[The echo of Jane Katze high heels bounces clearly off the stark white brick walls. Her steps like a metronome keeping perfect beat as she makes her way towards the little stall, the phone hanging off one side just like in the movies. Once there she sits, her cell and purse and other personal effects held at the desk out front in the receiving area. After a few minutes she annoyedly looks around for any indication of… well, anything. She looks over at the only other person in the room, a tall stern looking African American guard standing behind her near where she came in.]

Jane:
Sir? If I may, when will they bring in…

[Before she can even finish the guard motions with his eyes to the huge steel door on the other side of the partition. Almost like magic it swings open and several guards step out and take places on either side of the door. Behind them, a sight that at first confuses her… then shocks her to her core. She slowly picks up the phone, she waits for him to do the same.]

Jane:
Ed? Oh my God, Ed.

[Sitting in front of her is a large man with short cropped black hair… and no beard.]

Jane:
Jesus, they made you SHAVE?

[The former Socialite sits looking utterly exhausted. Dark circles ring his eyes, the flesh of his face milky and white having last seen the sun maybe a few decades ago? His wrists and feet are shackled and he’s sporting some prison whites and a pair of slippers.]

Ed:
They did.

[Jane collects herself.]

Jane:
It looks…

[White stops her.]

Ed:
If you say it looks good I’m going to revoke your visitors privileges. There was apparently an outbreak of lice, the warden decided it would be easier to troop us all out into the yard and shave us like cattle rather than spend the money on treatment. Now seeing as we don’t have a lot of time here do you mind if we skip the rest of my experiences in here? The majority of it is no less equal parts humbling and infuriating. Fill me in.

Jane:
Ed, why do you want to torture yourself like this?

[Edward White slams a huge meaty fist on the little counter in front of him with such force the two men on either side of the big steel door step forward, their hands on their belts filled with all manner of submission. Ed raises his hand as though to apologize.]

Ed:
Women, am I right boys?

[The guards hesitantly back off. The former Socialite looks back to Jane.]

Ed:
Fill me in. Now. My lawyers jumped ship the second my bank account went dry, my staff is gone, Nicky’s disappeared, I’ve been laid low Jane my dear. Completely low. I… I just want to know what’s going on.

[The look on Ed’s face isn’t one she’s seen before. In all the years she’s served as his closest confidant she’d never seen such a sincere… request, before.]

Jane:
You weren’t locked up a minute before Dane had his lawyers behind closed doors. Defiance is most assuredly going to be his lock stock and barrel, it’s only a matter of time. Like you said, nobody knows where Corozzo is, he vanished after he spoke with you. I haven’t spoken to Junior Keeling but seeing as I’ve left several messages over the last week something tells me he’s not at all that concerned. Dan Ryan is, he’s…

[She looks down. A few beats pass and Ed leans forward vaguely concerned]

Ed:
Jane?

[When she looks back up the usually stoney secretarial like face of Jane Katze has huge crocodile tears running down her flawless cheeks.]

Jane:
Dan is acting as witness for the prosecution.

And so am I.

[Complete stoney silence.]

[Without his perfectly coiffed facial hair we can see the shock spreading across his pasty white mug. Jane wipes the tears away and looks through the glass at her former employer.]

Jane:
You gave my life purpose, Edward White. I was aimless, lost. I knew numbers and I knew how to tie people into knots. Not exactly a normal skill set but one I was desperate to put to good use. You came into my life and made every decision I’d ever second guessed about my life make complete and total sense. Watching you manipulate the market then turn right around and manipulate people in the ring… you were everything to me, Ed.

My knight in a shining white tuxedo.

[Edward White sits and listens in silence.]

Jane:
I knew from the minute we met you were a bad man, Edward White. You’re a complete hedonist, a glutton for fine food, you drink and smoke to much, you spend money like it doesn't matter and you treat most people with a contempt that defines contemptible but you were my world. I knew more about finance and without a doubt was the superior fighter but you were my mentor nonetheless, Edward. I am who I am today because of you for better or for worse.

[Miss Katze choose her words carefully.]

Jane:
But the things you did to people? Not screwing with the talent, wrestling stuff… the REAL stuff. The people who didn’t see it coming and didn’t deserve the awful hand you dealt them. Some of the things you had me doctor in those books, Ed? I’m going to have to live with for the rest of my life. Agent Patterson says I’m lucky to not be sitting there right next to you. Giving my statment is the only thing keeping me from charges of my own. You’re a bad man. A wonderfully bad man. But you’re also… Ed, you’re cruel. I think you’re smart enough to know the distinction between those two things and parse out for yourself where I draw the line.

[Jane gets up, still holding the phone. Still looking right in Ed’s eyes.]

Jane:
Everyone is going to tell you your greed got you here. You and I both know that’s moral grandstanding, bullshit platitudes poor people tell themselves you feel better about themselves when a talented man like yourself makes stupid mistakes and ruins themselves. You were cruel and obsessed and made stupid mistakes and now Eric Dane’s won. He won and you lost everything and… well, I have to look out for myself, don’t I?

[Ed stands, still holding his end of the line as the guards step up and place hands on his shoulders.]

Ed:
Where will you go?

[The lack of anger in his response seems to give her some level of comfort. He’s a businessman, he understands why she has to do what she’s doing.]

Jane:
I think there’s still a place for me within Defiance somewhere. I also have an investment out west I think is going to be pretty special.

Ed:
You’ve got good instincts, I’m sure you’ll be fine.

[Another awkward silence falls between the two.]

Guard:
Wrap it up with your girlfriend, rich boy. Lets go.

Ed:
Jane, thank you. Good luck.

[Jane doesn't have to say a word. She just hangs up the phone, turns away and starts off down the hallway leaving Ed to watch her leave.]

Guard:
Hot little number, you hit that White?

[Ed shakes his head with a little smile.]

Ed:
No, boys... out of my league that one. She’s far too much woman for even a man of my stature.

[The guard rolls his eyes.]

Guard:
Whatever fatso, lets go. Come on.

[Ed watches Jane leave for as long as he can before the guards give the former Socialite a yank towards the big steel door. He can still hear the echoing rap of her high heels on the bare brick walls as he shuffles back towards his cell.]

[Fade.]

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