Unable to make contact with Frank, it was decided to have the patrol car cruise by regularly just in case he showed up.
A call to the motel confirmed his check in at 2030 hours last night. I also called the cell phone company and pinged his cell phone. His cell phone failed to show up on the cell towers locator. His phone wasn’t turned off, it just wasn’t. A phone turned off can still be pinged. The emergency locator function cannot be turned off. Either the battery was completely drained or he removed it from the phone.
My Lieutenant approved the drive down to Parkersburg. If nothing else, I owed it to my former friend to show up personally and take him into custody for questioning.
The drive was uneventful until I ran into some road construction. The damn Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has a nasty habit of a all or nothing approach to road repair. You’re either losing your suspension in a pot hole the size of a bus or you’re sitting still on the interstate waiting for them to figure out how to fill the damn thing. A simple two hour drive turned into a three hour cuss fest.
And if ODOT kept to their usual shit, then before 1800 hours the road was restricted to one lane only and then after 1800 hours they pretty much closed the roads down while they looked busy standing around.
To make matters worse, overhead utility lines were being run over the same section of road resulting in even longer delays. It was a scheduling nightmare for the State Troopers. I really felt for my fellow law enforcement brothers.
After finally making it to Baker’s Realty Experts, the first thing I noticed was the absence of Frank’s car. I checked in with the company president’s personal assistant and was told Frank was there and currently presenting his bid to the board and had been in their office for close to two hours. The meeting was expected to end at any moment as the president had another scheduled meeting immediately after. There were a total of three construction companies that made it through the initial screening and each were qualified of being considered for the general contractor’s job.
It was a very attractive bid. Bonuses were offered as an incentive to beat not only schedule deadlines but build quality as well.
I asked for some of the president’s time before his next meeting. The assistant went inside the conference room and came back with an approval for a few minutes but nothing more.
While waiting in the lobby, another general contractor came in to give his presentation to Baker’s Realty. You could tell he was very nervous. If I guessed right his skills were geared more toward the construction side of the business than schmoozing clients. He must’ve just come off the job because he was still knocking the dirt off his shoes and his hands showed the effect of years of hard work.
Fifteen minutes later Frank came out with a happy expression on his face shaking hands with the President and Board Members of Baker’s Realty. Needless to say he was shocked to see me standing there but he was able to keep his composure walking up and greeting me like the old friends we once were.