Chapter 15

Frank and Jonesy meet Maggie's oldest brother who helps them significantly with their investigation.

Jonesy was back in his office ready to redirect his efforts into research on Stanton Cobb's background. Cobb entered FSU in 1963. That seemed like a good place to start. Florida State University was the first state university in Florida. It was founded in 1851 in the state capital of Tallahassee. Cobb earned a four year degree in 1967 and went on to the newly-formed FSU College of Law. He was a stellar student. He was the editor of the FSU Law Review in his 2nd and 3rd years. As Jonesy perused the online archives, he came upon a picture that sent his research in a completely new direction. The picture showed a young Stanton, freshly graduated from law school, with his beaming parents, Dorcas Cobb and Ophelia Drake-Cobb. Drake, as in Lieutenant Robert William "Billy Bob/Bubba" Drake? That connection would definitely make things more interesting. Jonesy began to search back through public records. This included birth, marriage, divorce, and death records. He found that Ophelia Drake married Dorcas Cobb in 1940. She had three siblings; a sister, Ruth, and two brothers, Rufus and Jedediah. Rufus Drake had a son named William and he had a son that he named William Robert. That made Stanton Cobb's mother the great aunt of Lieutenant Drake. It appeared that the Drake family had two distinct factions. Ophelia and Jedediah married well and were respected members of society. Ruth was married and divorced three times and had apparently committed suicide. Rufus was a police officer as was the son William and grandson William Robert. The connection between Drake and Cobb had been established, but did that connect Cobb to their case. Finding out would be the next step. Cobb was becoming the central connection in the case. He was a partner to the Bullocks, connected to their former and current churches, and now he was connected to a man, Lieutenant Drake, who had tried to discourage them from the case, both overtly and covertly. That was too many coincidences.

Jonesy decided to follow up on the connection between Cobb and Drake. Cobb's attitude regarding the Bullock case coupled with Drakes apparent involvement in the vandalism/snake incidents definitely required some further scrutiny.  Jonesy decided to call Frank and fill him in on what he had found.

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Frank was on hold waiting for Travis Bullock III to come to the phone. His administrative assistant told Frank that she had been instructed to Find Mr. Bullock immediately if he called. While he was on hold, Jonesy's number rang in to his cell phone. Frank would return his call after speaking to Bullock. After another minute, the phone clicked and Travis Bullock III spoke. "Mr. Rozzani. I was about to call you today. Some interesting things have been happening since I started digging into the past of our person of interest".

"What kinds of things, Mr. Bullock?" Frank asked.

"I'd rather not cover it on the phone. In fact, I'd like to meet in person. There are some things I'd like to share with you, but I don't want to let them out of my control until we have a chance to meet", Bullock said, surprising Frank.

"Where and when did you have in mind, Mr. Bullock?" Frank asked.

"Please call me Travis, Frank. Let's meet halfway. There's a great diner called Biff's in Lake City", Bullock said.

"I know the place", Frank said. "What time would you like to meet?"

It's noon now. How about 2PM? I'll clear my afternoon. I don't need to be in the office on a Saturday anyway." Bullock answered.

"That sounds great. See you then", Frank agreed.

Frank ended the call and called Jonesy back. Jonesy answered and filled Frank in on his Cobb family tree adventure. Frank told Jonesy about his call with the younger Travis Bullock. They agreed to talk about the Cobb-Drake connection on their way to Lake City.

After they ended their call, Frank decided to call Anita Velasquez to see if she knew anything about Drake's little pranks. She answered her cell phone with the familiar "Hey Piano Boy".

"Hey yourself", Frank said his friend.

"I haven't heard from you in a couple of days. Have you had any luck tracking down details on the good pastor through other channels?" she asked.

Frank filled her in on his interaction with Travis Bullock, III.

"So you're going to meet him today? He must have something juicy for you", Anita said when Frank finished.

"We will see. I don't get the impression that he is one to exaggerate. I do, however, have something interesting for you to follow up on if you're interested", Frank said.

"Hmmm. Let's see. I've reached my quota for arresting naked drunk people on the beach, so anything you have is going to be more interesting. What have you got?" Anita asked.

Frank filled her in on the information about Lt. Drake's ties to the pranks on Jonesy, the Sun Dog, and himself. He also told her about Drake's ties to Cobb.

"So Bubba has been a bad boy. Of course, we could never prove it and he would skate even if we did", Anita said.

"I don't care about Drake", Frank said. "I want to know what Cobb is up to. He seems to be turning up everywhere we look in this case. Now, he is conveniently away on some special project. Can you try to find out where he might be?"

"Sure. Drake seems to be missing on some kind of fishing trip as well. Maybe I'll get lucky and find them together", Anita said.

"I'm not sure I'd call that luck. Maybe interesting", Frank joked.

They said goodbye and hung up. Frank headed out to the car. It was time pick up Jonesy and head to Lake City. Lake City was about an hour west of Jacksonville where I-10 meets I-75. I-10 stretched all the way to California, while I-75 reaches from South Florida to Canada. At their intersection is Lake City. A small city that is a resting point for many travelers. As Frank and Jonesy navigated through the Osceola National Forest, they recapped what they knew about Maggie Bullock's disappearance. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. She was a good student. She was religious. She had some mystery adult lover. She was pregnant. She was missing. The local cast of characters on the borders of her disappearance did not want Frank and Jonesy looking for her or investigating her disappearance. The police insisted she was a runaway. The man in charge of the case was an idiot who was committing acts of vandalism on Frank and his associates. These pranks apparently had the endorsement of his elderly relative. It sounded like a bad soap opera.

They pulled off I-10 and soon found themselves at Biffs. Frank parked his old Lexus next to a dark, late model Mercedes sedan. The two cars stuck out a bit amid the pickups, SUV's, and big rigs. Frank thought the Mercedes with the Florida government tag just might belong to Assistant Attorney General Travis Bullock, III. They entered the restaurant and the hostess/waitress/owner directed them to a table in the back where a man in business casual clothes rose to greet them.

"Mr. Rozzani. Mr. Jones?" the man asked. "I'm Travis Bullock".

"Please call me Frank", Frank said. "It's nice to meet you in person".

"You too", Bullock said. "If I'm calling you Frank, then you're calling me Travis".

 Travis Bullock, III was the perfect blend of the best features of his parents. He had his mother's deeply intelligent blue eyes and tight curly blond hair. He also had his father's strong jaw line and chin. He only had one chin, however, unlike the two his father had. He was fit like his mother with a runner's build.

"And this must be the legendary Clifford Jones", Bullock said turning to Jonesy. "You are a bit of a legend among law school circles. Your ability to quickly analyze complex laws and speak to any area of the law at a young age is well known even if you did go to that 'other' school".

Bullock was referring to Jonesy's alma mater, The University of Florida, which had a long and spirited rivalry with his own Florida State University.

"I just have a good memory", Jonesy said. "By the way, please call me Jonesy".

Frank was surprised at this as it usually took Jonesy much longer to trust someone enough to allow them to call him by that name.

"I want to fill you in on what I've found out about Worthington, but first I need to know how vital you think his background is to the case", Bullock said to Frank and Jonesy.

"Why don't I let Jonesy fill you in on what he discovered regarding the ownership of the good pastor's church and we can move forward from there", Frank Said.

"That is a good idea", Bullock agreed. "From what I know so far about how well Worthington's files are protected, I need compelling evidence to pull the trigger on the favor I would call in to get to it".

Jonesy spent the next 20 minutes laying out an extremely detailed picture of the complex ownership structure and board memberships of the company hierarchy of Christianity Today. His detailed account included names, dates, cities, bios of key individuals, some of the less than reputable business pursuits, and the industries that the ownership spanned. He did all of this without referring to a single note. Jonesy believed in keeping everything in his prolific memory. It was safer that way. He then switched to the Cobb-Drake family tree. Bullock shook his head when he heard about Lieutenant Drake's involvement in trying to intimidate Frank and Jonesy off of the case.

"First", Bullock said when Jonesy was finished "That was an incredible accounting of the information you discovered, Jonesy. Not only was it voluminous, but you have some information that is highly confidential to those outside of the companies you've researched. How did you get to that information so quickly?"

"Mr. Assistant Attorney General, sir", Jonesy said with a mischievous smile "I would prefer not to answer that question".

"Good point", Bullock said chucking to himself. "Based on what you've told me, Worthington is involved in this. That snake Cobb doesn't want him exposed because of his financial interest in the church. He has his idiot relative pulling high school pranks on your friends. Apparently he is not aware your background, Frank", Bullock said knowingly. Frank was startled at this statement, but not surprised. The more he got to know this man, the more respect he was developing for him.

"I think it's time to fill you both in on what I found as well. It is starting to make sense", Bullock said. He then went on to tell them about his initial calls to the Oklahoma Attorney General. At first it was all roadblocks. Worthington did something bad. He was a juvenile so his records were sealed. He used every argument He could to indicate that the content of the files was relevant to his sister's case.

"They just would not budge", Bullock said. "It all changed this morning. I received a mysterious call from a law clerk for the judge that handled Worthington's case. She was an FSU grad and knew my family. She said she could get me a copy of the file if I could help her with a case here in Florida. Normally, I wouldn't get involved in a situation like that, but my sister is missing and if this guy is involved, he needs to pay. What you've shared with me justifies getting the file".

"That's great Travis", Frank said. "How long will it take to get it?"

"Order a piece of Key Lime pie and some coffee. By the time you get it, the file will be here", Bullock said as he took out his phone.

Frank ordered the pie and coffee. Bullock waited for answer to his call and simply said "Do it" and disconnected.

The pie and coffee arrived while Bullock reached into his messenger bag and took out an i-Pad. He opened his email and opened an attachment. As he read it, his expression changed to concern. He handed the i-Pad to Frank so that he and Jonesy could see what had been received. The reason for his concern was immediately clear. Worthington had been charged with the rape of a teenage girl. The girl was 15 and had become pregnant.