Frankly Speaking - A Frank Rozzani Detective Novel (#1)

by Don Massenzio

Frank would be spending one more night without Lucy in the trailer. He left Nancy's and headed home. He felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders by sharing his story with her. He also felt that familiar guilt which had him wondering if he could have done something differently to save his wife. He also felt guilt for leaving his children behind and dreamed of a day when he might be reunited with them. That day might never come. The vengeance of his enemies was something that could survive for generations.

  Frank pulled in next to his trailer and cautiously unlocked the door. He checked the small space thoroughly. No snakes, bricks, or firebombs. Things were looking up. He checked his machine and the light was on indicating a message. When he hit the play button, the gravely Cajun voice of Fat Sam spoke to him. "Frankie, my people came through for me. You and Jonesy should stop by for breakfast in the morning. I've got some interesting things to tell you."

  Frank wasn't surprised that Fat Sam had information so quickly. His network of people had eyes and ears everywhere. Frank decided to call Jonesy to see if he had any updates on his research into the mega-church's ownership.

  "Jones," the voice on the phone said.

  "Hey Jonesy, it's Frank."

  "Hey Frank, I've been buried in this ownership mess all day. It's one of the most complicated holding company configurations I've ever seen."

  "Did you get to the bottom of it yet?"

  "I'm just waiting for confirmation from some deeply placed sources. Once I hear from them, if they confirm what I've found, the plot of this case will thicken quite a bit. I'm expecting a call from Europe at about 2AM and then I'll know for sure."

  Frank brought Jonesy up to speed on his conversation with the Bullocks' son and daughter.

  "Sounds like you might get some help from Travis the third and the daughter filled in some of the missing pieces."

  Jonesy and Frank finished agreed to meet the next morning for breakfast with Sam to plan their next steps.

  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 dreamed about 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. When he walked up to his usual table, Jonesy and Sam were already deep in conversation.

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

  "It must be that Lucy isn't back yet to make you feel safe," Jonesy said.

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

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

  "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 one of the new 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-ass 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 big or 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 in front of our doors and ring the doorbell," 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."

  "Really? 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."

  "Ironic, isn't it? 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."

  "That's correct. I'll give Travis Bullock III a call later to let him know what's happening and try to get his help."

  "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."

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

  Since it was Sunday, Frank called the Bullocks first to see if they were available to meet. They agreed that he and Jonesy could come over at around 11AM. Jonesy would explain the layers of church ownership and could also back Frank up on other details.

  They pulled into the Bullocks' driveway and walked to the front entrance. The door opened on a haggard looking Travis Bullock. He walked Jonesy and Frank to the same kitchen table that they had used in their prior meeting. Peggy Sue Bullock 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 tired and 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. 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 exchanged 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, paint, and was especially fond of singing. He sang in the youth choir at First Baptist and seemed to really find it enjoyable. In 2007, when he was 17, Bobby suddenly quit the choir. The following Sunday, said he was sick when it was time to go to church. When we came home, we found him 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. At the hospital, Bobby told us what happened. He had been sexually abused by the youth choir director."

  "Of course, we were extremely upset. We went to the council of elders and asked for the choir director to be fired and arrested. Their reaction wasn't what we expected. It turned out that the choir director was related to a wealthy, high-profile donor. They apologized, but that didn't seem like enough to us. I kept insisting that the director be terminated and charged. This changed their position to one that was more threatening."

  "What do you mean?" Frank asked.

  "They said that if we went public with the case, none of the local news outlets would touch the story because of their loyalty to the church. If we went national, they said they would respond that Bobby is gay and seduced the choir director. This wasn't true. Although Bobby is artistic, he is not gay. In fact, he has a beautiful girlfriend in Europe. It was 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. But Bobby was never the same. We believe he moved to Europe because of what happened."

  Bullock paused briefly.

  "Now you're telling us that we haven't actually split from that corrupt bunch, we're still giving them our money, and our partner 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 Christianity Today's response 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'll make ourselves available to you."

  Frank and Jonesy rose to leave.

  "Just one more thing," Frank said. "Don't let Stanton Cobb know that you found out about this. 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's involved with one of his special projects. He'll 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. "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.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN