Adam Blake - 116. Chapter 116

“Sir, my parents are telling me that I’ll have to leave school.”

“Did they say why?”

“No sir, just that your teaching methods do not comply with established standards.”

“And how do you feel about that?”

“I like it here, the classes are small and we have a chance to test ideas and you almost learn as much from the discussions as you do from the lectures and reading.”

“You’re a senior this year, right?”

“Yes, sir, I’ll be 18 in a few weeks.”

“I know you are not a citizen of this country but here when you reach 18 you are free to make your own decisions. What would happen if you tell your parents that you aren’t leaving?” I knew that most of the students had other obligations and to go against their parents was tantamount to parental suicide.

“I couldn’t do that sir”

“Who told them that the methods I use here are not generally acceptable?”

“I don’t know sir.”

“Wait here. I’ll be right back.” I went to my rooms and got the disc of the summer seminars.

“Jonathan, come with me, I want to show you something.”

Entering the computer lab, “Hello Lawrence, can you play this disc for me.”

He loaded the disc, “Jonathan, I want to know if you or your parents know this man.”

There was my friend debating my methods and his famous words about learning by a switch to the pants. He looked at it, “Play that section again Lawrence please.” He did, Lawrence didn’t know I saw him copy that part to his hard drive. “Now Lawrence please forward it until the opening the next day, there, right there.” We watched again as I was being called upon again.

“Jonathan, if you wish, I could send a copy of this tape to your parents, if it would help.” I knew Lawrence was listening.

“I’m not sure, he’s a good friend of my father’s.”

“It won’t hurt and maybe your mother will be more inclined to let you stay. You can’t lose. Give it a try.”

“I’ll try.”

“Lawrence after you make the appropriate copy for Jonathan, please erase it from your hard drive.”

“But I might need it again. There are some good comments in your seminar.”

I just smiled and left. I knew before the day was out, that disc would be copied many times and sent to many parents.

“I’m going to pick up Brad.”

“James, bring your lady friend as well, she may be able to help identify some of the records Brad will bring with him.”

I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from the Ambassador. The phone rang, I thought it was him but it was a more surprising person, my wife. “Hi Marie, how is the patient doing…well that seems more like it…does he have any pain?…I guess he can expect some… mild I hope?.. give him chocolate ice cream, tell him it will help with his pain… so Hans has taken over providing food, how is his grandmother doing?…that’s good…do you have a release date…ok let me know and I’ll arrange a copter… it’ll be good to have you back…oh the usual, nothing earth-shattering…ok love you too.”

“Hi son”

“Hi dad”

I got my coffee and headed to my office. I no sooner reached it when the phone went off. I wanted to review Brad’s work before I answered any phone calls. I knew Brad had found something, he had a million-dollar smile. Come in and you also young lady." James fiancé, who he hadn’t introduced to me yet.

James started to laugh, “Doc this is Annie.”

“Annie, it’s a pleasure to meet you, officially. James, hold all phone calls. I expect it to be jumping off the hook soon.”

“Ok, Brad what do you have?”

“I went through all of the records at the bank, it seems that a deposit was made of approximately 100,000 dollars each year at the appropriate time, but it was divided into several accounts. That isn’t normal so I checked each account and found that money was paid to contractors and several individuals. These are the individuals that money was paid to. I checked the business accounts and they all seemed legit.”

I called my bank, "Hello Charles, yes you are lucky today, I would like you to put a hold on the following accounts.” I read off the accounts, “Yes, it appears that there has been a case of fraud for several years, these accounts are private individuals that have been paid with the county tax receipts…. Yes, I expect we’ll find out who as soon as these accounts are frozen…that would be helpful, thanks, Charles.”

“Who is Charles?”

“He’s my partner, I own 65% he owns the other 35%.

“Annie, do you recognize any of these accounts?”

“No sorry but I don’t.”

“Brad, thank you, are you here for the midterm annual review?”

“No, I came to check and see if I could help and perhaps hire someone in accounts payable for you.”

I looked at Brad and then Annie, she knew her stuff at the county tax department.

Brad nodded, when they opened the door, James rushed in, “The Ambassador called and said to call him first. Then several calls from the trustees and then several calls from parents. What did you do in the short time I was gone?”

“Stay and listen, get me the Ambassador.”

“He’s online Doctor Blake.”

I knew he was listening or James would never call me that, “Hello Ambassador, I have been expecting your call…that’s correct it’s what I told you… well, that won’t be necessary anymore…I told them I’m having them extradited to the States to stand charges of malfeasance…yes I can do that… of course, I’d win, after the directors ripped off the school, the findings in the pantry, and now the tax lien…oh they didn’t tell you that…yes I checked the county books and no tax had been recorded as paid by the school for 6 years…the lien is for 600 thousand dollars…I believe the county has put it out to bid… there has been only one bid, 600 thousand is hard to cough up at one time…yes, I think it was the same gentleman who donated the buses…well there is one small issue, one of the boys is being asked to withdraw from the school…as I understand it one of my summer seminar attendees didn’t approve of my methods and made the comment to the student's father…yes they were best friends…oh I expect it will be resolved satisfactorily... I understand that the student's mother isn’t too fond of that man…aren’t you do for a visit?…ok we’ll see you then.”

“Are you ready for some coffee?”

Then the phone rang again, it was the same trustee I talked to before, “Go and get me my coffee. Hello, this is Dr. Blake… So all of the trustees are there… can you put me on the speakerphone..thank you…gentlemen how may I help you I thought we had discussed all of the issues that you were concerned about before. Is there something else you may want to discuss?. … I’ll be glad to discuss this with your solicitor…yes that is correct…under US law and if you reviewed the charter and contractual obligations of each trustee, you’ll find that I am within my rights…we’ll probably take this to court…solicitor, you may want to read the trustee contracts before you do that…certainly, call me back after you have reviewed what they all agreed to as being a trustee of the school.”

“Those were the trustees?”

“Yes, they have hired a lawyer. We shall see”

“How do you know so much about this?”

My father and mother always talked about the problems of the day. Mom felt that Dad needed an unbiased opinion and when I became the age where I was beginning to understand, I joined in, asking questions and then proposing solutions. Dad would critique my solutions by asking questions, allowing me to come to my own conclusions. Simple.”

“I’m getting hungry, must be close to supper time”