Frankie's Back in Town (16 page)

Even with gray skies swelling in preparation for another snowstorm, the sunroom was Susanna’s favorite space in the house. Once the kids’ rooms had held that distinction, but now they were older, and Skip was gone, the sunroom was the one place where she could go that wasn’t overcome with bittersweet memories, a place she could be alone with her thoughts.

The room, mostly windows, stretched into the conservation lot that was her backyard and had initially sold her on the house. Come spring it would awaken with greenery and bright flowers. But right now it was tiered in snow, winter-bare trees reaching spindly fingers into that gray sky. A scene that felt a lot like her mood.

The door had barely shut behind them before Karan said, “You are never going to guess who Charles saw at the hospital last night.”

Charles had been Karan’s first husband and one of the hospital’s surgeons, so the answer could have been anyone. Why Karan had been talking to her ex was a mystery in itself, but Susanna wasn’t about to ask.

“No clue,” she said, even though she had a good idea. “Who did Charles see?”

“Frankie. She was in the emergency room.”

This much Susanna knew, but that wouldn’t have brought Karan around this early. “And…?”

“Jack.” Karan dropped into a chair…well, dropped wasn’t exactly the right description. More like melted, a fluid motion that spoke more eloquently than any words about what she thought of Jack being with Frankie last night. “Did you know?”

Hmm, how to avoid getting blasted because she hadn’t
picked up the phone and called Karan with this news? “I saw him take off in the ambulance with her, but I assumed the paramedics wanted to check him out, too.”

Karan looked unimpressed. “I can believe the klutz almost killed herself. I can believe Jack rode in to save the day like her bloody knight in shining armor. But I can’t believe you didn’t call me.”

Susanna knew Karan must be willing to let the slight go otherwise she wouldn’t be here. Sinking onto the couch opposite Karan, she curled up in the big cushions. “I was going to call. But I expected you to be off doing something special on a Friday night. And you
never
pick up the phone before noon.”

“Who slept last night, anyway?” She gave a dismissive wave with a perfectly manicured hand. “And I do hope you appreciate how I’m looking out for you when you can’t even bother to pick up the phone until it’s convenient for you.”

Susanna was guilty as charged, so there was no point arguing. “What did Charles say?”

For a moment, Karan looked as if she might keep the news to herself to keep Susanna in suspense, but that lasted all of a heartbeat. “Charles said that Jay wanted to keep Frankie overnight for observation. But apparently she didn’t want to cooperate—big surprise there, I’m sure—so Jack had him release Frankie into his care.”

Susanna frowned. She knew where this was going. “Frankie has a daughter the same age as Brooke. Jack probably dropped Frankie off at home and let her daughter babysit. Or he might have taken her back to the lodge to stay with her grandmother.”

Karan sat upright and folded her arms across her chest. “You think? So why was his car at her house all night?”

“You’re kidding?”

Karan shook her head, a smug smile in place.

“How do you know that? Are you sure?”

“I drove by and saw for myself. At midnight. And two. And five.” Her mouth twisted in a distasteful moue. “He didn’t leave until after eight this morning.”

“You drove by Frankie’s house last night?” Like a real, live stalker, only Susanna kept that to herself. “All right, you got me. I am surprised. I completely didn’t see this coming. You don’t think something’s going on between them, do you?”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Even if there is, Karan, why do you care?”

“I thought
you’d
have been worried. That’s why I gave up my entire night to find out what was going on.”

“I have no interest whatsoever in Frankie’s personal life. Or Jack’s for that matter.”

Karan smiled that slightly exasperated, very smug smile. “I would have thought that since you and Frankie are the only ones left on Jack’s suspect list, you might be worried she was trying to throw the investigation in her favor.”

That stopped Susanna short, and for a moment she could only stare. “I’m still on the suspect list?” she finally sputtered. “Me and Frankie? That’s it? Where did you hear that?”

“The grapevine, honey. That’s why I’m here. If Frankie’s sleeping with Jack while he’s investigating…”

“Jack would never fall for that.”

“Don’t be so sure. What wouldn’t a man do for sex?”

Susanna didn’t have an answer for that. She’d never slept with Jack. Admittedly Karan’s relationship with Jack had ended long ago, but she still had more of a clue about what might go on in Jack’s bed than Susanna did.

The thought made her shiver, and the goose bumps that rose on her arms had nothing to do with the temperature. She
heard the muted sound of the phone ringing somewhere, but it was only a stutter in thoughts that had already bolted from the gate.

Would Frankie actually sleep with Jack to distract him? Was Jack even capable of being distracted?

Every fiber of Susanna’s being rejected the notion that Jack would play favorites. She’d known him most of her life. He played fair. But what if Frankie didn’t? What if she managed to hold something over his head?

“Jack wouldn’t stoop so low for sex, would he?”

“Oh, come on, Suze. He’s a man. A man who hasn’t been involved in quite some time. He’s getting it somewhere. Trust me on this. I
knew
him, remember.”

Fair enough. And Skip had always said Jack had married his job and only had time for flings. Susanna had never questioned that. But maybe there was more there than either of them had known. Maybe Jack only liked wild women.

Not that Frankie struck her as wild. Maybe in high school, but certainly not anymore. Then again, what if these past six months of acting professional had been a ruse to throw everyone off the trail? In high school she’d been mouthy and confrontational. Could someone really change so completely?

Of course, Karan had been on the warpath back then, too. And her friends—Susanna included—had always jumped on the bandwagon with the unkind taunts and propensity for high drama. From an adult perspective, Susanna knew Frankie hadn’t had too many choices to cope. Not so surprising that she’d chosen to fight back with nastiness and rebellion.

In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Brooke approaching the sunroom door. When she opened it, Susanna waved her off. “Please, Brooke, I’m busy. Deal with that. Take a message or whatever—”

“It’s
your
work,” Brooke snapped sounding irritated as she pressed the portable handset against her stomach to mute the sound. “Someone from Northstar Corporate.”

The home office? On a Saturday morning?

Karan clearly understood the significance of such a call. “Do you need a good lawyer, Suze? I know quite a few.”

Brooke’s eyes widened, and Susanna stifled the urge to tell Karan to use her head before opening her mouth. Now she’d have to explain the situation and hope Brooke understood the meaning of discretion otherwise this news would be making the rounds via MySpace and Facebook within minutes.

With a sigh of entreaty, Susanna motioned for Brooke to bring her the phone, where she found Gerald Mayne, the president of finance and her immediate supervisor at Northstar, on the other end of the line.

“Gerald, this is a surprise. How are you and Betty?”

“Good, Susanna. Betty’s great, too. Nagging me to retire, as usual.” He gave a gruff chuckle. “Hate to bother you on a weekend, but we received the latest update on the investigation of your property. The board’s convening to discuss the situation.”

“That doesn’t sound good. What can I do?”

“Hop on the next flight to Chicago. Corporate wants a chance to talk with you before the board convenes Monday.”

“Me, Gerald? I understood the director has been in constant contact with the corporate office about the proceedings.”

“She has. That’s why the board wants to meet. Now that you and the director are the prime suspects in the investigation, we need to look at whether or not it’s appropriate to appoint temporary replacements until the situation is resolved.”

For a moment all Susanna could do was stare at the phone. Was she the only person who didn’t know she was occupying a top slot on Jack’s suspect list? “The director told you that she and I were the prime suspects?”

“President of Operations got a call from her.”

“I see. Then I’ll make the arrangements and get to town as soon as possible.”

“Call me back when you know the flight times, Susanna. I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, Gerald.” She barely got the phone away from her ear when she met her daughter’s shocked gaze.

“You’re not for real, are you, Mom?”

“Brooke, what’s wrong?” Susanna hadn’t had enough time to process the bomb that just dropped on her head, but the look on her daughter’s face brought her back to reality fast.

“You’re the one ripping off the old people?”

“Of course not. Why on earth would you think that?”

Brooke’s expression collapsed. “It’s all over school. I just thought it was that stupid Tara O’Neill making up crap to torture Gabrielle. But it’s really real? One of the managers is ripping off those cute little old people?”

“So Jack told Frankie and not you,” Karan said. “There’s a surprise.” Then, helpful as ever, she held up her cell phone. “Need that lawyer’s number now?”

A
FTER ENJOYING A GOOD CUP
of coffee and even better company with Frankie’s family, Jack headed to the precinct. He’d barely pulled past the Greywacke Lodge’s security gate when his cell rang. After checking the display, he flipped open the phone and said, “Susanna, the exact person I need to talk with.”

“Oh, really?”

“I’ve got an update on the investigation. But let me preface by saying that everything is fine—”

“Everything is not fine, Jack.” Susanna shot the contradiction back, and he heard the distress in her voice, the anger. “You told Frankie that she and I were the only suspects left in your investigation. Didn’t you think I’d be interested?”

“Susanna, listen to me. I apologize it’s taken me so long to get ahold of you, but I can explain—”

“You didn’t get ahold of me, Jack. I got ahold of you. Let’s for one minute forget we’re friends. That you’ve been a guest at every important event in my life since high school. You were a groomsman in my wedding. At both my kids’ baptisms. A pallbearer at my husband’s funeral. Let’s pretend none of that matters. But you’re the police chief. You’re supposed to play fair not pick favorites.”

“Frankie is my contact person on this case, Susanna. You know that,” Jack reminded her calmly. “And I apologize
about not calling you sooner. I went to the lodge yesterday to let you both know that we’d cleared all the other names off the list. You know what happened after I got there. By the time the emergency room released her, it was too late to call. It has nothing to do with favorites.”

He wasn’t sure where
that
had come from as he drove down the winding road that led into the valley. But his hand gripped the steering wheel a little more tightly.

“What am I supposed to think? You don’t tell me something this important. You leave me to hear the gory details from Karan and my
supervisor
from corporate. I was completely unprepared.” She exhaled sharply, a sound of profound disbelief. “This is my job we’re talking about here, Jack. The job that feeds my kids and keeps a roof above their heads. Do you understand that?”

Karan. That explained a lot. Susanna had every right to be angry that he hadn’t explained the situation to her personally—as he’d intended—but the agitation and accusations of favoritism would undoubtedly be a result of dealing with Karan, who had the unique ability to escalate emotions in any situation. Add an extreme dislike of Frankie and the two would be a lethal combination.

But Jack was completely at fault here, no matter how unintentionally. He could have easily telephoned with the news yesterday. Instead, he’d seized the chance to meet with Frankie in person, and he hadn’t been able to break the news to Susanna until after speaking with Frankie. “I am sorry, Susanna. I would never deliberately leave you hanging out to dry with something like this. I wanted to deliver the news in person. I hope you’ll take me at my word.”

Silence greeted him on the other end of the line.

“Susanna, please forgive me.”

“I’ve got to go, Jack,” she said shortly. “I’ve got to make arrangements to get on a flight to Chicago today.”

The connection ended and Jack clutched the phone in his fist and whispered, “Good luck.”

The absolute last thing he’d wanted to do was give Susanna more grief. Yet that was exactly what he’d done. And damn Karan’s insatiable need for dramatics. He had nothing to do with the woman and hadn’t for years. The only time he ever saw her was when they attended the same functions or special occasions of mutual friends. But she could still manage to impact his life—like a damned ball-peen hammer.

He slammed his palm against the steering wheel. Damn it. And Susanna should know better than to let Karan wind her up that way. Susanna usually did know better, which told Jack everything he needed to know. She was feeling the pressure of this investigation, as he’d known she would.

As he wove in with the traffic, he tried to think of some way to help. The best he could come up with was to wrap up the investigation. For all their sakes. Which got him to thinking. If Susanna had been called into Northstar Corporate…

When he got to the traffic light on the corner of Spruce Street and Main, Jack scrolled through his contacts and depressed the send button.

“Good morning, Greywacke Lodge. June speaking. How may I direct your call?”

“Concetta Cesarini’s room, please.”

“Thank you for calling Greywacke Lodge. Connecting.”

A series of clicks sounded in his ear, then the line rang through. Frankie answered on the second ring.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” he said.

Her laughter filtered through him in a way that calmed the edges of his frustration. “Are you checking up on me?”

“Yes. How are you feeling?”

“Rushed. I’ve got a command performance in Chicago. Got to hop on the next flight out.”

“You feeling up to the trip?”

“Not really, but I’ll be okay. I’ll sleep on the plane. I’m just inconvenienced, that’s all. I’m supposed to spend the day watching movies with Gabrielle.”

“I’m sorry.”

Silence. “For what?”

“For not being able to end the investigation before this.”

“You’re trying, Jack. That’s all any of us can do.”

She sounded so practical, so unruffled. She’d learned to roll gracefully with the punches. He liked that about her. He also liked that talking with her came so easily. Although she’d flat-out told him that he didn’t stand a chance with her, Jack knew better. She was on the other end of this satellite signal, making him feel better with her reassurances and graciously allowing him to check up on her.

It was a start.

“Anything I can do to help you with corporate?” he asked.

“I wish. Solve the mystery. That’s all I can think of.”

All he could think of, too. Unfortunately. “What about a ride to the airport?”

“That’s nice of you to offer, but I’m good, thanks. I’m not sure when I’ll be back, so I need my car parked there. The board doesn’t convene until Monday morning.” She hesitated. “They may choose to install an interim director until this situation is resolved.”

“I’m heading into the precinct as we speak. I’ll figure this out, Francesca. You have my word.”

“I know,” she said softly. “I’m counting on it.”

He savored her admission. Not so much the words, but the trust in her tone, the belief he would do what he said.

“Have you heard from Harvey?” he asked.

“Not yet. Sounded like it was going to take some time to find the right parts. And a miracle.”

Jack laughed. “Have a safe trip then. Good luck with your bosses. I’ll try to have some answers for you before they decide to temporarily replace you. Okay?”

“That works for me. Good luck, Jack.”

“Good luck to you, too, Francesca. I’ll stay in touch.”

The sound of her voice lingered as he pulled into the precinct parking lot.

Jack checked in with the desk sergeant. Then made his way through the station, dismissing any thought of heading home to clean up until he shook loose some break in the case.

Randy wasn’t in his cubicle, but Jack spotted him when he emerged from the document room.

“Randy.”

He glanced up from the document he was holding, eyes widening. “You’re timing is downright freaky, Chief.”

“What have you got?”

“Hot off the press.” Randy waved a fax transmission. “Want the good news or the bad news.”

Jack scanned the information quickly. “Good news and bad news is right. Damn it.”

“Didn’t think you were going to be happy with that.”

Jack hadn’t realized until then that he was holding his breath. He’d wanted a break in the case. He’d gotten it. But he’d also wanted a miracle that would exonerate both Frankie and Susanna. He hadn’t gotten that.

This document eliminated his last clue and targeted his alleged perp. After playing the process of elimination game, these two sheets of paper, including cover letter, verified that Greywacke Lodge’s Director of Operations didn’t have authorization to transfer resident funds, which limited access of pertinent information to the CFO.

“I don’t think Susanna’s a thief.”
Frankie’s voice replayed in his memory.
“And I know I’m not.”

She’d been right on one score.

But he couldn’t accept that Susanna was responsible for these thefts. The broad scope of these crimes…the level of knowledge and manipulation and intent….

No. Not Susanna.

But evidence didn’t lie, and now he had a real problem.

He’d run out of suspects.

“Let’s go,” he told Randy.

“Where?”

“To work. We’re going to revisit every piece of evidence. I need another suspect.”

Randy clamped a hand on Jack’s back. Hard. “Listen, man. I know you aren’t happy right now, but deal. We’ve got our perp.”

“We don’t.”

Clutching the documents, he headed to Randy’s cubicle, determined to go over absolutely everything they had from every source to see what they had missed.

Randy stomped along behind him, clearly pissed. “We’re done here, Jack. We’re ready to start building our case. We’ve got everything we need.”

Jack shook his head. “No. We don’t have the right perp.”

Randy snatched up a disposable coffee cup from his desk. “Now’s not the time to get personal. I know you know these people but—”

“You’re right. I do know these people. Susanna isn’t responsible. She’d have to be working with someone to pull off—” He shook his head emphatically. “We still don’t have an identity on the mystery woman making the withdrawal. The FBI is working on that surveillance tape. In the meantime, we’re not proceeding until we double-check every available fact.”

Randy practically growled his frustration, but Gary Trant’s arrival cut off his reply.

“Jack, Randy,” Gary said in greeting, smiling as if he had every reason in the world to feel good which, as far as Jack was concerned, he didn’t. “I was coming through the building, so I thought I’d check in and see how you’re coming along with the old-age home. Pierce was running his mouth at the council meeting yesterday and getting everyone riled up. I was hoping you had some good news.”

“Hate to disappoint you,” Jack said.

At the same time Randy said, “We’re ready to start building our case.”

Gary shifted a narrowed gaze between them. “Which is it?”

“Our alleged perp isn’t our alleged perp,” Jack said. “We’re not ready to make a move.”

Gary wasn’t stupid and he guessed quickly what was going on because he asked, “Who?”

“The CFO,” Randy supplied. “Susanna Adams.”

Gary frowned. “You’re sure? To be honest, I find that difficult to swallow.”

Randy rolled his eyes, took another swig of coffee to dismiss them.

“My thoughts exactly,” Jack said.

“Then again…” Gary let his statement trail off. “Marietta said Susanna has been having a rough time getting back on her feet after Skip’s death. He was sick a long time. I’m sure that had to cost a chunk of change.”

“Could she be struggling to keep afloat financially?” Randy asked. “I don’t know the lady, but I do know when it comes to my kids, I might get creative if things were bad enough.”

“She might be struggling, but if she were in over her head, she’d go to Skip’s parents. They’d help out. No question.”

“I suppose it’s something to know it isn’t Frankie. Might
shut a few people up, at least.” Gary folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the desk, clearly intending to become part of the resolution process. “So what comes next?”

“We bring her in for questioning,” Randy said.

“Bringing her in isn’t a bad idea. At least we’ll exonerate Frankie and look like we’re doing something here.”

“I am not bringing in an innocent woman as damage control,” Jack said simply. “I’m on this case for exactly that reason.”

“Some job you’re doing, too. The whole damn town is talking, so let’s not go there,” Gary said.

Jack agreed with that, at least. The news had even trickled down into the high school.

“That’s the real problem, though.” Randy half sat on his desk. “We’ve got no good reason
not
to bring the CFO in for questioning. Nada, but Jack’s opinion of her character. The evidence points to her. If we don’t bring her in for questioning, then we leave ourselves open to obstruction. Don’t know about you gents, but I don’t want to defend myself for interfering in due process.”

Gary winced. “Pierce will wipe the floor with us.”

“We’re still waiting on the FBI for an ID.”

Randy snorted. “What? You think the Feds are working through the weekend to get you that evidence?”

Gary met Jack’s gaze. “At least cover your ass while you wait. Bring her in for questioning. They know you and Skip were good friends. You don’t want people spreading around how you cut the widow a break.”

And that gave Jack an idea. Not a great idea, but a good way to buy some time. “I think you may be right.”

“Bloody hallelujah.” Randy lifted his cup in salute.

“Susanna is already on her way to Chicago to address the board of Northstar Management.” At least Jack
hoped
she was on her way to the airport otherwise
he’d
just committed a crime. “I’ll fly there to escort her back.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Gary sounded relieved. “Keep me updated with what’s going on. I won’t be into the office until Monday so call my cell. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.”

Jack nodded then charged Randy with a glance. “Get going on that.”

“You still want me to go through everything?”

Jack nodded. “Get another
con leche.
You’re going to need it. I’ll be in touch.”

Then he turned his back on Gary and Randy and headed out of the office. He had a flight to catch. He had no clue how yet, but he was going to fix this situation. Jack wasn’t about to let down two people he cared for any more than he already had.