"All clear?"
Alex looked around the corner down the empty hallway. "Yeah. We can make it to the elevator. Look, call Burkholtz; let her know you're coming to her with Mr. Martin. I'll go back to the file room and let them know that he's decided to co-operate with us." She patted his cheek playfully.
"If we get caught, it's tantamount to kid-"
"Ssssshhhhhh!!" Alex hissed. There's the elevator.. go!"
Frankie took off, hauling a semi-struggling Frederick Martin along with Alex's help. "Get to a cab, call Deirdre, I'll meet you at her office as soon as I get out of here."
"You'll call Frank?"
"Yeah," Alex said as the doors closed. "I'll wrap things up here." She sighed and leaned against the wall. "Damn that porcelain doll… and damn men's bathrooms." Pushing off, Alex headed back to the file office and proceeded to explain Mr. Martin's current absence.
Meanwhile, the elevator had reached the lobby and Frankie put on a smile. With a lobby full of people, this wasn't going to be easy.
"Miss?"
She turned around to see a security guard standing behind her. "Yes?"
"May I ask what you're doing with this man? He looks like he's not too happy about something."
"Oh, right. Well, he's a witness in a Federal Investigation who's not too thrilled to be found. But," Frankie clapped him roughly on the shoulder, causing Martin to turn a weak shade of green. "He's seen the light and is coming back to the office to testify."
The guard looked at her sideways for a moment. "Do… you have your credentials? I think I want to see them."
"Sure darlin'. In my hip pocket." Frankie jutted her hip out, keeping both hands on Fred in case he got the wrong idea. "I don't have all day officer."
The guard looked at her hip, then up at her and the people around her. He felt the sweat popping out on his forehead as he shook his head. "N-Never mind. Good luck with the investigation."
Frankie grinned and winked before she turned and jerked Fred Martin upright and pushed him out of the door. "Smart guard… he doesn't really want a sexual assault case slapped against him… TAXI!!" she yelled in Fred's ear.
Fred sighed and hung his head. His day had gone from bad to worse.
--
Deirdre looked at Alex and Frankie with a hard glare. "You two…"
"Now.. Mom…" Frankie squirmed a bit in her chair. Usually it was her father that had called her to the carpet and Caroline just smirked… now she had her real mother calling her to task for what boiled down to kidnapping - which was a Federal Crime.
"Don't you 'now Mom' me Francesca Marie Battles Shaw!" Alex cringed. "You do realize that what you did is a crime, don't you?!"
"Deirdre, we brought him here. He didn't even try to escape once!"
"That doesn't matter Agent Cross! My interrogator is hearing all sorts of things about guns and being locked in the men's room!!" She sat back in her chair. "Just what the hell were the two of you doing in the men's room??"
"It was my idea, my fault. Deirdre, he wouldn't give us what we needed! I knew he was in on it because as soon as I mentioned Frank's name, he clammed up and started stalling us left and right."
"So you surprise him on the can by kicking in the stall door and holding a gun on him? I'm surprised he didn't shit himself to death."
"He wasn't trow down, Mom. He was making an excuse to get out of the office. We heard him on the phone with Daphne Charles."
Deirdre blinked and leaned forward. "You what?"
Frankie looked at
Alex and the both of them leaned forward.
"Frankie here was about to blow her top, so I shoved her into the
ladies' room to cool off a bit. While
in there, I heard a male voice outside in the hallway talking to someone about
two women poking their noses into old case files. He said 'YOUR case files'."
"That's when I snuck out of the bathroom and into the men's room. He was the only one in there and Alex locked the door behind us so we wouldn't be disturbed. We both listened for a moment as he kept talking about pushing us around in circles and that we got so frustrated we finally left. He called her Miss Charles and promised that we'd get nothing out of him, her trust in him was well placed."
Deirdre frowned and nodded. "We have no way to prove it was actually Daphne Charles on the other end of that call; however, I do think we'll get what we need from your Mr. Martin. So...there's really little more you can do here."
Alex nodded. "Very well...if it's all the same to you Frankie...there's a surfer dude waiting for me at the Hilton and I'd really like to check out his moves."
Frankie laughed and patted Alex on the back. "Go for it, dude. I'll make arrangements for our flight home in the morning."
"Thanks!" She exclaimed and flew out of the room.
*****