Chapter 7 - The Plea Bargain Attempt
With their bank accounts frozen and federal indictments looming on top of their state felony charges, Richard and Eleanor were completely broken. The jail environment hadn't been kind to them; my mother’s skin was pale, her hands shook constantly from coffee withdrawal, and my father looked like he had aged ten years.
I received a request from their defense team for a meeting in the jail's visitation room. I accepted, bringing Major Miller with me.
We sat across from them behind a thick glass partition. Richard picked up the phone, his voice hoarse.
"Avery... please," he pleaded, his arrogant tone completely gone. "We can make a deal. We will sign over the deed to the Reno house to you. We will set up a trust fund for Eli—two million dollars, fully funded from a private account the feds haven't found yet. Just drop the state charges and tell the military to back off."
I picked up my phone, looking at him with absolute detachment. "You still think you can buy your way out of this, Richard? That private account you just mentioned? This conversation is being recorded by the state. You just admitted to hiding assets from a federal investigation."
Richard froze, realizing he had just walked into another trap.
Eleanor snatched the phone from his hand, her face contorted in a mixture of rage and desperation. "Avery, I am your mother! I carried you for nine months! How can you do this to us? We just wanted you to be independent! We wanted you to stop relying on us!"
"You left a six-year-old child to die of an asthma attack in twenty-nine-degree weather," I said, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. "You didn't want me to be independent. You wanted us dead so you wouldn't have to look at a reminder of the life you couldn't control. There is no deal. There is no compromise. You are going to trial, and you are going to prison."
I hung up the phone. I didn't wait for her to finish screaming against the glass.
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As we walked out of the facility, Major Miller looked at me with deep respect. "You handled that like a true commander, Captain. The DA says the trial date is set for next month. They don't have a leg to stand on."
"Good," I said, looking up at the sky. "Let's finish this."
