Disillusioned, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 2, Page 3

  Chapter 3

   

  Two agents from the FBI showed up at Rob’s house right at ten, just as they promised. They were Special Agents, Warren Adams and Ruth Rutledge. Warren was in his fifties with heavy rimmed glasses and Rutledge was a petite brunette. Rob wondered how such a small agent had made it through the FBI’s rugged training program. Cindy let them in and showed them to the den.

  “Would you like a cup of coffee or some lemonade?” she asked.

  “No, thank you,” Agent Adams replied.

  Rob was scared, but he tried not to show it. It hadn’t occurred to him at the time that anything he’d done was wrong, let alone illegal. He realized now, however, that he may have made a mistake trusting Thornton. In retrospect, he’d been naïve and stupid. He considered Stan’s advice that if he thought he’d done anything wrong, he should say nothing and hire an attorney. It was good advice, but it would mean the end of his political career before it got started. He had to chance it. He felt sure he could talk his way out of trouble.

  “So, what did you want to talk about?” Rob asked.

  “We should probably talk to you alone,” Agent Adams said, looking at Cindy.

  Cindy smiled. “Of course. I’ll take the children out to the pool. Come get me when you’re done, honey.”

  Rob nodded, and Cindy left.

  “I guess you read the newspaper this morning, Mr. Shepard.”

  “Yes. I was surprised you searched Mr. Thornton’s house. What were you looking for?”

  “We can’t say, but we understand you and Thornton were good friends.”

  “Sure. He’s like an uncle to me. I’ve known him for years.”

  “Is it true he’s financing your campaign for state representative?” Agent Rutledge asked.

  Rob looked at Rutledge and swallowed hard. It unnerved him that she’d gone for the jugular right off the bat. He considered ending the interview right then and there as Stan had told him to do, but then he heard himself saying, “No. I’ve been pretty much financing it myself.”

  “Oh, really?” Thornton said. “We’ve been through Thornton’s records, and there are a lot of checks made out to you.”

  “Right. I’m one of his investors. Since we go way back, he let me in one or two of his deals. He’s a great businessman.”

  “So, he never made a political contribution to you?”

  “Oh, I didn’t say that. He may have made a contribution, but he’s not financing my campaign.”

  “What do you know about his Silver Springs Ventures?”

  “Nothing really. I’ve been out there once or twice to take a look at it. It’s been very successful, obviously, and I’ve made some money on it.”

  “We show you received about $50,000 from Mr. Thornton. Is that about right?”

  “It sounds about right, but I’d have to double check my records to be sure.”

  “So, if this money wasn’t for your campaign, then it was personal income, right?”

  “Correct.”

  “So, you would have declared it as taxable income on your tax return?”

  “I would have, except I haven’t filed yet. It’s on extension.”

  Agent Adams looked at Rutledge. Rutledge opened a notepad and asked, “Do you know a Tony Rubio?”

  Rob pretended to think for a moment. He knew exactly who Rubio was, but he didn’t want the FBI to know it. “Um, I’ve heard the name, but I’m not sure if I’ve met him or not. He may work out at Silver Springs, so I might have met him while I was out there.”

  “Did you know he’s a convicted felon?”

  “I don’t know anything about him really.”

  “How much did you invest with Mr. Thornton?”

  “Uh, $25,000 I think.”

  “And you got $50,000 back?”

  “Like I said, I’d have to check the exact numbers. My profit was $50,000, more or less.”

  “Quite a return on your investment,” Agent Rutledge said. “Wish I’d have gotten in on some of that action.”

  “Like I said, we go way back. He was doing me a favor by letting me in on the deal.”

  “Yeah. What did he expect in return?” Agent Rutledge asked.

  “Nothing—absolutely nothing. He’s like an uncle to me.”

  “You didn’t promise him some favors if you got elected?”

  “I didn’t promise him anything—not a goddamn thing.”

  Agent Adams sighed. “Okay. I hope you’re telling the truth, because if you’re not, we’ll find out. I promise you.”

  Rob didn’t say anything and just stared at Agent Adams for a moment. Finally, he said, “Is that all?”

  “For now,” Rutledge said, “but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing you again.”

  “Fine. You know where to find me,” Rob said, feeling relieved the interview was over. They all stood up, and Rob showed them out. After shutting the door on them, he went to find Cindy. She was on a lounge chair watching the kids swim. She got up when she saw Rob coming.

  “So, what did they say?”

  “Nothing unexpected. They saw the money Brad paid me and thought it was a campaign contribution.”

  “But it was a campaign contribution, wasn’t it?”

  “Yeah. It’s a good thing I met with Stan last night. I would have really blown it had I been questioned without working out my story in advance.”

  “What do you mean?” Cindy asked.

  “It never occurred to me the way Thornton structured the payments they’d be taxable income to me. It’s a good thing I haven’t filed my return yet.”

  “You mean we’re going to have to pay taxes on an extra $50,000!”

  Rob sighed. “Yeah. It’s either that or a vacation at a federal country club.”

  “Oh, Rob, that’s gonna be another $15,000 or $20,000, isn’t it?”

  “That’s about right.”

  “Where are we going to get that kind of money?”

  “I don’t know. We’ll have to find it somewhere.”

  “Jesus Christ! I can’t believe this. I knew you running for state representative was a bad idea. My parents will be livid when they hear about this.”

  “They won’t hear about it. Relax.”

  “Yes, they will. We’ll have to borrow the money from them. Where else could we get it?”

  “I don’t know. Give me some time to think about it. Maybe Stan will have some ideas.”

  “You know how embarrassed I am that Stan and Rebekah know about this? It’s humiliating,” Cindy said as she began to cry.

  Rob put his arms around her and held her tightly. “It’s gonna be alright, honey. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

  Rob hated the idea of borrowing money from Cindy’s parents. They’d been against the marriage from the get-go and warned Cindy that Rob wouldn’t be able to provide for her the way she had grown accustomed. Rob had resented their attitude and vowed to prove them wrong, but now he was afraid they’d been right about him all along.

  That night, depression overcame him. He tossed and turned, unable to sleep. He wondered if he should withdraw from the race. How could he possibly finance the campaign on his own? When he did finally fall asleep, he had a nightmare about going to prison and being locked up in solitary confinement. He woke up in a cold sweat.

  The next day, Brad Thornton called Rob and asked him to come over to his place so they could talk. Thornton was cool on the phone and wouldn’t say anything about the purpose of the meeting. At the appointed hour, Rob went over to their home, and Melissa let him in and offered him coffee. He sat at the kitchen table sipping his coffee, waiting for Brad. Melissa seemed nervous and abnormally quiet. After a few minutes, Brad walked in and sat down. He looked tired and worn down.

  “Thanks for coming over, Rob.”

  “No problem.”

  “The last few days have been a nightmare.”

  “I can imagine,” Rob replied. “What’s it all about?”

  “Oh, it’
s a long story, but the gist of it is that I’ve been very successful, and in the process I’ve stepped on a few toes. That happens when you’re an aggressive businessman.”

  “Right.”

  “When you have enemies, they are always looking for ways to hurt you. Recently, one of them went to the FBI and fed them a bunch of garbage about my operations.”

   “What’s the FBI looking for?”

  “A history between me and Tony Rubio.”

  “Oh, him. Hmm.”

  “Of course, they won’t find the history unless someone points it out to them.”

  “They asked me about him, but I didn’t tell them anything.”

  “Good. I appreciate that. If they can’t find a connection, I’m home free.”

  “So, what’s going to happen now?”

  “It will take them months to complete their investigation. In the meantime, we have made an agreement not to make any distributions of funds from any of my ventures.”

  Rob grimaced. “So, that means you won’t be writing me anymore checks for a while, huh?”

  “Correct.”

  “What about John and the ad agency?”

  John Savage’s ad agency, Pro Media, was responsible for all Brad Thornton’s various business ventures, and they’d agreed to manage Rob’s campaign for free. Rob paid for the advertising, but out of appreciation for Brad’s business, they had waived their fee for handling Rob’s campaign.

  “You’ll have to get a new campaign manager, I’m afraid, for your benefit as well as mine. We can’t have any kind of a relationship until this thing blows over.”

  “That’s not acceptable. I wouldn’t have gotten into this race had you not recruited me.”

  “I’m sorry. This was totally unforeseen. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

  Rob stared at Brad angrily but didn’t know what to say.

   “I’m sorry, Rob. Believe me, I wish things were different. You’ll find a new campaign manager.”

  “How will I pay them?”

  “Part of a campaign manager’s job is fund raising. Talk to Stan. I bet he’d do it.”

  “But he’s County Chairman.”

  “You’re the Republican candidate, so it wouldn’t be a conflict of interest, and there would be a lot of overlap. Talk to him about it.”

  Rob nodded and left. He knew there was no point in arguing. It was out of Brad’s hands. Rob was sick all the way home. He’d hoped Brad would have worked things out with the FBI, but that hadn’t happened. Now he was on his own, and things couldn’t have been more desperate. When he got home, he told Cindy the bad news and called Stan to let him know the latest.

  “You know, Brad had an interesting idea,” Rob said.

  “What’s that?” Stan asked.

  “Why don’t you be my campaign manager.”

  “What? Are you kidding? I’m in law school, working full time, and barely able to handle the County Chairman’s job.”

  “It wouldn’t be that much more work. A lot of it could be done when you’re doing your job as County Chairman.”

  “Well, to be honest, Kristina does most of that work.”

  “Come on, Stan. I’m really desperate here.”

  “I know, but you need someone with the time to do a good job, someone who knows how to raise money. I don’t have much experience in fund-raising nor do I have the contacts since I’m new to the area.”

  “Can you think of anyone who might do it?”

  “Actually, there is one person.”

  “Who?”

  “To help you out, I’ll talk to Kristina about doing it. If I had to, I could do without her so she could work for you.”

  “But she’s a woman.”

  “So! She knows everybody, she’s a great organizer, and she works harder than anybody I know. I’m sure she’ll do a great job for you.”

  “I don’t know. What will people think?”

  “If they know Kristina, they’ll think you’re a smart man.”

  “Hmm. Okay. Would you ask her for me?”

  “Sure, I’ll see her tomorrow. I’ll talk to her about it then.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Stan…Oh, and by the way, if I hadn’t have met with you before my meeting with the FBI, I’d have been lost when they asked about reporting the $50,000 as income.”

  “Well, I’m glad I was able to help. Hopefully you won’t hear from them again.”

  “Wouldn’t that be nice?”

  Rob hung up the phone, feeling better but not as optimistic as Stan. He hadn’t told Stan quite everything. He knew Tony Rubio and Brad Thornton went way back. He hadn’t been candid with the FBI on that score. He hoped and prayed they’d never realize he’d lied about not knowing Brad’s college buddy at UT, his fraternity’s most reliable marijuana supplier.