The Summer Job - 64. Somewhere Between Heaven and Heck

The city jail was a temporary holding facility. It wasn’t large, but it did have facilities for juveniles separate from adult prisoners. Anyone who was going to be kept past their arraignment hearing would be sent to the county lockup.

Matt Lee, the jailer on duty, had read the boys' paperwork. Working the jail, he couldn't afford to be a pushover, but he was sympathetic. While jail was never a fun trip, Lee and the guards weren’t going to give the boys the full rigor like the adults involved in the bust were probably getting at the county lockup.

Lee was kind enough to let the boys sleep until nine o’clock. They had been up late being finger-printed and processed. They were surprised when they were awakened and marched to breakfast where their guards had brought in a bunch of orange juice and breakfast sandwiches from McDonald's.

Officer Lee could tell it was a first arrest for all of them. They had the idea from TV that they shouldn’t say anything, so they were a quiet, somber bunch. Breakfast made them all a lot happier.

Lee chuckled when he overheard one of the boys say, “If I’d know they would feed me, I would have gotten arrested ages ago.”

Another boy said, “I heard jail was supposed to hell. This place is more like heck. Hell wouldn’t have grape jelly.”

As breakfast was being served, Officer Lee said, “You gentlemen have a lawyer. He’s going to be along sometime this morning to talk things over with you.”

The youngest boy asked, “Have you been able to contact any of our parents?”

Lee said, “No. It’s not from lack of trying either. We’ve even sent cars by your homes. They either aren’t home or not answering the phone or doors. Do they leave you alone over weekends a lot?”

The youngest boy nodded. One of the older boys elbowed him and shook his head.

Officer Lee sat down in a chair by the door, opened a coffee and took a bite of a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. A moment later he said, “I understand you guys have all heard you should stay silent until you have a lawyer but, I want you to think about something. We’re not playing this game just to jam you up. You were being... neglected by your parents and exploited by scumbags. You guys are the victims in this mess and many cops in this building want the system to help you instead of stomping on you. Don’t panic. Talk to your lawyer and, someday this will all just be a dreadful memory.”

Bobby and Ronny Curtis had given Casey and Kelly the details of their father’s church services the night before. Church started at ten-thirty and ran to eleven-thirty. That gave everyone who was going plenty of time to get ready.

Phillip, already showered, could dress and be ready in five minutes. It took Casey and Kelly considerably longer as they fussed with their hair. While they were primping, he took a seat downstairs and quickly attracted a crowd. Seth, David, Billy and Johnny sat down around him dressed for the pool, but were unusually subdued.

Phillip asked, “Is something wrong?”

Seth said, “I guess you haven’t heard. I looked at the news on my phone. The cops raided Vice-Principle Farmer’s house last night. They busted five adults, eight juveniles and Farmer killed himself.”

Phillip’s head swam and his stomach lurched. No one was supposed to die.

Johnny Gray put his hand on his shoulder and said, “Don’t blame yourself, Phillip. He took the easy way out.”

David said, “We knew you weren’t going to like it, but getting blindsided with the news in church would be worse.”

Phillip nodded and said, “You’re right. Hearing that out of the blue would have been a shock. Do we know who got nabbed?”

Seth said, “They don’t release the names of minors, but the adults were very intriguing. One of them is the host of a local conservative talk radio show and on the city council. Another is a lawyer and, one runs a car dealership.”

Phillip pulled up the local paper on his phone. He found the headline: Late Night Drug Raids Net Forty Arrests. As he read through what little information the paper had on their website, details were sketchy and, the last line read, we will have more on this story as it develops. He said, “When stuff happens early on a Sunday morning, even the media has to play catch up. Do any of you guys want to go to church with us?”

Seth wrinkled his nose like he smelled something foul and said, “No, thanks. I want to avoid going anywhere people hate me by default. Besides, Casey left me instructions, so I’ll have lunch ready when you get back.”

“Did you have a bad experience with religious people?”, Phillip asked.

David growled, “When our parents went to jail, CPS sent us to Pray-the-Gay-Away Camp for a couple of weeks until our Uncle could get us out.”

Phillip sighed and said, “I suppose that would leave you annoyed. How bad was it?”

Seth said, “It was a combination of boot camp, bible school and mind games. They wouldn’t let us eat or sleep enough and kept us constantly unbalanced. We were supposed to be there for a while. I don’t know what three to six months of that would have done to us.”

David said, “I know what it did to me. It pissed me off.”

Seth laughed and said, “You should have seen David. They would get in our face and babble religious mumbo-jumbo. David snapped and kicked one of them in the balls.”

The very idea of cute little David driven to kick a grown up in the balls was ludicrous in the extreme, but knowing the boy, they had to have really gotten under his skin. Phillip could literally see David turning red with outrage and shaking reliving the event and realized he was having a flashback.

Phillip pulled David into his lap, wrapped his arms around him and said, “Hey, hey buddy, it’s over. It won’t happen again.”

David was near tears and choked out, “The stuff they said was just so humiliating. I can’t even think about it without getting like this.”

“Unless something happens, the kids who got busted last night are probably going to the same place”, Phillip stated.

Seth groaned and said, “Nobody deserves the humiliation and mind games they’ll get at that place if the nuts that run it think they are queer.”

Phillip asked gently, “Do you agree David?”

“I wouldn’t wish that on anybody”, the cherubic little blond stated.

“I don’t presume to be a biblical scholar”, Phillip said. “But there is one obvious tenet of Christianity you seem to have grasped: forgiveness. You aren’t wishing bad luck on the kids who bullied you. Please don’t judge every Christian based on how the lunatic fringe acts.”

Seth said, “I don’t. Bobby and Ronny are a lot cooler than I thought they were. I’m glad we got to know them better.”

Johnny and Billy both agreed. The entire group had grown very close. What had once been acquaintances with benefits had grown into close friendships and, if Phillip was not mistaken, even love in a few cases.

Karen Callahan had managed to get some sleep but, her detectives looked dreadful. It had been one hell of a weekend. Butler, Daniels and Murphy had stayed up all night going through the evidence that Farmer had provided.

DEA Agent Danny Warren, his team and US Attorney Gordon Lancaster were handling the Transcontinental Shipping case which had broken out into a national affair with busts in thirty cities. One mess was handled.

Gaddis and his Sheriff’s Department Narcotics Squad had bagged the small-fry and all those cases would be plain vanilla possession or possession-with-intent-to-distribute. Another DA that specialized in drug cases was assigned. Another mess was handled.

The Farmer mess had landed in her lap and, the more she looked at it, the messier, murkier and more confusing the whole thing seemed to become. She listened to Butler’s narrative on the files the three detectives had gotten out of the house for an hour with astonishment and incredulity.

Once Butler was done she shook her head and said, “Let me get this straight: Farmer hunted down the Freeway Killer and killed him rescuing numerous vulnerable kids along the way. When he moved to Grayson Middle, he tried the same thing and ran into a wall with our CPS. He was protecting a bunch of disturbed kids because he didn’t trust them to do the right thing?”

Butler said, “That’s what the evidence says. He documented everything. He gave us the Freeway Killer and his victims on a silver platter, there’s no evidence he abused anyone other than Tyrone Flower’s uncorroborated statements and, he made damn sure he was the only person in the house that didn’t walk away.”

“Jesus, what a mess”, Callahan exclaimed. “I don’t even know how we’re going to explain half of this.”

Daniels said, “I think we have to give the media a no comment as the investigation is ongoing.”

The phone on her desk buzzed, and she picked it up answering, “What is it Jerry?”

Jerry Martin said, “Karen, there’s an Agent Kellogg from the FBI here, and he needs to speak with you. I talked to him and, the matter he wishes to discuss is tangential to the case.”

Karen Callahan replied, “Give me a minute. I think we’re wrapping up here.”

She hung up the phone and said, “We’ve got warrants for the homes of the adults in the case. We’ll serve them all by noon.”

Daniels asked, “What about the kids? We still haven’t gotten in touch with their families.”

Callahan said, “If we don’t get them by midnight, I’m filing neglect charges. There will be a Youth Court hearing tomorrow. It’s scheduled for two o’clock. We’ve got enough to hold the adults without bond, and we’ll have more after we toss their homes.”

Butler said, “Be warned: there is a private group that has taken an interest in the case. They got Miles Dannager to represent the kids.”

“Good”, Callahan said. “At least someone is in their camp. You guys get some rest, and I’ll see what the FBI wants.”

The Detectives filed out of the office and Special Agent Andy Kellogg arrived. Callahan rose to greet him and said, “So Agent Kellogg. How can I help you?”

Phillip arrived at the Southside Methodist Church at twenty minutes after ten with Casey and Kelly in tow. It was a larger Church than Phillip was used to and modern but, thankfully, wasn’t one of the Mega-Churches that seemed to be fashionable.

They were ushered in and Ronny and Bobby had someone on the lookout for them. A pretty girl in a stunning dress greeted them in the foyer and ushered them to the section in the back right of the sanctuary favored by the congregations' youth.

They had just gotten settled when organ music swelled. People rushed to their seats and the service would soon begin. The twins landed in the seats just in front of Phillip, Casey and Kelly.