Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 639(@200wpm)___ 511(@250wpm)___ 426(@300wpm)
Lamentably, these deputies testified so they could avoid their own charges, and as they were the only two who were Dern’s go-tos for this kind of thing, outside Abernathy, those were the only consequences they faced.
Though, both of them moved out of Fret County pretty damned quickly after Dern’s trial was over.
When Dern got out, he sold his A-frame and moved to Florida.
With Abernathy dead, we would never know if Dern was involved in what happened to my parents. If he chose them, or if it was just Abernathy thinking that Dad had seen him at the Dietrich’s.
I would admit, part of me would like to know.
But I never would.
So I let it go.
The situation with the Dietrichs became known to citizens of MP as The Infernal Dietrich Folly.
Yes, they vamoosed the second they heard Harry was doing an audit of Dern’s files. They’d lived mostly in Seattle for a year, doing it keeping a low profile, and doing it living in the rental of another friend of their son, paying cash so there was no record of where they were staying.
The low profile was a thing for them, after they got their hands slapped by Abernathy proving they weren’t omnipotent. They’d genuinely lived in fear of being found out since their insurance scheme took a turn for the very worst, and not just Abernathy maybe blabbing, but my parents being found, or someone like Harry taking an interest and reopening the case.
One could say, Gerald Deitrich Senior was beside himself with fury his wife screwed the pooch so deeply by talking to police without counsel to the point she inadvertently wrote out and signed her own confession, implicating both her husband and son.
At first, she attempted a united front.
But apparently, Gerald kept writing her letters (when they were both incarcerated) and then saying it to her face (after they were bailed out, though they both had to wear ankle monitors seeing as they were definitely a flight risk), telling her what a fool she was and placing their current predicament squarely on her shoulders.
As such, she stopped feeling the unity.
She also got smart and hired her own attorney.
In the end, she gave testimony against her husband in return for a reduced sentence. She was fined a thousand dollars and would serve one year and be on probation for another one.
Gerald pushed it, claiming his innocence to the bitter end, which was probably why he was also fined a thousand dollars and given the maximum of five years.
Though, both his and his wife’s behavior during his trial probably didn’t help, since it seemed, even while she was testifying, Gerald thought he could snap things at her, and she thought she could snap back. Twice, they got down and dirty into it, to the point the judge told them he’d arrest them for contempt if they didn’t stop it.
So, yeah, the deposed king and queen didn’t know how to behave like mere mortals.
But they were going to learn.
And this didn’t take into account the fact they’d both stand trial for fraud, which Harry shared that theirs was considered a Class C felony and could include restitution, a ten thousand dollar fine and up to fifteen years in prison.
So, yeah.
They were oh-so-totally going to learn.
Gerald Junior pled out. Accessory after the fact was dropped, he pled guilty to obstruction, got a year’s probation and a two thousand dollar fine.
He also lost his lobbyist job.
Evidently, helping your parents evade police and knowing they’d committed felonies and keeping silent after knowing they’d inadvertently caused two people’s murders was frowned on in that profession.
So he had to leave DC, and last I heard, since it was hard to find a job practicing law when you had a felony conviction, he was in Texas, doing what, I didn’t know.
And I didn’t care.
Gerald Junior further sided with his mom and threw his dad right under the bus.
Then again, both his parents came from money, she just came from more.
Why they didn’t ask their parents to help them way back when was another mystery that would never be solved.
They didn’t.
But (understatement of the century) they should have.
I didn’t want to, but I attended the trial, and every day, Ronetta was beside me. Some days, Jenna or Molly or Kay or Janie were with us. Harry also showed occasionally, when he had the time.
I went because I wanted the judge and jury to see me, and if that swayed them in any way, I was all for it.
I went because I wanted the Dietrichs to see me.
Sure, Gerald took pains to avoid looking at me.
But Michelle didn’t, and she flinched every time she laid eyes on me.
Gerald Junior’s face got soft, and he was decent looking (though, I knew he thought he was a lot more), and I suspected he figured for some reason that would move me.