Frankie's Back in Town (9 page)

“I’
M AVAILABLE
, Y
VETTE
,”
Susanna said into the intercom. “Tell Francesca she can come now.”

Susanna braced herself for the door to open. This unexpected visit must be about the changes she’d proposed to the property’s service provider. If Frankie denied her proposal without any negotiation whatsoever, her reasoning would have to be personal. True, the property hadn’t been hardwired all that long ago, but they stood to save considerably by making the switch. And those numbers would mean a great deal in this economy.

Hopefully Frankie wouldn’t get in the way of Susanna doing her job, but she honestly wouldn’t be surprised. She’d been waiting for the other shoe to drop ever since walking through the door of Northstar Corporate to meet her newest director.

Maybe Frankie was pissed off because she’d been ostracized all those years ago. She could have been biding her time to establish her credibility before using her position to make Susanna’s life miserable as payback for past sins.

Kids could be so brutal. Even worse when they were in groups, especially with Karan as the ringleader. But the ugliness had worked both ways. Frankie had made herself an easy target with her attitude. She’d never once backed down to any of them, which had invited a lot more animosity. An unhealthy circle that had fed the enmity on both sides.

Everyone involved had a responsibility in those situations. She’d tried to explain that to her son, Brandon, after his latest run-in with Trevor McGraw, the boy who’d been bullying him on the baseball field since T-ball. Sometimes Brandon stood up for himself. Sometimes not. Either way, the situation always took a tremendous amount of emotional energy for both Susanna and her son.

Yeah, kids could definitely be brutal.

When a knock sounded, Susanna called, “Come in.”

Frankie appeared, her professional demeanor cranked up to high. She stood just inside the doorway, and Susanna didn’t bother inviting her to sit down.

“I’m calling a staff meeting,” Frankie said. “I have some news, and since it involves some of your people, I didn’t want you to be sandbagged when I make the announcement.”

Not about her proposal then. Susanna wasn’t sure what to make of that. “What’s up?”

“I got a call from the police, and it seems they’ve eliminated the suspects with physical access to the captain’s wallet. They’re narrowing their investigation to people with access to our residents’ personal information.”

“Why?”

“They’ve discovered suspicious charges on a number of our other residents’ cards and suspect an identity theft scam.”

Susanna could only stare. “How many residents?”

“Twelve so far.”

Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and she blurted, “You have got to be kidding me?”

“I wish.”

“The police think someone here is responsible?”

Frankie inclined her head, expression grim. “I guess so. We’re the most obvious connection, anyway.”

That’s when it clicked, and the pieces all fell into place. Frankie had said she had news about Susanna’s people in accounting. And her heartbeat stuttered in her chest.

“My department is the most obvious connection.” Her voice was a strangled whisper.

Frankie held up her hand. “They’re looking at everyone here with access. That includes your department, but you know as well as I do there are others. Not only here in senior living but the nursing center. They’ll be looking at everyone.”

Frankie included, Susanna realized. As director of operations, she had oversight on everything that happened around here. Yet she didn’t make a move to leave, probably wanted to give Susanna a chance for this bombshell to sink in.

Susanna forced herself to take a breath. Then another. “Do you know what kind of numbers we’re talking about?”

“No clue with the newest victims,” Frankie said softly. “I do know the theft on the Hickmans credit was reaching into the high six digits.”

Susanna’s breath caught in her chest. “Oh, heaven forbid.”

Frankie nodded and the silence fell heavily between them, filled with implications that were staggering.

Reputations. Careers. Futures.

Susanna still couldn’t get her brain around it all, not while meeting Frankie’s grim gaze, and that weird, somehow companionable silence growing between them as if they were watching an avalanche descend toward them.

She had the craziest impulse to say something that would cross the carefully erected boundaries of professionalism, to commiserate about a turn of events that impacted them both on so many levels. Whatever else she and Frankie had been in the past, in the present they were united for their residents.

“Did Jack tell you about this?”

Frankie nodded.

The first tiny bit of relief began to penetrate Susanna’s shock. The detective on the case, the one who wasn’t from around here, wouldn’t have a clue. He knew she would never turn a blind eye to any wrongdoing in her department. He knew she would never jeopardize the job that supported her family.

“What do I need to do?” she asked automatically. “Let me know. I’ll help however I can.”

“Chief Sloan asked to be at the meeting. I’m sure he or Detective Tanner will let us know what they need. We’ll go from there and hope for the best.” She glanced at her watch. “Twenty minutes in the conference room.”

Her gaze trailed across the photos propped on the desk beside the computer display—Brooke and Brandon posing in front of the Christmas tree barely two months ago. Susanna thought Frankie might comment, but she seemed to think better of it and turned to leave. “See you there.”

Frankie was halfway through the door before Susanna finally snapped out of her daze.

“Frankie,” she said, “I appreciate the heads-up.”

If Frankie noticed the unintentional use of that long-ago nickname, she made no indication and simply nodded. The door closed. Minutes passed before Susanna realized she was still staring at the door.

Then she reached for her cell phone.

She wasn’t sure why. Maybe she needed to hear a familiar voice. Maybe she needed to talk to help her process this news. Then again, maybe Susanna just needed Karan to reassure her that Jack would never suspect her of
stealing.

After depressing Karan’s speed dial number, Susanna paced her breathing while the call connected. It rang, and
rang, and when she expected to hear a voice mail message, she heard Karan pick up.

“Hello?” the groggy voice asked.

Susanna glanced at her watch. Only Karan. “It’s worth waking up for. Trust me.”

“Dish.” Not a hint of grogginess left.

Susanna could imagine Karan sitting bolt upright in bed, wide-awake, ready for the scoop. For as much as Karan tried to act above it all, she was predictable. She’d deny it, but she still thrived on drama. Too much free time on her hands, Susanna decided, then quickly explained.

“So, Frankie’s a suspect.” Karan didn’t sound remotely surprised.

“So am I.” How could Karan miss the point of this call? “The first place Jack will look is at my department. Everything runs through accounting.
Everything.
”

Billable services. Accounts receivable. Direct deposits. Her department ran credit checks for residents who applied to the lodge. They were the accounting department, for goodness sake. That’s all they dealt with. Money, money and more money.

“Oh, Suze, be real,” Karan scoffed. “There’s no way Jack will think you had anything to do with fleecing the old folks. Even if Frankie wasn’t around.”

Karan, in her roundabout way, had come through, and that anxiety deep inside Susanna quieted. She’d had nothing to do with theft in any way, shape or form, but life didn’t always play fair. She’d been learning that the hard way the past few years. She and Skip had followed the rules.

They hadn’t waited to live their dream—family life. A house with a white picket fence. Little League and Girl Scouts. Life had graciously obliged—up to a point.

She sighed heavily. “It’s my department, Karan. It won’t
matter if I’m innocent. If one of my people are caught breaking the law, then I’m guilty because I let it happen on my watch. My reputation is on the line here.”

“You’re not talking petty theft,” Karan pointed out. “And you’re not stupid. You’d have suspected something if someone was running a scam right under your nose.”

Would she? She’d been so busy keeping up with her work. After all, along with the title of chief financial officer had come not only a substantial salary increase but a lot of new challenges. She’d been enjoying those challenges for the most part, but add to the new job, her solo parenting gig, money stresses, an active family and her in-laws.

Skip’s parents had been devastated by their only son’s death. They could be tremendously helpful by showing up to root for Brandon at ball games and taking Brooke on daylong shopping expeditions to the mall.

But there was also a shadow side to their involvement. They called at least once a day to check in and see what was going on with the kids. They showed up on the weekends unexpectedly for dinner or to attend church service or to watch movies. Susanna understood how important that connection was to all of them, but those phone calls and visits added more responsibility in her already jam-packed days.

Stupid? No, she wasn’t. Distracted? Yes. Would she have noticed a problem? Or would she have missed it completely in the frenzy of her days when her attention was scattered in a hundred different directions?

“Suze, listen to me,” Karan admonished over the connection, pulling Susanna from the downward spiral of her thoughts. “Stop dwelling on worst-case scenario. I know you. I know exactly what you’re doing.”

Karan’s firm tone came like a mental slap in the face. “You’re right.
You’re right,
” Susanna said more firmly.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. I know I’m not involved in any identity theft scam, and I don’t think any of my people are, either.”

“There you go. No worries then. You have enough to worry about without adding this to the list. Stop stressing.”

“You’re right.”

“Of course I am” came the fast reply.

Susanna smiled. She did have a lot on her plate. Rearing her family alone. No college or retirement money left to fall back on. She was barely scraping together the mortgage each month even with this salary increase. Was it any wonder she was near the point of hyperventilation? She wouldn’t sleep well until Jack found out who had been
fleecing the old folks.

“Thanks,” she whispered into the phone, and meant it.

Karan laughed. “Don’t mention it. You’re in good hands with Jack. I shouldn’t have to remind you. But I’m thinking…Maybe I should swing by and visit you at work one of these days. Sounds like you need a little moral support. And I wouldn’t mind seeing what Frankie the Felon looks like all grown up. I mean, before I can pull up her mug shot on the Internet. Those photos are always so unflattering.”

“Karan!” Susanna’s feeling of relief evaporated as quickly as it had appeared.

Moral support?
More likely taking advantage of another chance to bash Frankie. Honestly, Karan was a dog with a bone.

Susanna found herself annoyed. Maybe because Frankie had made the effort not to sandbag her at the meeting. Susanna wasn’t sure. She only knew that she didn’t like the drama of high school bleeding into her professional world any more than she liked feeling disloyal to her friend.

W
HEN
F
RANCESCA OPENED HER
eyes to glance at the alarm clock, she knew this day wasn’t off to the best of starts. Not only had she slept through any hope of a morning run, she would barely have time to shower and dress for work.

Bolting out of bed, she winced when her bare feet hit the cold floor. She shouldn’t be surprised she’d overslept. Ever since Jack had informed the lodge’s administration that most of them were suspects in an identity theft case, she hadn’t been able to think of much else.

Even when she should be sleeping. She tossed and turned and when she wasn’t obsessing about being a suspect, she was obsessing about being the suspect of the man running the investigation, a man whose handsome face she could see when she closed her eyes no matter how hard she tried to block it out.

And while she wasn’t surprised about oversleeping—anything was preferable to the reality of what she would face in the office—she was surprised that Gabrielle hadn’t awakened her. She should have been getting ready for school by now.

Francesca found her daughter burrowed warmly beneath the covers in her room, the cell phone she used for an alarm buried with her. Only her hair peeked out from the pillows and blankets. Francesca couldn’t help but smile.

“Move over, toasty girl,” she whispered, sliding into the warm cocoon.

Gabrielle only sighed and rolled to her side, one of the rare times she didn’t protest a display of affection. She’d never protest “spoons,” anyway, a beloved tradition from childhood she hadn’t given up yet, along with green blankie, the handmade baby quilt that had weathered childhood with her.

Francesca smoothed the threadbare blanket where it had balled up in a makeshift pillow, unable to resist stroking the wispy curls at her daughter’s temple.

“Sleeping through school today?” she whispered. “We’re running late.”

Gabrielle gave a semiconscious groan. “Don’t care.”

“Me, either.” Letting her eyes drift shut, Francesca gave into the lure of the warmth, unable to face another day of turning over data to the police to assist the investigation.

If the extra workload didn’t kill off her staff, the extra emotions would. The reactions had been running the gamut from disbelief to fear. And while everyone, Francesca was proud to note, interacted professionally with the police, behind the scenes was another story. The administrative offices had turned into a pressure cooker of tension. They couldn’t discuss the case. Not with each other. Not with the residents—the
victims.
“Let’s both skip today,” she suggested.

That got Gabrielle’s approval. Nestling closer she reached up to pull Francesca’s arm around her in a familiar move that melted Francesca’s heart.

How many more times would she get to spoon with her beautiful, growing-up-so-fast daughter before college and adulthood got in the way?

Gabrielle had never liked sleeping alone as an infant. Not in her crib. Not in her toddler bed. Not in her Disney
princess bedroom. Francesca had never minded, and the years since had been filled with spoons. In Gabrielle’s bed or Francesca’s, didn’t matter which, during childhood illnesses and upsets, or whenever Francesca simply needed time with her daughter after exhausting days filled with work and school and familial responsibilities.

Now she snuggled closer, fighting a battle to stay awake. She wasn’t about to miss a second of this moment, an unexpected gift. Or a moment spent wrapped in the comfy arms of denial. When was the last time they’d spooned?

“We can watch
Lord of the Rings.
All three” came the sleepy suggestion just as Francesca was dangerously close to drifting off. “And eat ice cream.”

“That sounds so good.” Francesca heaved a resigned sigh. “I wish I could.”

“You can.” Gabrielle snuggled back until Francesca’s face was buried in the silky curls. “Don’t go. Stay with me. We’ll have fun.”

Barely functioning sanity wasn’t much help here. Not when Gabrielle was right. Spending time together blowing off the world would be fun.
So much more
fun than facing what awaited her in the office today.

“I can’t abandon the ship.” No matter how much she wanted to. “I’m totally ready for a
Lord of the Rings
marathon, though. This weekend? We’ll hole up and blow off the world.”

“Well, I’m not going to school.” Gabrielle sounded prickly.

“Why not?”

“Head hurts.”

Francesca slipped her hand over Gabrielle’s forehead, tried to gauge her temperature, which was entirely impossible when they were burrowed in this cocoon.

Gabrielle pulled away, and the heavenly moment was over. Reality intruded. Her daughter was fifteen again.

“I’m not sick, Mom. I just don’t feel good.”

“Do you feel like you’re coming down with something?” Now that Francesca thought about it, Gabrielle had gone to bed unusually early last night.

Gabrielle shrugged.

“What about school?”

“No problem. I’ll get the notes online.”

Francesca didn’t resist. She’d give Gabrielle a chance to sleep off whatever the problem was and hope she fought it off. And if her daughter simply needed a mental health day…well, she’d been working hard to keep her grades up. She knew better than anyone whether or not her schedule could handle an absence. And the consequences if it couldn’t.

“Okay, pup. Sleep. I’ll lock you in and turn on the security. I want you to text me when you wake up, okay. I want to know how you’re feeling.”

Gabrielle nodded. “Call school. I won’t be able to exempt if I have an unexcused absence.”

At this stage of the game, life was all about keeping up attendance for the clever incentive of exempting exams of choice. Usually anything math or science related.

“I’ll call.” With a sigh of profound regret, Francesca kissed Gabrielle’s cheek and slipped out of bed, smiling when she saw the tiny smile on her daughter’s face.

Life could be so,
so
good.

She was sailing out the door in record time, nursing her first sips of black coffee as she drove to the lodge. There’d been snow during the night, which had made a mess of the roads. The plows never made it up the mountain until later in the day, after they’d cleared the town proper. But without the trip to the school, she made it to work barely noticeably late, where Yvette greeted her with some unexpectedly pleasant news.

“Your grandmother called. She made lasagna for last night’s pinochle tournament. She saved some for you, so don’t eat lunch in the restaurant.”

Francesca skidded to a stop in the doorway. “You go, Nonna. Something to look forward to today.”

“You’re going to share, aren’t you?” Yvette asked. “This place has been like working in the seventh circle of hell since Chief Sloan brought the good news. Rachel’s already been in this morning with an invitation to a staff tea. It’s at three in the break room. Be there or miss the cookies.”

“Really? I don’t remember hearing about any tea.”

“That’s because she just added to the calendar about 8:01 this morning.” Yvette shrugged. “She wants to raise morale.”

“That’s a good thing,” Francesca said. “Exactly what an activities director should be doing.”

“Yeah, right. Easy for her to be all chipper. She’s not on the suspect list.” Yvette looked as surly as she sounded. “So I do get some lasagna, right?”

“I’m thinking about it. I might need every one of those carbs to keep me awake.”

“I know what you mean.” Yvette collapsed back in her chair in a clearly feigned display of weakness. “I’m relapsing with that horrible flu. I might have to take a personal day and leave you alone to deal with the phones.”

Apparently Francesca wasn’t the only one who thought work sounded about as fun as an infectious disease today. Despite the tea. “Wench.”

“I might be able to make it to five if I can look forward to a yummy lunch. Y’know, something homemade and delicious that’ll fuel me through the long afternoon until I can sugar up at Rachel’s tea.”

“You win, then.” There was no battle to fight here. Not when it meant answering the phones.

Yvette smiled slyly. “Your grandmother makes the best.”

“Medicinal, too,” she said drily. Not only for Yvette, but for herself. Leave it to Nonna to provide something to look forward to. Not only with the promise of lunch, but with the interest and effort cooking had entailed. Lasagna translated into a lot of work with all the care and skill Nonna gave it. And she hadn’t forgotten to turn the stove off, since the lodge was still standing.

The telephone beeped an electronic greeting, and with that sly smile still on her lips, Yvette reached for the handset.

Francesca headed into her office, telling herself to look on the bright side. Sharing lasagna meant also sharing the four pounds she would have gained from eating all those carbs. That thought appeased her a little.

Diving into a stack of paperwork, she started on the reports that needed to be in Northstar’s corporate office by the end of the week and didn’t resurface until Yvette put a call through from Ashokan High School.

“Damn.” Francesca depressed the flashing button that connected her to the call. “Hello, this is Ms. Raffa.”

“Beth Fairweather, Gabrielle’s AP Euro teacher.”

“Oh, no.” Francesca groaned. “I forgot to call in.”

And if an unexcused absence jeopardized Gabrielle’s ability to exempt exams, Francesca was in deep trouble.

“So you do know she’s not at school today?” Beth said.

“I do. She wasn’t feeling well this morning.”

“I’m not surprised. I suggested she talk to you about what happened yesterday, but when she didn’t show up for class and wasn’t listed as excused…well, I thought I’d call. I’m relieved she didn’t skip.”

Every flag on Francesca’s parental flagpole started flapping. “No. I gave her permission to stay home. But she didn’t say anything about yesterday. What happened?”

“Kids, I’m afraid.” There was a sigh on the other end of
the line. “Apparently a few students shared some news with the rest of the class and got everyone talking about Gabrielle.”

“News about what?”

“A police investigation happening where you work. I walked in when they were telling everyone you were the main suspect in the case. Not in quite those exact words, I’m afraid.”

Francesca closed her eyes against a sudden wave of nausea. “How did you handle it?”

“I didn’t write referrals. Unfortunately, school policy doesn’t consider gossip a prosecutable offense. But I did pull the two instigators from class and gave them an earful about gossip and unkindness. I let them know what will happen if they pull anything like this in my class again. I wish I could say they’ll take my words to heart, but considering the source…I think Gabrielle might have been more upset than she let on.”

Francesca forced herself to breathe deeply, to dispel the sick feeling that accompanied a creepy sense of déjà vu. She remembered exactly what it felt like to be the target of ugliness in a classroom, to be a target for kids who wanted to belittle, demean and amuse themselves at her expense.

No wonder Gabrielle hadn’t felt well today.

“I’m so glad you called.” Francesca had to force the words out. “I had no clue there was any trouble. Gab and I do need to discuss this. Not only what happened in class yesterday, but the investigation. I understood the police were keeping everything low-key, so it didn’t occur to me she’d hear about it.” She fought the urge to defend herself, hated that she felt this way when she’d done nothing wrong.

“Life in a small town.” Beth sounded resigned. “I’m sure everything will work out. But if you wouldn’t mind letting Gabrielle know I won’t allow another repeat performance in my classroom, I’d appreciate it.”

“I certainly will.”

“Oh, and please tell her we’ll be having a surprise quiz on chapter seventeen tomorrow. She doesn’t want to miss it if she plans on keeping the first desk.”

The high point of the first semester at Ashokan had been Ms. Fairweather’s incentive program. The highest grades in the class commandeered the first row of desks, and Gabrielle had been excited and proud every time she managed to keep a place in that coveted row. This much Francesca did know even if she’d missed everything else.

“Beth, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Has Gabrielle been having trouble with the students in your class before this? To my knowledge this is one of her favorite classes.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I certainly enjoy her. She’s a breath of fresh air. Intelligent. Motivated. Funny.” There was a smile in her voice. “I haven’t noticed any trouble, but she doesn’t seem to be making friends easily. She sticks to herself. Is that typical for her?”

“Not really. I wouldn’t call her a social butterfly, but she had her fair share of friends in Phoenix.” A few of whom Francesca wasn’t sorry to leave behind.

“This is a tough crowd. She’s in with a group that has been together a long time.”

No surprises there. “I’ll talk with her and see what she has to say. I really do appreciate you calling.”

“No problem,” Beth said. “Go ahead and call the attendance line. I’ll let the assistant principal know what happened, so the absence will be excused.”

By the time Francesca disconnected the call, she had a good bead on why Gabrielle liked her AP Euro class so well.

She stared out the ice-paned window. Fresh snow blan
keted the forest sweeping down into the valley. Thick gray clouds hid the sky. So different from Phoenix.

It didn’t matter that Gabrielle had grown up accusing Francesca of depriving her of the snow. At fifteen, she couldn’t have foreseen the reality of a cross-country move, of what it would take to start up a new life.

They’d needed a fresh start. No question. Francesca still believed that. Gabrielle’s long-time friends were all growing up and heading down different roads, a few of those roads leading to places Francesca didn’t want to see her daughter go. And Phoenix had been filled with memories, but even the good memories reminded them of how their family had broken apart. Even worse, how their family had never really been.