Chapter 8

Frank and Jonesy gather evidence

Frank sat down at his desk with the five notebooks he and Jonesy had retrieved at the Bullocks' home. As he paged through the first one, he found a great deal of childish prose dedicated to springtime, ponies, and the beach.  The other three notebooks that Mrs. Bullock had given them had similar entries, although by the third and into the fourth notebook, themes of Christianity began to permeate the writing.  By the end of the fourth notebook, the poems were almost all religious in nature.

Frank expected the fifth notebook that they had discovered in Maggie's room to continue down the same path.  He was quite surprised to find that this notebook did not contain poetry.  It was a journal.  The journal entries began about six months ago and continued up to the days before Maggie's disappearance.  As he read the entries, he realized that the focus of the entries was on someone with whom Maggie had fallen in love. It wasn't the innocent love of a teenager, or a secret crush.  It was a gradual sexual awakening that increased in intensity and detail.  Frank felt uncomfortable reading this, but also began to realize that Maggie was no longer the innocent girl that her parents believed she was.

The subject of her affections was not named, but Frank got the sense that Maggie's feelings for him were not those that a teenager feels for another teenager. She kept referring to his knowledge, his experience, and his "worldliness". Frank began to think two things. First, the subject of her affection was older, perhaps much older.  Second, the first solid lead into her disappearance had emerged.

As he read the final entries in the journal, a key piece of information emerged; Maggie Bullock was pregnant.

 

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Jonesy sat at the computer in his office and began researching Pastor Rick Worthington. The CT website was heavy on fluff and light on relevant facts.  Worthington started out at the church as the assistant pastor to his father, Randall Worthington. The senior Worthington became the pastor in 2003 when CT opened. He served in that capacity for three years before suffering a massive and fatal heart attack days before a regionally televised event featuring the church. At the time of his tragedy, his son Rick was "divinely inspired" to take over for his deceased father and go forward with the broadcast in spite of his "deep grief". That was the moment a star was born.

Jonesy then read about all of the "miracles" that had occurred during Pastor Rick's tenure.  More regional and national TV exposure followed and the young man became a living legend.

Jonesy was able to find YouTube video of the elder Worthington preaching to the flock.  His style could not have been more different than his superstar son.  His calm, thoughtful delivery was full of references from Bible verses, both well-known and obscure. Jonesy's observations of the son revealed a fiery delivery laced with generalities and nebulous Bible references that may or may not have been accurate.  The younger Worthington was dynamic and engaging, but totally lacking in referential credibility.  The elder Wilkinson was educated, accurate, reverential, even-tempered, and, in a word, dull.

The church's growth and popularity was attributed to the show-business style presentation of a new brand of pseudo-Christianity that was very profitable.  It was now time to delve into Pastor Rick's pre-2003 history.

Jonesy was able to trace the Worthingtons back to Tulsa Oklahoma where the elder Worthington graduated from Oral Roberts University and then worked for the Roberts family ministries.  There was no discernible information on Pastor Rick.  There were no academic awards, no community service mentions, nothing.  It appeared that Jonesy had hit a brick wall in the Internet.  It was time to use other means.  But first, it was time to head to the Sun Dog for dinner with Frank.