“Oh my God, Katie stop staring at the phone.”
She looked up to find Teal eyeing her.
“You can’t do this. Your dad is going to kill you . . . and Logan.”
There was that sentence again. Teal had made sure to say it at least once every five minutes for the last three hours. They’d sat in the kitchen while Katie had made some lunch. She hadn’t expected her friend to react this way, but she understood the concern; if the situation had been reversed, Katie would be just as worried and just as talkative as Teal.
Katie started cleaning; it was a nervous tic. Cleaning her home was something she could control while her life seemed to spiral out of control. “Stop saying that. Damn.”
Teal turned to her wide-eyed. “Look, just promise me you won’t send him money, okay?” The disquiet in Teal’s voice made Katie stop. Even though Teal often times pushed harder than she should, she knew her friend loved and cared for her, but what she needed most was her friend to trust her. To trust the choices Katie made in her life.
“I don’t give him money. As a matter of fact, he offered to pay my collect call bill.” She smiled at the memory. He’d been adamant he would take care of it if she couldn’t. That was weeks ago; she’d already gotten the bill, paid it, and forgotten about it.
Teal rolled her eyes. “Mmhmm, I bet he did. What else did he offer to do?” Katie didn’t like her tone.
“Whatever. See, when he gets out and gets his life—”
Teal rushed over and snatched the towel out of Katie’s hand. “Oh hell no, what do you mean when he gets out? You will not be meeting him!” Her eyes burned with anger, and Katie’s with defiance. “Katie,” her voice lowered, “you can’t do this. These men are all criminals.”
Katie agreed, “Yeah, they are. However, once they serve their time, they should be looked at as more than convicts.” She wasn’t a fool—she was nervous, too—but Logan felt so right, and she wasn’t lonely anymore.
“Girl, a few of them are getting out due to overpopulation. So, in my eyes, they are getting off easy. Plus, you don’t even know if what Logan says he did is true. We have rapists, child molesters, and monsters in there that are eligible for parole. Meaning your Logan could be one of them.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you think about that?”
True to form, Teal had made Katie feel like an ignorant ten-year-old child, because she hadn’t thought of that. “I—I guess I was just too—”
“Lonesome?” Teal’s voice lowered with care. “Since your mother and Roman, you’ve kept yourself, all cooped up in this house. Then you come up with this Inmate Pen Pal Program as a cover for your own solitude . . . which, in my eyes, is causing you to make some bad decisions.”
“No, it’s not just that.” Again Katie wanted to tell Teal about her miscarriage, but she wasn’t sure if Teal would use it as ammunition, not that she needed much more. Her mother and Roman would have been enough.
“Yeah, it is.” Teal headed out of the kitchen. “Where’s your laptop?” she called out.
Interest piqued, Katie followed behind her, pointing to her bedroom. “In there, why?” Entering the bedroom, she walked to the laptop.
“We are going to look up this Logan. What’d you say his last name was?”
“I didn’t, but it’s Whyte, Logan Whyte.” Katie pulled her chaise lounge closer to Teal and perched on it.
“Spelled W-H-I-T-E or W-H-Y-T-E?” Teal asked, and Katie’s face heated. She was embarrassed that she didn’t know, so she guessed.
“W-H-Y-T-E.” If Teal knew she was guessing she didn’t let on.
Teal entered in some info. “Where is he from?”
“Born in Lexington, Kentucky.” Katie leaned forward to see that Teal was on a site called Mugshot.com.
“What did he tell you he did?” Teal asked, turning away from the screen to stare at Katie.
She fought the urge to look away. She knew Teal well, and Teal hated a thief. “Armed robbery and assault . . . with a deadly weapon.”
Teal’s eyes popped out of her head. “Oh, girl, you can sure pick ‘em, huh?” She turned back to the screen and continued to type. “Has he sent you a picture yet?” Teal glanced back again, and Katie shook her head no. “Okay, so. I see no Logan Whyte’s, and there are only two pictures of men with the last name spelled W-H-I-T-E.”
Katie leaned over and looked at the men; both were old and gray-haired. For the first time, she wondered whom she’d really been talking to. She could hear Logan’s voice in her head, and it was young and gruff. Therefore, neither of those men could be Logan.
Katie stared at the screen and scanned the state. When she noticed Teal had only looked up Kentucky, she had a thought. “Maybe Logan committed his crime in Vermont?” She’d never asked him where, or even when, he’d committed his crime. “You know what? I don’t want to do this. If I want to know anything about him, I’ll ask. He never sent me a picture because I asked him not to, I asked him for anonymity and he gave it to me. That’s respect.”
Teal closed out the windows and shut the laptop. Her resigned sigh didn’t signal her submission, but her disappointment. “Look, when does he get out?”
“He goes up for parole in a few months, and his lawyer said that overpopulation was making it look really good for him.”
Teal’s smile confused Katie. “Oh, so he might not even get out?”
Katie wanted the conversation to end, so she shrugged and nodded, trying not to let on that if that were the case she’d probably freak out. “True. See? You were getting all upset for nothing.” She quickly stood and walked to the door because she couldn’t let Teal see how her words worried her. Plus, now she wanted Logan to call and reaffirm his place in her life even more.
Teal smacked her lips, an annoying gesture to Katie. “Oh no, I’m still worried, but I feel better that this thief may not make it into your life.”
Katie’s heart stuttered at her words, but she did everything she could to school her features as Teal walked up from behind her.
“I don’t know what you two have going on, but you need to be careful. You don’t know what kind of shit he has in his life, and you don’t know how it may spill over into yours. I’m just looking out for you, you’re my girl. I love you.”
Katie smiled and moved to embrace her friend. As much as it sucked, Teal was right. However, she had faith in a lot of things, and although the fear of Logan and her relationship falling apart was real, Katie knew in her heart that she’d try harder than ever to stop it from happening.
As a lawyer, Jake had done a lot of grimy shit in his life, but today was probably one of the shittiest on a more personal level. He’d lied, cheated, and even tampered with evidence. The morning Jake went into Graham’s home office and stole the list of names for the Pen Pal Program, he realized that Logan’s past slights wouldn’t go unanswered.
Back in college, Jake had been this scrawny pothead in love, and when he met Logan, he thought he’d met a buddy. However, Logan had ended all that when he fucked his girl. Then, to add insult to injury, he returns damn near seventeen years later, and that motherfucker bribed him into taking his case for less than half his going rate.
But Logan didn’t know who Jake was anymore. While Logan had changed, so had he. Jake had made contacts along the way, and finding out whom Logan was talking to, getting her PO Box, and then her address had only cost him two days, a bag of coke, and three hundred bucks. Now, Jake sat across the street as snow fell from the sky, watching and waiting.
The house was dark, but it was noon. The entire day yesterday, the warden’s daughter, Katie, wouldn’t leave the house. While Jake had planned to try and fuck her to get back at Logan, he realized he didn’t have enough time to weasel his way in her pants. At that realization, Jake decided that planting a seed of doubt in her mind about Logan would have to do, and it’d be easy.
If a good friend of Logan’s—that person being Jake—were to go to Kathryn and fill her in on the devious scheme
he had in place to gather groupies while he was in jail and fuck them all when he got out, it would cause enough suspicion to hurt Logan. It wasn’t the best plan, and Jake wished he didn’t have to leave town in a few days, because fucking her would be the definitive payback.
He exited his vehicle and headed up the drive. With a knock at the door, he stood back and waited. He could only imagine the type of woman Logan would go for, but he also knew that the program didn’t let you choose who you spoke to. As the warden’s daughter, a man he’d seen before, Jake assumed that Kathryn would be a tall, hot Scandinavian blonde . . . not the slim black woman who answered the door.
“Yes?” Her voice was smooth and proper. He could hear the confusion and hesitance in her voice.
Jake plastered on a fake smile. “May I speak to Kathryn Andreassen?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Who are you?”
Hiding his annoyance that some black bitch had the nerve to ask him who he was, Jake smiled wider. He hated when the maids answered the door. “I’m Jason,” he made up a name just in case she called Logan, “a friend of Logan’s.” Jake noticed her eyes widened a bit in what he thought was recognition. Maybe she was a maid for the Andreassen’s.
Opening the door wider, she wrapped her sweater tighter around her slim body. Suddenly, Jake noticed the alarm in her eyes.
“Is Logan hurt?”
He was stunned into silence.
“Is that why he hasn’t called in two days?” She ran her hands through her hair and stared at him.
“I—I, umm . . .” Jake was at a loss for words—almost. “Are you Kathryn?”
She nodded, and he almost howled in surprise.
“May I come in?”
Nodding again, she moved to the side.
Jake walked past her, careful not to bump into her. He was still in shock over the fact that Logan was dating a black woman. Jake silently took the seat she offered, as well as accepting the drink. The alarm in her voice set him on a new path for revenge.
“So what happened? Is everything okay?” she asked, sitting across from him.
“Yes, he’s fine.” He feigned sincerity as he spoke. “I’m just out with a list of names of women that Logan has contacted.” He watched her face as he spoke. “I’m trying to get Logan to get his life straight before he gets out. Attempting to get him to stop his womanizing ways, but it seems like nothing I say to him works.”
She was already shaking her head in disbelief. “No, he and I are in the Pen Pal Program—”
“I know,” Jake interrupted. He knew women. Even as this one sat in front of him and tried to deny that an inmate could possibly be playing her, he could see the doubt he was placing in her. “He is actually engaged to a woman named Dawn.” Jake pulled a name off the top of his head, and it just so happened to be his ex from college. He watched as Kathryn took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It took everything in Jake not to laugh.
“So, is that all? You just came to tell me he’s screwing around on me?” she asked in a strong voice, but Jake heard the crack in it that she so desperately tried to hide.
He nodded, hoping his eyes held the fake sadness for her that his voice had.
She stood. “Okay, thanks Jason, but I think you should leave now.”
Jake stood and walked to the front door. “I’m sorry, Kathryn. I just thought I should come and warn you about him.”
She nodded solemnly and opened the front door. “Thanks for the information.”
Jake gave her a sad smile and walked out the door. As soon as he reached his SUV, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed his secretary.
“Schuman and Blake, Marge speaking. How may I help you?” his secretary asked.
“Marge, I need you to set up a meeting at Capshaw correctional facility.” As soon as Jake realized the woman who Logan was talking to, he’d added an extra step to his payback plot.
“Yes, sir, who do you need to visit there?” she asked, and Jake could hear her typing on the computer.
“Aaron Matterson.” Jake remembered the name of Logan’s old cellmate perfectly; he was in jail for kicking the shit out of some black guy and robbing his house. Jake knew the best way to show Logan he wasn’t the little pothead he was in the past; now he wasn’t someone to fuck with.
Logan’s fingers hovered over the phone. Ordinarily, he would press the buttons as fast as possible in order to hear Katie’s voice, but today his fingers wouldn’t move. It was a hard thing to call a woman who’d given you her trust, only to turn around and give her an ultimatum. He’d realized shit was serious with Katie as soon as he understood that he needed her to be on the same page in life as he was. He wanted her, needed her, and would tell her . . . again. First, he had to make something clear. Yes, he was expecting for more than a good man would, but he wasn’t going to accept anything other than what he was asking. Stay away from people outside of her race—plain and simple.
He dialed his code and Katie’s number. They’d charge the call to his canteen, and from here on out, he wouldn’t have to record his voice and wait for Katie to accept the call. As the phone rang, Logan worried that he’d waited too long to call, and when she answered the phone in a clipped, angry voice, Logan was positive he’d fucked up.
“Yes?” she answered.
He had talked to Katie long enough to interpret her temperaments, and this mood was pissed. It wasn’t often that Logan was at a loss for words, but the sound of her voice stopped him cold. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, ready to tell her that they needed to talk, but she beat him to it.
After a beat of hard silence, she asked, “Is there anything you’d like to tell me, Logan?” The accusation was there; he heard it loud and clear.
“What are you talking about?”
The calming breath she took as if she were speaking to an idiot frustrated Logan. What the fuck was she talking about? He thought as she asked the question again.
“Is. There. Anything. You. Want. To. Explain?”
Her chilled voice echoed in his head, making him think back over the past two months. Was there anything he needed to explain? “Hell no, and that’s not why I called. We have a problem.” He wasn’t about to get off the reason he’d called. First and foremost, he wanted to talk about what happened a couple days ago. “I called to tell you that we needed to talk, Katie.”
Logan adjusted himself in the seat and lowered his voice. What he was about to say was something that could get his ass kicked for, and while Logan was no punk, he was no fool either. Fighting could get Logan another year of hard time, and when he could taste release on the tip of his tongue, being stupid and getting into a fight was something only a fool would do. “Who was that who came to your house Saturday?”
“Saturday? When Saturday? You mean a few days ago. The guy named Jason?” Katie’s voice escalated as she spoke, as if he was supposed to know who the fuck Jason was.
“Goddamn it, Katie, no,” he hissed. “And who the fuck is Jason?” he nearly bellowed. Logan glanced around the room, and while he wasn’t alone, none of the inmates that were in the room seemed interested in his conversation.
“Logan, stop playing games, please.”
The hurt in her voice cut him. “Baby, I’m not playing any games with you, but what I am about to tell . . . I mean ask you, will change shit. It will really define what we are doing here.” Her silence urged him to keep going. “If we are gonna keep this going when I get out, there are things that have to change. Things you need to understand about me, and what I except from the woman I plan to be with.
“I ain’t saying it’s going to be easy, baby. You know this shit is going to get hard. With who your father is, and my past, we are going to be fighting an uphill battle. But none of that shit will matter, if our relationship is right and steady. We have to be on the same page.” Logan stopped to take a breath.
He worried that what he was going to say next would start a war between him and the woman he was falling for. It hadn’t ta
ken much. She was intelligent, artistic, and responsible, all things Logan thought he’d never find in a woman, or at least not in the women he’d pursued.
Katie held her breath. Something in her said that what Logan was about to say would be a game changer. There was no way he was about to ask her to marry him, was there? Her stomach dropped and she almost hung up the phone. She was not ready for something like that, nor was their relationship at the point in which marriage should have been brought up. No, Logan wasn’t that careless. It was probably something else. Something about fidelity or—
“I only want you associating with our race. It’s important to me, and if I’m going to continue this with you I’m going to need you to do this.” His voice was stern, and it reminded her of how her father spoke to her when she wanted to buy her house by the prison, when she wanted to write fulltime, when she wanted to buy a small car instead of an SUV, or whenever she wanted to do something he didn’t approve of. Logan’s words created a visceral reaction in her. If Katie had to explain the emotions running through her heart at that moment, she’d end up speaking in tongues.
“Say that again.” Her voice was unreasonably calm and that scared her. She knew that Logan wasn’t black—he’d told her the “black kids” had constantly kicked his ass, and that he didn’t like that his white cellmate wanted to be a rapper—but those two things didn’t equal racist.
He cleared his throat. “My whole life I’ve stuck with my own kind, and the few times I didn’t, I paid for it severely.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her heart broke while her head told her she was a stupid idiot for not catching it before.
“Now, I am not a racist,” Katie begged to differ, “but I’ve learned that keeping to my own keeps me out of trouble.”
“Are you saying that about all black people?” she whispered. Her heart was in her throat, and she wanted to hang up . . . but she just couldn’t. She wanted to know how deep his hate ran. Not that it even mattered since she was on a list of certain people Logan wouldn’t associate with.
Incarcerated: Letters From Inmate 92510 Page 9
