Chapter 14

Frank and Jonesy visit the Bullocks and discover that this is not the first church-related incident that they have experienced.

Frank woke from a long night of tossing and turning. Talking about his family last night awoke a number of old horrors that he had not recalled in a long time. Visions of his wife and children calling for his help made him wake up in a cold sweat. It was 7:30 by the time he showered and made his way to the Sun Dog. No run today. Jonesy and Sam were likely waiting on him already. When he walked up to his usual table, Jonesy and Sam were already deep in conversation.

"Sorry I'm late", Frank said. "It was a rough night with no sleep".

"It must be that Lucy is not back yet to make you feel safe", Jonesy said.

"No. She's getting spoiled by Nancy. I hope she wants to come home today", Frank admitted.

"You might need her to protect you based on what Sam told me this morning", Jonesy said.

"That's right, Frankie", Sam chimed in. "One of my dishwashers who used to sleep on the beach told me that your buddy Lieutenant Drake was down at the beach talking to some new arrivals. Apparently he passed a new recruit among the homeless some money to pull the brick stunt at Jonesy's surf shop. The night of the fire, a big Ford F-350 pickup was seen behind my restaurant. Doesn't Drake drive one of those?" Sam asked.

"Yes. He's definitely compensating for something with that big-a*s truck", Jonesy added.

"Then drake shows up at my place the same day as the snake incident", Frank said. "Do you think he's so stupid that he would be behind these stunts?"

"Is that a serious question?" Jonesy asked. "I'm actually surprised he was smart enough to pull those bush-league stunts off without getting bitten by the snake or setting himself on fire".

"Why would he go to that extreme to throw us off this case?" Frank asked. "Is his ego that bit of is he protecting someone?"

"Yes and maybe", Jonesy said. "But who would be desperate enough to go to that idiot for protection".

"Maybe someone who has something on him and needs a favor", Sam said.

"That's a strong possibility, Sam", Frank said. "I think we should lay low for now and see what his next move is".

"Based on the stunts he's pulled so far, maybe he'll short-sheet our beds or put flaming bags of dog poop at our front doors", Jonesy said.

"That's fine with me", Sam said. "It would be more fun to catch him in the act. Let me know what you need me to do", Sam said as he got up from the table.

Jonesy took this as his cue to tell Frank what he had found and confirmed with his late night/early morning call.

"Well", he began. "After tracing the ownership of Christianity Today through many twists and turns, I found a corporation that owns the mega-church. The name of the corporation is not interesting, but the board membership is. The chairman of the board is the charming Stanton Cobb. The other board members are all elders within the First Baptist Church", Jonesy said.

"Really", Frank said, truly surprised. "So, when the young Baptists become disillusioned with the mother church, they rebel and join a church that they don't realize is owned by the mother church", Frank said.

"Ironic, isn't it", Jonesy said. "So much for breaking that southern incest stereotype".

"Now it makes sense that Cobb was not happy with our investigation. If the pastor is involved, it could hurt Cobb financially and socially", Frank said.

"This also makes our interest in the good pastor's mysterious past even more relevant", Jonesy said.

"That is correct", Frank agreed. "I'll give Travis Bullock III a call later to let him know what's happening and try to accelerate his pace".

"I think it's also important that we circle back with the Bullocks and find out a bit more about their split from the First Baptist Church", Jonesy said.

"They didn't split from the church as much as they think based on the ownership structure. I wonder how they will react to Cobb's role in the church, not to mention the board structure", Frank said. "I guess we will find out".

Since it was Saturday, Frank called the Bullock home to see if they were available. He set up an 11AM meeting time. He decided to take Jonesy so that he could explain the church ownership information and could back Frank up on other details.

They pulled into the Bullock's driveway and walked to the front entrance. The door opened on a haggard looking Travis Bullock Senior. He walked Jonesy and Frank to the same kitchen table that they had used in their prior meeting with Mrs. Bullock. She was already seated at the table sipping coffee and looking like she hadn't slept, but somehow still looking attractive.

"We wanted to follow up with you on some details that are relevant to the case. I can't quite tell you the relationship yet, but we have found some interesting information related to the ownership of Christianity Today that you may not be aware of", Frank said.

"How is the ownership of the church relevant to Maggie's disappearance?" Mr. Bullock asked, sounding annoyed.

"I was hoping that you might be able to tell us once we fill you in", Frank said.

He deferred to Jonesy who went through what he had found using legal terms that Frank was not familiar with, but seemed to have meaning to the Bullocks. When he informed them of the chairmanship and the makeup of the board, Mr. Bullock was visibly rattled.

"Cobb is the chairman of a board made up of First Baptist elders?" Bullock asked. "That must be a mistake, Mr. Jones".

"I assure you that it is not, sir", Jonesy answered. "My resources are quite reliable".

"So you're telling us we never really left that church after what they did and Stanton knew all along?" Mrs. Bullock interjected, while her husband shot her a quick warning look.

"That appears to be the case", Jonesy confirmed.

"Now I think it may be relevant for you to tell us why you split from First Baptist Church", Frank said.

The Bullocks explained a look and Peggy Sue nodded her head in reassurance for her husband.  Bullock gathered himself together and reluctantly recounted the event.

"My family has been members of First Baptist Church going back many generations", Travis Bullock began. "There has always been a Bullock on the council of elders. Our family has been a large financial donor as well.  All that changed in early 2007 with what happened to our son, Bobby. Bobby was a very artistic child. He was never into sports or any typical boy activities. He loved to read books, write, pain, and was especially fond of singing. He sang in the youth choir at First Baptist and seemed to really find it enjoyable. One day, however, in 2007, when he was 17, Bobby quit the choir. The following Sunday, he claimed to be ill when it was time to go to church. When we came home from church, we found Bobby in his room unconscious. He had tried to overdose on prescription medications. Fortunately, the mixture of drugs that he ingested was not strong enough to kill him even though that was his intent. The hospital used Florida's Baker Act to keep him in the Wolfson Children's Hospital psychiatric ward for 72 hours. In that program, Bobby revealed what happened. He had been sexually abused by the youth choir's 52 year-old director.

Of course, we were extremely upset that this happened. We appealed to the council of elders for the choir director's immediate dismissal and arrest. Their reaction, however, was quite surprising and disappointing. The choir director was related to an extremely wealthy, high-profile donor and supporter of the church. Although they were apologetic, my continued insistence on the director's termination and arrest changed their nature to a more threatening position. They said that if we went public with the case, none of the local news outlets would touch the story due to their allegiance to the church. If we went national, they said they would be to reveal the fact that Bobby is gay and entrapped the choir director. The assertion was absurd. Although Bobby is artistic, he is not gay. In fact, he has a beautiful Spanish girlfriend. It was, however, a no-win situation for us. We left the church totally disillusioned with the leadership. We had heard of Christianity Today and decided to give it a try. It's a little too flashy for us, but the kids, Bobby and Maggie, took to it right away. Bobby, however, was never the same. We believe his move to Europe is partly attributed to what happened", Bullock said as he paused briefly. "Now you're telling us that we haven't actually split, financially in particular, from that corrupt religious body and that our partner knew the ownership structure and didn't tell us?"

"I'm afraid so", Frank said.

"So how does this relate to Maggie's disappearance?" Mrs. Bullock asked.

"We think that there might be some relationship between your split from the church and the way Christianity Today's responds to our investigation. I don't want to say more until I'm sure", Frank said. "I promise you that if we have any information that pertains directly to your daughter's disappearance, we will let you know immediately. Right now, we need to keep following up leads with no distraction as quickly as we can. Time is of the essence in these cases"

"I understand", Mr. Bullock said. "I just don't see the connection. We will make ourselves available to you, however".

Frank and Jonesy rose to leave. "Just one more thing", Frank said to the Bullocks. "Don't let Stanton Cobb know that you are aware of his role at Christianity Today. If there is a connection, I don't want him tipping anyone off".

"That shouldn't be a problem. At his age, Stanton is only in the office an average of one day a week. Right now, he is involved in a special project. He informed us that he will be away for a few weeks", Mr. Bullock said.

Frank and Jonesy exchanged a quick look. They said their goodbyes to the Bullocks and got into Frank's car.

"I think we should divide and conquer", Frank said to Jonesy. "Cobb has become a mystery character in all of this. Can you track him down and dig into his past a bit. We also need to find out what his 'special project' is and if it's related to Maggie Bullock's disappearance. I'm going to lean on the younger Travis Bullock to see if I can speed up his research into Pastor Worthington's youth in Tulsa".

"Sounds like a plan", Jonesy said.