Chapter 40: God is Love

February 18, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“I’m truly shocked that Ernie Irvan is back racing full-time,” Jason said when I called him on Sunday evening after the Daytona 500.

“Same here. And winning his Twin-125 to boot. I thought Ironhead might have his shot at winning the race after he won the pole.”

“What’s surprising, really, is that was his first pole ever at the 500,” Jason said. “And the only thing that kept him from winning was a bit of tire strategy. I mean, that’s part of racing, of course, but he never could get by Jarrett who had four fresh tires, even though he could run with him.”

“Bill looked pretty good, leading about thirty laps, but at the end, he couldn’t get to the front.”

“He should have a good year. Owning his own team has always been the way he’s won. Well, when he has Ernie building Engines and Dan helping build the cars. Want to speak to Abs?”

“Sure!” I exclaimed.

A few seconds later Abbie came on the line.

“Hi, Steve!”

“How’s the New York Yankee doing in North Carolina?”

She laughed, “I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say, but I love it here. Obviously, Jason’s here, and we have Krissy, but people are so nice and friendly, and I like taking walks in the country. Don’t get me wrong, I like the big city, too. I made Jason take me to New York between Christmas and New Year’s. I had to get my fix.”

“Did you take him to any of your old hangouts?”

“Yes! Even hanging around you didn’t prepare him for THAT! How are Gabby, Henry, and Trish?”

“Good. Henry and Trish are getting married. You’ll get an invitation.”

“Awesome! When?”

“Eventually,” I laughed. “I’d guess next year. She’s busy trying to make partner in her law firm.”

“He’s still working at the record store?”

“Yes. Anyway, the main reason I called was to confirm Matthew’s plans for next weekend.”

“We’ll meet him at the airport on Friday night, and send him back to you on Sunday evening.”

“He gave you all the flight information?”

“He called yesterday. We’re all set. We’re looking forward to seeing him.”

“Cool. Thanks, Abbie! You guys should come visit once the NASCAR season is over.”

“We will! And you should come down for a race with Matthew!”

“Someday! Things are pretty damned busy here! Talk to you on Friday after Matthew arrives.”

“Sounds good!”

We said ‘goodbye’ and hung up, and I went to the kitchen to begin making dinner.

February 20, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“I’m not sure that’s the right way to play this,” Ted Farley said.

“What are our options?” I asked. “Do nothing; let them know we know; tell the detectives what we know? The problem with that last option is we don’t know who’s corrupt and who isn’t. For all we know, the detectives are fully aware of what happened. Think about the facts. You found that CPD pin. The police never acknowledged it. But, during the second break-in, with the guys wearing the same jackets, the pin was gone. What does that tell you?”

“That the police may have seen the pin and warned them off. Or that they realized it was dumb to wear the pin. Or they lost it. There are plenty of scenarios which don’t involve police corruption.”

“And the Academy recruits aren’t corrupt?” I asked.

“Sorry, I meant in the general case,” Ted said.

“So what do you propose then? Simply telling the cops we found the CPD pin? Or telling them you can name names?”

“I think at this point the best option is to take the still photo we have and show it to Detective Matteson. Katy Anisimov agrees.”

“OK. Courier the still to me and I’ll get it to the detectives.”

“You’ll have it later today. Along with a nearly identical image from the second break-in which shows it most likely to be the same guy.”

“Thanks.”

True to his word, Ted had the still image his expert had made from the videotape in my hands via courier by mid-afternoon. I called the precinct and was told that Detective Matteson came on shift at 8:00pm, and would call during the evening. She called about 8:20pm and just before 10:00pm arrived at the house.

“This image was taken from the videotape of the first break-in,” I said. “As you can see, my private investigator identified a CPD pin on the jacket being worn by one of the guys. And that same guy appears to be in the video of the second break-in.”

“You sure know how to kick my shift off with an ugly bag of hurt,” she sighed. “I take it these are for us?”

“Yes. We can print more if necessary. You should have both original videotapes in your evidence locker.”

“We do. What made you think of this?”

“I didn’t. It was the consultant from Global Security who suggested it once the second break-in happened and there was nothing else to go on. They did a frame-by-frame analysis with some very high-end video equipment and this is what they found.”

“OK. Let us see what we can find out. Thank you, Mr. Adams.”

“You’re welcome.”

February 22, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

“Happy Birthday, Jesse!” I said on Thursday morning when he came into the main house.

“Thanks, Dad! I beat Mom One at chess last night!”

“Good for you! See you tonight for dinner?”

“Yes! I just came to get my brothers and sisters so we could walk to school.”

I followed him to the sunroom where I hugged all the kids except Ashley, who I picked up and held as her siblings left.

“I want to go to school!” Ashley said, sounding sad.

“I know, Cinderella. In the Fall. You get to play with the other kids at daycare.”

“But I want to be with Albert and Stephie!”

“I understand, but you have to be five and then wait for school to start again.”

“Why?”

“Because those are the rules. Your brothers and sisters had to follow them, too. Let’s get your jacket on because it’s almost time to go.”

“OK,” she agreed, still sounding sad.

I’d encountered this situation with her siblings in the past, and there wasn’t much I could do about it, other than encourage her that it wouldn’t be TOO long before she could go to school. I helped her get her coat on, and then she, Elyse and I headed out to my car for the drive to the office.

When we arrived, I took Ashley to the room where the daycare co-op was and handed her over to Kate, then headed to my office. There was a note saying that Eve needed to see me, so I went to her office.

“Patrick procured two pre-paid phones in Houston. He’ll have them for us when you go to Ohio tomorrow. Are you sure you don’t need me with you?”

“It’s just a day trip, and I’m actually not meeting with Tony. I’ll put the phone and charger in a plain box and seal it, and have Joyce give it to Anthony when she sees him. He’ll call me on the other phone once he has it.”

“OK. We should go shooting soon.”

“Sure. This weekend isn’t good, but the weekend after is OK.”

“I’ll let McKenzie know we need her place!”

“Sounds like a plan. Saturday?”

“Sure!” she replied happily.

I nodded and headed to my office where Kimmy greeted me, then brought me green tea while I checked my email and my calendar for the day. I was happy in that I had no meetings other than a lunch with Melissa scheduled, and I managed, with only two short interruptions to code for an entire day for the first time in a long time.

At the end of the day, I gathered up my things, got Ashley from daycare, and then Elyse and I headed home. Kara had started on dinner, and Jennifer was bringing the cake, so there wasn’t anything for me to do except play with the kids for about thirty minutes before dinner was ready. Jesse and his moms arrived just before 6:00pm and one look at Jennifer told me she’d found the book.

“Turnabout is fair play!” I grinned before she said anything. “And how did you find the book?”

“It was tucked between his mattresses,” Jennifer laughed. “I changed the sheets this morning and it slid out.”

“You never were good against the Slav defense!”

“Do you remember all those sessions where Larry would review our games and instantly find the mistakes?”

“Not ALL our games,” I smirked.

“I don’t recall keeping score for THOSE!”

“Sure we did! Just not with chess notation! And that’s where this crazy thing called my life REALLY got started!”

“I do believe it was Melanie who got things started on the crazy train!”

“Except that when she started dating, that would have been the end of it! But let’s not rehash ancient history! I am NOT complaining.”

“You BETTER not!” Jessica laughed, coming up behind me and putting her arms around me. “Kara says dinner is ready.”

We all gathered in the dining room where we ate dinner, sang to Jesse, then ate cake. He received his presents, which included a set of poker chips and cards from me, and Heroes of Might and Magic from Kara and Jessica, something he would be able to play on the Dell Pentium PC I had in my study for work, as it wasn’t available for MacOS.

When Jesse and his moms went back to the coach house, Kara, Jessica and I put the little ones to bed and then watched a tape of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with the older kids before putting them to bed, just before it was time to walk Jessica to work.

February 23, 1996, Cincinnati, Ohio

My flight landed at Greater Cincinnati Airport just past 8:00am local time and by 8:35am I was in my rental car, heading north to Cincinnati. My first stop was Joyce’s office where I dropped off the package for Anthony which included the phone, a charger, and the phone number for the DEA agent he’d need to contact. In my note I suggested he use random pay phones for his calls to the DEA rather than the pre-paid phone. I also noted that my pre-paid number was the first speed dial programmed into his phone and that he should call me on Monday. Joyce promised to get it to Anthony without Connie knowing. I thanked her then headed to my first meeting with a medical practice in Springdale.

When that meeting ended, I drove back downtown for my meeting with Ben van Hoek at Volstead and Braun. We spent some time catching up, and then I met with their IT person, and reviewed their server configuration and made a few recommendations for upgrades. Just before noon I was back in Ben’s office.

“Had your ‘Skyline’ fix recently?” he asked.

I chuckled, “No. And if you offer Graeter’s for dessert, I’m definitely in!”

He laughed, and we headed to Skyline for 5-way chili, which I hadn’t visited since Stephie and I had come to Cincinnati for Debbie C’s wedding thirteen years previously. That thought brought a tear to my eye and a brief hitch in my breathing which Ben noticed.

“Are you OK? Do you need a doctor?”

I smiled, “Only if he can repair a hole in my heart.”

“That doesn’t sound medical.”

I shook my head, “It’s not. The last time I ate Skyline chili was in 1983 when Stephie Grant and I came to Ohio for my friend’s wedding. Stephie died of ovarian cancer at age 25 four years later.”

“We can go somewhere else if you prefer.”

“No,” I said with a smile, “she’d kick my ass from here to Covington if we did that.”

“Feisty?”

“A true Southern Belle and a Georgia Peach.”

“1983? You were in Chicago and estranged from Kara, I think. That’s when Becky was hoping you two could get back together.”

I nodded, “Ancient history now. I was glad to hear she, Andy, and the kids are doing well. She deserves it.”

Ben nodded, “That she does. And whatever it was you said to her that last time you talked, worked.”

I kept my face passive, because it wasn’t the talking that made the difference. Sure, we had talked, but we had screwed ourselves silly as well.

“I’m glad.”

“And I’m glad to hear from you that things have finally calmed down and pass for normal, at least in your crazy situation!”

We reached Skyline and I ordered 5-Way, which included about a week’s worth of carbs, and after we ate, we walked to Graeter’s and I had even MORE carbs. We walked back to the building where Volstead and Braun had their offices, and Ben and I shook hands. He went inside, and I decided to take a walk around downtown to see what had changed and burn off a bit of energy.

Riverfront Stadium was still the same, though the Reds and Bengals had, foolishly in my opinion, sold the naming rights to Cincinnati Gas & Electric, which was now known as Cinergy. Ben had told me that the stadium didn’t have long to live, as there was a ballot issue in Hamilton County to pass a sales tax to fund the building of new baseball-only and football-only stadia. I wondered what that would mean for Riverfront Coliseum, as it was very close to Riverfront Stadium which would certainly be torn down to make way for whatever new stadia were built.

Fountain Square was basically the same, and the Carew Tower was still the tallest building in the city, but many of the stores and restaurants had changed. I knew things were changing in Milford, as a bypass for Route 28 had been built not too far from the High School, which was actually now the Junior High, the buildings being swapped due to increased enrollment and the near-impossibility of expanding the High School because of its location on the property. I hadn’t actually been to Milford, but my dad had told me those things.

I checked my watch and saw it was close to time for my final meeting, so I headed to my car and drove across the river to Fort Mitchell where one of our newest legal software customers was located. I spent about thirty minutes doing what the sales team called a ‘meet and greet’ then headed to Greater Cincinnati Airport to catch my flight back to Chicago.

February 25, 1996, Chicago, Illinois

On Sunday morning, Kara and I went to church with Jesse so that I could hold the financial seminar which Father Basil had requested. I very much enjoyed the service, which was the first one I’d attended since Jesse’s baptism. He brought us antidoron and then returned to stand with Vasily and Michelle, who was wearing a maternity top which disguised what I was sure was a small bulge in her abdomen.

We joined the congregation for coffee hour and a light lunch, sitting with Andrei, Svetlana, and their three children. She was visibly pregnant, and they’d have four very soon. We enjoyed our talk with them, and when we finished our lunch, I went to sit next to Father Basil. The ladies of the church quickly cleared away the dishes while the men rearranged the room for the seminar, which was taking the place of the normal adult Sunday School.

“Father,” I said quietly, “I think the teens should be offered the opportunity to attend, or at least those fifteen and up.”

“That’s a good idea; let me invite them.”

He made the announcement and sent one of the ladies to the teen Sunday School class, which Vasily taught with a man named Dave, to relay the message. I was pleased to see the entire High School class come into the room with Dave and Vasily. I scanned the room and noticed that Bill Morrison wasn’t in attendance, but nearly every other adult in the congregation was, at least by a rough count.

Father Basil introduced me with a brief speech and then turned the podium over to me. I began with a discussion about budgeting, then explained the basic concepts of investing, and the possible ways to invest. After about ninety minutes of lecture, I took questions, which took nearly two hours before nobody raised their hand in response to my request for further questions.

“That was excellent, Stephen,” Father Basil said. “And a very different take from what we’ve heard before. You’ve actually followed what you taught?”

I nodded, “As have about a dozen others. All of their portfolios have seen massive gains from when they started. But you absolutely have to remember what I said about putting yourself in a position where you are forced to sell. The other thing is to be very wary of speculative stocks, such as the ones you had in your building and retirement funds.

“The other thing is proper asset allocation, and that’s something that has to be individualized, and depends on a host of things. As I said, I can’t really provide individualized advice, first of all because I’m not licensed to do so by the State or Federal government, but also because it’s a very complex task and I don’t have the time to do it for everyone. In YOUR case, I’ve asked Bruce Grady to help you determine the best situation, and I’ll cover his fee.”

“Thank you. Is the government truly that strict?”

“Absolutely. In fact, if Bill Morrison is giving individualized advice to anyone, including you, and suggesting specific stocks, he could get in serious trouble with the SEC. That’s especially true if he’s suggesting stocks which are risky to investors who are not considered ‘professional’ by the SEC. As a stock broker, there are more rules than you can imagine which limit what he’s legally allowed to say. Bruce Grady has more leeway as he’s both a registered financial advisor and a CPA, and he makes no commissions on the stocks he recommends, nor does he earn his living by selling stocks.”

“I had no idea!”

“A lot of people don’t. They simply put money in mutual funds in their 401K or IRA and that’s the extent of what they do. And usually they make those decisions based on some simple worksheet their employer provides. And if you don’t want to spend much time, that’s what you do. But there are costs associated with mutual funds which you pay for the convenience and having someone else do the legwork. To me, that’s usually not worth it.”

“What do your employees do?”

I smiled, “Mostly follow a general strategy similar to what I laid out. Our 401K has a self-directed option which lets you buy individual stocks. It’s set up as a DRIP, so any dividends automatically go towards buying new shares in the company from which you received the dividends. It’s amazing how fast things grow. As I said, the magic of compounding.”