Angels & Imperfection by Dan Arnold

Author:Dan Arnold [Arnold, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781647348724
Publisher: CKN Christian Publishing
Published: 2020-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

I hate summer in East Texas. The heat is often oppressive. It’s common for it to be at least one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and about 90% humidity. Fortunately, summer only lasts from about May through September, five months, more or less.

It was now full on summer in Tyler, Texas. The temp was 103°. The Crepe Myrtles were fading, and the sound of the air conditioners could be heard in the land.

I learned a good deal more about Walter Farley. I had all of his records, including his service record. Before he started working for Simpson Oil and Gas Company, he had worked for a competing oil and gas company in Oklahoma. Before that, he had been in the Army. He had done a tour in Afghanistan. He had been an intelligence specialist.

He was probably also a sociopath.

It’s hard to identify a true sociopath. They become experts at deceiving others.

Sociopaths have no sense of guilt. They don’t conform to the rules of society out of any sense of moral duty. They only pretend to conform, to avoid getting caught. They are incapable of understanding moral behavior. They are focused on themselves, and getting what they want. There are no limits to what they will do to satisfy themselves. From the time they are children they begin learning to cover their tracks and throw suspicion on someone else. They are masterful deceivers and manipulators.

Deception and lies had been Walter’s problem in the Army. He had an honorable discharge, but his service record indicated he had tried to manipulate the system and was repeatedly caught in lies.

In some ways lies and deception might seem like a good thing for an intelligence specialist, but in combat the facts are essential. Military intelligence is all about gathering data, analyzing the data and making decisions based on the analysis.

If the data is unreliable, if the facts cannot be confirmed, lives may be lost. I had been in combat situations where unreliable intelligence got people killed.

Walter was unreliable. He had been caught fabricating intelligence to make himself look good.

I had more digging to do.

I was thinking about the implications of what I had learned, when Christine buzzed me.

“John, I think you’ll want to take this call. It’s Lori Murphy. She’s frantic.”

I punched the button on my phone.

“Hey, Lori, what’s up?”

“Mr. Tucker, h he f f found me!” she cried.

“Easy now, who found you, Orlando?”

“Yes,” she sobbed. “I answered the ph ph phone and it was him. He, he knows I’m heeeeeere.”

I knew it wouldn’t do any good for me to remind her I had specifically instructed her not to answer the phone, for this very reason.

“OK, calm down. Do you know where he is?”

“N n no, but he knows where I am. He’ll come here and g get me.”

“No, he won’t. We won’t let that happen. I’m on my way over there, right now, and I’ll have the police watch your house. Make sure all the doors and windows are locked. Where are your parents?”

“They, they’re at work.

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