Un-Connected (29 page)

He answered
slowly.

“I think that
would be okay.  It scares me a little but if they will go with me and they
think it is okay I’m willing to look at the place they have.”  He paused for a
minute.  Do I have to leave today?  I mean can I go look at it today and then
come back here?”

“Sure, you can.”
She said.  “You can do whatever you want.  No one will make you do anything you
don’t want to do.  You don’t have to take any medicine or do anything if you
don’t want to.”

We were all
quiet for a few minutes.  Then Deb started to tell Franz about the new place. 
She was the ideal one to tell him.  Her soft voice and engaging sincerity were
all over her face. 

“If you like
this other place we will help you move over there.  Your room would be a little
larger and you would have a small kitchen of your own so you could have drinks
in the refrigerator.  Your room would be inside a covered courtyard so when you
come out your front door, you would be going into a big room where you could
visit with other people who are your neighbors.  That way if it is raining
outside you won’t get wet.  Other people that live there can come out their
front door and sit all around in the courtyard and visit or play games.  It
will be like you have this huge living room that you share with other people. 
There is a nice lady there named Estelle that will help us take care of you.  How
does that sound?”

I whispered to
Margaret real low under my breath so Franz could not hear me. 

“Yeah, the woman
over there is nice to her patients.”

Margaret gave me
a mean look and then smiled.

Everyone was
quiet giving Franz a minute to think about it.

“Okay, I would
like to see the new place and then come back here.”

“That is great.”
I said.  “That is what we will do.”

We all got up
and headed for the door.  Franz wasn’t moving very fast.  I was walking close
to Margaret. 

“Why is he
walking so slowly?  Is he unsure about all this?”

“Probably.  He
normally walks faster than that so I would guess you are right.  Let’s all walk
slower.”

We slow peddled
until we got him to the car.  He got in on his own and buckled up on his own. 

“How long has it
been since you rode in a car?” I asked.

“I was driving
some before the doctor took me to this nursing home.  Maybe once a week or so I
would go out to get groceries.”

“How do you feel
now?”

He didn’t answer
real quickly.

“I’m doing
okay.”

We rode the rest
of the way in silence.  When we were getting close I called Estelle and told
her.  She met us at the door and was very happy to meet Franz.  He was cautious
but polite.  He moved a little slower than we had seen before so we all matched
his pace.

Estelle led the
way and talked in a low tone about how nice their place was.  Then she led us
into the courtyard and stopped so we could all look around and take it all in. 
She pointed out things that were in the courtyard.  There was shuffleboard. 
There were tables for eating and playing games.  There were sofas and chairs
where it was comfortable to just sit.

Then she led him
to his room.  We all stayed back a little so he and Estelle could go over
everything that was there.  Once he walked out, Otis and Tilly went in and
looked around.  Then we all just stood outside the room to give him time. 
After a few minutes Estelle spoke to him.

“Would you like
to walk around and meet people?  There are several people who would like to
meet you.”

Franz walked
around and smiled at people nodded to them in acknowledgement but didn’t talk
to anyone.  After a short stroll around close to where we were he came back.

“Are you ready
to go back to the other place?” I asked.

“Yes, I would
like to go back.”

“Okay, let’s go
to the car.  We will take you back.”

He was moving
faster now maybe a little scared and a little fast.  We drove to the nursing
home without saying much.   When we got there we helped him get inside. 
Margaret found us and asked how he liked the new place.

“It was okay, I
guess.” He said and that was it.  He went to find some of his friends while we
told him goodbye. 

“We will call in
the morning and see if he will tell you what he thinks, if that is okay with
you.” I said to Margaret.

“That is a great
idea.  I think he will be ready tomorrow.  He has shown to be pretty tough but
he doesn’t want to feel like he has to go.”

“Call you
tomorrow.”

Once we got
outside Otis spoke up.

“That is great. 
I will help you pay his bills.”

“You were really
quiet, Otis.  What happened?
            “I was just listening,” He said.

“Well we have a
plan so I will let everyone know tomorrow if we are ready for the next step.”

“That is great.”
Otis said while he was getting into his car.

…

On the way home
our minds turned to building our home.  We thought we wanted a courtyard, and
we probably wanted multiple stories. We also wanted some parts to have privacy
from other parts, so if we had guests, we wouldn’t be on top of each other. We
also agreed, all other things being equal, that it would be fun or convenient
to have the cars drive into the courtyard for parking.

We discovered
that some courtyards were roofed and some had roofs that opened or had high
side windows or skylights to circulate fresh air.

Through our
research Deb also discovered that before air conditioning back to the time before
the Christian era, some wealthy homeowners had multistory homes. They had
windows way up high, three or more stories off the ground and above a central open
shaft or courtyard depending on how large it was. The warm air in the middle
would rise and go out the windows pulling air in at ground level windows that
were open. That caused a draft that cooled the house.

It worked even
better if they put thin wet fabric or sheets over the lower windows so the air
coming in would go through those sheets. They would repeatedly throw buckets of
water on the sheets to keep them wet. The water on the sheets would evaporate,
cooling the air. So there would be cool air coming in the lowest part of the
house and rising through the house as the warm air was exiting out at or in the
roof.

***

The next morning
Jim called and said they had arrested nine people trying to close bank accounts
all carrying IRS badges. They hadn’t confirmed any of them worked for the IRS
yet, but it was getting interesting. Of those nine, the amount of money they
were trying to walk out with totaled almost $26 million.

Jim nearly
laughed out loud he was getting so excited. “Don’t you just love it when a case
comes together?”

Deb and I
guessed we did, but we laughed at Jim.

He wasn’t
offended.

“This is what
the other agents and I live for. This is like a giant puzzle, but it’s deadly
serious. We feel we’re making a difference in the world. We almost feel like
heroes, even though few outside the agency will know our names. That’s OK. We
knew it going in, but it gives us credibility inside the agency. When our
instincts tell us something, we get more money, man-hours, and helpers, for
example, to pursue the case. This makes being an agent worthwhile.”

“We’re glad
you’re on our side and glad you’re putting the heat on the crime,” I said.

We all agreed
that bode well especially for me but also for Deb.

“Later,” Jim
said.

Jim called back
almost immediately. He was so excited. His boss had called him with the latest
developments. The nine arrested people all claimed they worked for the IRS and
did nothing wrong. They even came up with payroll printouts or W-2s that showed
their income and deductions.

Then the FBI
called the IRS to verify employment, their job descriptions, and the functions.
They wanted to ask the IRS what their agents were supposed to do at a bank, but
the IRS would not talk over the phone. Then the FBI told the IRS agents that
were in their custody they wanted to be taken to their offices and desks to prove
they worked there.

Three of them
lawyered up, but six agreed to do it. Then these six IRS agents led the FBI
into IRS offices and to their desks as asked. Some IRS supervisors and their
security told the FBI agents they had to leave.

The FBI had
guns, the IRS supervisors didn’t, and their security wasn’t about to pull guns
on the FBI. The FBI said they weren’t leaving. An IRS supervisor said he would
call the police.

“You should call
the police because we will need their help hauling some of you off to jail,” an
FBI agent said.

Bottom line, the
FBI was in several IRS offices for several days getting information about who
supervised whom and the chain of command all the way to the Treasury Secretary.
They were sure someone much higher up was running this. And having the FBI in
their house had to cause a lot of anxiety. It was their turn to be afraid.

“So far, what we
have found out is that some IRS agents get paid a bonus or pay raises based on
how much they collect. Apparently, a few years ago they began to find ways to
collect more, especially if they got closer to the elderly who were un-connected.
Sometimes younger people were good prospects for them too if they were in poor
health but un-connected.”

He paused a
moment. “Over time there had been accusations about some of the people they were
“watching” who had died prematurely. So there are people pretty high up in the
IRS who knew something was wrong. But they were probably directing it and
covering for those agents. Also it appears that some agents finding cash either
in bank accounts, lockboxes, or their homes or whatever may have forgotten to
turn in all they found, and this became common practice as well.”

Jim paused
again. “The bottom line is the IRS is claiming they may have a few employees who
had broken the law, but the IRS will do an internal investigation, and they
will prosecute those that broke the law to the fullest extent the law allows.”

“Right!” Jim
said as he hung up.

Deb called
Margaret to see if Franz wanted to talk about the new place.  She had been
checking in new patients and had not seen him yet but she would go look for him
in a few minutes and see how he was doing.  She would call back.

We went on a
walk and I got to hold the hand of the prettiest girl in Arizona.  We were
almost back home when Tilly called.

“Otis is getting
stir crazy and wanted to get out of the house.  He was wanting me to call and
see you if you have time to meet.  He also wanted me to ask about Franz.”

“Yes we will
always have time for you guys.” I said.  “We called about Franz but have not
heard yet.”

We told them to
pick the place.  Tilly covered the phone and we could hear them talking.  Then
she came back on the phone and said Otis wanted to go to Waffle Hut.

“We will meet
you there.” Deb said.

We would always
make time for Otis and Tilly, so with very little negotiation, we had a date
set.

Otis walked
slowly into the restaurant. To make it easier Tilly drove him close to the
front door, and I parked the car. We had a great visit. When Otis asked about
the resolution of the whole Rebecca case, we gave him a lot of details, and the
conversation lasted several hours.  About the time we finished eating Margaret
called back.

“Franz is excited
about going to the new place.  He doesn’t want to leave his friends here.  He
wants to know if he can come back and visit.”

“That is great,
Margaret,” I said.  “He is asking if he can come back there to visit?”

“Yes, of
course.  People are always coming to visit friends or family.  I won’t be the
same as living here but he is welcome to come back.”

I looked at Deb
and she mouthed anytime.  Then I said, “Please tell Franz we will come and get
him tomorrow morning.  Do you think that will work best or should we get him
this afternoon?”
            “I think that is great.  He will probably sleep well and be glad
for one more night here.” Margaret said. “By the way.  Do you remember me
telling you that his income had fallen?  I finally heard back from the company
that had been sending money.  Franz had an annuity that was paying him $2300
per month.  With that and social security he was paying his bills here and had
a little left over.  Medicare was paying most of his medical bills.  Then the
annuity payment stopped and I called them.  The guy that returned my call today
said that the person having power of attorney for Franz had called and insisted
on a lump sum cash out.  He said they almost never do that and they strongly
discourage it being done.  Franz’s guardian insisted and would not be
dissuaded.  They had said they would mail a check but he also insisted that the
money be wired.  So we charged him for it and wired the money about two weeks
ago.  So that is what happened to Franz’s annuity.” She paused and then
continued.