Savannah waited for the girl behind the counter to turn her back; a second was all she'd need. She already had a near-identical gold-plated bracelet on her wrist just below her sleeve. The one she was examining was not a knockoff, but a 14 karat byzantine style band. The attached price tag said $749, as did to one on her wrist. The only difference was that hers cost nineteen dollars online.
"Would y'all mind checking to see if there's some matching earrings?" she said with a sweet smile as she pointed to the glass case to the left.
The girl, whose name tag said Mavis, looked two cases down and unlocked the door in back to pull out a tray of dangling pendants. By then Savannah had dropped the store's bracelet into her open purse, being sure to have her turn her back to the overhead camera, as she pretended to admire the cheap copy on her wrist.
"I think these might go very well with that one," Mavis said sounding somewhat bored.
Scrutinizing each one of the earrings, Savannah spent the next ten minutes explaining how important it was that the jewelry coordinated. It worked, there were other women waiting for attention in the department store, and Mavis was becoming impatient. "Ya know; I'm gonna have to think this over," she said as he removed the bracelet from her wrist and placed it back onto the velvet mat on top of the glass case.
The bracelet was quickly placed back onto the holder and by then Savannah was headed toward the nearest door. With luck, she'd get around $250 for what she'd just stolen from a guy she knew. Her heart quickened as she pulled on the door. Her first heist and the thrill of getting away with it was exhilarating.
Instead, a man in a suit stepped in front of her path and said, "Miss, you'll have to come with me." Another larger man stood next to him. Both men wore badges that said, "Loss Prevention Specialist."
Minutes later she sat in a small room as the contents of her purse were dumped onto a table. The talkative man, held up the result of her shoplifting attempt and said, "We're calling the police, in the meantime; we have a different set of bracelets for you," as he applied handcuffs.
She was taken to a small holding area and securely locked to a bench. Another slightly older woman was also locked to a seat next to her. "Cops will be here soon to pick up both of you, thieving bitches." A heavy door with narrow slit window was closed and locked from behind.
The other woman, even though locked and chained to a bench, sat almost nonchalantly. Her curly red hair fell into her face as she asked, "What's your name, girl?"
"I don't want to go to jail. I've never been arrested before." Savanah was starting to panic.
"Well, sugar, nobody does. But, you've still got a name, right?"
"Savannah."
"Alright, Savannah, jail ain't so bad. In this here county, they have a different way of dealing with us womenfolk shoplifters. Let's just say you wouldn't have to do no time."
Savannah's eyes grew in size. She'd just turned 18 and moved out of her repressive parents' house a week before. They didn't like her choice of boyfriends, and if they'd known she'd started having sex with a couple of them, would have thrown her out anyways. "What do you mean?"
"You won't have a trial or nothing. I got busted a year ago, for some petty lift. The cops in will make you strip naked in front of them. You'll have to suck a few of them off. Sometimes you'll have to fuck. If you cooperate, they'll let you off. That's just how things work in Hobbs County."
Tears began to run down Savannah's face. "But I've got a boyfriend. What will he think?"
"Word gets around in these parts. He'll think you're a big ol' hoebag. Still, I'm sure he'd rather have you blow a few cocks than do time in the county jail. You're better off goin' along. I'll probably have to suck and fuck one of the old judges. It's no big deal. Y'all get caught, you're gonna pay."
"What's your name?" Savanah squeaked out.
"Tempe. I've been pinched a couple a times. It's rough. But, whatever you do, girl, don't get sent to county jail. They can sentence even a first time offended to six-months of hard time." Tempe started to laugh. "You know what hard time for women in Hobbs County is, don't ya?"
"No, I've never been in trouble." Savannah was starting to tremble. Tears began to roll down her face. The bracelet theft was supposed to be easy money.
"Shit, a pretty little blond piece of ass like you, first thing to happen, a couple of them guards is gonna have at you. That's how they start you out. They turn the female inmates into whores to work the local cathouses. They actually bring in customer right into the jails. Twenty buck a pop and you don't get none of it. On-the-job training, they call it."
Savanah said nothing, but began sobbing.
"Then on your off-hours, some dike with make you her bitch. You'll be licking a lots of cunts. They'd trade a little scank like you back and forth in place of money."
"How you know all this thing? You been in jail?"
"No, but ya start to hear things. They make sure women in Hobbs County obey the law. Them that don't; well, they don't do to well. Take my advice, if they offer a way out, y'all take the deal."
The door was open and two officers in Stratton trooper hats and mirrored sunglasses entered the room and took the two women into custody. Their name plates said Cletus and Leland respectively.
At the station, Tempe and Savannah were led to different holding rooms. While Tempe waited in holding alone, Cletus and Leland went to interrogate Savanah. She sat behind a table trying to dry her eyes and pulled her hair back. Her hands shook as the two men removed their shades and glared at her, sizing up her breasts and bare legs.
"Well, Savannah Grover, your rap sheet says this is a first offense, and you done took an expensive piece of jewelry. That's a felony that could land you in county for a year. You can make this real simple, by admitting what you stole and..." Cletus allowed the sentence to end as licked his lips while staring at her cleavage.
Office Leland laughed under his breath in a manner that sent chills down Savannah's spine."
She sniffled and drew back, but managed to squeak out, "What if want to plead innocent?"
Both officers laughed in the same unsettling manner and Cletus slapped Leland on the back. "Well, then honey child, you sit in a cell overnight, with a bunch of hard old dikes and deal with whatever they have to dish out to you. You get bailed out in a day of so, provided your parents want to fork out for your tramp ass, get convicted at trial a week later and do your time in county jail. You won't like it much there, not at all. Now, pull those clothes off and let me see them titties."
