Chapter 9 #2
“That night, I went home, served Melissa the divorce papers, and kicked her out of the home. I told her I would get her things to her, but she was not going to return. I was granted an emergency restraining order because Amber being her daughter. I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that they would be there for each other, while my daughter was lying in a coma with a missing arm, and two bullet holes in her stomach.” He shook his head and sighed heavily.
“I know this isn’t relevant, but there was an older couple that lived in the neighborhood when Ciara and I purchased the house.
They never had any children, but to all the ones in the neighborhood they acted like honorary grandparents to everyone.
They saw me kick Melissa out and came over to talk about it.
I told them everything. Grandma immediately made her way to the hospital to sit with Opal while I dealt with Melissa, Amber, and the legalities of what they did.
Stealing money from me, shooting Opal and Ron.
Grandpa, the guy from the neighborhood, not my real grandfather, stayed with me to help.
He’s a retired lawyer. It took some time, but they eventually found Amber, she was hiding, and when she tried to deny ever seeing them, someone, I forget who, called both Opal and Ron’s phones.
They rang right in front of the police, she had them in her purse.
Her prints were lifted and their blood was all over them.
We’re assuming that’s how their blood got on the inside of the vehicle. ”
“Damn.”
“Yeah, anyway, fast forward to the trial. Oh, Opal was in that coma for six or seven weeks, she lost her military career, Ron was buried with honors, and my divorce was finalized quickly. When she tried to come after me for the house, saying she contributed to it, she was denied because it was mine before we married. Hell, Ciara’s name was still on the original deed.
Her lawyer advised her that because of the pending charges of theft from my accounts, to take what I offered, which was the clothes on her back, nothing else. She took it.”
“I feel like there’s more.”
“There is. Both of them went to court, Amber threw her mother under the bus and Melissa threw Amber under the bus. They were brutal as they pointed fingers toward the other one. For the theft of my money, and helping Amber to try to steal Opal’s inheritance from her mother, Melissa was found guilty, but somehow from the arraignment to the trial, she was granted bail.
While out on bail, she showed up at my house.
I opened the door, and she shot me in cold blood. ”
“What the fuck, how badly were you hurt?”
“Thankfully, Grandma and Grandpa were looking out the window. Grandma called 911 as soon as they saw Melissa approach my front door, and once they saw and heard the shot, she explained what she had seen. Grandpa came over to help me. Melissa was arrested three blocks from the house. I was rushing into emergency surgery to have my spleen removed.”
“Damn, did she go to trial for that?”
“Yes, eight years for stealing my money, then twenty-five to life for attempted murder. Both in medium security prisons.”
“What about Amber? What did she get?”
Raymond looked at her with a grin, then laughed for the first time since telling his story.
“Pardon my language, but this is where Amber fucked herself. She could only get a public defender, and she demanded that she have three separate trials. When she didn’t get the outcome she wanted from the first trial, but the charges and sentencing stuck, she fired that lawyer, and got a different one for the next trial.
The same thing happened, for the third trial. ”
“Wait, three different trials, three different lawyers?”
“Yes.” He grinned and beamed, lighting up his entire face.
“I thought it was poetic justice. Anyway, the first trial was the identity theft and attempted fraud for passing herself off as Opal, and trying to steal her money. She got eight years for that. The second trial was for the attempted murder of Opal. That sentence was twenty years. The third and final trial was for the actual murder of Ron. Her lawyer tried to say that she was in a blinding rage because Opal stole her boyfriend, but the DA shut that down hard when I was able to produce proof that they were engaged, and it was Amber who slept and tried to steal a man already engaged to someone else. For that, it was again a guilty verdict, with twenty-five to life. She has to serve her first eight years, then the next twenty, and out of the twenty-five to life, she has to serve twenty before she can even go before a parole board.”
“You’re telling me she has to serve forty-eight years before she can even think of getting out?”
“Yes, and depending on her behavior while on the inside, she may never be eligible for parole.”
“What about Melissa, how long does she have to serve what she was given?”
“The first eight for stealing my money, and conspiring with Amber, then twenty of the twenty-five to life. So, twenty-eight years. They will both be old when they get out. Melissa was forty-five when she went in, so if she gets out after serving the twenty-eight, she would be seventy-six. Amber was eighteen when she was arrested, twenty when all the trials were done, so she’ll be sixty-eight before she can apply for parole.
Oh, and it was stipulated that neither of them are allowed to be housed in the same prison.
Amber is in Raleigh, and Melissa is in Black Mountain. They are roughly three hours apart.”
“Damn, what did you mean when you told Opal you tossed everything?”
“Because they were both arrested so close to me serving Melissa divorce papers, they didn’t have a chance to get their things.
After it was all over, Opal healed and came here to live and work, whenever I found something of theirs, I stuffed it in the room Amber had.
When I knew I was coming to work for Erin, I got a dumpster and tossed everything.
It’s been almost six years, and they won’t be needing anything.
The only thing I did was check all the pockets and zippers for any cash left behind, and I was able to line my pockets with almost five grand. ”
Amelia snorted a laugh, and waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to laugh at the tragedy you went through. I don’t. I’m laughing because all that cash was probably yours to begin with.”
“Probably,” he laughed right along with her. They looked at the clock at the same time, and exclaimed at the time.
“I better leave to find a hotel room.”
“No, stay here,” she said as she hopped to her feet and had him follow her down the hall. “It’s not much, but the sheets are clean, and I’ve only left the bed up, everything else is packed.” She grinned as she pointed to the boxes stacked in the corner.
“Let me run out and get my bag.” He disappeared, and was back in under three minutes. After being shown the bathroom in the hall, she left him for her own room, and he gathered things to change to sleep in. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.