Page 36 of Keel

They left the room, certain they would be headed to Africa before the end of the week. The moon would be dark in six days, and he was sure they’d want to strike by then unless this jerk dropped dead. They’d had that happen a few years ago. The guy they planned to take down had keeled over from a heart attack two days before they’d been set to go in. Keel had been disappointed, but it had saved them time and travel. He didn’t think this guy would be so accommodating.

Keel didn’t look forward to going home to tell Frankie he would be leaving soon. He’d warned her this was part of the gig, but that wouldn’t make it easier for her to accept. He just hoped she stuck around until he got back.

Chapter 20

Before her first call, Frankie paced around the kitchen about a hundred times. She didn’t want to make the call, but she knew she had to.

It had taken her a few hours to figure out the lawyer’s name who had been in control of her money. After an intense search, she’d found his name in a sent email. It was almost like someone had gone through and deleted emails from her inbox. Forest had access to her emails, and she guessed he would do that. It was on par for him.

Why had she walked away from responsibility and allowed Forest to dictate her life? He’d tried to ruin her and almost succeeded.

After putting off the call for almost an hour, she finally picked up her phone and placed the call. When the receptionist answered, she had to explain the situation twice. Then she had to explain it again to someone else, who passed her off to another person, who finally understood what she was talking about.

“Francine Elizabeth Zaleski, is that really you?”

“Yes, sir. I go by Frankie now.”

“The last I heard, you were being taken advantage of by some jerk we had to cut off.”

She sighed. The mistake of being with Forest would stick with her. “Oh, yeah. I left him.”

“Well, we are going to need some extra information. You know, to make sure that man is no longer taking advantage of you. We’ll have to meet with you.”

She almost groaned out loud. “Oh, okay.”

“I’ll send someone to you.”

That seemed easier than having to go to him. But was that what she wanted? She needed the money.

“Okay, I guess that would be fine.”

“Where are you, dear?”

“I’m in North Carolina.” She froze. Maybe it wasn’t right to tell this man where she was. “Actually, I could fly out to see you.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have to do that.”

“Well, I don’t really have access to any money or cards or anything to buy a plane ticket.”

“That settles it. We’ll come see you. That way, you don’t have to buy a ticket. Which city are you in?”

“I’m in Fayetteville, or just at the edge of it.”

“Sounds good. I’ll arrange for someone to come this week, and we can get this all sorted. And I’m glad you’re no longer with that man. He wasn’t good for you, or I’d dare say for anyone.”

She shook her head. “No, he wasn’t. I’m sorry I stayed with him for so long.”

“We’ll get you squared away after we’ve figured everything out.”

“Thank you.”

The call ended, and she let go of a heavy breath. She didn’t like the idea of telling anyone where she was, but was that paranoia, or was it a real issue?

A knock sounded at her door, and she let out a scream, but recovered quickly. She moved to the door, almost forgetting to look out the peephole before pulling it open.

Ansley smiled and waved, making Frankie laugh. She pulled open the door, and the alarm started beeping.

“Oh gosh, the alarm.”