Matt had been in a good mood his entire shift—“too good of a mood,” Joyce thought as she tidied up the tailor shop. For weeks he had been walking up to her desk and knocking his knuckles against it to grab her attention, and on each occasion he would whisper the same three words: “We’re gettin’ close.” Earlier that morning he had slipped her a note, but she had not had the time nor the energy to read it. Now she had no desire to learn how close they really were.
Matt had worked with Joyce in Tailor Shop 1 since October 2013. Within one month of his assignment, he had asked her to contact his daughter Francesca in regard to some paintings he had sent her. Against Joyce’s better judgment, she obliged.
That had been the extent of such requests until the following September when Sweat was removed from the shop. Immediately after the dismissal, Matt started showing Joyce more attention. It began with casual conversation about her husband, Lyle, and her children, particularly Tobey, a member of the U.S. Air Force of whom she was especially proud. Matt took note of this, and in August gave Joyce a 11-inch by 16-inch portrait of her son. A few weeks later he presented her with yet another painting, this one of her Yorkie and Boston terrier snuggling on a gray sofa. By November, she had asked him to do a portrait of her family—a gift for Lyle to commemorate their anniversary. In exchange, she brought Matt a pair of speed bag gloves, two pairs of glasses with lights on them, home-baked brownies, and other confections.
Then, in April of 2015, in some way she could not quite explain, things had taken a different turn.
“Send me a picture of you naked,” he had asked her once.
“What? No! Are you crazy?”
He asked again.
“Send me a picture of you naked.”
Then again.
“Send me a picture of you naked.”
She had known better. She had been warned that inappropriate interactions with inmates would result in suspension, getting canned, or something much worse: incarceration. But she had also been secretly intrigued, first by Sweat, then by Matt, flattered by their interest in spite of herself.