Page 12 of Jar of Hearts
When the shower shuts off, she opens the curtain a little and feels around on the outer wall for her towel. It’s not hanging where she left it. She pulls the curtain open wider and jumps when she sees someone standing there, leaning against the counter across from the stall. Geo’s towel is draped over her arm.
It’s the black woman from the day before. She has no entourage today. They’re alone in the bathroom.
“I’m Ella Frank,” she says. When Geo doesn’t move, she holds out the towel. “You must be freezing.”
Geo is cold, but there’s no way to reach the towel without stepping out of the shower. She finally does, dripping wet, and the woman hands it to her. Geo wraps the towel around herself quickly, trembling. But it’s not just from the cool air. She’s aware of Ella Frank’s reputation. Everyone in here is, though up till this point, Geo didn’t know exactly which inmate she was until the woman said her name. And now here they are, standing in front of each other, and Geo is practically naked. She has no weapons to stab with, no boots on her feet to kick with. She doesn’t know what this woman wants fromher, but she does know she can’t handle being raped again. She’d rather die.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Ella Frank says. “I’m not the Mammoth.”
Geo’s throat closes up. “You know?”
“I have eyes and ears all over.”
“Why didn’t you say anything to me yesterday?” The words are out before Geo can stop them, and she winces at their bluntness.
“It’s not my job to protect you. Unless you want it to be.” The woman fixes her gaze on Geo. It’s intense. Unblinking. They’re about the same size—if anything, the black woman is a bit thinner—but Geo has no doubt Ella Frank could kill her without breaking a sweat. “You know who I am?”
Geo nods, the full story coming back to her. In her media photos, as the wife of drug lord James Frank, Ella was always impeccably dressed, with long black hair and bright fuchsia lipstick. The prison version of Ella Frank is more subtle—the weave is gone, the hair is short, the lips are bare, the clothes are same prison scrubs everyone else wears—but she looks just as dangerous. It’s in the way she stands, the way she speaks, the way she’s looking at Geo now. Ella ran her husband’s security team, killing his perceived enemies by shooting them in the head with the small-caliber weapon she wore strapped around her thigh. She’s in for the murder of two rivals, though rumor has it she’s killed at least a dozen.
And she’s no less powerful in here than she was on the outside. Ella Frank is responsible for almost all the drugs that find their way into Hazelwood on a regular basis. Currently embroiled in a turf battle with another drug dealer, she’s in a situation that’s getting ugly. But unlike most of the women in Hazelwood who’ll be released at some point in the future, Ella Frank is serving back-to-back life sentences. She’ll never get out; she’ll die in here. Which means she has nothing whatsoever to lose. This makes her extremely dangerous.
“You’re Georgina Shaw,” Ella says. “I read about you. Big-time executive on the outside. You made a lot of money, I bet.”
“I spent a lot of money, too.”
Ella laughs softly. “I feel you. Life’s short. Might as well enjoy it while you have it, am I right?” Her eyes are fixed on Geo’s face. The irises are so dark that Geo can’t see her pupils. “So. Your bunkmate has taken a significant liking to you. How do you feel about that?”
“It’s terrible,” Geo says. It comes out a whisper.
Ella nods. “I know Bernadette from another prison. She must have creamed her double-XL underwear when you were assigned to her bunk. You’re just her type. White. Pretty. Classy. You understand it will keep happening?”
“Yes.” This time, the word comes out a whimper.
“I can make it stop,” the black woman says, her eyes never leaving Geo’s face. “I can make it so that nobody in here ever touches you again. Do you want my help?”
Geo closes her eyes, knowing that the next word she says will change everything. “Yes.”
“My help isn’t free.”
She opens her eyes again. “I know.”
“Okay,” Ella says, and smiles. “I’ll take care of it. You get dressed now. But before I go, allow me to offer some advice, woman to woman.”
Geo eyes the fresh clothes folded on the counter beside Ella. She doesn’t dare reach for them. It requires moving closer. “Of course,” she says.
“Hold your head high,” Ella says. “Carry yourself like you run the place. Don’t back down from anybody. The way you look, with your pretty white-girl hair and your pretty white-girl face, you’re never going to be invisible in here. Not after what you did on the outside. So own it. Someone gets in your face, you cut a bitch. You understand me? I can and will protect you, but I could get shanked tomorrow. And then where will you be?”
Geo nods. “I understand. Thank you.”
Ella hands Geo her clothes. As she reaches for them, her towel slips, and suddenly she’s naked again. The other woman’s eyes flicker up and down her body. She chuckles. “Yeah, you’re beautiful. But you’re not my type. I like dick.”
Geo dresses hastily.
“One of my girls will find you in the hair salon later,” Ella says. “When she does, you give her what she asks for.”
Two hours pass before someone approaches her in the hair salon. Geo recognizes her as one of the women on Ella’s security detail. She gives the woman what she asks for, keeping one eye on the camera mounted on the ceiling.
“Don’t worry about it,” the woman says. “The guard who’s supposed to be watching the monitor is… distracted.”
