Three days later the four families were having dinner, this time inside of the boardroom of the main church. Testimony in Los Angeles was continuing on, with Carrie describing how she had been molested by both Harry and Prudence, as well as being a runner for them. Prudence was no longer in court. She was being held in protective custody pending her testimony.
As the third course of the meal was being served, the phone rang. The caller ID showed it was a Chicago number. It was the head of the think-tank. His name was Eugene Pungente.
Felicity answered the phone. "Gene, that was quick! What have you got?" She turned on the speaker.
"Well," said Gene, "I did get a lot of stuff. But I also found out some details about the plea bargain, and none of you are going to like it, so I'm going to start with that first."
"Kick it."
"Prudence Anderson is not pleading guilty. She isn't pleading no contest either. She's offering an Alford plea."
"Alford?" said Patrick and Hope in shock. Their mother was always a coward, and this news seemed to confirm that.
"What's an Alford plea?" asked Heather, sounding confused. "Isn't that like saying no contest?"
"No Heather, it isn't," said Gene. He respected the young girl for having the fire in the belly that he found only much later in life. "When you plead no contest, you're not saying you're guilty but you're not contesting the charges either - hence the name. After that you don't have to say a single word. An Alford plea is when you insist you're totally innocent, but you acknowledge the state has the goods. In this case, Prudence has to say what she did, but she doesn't have to justify it. She can even go so far as to say what she did was an act of civil disobedience."
"No fucking way!" said James angrily.
"I'm afraid so, Jim. Of course she has to testify against her husband, but again, she doesn't have to say that she was wrong in any way or shape. Man ... it almost makes one wish for a Not Proven verdict like they have in Scotland - we think you did it but the state didn't prove it."
Felicity was furious. "Of all the underhanded, sneaky ... does she get to keep any of her money? According to Hope here, she herself is worth ten billion out of the half a trill."
"Eighty percent. For a two billion dollar fine, her sentence will be cut from twenty-five to just five with twenty suspended, she serves her time and the rest will be written off. I'm sorry guys. We here at this ministry are just as mad about it as you are, but I think the DA must have really been desperate."
"Did the DA offer both of them a deal?" asked Ruthie.
"Six months ago. A thirty year sentence. Harrison turned it down flat. Prudence just sat on it all this time then this week decided to run with her counteroffer."
"Do Prudence and Harry have cancer?" asked Tamara, tightly holding Patrick's convulsing arms. He was on the verge of having a seizure. "We all think they've pulled a fast one on the people with that one too."
"Not stage four, Tammy," said Gene.
"But they do have it, then?"
"Prudence has lymphoma, Stage two. Harrison has lung cancer, Stage three."
"What kind of lymphoma?" asked Hope.
"Hodgkin's Disease."
"Are they undergoing any kind of treatment?"
"Your mother is doing radiation as well as chemotherapy, which explains why she looks like she's aged so much in the last year. But she's responded very well to treatment and is in remission. Your father, on the other hand, refuses to get any treatment though. He sincerely believes God will cure him."
"My father never smoked!" said Hope. "Well, he did, but Patrick and I gave him an ultimatum when we were in our pre-teens and he stopped. How could he get lung cancer now?"
"You all lived in The Valley, on the north side of LA," said Gene.
"Air pollution?"
"That, plus the office complex where Grace is Yours Ministries is housed was built in the mid 1970s when asbestos was still being used as a building material, especially fireproofing the duct work. My understanding is that shortly after you left the ministry last year, your parents ordered the entire place shut down for two months so the asbestos could be removed. It took six. Stubborn idiot your father was, he insisted on touring the operation and didn't have any protective equipment on him. You breath in that much stuff, that rapidly ... you do the math."
Hope started sobbing. Although she had disowned both her parents, as had Patrick, they were still her blood and she couldn't help but feel helpless for them.
Tamara felt her babies move inside of her. She knew they were already filled with the Spirit even though they were some time away. She felt compelled to speak again.
"We know how they made their money, and how they hid it," she said. "But what about Ed Sanderson?"
"He's plead no contest to the abuse charges. Not surprising, he really doesn't think what he did was wrong either, but he's willing to accept the consequences for what he did. For Hope and Deena, he's getting ten years. For Lisa, Rita, Cathy and little Annie, thirty. Concurrent. With good behavior he'll get out in fifteen, which goes totally against the sentencing guidelines, but they needed him as well as Prudence to close the net on Harry. The DA has waved the fraud charges in exchange for his testimony, which will come immediately before Prudence gives hers."
"Well at least there's some justice in this world," said Maighread. Her voice was somewhere between helpless and sarcastic.
"Agreed," said her mother Shelby. "Still, there's something missing here. I can't put my finger on it, but it seems like Harrison, at least, has been out to get all of us ever since Hope and Felicity became part of our lives. Matter of fact, it was going on a long time before with all the money that was dumped here by him. Make no mistake, Gene, the ladies are ours and we're not giving them up without a fight! But why does Harry hate us? Do you know?"
"Major," said Gene, choosing to address the ex-Marine formally, "when you and your husband were given your charge - and non-official cover - all you two wanted was a safe place to raise the daughters you were still carrying, but also a simple church where you could be effective pastors as well as a base to do your chaplaincy to the men and women in uniform based in and around Saint Louis. You got stuck with a nearly empty megachurch. It's not the church you wanted realistically. You probably would have preferred ... well -"
"Eric and Lucy Camden's church in California," said Shelby. "Or something like it ."
"Yeah. Most pastors actually want a small church. That way they know everyone by name and can be made available to anyone who needs the help at any time. So it was with you and Rod. But the important thing was, you both kept your sermons short and simple and relevant, but compatible with the word of God. Maybe it's you both had the Camdens in your lives already and that was an influence. Or it was your human nature. But whatever it was, you managed to start a word of mouth campaign that grew by leaps and bounds and led to the church you now have.
"But here's the problem that sometimes comes with large congregations. A lot of megachurches, and television ministries, are based on a lot of heresies - Hope and Felicity are the experts, and I answer questions about them everyday on my phone-in show, so I don't have to repeat them on this call; but the thing is less discerning people don't know they are heresies. Without ever referring to them, though, you both taught the word of God the way it was supposed to have been taught."
"That's not quite exactly true, Gene," said Rod. "Shelby and I have railed against Word-Faith and JDS for quite some time. It's just we don't do it in a derogatory way...we just say why they don't make sense."
"Exactly right, Major," said Gene. "The good churches, yours included, are a bulwark against what is truly dangerous - the groups which are why Christianity is in crisis these days. You got successful, without the frills or chills. And you kept your and your wife's stipends to a reasonable level; same as when Ruthie and Peter joined your team. And, while I certainly don't approve of the gay lifestyle, you've managed to get two women on your team, Hope and Ruthie, who still keep to the word of God.
"The problem is that it's people like Harrison and Prudence who resent a lot of megachurches these days - the kind that became big the honest way. They don't like what's going on, they want to keep it Old School. So when they got stuck with more money than they knew what to do with and they couldn't built their palaces anymore, they laundered their money, particularly with the legitimate churches so if it came to the point where the government came calling, a lot of innocent churches would fall by the wayside."
"Two points," said Shelby. "First, we had enough resources to weather the storm. And two ... what about the old Anderson place? The IRS is going to seize it, aren't they?"
"Actually, when the IRS came calling, the parents changed the deed so it is now in the names of Hope and Patrick, in the faint hope they'd reconcile with their parents. It's theirs to do with as they please."
The siblings looked at each other, in shock, then hugged.
"I don't want it!" they said together.
"So what do we do with it?" asked Patrick.
"A hundred and twelve rooms? About ten are bedrooms and about seventy more could be," replied Hope. "I don't know ... how about another home for unwed mothers?"
"Brilliant!" her brother replied. "Why should we be the only ones who get to live in the lap of luxury? Give teen couples a real home for a few months, even a year, so they can have their babies, and give them the tools to succeed in life, just like we do here at the home in Saint Louis. There are a lot of unwed mothers in the OC. We can let them know they're loved!"
The siblings hugged again.
"That, as much as anything," said Gene, "shows why and how you two are so different from your parents. You've been given so much, but you want to give it all back. God bless both of you guys, and congratulations!"
"Is there anything else?" asked Peter.
"Just this. I discussed a white elephant in the room with Felicity when she last spoke with me, and you all know what that is, so again please be careful. My team is still working on numbers, hopefully soon you'll have your answers about him - as well as to the real reason why Lisa and Brigitte were kidnapped. How are they, by the way?"
"As happy as any couple can be," beamed Ruthie. "Brigitte had her procedure done as soon as they got married and she's two and a half-months pregnant. Lisa just got the good news last night too. Becoming moms twice over - I'm really happy for them, as well as for the fathers."
"Great! Well, that wraps it up for me for now," Gene stated. "I hope to worship at your church in the near future - and meet all four of your families."
"You're welcome here anytime, Gene," said Felicity. "God bless."
The call ended.
The group then spent a minute in silence. Over and over again, they kept returning to the same thought: Hope's and Patrick's mother actually thinks she did nothing wrong? Especially against her son?
It was too much. One by one, they each grabbed their plastic cups. The adults, and the children who could talk, then hurled into them.