Innerviews

By F. H. Anthony

Matt Sansoma graduated from high school, got a great job at Elysian Fields assisted living home, and has to deal with his father's job loss and murder. All at once. His job is great, it's to take service dogs around to the residents at Elysian three days a week. Many of the residents have unique talents and experiences that they use to help Matt investigate his father's death. Voodoo Queen Lydaloo's potions are extremely useful. Thom Phan can stay invisible to persons in a room, and Manfred Drake can put thoughts into the minds of people that they think are real.
Matt met Suzette, a niece of Jillian Jiles, a resident and former criminal prosecutor. Together they make a team. They both became involved in American Renaissance Movement, the ARM. This group is committed to trying to fix the many broken things in America. Matt's friend Roger is a computer genius. Roger got a job with a three-letter federal agency, where he works on secret projects. And helps Matt to do things that are beyond Matt's ability, without the knowledge of his employer.
One of the Elysian residents, Joanne D'Arcy, owns a large parcel of land that is being used by dumpers and looters of an Indian burial site there. The identity of the guilty persons in hidden, but they are clearly powerful, wealthy, and politically connected. There is a shooting range on the land apparently used by terrorists, and a burial ground used by a serial killer. Investigation of the land is one of the things Matt is committed to.

• Language: English
• Publisher: F. H. Anthony
• Release date: May 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781311040732

Book preview

Innerviews

Screwed Dude, Book One

By

F. H. Anthony

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Innerviews

Copyright © 2016 by F. H. Anthony

ISBN 9781311040732

Cover Design: Geoffry Herbst

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or to places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters, companies, and locations are productions of the author's imagination and are used fictitiously.

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. Or tell them where to buy a copy. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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Table of Contents

1 Genesis

2 Postmortem

3 Investigation

4 Getting on With Life

5 Next Week, Graduation

6 The Interview 12

7 Monday, Day One, Session One

8 Monday, Day One, Session Two

9 Monday, Day One, Lunch

10 Day One Afternoon

11 Tuesday Day Two Session One

12 Searching for Ted

13 Day Three

14 Double D

15 JJ

16 Mom's Meeting

17 Seeking Advice

18 Setting Up Plans

19 Advice

20 Week Two Meeting with Ted

21 Ted 77

22 Meeting Postpartum

23 Ted Going Postal

24 A Riddle Wrapped Up In An Enigma 8

25 A New Problem

26 Insurance Meeting

27 Drake's Take

28 Bully for Sam

29 Hail Hail the Gang's All (T)here

30 Plug Pulled, Bank off Hook

31 All's Well That Ends Well

32 The End Is Near

33 Ranke and Files

34 Epilogue

Innerviews

1 Genesis

Matt woke suddenly, drenched in sweat. He had the most horrendous nightmare. To make matters worse, he would be late for school. Not that it mattered after yesterday. The news his father brought home then was a bombshell that exploded for the whole family. His dad had been fired from his executive job at one of the nation's largest banks, Mega-Low, a true giga-bank. There would be no bonus this year, and maybe no new job. His father was too old to find another job that paid much more than being a WalMart greeter, or working at McDonald's.

Going to the kitchen Matt noticed his mother was sobbing, and his father was gone. What had happened. Where's dad?

He's gone! she answered.

Where to? Why are you crying? Matt felt something was going bad, very bad.

I don't know, but he's despondent over losing his job she replied.

Well yeah, we are all upset by it. But why did he leave so early. Did he even have breakfast or coffee before he left?

No, and he would not say where he was going she sobbed.

Matt had to dress and get ready for school or be late. He grabbed a piece of toast and a cup of coffee and went to his room. His sister and brothers were just beginning to wake up.

School was a drag this day, more than it had ever been before. A dark cloud of worry hung over his world. His thoughts were interrupted by the teacher. That jerked him out of the trance in which his thoughts were wrapped.

Mr. Sansoma, are you here or someplace else? Ms. Clarke questioned.

Oh, sorry Ms. Clarke. I was deep in thought about a family situation.

Alright, but try to move your attention to class for the rest of the hour.

Class dragged on for Matt until the principal interrupted with a knock on the classroom door.

The principal wanted to see him. Privately. So they went into the hallway.

Matt, I am so sorry to be the bearer of this news, but you have to know your dad was involved in an accident. He was killed instantly when his car hit a bridge support. Would you like someone to take you home to be with your mother?

Yes . . . I'm too shaken up to drive myself. I appreciate your help Mr. Rast.

The drive to Matt's home took only fifteen minutes. Would you like me to come in with you Matt?

No Mr. Rast, but thanks for offering. I think it will be best if I go to my mother, sister and brothers and we deal with this alone, as a family. Or what's left of it now.

2 Postmortem

After entering the house Matt felt as if a great weight was pressing down on him, making breathing difficult. His mother and sister were in tears, his brothers trying to be stoic, without much success. What did the police tell you about dad's accident? he asked.

Nothing beyond the fact that his car had run into a bridge support and that he died instantly mother answered. He did not have time to suffer. The car did not burn as they sometimes do, always do in movies.

Was his insurance still in effect from the bank? Matt wanted to know. His mother wasn't sure. But she would make a phone call to the best, and apparently only, friend his dad had at the bank.

The friend, Tom Ranke, said the insurance was still in effect, and it had a double-indemnity clause that would pay twice as much for accidental death, as in an auto accident. If Matt's dad had committed suicide the insurance company would not have to pay at all. That company would likely try to refuse payment, claiming it was a suicide. But the odds were they would not be able to convince anyone. And if they were taken to court a jury might decide to award multiple damages to the family, costing the company a lot more. So probably the insurance would be paid out, unless evidence surfaced that the apparent accident was not an accident but a suicide.

After the funeral there was a breakfast at which the family and friends got together. All the usual things were talked about, all the good times in the past, the funny things, the memorable. Then it was time to go home and plan for the future. Matt's high school graduation was only a few weeks away, and he would have to get control of his emotions and bear down on getting through his courses so he would graduate.

Matt remembered what his uncle had said to his dad about a year before. Catholics don't commit suicide. They have one-car accidents. He wondered about that. There was no suicide note. If there had been a note that would have jeopardized the insurance if it had been discovered by anyone who would tell the bank or the insurance company. The insurance would provide money for the family to live on. Without that, life would be grim as the family was forced to adjust, living on a far lower rung of the economic ladder. Matt would pray for his father's soul. If it had been a purposeful collision with the bridge support it was to provide for his family, and his dad could not be blamed for that, could he?

One thing that Matt would insist on learning was the reason his father was terminated from his job. Terminated! That word had more than one meaning.

3 Investigation

Matt thought his father was appreciated by the bank, that he did his job exceptionally well. So why was he terminated? What was his job anyway? He did not talk about it. Did dad screw up, or was something else going on. There was some news blurb on the TV about a government investigation of the bank. Something about illegal manipulation of some commodity prices and maybe some other things like stock prices or interest rates. Dad had seemed upset when the talking heads on the TV reported that news. Was dad involved in that, would he be called to testify?

The investigation was initiated by the CFTC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It had been blocked for years by politically controlled members of the commission, who did not wish to have price rigging brought to light. Potentially, hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars were involved. There could be fines of similar huge amount, and jail terms for those behind the manipulation. Those involved at the bank would be desperate to protect themselves from being implicated. The CFTC investigation was the first to appear to move forward. But others that were potentially more perilous to the bank would very probably follow it. Matt decided to talk with his dad's friend at the bank, Tom Ranke. If the person would talk.

On the following Friday Matt phoned his late dad's friend and asked if he could meet with him after work. After some hesitation Ranke agreed. He said that he would meet him at a cafe' near Matt's home. Apparently the friend did not want to be seen at his late friend's home. Or maybe he just did not wish to impose, or perhaps felt uncomfortable about dad's sudden death.

As he entered the cafe' Matt had to search for Ranke, whom he knew by sight. He found him in a corner booth from which he could see the entry door and the other patrons of the place. Did he want to avoid being seen by anyone who knew him? No, maybe he just wished to be inconspicuous. Hi Tom, thanks for meeting with me.

Hi Matt. My pleasure. What can I do for you?

No bland small talk, right to the point: What do you want?

I just want to learn what my dad did that led to his termination. He never talked about his job at home.

Well, there is not much I know about your dad's work. I only knew he was doing commodities futures trading, much of it in metals, gold and silver mostly. He never would discuss what trades he was doing, or the overall strategy. But then, last week, he was contacted by government investigators who demanded to be told what he was doing in his job, and over the past several years. That shook him up. If he was seen talking to investigators that would put a spotlight on him, and could lead to serious trouble for him. He notified his boss, who took the news higher in the bank. This was something that the board of directors would have a keen and very concerned interest in. They would demand that he take a bank lawyer with him to any questioning, or simply refuse to talk, to take the 5th Amendment protection against self-incrimination. But then the feds could, and likely would, offer him immunity so he could be pressured into testifying. He might avoid jail, but he could not avoid the wrath of the bank's top management. I'm nervous about talking to you about this. You must keep it between just the two of us. If you talk to anyone about it I would be in serious trouble, so serious that you wouldn't believe it. And it could come as big trouble to you, not from me but from the bank. They could, and probably would, do great harm to you and your family to keep you silent.

Matt had to find the truth. What can you tell me about my dad's work? What could he possibly have done that would get him into so much trouble? This is sounding to me like some movie plot where some evil organization has taken control

Your dad was one of only three persons at the bank authorized to trade commodity futures contracts. Each trade required two of the three to sign off on it if it involved more than ten contracts. All I know for certain is that they were trading not ten, not twenty, but hundreds of contracts, and sometimes even thousands. This trading caught the attention of a market analyst, a guy named Ted. He investigated as much as he could, using publicly available information. Much of the info came from the CFTC, public data about trades and timing of those trades, whether the trades were sales, that is short positions, or purchases. If this guy Ted is right your father may have been involved in some serious crime, more than likely in market manipulation. If there were to be a proper investigation that could put a lot of the bank's management in jail, and could even bring down the bank. At the very least it would cast a pall over the bank and cost a great deal in legal fees to avoid fines and criminal penalties. There could be massive fines and penalties. And the damage to the bank's reputation would cause a lot of business to be lost as customers would lose faith in the bank's integrity. Do you know how commodity futures work?

Matt realized he knew squat about those markets. No I don't know anything about them.

Okay, here's a ninety second tutorial. A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell something at a set future date, at a price set today. All the change in price from now until then results in a profit or loss to the buyer and seller. If the seller does not own the commodity now, it is called a short sale. In other words you can sell what you don't own now, and if the price falls before the contract expires or you buy it back you make a profit. On the other side of the contract the buyer loses what you make on it. The reverse happens if the price rises. But when you sell short at certain times, and in large amounts, that makes the price move. If it is done with the intent to manipulate the price that can illegal. Make the price fall by selling, then quietly buy back the contracts and you make a profit. This can be illegal, but it's not easy to prove intent. Unless someone like your dad, up to his eyes in the shit, talks. If that happens a lot of really bad stuff will happen to a lot of powerful people, and to their political allies too, possibly.

So my dad might have been involved in some shady deals. How can I find out about that? Was that the reason he was fired, the reason he died?

Matt, you need to let go of this. If you don't some people at the bank might make your life a lot worse than you can believe. As it stands, your family will collect his severance salary and his life insurance. You don't want to risk losing that or delaying the payouts.

Okay, for now I'll keep quiet. But I will not drop this. When I get into investigating no one will know until I have evidence that can't be ignored.

4 Getting on With Life

High school graduation was only a few days away. Then what? Matt had plans to go to college. But these days a college degree meant thousands of dollars debt at a high interest rate, and poor prospects for a job that paid well. A lot of college graduates were now living at their parents homes, and if they were working at all it was at minimum wage, part-time jobs. New insurance laws meant that many employers were holding work to 30 hours or less per week. So what to do, what to do?

Matt decided that college would have to wait while he decided whether it was worthwhile or a waste of time and money. Maybe joining the army, navy, or marine corps would be better. But maybe not. He might be sent to some hell hole in the Middle East, like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, or whatever. And if he survived his first tour of duty the powers in Washington would see to it that he did a second tour, then a third, and who knows how many more. Much of the education he would get, and the on-the-job experience, would not transfer to civilian life in the US. There was not much job prospect for skill and knowledge for killing and breaking things. Not unless he joined some rogue swat team on some law enforcement department. Or went into crime himself. No, neither of those would be acceptable. But what alternatives are there?

While he thought about his future Matt saw a feature on local