The Summer Job - 70. Monday

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Stacy Scott sat at the same table at IHOP that “Billy” and Pops Bridges had sat on Sunday morning. It was a half hour before dawn, so the restaurant was essentially empty.

She had not finished her cup of coffee when her brother Brad and Sergeant Rex Daniels entered and were ushered to her table by a server that provided the new arrivals with coffee, menus and took their orders.

Brad and the Sergeant sat across the table from her. She noticed that Daniels looked exhausted, with dark circles around his eyes.

Brad said, “Sergeant, this is my big sister Stacy. Stacy, this is my boss, Rex Daniels. Please play nice, guys.”

Daniels grinned and said, “Cops and reporters don’t really have to be natural enemies.”

“True”, Stacy agreed. “Some of my colleagues don’t play nice, but my baby brother is a cop, so I tend to be a little more sympathetic. Given the events of this weekend, I have many questions.”

Daniels gave Brad a look and said, “As long as I can be an anonymous source. Your brother may be answering some parts of the narrative I’m not comfortable talking about.”

Stacy nodded and said, “Of course, that’s understood. I will give you something first. Last night, I sat down with a bunch of young men in their teens and twenties that told me they knew Chuck Farmer. They told me that he had rescued them all from terrible situations and shepherded them through the foster care system. Farmer did all that while he was hunting the serial killer the FBI didn’t want to give any publicity to, and thus no one knew he was hunting kids on I-75.”

Daniels nodded and said, “All of that is correct. Keep going.”

Stacy said, “The next young man I spoke too told a harrowing story of being snatched by the Jeffry Wayne Allen. Farmer arrived in the nick of time to save his life. Farmer took the boy home and then killed Allen slowly. That was July 2013.”

Daniels sighed. “That’s right. The FBI screwed that case up from the start. They had a new theory about serial killers being driven by publicity. There’s stuff about Farmer you probably don’t know.”

Brad said, “Farmer joined the Army right out of high school. He went to jump school at Bragg, where he excelled and became the youngest Green Beret to date. He deployed to Columbia to fight Cartel Sicarios and then the Gulf War broke out. He was paired with another Green Beret and inserted into Iraq. They worked with a cell of about twenty Kurdish guerrilla fighters who were between the ages of fourteen to twenty. They did extremely well but came to the attention of the Republican guard. The Kurds were nearly wiped out by a helicopter attack, and Farmer was badly shot up. His partner had to drag him out because he would not leave those Kurdish kids. They were pulled out by helicopter. Farmer got a Silver Star and a Purple Heart and served out his enlistment as an instructor at Bragg.”

Daniels picked up the narrative, “After his term in the Army, Farmer went to college where he was recruited by the CIA. He worked for Haliburton Global for six years when, he learned a certain set of skills. He left CIA and became a math and civics teacher and football and basketball coach. We would have probably never even heard of him if that Allen mutt hadn’t murdered Hunter Young. He spent six years tracking that animal down and then interrogated him to discover where he had been dumping bodies. When we raided his house Saturday morning, he made sure we had all the evidence we needed to close the Allen case, recover the bodies and… he killed himself.”

Breakfast arrived, plates were distributed, and coffee refilled. Once their server withdrew, Stacy said, “That fills in many holes in the information I’ve dug up. It is what happened after he moved from Carver to Grayson, where I’ve still got serious questions.”

Brad said, “I know you talked to Richard last night. I’m sure you have some idea.”

Stacy said, “Yes, I do. There was a change after the 2012 election cycle, and Health and Human Services got new leadership and policies. Locally, that’s Emily Sturgis and Security Concepts, LLC.”

Daniels growled, “That’s when the wheels came off. Sturgis sends any kids who come her way to a private ‘faith-based’ treatment and detention facilities. It costs almost as much as any program the state ever ran.”

Stacy said, “I know you guys changed your policy on first-time offenders. That is why Casey and Kelly did not end up doing six months in a private jail for kids. The question I have is, why did you change your policy?”

Daniels said, “Officially, the reason we changed that policy is it wasn’t cost-effective. We made that case with their near 100% relapse rate among drug offenders. Unofficially, we smelled a rat. Sturgis and a couple of judges were sending kids off for six months or longer over the most minor infractions. I cannot say anything more about that for now, but, I will tell you that you should be in Youth Court session this afternoon at two. You will learn everything you need to know.”

They finished their breakfast with much lighter small talk, and Rex Daniels and Brad Scott got up to leave. Stacy noticed a CD Rom in a paper sleeve was sitting on the table where the Sergeant had been. She picked it up and waved it at Brad, who smiled at her and winked.

Monday morning started blearily for Phillip and company. Since he was going to get wet practicing with the Barracudas, Phillip, Mikie and the swimmers held off on showers.

Once again, Casey spoiled them with breakfast. He made a pan of biscuits, some eggs, ham, bacon and sausage and turned it all into breakfast sandwiches that would shame a certain fast-food clown. Phillip was beginning to appreciate the Community coffee. It had the kind of horsepower you need when you were up late with some very anxious boys.

Adam and Bryan Larkin arrived in their minivan just in time for biscuits. As everyone was scurrying around, Adam indicated that he wanted a quiet word with Phillip.

They went into the living room and Adam said, “I was over at the McGraw house last night. Stevie went home yesterday afternoon for some clothes and the change in him is shocking. To put it bluntly, Stevie is not being a prick towards everybody. Their Dad is ecstatic.”

“I’m not surprised”, Phillip said. “He’s back in touch with Randy and has a bunch of new friends. The stress he was under at Grayson is over. He’s bound to be a lot happier.”

Adam grinned and said, “Mr. McGraw has been worried about Stevie for a while now. You know how he was. Stevie is like he used to be. Are he and Randy…?

Phillip shrugged and said, “They’re pals again. Some kids Farmer was trying to tame got between them.”

Adam said, “Life is better with pals. Come on. We had better get this herd moving.”

Arriving at eight, Phillip got his crew in gear to get the morning checklist out of the way for swimming practice at nine. Some Barracudas had arrived early, as they expected practice at eight. They were all delighted to discover that henceforth practice would be at nine, and news of the change in swim wear spread fast.

Phillip tried not to be distracted by the conference with Mrs. Green and Mrs. Cummings and court later in the day, but, it was difficult. He focused on what he had to do and would take on the rest as it occurred.

At a little before nine, Phillip joined the Barracudas gathered in their locker room. The boys were in good spirits and were excited about the new kit. The boys that Phillip had outfitted were in Speedo drag suits. Phillip explained that they were pretty much the opposite of most Speedo suits. They weren’t as revealing and were a poly-mesh. They don’t slip through the water as easily, creating a bit of drag. Drag suits forced swimmers to work a little harder in practice and strengthened them, in theory at least.

As Casey and Kelly took care of business, Phillip and Mikie ran practice according to Coach Hanson’s plan, focusing on free style, breaststroke and relays. Phillip couldn’t afford to play favorites, but the Curtis twins, Owen, Randy, Jeffry, Seth and David were strong swimmers. Johnny Gray, Bryan Larkin, Billy Jackson and several of the seventh graders were coming along nicely, but they were not quite there yet. They were good swimmers, but they lacked endurance. Phillip had a plan to address that, but not today. There was already plenty to do.

Pops and Billy Barnes arrived at Wilmington Slips after sleeping late to recover from their stressful weekend and breakfast at the hotel. They parked the rental car in a customer only parking place and they both approached the office.

A bell rung as they entered and a woman in her sixties looked up from her computer and asked, “Can I help you?”

“I’m David Bridges and I just bought the Lucky Star.”

She stood, shook Pop’s hand and said, “I’m Mary Ann Bell, it’s a pleasure to meet you Mr. Bridges. My husband and most of our workers are out on Lucky Star now getting her squared away for you.” She picked up a walkie-talkie, keyed the mike and said, “Todd, the Bridges are here.”

There was a squawk of static and a voice replied, “I’ll send Bobby to get them.”

Mrs. Bell said, “Lucky Star is a beauty. I’m sure you’ll love her.”

Pops said, “She is quite a looker. She’s only four years old?”

Mrs. Bell said, “We got her in an estate auction. The former owner was elderly and passed away. We bought her and cleaned her up. She was laid up for a couple of years while the estate was probated.”

The door opened, and a young man said, “Are you Mr. Bridges?”

Pops said, “Yes. This is my grandson Billy, and we’re both looking forward to seeing Lucky Star up close.”

They followed Bobby on a longer walk to Lucky Star than Pops or Billy had expected.

Pops said, “She’s a lot bigger than sixty feet.”

Bobby acted surprised and said, “She is British built. All her dimensions are metric. She is sixty meters.”

For the first time ever, Billy saw Pops absolutely dumbfounded. Pops said, “Lucky Star is almost two hundred feet?”

Bobby said, “Yes sir. She displaces about twenty-two hundred tons. There is some history about her class you might want to ask Mr. Bell about.”

The closer they got to Lucky Star, the more they were impressed by her. She had clean lines and was it was obvious she was built tight.

Pops said, “I got a lot more boat than I bargained for.”

Bobby chuckled and said, “Lucky Star isn’t a boat, sir. Two boats come with her. She is all an up ship.”

Phillip finally managed to catch up with Mr. Campbell and said, “We need to talk.”

Campbell said, “We do. I’ve got to go to court this afternoon at two. Cassidy will be covering for me.”

Phillip raised an eyebrow and said, “I’ll be going to court too. Is this about the kids who got arrested at Farmer’s place Friday night?”

Campbell grinned and said, “Yes, it is. Apparently, we have some of the same friends. Wally Garner called me Sunday. I’ve got a foster care certificate and my kids are grown.”

Phillip said, “Great! I have got something unpleasant I’m going to need the conference room for. One of the arrests netted a man who had been molesting some of our boys. Their mothers are coming, and they’re going to be interviewed by the police.”

Campbell scowled and said, “You can use the conference room we did the TV interview in last week. Tell Cassidy, and make sure there are enough chairs.”