Adam Blake - 55. Chapter 55

I headed down to Mr. Rusello's quarters, and he wasn’t there. I saw one of his men, do you know where Mr. Rusello can be found?”

“I believe he’s in the new room we just opened.”

“Thanks”

I headed to the room, walking into the room, Mr. Rosello was standing by the window. “Are you thinking or looking?”

“Hello sir, didn’t know you were back.”

“Just arrived a few minutes ago. What do you think?”

“This window and room remind me of home. We had a room like this, my mother had a piano and she would play while I sat and drew.”

I looked into his eyes and he was lost in his past. “That was a beautiful memory, why don’t you paint it on that wall.”

He had a tear in his eyes, I was surprised when he grabbed me and hugged me. I hugged him back, he was a beautiful man. We stayed like that for a while. He broke the hug, “I’m sorry”

“What for, you did nothing wrong. If you paint here as well as you painted Camelot, I will be proud and so will you. Your family will look down and they will be proud as well.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Of course I do, Heaven is real and we all are being guided by our loved ones as well as our God. This room was meant for us to find it and for you to paint your mural. I believe it and so do you. By the way, you have an admirer.”

He smiled, “Yes, he watched me very close, I let him mix some paint for me and showed him a stoke, he painted a small section. Under the right guidance, he’ll be good.”

“I know where to find that guidance. I want you to find your replacement. You’re going to teach art and when the college is built, you’ll have plenty of work.”

“Oh, there you are. I’m either going to have to put a bell on you or put in an intercom system.”

“You could have called me”

“I didn’t think about that. Your dad and Brad are here.”

Whispering in Mr. Rusello’s ear, “You need to sign it”

Walking with James, “Will you check to see how the machine stocking is going, if it’s at least half stocked we can give out the coins.”

“Hi Dad” yes a hug, “I understand you have the coins.”

“Hold out your hand.”

“Wait you’re not going to put them all in my hand, they will spill all over the place.”

“Too much fish and chips I think Adam.”

Dad took out of his pocket a bag of coins. “This is 500, James has the rest.” I open the bag and took out the coin.

“Dad, these are fantastic. The boys will be over the roof with these. I know that several of these will be going out in the mail. Let’s go and have lunch and then we can discuss the audit and the next steps.”

When we walked into the cafeteria, the boys stood and clapped. I looked at James, he raised and dropped his shoulders, “And to what do I owe that applause?”

Lawrence stood, “We wanted to thank you for the mural, it’s beautiful, and for stocking the snack machines.”

“I appreciate your kindness but you are thanking the wrong person, you need to thank Mr. Rusello for the beautiful mural and you need to thank each other for the machine. My father has a surprise for you. If you have tried the machines, you know they don’t work on your coins, so my father has coins for you. When I was your age, yes I was your age so don’t laugh, once a week on Friday, my dad gave me an allowance. Of course, it was never enough, so if I wanted more money I had to do odd jobs. I’ll have Lord James draw up a list of odd jobs, that will get you additional coins. But even though today isn’t Friday, my father is going to give you 10 coins. On Friday, Lord James will give you your 10 coins.”

As each boy step forward, Dad gave them 10 coins. I watched as they looked at the coins, I saw several smiles. “James, how many will be going out in the mail?”

“That will depend on the number of brothers and sisters but a minimum of 2.”

“Adam, should we print more?”

“Won’t hurt, kick it up another 5000, that should do it.”

“Dad, who is left in payroll?”

“Only one clerk, she only started 3 months ago.”

“The rest, some walked away and some were taken away by federal agents. I guess the ones that walked away thought they wouldn’t get caught but they did.”

“I have to get payroll out, who can do that? Certainly not one clerk.”

“Brad prepared the payroll and we found legal documents signed by several men that have authorized the President to sign the checks.”

“ Brad, how do you know how much to pay the staff?”

“Lord James took the last payroll run, which you had and I adjusted it for the charges for food and room, that is what we paid them.”

“I’ll have to make a new list of salaries. They were being underpaid according to the national average for private school teachers. I’ll do that tonight and then tomorrow I’ll meet with them. What about the kickbacks?”

“That’s the good news, Brad and I visited each of the suppliers and told them what they did was against the law. They had a choice of paying back the kickbacks or we were going to the police and federal authorities.”

“I thought they overcharged us and the difference went to the directors?”

“That is only part of it. They did overchange you but the overcharge was split between them and the directors. They returned their half.”

“Ok, what about the directors?”

“Their bank accounts have been frozen in the US. The Feds are checking for offshore accounts. We found some numbers and passed them on.”

“Do I have any directors on staff?”

“No, they all either fled or were arrested."

"So now I need to start looking for department heads?”