I Woke Up 247 by M.P. Arsent
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It was a legitimate question and one I did have to think about.
"I suppose that it isn't Stan, but I hate like hell the thought of any of those folks suffering for it."
"I can sympathize Dennis. All I'm saying is be damned careful."
"That I can do, I'm pretty sure."
Stan just rolled his eyes and walked away.
"So what do you think you can do in just a week lover?"
"I don't know Karl but bright and early tomorrow morning I'm going to find out."
I tried to keep the rest of Christmas day as light as I could and Karl and I made our over to our place and crashed out.
Bright and early we were up for our jogging with Aaron and Roland. Once done with that and a quick breakfast I got showered and dressed. Karl had decided to stay at home while I headed into the office.
"Dennis, I didn't expect to see you here this week."
"I didn't intend to be here this week Stan, but something came up I want to dig into."
"Do I want to know?"
"Probably not, but Rustic Acres."
"The retirement home?"
"Yeah. Long story short. Karls dad organizes a caroling group every year to go around to the different retirement centers. Rustic Acres has been on his list since he started. This year they didn't call and we drove by anyway and the place is under new management. At only 10 pm there weren't any lights on and the front gate was closed and locked. Karl said he can't ever remember seeing that gate closed."
"So you've already convinced yourself that there is something wrong?"
"That about sums it up yeah."
"There are agencies to look into these things Dennis."
"And they need a reason other than my gut feeling to do so."
"True enough. So how are you going to go about finding a reason?"
"I'm going to start by finding out who bought the place and doing a standard check of the corporate entity and work from there."
"Dennis, I know I don't need to say it but I will anyway. Be damn careful."
"Yeah I get it already."
I headed into what had been my dads office and closed the door. I went and booted up the computer and first checked the local business news and found that Rustic Acres had been bought by a Smithson Health Group. I checked them out and got the names of their directors and started doing a net search of the company and the folks who ran it. I found a couple of stories that didn't reflect well on the company, but nothing really bad. The people running the company seemed to check out as well. A little more digging and I found that Smithson was just one of several health groups owned by Johanson Medical Corp. I did the same net search for them and their corporate heads. This went on all day until I finally hit the end of the line with Trenton Corp. They got the same treatment and I didn't find anything untoward about them or their corporate management.
It was past closing time by the time I got done and Stan checked in with me.
"Well what have you got for a days work Dennis?"
"Not a hell of a lot Stan. Traced ownership back all the way to a Trenton Corp. A standard net search shows them and their leadership to be pretty clean, though the ones who are at the bottom of the line, a Smithson Health Group have had a couple of minor complaints that I can see."
"Sounds like this Smithson Health Group is the one you're going to have to bear down on then."
"Yeah maybe. That is for tomorrow I guess. Anything happen today?"
"Nope pretty usual stuff. Some end of year selling off and buying to balance peoples tax loads and such but pretty standard stuff."
"Let's hope it stays that way. I'll probably be back tomorrow."
"What do you want me to tell the troops? You know somebody will ask."
"Tell them the truth. I'm doing some research."
"OK. Let's get out of here for the night."
I went and checked the car over and then headed home. Mrs Ohanlon had supper just about ready when I came through the door. Karl was right there as well.
"So what did you find out?"
"Traced who bought the place and then followed the lines back to the ultimate owners. With the exception of a couple of minor things they all seem to check out."
"So now what?"
"I'm going to try and dig deeper into the folks actually running the place."
"And just what do you hope to find?"
"Really? I'm hoping I don't find a damn thing and I'm worrying for nothing."
"So where are you going to start?"
"Public records search I think. See if there is anything different from what an internet search on the guys shows up."
"So information that is freely available to anyone who goes looking for it?"
"Yeah, police calls, EMT and fire calls, construction permits, that kind of thing."
"And if all of that doesn't show anything?"
"Then I'll know I've been barking up the wrong tree."
"And then we can simply enjoy the time off?"
"Yeah."
Karl and I had our supper and I went out and hit the excercise room for a little over an hour. There was a meet at the end of January afterall.
We crashed out about 11 and then were up and out at the usual time. Roland and Aaron were waiting for us and it was down for our laps and then back home. Showered and fed I was again off to the office.
People gave me the usual good mornings and I headed into what I guess was now my office. Stan was right there as I expected him to be.
"So what's your course of action today Dennis?"
"Public records that don't usually show up in a standard net search."
"What do you hope to find?"
"Like I told Karl last night, I hope I don't find anything. Or maybe some kind of pattern since the place was taken over that might indicate that problems exist."
"A pattern that might not be obvious to somebody who has way too much on their plate."
"Exactly. I'm sure the agencies responsible are trying Stan, but the way things are being cut back everywhere, it's got to be a real pain."
"No argument from me Dennis. Regardless, things seem pretty quite in the overnights and early trading in Europe."
"So business as usual. I can accept that."
Stan went back to his office to get ready for the day and I got to work.
Police reports didn't show any calls to the center. EMTs did have a couple of calls, but that was to be expected with any care facility.
What I did find was that there was a new construction permit issued to the company. It called for a remodeling of the whole building. So it was pretty obvious that the place had to have been completely cleared out. That explained why there had been no call, why the lights were out and the gate was closed.
It was only about 3 when I finally got through with all of that. Stan could see me at my office door looking out over the trading floor.
"So?"
"Looks like the place is being remodeled which explains everything. I even found out where everyone has been shifted to. They're about 50 miles away until the place is done."
"Which explains why you didn't find any of them in the other centers you visited."
"Right. Well at least I can go home and enjoy myself for the next week now. That should make Karl happy, not to mention his father."
"He worried about you getting yourself in trouble?"
"Yeah, everybody was."
"Given what you've been through since you woke up can you really blame us Dennis?"
"No I suppose not."
"Well at least you've satisfied yourself that there isn't anything going on at Rustic Acres that shouldn't be."
"Yeah just one more thing to check out."
"That being?"
"The place they're in until the project is done."
"Probably another of this Smithson Groups holdings. That shouldn't take you long."
"I don't expect it to no, so let me get to that before it gets much later."
I went back into the office and did the standard search and found the home the folks were in was another of the Smithson groups. I didn't stop there though. I went and did the same search of public records as I had before.
This time the results were a lot different. What hit me the most was the number of EMT calls to the place. It looked like there were several a week. Why that hadn't gotten somebodies attention was anybodies guess.
I opened my word processor and started a letter to the appropriate county agency and listed all of my reasons for concern. I then did one for the state as well. I may not have anyone related in the place, but the ones from Rustic Acres had a place in my heart regardless.
I got the letters off and when I came out of the office Stan saw the look on my face.
"I don't like the looks of this Dennis."
"I did just what I said I was going to do Stan and found the place that they sent the clients to has a high number of police and EMT calls, several a week. That just shouldn't be. Letters have been sent."
"I hope to hell this doesn't came back and bite you in the ass Dennis."
"No more than I do Stan. Anything for the day?"
"Nope usual stuff for the end of the year."
"Well then I gues I'll see you this summer."
"You take care of yourself and that husband of yours."
I was shortly on the way home after chcecking the car even here. When I walked through the door Karl must have read my face.
"What the hell Den?"
"The place they sent the clients from Rustic Acres has a high police and EMT call rate, excessively so in my opinion. Letters have been sent to the proper county and state agencies. I just hope they do something about it."