Chapter 14

Tonya and I left the car wash in her Chevy suburban. All these TV people drove huge SUVS. If she were a man, I would think it was a phallic symbol.

“Nice to meet you Mr Rogers,” she said.

“Welcome to the neighborhood,” I replied. “I have your files and I’ve read them all. It’s nice that this isn’t a murder. Something different for a change.”

“Have you ever worked on a political story?” she asked.

“No,” I replied. “Somehow I expect you have though.

While Tonya spent five minutes saying a simple “Yes”, I studied her. She was a short woman maybe five feet on her tippy toes. She had one of those workout bodies that women pay to develop. Her blond hair was quite lovely, I had no idea why she dyed the roots a very dark color. It was some kind of fancy hair cut and color treatment I was sure.

She was dressed in what they called business casual in those days. She drove in silence while I reviewed the files yet again. Mostly it was news media accounts of the election for sheriff in Henrico County Virginia. The election almost ten year before was one filled with dirty tricks and backstabbing. I read the Sheriff’s job description and couldn’t find anything to make the job appeal to anyone. Let alone the three men who were in that election. The questionable election had been held in 2010. The current Sheriff had been the winner of that election, and the next one. Word was that he was going to run in the next election as well.

It appeared that the current Sheriff had been given information from at least one of the loser’s campaign headquarters. Insider information was pretty valuable I expected. Would it sway the election probably not, but I didn’t know that.

It was also rumored that a news expose had been manufactured by the campaign committee to elect the current Sheriff. According to the fake story, there appeared to be a connection between the former Sheriff and organized human traffickers. Mostly all the illegal aliens were from the former soviet block, and the middle eastern countries. The girls were pulled from displaced persons camps. The prettiest ones were shipped to the USA to work in pop-up brothels it the DC area. There was an FBI investigation which cleared the Sheriff but not in time for the elections. Even in those days anything to do with illegal immigrants was toxic, so the shit all stuck to the former Sheriff.

All the misinformation got traced back to a PAC. The PAC could not be tied to the current Sheriff, but it was a Republican PAC and so was the new sheriff. Somehow the people believed him when he said that he was not involved. Of course there was all the crap that actually did happen on the former Sheriffs watch. The timing was suspect, but the facts on those scandals was never questioned. The Republican Sheriff had no record, so there was nothing for him to answer.

I called the Geek on my burner phone. “Hello there it’s you favorite researcher call me,”

“So was that call to the world famous Geek?” Tonya asked.

“Was what the Geek?” I asked.

“That phone call,” she asked.

“What phone call. You have to stop taking those party drugs,” I said. “I think you just had a flashback.”

“I don’t take drugs,” Tonya said indignantly.

“Not even steroids or human growth hormones?” I asked. She didn’t bother to answer that one at all.

Fifteen minutes later I had a text message with a burner email address, I saved it until I could get my little plastic toy computer to a WIFI hot spot. Tonya pulled into a McDonalds restaurant just off the highway. While I drank their strongest coffee, I sent the email with my list of questions, and background information for the Geek.

Then I just sat back and enjoyed the ride to the Richmond Virginia area. I allowed Tonya and the suburban’s robot to chose the motel. It came up with a Best Western efficiency motel. It suited me fine, all I needed was a bed and access to WIFI and a coffee pot.

“So what are we going to do tonight,” Tonya asked.

“Can you find the former Sheriff’s address?” I asked.

“No, that’s your job,” she said.

“Right, then relax and let me do it,” I said. “Why don’t you and your computer find us a place for dinner.”

The restaurant she found was all chrome and glass. It was filled with over priced food and linen table cloths. In other words an over priced liberals dream place to be seen inside. It, no doubt, made a great face book shot.

When we finished dinner, I checked my phone and found a ‘you have mail message’. The email was a package of information, so I waited till I got back to the motel to download it.

Tonya still suffered from oral diarrhea which drove me crazy. She couldn’t answer a question without telling me the life history of everyone involved in the answer.

I had to take the information from the Geek into my bedroom to get some peace and quiet. I did my research, of the research from the Geek. It started with the location information of the former Sheriff of Henrico County. It was still early so I tried to arrange an appointment to interview the former sheriff.

“I’m not interested in being interviewed these days,” the former Sheriff told me.

“If I were you, I would want to go on the record. It’s been long enough, so that it won’t sound like sour grapes,” I said.

“Who did you say you were with?” he asked.

“I own Roger’s Research. I do research for various news organization and entertainment outlets. This one is for a documentary about the dirty tricks in your election of 2010. I figured you might have something to say,” I replied.

“I’ll give it some thought,” he said. “And then get back with you.