Just knowing you'll have updates when you can is great...
Thanks for the great stories!
-
I did forget to mention, many apologies, but the chapters will be a little more infrequent since I'm in the middle of moving right now. I'm heading from Germany back to the States and should be there by the end of this month. So I won't be able to keep up as regularly as I might have liked. But once I get settled in, it will be finished up. For the moment, the postings won't be as quick as they were.
This chapter was more or less a natural pause in the story. No cliff hanging chapter, but still (hopefully) keeps you interested enough to come back when I'm settled in the States.Leave a comment:
-
Yessssssss!!! I like Rindo.
Great chapter here. Thank you so much.Leave a comment:
-
CHAPTER 42
As promised, TBI Agent John Anderson brought the group together for a full conference about what the investigation had uncovered so far. He had gotten the entire preliminary report finished up and sent around for checking before calling the concerned parties in for a meeting with the Governor and other leadership of the State. Even Mitch and Joel Parker had made their way down for the briefing. As each person filtered into the room, they walked around and introduced themselves to those they didn’t know and caught up with those they did know. Before long, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General came into the room.
“Let’s go ahead and grab our seats. I figure this will be a long briefing,” said the Governor as he made his way towards the head of the table. The remainder of the room followed suit and headed to where they had seats designated. Those that didn’t grabbed available seating on the sides of the room.
Anderson opened the briefing and spoke about the status of the investigation so far into the conduct of the New York State Agencies, the investigation into the community and how Cindy was being treated in the State of Tennessee so far. After completing the brief synopsis, he turned to the main briefers and let them handle their areas of concern. First up was the Social Services.
“First off sir, I’ve got some concerns over this report from New York. It appears to be completely out of whack. Steven Waters didn’t run any kind of investigation as far as we can tell,” said Lydia Cantu to the assembled group.
“What kind of concerns?” asked the Attorney General.
“Mainly inconsistencies,” said Lydia. “Okay, first off, his timeline is completely off. He supposedly was interviewing the other families in this community on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. But we also know he was in Syracuse on Wednesday for a conference, Thursday he was on paid vacation and Friday he was in his office nearly all day drafting the report. We’ve got the time stamp as being completed on Saturday at 4:48 PM although it wasn’t signed and completed for another week.”
“Okay, maybe he wasn’t out there as long as he claimed to be,” said the Attorney General.
“I think he might not have been out there at all,” said Lydia.
“How’s that?” asked the Attorney General.
“Typically when we do interviews with the neighbors and local community, it takes us at least a week but normally longer. It might take a week if everything is picture perfect, but for him to finish up in a day or even two is not really feasible,” said Lydia.
“Okay, I’ll give you that point,” said the Attorney General.
“And secondly, he spent only one day with the parents, with no interviews of the son at all,” said Lydia.
“What’s the standard timeline on that?” asked the Attorney General.
“At least a week of interviews and observing the family environment, especially in cases like this. Plus interviewing the other children,” said Lydia.
“So he wasn’t very thorough,” said the Attorney General.
“I would probably have suspended one of my agents for doing such slipshod work,” said Lydia.
“Okay, so he didn’t do a very good investigation. How is that our concern?” asked the Attorney General.
“We’re leading to that, but we ran a background check on the agent in charge of the investigation. Seems that he made several small deposits into two of his three accounts not long after the report got filed,” said Anderson.
“We did a background check on him? Why?” asked the Attorney General.
“When we think there is something fishy, we conduct a simple query with a financial check as well,” said Anderson.
“Are you saying he was bribed to falsify that report?” asked the Attorney General.
“Evidence points that way,” said Anderson. “Plus he has a history of being investigated for bribes.”
“Possibly he received some inheritance from a dead relative?” asked the Attorney General.
“Marcus, a word please?” asked the Governor who had watched the discussion in silence. They walked out of the conference room to an adjacent office and asked the occupants to leave. “You’ve got a problem with this?”
“I do. This isn’t our problem Governor, this is a New York problem. We’ve got enough problems in this State without having to take care of other State’s issues. I say we send our report back to New York along with the girl and ask them to redo the investigation,” said the Attorney General.
“Just as simple as that?” asked the Governor.
“Should it concern us?” asked the Attorney General.
“That girl asked our State for help when she wasn’t getting any from her home State. You darn right we should look into it!” exclaimed the Governor.
“Which typically isn’t our problem,” said the Attorney General.
“Well, she made it our problem,” said the Governor.
“I understand sir, but we are getting involved in the way another State conducts business,” said the Attorney General. “What would you do if New York was telling us how to conduct investigations?”
“I would be happy if they pointed out such major foul plays to us,” said the Governor.
“The best thing we can do is to send back the report to the New York Attorney General and ask him to intervene. We can’t make a demand of it,” said the Attorney General.
“I understand that, but the girl stays in our State until they have completed their investigation,” said the Governor.
“I’m not sure that’s legal,” said the Attorney General.
“There has to be a way of it being legal,” said the Governor.
“I can have my people check, but I’m not making any promises,” said the Attorney General.
“Anything pop into your mind that this has been done before?” asked the Governor.
“Not that I can recall. I’ve never heard of a case like this, but I’m not saying it hasn’t happened before,” said the Attorney General.
“Well, if it won’t bother your normal schedule, have a few of your folks check into it,” said the Governor.
“Why such the big deal over this?” asked the Attorney General.
“Imagine just for a second it was your daughter…well, you wouldn’t allow your daughter to get into that situation, but say a cousin or a niece. How would you feel then if a case was run as slipshod as this one seems to have been?” asked the Governor.
The Attorney General was quiet as he knew the answer to that question. He had to remember this wasn’t the same pushover they had for the past eight years as this governor had fire in his heart. “I’ll check into it personally.”
“And do me a favor for the moment, stop being so defensive about this and listen to what the folks have to tell you. You seem to be playing devil’s advocate over this whole thing,” said the Governor.
“I’m trying to make sure the State is protected,” said the Attorney General.
“As well as the rights of the citizens,” said the Governor.
“She isn’t by definition a citizen of this State,” said the Attorney General.
“That could be changed pretty quickly,” said the Governor.
“I hope you understand you could open a big can of worms here,” said the Attorney General. He hadn’t gotten the opportunity to get the Governor alone for this conversation yet and had been building his argument.
“That can of worms got opened when that girl contacted a member of the Tennessee law enforcement,” said the Governor.
“Okay, I’ll give you that, but it still isn’t our problem to deal with,” said the Attorney General.
“I just made it our State’s problem. Cindy Grant’s problems are now our problems,” said the Governor.
“I can make a good argument if we need to,” said the Attorney General. “But I’m worried about the political backlash here.”
“Trust me, I know the political winds. They will blow in our favor when and if we need to present our evidence. When this thing hits the press, you can guarantee we need to have our ducks in a row. And you are a big part of that by making sure we are within the law to do so,” said the Governor.
“I’m not entirely certain everything we will be doing will be within the law,” said the Attorney General.
“You were a successful defense attorney before you turned to the prosecution. Everything is within the law,” chuckled the Governor.
“There is that,” said the Attorney General with a laugh.
“Work with these folks here and help them out. If there are irregularities, help them work through the problems,” said the Governor.
“I’ll attempt to be a little more open minded,” said the Attorney General.
“You’ve got to remember we’re a fairly Christian minded State and once this hits the news, there will be a pretty big uproar over it. Especially the Muslim factor. But all in all, we need to make sure our State is protected and make darn sure we come out on top,” said the Governor.
“I’ll do my best slimy defense lawyer routine and look for the legal loopholes,” said the Attorney General.
“No, not the legal loopholes, but the point that we come out in the right. Not only legally right, but morally right and right in the eyes of the nation,” said the Governor.
“You think it will be that big?” asked the Attorney General.
“Probably so,” said the Governor.
“Tennessee is my home, I’ll help keep her out of trouble,” said the Attorney General.
“Let’s go get the rest of the briefing shall we?” asked the Governor and opened the door. They walked back in and sat in their appointed seats and the briefings continued.
“Okay, tell me about this investigator,” said the Attorney General.
“Well, here we have his bank accounts before the supposed investigation. We know he had at least three, but only two that have his name on them. One was set up by his parents a long time ago and apparently he still gets an ‘allowance’ so to speak from his family. That one has about $40,000 or so and he rarely touches it. Another one is his direct deposit from his work and has about fifteen, give or take a little bit. The other we found during our investigation and has another twenty, give or take a few thousand. The official account wasn’t touched, but his family accounts and the unofficial accounts had activity,” said Anderson.
“Roughly totaling around?” asked the Attorney General, making notes.
“He had around $87,000 in the bank. And afterwards, we have several deposits of $9,500 apiece. $10,000 would alert the IRS and he would need to fill out a form, so we can assume he kept the numbers in under that cap. But he didn’t know the limit was lowered to $5,000 for reporting purposes. Anything between five and ten gets reported to the IRS and they keep a record of it. We have four deposits of that much. And also, we have a new vehicle being bought by him, a brand new BMW Z4 convertible, top of the line model. No loans out on the vehicle and no withdrawals from the bank, so we can assume he paid it off in cash. But he didn’t register it under his name, but rather a cousin who can’t drive,” said Anderson.
“Why can’t he drive?” asked the Governor.
“He’s legally blind,” said Anderson. “Glaucoma.”
“And how do we know this Steven Waters is driving it?” asked the Attorney General. Anderson slid over a folder with pictures in it with Waters in the driver’s seat and the top down. “This is him?”
“Taken by an undercover agent,” said Anderson.
“We have an undercover agent in New York?” asked the Attorney General.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” said Anderson.
“Did a relative die off or something? Maybe he was in a will?” asked the Attorney General. “Just asking the question.”
“Possibly, we haven’t dug into his family background all that much yet,” said Anderson. “But we did find his family is well connected politically and well off financially.”
“On a State or National level?” asked the Governor.
“Both apparently. They are a fairly wealthy family, old New England money that moved into politics a dog’s age ago,” said Anderson.
“Okay, go on,” said the Attorney General.
“So financially, his family was well off anyway and the cash deposits could be just from stock sales, family earnings, that sort of thing, but it’s fairly coincidental it happened not long after this case was closed,” said Anderson.
“Coincidences that can be explained away easily,” said the Attorney General.
“However, we did find something one of our younger agents was able to track down and piece together. Each time he finished a case that was somewhat questionable; he made a deposit of cash in the bank. Never that much, maybe a few thousand, seven thousand was his most, but always within a couple of weeks of finishing the cases. And a few of those cases later came back for further reviews or reinvestigation,” said the Anderson.
“Which means?” asked the Attorney General. He knew where the Agent was leading him, but wanted to hear it. The evidence against the New York agent was fairly damning at this point, but the case against him would still need to come to a final conclusion.
“We think he was being paid off on certain cases. On the cases where the children were later placed under State supervision, he didn’t make a deposit, but on those where the parents were cleared, there were always deposits in the bank. He thought he was being smart in having a separate account, but we figured out it was him even with a fake name,” said the Agent. “We believe he was being paid off by the people he was investigating.”
“But never much?” asked the Attorney General.
“Not until now. But with the testimony of Cindy Grant along with this evidence, it’s leading us to believe he might have been bribed to clear the home for her return,” said the Agent.
“And New York never picked up on this?” asked the Attorney General.
“They investigated him four times, but never could make anything stick. Plus, he’s connected politically. His Uncle is a City Alderman in New York and his cousin is in the State Legislature. Other family members are in the government up there, typically higher profile positions. There is also political influence on the Mother’s side of the family, but we haven’t been able to make anything stick. Long story short, the investigations never went anywhere because of political influence,” said Anderson.
“And the community?” asked the Attorney General.
“Not much can be found I’m afraid. The construction of the community and infrastructure was paid off by an offshore account from the Cayman Islands and in turn from a bank in Abu Dubai and from that point a bank in Riyadh. After that, the trail goes cold. Some creative work on the part of our computer folks helped us trace it that far,” said Anderson.
“Creative as in probably illegal,” said the Attorney General.
“I can’t speak to their methods,” said Anderson.
“Go on,” said the Attorney General, knowing sometimes the methods were not important to the overall result.
“The unofficial leader of the community is the Imam, one Omar Madani. Born in 1964 and raised in Saudi Arabia and emigrated in 1982 to France and a year later to England. Was involved in Afghanistan in 1985 during the Soviet invasion…worked for the British and us at that time as an arms supplier and made several trips in from Pakistan and Iran. Immigrated to the United States in 1987 where he started a mosque in New York City. Became a citizen in 1991 and traveled the country extensively while making several trips to the Middle East and Central Asia. Suspected involvement in Afghanistan on the side of the Taliban during the 90s and popped back up on the radar prior to 9/11 teaching in one of Pakistan’s extremist schools. Passport revoked and he came back to the United States for good in August of 2001. Speaks English, French, Arabic and Pashtu fluently, educated in several high profile universities… Oxford and Yale both pop out where he received high marks. Ground was laid for the community in New York around 2003 with construction complete in 2006. He traveled outside the country again in 2002 with a trip to Saudi Arabia with an additional visit to Oman and Turkmenistan and again in 2005 with a trip to Jordan. The passport also showed stamps from Syria, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates on the latter trip,” said Anderson.
“All countries around the trouble spots in the world,” said the Attorney General. “Never in the countries with huge problems, but always around the fringe.”
“Exactly. In the case file from the CIA, they believed he made trips into Iraq and Afghanistan during the last two times, but nothing could be proven. He’s been relatively low key since 2005 although the FBI and DHS has case files on him for suspected involvement supporting the insurgency in Afghanistan and Iraq along with suspected ties to extremist groups around the world. Suspected only as nothing can ever be traced directly back to him.”
“Although he worked on our side in the 80s in Afghanistan, he is believed to be anti-American or more specifically Anti-Western, but has never made public statements to that effect and keeps his work low key. Also believed to be relatively wealthy, but he keeps the majority of his funds offshore where we are having a hard time tracing them. Pays his taxes on time, keeps out of the public eye and never even a traffic ticket. Bout our undercover Agent said he was making some pretty fiery rhetoric about America and the sinful ways we have. The official psychologist report says he’s a bit of an egotist and believes himself to be untraceable in his actions. But other than the official reports, we have almost nothing on him,” said Anderson.
“And the community?” asked the Attorney General.
“We believe there are currently twenty to thirty families residing in the community along with maybe two or three dozen single males. Again, they maintain a low profile, but several have popped up on the FBI radar scope from time to time. The families are from across the United States and nothing seems to be binding them together except for religion,” said Anderson.
“Anyone else?” asked the Attorney General.
“Possibly a haven for immigrants coming into the country. He has sponsored several student visas from predominantly Islamic countries. While they haven’t gotten into any major trouble, the students tend to recite fairly hateful anti-American rhetoric with one even reciting the fatwa’s of Osama Bin Laden. That one got into a minor scrape with the law and was pushed out of the country when Madani withdrew his sponsorship of his visa,” said Anderson.
“So is he on our side or not?” asked the Attorney General.
“He’s your classic Teflon guy, nothing is sticking to him. Most of the students he’s sponsored have gone back to their nations although one or two have popped up since then and one is currently in Guantanamo Bay, captured in Afghanistan in 2009. Otherwise, the CIA and the FBI have a pretty extensive case file on him, but nothing substantial to bring him into court on conspiracy or anything mildly illegal,” said Anderson.
“Your gut feeling?” asked the Attorney General.
“He’s a player, but a low key player. Does just enough behind the scenes to get the ball rolling and steps back into the shadows so he can’t claim complicity with anything that happens. If I had to wager a guess, he paid off Waters with cash so the problem would go away. Cindy Grant’s testimony is entirely circumstantial and without any supporting evidence save the recording she brought out would be dismissed by a competent judge. But since we are digging, we are starting to see additional factors coming into play like the deposits in the bank, the new car and additional circumstantial evidence in his past case history. Supposedly he was moved from New York City to get him away from the area after the last investigation turned up nothing. Nothing would ever stick on him and the matter dropped. But the State probably figured they would send him off somewhere else instead of in his usual network,” said Anderson.
“And after he moved?” asked the Attorney General.
“Nothing. No complaints, no further deposits, no nothing until now. Maybe the move scared him straight and he backed away from the corruption for a while. But if you wave six figure bribes under anyone’s nose, they will think pretty hard on it,” said Anderson.
“Enough money for someone to look the opposite way, but not enough to raise all kinds of alarms unless they were specifically looking in that direction. What about his supposed investigation?” asked the Attorney General.
“Horrible to say the least and a lot of holes in his investigation notes,” said Anderson.
“Such as?” asked the Attorney General.
“Supposedly he spent a week investigating the family and the local environment, right? Says the investigation started on Monday and ended on Friday. Now that’s a pretty short time for an investigation into the allegations so complex, but maybe he’s good at his job. But he put in his report he was out there all week which we know he wasn’t,” said Anderson.
“How do we know?” asked the Attorney General.
“On Thursday he was in Buffalo for a conference and on Wednesday he was on sick leave according to the New York State pay agencies. Which gave him Monday, Tuesday and Friday to interview witnesses, complete his report and get it handed in,” said Anderson. “We have the time stamps on the report, but it wasn’t signed until a week later as we reported.”
“Possibly he was working on it through the sick day?” asked the Attorney General.
“Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. But we also show the some of the times for the interviews on Thursday. Now he might be amazing, but he surely can’t be in two places at once,” said the Agent.
“Okay, stupid mistake on his part,” said the Attorney General. “Go on.”
“So we are looking at only three days of interviews, although his report says he was out there the entire next week. We know that’s a lie since he was logged on to his computer in Rochester almost every day that next week,” said Anderson.
“How do we know that?” asked the Governor.
“We hacked into the New York State networks,” said another Agent from the outer chairs in the room.
“Computer crimes are fairly serious,” said the Attorney General.
“And that’s nothing the federal government doesn’t do every single day of the year,” said the Agent.
“Which still doesn’t make it right,” said the Attorney General. He was playing ball, but trying to protect his law enforcement agencies as well.
“We hired out contractors to do it for us,” said Anderson.
“Contractors?” asked the Attorney General.
“We have hackers on call that do things like this for us,” said the other Agent.
“Which will probably turn on us given the right amount of money,” said the Attorney General.
“We have enough dirt on them to say otherwise sir,” said Anderson.
“Go on,” said the Attorney General after making more notes to look at the investigative techniques used and how they could cover them.
“So the entire next week he was in the office although supposedly he made several trips to the community for additional interviews,” said Anderson.
“Maybe he did them by phone,” suggested the Attorney General.
“His notes suggest otherwise as well as giving details of the home environment,” said Lydia, answering a question she knew about.
“Okay, so he is not that smart in covering his tracks,” said the Attorney General.
“He probably got complacent since the last investigations didn’t turn up anything. He probably figured this would go away and he would be back to work with little problems. Let’s face it, his report is fairly rock solid if you take out the recordings brought out by Cindy. It looks like one we might even produce, but the fact of the recordings and the digging by the TBI makes it completely unethical,” said Lydia.
“So we have an investigation that wasn’t conducted properly and New York not willing to engage on fixing the situation. The New York State Police aren’t playing ball and the Governor of New York is making threats to our State. What’s the outcome of all this?” asked the Attorney General.
“There are a couple of other small factors,” said Anderson.
“Such as?” asked the Governor.
“It seems that one Harley Waters, cousin of Steven Waters is on the budget committee that oversees the funding of the New York State Police, possible political influence there trying to clean up for his cousin. And the Waters family donated heavily to the election campaign of the current Governor. There could be pressure there as well,” said Anderson.Leave a comment:
-
Grand ! Keep-on keepen-on
Love the story line. personaly I would have taken them ragheads out by now, thats way I don't wright .:rolleyes:Leave a comment:
-
I still have a love/hate relashionship with this story. I love the story but still almost dread it when a new chapter comes up. I'm so afraid that something bad is going to happen to good people. LOL Oh my how we get caught up in these fine stories!
Thanks a lot Grand.Leave a comment:
-
CHAPTER 41
After arriving at the office, Lydia and Pam walked into a smaller room while Pam closed the door behind her.
“Something tells me this could get interesting,” said Lydia.
“Your agent was right on the mark. There are some problems with Erica and Charlie’s marriage,” said Pam.
“Oh?” asked Lydia. “I noticed she wasn’t wearing a ring.”
“Plenty of doctors don’t do that,” said Pam. “But that’s not what I mean.”
“Point taken, go on,” said Lydia.
“Listen, I’m going to have to come clean with you on this, but I ask you think on neutral grounds when I tell you what I’m about to tell you,” said Pam.
“Go ahead,” said Lydia.
“Erica and Charlie aren’t married,” said Pam.
“Which is a violation of the foster family rules. Under aged females cannot stay with single males,” said Lydia.
“I know, but you have to know Charlie Gray,” said Pam.
“I’ll have to report this,” said Lydia.
“Charlie lost his family, seven, eight years ago now. Just one of those things so to speak. She died during a premature childbirth and the baby not long after. It hit Charlie pretty hard as it would anyone, but he went into a serious state of depression for several years afterwards. Only recently has he come out of it,” said Pam.
“Which still doesn’t explain why you let a single male have a female living with him,” said Lydia.
“Charlie isn’t a threat to that girl, everyone who knows him knows that, but he took her in when she needed help the most. But more importantly, she helped bring him out of his depression. She gave him a reason to live once again and brought him back to the land of the living. He started dating again, to Erica Chase if I heard the local grapevine correctly, and has gotten back to his former self. Plus, he’s spent a lot of money out of his own pocket to make sure Cindy was okay. Yes, I could have arranged to have her stay with another family, but I’ve known him almost all my life. He’s a good man and would never think to do anything stupid with someone so young,” said Pam.
“People change and she’s an attractive girl,” said Lydia.
“And she is, but Charlie wouldn’t ever let himself come to something like that. He even tried to get the sheriff to find a place for her. They came to the agreement Cindy was better off with him rather than anyplace else,” said Pam.
“And this still doesn’t make me comfortable with the arrangement,” said Pam.
“Cindy latched onto him when she got there. I saw that myself. She trusts him implicitly. She’s had her share of bad luck so far in her life and she is trying to put together the pieces. Charlie is helping out, being the father she never had before. Or at least the father figure she needs right now. She even calls him Uncle Charlie so she even thinks of him as family. She’s a bright young girl with a good head on her shoulders. She thinks of him more like a father figure than of any kind of sexual escapade. She needs something stable in her life right now and Charlie provided the rock she is grasping onto,” said Pam.
“There are plenty of families out there she could have stayed with. You could have contacted my office and asked,” said Lydia.
“Yes, but I saw how those two clicked from the start. It’s almost like fate brought them together. Charlie was in the right place at the right time to get her out of trouble. I don’t want to destroy the fragile safety net she has created with Charlie and take her out of that home. Sure, Charlie is seeing the doctor and they aren’t a family yet. But from what I understand, they are getting along really well and it very well could end up in marriage before long,” said Pam.
“Which still makes the original point stand out. How can an underage female stay with a male?” asked Lydia.
“Because she trusts him when she will trust nobody else. I overlooked that fact since she was in trouble and I knew Charlie would take care of her. He’s a good man, I’ll stake my reputation and my job on it,” said Pam.
“You’re willing to stick your neck out for him?” asked Lydia.
“Absolutely,” said Pam.
“I can’t have her stay with him. I can’t continue to enforce the rules and regulations of the State if I allowed that,” said Lydia.
“Did you not see the bond already? Did you not see how she reacted to him?” asked Pam.
“I did and I was surprised that a foster child took up with a foster parent like that so soon,” said Lydia.
“Just imagine for a moment if it was your own daughter. Would you not want her with someone who would keep her safe and furthermore, someone she trusted?” asked Pam.
“My daughter wouldn’t be in that position to begin with,” said Lydia evasively.
“Well Cindy Grant was put in that situation,” said Pam. “What else did you learn while you were out there?”
“Cindy is being treated well, there is more than enough food and she is being provided more than adequate clothing and shelter. She is continuing her education at his insistence and getting into subjects which I’m lost in. Work and chores are not demanded or required, but she does them anyway. No signs of physical or psychological abuse. There wasn’t a drop of alcohol or illegal drugs in the house I could see. Neither one of them has any kind of criminal record; and he’s even a reserve deputy sheriff with the county. Erica is a doctor in good standing with the hospital and the local community. Both are active in church and from all accounts are upstanding citizens,” said Lydia.
“And what does this tell you?” asked Pam.
“Cindy is being cared for and properly nurtured with continued emotional growth for a girl her age by a good home. All in all, it would be a good foster home if it wasn’t for the marriage thing,” said Lydia.
“And that one rule, that one simple rule that doesn’t take anything else into account is the reason you would pull her?” asked Pam.
“Yes, and it’s a pretty big rule!” Lydia shot at her.
“It’s not a big deal and you know it. I’m sure you’ve been into plenty of foster homes that weren’t even close to that one!” exclaimed Pam.
“Look at the big picture here. If New York was to find out about this, it could unravel the entire deal. We have to hold the moral high ground here. And having a single male running a foster home for a under aged female could destroy everything the State is working for. I might even consider it if they were living under the same roof. Yes, before you ask, if those two were married I’d sign off on that report in a heartbeat,” said Lydia.
“So you’re saying if they were legally married, you wouldn’t have a problem with this?” asked Pam.
“If they were legally married and living under the same roof, yes, it would be just fine,” said Lydia. “But the fact is, they aren’t and I have an issue with it.”
“Even knowing the home has provided for her since she ran out of that horrible situation in New York?” asked Pam.
“Yes, knowing that. I’m trying to look at the big picture here,” said Lydia, who agreed it might be the best place for Cindy, but with only a male in the house, couldn’t be entirely comfortable with it. Plus, there were the rules.
“And she trusts him. She came back to him after going back to New York. She went straight to him and nobody else,” said Pam.
“Listen, I would usually agree with you, but I just can’t condone this,” said Lydia.
“And if he were to get married?” asked Pam.
“We wouldn’t be having this conversation,” said Lydia. She looked at Pam and saw her staring at her. “Wait a second, are you suggesting?”
“Just thinking out loud,” said Pam.
“Okay, I’ll give you that. If he and Erica Chase were married, we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” said Lydia.
“And you would have no problems signing off on that report?” asked Pam.
“No, none at all,” said Lydia.
“And no mention of the fact they weren’t married when you investigated?” asked Pam.
“That’s a big if, but I can tell Cindy is comfortable there. And if there is anything she needs, it’s comfort,” said Lydia.
“Can I convince you to sit on that report for twenty-four hours?” asked Pam.
“What are you planning on doing?” asked Lydia.
“Providing proof they are married,” said Pam.
“That’s perjury!” exclaimed Lydia in a whisper.
“I’m sure you’ve seen worse. You saw that so called report from New York. You think there isn’t any perjury in that one?” asked Pam.
“That’s not the point, we are better than them!” exclaimed Lydia.
“Listen, you said yourself if they were married you would have no problems with it. Well, if I have proof they are married, what problem will you have with it?” asked Pam.
“Because we are trying to uphold the law here!” exclaimed Lydia.
“The same way New York was trying to do it? Sticking by rules and regulations and returning that girl to a home where she would be sexually, psychologically and physically abused? Are we going to rip her out of a perfectly good home minus one silly point and throw her into someplace else where she will have to reform a bond with another family? Seriously? Can you not look past the big picture and see she’s perfectly fine where she’s at?” asked Pam.
Lydia stared at the wall for a moment and realized Cindy was in a decent place. A good home which had provided for her since she had run away and continued to do so after she came back. And all in all, she sensed Charlie was a good man although she didn’t know him all that well. He was good to Cindy and anyone with a brain could see as much. And she didn’t care for the fact New York was unwavering in their desire for Cindy to be placed back into the home of her parents even in light of the conversations Cindy had with the New York Agent and her father. She did need someone stable in her life and Charlie was providing that. As well as Erica as Lydia saw she was a positive influence on her as well and they seemed to get along perfectly. But the lingering integrity in her mind kept calling to her and saying it wasn’t a good idea. But sometimes a lie told for good intentions wasn’t a bad thing. New York was lying about the family situation, which made it bad. Her lying kept Cindy safe and that wasn’t a bad thing at all.
“You’ve got twenty-four hours,” said Lydia. “If you haven’t done what you need to by then, I sign the report as is and send it up. And probably pull her out of the home at the same time.”
“Stick close,” said Pam.
“Where are you heading?” asked Lydia.
“To make wedding arrangements,” said Pam.
“How is that possible on such a short notice?” asked Lydia.
“Ever lived in a small town before?” asked Pam.
“No,” said Lydia.
“It’s amazing what you can get done if you know the right people,” said Pam as she closed the door after her. Lydia departed and went back to her team.
“What happened in there?” asked Carrie.
“We talked and Pam is running a few things to ground for us,” said Lydia.
“Are we going to do further investigation?” asked Reese.
“I don’t believe so,” said Lydia.
“Did you ask about the marriage thing?” asked Carrie.
“I did,” said Lydia.
“And?” asked Carrie.
“Some people just have a good marriage,” said Lydia, wondering if she should tell the truth or not. She would wait to see what came up in the situation, even though she was sticking her neck out as well. She knew she was in a bad position, but her heart told her waiting was the right thing to do right then.
********************
Charlie was out mowing the front yard when he suddenly got that strange feeling once again. He stopped the mower and turned off the engine before looking around. Something again was out of place and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He started scanning the area out of the corner of his eye, but couldn’t find what it was that was bothering him. He stopped and headed into the house to grab some water and clear his mind. Cindy was in currently working on homework and listening to her iPod (a replacement for the original taken into evidence) and didn’t notice him wandering through the house.
Suddenly he found what had been bothering him. He went into the study and opened his gun case before finding what he wanted near the back. It had been some time since he had fired the rifle in question at anything, but this was as good a time as any. After grabbing the rifle and a box of ammo, he headed back into the living room and informed Cindy of his decision.
“Better cover your ears and stay in this room. Do not leave under any circumstances,” he said as he headed through and went to the upstairs.
“What?! What’s going on?!” said Cindy, suddenly alarmed he was walking through the house with a rifle with a huge scope and a long barrel. And his instructions did little to alleviate the concerns she had.
“Just got a bad feeling and it’s something that needs to be taken care of,” he said and went upstairs. She was curious about what was going on, but didn’t want to follow him. But then again, she had the normal desires to follow him up the stairs. She did as she was told and waited in the living room, nervous about his motivations right then. She heard a shot coming from the second story of the house followed by another shot several seconds later. Her concerns and fears grew as she waited on him to reappear.
Charlie came back down the steps holding the rifle in one hand and the box of ammo in the other. He went back to the gun safe and put everything back up before relocking the safe and heading outside.
“Is something going on that I need to know about?” asked Cindy.
“I have been getting a bad feeling over the past few days and I finally put my finger on it. There are three coyotes that have been stalking the property, probably looking to get into the chicken coops. That’s why they have been staying inside more lately and acting strange,” he said.
“You shot them?!” she demanded.
“I did. It’s either them or the chickens and they won’t go away that easily. I found a dead deer the other day in the back forty and I figure it was probably them,” he said. “I got two out of the three.”
“You could have chased them off!” she protested.
“And they would have been right back. Coyotes don’t just leave because you ask them too,” he said.
“Was it necessary?” she asked.
“Yes, to protect the chickens as well as you. Mainly coyotes won’t bother humans, but if they get desperate enough, they will go after whatever they can find,” he said.
“They would attack me?” she asked.
“Probably not, but you never know,” he said as he went back outside to dispose of the bodies. Grabbing a shovel, he went over to the wood line and found the body of the first. He found his shot had almost immediately dropped the animal in its tracks as he had seen in the scope. The second one had taken off at the sound of the shot, but had stayed out of the woods making his shot easier. It was a moving target, but Charlie was an exceptional shot with the varmint rifle and had managed to dispatch the second coyote before it got out of range. He grabbed the first coyote and walked in the trees towards the second, finding it about a hundred and fifty yards down the tree line. After bringing both inside the woods, he dug out a deeper hole and tossed them both in. While he felt fairly bad about having to shoot them, they were a menace to his chickens and could be harmful to Cindy as she was taking her daily runs. There was plenty of game nearby, but he certainly didn’t want to take the chance of her getting hurt.
Charlie filled the hole back in and headed back towards the house to finish up mowing the yard. He put the shovel back in its rightful place before starting the mower and continuing to finish up where he left off. As he was making another pass, Erica came rolling back up in her vehicle. He pulled the riding mower off to the side and turned off the engine.
“What brings you back so soon?” he asked after wiping the sweat from his forehead and getting a kiss.
“Don’t know. Pam called me up and said I needed to get here soonest,” said Erica.
“She didn’t say anything to me,” said Charlie, checking his cell phone to make sure it hadn’t rung while he was on the mower. They went into the house and found Cindy busy mopping the bathroom. “Anyone call?”
“No,” she said. “Hi Erica. What are you doing back out here?”
“I don’t know,” said Erica, getting out her cell phone and preparing to call Pam. As she was dialing the number, Pam came driving up with Lydia in the passenger seat. After coming to a stop, Lydia came over to them before Pam got out of the vehicle.
“I know about it,” said Lydia without prompting.
“Know about what?” asked Erica.
“Don’t play dumb. You two aren’t legally married,” said Lydia. Erica shot a look that could kill at Pam. “Don’t blame her.”
“How could you tell?” asked Charlie, knowing the gig was up.
“No marriage is that perfect,” said Lydia. “Carrie stumbled on it. Called it Ozzie and Harriet. And Pam and I talked about it, but I figured it out.”
“And now Cindy goes to another home,” said Charlie and a look came over his face.
“No, if you two were legally married, she would be allowed to stay,” said Lydia.
“I’m not sure if we could get married just on this account. We’ve only been dating a little while now,” said Erica.
“No, you don’t understand. Your marriage isn’t legal yet,” said Lydia.
“Excuse me?” asked Charlie.
“Well, your marriage license says you’ve been married for…eight months,” said Lydia after looking at the document through her reading glasses. “But in checking it, I found an error.”
“Marriage license?” asked Charlie with a confused tone and was handed the folder.
“Looks like the county clerk forgot to have you two sign it,” said Lydia. “Had to do some back checking, but I’m glad we caught it in time. So you two weren’t officially married since you never signed it.”
“I don’t understand,” said Charlie, somewhat confused.
“Okay, simple terms, I cannot allow Cindy to live in a household with a single male. However, if this was a family home, I have no problems with it. And since you two have a marriage license…” said Lydia, trailing her voice off and letting the two come to the conclusion.
“It means she can stay here,” said Erica.
“Only if she wants. Cindy are you happy staying here with Charlie and Erica?” asked Lydia.
“Absolutely!” said Cindy.
“Would you rather stay with someone else? Another couple perhaps?” asked Lydia.
“No!” exclaimed Cindy.
“Well, there you have it. A legally wed couple can have foster children,” said Lydia.
“And all this trouble because we forgot to sign our license?” asked Charlie, getting with the story.
“Pretty much,” said Lydia.
“Why?” asked Charlie.
“Because I know she’s in good hands here. You two are doing a dynamite job at keeping her safe for the time being and caring for her under the best circumstances,” said Lydia. “But as a State Agent, I cannot allow her to stay unless she is with a family.”
“Wow honey, I can’t believe we forgot to sign,” said Erica, raising her eyebrows.
“I know, I was just so happy and all,” said Charlie, hamming it up.
“Listen, you two need to act married. Married couples have spats and little things that drive each other up the wall. Act up a little, makes for a more realistic situation when others come in,” said Lydia.
“Again, why?” asked Erica.
“I want the best for Cindy. And it appears the best is right here with you two even though you aren’t technically married. I’ve seen a few common law marriages that have made dynamite foster homes, so this isn’t so different. And plus, I’d like to tell those Yankee…people where they can stick their attitude concerning Cindy,” said Lydia.
“So I can stay as long as Charlie and Erica are married?” asked Cindy.
“Absolutely,” said Lydia. “One condition though, you have to spend the majority of your time out here Erica.”
“I can do that, especially now that we are legally married and all,” said Erica.
“Hold on a moment,” said Cindy and ran over to the grassy area across the road. She came back with some dandelions, daisies and red clover before handed them over to Erica.
“What’s this?” asked Erica.
“I told Charlie I wasn’t too old to be a flower girl,” said Cindy with her cheesy grin.
“We want what’s best for you. I think you’re getting the best care possible right now with these fine folks,” said Lydia.
“So if you two will just sign right there…and right there. Thank you,” said Pam. “I’ll be the witness and sign right here…done. I’ll make sure this gets filed appropriately.”
“Any other inaccuracies?” asked Charlie.
“Nothing that comes to mind immediately,” said Lydia, suddenly a co-conspirator in the perjury case. Pam had planned out that minor point while having the conversation as her own safety net. But as long as Lydia stuck to the story, they would be fine. She knew it was lying, but a lie to help…
“Well Pam, thanks for pointing that out. When do we get a copy?” asked Erica.
“Tomorrow,” said Pam. “And the original that forgot to be filed gets put under a deep paperwork file and forgotten unless it needs to be seen by those that need to see.”
“I can’t thank you enough,” said Charlie.
“Listen, I’m sticking out my neck because I want what’s best for Cindy and the fact she has been taken care of by you from the start. You have probably had plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the situation, but haven’t. My job is to make sure she has the best care possible and continue that trend. I know if it was someone I cared about, I would want them to have the best possible situation. I think Cindy has that right now with the two of you,” said Lydia.
“Again, I can’t thank you enough,” said Charlie.
“Now go fight like married people,” grinned Lydia as they departed.
“Married huh?” asked Erica with a twinkle in her eye.
“Guess the house just got a bit smaller,” said Charlie and got a kiss.
“Do I need to go like take a long walk or something? Give you two newlyweds the house for a while?” asked Cindy with a grin.
“Young lady!” exclaimed Erica. “That’s not very proper!”
“Just saying,” grinned Cindy.
“Actually, she does bring up a valid point. If we get investigated again, it will have to look like you are occupying the house,” said Charlie.
“I already left some clothes over here plus what Annie had around,” said Erica. “I suppose some other things need to be around, like my dirty unmentionables in the laundry.”
“We wouldn’t be staying in the same room,” said Charlie.
“So I would have to give up my house to stay here?” asked Erica.
“No, you wouldn’t have to give up your house,” said Charlie.
“You could always rent it out,” suggested Cindy.
“What?” asked Erica.
“You know, like stay here and rent your house to someone else,” said Cindy.
“And if Charlie and I have problems or something?” asked Erica.
“Well, he can always sleep in the cabin for the night,” suggested Cindy.
“I think your portion of this conversation is over,” suggested Charlie.
“I’m just saying,” said Cindy as she threw up her hands and went back to the house.
“Married huh?” asked Erica with a twinkle once again. Thinking that being married to Charlie wasn’t so bad after all. However, a part of her wished the marriage license was real instead of a decoy. But she was waiting on Charlie to make up his mind. Although he certainly didn’t object when the idea came up.
“Guess so,” he said with a grin.
“Wanna kiss your bride?” she asked.
“Hmm, maybe. Didn’t the lady from social services suggest we should fight more?” he asked with a grin.
“You know what follows a fight don’t you?” she asked.
“Making up?” he said with another grin.
“Nope, a long night on the couch,” Erica laughed.
“And there I was getting my hopes up,” said Charlie.
“I’m not that kind of girl, remember?” she laughed again.
“And I’m to believe you’re all innocent and stuff,” he laughed and pulled her in close.
“I could get used to this,” she said with a dreamy smile.
“What? Me holding you or the marriage thing?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Erica with a smile as they kissed briefly.
“On which question?” he asked.
“It’s my secret and I’m not telling,” said Erica with a wink.
“Uh huh,” he said and got another kiss in return. “And I thought the best marriages were based on communication.”
“Oh they are sweetie. Now if you want to open lines of communication, we can talk about your past girlfriends and I get all mad about it and start bringing up old boyfriends, so on and so forth,” she grinned.
“I suppose it’s best to let sleeping dogs lie,” he said and gave her another kiss.
“But for the record, you’ve got them all beat hands down,” she smiled at him.
The current conversation and situation drummed up some old feelings in him, familiar feelings that he hadn’t felt in a long time. A feeling of contentment, of happiness, of just general satisfaction with his life. He had waited a long time for those feelings, and never thought he might feel them again. One thing was fairly certain though; he knew for a fact he didn’t want them to stop and continued to enjoy the embrace of the fine woman standing in front of him.
********************
“You should at least call and talk to him before trying to make the trip,” said the Imam to Mohammed Hassan. They had been fully debriefed and the search for Cindy continued by other members of the community.
“I’m not sure if he would even talk on the phone to me,” said Hassan.
“It is dangerous to make the trip so far out west,” said Abdul.
“I know, but a face to face meeting might be best for me in this situation,” said Hassan.
“We are on the travel watch list. It will not be easy to fly,” said Abdul.
“Why are you so insistent on meeting him in person?” asked the Imam.
“I want to make it clear I will not have him interfering in my family’s affairs. Haseena would possibly go to him when she is in trouble. She and my brother were fairly close,” said Hassan.
“And you feel it is better to see him in person rather than making a phone call?” asked the Imam.
“I need to gauge his reactions and see his face when I tell him what happened if he doesn’t know already,” said Hassan.
“What will this solve?” asked the Imam.
“It will tell me whether she has made it all the way there. Plus, if she was on the run, the easiest thing to do for them administratively is to put her with her real family while the situation resolves itself. That would help us,” said Hassan.
“You believe Tennessee would send her to California?” asked Abdul.
“It’s a possibility,” said Hassan.
“It’s worth a try,” said Abdul, thinking about it for a moment.
“And if she is out there?” asked the Imam.
“I will ask he return my daughter to her rightful place,” said Hassan.
”And if he refuses?” asked the Imam.
“Then I will take her by any means necessary,” said Hassan with resolve.Last edited by Grand58742; 04-25-2011, 01:43 AM.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: