Chapter 8

The following characters appear in this chapter:

Hugh Johnson

CEO of company that Jake worked for, 5’-11’’ tall, 190 pounds, 52 years old, gray hair, blue eyes

Angie

Carol’s daughter, raped, 5’-0’’ tall, 95 pounds, 12 years old, blond hair, blue eyes

Calisa DeBrahm

Angie’s Doctor, 5’-9’’ tall, 160 pounds, 40 years old or so, short chestnut brown hair, very blue eyes, former Army Major in the Medical corps

When Hollie first suggested that I retire, I wondered what I would do. It wasn’t long before I was busy in not just the parish but in the community at large as well. I was especially drawn to the plight of older citizens. They often had problems getting around, and some of them needed someone to talk to, or to get them out of their house or apartment and involve them with others of their age and background. They always seemed happy to see me, and I became friends with many of them who I visited on a regular basis.

In addition to this, Hollie also put me in charge of contributions to various charities. She had a list of the charities that her family had been contributing to over the years. The list was extensive, and the amounts contributed each year large. While I had contributed to various charities during their annual campaign, they had been minor amounts. Now Hollie wanted me to decide what charities to continue to support. This was an entirely different matter.

Fortunately, there are now many ways to check up on most charities and to determine how the money was being spent. This wasn’t difficult for me, as I had been checking on the books of the subsidiaries of the company that I had previously worked for. I wasn’t pleased with some of the things that I learned and made suggestions to Hollie on who she should continue to support. It was her money, or her businesses money after all.

This also led to me getting involved with the local support organizations for the various charities. They too were always looking for volunteers to support their work. Some of them were better than others, and I only volunteered to work for those I thought worthwhile. Many were nothing more than a distraction and party opportunity for the older children or spouses of the wealthy to keep them out of trouble. I was still looking for something that I could really get my teeth into and work for on a personal level.

I had been retired for about a year and a-half when I received a call, out of the blue, from Mr. Johnson, the president of the company that I had previously worked for.

“Good morning, Jake. This is Hugh Johnson. Are you doing well?” he asked.

“Good morning, sir. Yes, I’m fine,” I told him, wondering what was going on.

“That’s good. I ... I need to talk to you about something, but I would rather not do it over the phone. Could you stop by the office some time this week?” he asked. So this isn’t really urgent,” I thought on hearing this.

“Yes, I could come by this afternoon, if that’s all right,” I told him. I had another appointment downtown late this afternoon in any event.

“Yes, that would be fine. We’ll see you this afternoon,” he said in a much more cheerful voice before breaking the connection.

“Who was that?” Hollie asked, as she had come into the room while I was on the phone.

“That was my old boss. He has something he needs to talk to me about,”I told her.

“Anything serious?” she asked.

“He didn’t want to talk about it on the phone,” I told her and wondered myself what it could be.

“Be careful, Jake. Don’t let them take advantage of you. Do you think you need someone from Mr. Albright’s office to go with you?” she asked in a worried voice.

“No, I don’t think it’s anything serious,” I told her. Even at nearly 50 years of age, I am still a big guy and nearly as strong as I had been when younger. I have plenty of time to work out now that I didn’t have a 9-to-5 job to worry about.

Parking downtown is terrible, especially in the afternoon. Fortunately, the Hoffman building had a parking structure, and the company has reserved parking spaces for their employees. I still had my parking pass, as they had never requested that I return it, or canceled it. I parked in my old parking place, which was now Carol’s, but she wasn’t here. I was greeted very warmly by the receptionist when I entered the office on the third floor.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Rust. It’s so nice to see you again,” the receptionist said in greeting.

“Good afternoon,” I returned.

“Just go back to Mr. Jonson’s office. He is expecting you,” she told me with a smile.

The CEO’s office was back past Mr. Brown’s office at the end of the hall. Arriving there, I knocked.

“Come in,” I heard from inside and opened the door. Mr. Johnson met me a few feet inside the office and grabbed my hand to shake it.

“It’s good to see you Jacob,” he said with a smile.

“It’s good to see you, sir,” I told him. He appeared to be older than I expected, which led me to believe that there was trouble ... major trouble, and that was why he had called me.

“Call me Hugh, Jake. We’ve known each other long enough for that,” he told me, releasing my hand, and I was sure there was major trouble but couldn’t guess what kind. Apparently, Hollie hadn’t heard anything ... yet, or she would have mentioned it this morning.

“Have a seat Jake. We have something important to discuss, and it will take a while,” he continued, and I sat on the sofa he had indicated. He sat on the other end of the sofa.

“We have a serious problem, Jake,” he started, and the haggard look returned to his face.

“Just how serious is this problem?” I asked on seeing his expression. He exhaled heavily.

“It concerns your replacement, Carol. Her 12-year-old daughter was raped. She is still in the hospital. Carol is a wreck. She passed out when she learned what had happened and hasn’t been to work since; not that I can blame her,” he told me.

“Who did this?” I demanded in an angry voice, upset myself.

“It was her ex. He apparently showed up at her house drunk as a skunk and in a foul mood. He’s always been mean as a snake. Angie, the 12-year-old, was the only one home at the time. Unfortunately, she let her father in, not realizing how drunk and how pissed off he was.

“Apparently, he destroyed some furniture on learning that Carol was still at work. When Angie told him to get out, he grabbed her, beat her up, and raped her both front and back. She has a broken arm, a broken nose and internal injuries in addition to the bruises and sprains from the beating. The doctors say she will be in the hospital another four to five weeks at least. Carol is like a zombie and hasn’t left the hospital since first arriving there,” he finished.

“What about the ex?” I asked in a hard voice.

“The police found him a block away from the house in his crashed car, passed out drunk. The car had hit a large tree. Neighbors had called the police because of the screaming coming from the house. The EMTs got Angie to the hospital. The police called here, and we called Carol. There were papers and other things in the house that indicated where she worked,” he told me.

“The problem is Jake, we don’t have a replacement for her. She’s still young, though she had worked here for some time. She enjoys her job, and we expected her to be here for a number of years yet, so we hadn’t hired anyone to replace her. As you well know, it’s not the kind of job that just anyone can jump into. It requires an intimate knowledge of what we do, and the ability to follow the money trail,” Hugh finished.

“So, you are asking me to come back and fill in for her?” I asked.

“It’s just for a short time, Jake. Just until Angie gets out of the hospital,” he told me.

“It will be a lot longer than that,” I told him. “That girl is going to need counseling and a lot of attention. Carol is going to need to remain with her for quite some time ... possibly five or six months or longer,” I told him to a surprised look from him.

“Something like this is similar to PTSD. It’s a mental as well as a physical disorder. Angie is going to need watching for some time to ensure she doesn’t do something terminal,” I told him to a shocked look from him.

“Terminal! Do you mean she could kill herself?” he asked in shock.

“There is a very real possibility that she could do something to harm herself badly. I saw PTSD in the Army, and the VA has seen a lot of it. Its effects aren’t pretty,” I told him.

“Good grief!” he said in shock.

“She is going to need to see the right kind of mental health professional and not some half-baked psychologist,” I assured him.

“Does Carol have health care for herself and her family?” I asked next.

“Yes, she is on the company health care plan. It should take care of everything,” he assured me. I wasn’t sure of that but had decided that I would see that Angie received the best care available. Hugh Johnson was still looking at me after I had made the decision.

“Will you help us out?” he asked finally when I looked up at him. I smiled.

“Yes, but I have several things that I will need,” I told him.

“What are they?” he asked in a guarded voice.

“I’ll need a briefing on what is going on now, and what new products, or services are being offered. I’ll also need to visit the hospital to see Carol and her daughter. I’ll also arrange for the proper treatment of both of them,” I told him.

“But the doctors take care of all of that,” he objected.

“They are civilian doctors and may or may not know what to look for or how to treat PTSD,” I told him. “That’s why I will arrange for her treatment and will pay for it if necessary,” I added.

“You’ll pay for it, but she has comprehensive medical coverage!” he objected.

“Insurance companies are not always willing to pay for the Best Treatment,” I told him.

“All right, I can agree to your requests. When will you be ready to be briefed?” he asked.

“Two workdays from now. That should give everyone time to get the briefing together,” I told him, before rising from the sofa. He also rose and shook my hand again.

“One other thing,” I added. “You don’t need to pay me, but continue to pay Carol her regular salary. She’ll need the money to take care of her daughter,” I told him. Hugh was staring at me in disbelief.

“You would do that?” he finally asked.

“Yes, it’s not like I’m not financially well off, and she will definitely need the money,” I assured him.

“Thank you, Jake. That’s very generous of you,” he told me before I left.

That evening Hollie was not happy about me returning to work, but on hearing the background of the story, she was very forgiving and gave me a kiss.

“You are always looking out for others,” she said following that. That night in bed, she was very passionate and screamed a lot.

The next day I went to the hospital to check on Carol and her daughter. Unfortunately, I had no idea what ward Angie was on, and Hugh hadn’t mentioned it either. I presumed from that, that he didn’t know either. Fortunately, there was a large information desk in the lobby of the main hospital building, and I stopped there to inquire.