Day 716: 5 Minute Freewrite: Sunday - Prompt: cover photo

Unfortunately for Officer Janet Burton of the police force in Big Loft, VA, she was the type of woman who, when warned about something that she wanted (see the “A Creature” freewrite), wanted it even more.

Officer Burton did good police work, overall, and was not involved in the major corruption of her department.

She amused herself with being the mistress of office intrigues at headquarters, and in bending people to her will through influencing others.

Thus it was perhaps inevitable that her attention would be drawn to Captain H.F. Lee, commander of the cold case division, but, although just a captain, the second most powerful man in the department.

He was also among the most handsome, looked at from the viewpoint of Virginia's history, because he bore a striking resemblance to the man held as the most handsome man in Virginia in the 19th century – R.E. Lee, who of course is best remembered for reasons far less complimentary.

Officer Burton wanted Captain H.F. Lee bad, in every way. There he stood in his black and gold uniform, with his six feet tall and perfectly sculpted physique, thick black hair, deep dark eyes, firm chin and mouth, and more personal power per square inch than anyone since the general had come through – looking like the perfect cover photo should Playgirl decide to put out a “Law Enforcement in Virginia" issue. Officer Burton had designs on Captain Lee's body, his emotions, his vast intellect, his ability to take bold action – this man had shaken the department to its core in his less than a year on the job, and so she just knew he would be a perfect tool for her.

Lust is blind except to its object, the saying goes. Never mind that there was enough unclassified to be known about a Special Forces mission called Five Bright Nine, and what had happened to the corrupt generals who had bungled that … how each and every one of them had been dragged down … how one could infer that then-Colonel Lee, whose men had been needlessly killed, had used his vast investigative ability to make sure those superiors got dragged down. Never mind that every attempt to corrupt him since had triggered his PTSD, and the wrecked careers and even several dead bodies of former police officials – three entire police commissioners, if you had counted the two he had simply frightened to death along with the one he had killed for resisting arrest – had been the result.

That was just an exciting challenge for Janet Burton, for whom good police work was boring. She was too good at it. The pay was good, but she didn't get to run anything or anyone.

Janet Burton had the unrepentant heart of a slave mistress, the lust to dominate and extract all value from her victims. Unfortunately for her, the great-great-great nephew of Virginia's most famous general of the 19th century had absolutely no toleration of that mindset, and was exceedingly dangerous to try to victimize.

Does the moth realize, when it is looking at the flame, that the flame will destroy it when it flies too close? Of course not. So it is that some people find the means of their own judgment irresistible.