Taking a Chance Chapter 9
Old Friends and New Warnings
"Is that any kind of greeting for he who comes bearing gifts?" Phil Cohen asked his friend as he held up a large manila envelope in front of Joe's face. "Here I am, coming out of my way to bring you good tidings and presents and you don't even let me come in the door! What kind of friend are you anyway?"
Joe laughed and stepped out of the way so that Phil could enter the Drew home and stood back as Phil crossed into the room, walked over to Nancy and gave her a huge hug. "Hey, Drew!" Phil greeted. "You're looking great. Fantastic even."
"Nice to see you as well, Phil. Long time no see. What brings you to the area?" Nancy asked as she returned the hug.
Phil sat down a large black case onto the floor and handed the manila envelope to Joe. "It happened like this," he began. "I called Joe's house yesterday, to tell him I was in the area for the day and to find out if he wanted to get together. I got your dad and he mentioned that you were here and I said that was a funny coincidence as I was coming here today to attend a three-day conference. So, your dad, being the smart, savvy type that he is, decided that I could kill two birds with one stone and he asked me to bring this to you if I had time. I did and, voila. Here I am. Aren't you glad to see me?"
Joe laughed as he opened the envelope. Inside he saw Frank's passport, a small packet of pictures tucked into a used picture envelope and a copy of Frank's birth certificate as well. Joe handed it over to Nancy as the trio sat down in the living room.
"So what's going on? Are you two on a case together? Your dad told me nothing," Phil asked. He took out a comb to slide through his tangled, sandy-colored hair. "Just that you needed this information right away."
"We're sort of on a case, yeah," Joe agreed. He exchanged a glance with Nancy and saw Nancy's brief nod. "I… well, this isn't gonna be easy to hear, Phil, but I… we've learned…"
"Frank's not dead," Nancy supplied when Joe stammered to a halt. "We've got information that proves he's not dead, but living in a suburb in St. Louis."
Phil blinked and shook his head, rubbed at his ears and stared openly at Nancy and Joe. "What?"
"Frank's not dead," Joe got up and went down the hallway to the den, coming back a moment later with the picture of 'James Fleming's' driver's license. "We found that. Who does that look like?"
Phil studied the picture and looked up in shock. "That's Frank!"
"We agree," Joe said. "And that's why we needed the information you brought us. It has Frank's passport and birth certificate, along with some photos. We don't know why he's living as James Fleming – whether he has amnesia, has been programmed in some way or if he's deep undercover – and we wanted proof that what we say is true."
"This is so odd!" Phil said as he looked at the picture he held again. "It's plainly obvious. I thought he died in that fire, though!"
Joe nodded. "I did too," he admitted softly. "I was positive that he died. I was there, remember?"
"How'd you find this?" Phil asked.
Joe told him about the man at the docks and the packet of information he received. He and Nancy took turns telling Phil about their research so far and finally told Phil about their next plan.
"Do you need help?" Phil asked. "I can blow off the conference."
"I don't think so," Joe said. "At least not right now. If it is amnesia or something else, I don't want to confuse Frank by having a lot of people come after him at once. If I do need your help, though, I'll be sure to let you know."
Phil grinned. "So, until then – are you two busy tonight? How about some dinner?"
Nancy and Joe laughed and agreed.
"Did you bring any clothes with you?" Nancy asked Joe after Phil had left to go back to his hotel. "You seem to be wearing the same pants as yesterday and the day before."
"Mm, well," Joe confessed. "I brought two pairs of pants and two shirts. I really didn't plan on staying this long and I wanted everything to fit inside my computer bag. I'm saving the clean pair for the day we go to meet Frank."
Nancy made a face at Joe. "I have a washer and dryer you know," she reminded him tartly.
"Ah, yes," Joe said. "I could just go buy some more I suppose."
Nancy laughed and shook her head. "You're incorrigible, Joe. You'd rather shop than wash?"
"I'd have to wash them again in two days. If I buy more I could go five or six days without having to do laundry," Joe grinned. "Come on, Drew. We have to leave early in the morning."
They had talked about the merits of flying versus driving the five or so hours it would take to get to St. Louis and decided driving would be easier – they would have easy access to a car and wouldn't have to worry about convincing a rental car agency to rent to them. They were going to leave at what Joe called 'o dark thirty' and Nancy called 'real people time.'
They went to one of the nearby men's stores, where Joe picked up two more pairs of pants and three casual shirts, some underwear and socks. Joe used his credit card to pay for them and took the bag back out to the car.
He and Nancy both stopped when they saw the driver's side window to Nancy's car broken. When they peered inside they saw a large rock laying on the front seat with a note attached to it.
"Careful!" Nancy grabbed Joe's hand when he reached inside to brag the rock. "You'll not only cut yourself you'll contaminate the evidence. Just wait a minute!"
She went to the trunk of her car, popped it and pulled out a pair of rubber gloves. She pulled them on her hands and carefully opened the front door. Reaching in, she took the rock and lifted it out, setting it on the hood.
"Careful," Joe echoed Nancy's earlier warning. "There's glass still on it. It could cut through those gloves."
"I'm being careful," Nancy chided the young man. "Just hold on for a second."
Carefully, Nancy removed the rubber band holding the note into place and lifted the note off. She unfolded it to find a short note written in bright red magic marker.
Forget everything you learned about James Fleming. This is your only warning.