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It was a rather odd sight to see Lana behind the glass window in that detention center.
Tall black heels clacked loudly on the hard floor as Angel approached the visitation window. As she sat down on the cold metal stool she began to raise the telephone to her face.
Lana did not follow suit right away. She merely looked back at Angel with a vacant gaze on her face. Just as Angel thought of trying to draw out some sort of response from her, Lana finally picked up the phone. Angel watched her beautiful fingers wrap around the black plastic.
Another brief pause. “To what do I owe the pleasure? Are you perhaps here to gloat? It’s fine if you are.” Lana’s voice was flat and sounded far away. Her posture was poised and upright like always, even in a place like this.
Angel frowned ever so slightly. “I heard from Marshall that they're transferring you to another facility far from here tomorrow. Is that right?” Her voice was steady.
“And what of it..?”
Angel sighed. Out of habit her hands reached for her lighter and a cigarette, only to feel the empty air, as she remembered that they were confiscated at the entrance earlier. She let out a small irritated sigh.
“Fancy a smoke? They didn’t let you bring it into the building though, I assume.” That familiar disapproving tone of Lana’s again, Angel thought. She was suddenly reminded of all the times Lana used to roll her eyes at her smoking back then.
“What?”
“It was written all over your face.”
“..Astute as always, Chief Prosecutor.” Angel tapped her long nails on the counter.
“No need to call me that now. I am Chief Prosecutor no longer.” Angel’s heart hurt just a bit as she heard that. Yet Lana had said it with a considerably light tone.
“You’re rather calm about this.” Angel observed. There was an annoying glare on the window that made it harder to see Lana’s eyes clearly. She crossed her legs and shifted in her seat.
“Truthfully.. I am quite grateful. They negotiated for me very well. Reduced the thirty five years to a fifteen year sentence. Far more lenient than I deserve, really.”
Angel’s jaw tightened. Fifteen years was no brief time either.
“I have accepted it. At the end of the day, I must pay for the harm I caused.” There was that characteristic principled way of speaking typical of Lana’s speech.
“..What will you do when you get out?”
“I’m only concerned about how my sister will fare when I’m not around.”
“You’re trying to act strong and tough, even now, huh.” Angel pulled back as soon as the words left her lips, fearing that if her tone was any more uncouth, Lana would just slam down the phone and walk away. “Sorry.”
“..Ah. Do I detect concern? Wasn’t it not too long ago you apprehended me and testified against me in court..?”
She was briefly distracted by a bird outside the small barred window high up on the wall behind Lana. “Look.. suppose… would you believe if an ex-detective wanted to visit a certain.. ex-prosecutor, not to gloat or anything, but because she just wanted to see her one more time?” With her free hand, her index finger twirled and twisted the telephone cord as she said those words.
Those words stirred an unknown feeling within Lana. “That’s unlike you to speak that way, Starr. However, say, perhaps this certain ex-prosecutor wouldn’t mind humoring that ex-detective..”
Angel’s finger pulled on the telephone cord harder. She looked down, avoiding Lana’s gaze. “Listen… There was a lot I had no idea about. When I think about it, I probably would have done the same in that situation. Who could blame you? It must have been difficult for you too. So.. I just wanted to say sorry for everything. I never hated you. Even though I said and did some awful things before, didn’t I?” Something about her own words made her want to wince, but they felt like the only appropriate thing to say. Angel lifted her hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Both her eyes were visible now. Her voice was faster than she liked, and she hoped that Lana did not catch on to the nervousness in her voice.
If she had noticed, she made no indication of it. Lana looked away too, to the side, though there was no hostility or contempt of any sort in her face. Her voice softened. “We both pushed each other away, didn’t we? We were both just scared and angry. You were the one trying to do the right thing, after all. For that... I admire you. But we can never go back now, that much is certain.” She turned her head back. Yes. There was no turning back. She tried not to think about what could have been if not for the whole incident. “I’d like to apologize to you too… Angel.”
Angel felt as though she was speaking to a friend again.
“I..” Angel’s grip on the phone tightened as she began, fingertips going pale from the pressure. What is it that she really wanted to say to Lana? I couldn’t stand the thought of you going away? How funny that she had no problem saying the most improper things to people, whether it was to provoke them or seduce them, yet she found it difficult to finish her sentence this moment.
I missed you, Lana, she wanted to say.
There was an awkward pause. How long had Lana been waiting for her to say something now?
“Ah.. Say, when you get out, let’s go for drinks or something, like we did in the old days. Or I guess it was always more like you watching me drink back then, ha… ” Angel said instead, idly running her fingers through her long hair. Her hand briefly brushes against her hat, almost threatening to push it off her head, though it managed to stay.
Lana paused. She hoped she did not appear too visibly solemn. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure that Angel would even remember her or have wanted anything to do with her at that point anymore. She would’ve moved on forward with her life surely, while she stopped in place. And that would have been a good thing for Angel, it was only natural.
They both knew that the longer they dragged this on, the harder it would be once they had to part.
“Visiting hours are over,” the security guard interjected. Impeccable timing. Lana looked over her shoulders to where the guard was.
“Ah. That’s on me for visiting so late,” she sighed under her breath.
“Until we meet again, then.” Lana smiled softly and faintly. “I appreciate you visiting.”
“Yes. It was good to see you.” she nodded.
“Be well, Angel.”
“You too. Goodbye, Lana.”