Frankly Speaking - A Frank Rozzani Detective Novel (#1)

by Don Massenzio

Frank and Anita headed south on the I-295 connector. Exited on San Jose in Mandarin and drove into St. Johns County over the Julington Creek Bridge. Once over the bridge, San Jose turns into State Route 13. They enjoyed the beautiful houses and live oak trees with their beards of Spanish moss as they passed through the area known as Switzerland. They eventually came to the Shands Bridge, which is the farthest south of the seven bridges that cross the St. Johns River in the Jacksonville area. As they crossed the Shands, they saw the port with many of the expensive pleasure boats docked in the river. As they entered Green Cove Springs, a County Police Cruiser settled in behind Frank's car and the rotating lights came on. Frank and Anita shared a look.

  "Looks like they've been expecting us," Frank said while looking into the rearview mirror.

  Frank pulled off onto the shoulder and the cruiser pulled in behind him. A large, mustached, shaved-head officer emerged from behind the wheel and walked to Frank's car. Frank rolled down the window and greeted the officer with a smile.

  "Good morning officer. What can I do for you?" Frank asked.

  "You can follow me. I'm going to escort you to Mr. Cobb's property so that I can make sure you don't lose your way."

  His tone was not friendly.

  "We know our way officer. We were maybe going to stop for a quick lunch first," Anita said from the passenger seat.

  "Aren't you out of your jurisdiction, Officer Velasquez?"

  "I'm not trying to cross jurisdictions. This is my day off. We're just two private citizens visiting your town and we haven't broken the law."

  "Not so far."

  "It's alright, Anita. I've lost my appetite. Let's follow the nice officer," Frank said.

  The officer grinned, shook his head, and walked back to his cruiser. As he pulled around, Frank pulled off the shoulder and followed him to Cobb's property.

  They drove through the small, but well-kept downtown area and then exited to a tree-lined two lane road. After about a mile, the county cruiser turned right onto a private road. Frank followed. After about 200 yards the police cruiser stopped at a guard shack. Frank recognized it from the satellite image of Cobb's property. Officer Friendly chatted with the guard for a minute and pointed back to Frank's car. He then got back into his car, moved out of the way, and motioned for Frank to pull forward.

  Frank pulled up to the guard shack. The guard was not your typical rent-a-cop. He appeared to be ex-military. It dawned on Frank that this was overkill for a property that belonged to your average prominent attorney. The guard asked Frank and Anita for ID. He looked them over and passed them back, instructing Frank to follow the road to the main house and to pull up in front of the main entrance. The guard then opened the mechanical chain link gate.

  The main house was an all-white three-story building with six pillars and a large porch on the front. Frank pulled around the circular driveway to the front entrance. He expected burly guards to emerge and scrutinize him and Anita closely before letting them get near Cobb. Instead, they were greeted at the door by Cobb himself. Cobb was dressed in khaki pants and a blue dress shirt. He held a mug of coffee. He didn't look as menacing as he did when Frank encountered him in his office. He looked like any old grandfather enjoying a relaxing Sunday at home.

  "Well, Mr. Rozzani and Ms. Velasquez, you found me," Cobb said. "Now, what can I do for you?"

  "I think we need to have a talk, Mr. Cobb," Frank answered. "Our investigation of Maggie Bullock's disappearance keeps pointing back to you and your connections."

  "I will speak to you, Mr. Rozzani. Hopefully we can separate the fact from the supposition and put any suspicion of my involvement to rest. Please come to my office. Officer Velasquez, since my great nephew is your superior, for your best interest and his, I would request that you remain in the sitting room while Mr. Rozzani and I speak. My assistant will provide you with snacks and a beverage."

  "That's fine sir."

  Anita took a seat across from a muscular male assistant seated at a rather feminine secretary's desk in a room to the right of Cobb's office. She knew that Frank would fill her in on the details later anyway, and this gave her a chance to observe the household activity.

  Frank followed Cobb into his darkly-paneled office with matching dark furniture and sat in one of his guest chairs. Cobb sat behind his over-sized desk.

  "Well, Mr. Rozzani, you certainly decided not to take my advice regarding this case. As a result, you've surfaced a great deal of irrelevant information that has put me and my interests in a position of risk. This was all in pursuit of the crazy notion that Maggie Bullock is anything other than a typical teenage runaway."

  "Mr. Cobb, Maggie's parents are still adamant that she is not a runaway. They believe she was taken and is being held against her will. Based on my investigation, I tend to agree with them."

  "Parents like to believe the best about their children and children like to spin circumstances in the best possible light for their parents. Travis and Margaret want to believe she is the perfect child, but her indiscretions at the age of 16 contradict that image, wouldn't you say?"

  "Not necessarily. Let's look at a hypothetical situation, shall we? Suppose a naive teenager becomes infatuated with a charismatic figure for whom she has a great deal of respect. That person takes advantage of that infatuation and makes a bad decision when it comes to matters of the flesh and an underage girl. Then suppose that person's lack of good judgment has put other influential people at risk. Do you see how the light might shine back on that influential person when that teenager turns up missing?"

  "It's all circumstantial and utterly ridiculous, Mr. Rozzani. I have little regard for you and your associates. Your methods for gathering information and jumping to conclusions seem less than above-board. Of course, I have my own methods and connections that allow me to gather interesting information. I promise you that if my connection to Christianity Today becomes public along with allegations against any of its employees, I might have a reason to pass your current whereabouts to certain devious characters in Western New York."

  Frank was incensed at Cobb's threat. He did, however, expect something like this.

  "Mr. Cobb, if I determine that your connections to Christianity Today or the actions of Pastor Worthington will help bring Maggie Bullock home, I will not hesitate to use that information. As for your threat, if you think I am intimidated by alerting anyone of my whereabouts, you should probably do your homework a bit more thoroughly. Unlike you, I have nothing else to lose."

  With that, Frank rose from his chair and left Cobb sitting behind his desk. Anita saw Frank emerge from the office and knew by his expression that it was time to leave. She joined Frank as he exited the house. They both got into the Lexus and Frank drove away from the property silently.

  After they left Green Cove Springs and had crossed back over the Shands Bridge, Frank was calm enough to fill Anita in on what Cobb had said.

  "So Cobb is still in the thick of it?"

  "He is either in the thick of it or there are an amazing number of coincidences," Frank said.

  "Well at least I may have some information related to Cobb's special project that is keeping him from the office."

  "What would that be?"

  "A doctor stopped by to see Cobb while you were in with him. He seemed anxious to speak with him and said he would be back. Maybe Cobb is having health issues."

  "Did you get the doctor's name?"

  "Doctor Wells. He said he was going back to his office, but would be back within an hour. That means he's local to Green Cove Springs or very close by."

  "I'll have to check him out," Frank said. "Maybe he has a specialty that will lead us to what is going on with Cobb."

  Anita and Frank talked about the next steps as they traveled the rest of the way back to Frank's trailer.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN