Chapter 8 #3
“I’ve been taking care of you all your life.
It’s time I had a life. Sign the damned papers or not.
I don’t care. But don’t come running to me when you don’t have any money for rent or your utilities.
” Lori looked embarrassed by her outburst. “I’m sorry, your honor, but this was supposed to be easy for her.
All she has to do is pay for her own entertainment and groceries.
I’m footing the bill for everything else.
Even when she gets to the point where she needs a nursing home, because there is no doubt to me that she will eventually, I was going to pay for everything to keep her comfortable. ”
“I don’t know why I have to pay for my own food.
And entertainment. I don’t even know what that would be.
” The attorney who had been brought in for Lorena explained.
“Oh, I need to have my nails and hair done at least twice a month. Yes, that’s good that she remembered that, but to pay for them is out of the question.
I suppose I have to pay for my own car and insurance, too. ”
“Just the car. The rest is covered. But only if you sign off on the paperwork. I’m not going to be held responsible for your debt anymore.” She asked her when that had happened. “I’m still paying off the credit card you took out in my name last year.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot about that. You wouldn’t help me out with things.
I think, as your mother and one who didn’t sell you off, I should be able to get some of the things that I deserve.
You’re still alive, aren’t you?” Lori sat down and stared straight ahead.
“Now she’s going to pout. It was just ten grand.
I had a wonderful month with that money, and you should be happy that you didn’t have better credit.
As it is right now, I have three applications in your name in my apartment.
I won’t have you telling me no again.” The judge banged his gavel down, and Penrod wondered if he’d caught that admission of guilt.
“Did you just admit to mail fraud and identity theft? Please tell me I misunderstood you, Ms. Hamilton.” She asked him what he was talking about.
“Taking out a credit card in someone else’s name is against the law.
Not to mention you mailed it through the mail system to get it.
Those are things that I’m going to add onto your jail time. ”
“I do it all the time. She must have some kind of tracker on her social right now because it’s not coming through as quickly as it did before.
” She pulled out her purse that had been brought in for her identification in signing off on the paperwork.
She showed the judge all the credit cards she had with her name on them.
“See? She should be a better daughter if she didn’t want me to ruin her credit score.
It’s the least she can do for me when she puts me on a budget and tells me that I can’t gamble anymore.
I have to gamble, sir. It’s what gives me joy. ”
“I’ve heard enough.” The judge looked at him and Lori.
“I’m sorry you had to go through all of this, young lady.
I had no idea what we were going to run into when we came into this courtroom today.
You have my condolences.” He looked at Lorena.
“You are going to be sentenced to thirty months in federal prison. I’d like to give you more, but that’s the limit I can set for you.
Two and a half years might get you in a better place to sign off on this deal that your daughter is giving you. ”
“I’m not going to prison.” He banged his gavel down again, and the room started to disperse. “Come back here, all of you. I’m not going to go to prison because I have a daughter who won’t take care of me.”
The police headed toward Lorena, and he could see her shuffling around trying to evade them.
Once one of them had her in his hands, he knew there was going to be trouble and shoved Lori behind him.
That’s when the first shot was fired. Pushing her to the floor, he pulled his own gun to see if he could see who the shooter was.
Lorena had the gun of one of the officers and was looking in the direction that Lori had been.
Firing three more times in the general direction of Lori and the judge, he fired once and hit her in the shoulder.
He had been aiming for her chest, but when she moved, his bullet went wide.
As soon as she was down, he watched as several more police officers took her down and held her in cuffs.
It was over in a matter of seconds, but the damage it caused would be around for months. He made sure that Lori was all right.
“Did you kill her?” He said that he’d only wounded her. “Good. At least she’s not going to get away with trying to kill me now. Oh, Penrod, the judge has been shot.”
Going to see if he could do anything after making sure that Lori was with his brothers, he could see that the judge had been shot in the shoulder as well.
He was calm about it, going so far as to request someone call his wife and tell her to meet him at the hospital. Then he asked if Lori was all right.
“She sure had it in her head to kill her daughter. Me too, I guess. She’ll be gone for a while now, if I don’t miss my bet.
” Penrod said that he’d shot her. “I saw that. Good job for you. Never was I so glad to see you dressed in your uniform as I am right now. You did good. A couple more rounds and she might well have hurt other people in the room.”
“That’s what I was thinking. At least she’s going to be out of our hair for a while.” He was babbling, and it bothered him to be doing that. “I’m nervous. I’ve not had to draw my gun since…well, forever. I especially never had to shoot anyone before.”
“Well, I for one am glad that you didn’t freeze up when the time came.
You did well, son. Thank you for taking her down.
” He said he’d be on administrative leave for a while.
“And you take it. Don’t you let anyone tell you that this wasn’t justified either.
Had you not been here, well, I shudder to think what the death count would have been. Thank you for being here today.”
The judge was taken away by ambulance, and so was Lorena. They were both headed to the hospital, but Lorena had more officers around her than the judge did. They weren’t taking any chances with either one of them getting hurt again. He went to see Lori.
“Axel was saying that she’ll get a lot more time added onto her sentence. I hope she does. I’ve had about enough of her and her trying to ruin me.” She looked at the spilled purse with the credit cards lying about on the table. “It’s going to take me forever to get those sorted out, isn’t it?”
“Axel will help you. And I’m sure that the judge will as well. He seemed like he was just happy to be alive and walking around.” Lori said that she was as well. “I’m going to have to go with the police, honey. I’ve discharged my firearm in a federal building and will have to answer to that.”
“If they try and blame this on you I might have to go down there and bang some heads together myself.” While they were talking, Penrod was arrested. It was no less than he would have done in the same circumstances. “Are you going to be all right?”
“Yes. It was justified, and I’ll be all right.
” He hoped so anyway. He didn’t know what to think about everything right now.
As he was put in a cruiser, the other officers telling him how sorry they were, but he wanted this done by the book.
And arresting him was what should be done. Even if he didn’t care for it.