Daddy's Little Girl (Complete book- limited time only)

Chapter Ten: The Reunion

Brandy's drive to the station seems to be taking forever. There's no more traffic than usual but her mind is preoccupied, thinking about this latest visit from her past. She struggles to understand why. Why does she always end up the victim of harassment? Why can't she just live a normal, stress free life? Why? She feels the irony of her situation. She is a detective, her job is to help people in similar circumstances...yet, she feels completely and helplessly trapped in this mind game.

Arriving at the station, Brandy looks to her watch. It's a quarter to seven. She still made it to work early despite this morning's minor setback. Although, now that she's here, she doesn't even want to go in. She remembers the stares and the comments she used to get. Everyone she worked with at A.C.T.S. knew about the stalker. It would be no different here.

Once at her desk, Brandy powers up her computer. She can almost feel the eyes of the other police personnel watching her. As she checks her emails, her nerves are on edge.

Chief Harvey Dunn calls for Brandy, "Page! I need you in my office, now!"

She sighs, knowing there are only a handful of reasons for being summoned to the Chiefs office; most of them, bad.

Brandy enters Chief Dunn's office, "Chief?"

He sits behind a large desk reading through some papers, he glances to Brandy, "Close the door."

Brandy thinks, this can't be good. She shuts the door and sits across from Harvey.

There is an awkward silence. Brandy is uncomfortable but she doesn't want to start the conversation, or interrupt Harvey while he is reading. She patiently waits, watching him. He seems to be reading this letter with extreme concentration. The faces he makes suggests the letter is not 'good news'.

He quietly laughs to himself and shakes his head. "Unbelievable"

With the Chief having broken the silence, Brandy feels it okay to ask, "What is that you're reading?"

He stops reading and stares at her, "It's the reason I called you in here."

Just then, a knock at the door, Ron pushes the door open, "You wanted to see me, Chief?"

"Travis. Good. Come in, sit."

Ron takes the seat next to Brandy. They look to each other with concerned expressions.

Harvey puts the paper down and sits forward. He looks to Brandy, "After our phone call this morning, I called Kelly Winston, the Warden up at the North Point Penitentiary. It seems that Lynn Holbrook, along with about two hundred other inmates, was released about a week ago."

"Say what?" The only words Ron can utter.

"Why?" Brandy's vocabulary lacks as well.

Harvey picks up the paper and looks at it, "According to this letter, it was due to funding, or a lack thereof. The North Point Penitentiary was to immediately cut back on their spending by a minimum of ten percent. The state basically ran out of money and forced the prison to lower its population. Each inmate costs the state around twenty thousand dollars per year. The prison holds over two thousand inmates....you can do the math."

Ron finds some new words, "Smells like bullshit to me."

Brandy tries to understand, "So, they just let these criminals back on the street?"

Harvey fills the confused detectives in, "It's not quite that simple. There's a process; a panel of prison officials hand select the inmates that qualify for early release. Each inmate is then reevaluated based on a number of factors: The nature of their crime, prior convictions, time served versus time sentenced, and good behavior. Inmates in the vocational and educational programs are usually favored. Only the inmates that are deemed a non-threat to society are released, even then, they are closely monitored. They make sure they have a place to live, that they're working, or looking for work, and parole officers randomly check in on them...it's kind of like still being in prison." He chuckles.