[Lacataz Maximum Prison, present day]
Lora followed the warden quietly through the hallway containing cells for the other inmates. Some of the detained women looked at her with sadness in their eyes . Others were busy sweating up a work out while a few were just chilling on their bunk beds with cigars at hand that were painting dense clouds of smoky tobacco in their dark cringy cells.
" Prisoner's these days can't even stay a month without drumming up a ruckus. Indulge me my dear , why are the top brass of the Criminal Investigations Bureau interested in bailing out your sorry ass? They are offering you an immunity agreement for goodness sake , can you imagine that ?" the warden started talking as she took a right corner that led to a brightly lit room. A few chairs were scattered in the empty space and Lora's face immediately lit up with a smile when she saw William Harper seated in one of those chairs.
"William ! " Lora smiled , rushing ahead of the warden and hugging the man.
" I thought he was the one who caught you ," the warden was surprised at her reaction.
" Yes , detective William Harper and I met in Russia where he apprehended me and then collected enough evidence for the court to actually pursue a hearing , " Lora explained to the warden as she pulled up a seat opposite William.
" That still doesn't explain your strange exhiliration at seeing him . But why am I even stressing myself out when I already gave up trying to understand you anyway. Detective Harper , are you sure you don't want additional security with this volatile thing around you?" the warden turned her attention to William who had remained expressionless the entire time.
" Post two guards , but they stand outside the door. That will be all warden ," William dismissed the older woman with a hint of authoritarianism . She quickly obeyed , recognizing the seniority gap between her and William in their line of work.
When she shut the door behind them , Lora quickly started asking her questions,
" Detective you must be crazier than they say I am , why spend all that time and effort to bring me here just to change your mind two weeks later?"
William reached into his inner coat pocket and took out a passport sized photograph of a man which he showed to Lora.
" Who is he?" William asked her point blank.
Lora casually took the photo and scanned it with her wide bright ocean blue eyes fenced with strikingly white and long eyelashes.
" Yikes , if this guy is on your radar then some serious stuff is going down. Don't tell me you went poking another bear now that I'm in the big house, wasn't I good enough for you? It hurts my feelings you know ," she spoke after recognizing who the man was.
" He is like a ghost , none of my people have been able to id this fellow all night , " William said, taking back his photo from Lora and ignoring her petty arguments. AT the moment , finding Helen took full priority and he couldn't afford any distractions.
" That's to be expected , and if ninety six hours have passed since you last encountered him , then forget about ever catching this slippery eel , " Lora faked sympathy which William did not buy for a second.
" Tell me who and what I'm dealing with and you will get partial immunity from your sentence,"
When William made this offer , Lora gave him a kind evil smile as she sank back comfortably in her seat to give the idea a few good twirls in her mind.
" You must be pretty desperate to come to me for help . And since it's me we are talking about , you also must have nowhere else to turn to . So I'm thinking , you'll have to sweeten the deal a little bit better than that for me to work with you , " she decided to try and see if ripping him off could work. To her utter surprise , William got up from his seat and started walking towards the door.
" Okay okay , the deal is sweet enough and we can iron out the kinks down the road , " she gave up trying to run circles around his head.
That unique ability of his had in fact been the only reason William had been able to capture Lora when every other detective had tried and failed miserably for years. The way his mind worked always gave him an edge when it came to Lora's methods of operation.
" The deal is what it is and there will be nothing to iron out , " William said, coming back to his chair , " Now start by telling me who this man is and who the hell he works for,"