My Loving Family Paid to Destroy Me novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: Sentencing
"On what charge?" I said.
My voice came out low and dangerous.
"She pleaded guilty, Mr. Thayer. A guilty plea doesn't vanish because the facts got bigger." The detective rubbed his tired face. "I'm not taking her tonight. Her bail stands. She stays in your custody until the judge rules."
"And on Monday?"
"On Monday it's the court's call, not mine."
Laurel took my hand and held it tight.
"It's all right," she said.
"It isn't."
"Nolan." She smiled, wobbly, in the green dress, with mascara running down her cheeks. "Your father is in handcuffs. Let me have one night."
We had two weeks.
My father was held without bail.
Trenton pleaded guilty to conspiracy, and gave the prosecutors the names of the men he owed.
My mother moved into a small hotel room across town and wrote me a letter every day.
Hank sat in a cell and waited for his own date.
The second Monday of the month came gray and cold.
The courtroom was packed to the doors.
I sat in the front row with Laurel's empty chair beside me, because they had called her up early.
The woman in the church hat sat three rows behind me.
She had brought a handkerchief.
She looked at me when I turned around, and her mouth trembled.
"I'm so sorry, young man," she said. "I said an awful thing about your wife."
"I know," I said. "Thank you."
Laurel stood at the defense table in a plain navy suit that I had bought her the day before.
She still had no lawyer.
She stood with her hands folded, and the same judge looked down at her over her glasses.
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