A Dark Secret Past

 

                Completely out of character, Roger bought a lottery ticket with the idea in mind that “someone has to win”, after dinner he sat down in front of his laptop and began searching for the winning numbers to realize that he held the winning numbers in his hand. “Wow, what am I going to do with two million dollars?” he wondered.

               “I’ve always wanted a Victorian type mansion, now that dream seems like a possibility, time to do some searching around the nation for a home that I can purchase and remodel,” he thought. After spending a few minutes scouring the internet, he found a real estate agent that specialized in these types of homes and gave her a phone call to learn that an abandoned orphanage was for sale outside of a small town in Georgia. After speaking with the agent for a few minutes, the decision was made to fly down, meet the agent at her office and they would drive together to view the building which sat on ten acres and was surrounded by hundreds of acres of forest.

               The next day, he contacted the lottery office, received his money, deposited it into his bank account, and bought a plane ticket to fly to Georgia to meet the agent and view the property. Tingling with excitement when he landed at the nearest international airport, he ordered an Uber to arrive at his hotel to then check in, and enjoy a hot meal at the restaurant connected to the hotel.

               Now with a full stomach, he returned to his room, checked his watch and realized that he had less than two hours to travel to the real estate agency. He set his alarm to enjoy a one-hour nap, placed an order for another Uber and waited outside the hotel entrance for his ride to arrive. Upon entering the real estate office, he was invited into the agent’s private office to look at photos and details of the property. “Wow, this looks great,” he said, “how long will it take for us to drive out there?”

               “It is about a thirty-minute drive to the property,” she said, “the setting is beautiful but the building is in need of a great deal of restoration. When we arrive, we can walk through every room and the ten acres so you have a good feel and vision of what is needed.”

               “Okay then,” he said, “let’s get going right away, I have wanted the opportunity to buy and restore a Victorian type home for several years now. How long has the building been vacant?”

               “As you saw from the listing, it was formerly an orphanage and was abandoned about fifty-five years ago when the last children were adopted out,” she said, “the sale price is one hundred and twenty-nine thousand, I would guess you’ll need about double that to completely remodel the building.”

               Roger and the agent exited the agency through the back door, climbed into her car and began the thirty-minute drive through what seemed to be an endless forest. They reached the driveway and drove for another ten minutes through more forest to then stop in front of a terribly dilapidated building. Roger stepped out of the car and carefully scanned over the front of the building, making mental notes about what needed to be done to the exterior and together they walked around the building, giving him the opportunity to write down what he observed.

               Upon returning to the front door, the agent opened the lock box, unlocked the door and they entered the dark, dusty, and foul-smelling building to see no furniture, no appliances, and no curtains. Roger pulled out a notebook and began sketching the size, shape and layout of the interior to also jot down what needed to be repaired or replaced. They drifted through each room on the main floor and ascended the stairs to the second floor as he continued to sketch and take notes.

               “Am I correct in understanding that there is a basement here?” he asked.

               “Yes, there is a basement,” she said, “but the only entrance is from the outside in the back. Let’s be very thorough as we work through the main floor and the second floor. I wanted to mention that there are some rooms in the basement that are locked, which prevents us from viewing them.”

               “Okay, I believe I’ve thoroughly sketched out both floors and have made notes regarding what needs to be repaired or replaced, so let’s go outside and enter the basement, this is a very large building, I am feeling very positive about making this purchase,” he said.

               They descended the stairs, entered the kitchen, and exited through the rear door to find the cellar door entrance to begin their descent below ground. Pulling a small flashlight from his pocket, they trudged down the stairs and drifted through the open space of the basement to find a great deal of abandoned junk, broken furniture, rusty bedframes and rusty cribs. “Wow, this is crazy,” he said, “who currently owns this property?”

               “Right now, the state of Georgia is the current owner,” she said, “considering the size of the home and the amount of property included, if you make a full price offer, I am certain that they will accept it. I am excited to see the restoration work you will do on this building; it has a great deal of potential to be a beautiful home.”

               Roger sketched another outline of the basement placing question marks inside the rooms they were unable to view. “Okay, this is great,” he said, “I would like to walk around the property and see the forest, the landscape, and the wildlife.” After spending thirty minutes walking the property, they returned to the agent’s car and drove back to the office to begin the paperwork and make a full price offer. “Very good, Roger,” she said, “I’ll send the offer right now and I can provide you some names of contractors who can give you bids for the work that needs to be done.”

               “Excellent,” Roger said, “that question has been plaguing me since I first arrived, thank you for providing those names. Do you have any idea how quickly the seller will respond? I will be in town through tomorrow afternoon.”

               “Yes, like I said before, because it is a full price offer, they should respond immediately,” she said. “I have your phone number; I can give you a ride back to your hotel and I’ll call you as soon as they respond.”

               “If they accept my offer, I can always stay another day and meet with the contractors before I fly back home to the west coast,” he said. The agent disappeared down the hallway, returned smiling, and shook his hand, suggesting that now would be a good time to take him back to his hotel. As they drove the few minutes, Roger noticed a coffee kiosk only two blocks from the hotel. The agent parked immediately in front of the main entrance, he climbed out, thanked her for the ride, and said, “talk to you soon.”

               He entered the foyer, took the elevator to his room, flopped back on his bed and reviewed his sketches and notes, feeling excited and thrilled about this new chapter in his life. Vigorously rubbing his face, he took the elevator down to the main floor and walked the two blocks to purchase himself a coffee. Struggling to make a decision about what flavor to add to his hot drink, he placed his order, left a generous tip, slipped outside and enjoyed sitting in the warm sun and gentle breeze.

               He finished his caffeinated drink, and slowly walked back to the hotel to once again review his notes. Three hours passed and he received a phone call from the agent, informing him that the state of Georgia accepted his full price offer. “That is excellent news,” he said, “I’ll rent a car and stop by your office in a few minutes to sign the necessary paperwork.”

               “Very good, I’ll see you soon,” she said. “I’ll have the names and phone numbers of the contractors we discussed earlier.” Roger hung up the phone, began skimming the internet for the closest car rental agency, made the call and walked the six blocks to retrieve his reserved vehicle.

               With his mind and heart in a swirl of excitement and thrill, he drove to the real estate agency, parked nearby, walked in the front door and asked for a few minutes with his agent. “Yes, sir, give me a minute and I’ll call her to let her know that you are here,” the receptionist said.

               Within a few minutes, the agent invited him back into her office and presented him with a stack of papers to sign. “Also,” she said, “here are the contractors and their phone numbers. I would strongly recommend that you call them today and hopefully they can meet you tomorrow to review the work that needs to be done.”

               “Excellent, thank you so much,” he said as he signed his name forty-seven times on the stack of documents. The agent thanked him for making contact and for closing the deal so quickly, I’ll send off these documents to the current owner so that they know the deal is closed. I will also retrieve the keys for the building and provide the names of the power company, the garbage company, and the water company so you can take care of setting up those accounts.

               Within fifteen minutes the agent returned, confirming that the documents had been sent to the former owner and provided him with the aforementioned information and the keys. He and she shook hands, Roger returned to his hotel and began making phone calls to the contractors to set up times to meet to receive bids for the necessary work.

               The following morning, he arrived thirty minutes before the agreed upon time to give himself time to once again review the entire building. “I am so curious to see the locked rooms in the basement and hopefully not discover anything terrible or dangerous,” he thought.

               He spent twenty-five minutes re-walking through all three floors, reminding himself of all that needed to be repaired or replaced. He returned to the front porch and waited for the first contractor to arrive. They began with a bid for a new roof and new windows.  The two men shook hands and Roger watched the contractor drive away, to then wait for another thirty minutes for the second contractor to arrive.

               “Oh, yeah, let’s take a look at those locked rooms,” he said to himself. He hurried outside, descended into the basement through the cellar door, unlocked the first room, pushed his way through a great amount of debris to find that there were chains and shackles on one wall, and a pile of human bones in a far corner, to be assaulted by an overpowering stench of something dead.

               He backed out of the first room, unlocked the second room to find nothing but a few boxes of black and white photos, he slipped on his gloves and began thumbing through the photos to realize that the photos were of children being abused, causing a feeling of vomit to rise in his throat. “Wow, this is terrible,” he thought, “I need to get back upstairs and meet with the next contractor and make some phone calls to the FBI about what I’ve found.”

               The second contractor arrived and they discussed the restoration of woodwork, the restoration of the wood floors, and the restoration of all the interior doors. The two men shook hands, he received the paperwork, and he watched the second contractor depart. Roger glanced at his watch to understand that he had at least an hour before the third contractor would meet with him.

               “Okay, time for that phone call,” he said to himself as he searched for the phone number for the FBI. “Hello,” he said, “I just purchased a building in southern Georgia, a building that was formerly an orphanage and I discovered some very troubling devices and photos in the basement, can you please send a team of agents so we can discuss what to do about this?”

               “Yes, sir, of course, please tell me the address, so our agents can arrive as soon as possible,” she said.

               As he hung up the phone, the third contractor arrived and they walked through the first and second floor to discuss electrical work, plumbing work, hanging wallpaper, and painting. The contractor sat down, filled out the forms and presented them to Roger. The two men shook hands, Roger said he would be in contact and waved as the third contractor departed.

               Another hour passed and three vehicles appeared in front of his new residence, he walked out onto the porch, welcomed the FBI agents and invited them to follow him into the basement to show them what he discovered. Many photographs were taken; the boxes of photos were confiscated and placed into one of the vehicles.

               “Thank you for calling us, sir,” one of the agents said, “these are truly disturbing devices and photos, we will do all we can to determine what took place here, and who was responsible for this deviant activity.”

               “I wanted to clarify that when I purchased the building, I was told that the current owner was the state of Georgia, so hopefully that will make your research work that much easier,” he said, “seeing photos like this literally made me want to vomit. I genuinely hope you can find those who are responsible for this abuse. I hope these children have recovered and get the help they need to live normal lives.”

               “Thank you for sharing that,” the agent said, “we will contact you if we need any more information but now that we have taken plenty of photographs and have confiscated the boxes of photos, we are definitely in a good position to move forward and convict those responsible for this.”

               Roger stood on his front porch and watched the three FBI vehicles leave his property. He sat down in the sunshine, reviewed the three bids from the three contractors and began to wonder about how to proceed with this work of restoration. “Wow, it is starting to get dark already,” he thought, “I need to return this car, get to the hotel, check out and catch my flight home, then I can make some phone calls to schedule this work to be done.”

               Having completed his required tasks, he took the four-hour flight home, drove to his current home, parked in his garage, prepared a quick, easy meal to then relax for a few days. He slept well that evening, made three phone calls the next morning, scheduled a time for all three contractors to begin their work, requested vacation time, and purchased airline tickets to return to Georgia at the right time to oversee the work to be completed.

               He arrived at his newly purchased residence after settling into his hotel and was thrilled to see the contractors beginning their work, new roof, new windows, restored woodwork, restored floors, restored interior doors, fresh paint, new wallpaper, and updated plumbing and electrical. After a full week of work, he set up his accounts with the power company, the water company, and the garbage company, giving him time to carry the junk out of the basement to be thrown into a large dumpster that had been delivered that day.

               Now that he lived across the country from his current place of employment, he requested permission to work remotely as he truly loved his job, his co-workers, and his glorious, beautiful new home. The thought of the abuse that had taken place in this building made him feel ill and troubled at the pain and humiliation the children underwent at some time in the recent past.

               Now that the restoration work was complete, he contacted a real estate agent in his home town, listed his house for sale, contacted a moving company to gather all of his things to be delivered to his new home. Standing alone in the silence of a four-thousand square foot house, he marveled at how beautiful the building had become, now clean, bright, shiny, and comfortable.

               He contacted the local agent, invited her to come see the completed work and when she arrived, he thanked her for her hard work and informed her that he would be selling his current home and bringing all of his belongings here within the next few days. They walked through the main floor and the second floor and he watched her drive away, giving him the opportunity to take a flight home to pack up his belongings, wait for the moving company to arrive, to load everything, and drive it across the country to his new residence.

               As was expected, he arrived an hour before the moving company, and watched as everything was carried inside and placed in the appropriate rooms. “Alrighty then,” he said, “set up the bathroom first, then the kitchen, then the bedroom, and then the rest of the house, wow, this is really amazing, everything is so quiet, so big, and so peaceful. I guess I’m not really in a hurry, I can take my time with what needs to be done first.”

               In awe of the beauty of his main floor and second floor, the ugliness and the abuse that took place in the basement still haunted him. “I wonder if the FBI will be calling me at some point? I don’t think I’ll need to do anything in the basement because I have plenty of space on the main floor and the second floor. I don’t recall seeing any neighbors close by, I wonder if anyone will approach me now that I’ve restored everything and moved in?”

               The crunching of tires on gravel caught his attention, prompting him to step onto the front porch to see a single FBI vehicle park in front of his house. Two agents emerged from the vehicle, greeted him, and clarified that they needed to take a few more photos in the basement.

               “Yes, of course,” he answered, “I have completely remodeled the main floor and the second floor, but have done nothing in the basement other than throw away all of the junk and debris. Will you be removing the human bones from the one room, I would feel a lot better if they were not there any longer.”

               “We will take many photos and we will remove the bones,” one of the agents said. “I wanted to clarify that we have found those responsible for the abuse of these children, four of them have since died and two of them have been arrested and put into prison. From what we have learned, when they finally closed down this orphanage, it was not because the last few children were adopted out, instead they were sold to child traffickers, leaving this building with no purpose.”

               Sickened at the thought of someone selling a child to be trafficked to complete strangers to be abused made him rage within. “Oh,” he thought, “I need to update the sign out front so that the property is recognized as a private residence, also I need to install a few surveillance cameras around the property.” He bought a can of paint and some sandpaper while he was in town and immediately started working on updating the sign. When the work was complete, he hurried inside and placed an order for surveillance cameras to be delivered as soon as possible.

               Within three days the package arrived on his front porch and he immediately got to work, choosing to view the front porch, the back door, and a high view of the front driveway, feeding all three video feeds into a spare laptop to be recorded and stored online. Satisfied with the work he completed that day, he quickly put together a dinner of ramen noodles, fresh fruit, and an ice-cold beer. As he finished his dinner, he heard tires crunching on the gravel in front of his house and within two minutes someone knocked on his door. He opened the door to see a middle-aged man with a handful of cash.

               “Hello,” the man said, “I was given this address and was told that there is a child here that I could buy for several hours and then return when I am done with her.”

               “Sorry, no,” Roger said, “this property is now a private residence, you received very old information that is no longer relevant.” As the man walked away, Roger memorized the car and the license plate number, locked the door behind him, and placed a phone call to the FBI describing the interaction that just took place, as well as providing a description of the car, the license number and a description of the man. “I just installed surveillance cameras so all of this can be verified, if you send an agent to my home, I can provide all the details so that this person can be arrested and taken out of public life.”

               Late afternoon the next day, an FBI vehicle approached his home, thanked him for the phone call and assured him that they would aggressively pursue this individual and would keep him updated on their progress. After providing the video feed to the FBI agent, the two men shook hands and Roger watched the car drive away.

               One week later, Roger received a phone call from the FBI informing him that the person in question had been arrested and when they took possession of his computer equipment, they uncovered a massive collection of child pornography and a long list of others who had been purchasing the material from the offender, which resulted in over two hundred more arrests across the country.

               Two days after the phone call, Roger received another FBI agent visit and was passionately thanked for his thoughtfulness and attention to detail. “Because of your good work, we were able to shut down a massive child abuse ring, rescue many children, and arrest a large number of very bad people,” the agent said, “please stay in contact if anyone else approaches you as this man did.”

               “Yes, of course,” Roger said, “people like that need to be removed from the public and punished in a most extreme way.”

               “Thank you for being a good citizen of the United States,” the agent said, “I also wanted to let you know that when we arrested the other two hundred people associated with this man, we also gathered many more names and destroyed many terabytes of child abuse videos. Thank you for your good work, I need to be going now. We at the FBI are so thankful for people like you who are willing to step up and do the right thing.”