Forgiveness and Punishment

2

"Miss Lancaster? Mr. Lister, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Your father would talk about you extensively. He was very proud of you." Mr. Lister says as he shakes Pimpernel's hand.

Pimpernel finds herself blushing. She rarely had anyone tell her anything pleasant and is pleased that her father was kind enough to talk her up a bit. She ushers the man into the house, her brothers had already been taken to emergency foster care for the night so she doesn't have to deal with them or worry about them interrupting. They had been furious with her, but oh, well. She wasn't the thief in the family.

Pimpernel ushers Mr. Lister into her family's living room. After taking a seat the lawyer takes out his briefcase and after opening it takes out some papers. "I know you are in a hurry so I'll just get down to it. You're father left you everything. This is a detailed listing of all properties and monies. Everything except for the trusts he made for your siblings is yours."

"Huh." Pimpernel smirks as she reads over the papers before her. The list was quite extensive. She hadn't even known that her father owned some of the properties. She definitely had no idea that he had that many stocks in various companies.

Then she looked at the bank accounts. She whistles at the amounts listed for each account. "Your father had your name listed on each property and account so that you wouldn't have to pay any inheritance fees. All taxes are being done by an independent accounting firm and they've done your taxes for you."

Pimpernel is fairly sure that she's never signed any taxes and wonders just how legal that was, but shrugs, doesn't matter to her. Now she doesn't have to worry about being arrested for grand theft herself, since she hacked into the account that had her mother's money. She took it all, it turns out that the five hundred thousand was already hers. Who'd of thunk?

"I see, thank you, Mr. Lister." Pimpernel hesitates. "Could I retain your services at this time until I make a permanent move? I would like to have this house and a couple of other properties sold and the money given to charity. 

"Also, I'd like to add to my youngest brother's trust fund. It's not right he was left with half the amount the others were."

"Very well, I would be honored to continue serving your father by helping you out. I will have people come in the morning to clean and evaluate the house to list it. What would you like done with the money?"

"The money from the sale of this house and the other properties I've marked will be going to charities. The ones my father favored are also ones that I favor as well. Make the donations equal would you?"

"Of course. I'll need to have your signature for the sale of course. As well as you signing an official contract with me showing that I am your legal representation and have legal rights to make the sell in your name.

"As for the trust of your youngest brother, your father has no legal obligation to have a trust for him at all. He's not your biological brother, at least not full brother. Well, not brother at all. That bitch that raised you isn't your biological mother, but adopted mother. And she cheated on your father and your brother is the result."

Pimpernel sits back shocked, but only slightly so. Her baby brother looked just like her father's ex best friend. The best friend that would come around to visit when her father wasn't home. The best friend that would spend hours in her father's bedroom with her mother.

"I understand, but it still isn't fair to him. It's not his fault his mother is a whore." Pimpernel wipes away the tears. She takes the letter the lawyer hands her absently. 

"Very well, I will arrange it.

"Thank you for your time. I understand that you will be leaving for college soon. Before you go, I'll need to have you sign those papers. I'll have them ready by lunch tomorrow."

Pimpernel shakes her head and pulls herself together as she stands up with the lawyer. She shakes his hand. "I'll be by just before noon. I'll be leaving after that."

Mr. Lister nods his head. "They'll be ready. I am sorry that you lost your father, but I am very pleased to have met you, Miss Lancaster. I wish you a good night. Don't let that viper say anything to you. You deserve better than her in your life."

"Thank you, Mr. Lister. I'll be going from the police precinct to a hotel for the night. I don't fancy being around here for long."

Mr. Lister smiles in sympathy. Mr. Lancaster had told him all about his loving family. He has a sneaking suspicion that Mrs. Lancaster was behind the hit and run, but there is no proof and nothing he can do about it. What Miss Lancaster is doing is even better. He has no doubt that she will make sure her mother doesn't touch a cent of the money.

Pimpernel follows the lawyer outside and gets into her car. She isn't looking forward to seeing her mother again. She likes the idea of dropping the charges even less, but she won't be able to get her property back unless she does, until after the trial. She won't be here by then. 

Her mother has no idea where she's going to school. She never cared enough, but she will after tonight. But then it will be too late.

After arriving at the precinct she meets with the officer that helped her earlier. She told him what she wanted to do and why. He wasn't happy about it, but agreed.  He stayed with her to watch her mother as she was being released.

Pimpernel was thrilled. As soon as her mother saw her she forgot that she was in a room full of policemen she started throwing obscenities at Pimpernel left and right. Then she started throwing punches along with threats.

It was enough. The officer took her down and arrested her, this time for assault. He winked at Pimpernel as he led her into the back. There a friend of his processed her so that the other officer could get back to Pimpernel.

"It won't be prison time and the sentence won't be as long, but this way you can get your property back and now a restraining order." With that the officer sat with her and they worked on the papers for the restraining order. Pimpernel thanked him then left to get a room at a hotel. She's thankful that she won't have to go to school until her university starts up. Graduating early has it's perks.