Sam Buck: P.I.: Software thieves spoiling a honeymoon

By Bill Moore

For those that don't know him, Sam Buck is a private detective of Native/ American origin based in Atlanta, Georgia Sam and his assistant Rose Scott are at it again, only this time she is not Rose Scott the assistant, but Mrs. Samuel T. Buck. They were on their honeymoon on an island in Georgia when they were interrupted by a telephone call from

• Language: English
• Publisher: GoldTouch Press, LLC
• Release date: Feb 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9781957575339

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Sam Buck: P.I.

Software Thieves Spoiling a Honeymoon

Bill Moore

Copyright © 2022 by Bill Moore.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2022902474

HARDBACK:    978-1-957575-32-2

Paperback:    978-1-957575-31-5

eBook:            978-1-957575-33-9

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

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Contents

Chapter   2

Chapter   3

Chapter   4

Chapter   5

Chapter   6

Chapter   7

Chapter   8

Chapter   9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Bimologue

For all the U S military personnel,

living and deceased,

who served honorably.

My name is Sam Buck. I am a private Investigator of Cherokee heritage along with a few other nationalities. My office is in Atlanta, Ga. I was raised in Eastern Arkansas—graduated from a school in Arkansas with a B.A. majoring in Business and a minor in Criminal Justice. I am on my honeymoon with my assistant/wife, the former Rose Scott, who is my confidante and the backbone of Sam Buck.

Ring, ring, ring!

Sam, answer the phone.

"What phone? I don’t hear anything—besides, we are on our honeymoon.

We don’t answer phones until we get back to Atlanta."

Sweetheart, it could be important.

Zzzz, oink, zzzz, oink, oink, zzzz!

You are not asleep; you’re playing possum.

Ring, ring, ring, ring…..

Forget it, Sam—I’ll get it.

Hello, who is calling?

I’m trying to reach Sam Buck. Is this his number?

This is his wife, again. Who are you?

I’m sorry, my name is Gregory Morris—I was told that I could reach him at this number.

I’m curious to know who gave you this number.

His old friend Rick Mason gave it to me.

Oh boy

Excuse me.

Never mind, I’ll try to get him for you.

Sam, I think you had better take this call.

Sam Buck here—Your money, what can I do for you? I’m on my honeymoon and you are spoiling it. Anyway, how in the hell did you get this number?

Your old buddy Rick mason gave it to me. My name is Gregory Morris, I don’t know if you remember me. I met you some years ago at a party—but getting to the point, I would like to hire you. I have heard that you get great results out of your cases."

My old WHAT? That dirty son of…..Did he tell you that I was on my honeymoon?

No, he didn’t. I’m sorry—I didn’t mean to disturbed your honeymoon.

Never mind, it’s not your fault. What is the problem that you need my service?

I have a software company up in Cobb County. My fiancé and an old college friend are associates of mine, not partner, but associates. Do you understand me so far?"

Yes, I am—continue.

Their actions along with water cooler talk suggested that they were having an affair. I soon found that to be true when they left the company with data that they should not have. I cannot afford that. They could be plotting to wipe me out and get filthy rich in the process. I need you to find them.

Mr. Morris, your firm must be very lucrative.

Call me Greg, Sam. The software business is on an upswing. The word lucrative is a mild term."

I have to ask you this question: why are you calling me? There are plenty of private Investigators in the Greater Atlanta area who are qualified to handle this case—not that I am not flattered, mind you.

There is a lot of praise going around about the way that you solved your last case involving those foreigners.

I may consider your offer if you can wait until I finish my prison term.

Rose sat up in bed with a frown on her face when I mentioned prison.

Greg also sounded stunned.

He asked, What prison term, what is the charge?

Assault and Battery! I am going to beat the hell out of Rick Mason when I get to Atlanta. I will be happy to take the case, if you can wait that long.

Sam, you can write your own check within reason, if you will take the case now.

Forget Rick, I’ll beat him up later, I’ll see you in Atlanta tomorrow morning. Goodbye.

Get up Mrs. Buck; we are going home.

I’m way ahead of you, Mr. Buck.

Rick Mason was a drinking buddy of mine until recently when I went by his house for help on a case. He got hot under the collar when I called his Great Dane dog a half of a horse, and also a baby elephant. That appeared to be a cover-up of his true feeling toward me. It seems that his fiancé ended their relationship, and just happen to mention my name as an exciting guy. He began to resent me. I did not know anything about all of these happenings until I stop by his house. Rick has been on the warpath for me ever since.

He hit on Rose who was my fiancé at the time and tried hard to discredit me in front of her. I told him that I had not seen his fiancé, whose name is Karen, since during the time he and I were hanging out together, but to no avail. He is becoming a pain-the-rear with his obsession. When Rick gave Greg Morris my number, he was not doing it to help me—he was trying to disrupt my honeymoon—he succeeded. I am definitely going to have to confront him. I am convinced that he does not believe me when I say that I do not know anything about the whereabouts of Karen. Somehow, I feel sorry for the guy but he is forcing a showdown. I am presently seeing dollar signs so the confrontation with have to be put on hold. Having said that—I had better forget Rick for the time being and concentrate on the present task facing me.

Rose and I checked out of our suite and headed for the Interstate to go home. On the way home, we made small talk. Rose asked me;

Sam, why are you so obsessed with confronting Rick? It’s apparent that he is a lonely man with only a dog to comfort him. Obviously, he is jealous of you and any of his old friends who have close companionship.

Sweetheart, you are right about him being lonely and jealous, but not of our friends—only me and Karen, whom I have not seen in years. That is why we are destined to have a showdown.

I wish you could hear yourself. You sound like a Wild West movie character. Sam, you are much too educated and sophisticated to act like that.

Man, she is definitely against this confrontation. I don’t want to do anything that will screw up our marriage before it gets started. I can see that it is worrying her, which is something that I don’t want to do—I had better think this thing through.

Rose my dear, I am going to put Rick Mason on the far back burner and hopefully, he will fizzle away, can you live with that?

I can live with that. Thank you sweetheart; I know that you are giving up a lot mentally and I want you to know how much I appreciate it.

There’s a Holiday Inn sign up ahead—how about us checking in there and you show me how much you appreciate it, Mrs. Buck?

"Keep driving, Mr. Buck, the only signs that we are supposed to see are dollar signs.

Yes, mother!

Rose and I have spent so much time together that we have begun to think alike and that’s a good thing. I have a tendency to be out on third base, when I should be at home plate. I am a lucky guy to have her.

When we got to the Holiday Inn exit, I slowed down as if I was going to get off, Rose turn her whole body around to look at me with a puzzle look. I sped up and said:

I’m sorry, Mrs. Buck, your present near me intoxicates and creates a conundrum to my Hippocampus. I’m alright now—we are going home.

Sam, you say the most wonderful things to me—I think."

When we reach the I-285 perimeter, Rose ask me to exit on Stone Mountain Parkway; she wanted to make a stop before we got home. I found out what the stop was all about. Apparently, she wanted to show her former college roommate that she was married. It seems that this roommate told her—with that good-girl attitude of Rose, she would never get married unless the cow let the milk be sampled.

It turns out that her former roommate had two children by different fathers and had never been married. When she found out that Rose was married and worked with her husband, Rose even showed her our marriage license. This lady hugged Rose and me, then she began to cry tears of joy. She told me that I had the catch of the century.

I thanked her and told Rose that I would wait in the car. She came out in about 10 minutes with tears in her eyes. I asked her what was wrong as if I did not know.

She said; Sam, I couldn’t wait to go by there to show off my husband, wedding ring and my marriage license so I could show that good girls don’t always finish last as she used to tell me. She stayed on my case about not putting out on a double date so she could have the guy’s friend. After seeing her with two babies and no help from the fathers, I truly felt sorry for her and began to hate myself.

"Rose it is only natural that you would want to show her that your way of life works—that it is the way to go, and also rub her face in your results. You should be proud of yourself. I am one of the students that you have shown the way. I know that you could never rub anyone face in their dirt.

You are not made out of that kind of garbage—I am, but you are not.

You are not, either, we are joined at the hip Sam. Please don’t say that about you again.

Yes Mother. Rose former roommate was right about one thing—I have got the catch of the century.

Rose suggested that we stop by the office to make sure everything was still in place.

When we got to the office, the first thing that I look for was the piece of paper that I taped in an inconspicuous place. It was still in place where I put it—I knew everything was alright. Just to make sure, I went in first. I had a break-in not long ago; I was not going to take any chances with Rose being there.

Once inside the office, I realized that I had not finished cleaning up after the break-in because we were operating mostly out of Rose apartment.

I called Gregory Morris from the office so that my office phone number would be on his contact list. When Greg answered and I identified myself, he asked:

Sam, how are you? Where are you?

I’m calling from my office; we are just getting back. I would like to set up a meeting today at the place of your choice.

Where is your office located? I have some running around to do today—I might be in the area of your office later.

I told him where we were and how to get here.

He said, right now I’m on Roswell rd. up in Sandy Springs. I will be going downtown in about an hour; why don’t you wait for me at your office?"

That’ll work, Greg—I have some work to do in here. We will wait for you here. One more thing; if you come across Rick Mason, don’t tell him that I am back—I don’t want to see him yet.

I understand Sam. I will see you later.

I thought about the ‘confrontation’ conversation that Rose and I had about Rick. I am sticking to the promise that I made her.

Well Mrs. Buck, don’t you think that we need to tackle the job of cleaning this place while we wait for Greg?

"Yes sweetheart; this place is way overdue for a good cleaning.

My sweet fox; This couch is still durable and ready for action, how about it?

Sam, you must be kidding—the couch is filthy and reeks from alcohol that you consumed while sleeping there.

Ouch, I guess I’ll shut up and get to work.

"I’m sorry if I was harsh, I didn’t mean to be.

But look at this couch—we need to throw it out and get a new one."

You are so right. That will be one of the top five items on our agenda.

While we waited for Greg, Rose suggested that we fix the files that were not put back in the cabinets from the break-in a few weeks ago, and also do a thorough clean-up in the place; in other words—we are back in business from this office, at least for the time being since business is picking up.

About three hours later, Greg came in. He was a tall fellow with a pleasant smile and a firm handshake.

Sam, we finally meet again, how are you?

I’m Fine, Greg. Now, I remember you vaguely. This is my bride, Rose

He said, it is a pleasure to meet you—I’m sorry to have interrupted your honeymoon. Rick didn’t mention that part.

Rose said, that is perfectly alright; business before pleasure. That little tidbit is something that I learned from my husband.

I asked Greg when was the last time that he saw Rick. He said it was about six months ago at a computer show.

Rose asked, "Greg, what is the problem you have that you would like our assistance?

Please start from the beginning."

"Well Rose; I have this software business up in Cobb County near Rt.41 (Cobb Pkwy.) I chose that area because it is rural and away from prying eyes, so to speak—anyway, there are a lot of computer servers that are starting up who are paying a lot of money for new software that has not been registered.

I have a fiancé and a so-called friend who are associates of mine. They have been extremely friendly and close lately and I do mean extremely close."

Rose interrupted and asked, What do you mean by extremely close and friendly? Could it be a close working relationship that you are seeing and mistaken it for some hanky-panky?

Let me put it this way; there is talk among our associates about their close relationship not appearing to be related to work. Fran, who is my fiancé and I had a terrible fight some time ago. After the fight, I took up time with an old girlfriend who said that I impregnated her and that we should get married and give the baby a name.

Rose asked him, Is it true?

Rose seems to enjoy handling the interview. I just sat there and listen.

Greg answered, No it is not possible—an injury that I suffered in the Iraq war left me sterile. I can’t have children."

Did you tell her that?, Rose asked.

"No I did not. I just wanted to see how far she would take this farce to try to scam money of me. She is not the problem. When Fran and I got back together, that is when this girl came up with this story about the baby.

Looking back, my problems with Fran began at that time."

Have you told Fran about the baby accusation and that you are not the father?

Yes I did. But she does not believe me—I think that she is trying to punish me and hit me where it hurts, in the wallet.

I said; "Greg, if you love her and want your relationship solid, then I would suggest that you go to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, get medical proof and present it to Fran. Make sure that you make copies of the report because I have a feeling that you going to