Page 35 of Bad Seed

Except for a court-appointed lawyer who mumbled when he spoke, Justine Beaumont suffered through her court appearance alone. Her father didn’t show. Her mother had promised to be there but wasn’t. She didn’t know if her mother would appear to make bail, and she didn’t want to hang around Jubilee any longer than she had to. But she balked when she found out that if she pled not guilty, a court date would be set which could take months, and she couldn’t leave town. If she pled guilty, the lawyer said she would likely be charged for all the damages she had to pay for, and they’d have to take a chance on the judge not handing down jail time to go with it.

It was a knee-jerk decision, but when the moment came, and Justine was asked by the court how she pled, she turned on the tears, slumped her shoulders, and spoke in a faint, shaky voice. “Guilty, Your Honor. I got drunk and I am horribly ashamed that I hurt others in the process. All I can say is, I will never take another drink as long as I live.” Then she stood there trembling while quiet tears rolled down her pretty little face.

Her juvenile records were sealed. She didn’t have any speeding tickets or priors, and the rehab visits hadall been voluntary, so the court had no records, and the judge had a backlog of cases waiting.

“Do we have a firm amount of the cost of damages?” he asked.

The lawyer nodded. “Yes, Your Honor,” he said, and handed the paper to the bailiff to pass on to the judge.

The judge scanned the lists, which also included medical treatment for the injured men and women, and then looked up.

“Miss Beaumont, this list of damages in no way absolves you of any personal charges the injured people may choose to sue you for. Do you understand that?”

Justine choked on a sob. “Yes, Your Honor.”

“The actual damages you incurred are for broken glassware and spilled liquor, and an unpaid bar tab, plus fines for all that you were charged with. The assault charge came as a result of your inebriation, and not an actual, intentional assault, so I am voiding that. The total damage, which includes the medical treatment for the four people who were injured and the fines from your charges, comes to six thousand, five hundred and seventy-five dollars. Once you have satisfied that amount to the court, the case will be closed. You will be remanded to the local jail until such monies have been collected.”

Justine groaned, then flinched at the sound of the gavel. A policeman put her back in handcuffs and took her back to the jail.

She knew she’d dodged a huge bullet, but coming back to the jail only fueled her anger. All she felt wasabandonment. She still refused to accept that all of this was the end result of choices she made.

When Randy, the jailer, shut the cell doors behind her, she turned around, threw back her head, and screamed. She stopped to take a breath, eyeing his reaction. There was none. And when he calmly walked out of the cell area and shut the door, she sank down on the bunk in total defeat.

She had no parents. No money. And the chances of getting out of here were slim to none without them. She didn’t know what was going to happen next, but she would die in here before she’d ask either of them for help again.

***

Karen Beaumont arrived in Jubilee just after 2:00 p.m., googled the address of the Jubilee PD, and drove until she found the station. She dreaded this as much as she’d dreaded childbirth, but she parked, then entered the building and approached the front desk.

“I’m here about Justine Beaumont’s arraignment. Can you tell me when and where it’s being held?” she asked.

“That’s already happened,” Sergeant Winter told her. “She pled guilty.”

Karen gasped. “She what?”

“She pled guilty, but she won’t be released until the damages have all been paid.”

“What are the damages?” Karen asked.

Winter pulled up her file on his computer. “Six thousand, five hundred and seventy-five dollars. No checks. No credit cards. Cash money, only.”

The blood drained from Karen’s face. She felt faint, in a panic as to what would happen to her daughter in jail if she didn’t get out, because she didn’t have that kind of ready money.

“Thank you,” she mumbled, and went back to her car, laid her head on the steering wheel, and burst into tears. After she’d cried herself out, she started driving toward the hotel where Larry worked.

***

Larry stomped into his office, slamming the door shut behind him, and then dropped into his chair. He just found out the auditor was already on-site and in her suite. He wanted to be pissed that he hadn’t been notified and that he wasn’t the one to meet her, but he knew better. This was all about Ray getting ready to sell, and the logical go-between for that would be Ray’s daughter, Liz.

Still, he felt it only proper that he introduce himself, but to do that, he first had to find out what room she was in. He was about to call Liz when his cell phone rang. When he saw who it was, he thought about letting it go to voicemail, but knew she’d never stop calling, so he decided to get it over with and picked up.

“Why are you calling me? I said all I ever cared to say to you yesterday.”

Karen frowned. She wanted to argue, but she needed his compliance. “Too bad. We have a child together.”

“No. We don’t have a child anymore. Just a grown-ass troublemaker who shares our DNA. What do you want? I’m busy.”

Karen’s heart skipped a beat. This was the maddest she had ever known Larry to be, and something told her it wasn’t going to get better, but she had to try.

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