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

by Don Massenzio

Frank had a strange feeling as he approached the Cobb property. Something didn't seem right. When he pulled up to the guard shack prepared to do whatever it took to get on the property, he was almost disappointed when he found it deserted. The gate was closed, so he cautiously got out of his car and tried the door so he could flip the switch that opened it. The door was locked. Frank grabbed his Glock from the glove compartment and broke the glass on the door. He unlocked the door, opened it and flipped the switch opening the gate. He drove through and followed the driveway to the main house. Frank parked by the front door, grabbed his Glock, and tried the door. It was unlocked.

  Without stopping, he went directly to Cobb's office expecting to find it empty. Cobb was not there. He searched the rest of the house. It was deserted. This was not good. Cobb was the quickest path to finding Maggie and saving the other girls as well. Where was Cobb? Frank couldn't waste much time contemplating the situation. He called Jonesy.

  "Jones," came the response.

  Frank told him what he discovered on Cobb's property.

  "Well, FDLE will be there to take control. They have been instructed to take orders from you and to provide you with any evidence you think will help find Maggie."

  "Good work. I guess the deputy AG didn't get mad at you."

  "No. He said he would help cover my tracks and offered me a job again. He is also issuing warrants to seize Dr. Wells' records and wants to personally head up the investigation of Judge Jameson, but first and foremost, he wants us to find his sister."

  "I think our best bet is to let FDLE look at the evidence here at Cobb's place. They can search the place in the light of day and might find other clues that will lead us to Maggie. Stand by with your computer."

  "I have 3.6 Gigahertz of power and I'm not afraid to use it."

  "I need to find Cobb. I'll start with his house and the office in Ponte Vedra."

  As Frank was leaving Cobb's house, the first FDLE vehicles were starting to arrive. The FDLE or Florida Department of Law Enforcement is a statewide police force that is more powerful than any local police force, even the state troopers. The FDLE is the equivalent of Florida's FBI. FDLE personnel descended on Cobb's property like a small army. They brought panel-type evidence gathering trucks and even a small bus, presumably for the girls. Frank was approached by a giant of a man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses.

  "Are you Rozzani?"

  "I am."

  "I'm Special Agent in Charge Hammersmith. I have orders from the top to follow your lead. You say jump, and we'll say 'how high'.”

  Frank briefed Hammersmith on the situation starting with Cobb's disappearance and then told him what evidence they needed to look for.

  "This guy is one sick character."

  "Yes he is. That's why I need to leave and find him."

  "We've got several units out looking for Stanton Cobb. We need you here to help us sort out the evidence and listen in on the questioning. I’ve pulled agents from other cases in this area of the state and threw this unit together in a hurry. It was flagged as priority one from Tallahassee. I could use your help.”

  "What questioning?"

  "I'm going to have the hostages evacuated so they can get the proper medical attention. Then we'll round up the staff and start piecing together what was going on here. We'll also start gathering evidence with a focus on Cobb's office. My team will go over everything quickly and thoroughly. You and I will man the command center and go through anything relevant."

  Frank understood the FDLE process, but he really wanted to be involved in the search for Cobb. He could be anywhere and it probably made more sense to look for clues here at his property.

  A command center was quickly set up in Cobb's living room which was a short distance from his office. Long tables, computers, and telephones were also set up for their use. Frank really hoped they found something relevant.

  After about a half hour, the first files began to come out. Everything was carefully categorized before it went to Frank and Hammersmith for review. Frank knew what to expect from each of the drawers, but had to project some amount of surprise.

  Finally, the ledger came out and Frank quickly showed Hammersmith the coding for the names in each entry. This had to move along.

  "So we think Cobb was kidnapping these girls, keeping them until they had their babies, selling the babies and then selling the girls into human trafficking," Hammersmith concluded. "What a sick bastard. There must be 500 girls on the list."

  Frank was glad to see Hammersmith figure out the case so quickly.

  "And, Maggie Bullock was his law partners' daughter. I repeat, what a sick bastard."

  Hammersmith went into Cobb's office to relay this latest information to his team so they could refocus their search for relevant evidence.

  About ten minutes later, one of the FDLE team members emerged with a leather-bound notebook.

  "This was in a false bottom under the pencil drawer," she told Hammersmith.

  That was one place Jonesy and Anita didn't have a chance to look. Frank opened the notebook as Hammersmith watched over Frank's shoulder.

  The notebook was in the same scrawling handwriting as the ledger. It had five columns. The first had numbers separated by commas. This was followed by a column containing a string of characters, then a date, another string of characters, and an amount. There were no titles over the columns. Frank tried his code deciphering technique on the first column of characters. It read CVAZJ. Frank translated it to DUBAI.

  "I think you're on to something, Rozzani," Hammersmith said.

  Frank moved on to the fourth column. It read ZYDMLBCSRL. It translated to AXELMAERSK.

  "That doesn't make sense to me," Frank said.

  "I don't recognize it either," Hammersmith agreed.

  "It's a ship," a voice said from behind Hammersmith. It was the female FDLE office who had discovered the notebook.

  "What's that agent?"

  "It's a ship. Maersk is a shipping company. It's probably a cargo ship."

  "It makes sense," Frank said. "We need to confirm it, though."

  "We can check with the Port of Jacksonville office. If we can get their cargo ship manifests, we might find something," Hammersmith said.

  "I might have a quicker way if I can photograph these pages."

  "Normally, I would say 'no way', but Tallahassee has given you a blank check. Let's speed this up if we can."

  Frank used his phone to photograph the pages and then called Jonesy.

  "What have you got, Frank."

  "Another task for you."

  Frank explained the notebook pages.

  "So the names follow the same pattern. Great. I wrote a little program to translate the names on the ledger to save time. It'll work on the notebook pages as well."

  "That's good, we need this quickly."

  "Frank, one more thing. On the ledger, do you remember that some of the entries had A's in the date column"?

  "Yea. What does it mean?"

  "None of the entries with an 'A' had corresponding adoption records and the amount was blank. I think the 'A' stands for babies that were aborted. Out of 562 entries, there are 47 A's."

  "Great, add murder to Cobb's list of things we can charge him with. We just have to find him."

  "I'll let you know what I find from these pages."

  "Thanks."

  When Frank hung up, Hammersmith gave him a curious look.

  "What?"

  "So, you had access to the ledger before today?"

  "We may have come across it during our investigation."

  "Did your investigation have anything to do with that hole we found in the fence at the back of the property? You could have saved us some time."

  "Agent Hammersmith, you and I both know that evidence discovered without going through the proper channels is not usable in court. I knew that your fine team would find it quickly. The notebook, however, is new. The agent here found that on her own and knew that the second charac
ter string was a ship. That saved us a lot of time and possibly some lives."

  "Yes. Good job agent... What is your name?" Hammersmith asked.

  "Agent Shurr, sir."

  "Nice work Shurr. When this is over, let's be sure to talk about your future with FDLE."

  Just then, Frank's cell phone came to life. It was Jonesy.

  "Did you run into a problem, Jonesy?"

  "No. I'm done. They're all cargo ships. The dates associated with each one are when they set sail from Jacksonville and the cities were their destinations. I don't even want to think about the dollar amounts. If we're right, Cobb sold those girls into human trafficking rings for less than he sold each of their babies. Why?"

  "We may never know, Jonesy. What about the numbers in the first column?"

  "As I compared the notebook to the ledger, the numbers of the entries on the ledger are all associated with dates that are before the date the ship sailed from Jacksonville. The girls must have been grouped and shipped to each destination."

  "That means they were kept somewhere while waiting to be shipped. Where?"

  "I don't know, but here is the kicker; the last date in the notebook is tomorrow and the ship associated with it is bound for Qatar."

  "Maggie could be headed for that ship"

  "That's what I was thinking"

  "Jonesy, I need you to brainstorm and figure out where Cobb holds the girls before they are sent overseas. I want to get to Maggie before she is loaded onto that ship."

  "I'm already on it," Jonesy said as he hung up.

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE