[h3]Los Angeles[/h3]


[b]Downtown
12:02 PM[/b]


"Jess? Someone's here to see you." 

Jessica Hyatt looked up from the counter at Bernadette. The two women were in the stockroom of Beaumont's. Bernadette had a playful smile on her face and an arched eyebrow. She was younger and shorter than Jessica, round enough to fill out the sales girl uniform that hung on Jessica's frame. The uniforms Beaumont's provided ran small, medium, and large without any special alterations. Jessica had the height for the large, but not the rest of the proportions to properly fill it out so it was always baggy. 

She passed Bernadette and adjusted the beret on her head before stepping out on to the sales floor. The ladies section of the large department store was as busy as it always was on a weekday afternoon. Her curiosity was piqued by who would be calling on her at work. She secretly hoped it would be Penelope. But how would she know where Jessica worked? The two women discussed many things last night before they drifted off to sleep, but her employment had not been one of them. 

"That is a smart looking outfit." 

Special Agent Nate Parker stood by a rack of dresses with a smirk on his face. A dark hat hid his rapidly retreating hairline. Jessica felt a mixture of anger and fear at the sight of him. Parker turned his eyes away from her and looked at the dresses on the rack. He removed a hand from his pocket and thumbed through them. 

"You know, Jessica. I find it a grand irony that the radical socialist works for the largest department store company in the world." 

"A girl has to eat," she replied. "Not all of us can live off the tears of the oppressed." 

Parker chuckled, staring at the dresses as he spoke. 

"What a cutting remark. Your new friends teach you that insult, Jessica?" 

"No, Nate. I don't need them to tell me you're a rat bastard." 

He looked at her sharply. His mask of amusement slipped and she saw real anger underneath it. Just like that, the mask was back on again and he was smiling sardonically. 

"My men followed that car into Brentwood," he said. "We know about Penelope, known about her for years. Our file on her is as thick as a phone book. I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that." 

Jessica could feel her anger rising. For this man, this creature, to say Penelope's name enraged her. For Jessica, it sullied Penelope's beauty for him to even know of her existence. 

"Thanks to you," he continued. "We know everyone who was at her house by the license plates on their cars. Curiously enough, you spent the whole night." 

"I had too much to drink," she replied. "I crashed on... the couch." 

"Sure you did," he chuckled. "I just need you to confirm who was there and tell me what they talked about, corroboration the courts call it." 

"I was never introduced to anyone." It was her turn to look amused. "We talked about baseball all night. I'm an LA girl, so I'm rooting for the Dukes to take the pennant." 

Whatever emotion that was on Parker's face evaporated. He looked at her blankly, his eyes so chilly they made Jessica shiver. 

"Do not forget who I am," he said softly. 

He leaned in to her, towering over her and making her back up into a rack of ladies slacks as he spoke. 

"Do not forget what I can do to you. Do not forget that I know who you really are. I can destroy you like that!" 

When Parker snapped his fingers, Jessica flinched. 

"You thought the LA city jail was bad? Wait until I throw you and your little dyke friend into a female federal prison. You'd be used as currency, passed around from bull dagger to bull dagger until you couldn't take it anymore and make a noose out of your bed sheets." 

"Jess--" 

Jessica and Parker looked suddenly. Bernadette stood a few feet away with a worried look on her face. Her chubby hands were clasped together. 

"Is everything okay?" 

"I was just leaving," Parker said with an easy smile. "I'm a friend of Jessica's. I just wanted to remind her of something very important." 

He looked at Jessica, the smile gone and replaced with a blank expression. 

"I'll see you later. Hopefully your memory improves." 

Without another word, he walked away. 

"What was that about?" 

"A customer," she said, adjusting her beret with shaky hands. "Some old creep who thinks I owe him something."

She looked off the way Parker had left. She thought she was in an untenable position when she had been pressed into service by the Pinkertons. Now, she knew that earlier pressure was nothing compared to now. Parker wanted names. But, names would mean arrests and an end to what she had just discovered. She felt like she had a place with Penelope and her people. For the first time in a long time, she felt like she belonged. And now, this man -- this bully -- was threatening to end all of that before it could even begin.

"You okay?" Bernadette asked.

"Yeah," Jessica said with a smile. "Let's get back to it, huh?"