Chapter 23
"Will you be staying here all time, Abby?" Emily Stetson asked at breakfast. She and her brother were eating their toaster waffles under Amanda's supervision; although it was only seven-twenty, Lee had already left for the Agency in the Corvette.
"Yes, I will, Emily; your mom and dad said I could, and I really like it here."
"Do you have to go to school?"
"Not this summer; starting in the fall I will, but back in Nebraska."
"Why not here?"
"Because her family is in Nebraska, Emmy," Amanda said. "That's where she goes to school, and she has only one more year, so it doesn't make sense to change schools now."
"Oh. But you'll be here for the whole summer?"
"Until the middle of August, two more months."
"We have to go to school, but only for one more day – yay! After school is out, we'll go to Leeanne's all day while Mommy and Daddy are at work."
"I'm glad you have a big sister that can take care of you like that."
"Do you have a big sister?"
"No, just two big brothers and two younger brothers. I'm the only girl, and I'm right in the middle, but I have lots of girl cousins, so that's kind of like having sisters."
"What are you plans for today, Abby?" Amanda asked.
"I'm going to catch up on my letters home first. My mom will have told my grandparents and my aunts and uncles what happened, but they'll all want to hear from me personally, telling them that I'm fine."
"Sure, I understand. How many aunts and uncles do you have?"
"Oh, a lot. Mom's from a family of eight, four boys and four girls, and Dad's from a family of six- five boys and one girl. They're all married, they all have kids, so I have dozens and dozens of cousins."
"His sister and his cousins, whom he numbers by the dozens?" Amanda said, smiling as she quoted the famous line from HMS Pinafore.
"Exactly, and that's my favorite Gilbert and Sullivan operetta; we did that for our senior class musical at my high school. I wasn't one of the stars, my voice isn't that good, but I got to be in the chorus. Anyway, two big Czech families make for lots of cousins."
"I wondered about your last name, but I didn't want to be too nosey."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Yes, it's Czech; there are a lot of us in Box Butte County and the surrounding areas. Mrs. Stetson – Amanda – I wonder, do you have a sewing machine I could borrow? I left mine at home because .. well, I left mine at home."
"I certainly do; it's upstairs in what was Leeanne's room. It's the last one on the left. It's an older model Singer, but I've kept it in good repair. I got it in the early 80's when money was tight and I was making most of my clothes and a lot of what the boys wore."
"That's what my mom did too. The boys could hand things down, and she could swap girls' clothes within the family, but she made a lot of them too. I thought I'd find a fabric store and get the stuff to make a shorts and top set for the summer."
"That's a good idea. Time to go, kids. Here's your key to the house, Abby, and the alarm code. Just set the alarm before you leave the house."
"Yes, ma'am."
Even though he'd gone in early, Lee wasn't surprised when he reached his office and found both Harry and Billy Melrose already there.
"I'm surprised you aren't in that chair with your feet on the desk, Billy," he said as the two visitors stood and shook his hand.
"Not my desk anymore, Scarecrow; that chair is strictly for you," Melrose, who had taken early retirement six years before after a near-fatal heart attack, was older – sixty-eight- grayer and much thinner, as the result of the strict diet his cardiologist had put him on - but seeing him back in the office that had been his for so many years just felt right. He resumed his seat and Harry said, "I asked Billy to join us here so we could talk about the problem we're having at the Foundation without being overheard. There's no question that Allred and Veasey will have to be sent home; they broke the law, and the foundation has a zero-tolerance drug policy. The real question is whether we have grounds to ask for Sutherland's resignation."
John Sutherland was the Thornton Foundation's executive director and one of the few people in senior leadership who wasn't Agency, but he'd come over from the Justice Department to take the job five years before when Harry had established the foundation. He'd come highly recommended, and the board had been pleased with his management of the foundation's day to day operations, so asking for his resignation was a very big step.
"Allred and Veasey have only been here two weeks; their drug use should have been caught when they were tested when they first arrived, unless they quit a month before to make sure it didn't show up," Billy said. "They could have done that and then resumed use, assuming that they wouldn't be caught in one of the random drug screenings."
"That's a very big 'if', though," Lee said.
"I agree," Harry said. "Either they're very stupid, or else they had some assurance that they wouldn't be selected for random testing. If that's the case, if someone was giving them preferential treatment, I want to know who and why."
"Allred and Veasey both come from very affluent families; we can't rule out the possibility of bribery," Lee said.
Harry's cellular phone buzzed. He checked the number and said, "I need to take this; it's Sutherland." He accepted the call and said, "Harry V. Thornton speaking. Hello, Sutherland."
He listened for a few moments before saying, "Very well. The board will accept your resignation, effective immediately. I expect you to be out of your office within the hour."
Harry ended the call and said, "Well, that was easier than I expected. He said he's been offered a job as head of security at Allred Investments in Philadelphia, with the stipulation that he leave the foundation immediately."
"I see that Mommy and Daddy are circling the wagons around their wayward little girl," Lee said. "If she's a habitual user, and I suspect that she is, they must have pulled some very big strings to make sure she got into the program."
"Yes, and we have a fair idea of which strings they pulled," Billy said in disgust. "It doesn't say much for our ability as a board to judge character if he was allowed to get away with this for God knows how long."
"I'm not sure it's been that long," Lee said. He'd turned on the computer on his desk and was accessing files even while they were discussing the situation. A moment later, he said, "Well, well, well. We have our connection, gentlemen; John Sutherland and Connor Allred were fraternity brothers at Brown twenty-five years ago. And get this – Sutherland was a scholarship student. Even in 1972, Ivy League schools like Brown weren't cheap."
"No, they weren't," Billy agreed. "So, we have a scholarship student, Sutherland, in the same fraternity as Allred, whose family is very wealthy and prominent in Philadelphia society. And then Sutherland finishes his degree and gets a government job in Washington, while Allred goes into the family brokerage firm. When Addison Allred decided that being a foundation intern would look good on her resume, Daddy called up his old frat brother and asked him to make sure that dear little Addy didn't get caught holding the joint, so to speak."
"Except she did, because she's stupid," Lee said. "And what's worse, she and her friend Veasey might have tried to drag Abigail Kozal down with them, if Phillip, Jamie and Kendra hadn't been on the same path when that creep attacked her in the park. I've checked with my contacts at APD and they tell me that the incident was very unusual; they haven't had any reports of other female joggers being attacked, and that usually that park is very safe. It's true that there's always a first time for everything, but the timing of that attack is very suspicious."
"Your instincts have always been good, Scarecrow," Harry said. "They should be, since Billy and I trained you. What are you thinking?"
"That Allred and Veasey may have been at the bottom of the attack; Abby told Phillip and Jamie that she jogged at that park every evening after work. If Allred and Veasey came out of their pot-induced fog long enough to take note of that, it's possible that they might have hired or otherwise convinced someone to attack her with the idea that she'd be scared off and would leave the program. They failed to realize that Abigail Kozal doesn't scare easily, and she doesn't go down without a fight."
"If we can find the guy, he's likely to start singing like a jailbird," Billy said.
"Jamie got a good description of him, and there's an APB out for him; sooner or later he'll do something stupid like Allred and Veasey did last night, driving while they were high on pot, and we'll catch him," Lee said.
"And now we turn to who's going to replace Sutherland," Harry said. "Billy has agreed to take over for now, but only until we can find someone."
"I have a suggestion," Lee said. "My cousin, Colonel Matthew Davis, is currently assigned to Fort Monroe, but he's already put in his retirement papers. He and his wife have reconciled and remarried after seven years apart – all his fault, he's the first to admit – and he wants to find a job in this area. Deb Davis has recently been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and he wants to be here to take care of her and make sure she gets the treatment she needs at Walter Reed. He's retiring as a full colonel with twenty-five years of commissioned service, so his retirement will be generous, but he still needs another job."
"Where is he now, Lee?" Harry asked.
"Across the street in the guest house. The wedding was last night at the base chapel at Andrews – his father, Major General Robert Davis, arranged that and the reception - and he and Deb have reservations at the Cumberland, but they can't check in until tomorrow afternoon."
"Call him and see if he can come over here for an interview," Harry said.
"He's on his honeymoon and it's barely eight o'clock, Harry," Billy said. "The board meeting isn't until eleven. At least give the man a chance to eat breakfast with his bride."