This story is set in the 1980s in New York and is one of those one off stories I penned just to see how it would all work out. I hope you enjoy it.
*****
Initially I was drawn to Laura Goodman for the same reason as my male counterparts, it was lust and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I was a twenty-nine year old Assistant District Attorney based in New York. I'd been out since high school and it was my boast that the only cock I'd seen was in my brother's extensive collection of dirty magazines.
My name is Susannah Bailey, I'm five foot five with a good figure and a healthy head of brown hair, I learned to fight when I was in high school and became interested in karate very early on. I was raised in New York City and if you didn't carry a weapon or something that could be used as a weapon then you were fair game. I guess I had a good head on my shoulders with aspirations of working my way upwards. Thus, when it came to a choice of weapon I had two, my quick wit and when that failed, my hands. I started karate lessons when I was just thirteen and by the time I was sixteen I was taking part in amateur bouts. I wouldn't say I was the best because back then there were so few girls taking up karate that my competitors were somewhat lackluster.
Laura was taken on as a legal secretary/paralegal when she moved from her hometown in Houston, Texas to NYC and very quickly attracted the interest of my male colleagues. She was twenty five, five foot eight with a petite figure and a healthy head of long blonde hair framing an oval shaped face set with green eyes that sometimes appeared gray. Laura was very attentive, some paralegals just talk the talk but she walked the walk, you knew when you gave her instructions that she was actually paying attention.
She was well aware of the affect she had on men but Laura was definitely in the straight category and had boyfriends. I met one, Jacob briefly in the lobby when he came to pick her up for dinner. However when I asked her about her date a few days later she seemed dismissive, and at first I thought it was either because she kept her private life separate or maybe their relationship was not so good. Nonetheless, despite my curiosity I had bigger fish to fry and the secret life of Laura Goodman was not high on my agenda. The mayor was under pressure to clamp down on crime and thus we had our hands full and it was one of those cases that proved to be the catalyst that finally drew us together.
The case was passed onto us by the sexual assault division and involved an accountant who'd been charged with statutory rape but the case was shaky because the victim had been drinking at the time. On any normal day it might have gone to a plea bargain or the judge would have thrown the case out citing lack of conclusive proof. However, Laura had taken a personal interest in it and got in contact with the hospital the victim had gone to the following morning and here fate turned in our favor because the admitting doctor was a British expatriate. She'd done a blood test to check for other drugs and the test came back positive for Rohypnol. When we followed up that line of inquiry we discovered that the victim had never taken anything stronger than a mild sedative. The doctor was actually surprised when Laura turned up to ask for the report again because she thought the police had lost the report she'd given them.
The police called the perp back in for questioning and when confronted with the new evidence he folded like a deck of cards and threw himself on the mercy of the D.A's office. Further investigation found that there had been a string of rape allegations from women who'd allowed him to buy them a drink. Mercy or not, he was sentenced and I got a commendation from my superior, which I passed onto Laura that same day.
"But how did you know to investigate this one?"
"I didn't," she replied, "but the statement I read was very similar to something that happened to my sister back in Houston. I suspected she'd been drugged, but at least the doctor who saw her had the sense to do a full blood test."
Our friendship began then and over the next eight months or so she became something of a personal legal secretary to me. I mean she had to work with other attorneys as well, but Laura preferred my company because the men tended to either flirt with her or assign her mundane jobs. I was the only one who looked past the physical and saw that she really was trying to move up the ladder. You could give her a job and just walk away knowing she'd do it and if she couldn't there was always a good reason why she hadn't managed to complete it. However in all that time I never outed myself to her, not because I feared losing her but it just seemed somehow crass. This was 1984 and while being gay didn't mean an actual prison sentence you would be consigned to a different kind of jail, one where you had to conform to a certain mode of behavior. It was never quite put like that to your face but certainly behind your back there were the 'in jokes.'
However many of us were reluctant to come out because at that point the CDC had only just started referring to this new mystery illness as AIDS instead of GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency) and to further heighten concerns it was revealed that straight people were also at risk. I remember the firestorm that set off and the media were having a field day with all kinds of stories. There were claims that you could catch it from kissing or even just sitting on a toilet seat. The televangelists were in their element because this was 'God's punishment' for breaking one of his commandments, I was raised in a Catholic household and I can't recall one of the ten commandments forbidding me from loving my own kind. By then of course I'd ditched organized religion but in true Catholic style I referred to myself as a lapsed Catholic.
It was in the spirit of that attitude that I gravitated towards Laura, because she came from a Baptist background. Indeed her father was one of the leading lights in the family church. Laura was not so religious now that she was far from Texas.
Outside influences drove us together when in February, 1985 the Federal government brought charges against the Five Families of New York and some of our people were brought in to assist federal prosecutors in what would become one of the longest Mafia trials in history. Having fewer staff around meant we had to double up to cover our workload and thus Laura was moved up a notch to my level and I became her mentor.
I don't doubt that quite a few of my male counterparts were jealous and I know that a couple of them did suspect my sexual orientation but because I could be quick on the uptake none of them dared raise the matter to my face. In fact it only came out when we went to see
Red Sonja
and I admitted that I had a crush on Brigitte Nielsen as we sat in a late night diner.
"Yeah, me too," she admitted, "not that I'd ever, you know."
"I would," I replied and when she raised her eyebrows I finally launched out into the unknown.
"I like women," I went on.
Laura straightened up and looked past me for a few moments and thinking she was about to leave I opened my mouth to try and soften the blow but then she spoke again.
"What kind of women?"
"Ladies," I confessed, "I mean I've been out with butch kinds but I've always been attracted to women who were more ladylike."
Laura winced at that comment even though she tried to hide it by straightening up at the same time and pretending to stretch. Our conversation drifted to other matters shortly afterwards but when we parted company later on I had the impression that she was definitely bendable because she let me walk her home. One of my gay friends thought I was reading too much into it when I told her the following day over lunch.
"It's probably more for security."
However when I got back from lunch Laura was on her way out and she wasn't aware I'd just been for lunch because I often detoured to a diner on the way back from court, we met on the stairwell as I was just coming back from lunch.
"I'm heading out for lunch, are you coming?"
"No thanks I've, um just been for lunch."
"Oh," her eyes shifted, "right, okay," she moved to the staircase.
"Maybe next time," I called out after her.
She did acknowledge that as she headed downstairs but I had the feeling she'd made a move and I'd been totally unprepared for it. I did think of asking her about lunch when she came back but then I had to dash back to court to oppose a last minute bail application and that took longer than normal due to a fire alarm going off just before I was about to enter the court room. By the time I got back the moment had passed and Laura was looking forward to going home.
"You got any plans for tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm seeing Tony tonight."
"Who's Tony? You haven't mentioned him before," I teased her.
