bottomless brown eyes.
    “John,” she said, sounding happy to see me. I loved the way she said my name. “Come in. How are you? I heard what happened yesterday.”
    “I’m okay, really. How are you doing?” I asked.
    “I’ve certainly had better days. Escape attempts produce a shipload of problems and paperwork, but when the inmate gets killed in the process, it produces an oceanload.”
    “Was he one of yours?” I asked.
    “Unfortunately,” she said with a quick shake of her head and roll of her eyes. “Which means everyone from central office on down wants to know why I didn’t know he was an escape risk. Like I’d be willing to read his sick little mind if I could, which I obviously can’t, because I thought he was an institutional man.”
    “I don’t see how you do it all,” I said. And then added, “And so well.”
    “Don’t do that,” she said shaking her head but smiling at me.
    “What?” I asked, shrugging as if unaware I had done anything.
    “Don’t give me compliments or understanding. I can’t afford to be distracted.”
    “Whatever you say, but a little understanding never hurt anyone.”
    “Thanks,” she said and then put her pen down and stared at me.
    “What is it?” I asked, resisting the urge to wipe my face.
    “I’m just so proud of you. . . . Serving her the way you do agrees with you.” As long as I had known Anna, she had only referred to God in the feminine form. “You’re really doing what you were created to do now.”
    “Thank you,” I said.
    “
Thank you
,” she said emphatically. “You are a much-needed breath of fresh air around this place. And, I suspect, everywhere you go. You know,” she said in a playful manner with a smile on her soft face, “if I weren’t married . . .”
    “If you weren’t married . . .” I said and let it hang there like a dream.
    “Are you dating yet? Found anyone special in Potter County?” she asked.
    “Yes, to the second question, but she’s married. As to the dating, I’m not quite ready yet, but almost.”
    “Don’t