Danielle Steel - Passion's Promise

“I have another commission for you, my dear.”

“Lovely. What?” She looked up expectantly over the gold-rimmed cup.

“Well, let’s talk for a moment first.” There was something different in his eyes today. Kezia wondered what it was. “This is a little different from what you usually do.”

“Pornography?” She sipped the tea and half suppressed a smile. Simpson chuckled.

“So that’s what you want to do, is it?” She laughed back at him and he lit a cigar. These were from Dunhill, not Cuba. She sent him a box every month. “Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you then. It’s definitely not pornography. It’s an interview.” He watched her eyes carefully. She so easily got the look of a hunted doe. There were some zones of her life where even he would not dare to tread.

“An interview?” Something closed in her face. “Well, then I guess that’s that. Anything else on the agenda?”

“No, but I think we ought to talk about this a little further. Have you ever heard of Lucas Johns?”

“I’m not sure. The name says something to me, but I can’t place it.”

“He’s a very interesting man. Mid-thirties, spent six years in prison in California for armed robbery, and served his sentence in Folsom, San Quentin—all the legendary horror spots one hears about. Well, he lived through them, and survived. He was among the first to organize labor unions inside the prisons, and make a lot of noise about prisoners’ rights. And he still keeps a hand in it now that he’s out. I gather that’s his whole life; he lives for the cause of abolishing prisons, and bettering the prisoners’ lot in the meantime. Even refused his first parole because he hadn’t finished what he’d started. The second time they offered him parole, they didn’t give him a choice. They wanted him out of their hair, so he got out and got organized on the outside. He’s had a tremendous impact on the public awareness in terms of what really happens in our prisons. Matter of fact, he wrote a very powerful book on the subject when he first got out a year or two ago, can’t quite remember when. It got him a lot of speaking engagements, television appearances, that sort of thing. And it’s all the more amazing that he’d do that, since he’s still on parole. I imagine it must be risky for him to remain controversial.”

“I would think so.”

“He served six years of his sentence, but he’s not a free man. As I understand it, they have some sort of system in California called the indeterminate sentence, which means you get sentenced rather vaguely. I think in his case the sentence was five years to life. He served six. I suppose he could have served ten or twenty, at the discretion of the prison authorities, but I imagine they got tired of having him around. To say the least.”

Kezia nodded, intrigued. Simpson had counted on that.

“Did he kill anyone in the robbery?”

“No, I’m fairly certain he didn’t. Just hell-raising, I think. He had a rather wild youth, from what I gathered in his book. Got most of his education in prison, finished high school, got a college degree, and a master’s in psychology.”

“Industrious in any case. Has he been in trouble since he got out?”

“Not that kind of trouble. He seems to be past that now. The only trouble I’m aware of is that he is dancing a tightrope with the publicity he gets for his agitation on behalf of prisoners. And the reason for this interview now is that he has another book coming out, a very uncompromising exposé of existing conditions, and his views on the subject are sort of a follow-up to the first book, but a good deal more brutal. It’s going to create quite a furor, from what I hear. This is a good time for a piece about him, Kezia. And you’d be a good one to write it. You did those two articles on the prison riots in Mississippi last year. This isn’t unfamiliar territory to you, not entirely.”

“This isn’t a documented piece on a news event either. It’s an interview, Jack.” Her eyes sought his and held them. “And you know I don’t do interviews. Besides, he’s not talking about Mississippi. He’s talking about California prisons. And I don’t know anything more about them than what I read in the paper, just like everyone else.” It was a weak excuse, and they both knew it.

“The principles are the same, Kezia. You know that. And the piece we’ve been offered is about Lucas Johns, not the California prison system. He can tell you plenty about that. You can read his first book for that matter. That’ll tell you all you need to know, if you can stomach it.”

“What’s he like?”

Simpson restrained a smile at the question. Maybe … maybe … He frowned and replaced his cigar in the ashtray. “Strange, interesting, powerful, very closed and very open. I’ve seen him speak, but I’ve never met him. One gets the impression that he’ll tell anyone anything about prisons, but nothing about himself. He’d be a challenge to interview. I’d say he’s very guarded, but appealing in an odd way. He looks like a man who fears nothing because he has nothing to lose.”

“Everyone has something to lose, Jack.”

“You’re thinking of yourself, my dear, but some don’t. Some have already lost all they care about. He had a wife and child before he went to prison. The child died in a hit-and-run accident, and the wife committed suicide two years before his release. Maybe he’s one of those who has already lost…. Something like that can break you. Or give you an odd kind of freedom. I think he has that. He’s something of a god to those who know him well. You’ll hear a lot of conflicting reports about him—warm, loving, kind, or ruthless, brutal, cold. It depends on whom you speak to. In his own way, he’s something of a legend, and a mystery. No one seems to know the man underneath.”

“You seem to know a lot about him.”

“He interests me. I’ve read his book, seen him speak, and I did a little research before I asked you to come in and discuss this with me, Kezia. It’s just the kind of piece I think you might be brilliant with. In his own way, he’s as hidden as you are. Maybe it’ll teach you something. And it’s going to be a piece that will be noticed.”

“Which is precisely why I can’t do it.” She was suddenly firm again, but for a little while she had wavered. Simpson still had hope.

“Oh? Obscurity is now something you desire?”

“Not obscurity, discretion. Anonymity. Peace of mind. None of this is new to you. We’ve gone over it before.”

“In theory. Not in practice. And right now you have a chance to do an article that would not only interest you, but would be an extremely good opportunity for you professionally, Kezia. I can’t let you pass that up. Not without telling you why I think you ought to do it, in any case. I think you’d be a fool not to.”

“And a bigger fool yet if I did it. I can’t. I have too much at stake. How could I even interview him without causing a certain ‘furor’ myself, as you call it. From what you’re telling me, he’s not a man who passes unnoticed. And just how long do you think it would take for someone else to notice me? Or Johns himself, for that matter. He’d probably know who I am.” She shook her head with certainty now.

“He’s not that sort of man, Kezia. He doesn’t give a damn about the social register, the debutante cotillions or anything else that happens in your world. He’s too busy in his own. I’d be willing to bet he’s never even heard your name. He’s from California, he bases himself in the Midwest now, he’s probably never been to Europe, and you can be damn sure that he doesn’t read the social pages.”

“You can’t be sure of that.”

“I’d almost swear to it. I can sense what he is, and I already know what he cares about. Exclusively. He’s a rebel, Kezia. A self-educated, intelligent, totally devoted rebel. Not a playboy. For God’s sake, girl, be sensible. This is your career you’re playing with. He’s giving a speech in Chicago next week, and you could cover that easily, and quietly. An interview with him in his offices the next day, and that’s it. No one at the speech will know you, and I’m certain that he won’t. There’s no reason at all why K. S. Miller won’t cover you adequately. And that’s all he’ll know or care about. He’ll be much more interested in the kind of coverage you’re giving him than in what you do with your private life. That’s just not the sort of thing he thinks about.”