Two Pink Lines

13

Gladys shoots out of bed as the sound of someone knocking harshly on her front door wakes her up. She hurries out to open it and is greeted by Tom Keller and a squad of officers behind him. "Sheriff Keller, what's going on? Is everything alright?"

"We have a warrant to search your property, please step aside and stay out of the way."

She turns visibly pale, her blood running cold. "W-what? Why? You've already searched here, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but we have reason to believe that since the first time was expected, the culprit would of had time to stash anything illegal."

Gladys bites down nervously on her fingernails, praying that they don't find anything, she knows outs a lot cause though. They're going to search thoroughly and she knows there's no way she's getting out free.

She hears a crash in the bedroom and cringes, it's followed by yet another and then she hears an officer yell out. "I think I've got something."

One of the men who was searching the living room runs off in the direction of the bedroom to see what was found.

"What is it?" Tom asks from his spot behind Gladys.

She braces herself for what she knows is coming.

The officer walks out of the bedroom with a packet of jingle jangle in hand. "Found a stash hidden under the mattress."

Tom sighs and grabs his handcuffs out, pulling Gladys' arms behind her back. "Finish doing a sweep of the place, confiscate every piece of evidence and seal the place off when you're done." He cuffs Gladys' hands and leads her out the door. "Gladys Jones, you are arrested for the possession of Jingle Jangle."

•

"How did he sound when he called?" Fred asks as he and Alice sit on her couch.

"Good, he seemed oddly happy. He said he got to talk to the kids earlier that day, so I'm assuming that helped perk him up."

"I'm sure it's killing him not being able to talk to them whenever he wants. At least he has some phone privileges now."

She opens her mouth to respond but is interrupted by the phone ringing. "Hold that thought." She answers the phone with a simple hello and Fred watches as her face drops. "Ok, I'll be right there. Thanks."

"What's wrong?"

"That was Tom, he wants me to come down to the station."

•

Alice knocks once on Tom's office door before strutting inside. "Good, you're here." He says. "Take a seat."

"What's going on?"

"You were right about Gladys." The words make her heart beat faster. "We searched the trailer today and one of my men found a stash, so she was taken into custody and the trailer was sealed off."

"So does this mean that FP is innocent?"

"Well considering Gladys confessed that the jingle jangle was hers, yes, he's innocent."

"So he can leave? He can come home?"

Tom nods. "I'll work up the discharge papers for him and he should be out of here by end of day at the latest. I'm assuming you'll pick him up?"

"Yes, I'll head right over as soon as I leave here. Thank you, Tom."

He smiles at her. "No, thank you. You helped us catch the real culprit here. Unfortunately, we've still got a lot of work ahead of us regarding the case."

"But the good news is FP is a free man. The last thing he needs is his name being run through the mud again when he finally got his life back on track."

"What exactly is going on between you two? If you don't mind me asking of course. It's just, you've been so persistent in trying to clear his name, and you wouldn't do that for just anyone."

She shrugs. "I love him. He's the love of my life, and you fight for the people you love."