Chapter 19
It was late when Mary Morrison was led into the court room for her hearing. Judge Bennet cleared his throat as he read the charges.
"Mary Margaret Morrison, you have some serious charges against you. You've been charged with assaulting a police officer, driving without due care and attention, refusing to submit to a breathalyzer test, and last but not least, littering. How do you plead?"
Mary snarled at the judge. "Not guilty, Your Honor. I want to lodge a formal complaint against the members of the Trenton Police Department for excessive force. They were rude and rough with me, a senior citizen and visitor to your city."
The judge looked at the bailiff and he shrugged. They had had trouble dealing with her ever since she had been brought into the station. To say that she had a potty mouth was an understatement and while they were used to such vulgar behaviour, well, it was a bit over the top. Attached to the charge sheet was the observations of the corrections staff and the counter charges she had filed.
Judge Bennett looked down at the woman standing in the prisoners' box with her legal aid lawyer beside her.
"Mrs. Morrison, in a lot of cases I grant a get out of jail card, or in legal terms, a promise to appear at a later date. Unfortunately, since your home is in Philadelphia and therefore over a state line, my hands are tied when it comes to releasing you on your own recognizance. I'm prepared to grant bail in the amount of $10,000. You may follow the bailiff and arrange bail if you can. You will be assigned a court date. You are required to advise the Philadelphia Police Department of your whereabouts and you are not allowed to travel except back and forth between Philadelphia and Trenton for either meetings with your lawyer or your court date."
He banged his gavel and spoke. "Next."
Mary Morrison looked at her lawyer and she nodded for her to follow her. They followed the bailiff out the side door and to a small office.
The woman in the office handed her some papers. She had a couple of choices to make with regards to getting released. She could pay the $10,000 up front, or arrange for a bail bondsman to handle her money issues.
Mary slammed the paper down on the desk. "I ain't got no $10,000 to give to you scum sucking bastards. I don't want to give any bail bondsman the non-refundable retainer either. I only got my house and he's not getting that! What's option number 3?"
The older clerk sitting behind the desk sat stone-faced. "Well, option number 3 is that you stay in jail until your court date. That could be days, weeks, or even months."
Mary pulled on her bottom lip with her thumb and forefinger and once again picked up the sheet.
"Well, I guess I could speak to the bondsman and try to make a deal. I don't have much."
Pointing to a chair, the clerk phoned the bondsman on the top of her list today. Vincent Plum Bonds. She spoke to someone and then hung up.
"Someone will be right down to talk to you."
~~~o0o~~~
It had been a couple of days worrying about Grandma but Stephanie was back on her personal journey of finding her birth mother. Larry had given her a couple of leads to try.
She sat there pondering her next move. So, how to find out where Patricia Lawrence was, or a friend who knew her?
She put her hand on the desk and began to spin her chair. She was sitting cross legged and leaning back with her eyes closed.
Men walking past smiled at the sight. Stephanie had an ability to be able to think outside the box and some of her best ideas had been arrived after spinning around like this.
Suddenly her hand reached out and she stopped her spinning chair.
Stephanie leaned over the keyboard and her fingers were literally flying over the keys.
First she searched for the Key West high school on Facebook, asking to be a friend. Almost immediately, as if someone was working on the site, the message came back that she was in. Now she began to scan the site, looking for any reunions in the past or upcoming future.
Luckily there had been one nine years ago and another was being arranged for next year.
There was a contact name and Stephanie sent her a message asking if she knew or had any information on Michelle Lawrence who hadn't graduated but had been in the school for only the one year. She also put in a request for anyone knowing Patricia Lawrence or her married name, and a way to contact her.
Sighing, she signed off. She hated to wait. She knew, she just knew that she was closing in on another piece of her life puzzle.
~~~o0o~~~
The next morning, Stephanie stepped off the elevator in the hospital onto the floor that her grandmother was staying on. She started to walk toward the room, but stopped. She could hear her grandmother's voice the opposite way down the hall and changed direction.
Les followed. While everyone believed that the threat was now contained, Ranger was taking no chances. He had client meetings booked for all morning and had placed Les on security detail.
Stephanie hurried down the hall, just in time to see her grandmother turn the corner. She was walking very slowly with a walker and a nurse was by her side. All things considered, she was walking pretty well. Manny was following at a safe distance.
Stephanie could hear the nurse speaking to Edna and she listened.
"Edna, you're doing so well, and if you can improve just a bit more and pass the rest of your checks, you can get back to your place, maybe even tomorrow."
Edna responded. "I hate hospitals, but you gals have been so good to me. I need to get back on my feet. I have things to do, and I'm not getting any younger. I miss bingo and those old biddies will have run off with the money if I don't get back and keep them all honest."
The nurse laughed. Edna was an absolute trooper while she had been in their care and they would be sad to see her go, but at the same time happy that she was taking such an active part in getting better. Some patients refused to try to get better and wanted just to languish in their beds, fading away. Edna on the other hand, had begged to get up as soon as she could, and while still in pain, had tried to get herself moving once again.
Stephanie walked down the hall toward the group. Manny had already sensed their arrival but he stayed silent. He didn't want to startle Edna and made her lose her balance.
Stephanie made enough noise that Edna wouldn't be alarmed by her arrival.
"Hi Grandma," sang Stephanie.
Edna stopped and carefully turned her walker to the side.
"Oh, hello Stephanie dear. Look what I can do."
Turning the walker back, she slowly walked down the hallway. Stephanie moved to the left side and smiled.
"Gee Grandma, you're practically racing down the hallway now."
Edna smiled. Stephanie was always so upbeat and it made her feel good that all her hard work was paying off.
"I'm trying to escape but they keep catching me!" she cackled.
The nurse laughed.
"Time to head back, Edna. You don't want to overtire yourself and put yourself back in your recovery."
They walked to the room, Edna concentrating on each step. She sighed as she headed for her bed. She figured that Stephanie would understand that she needed to lie down for a bit and wouldn't feel bad.
Now that Edna was back in bed, Stephanie sat down on a chair close to the bed. She held her grandmothers' hand and then jumping back up, she gave her a soft kiss on her cheek.
Les stayed outside the room, giving them the privacy he knew they would like. He could watch the goings on from there, and smiling to himself, well, there were a number of nurses scurrying about. Maybe if he got lucky he might score a phone number – or two. Les looked at Manny and he headed down the hall for a quick smoke break. Upon his return, Eddie would take a turn outside.
Edna spoke first. "Tell me what happened after your men grabbed that man outside my room a few days ago."
Stephanie grinned. "You'll never guess, Grandma, but that man's the older brother of my birth father. I'm having trouble thinking of him that way, so I'm just going to call him Chuck. Anyway, we found out that this man is totally under his mom's thumb. She would tell him what to do and he'd do it. She was applying emotional blackmail."
She paused. "At the same time, we found out that both he and his wife had lost their jobs and were going to be evicted so Larry – that's his name - arranged for his wife and two young boys to move to Wyoming to stay with her mother."
Stephanie didn't elaborate on what Mama Morrison was dealing with. She didn't feel that anybody needed to know that part of it. Better to keep as much of this quiet in case it got out. While her grandmother was a great person, sometimes she forgot and blurted out juicy tidbits of information.
They chatted for a few minutes until Stephanie noticed that she was doing most of the talking. She looked at Edna and her face looked tired.
"Grandma, I need to go and do some errands. I heard that you might be released tomorrow and I'll talk to Mom and Dad about making arrangements for you to get back to the home."
Edna nodded and Stephanie looked at her. Her grandmother just accepted that without comment? She must be more tired than she thought.
Stephanie stood up and leaning over, she gave another soft kiss to her grandmothers' cheek.
"I'll see you later, Grandma."
Edna nodded her head and was already asleep as Stephanie tiptoed out the door.
~~~o0o~~~
Stephanie stepped into the Plum bonds office and in her hands was a large box of donuts. She hadn't been there for a number of days and wanted to relax and catch up on the latest gossip.
Connie was at her desk applying polish to her right hand and the receiver was in her left ear.
"I need a pick-up with guaranteed delivery tomorrow, please. Put it on our account. Thanks."
She hung up and nodded at Stephanie. Lula had already lumbered to her feet and was making a bee-line for the box now on the edge of the desk.
"Haven't seen you for a while, White Girl. We were thinking that you'd forgotten us."
Lula flipped up the box and grabbed a cruller.
"Oh, these are really fresh. I forgot to have breakfast." She took another bite with donut crumbs now around her mouth.
Connie spoke. "Hi Stephanie. I have some files for RangeMan if you want to take them back."
She nodded at a pile on the side of the desk in a wire basket.
They sat there quietly except for the rustle of clothing as they moved, or the box moving back and forth as another delicious treat was inhaled.
Vinnie came out of his office and glared at Connie.
"When is that courier coming for the key? I need it in Philadelphia as soon as they can get it there. My man will then get the comics and then we can get her out."
Stephanie looked up at the word, Philadelphia.
Connie glared at her boss. "Are you trying to tell me my job, again? One phone call, Vinnie, and you'd end up a tiny mess on the floor after I'm done with you."
Vinnie glared at his office manager, spun on his heel and stomped back to his office, slamming the door shut.
Stephanie tried to be as casual as she could.
"What's with Philadelphia? Normally you only do local bonds."
Connie shrugged.
"Yeah, normally we do, but old wrinkled nuts there says that the old lady he's going to bond out has some kind of comics that are worth money, and he wants them."
Stephanie suddenly lost all her appetite and put the remains of her Boston creme donut down on a napkin.
She stood up. "Uh, enjoy the treats ladies. I just remembered that I have something I need to do."
She grabbed the pile of files and headed for the door.
Lula spoke to her back. "Next time, stay longer. We didn't learn nothin' from you today."
Stephanie nodded her head and opening the door, she walked out, closing the door behind her.
She slid into the vehicle and Les looked at her. He had been prepared for at least an hour visit. He signed off his phone and looked at Stephanie.
"RangeMan Les, and step on it."
He immediately put on his blank face and pulled away.
