After beating a hasty retreat from Casey's apartment, Jessica and Jane were cruising across town on their way to the hotel where they had a room reserved for the night. Jessica drove slowly, partly because she was still just a little buzzed, and partly because she wasn't in any particular hurry. It was a beautiful night, crisp and clear and quiet, with no other cars on the road. Jessica had decided to take the scenic route across town, a looping byway that skirted the edge of a big park.
Jessica looked over at Jane -- back now in her platinum blonde wig and outfit from before -- as she sat staring out the window, apparently lost in thought. There was something about this woman, Jessica thought... some core of grace and pride that remained untouched, whatever humiliations she was subjected to. Jessica didn't know whether to be inspired or aggravated. What would it take to break her?
Just then they slowed down for a series of speed bumps, and out the corner of her eye Jessica spotted a homeless encampment that had sprung up in a corner of the park. A flickering orange streetlight cast dim light on a rotting wooden picnic table, next to which the last embers of a dying fire sputtered in a circular pit. Tents of all shapes and sizes stretched off in every direction into the surrounding trees.
The black SUV rolled gently to a halt, the roar of the engine piercing the quiet of the night, then slowly dying away. After a couple of minutes the passenger-side door opened and out stepped the figure of a woman, naked, bald, tattooed, and collared. Jane looked around apprehensively, feeling eyes on her from every direction, shivering a little from the cold of the night. She felt lonely and exposed, but she had her orders; there was no point in stalling.
