Frankly Speaking - A Frank Rozzani Detective Novel (#1)
Page 13
Jonesy was back in his office ready to redirect his efforts into research on Stanton Cobb's background. He found that Cobb entered FSU in 1963 at the age of 22. That seemed like a good place to start. Florida State University was the first state university in Florida founded in 1851 in the state capital of Tallahassee. Cobb earned a four year degree in 1967 and went on to the newly-formed FSU College of Law. He was a stellar student. He was the editor of the FSU Law Review in his 2nd and 3rd years. As Jonesy perused the online archives, he came upon a picture that sent his research in a completely new direction. The picture showed a young Stanton, freshly graduated from law school, with his beaming parents, Dorcas Cobb and Ophelia Drake-Cobb.
Drake, as in Lieutenant Robert William "Billy Bob/Bubba" Drake?
That connection would definitely make things more interesting. Jonesy began to search back through public records. This included birth, marriage, divorce, and death records. He found that Ophelia Drake married Dorcas Cobb in 1940. She had three siblings; a sister, Ruth, and two brothers, Rufus and Jedediah. Rufus Drake had a son named William and he had a son that he named William Robert. That made Stanton Cobb's mother the great aunt of Lieutenant Drake. It appeared that the Drake family had two distinct factions. Ophelia and Jedediah married well and were respected members of society. Ruth was married and divorced three times and had apparently committed suicide. Rufus was a police officer as was the son William and grandson William Robert. The connection between Drake and Cobb had been established.
Does that connect Cobb to our case?
Finding out was the next step. Cobb was becoming the central connection in the case. He was a partner to the Bullocks, connected to their former and current churches, and now he was connected to Drake who had tried to discourage them from the case, both overtly and covertly. That was too many coincidences.
Jonesy decided to call Frank and fill him in on what he had found.
Frank was on hold waiting for Travis Bullock III to come to the phone. His administrative assistant told Frank that she had been instructed to find Mr. Bullock immediately if he called. While he was on hold, Jonesy's number rang in to his cell phone. Frank would return his call after speaking to Bullock. After another minute, the phone clicked and Travis Bullock III spoke.
"Mr. Rozzani. I was about to call you today. Some interesting things have been happening since I started digging into the past of our person of interest."
"What kinds of things, Mr. Bullock?"
"I'd rather not cover it on the phone. In fact, I'd like to meet in person. There are some things I'd like to share with you, but I don't want to let them out of my control until we have a chance to meet."
"Where and when did you have in mind, Mr. Bullock?"
"Please call me Travis, Frank. Let's meet halfway. There's a great diner called Biff's in Lake City."
"I know the place. What time would you like to meet?"
It's noon now. How about 2PM? I'll clear my afternoon. I don't need to be in the office on a Saturday anyway. Oh, and be sure to bring Mr. Jones if he's available."
"That sounds great. I'll check with Jonesy and we'll see you then."
Frank ended the call and called Jonesy back. Jonesy filled Frank in on his Cobb family tree. Frank told Jonesy about his call with the younger Travis Bullock. They agreed to talk about the Cobb-Drake connection on their way to Lake City.
Frank had some time before he and Jonesy had to drive to Lake City so he decided to call Anita Velasquez to see if she knew anything about Drake's little pranks. She answered her cell phone with her familiar pet name for him.
"Hey Piano Boy."
"Hey yourself."
"I haven't heard from you in a couple of days. Have you had any luck tracking down dirt on the good pastor?"
Frank filled her in on his call with Travis Bullock, III.
"So you're going to meet him today? He must have something juicy for you," Anita said when Frank finished.
"We will see. I don't get the impression that he is one to exaggerate. I do, however, have something interesting for you to follow up on if you're interested"
"Hmmm. Let's see. I've reached my quota for arresting naked drunk people on the beach, so anything you have is going to be more interesting. What have you got?"
Frank filled her in on the information about Lt. Drake's ties to the pranks on Jonesy, the Sun Dog, and himself. He also told her about Drake's ties to Cobb.
"So Bubba has been a bad boy. Of course, we could never prove it and he would skate even if we did," Anita said.
"I don't care about Drake. I want to know what Cobb is up to. He seems to be turning up everywhere we look in this case. Now, he is conveniently away on some special project. Can you try to find out where he might be?"
"Sure. Drake seems to be missing on some kind of fishing trip as well. Maybe I'll get lucky and find them together."
"I'm not sure I'd call that luck. Maybe interesting."
They said goodbye. Frank headed out to the car to pick up Jonesy and head to Lake City, about an hour west of Jacksonville where I-10, which stretches west to California, meets I-75, which stretches north to Canada, intersect. It was a small city and a rest stop for many travelers. As Frank and Jonesy navigated through the Osceola National Forest, they recapped what they knew about Maggie Bullock's disappearance. Unfortunately, it wasn't much. She was a good student. She was religious. She had a mystery adult lover. She was pregnant. She was missing. The local cast of characters on the borders of her disappearance did not want Frank and Jonesy looking for her or investigating her disappearance. The police insisted she was a runaway. The man in charge of the case was an idiot who was committing acts of vandalism against Frank and his associates. These pranks apparently had the endorsement of his elderly relative. It sounded like a bad soap opera.