Chapter 5

Homer walked into the office with an expression I could only describe as the face of a man walking into a battle might wear. My mother trailed behind him and she sagged in relief at seeing me unharmed, when she saw the policeman she looked so relieved that it was indescribable. Homer upon seeing the policeman looked a little relieved as well, and nodded his head in respect to him. He then sat down in the vacant chair and spoke "Mike I'm glad to see that you're here. Would you please tell me what happened?"

"Sure thing Homer. I was in the lobby getting a withdrawal when I suddenly heard a commotion in here. I came in and saw Jacob here standing in front of the door while being called some of the vilest things I have ever heard by Briggs. When I came in he ordered me to arrest Jacob for some pretty serious crimes. When Jacob told his story he mentioned that you were coming down here so I decided to see what you think of this whole mess."

"Mike I am glad that you're here cause I think that I might need you to arrest someone today. Jacob are those the documents your mother mentioned? If so would you hand those documents to me please?"

"Sure thing Mr. Humphries, these documents were given me by Mr. Whitley and detail the two loans my father allegedly took out on our farm and house, they also state that there is no money in either the checking, nor in the savings account. In fact there appears to be an outstanding balance due in the checking account. Please look them over and see if you can find anything wrong with them."

"Certainly, now hold on a minute while I look them over." He took the documents and started looking them over, I noticed that when he got to the signatures he looked at my father's and his eyebrow twitched at the sight. "Well Jacob I am certainly glad you got your mother to come get me. I have seen your Dad's signature many times and I can say with no doubt that this is not his. I can also tell you that with the dates on this form that your father never took out these loans as he was out of town when these were dated. Mike I am afraid that I have to request that you place Mr. Whitley under arrest for forging a legal document, malfeasance of funds, robbery, verbal abuse of a minor, as well as a couple of others when I can come up with them."

I spoke up "Mr. Humphries you might want to look at the bank records to see if he has done this sort of thing before. You also might want to ask some of the women around here if they have any complaints to press against him, as a man in his position might abuse it for various reasons. I would also suggest that you talk to the tellers as that signature probably came from one of them. Seeing the worm that he is I think that they might have been forced to do it somehow."

Officer Mike spoke up "Jacob, if you ever get bored living away from town I could offer you a job right now for my line of work. Those were some of the best outlines for putting a case together I ever heard of. What books do you read that you know so much of what police do?"

Oh god, what did I just do. I couldn't tell him it came from watching Law&Order about ten million times, especially as the show doesn't even exist yet! Let's see "Well I read a lot of spy novels and some Astounding a lot. I like to think that I can solve who-done-its pretty easily. I guess it just comes naturally. I hope I didn't tread on your toes or anything."

Mike "Not at all Jacob. I certainly hope you follow in your father's footsteps and help the police like he did. I must offer the condolences of the entire sheriffs' and police department on the tragic loss of your father. We will certainly miss him."

Homer looking at Briggs saw that he was pale and was getting a bluish tinge to his face shouted out "Jacob call the ambulance, Briggs is having a heart attack!"

I bolted for the door and went behind the tellers and got on the phone and called the ambulance. When I hung up and went back inside I could see my mom sitting on a chair weeping, looking around I saw Homer and Mike clustered around Briggs trying to save him. I went over to mom and said "Mom let's get out of here. We don't want to be in the way when the paramedics arrive. By the way where's Amy?"

"I left Amy with Homer's secretary as I didn't want her to get involved with this mess. What are we going to do now? We don't have any money and the records are going to show that we owe a ton of money."

"Well. I figure that the records that I saw were forgeries and we won't owe any money to the bank. In addition to that the withdrawals that I saw were probably also faked. If we can't get any money from the bank that was stolen from us, we can most likely get an advance sent to us rather quickly from the bank that controls the trust fund. I'll have to talk to Homer about that, and see what I can do."

After waiting in the lobby for about a minute or so, I sent mom to gather Amy and come back here, as we might be in town a little longer than I had originally planned. Homer and Mike came out of the office and saw me standing there. I told them of the call I had made for the ambulance, and they should be here shortly. Mike replied "It's no rush in this case, I'm afraid he's D.O.A., heart gave out from the shock and his overall health."

"That's a shame as my family really needs some money until the payments start coming in. I was hoping to do a deal where he gave all the money back that he stripped out of the accounts and possibly the money that was "lent" us in those fake mortgages. Who takes over the bank now, since Briggs was the owner?"

Homer replied "Actually Briggs wasn't the owner, the bank is actually owned by a bank in Illinois, Bank of Chicago I think. Anyway I can give you the number of the bank in New York that is handling your trust, give them a call and explain the situation, you'll probably have to give a police case number, Mike I'm sure can give you one, if not give them the number of the police here. I'll give you the numbers you need before you leave."

Mike spoke up "Jacob I already know what happened in the office and I'll write it up in a report which you will need to sign. Come down to the station house and I'll give you the case number you might need. Also know that almost all of the businesses in the town will give you credit which you can then pay back later. When he story gets passed around town, I'm sure that you'll be questioned and I would be most appreciative if you wouldn't say anything as it could cause people to hide knowledge if any of what they knew, and it could impact the case. I hope everything comes right in the end. Good luck."

"Thank you both for your help in this matter, as I don't know what I would have been able to do without ya'lls help. I hope this doesn't get dragged on for long and it can all be put behind us shortly. I will accompany Homer to the office and get the numbers, and then head on down to the station house and do what you asked as soon as I'm done there, alright?"

Receiving a nod from Mike, we then went to Homer's office and got the phone numbers and instruction to prove who I was to the bank, and then headed to the police station. When mom, Amy and I walked in I immediately saw Mike and walked up to his desk after telling the duty officer who I was. "I'm here Mike, what do we need to do?"

"Well the report is already typed up, all you need to do is sign on the bottom after reading it."

I read the report and found it to be factual, signed it and handed it back to Mike. "That's done, now what?"

"Here are the case numbers that you will need, the police number, and the number for the Bank of Chicago that owns the bank here. Is there anything you want to add to what's written in the report?"

"No, it looks to be complete. Thank you for being there at the right time."

Mike smiling replied "Part of my job description."

"Goodbye then, hope your day turns out better than this."

"Yep"

We left the police station and went to the store and picked up the mattress and parts for the new bed. We then headed on home. When we got there I made the calls.

"Hello, this is the Bank of Chicago, how may I help you?"

"Hello, this is Jacob Callaghan. I am calling in regards to the happenings down here at the Bank of Shawnee. I need to talk to somebody about some discrepancies that have come to my attention."

"Hold one moment sir."

"Hello this is Lane Henderson. Is this Jacob Callaghan?"

"Yes this is he. I am calling about something that hascome to my attention down here and was hoping we could clear it up."

"Yes, I know some of what has happened down there as I received the report from the police just a few minutes ago. When I heard of what has happened, I called my boss and got my instructions. Here is what we planned, and I hope it will be adequate compensation for what has happened. We plan on refunding both accounts to the fullest amount recorded that were stripped of funds. We also plan on depositing in the savings account twice the amount that was recorded as being loaned. The loans are now history, and we won't be foreclosing on any house or farm in the area until the whole matter is resolved, and we can sort out which are legit and which were done in this manner. I also understand that the owner is furious about this incident and will do almost anything to make amends as it strikes against his personal code of honor."