Danielle, Ivy, Jennifer and a few other belted offenders sat together in a conference room waiting for their monitors to come pick them up. They had been interviewed by the detectives and told they would be contacted if further questioning was warranted. Their phones and personal belongings were confiscated and one by one, they were forced to unlock their personal devices to allow the detectives to review their messages and browsing activities.
"I didn't do anything wrong!" Danielle said out loud, though it appeared she was saying it to convince herself.
Jennifer rolled her eyes. "We know! You haven't shut up about it since we were all dumped in this room." The alcohol had long worn off and Jennifer's mood had gone from elated and carefree to crabby. As she had explained to Danielle, she was not receptive to mending their friendship and had insisted that if Danielle had gotten the impression that they could be friends again, it could
only
have been the alcohol talking. The two had bickered in the conference room, and Jennifer dug up and accused Danielle of sins that dated back to the second grade.
Mr. Young, whose workshop was on another floor of building that housed the police headquarters, entered the room and surveyed the sad lot of people who needed to wait to be collected by their monitors.
"Well, well, well, Marcan," he said, gaze settling on the tall brunette who sat at a conference table looking nervous at first, and then annoyed to see him. "I got a text message from Officer Grant. Turns out one of his charges showed up at a big protest and got detained in connection to a bomb scare." Mr. Young scanned the room with a confused look on his face. "I wonder who he might have been referring to!" He made eye contact with each person in the room and then returned to look at Danielle. "Why Marcan, I believe he must have been referring to you! Who would have ever guessed that the very woman who roped her best friend into committing insurance fraud and who propositioned her design technician for sexual favors would be somehow entangled with protest shenanigans involving fake bombs!"
"They were fake?" Danielle asked. She wasn't the only one in the room to sound surprised.
"You propositioned your design technician for sex, Danielle? Holy crap, you're stupid!" Jennifer declared.
"Well, you don't have five years to do!" Danielle snapped back. She turned back to Mr. Young and narrowed her eyes. "Why are you even here? It's late! Don't you ever go home?"
Mr. Young strolled into the conference room and took a seat next to Jennifer and Ivy and introduced himself. "Joseph Young. I'm the design technician assigned to Ms. Marcan's case." He shook their hands and continued. "I'm pretty sure we're in for a good show here in a few minutes. I don't know what he'll do to her, but I was picking up on some rather impressive notes of rage and fury through text."
A smile spread across Jennifer's face. "What
can
he do to her if we're all here? Doesn't he have to protect her privacy?"
"He can do anything he wants. We're in a room full of friendlies, so he doesn't have to protect us from the knowledge that she's belted and under the guardianship of a strict, sadistic monitor."
Jennifer and Ivy both parted their lips in surprise. They, and the few other people in the room who were privy to their conversation all looked over to Danielle as she sat there trying to avoid their attention.
"He's not going to do anything to me! I didn't do anything wrong. And even if I had done something to warrant punishment -which I did not- he'd do it in private," Danielle insisted. "I'm sure of it." She didn't sound as confident as she wanted. In fact, she didn't feel especially confident in what she was saying either. She'd never been in a situation with Officer Grant that might warrant a public punishment and he
was
prone to punishing very quickly.
No. Officer Grant is a reasonable man who appreciates facts and details. I did not go to that protest and I most certainly did not call in a bomb threat. I did nothing wrong!
It was at that moment they heard the card reader beep outside the conference room. The door opened to reveal a very terse looking Officer Grant. He stepped through the threshold and his eyes scanned the room and settled on Danielle who was feeling emboldened from the version of events she was convincing herself of. She gulped down any fear she may secretly harbor and stood up to face her monitor. "Officer Grant," she said with a huge smile. "Thank you so much for picking me up. I apologize for the inconvenience this must have caused you. This was a total misunderstanding. I wasn't even at the protest." She ran her hands down her skirt, smoothing out the fabric and she moved to take a step toward him, trying to maintain her composure and air of confidence. If he believed that she believed in her own innocence, he might give her a correction, but it wouldn't be too bad, and it wouldn't be public! She paused as she looked more closely at her monitor and realized that she was in deeper than she had surmised. Officer Grant was dark with rage and he crooked his finger at her, summoning her to approach him at the front of the room.
"Here. Now."
Play it cool, Danielle. You didn't do anything wrong.
She closed the gap between herself and Officer Grant and he quickly produced the paddle he had tucked into his bag.
Oh fuck!
She thought. The paddle had to be at least a foot in length not including the handle, four inches wide, and a half-inch thick. Danielle's face instantly registered her fear which she tried very hard to subdue. "Officer Grant, I am totally innocent here. I did not attend that protest! You have to listen to me!" Sensing she might try to flee, a large hand grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her close, hauling her over the table into a good position for a paddling. Her backside faced the wall and she could see her audience straight on. Danielle struggled against him at first but the warning swat to her backside rekindled her good senses. "Officer Grant, let me explain!" she pleaded before the next swat fell.
"Can you? You can explain the events that I understand took place? That sounds incredible! Since you for sure have a convincing explanation for being at the protest that I specifically forbade you from attending, I'm only going to give you the first half of your punishment -- 20 smacks with the paddle. If your explanation is anything other than truly convincing, then you'll complete the other half of your punishment. And I'm going to tell you right now, Danielle, that by appearances, you were at the site of the protest, in the company of protestors, and literally