A/N Wrote this in my lunch break, sorry its been so long… just started uni and seem to be very busy! Thanks to Fair Cate, Tricia, Ren201, Whitelighter Enchantress and Kris for reviewing! Your comments are much appreciated!
Chapter 9. Francine Calfo
Robert and Chloe just stared at each other in mutual shock for what felt like a few hours when in fact it was literally two minutes.
Robert moved back to his computer and pulled up the American DMV database and typed in Calfo, Francie, not knowing what to expect. It came up with no matches. Chloe stared at him in disbelief.
"I know what I heard Robert. She called me Francie Calfo, and we were in an American High School. There must be something" she maintained.
"I could try the near matches" He replied. "See if there is anything in there". One click solved everything, for up on the screen came the name Francine Calfo, with a picture of Chloe as photo ID.
"Oh My God" Chloe breathed. "It's me…. what… what else does it say" She asked, not daring to look.
Robert looked closer at the screen, shielding his eyes against the glare. "Francine Calfo. It's a driver's license for the state of California. Occupation… N/A. Huh? That's weird… it shouldn't say… ah." Robert paused amidst his confusion.
"What? Robert? What does it say?" Chloe shrieked.
"The reason… the reason your occupation is N/A is because your status is deceased." He answered quietly.
"Deceased?" she choked "I'm dead?"
Robert scrolled down the screen trying to extract and vital information as to what had happened. He found the number of the Los Angeles coroners office that had certified her death and checked his watch, as they were nine hours behind in LA he figured they would still be open.
"Um Chloe… Francie?" He suddenly realized he didn't know what to call the woman standing in front of him and tailed off, looking at her expectantly.
"Francie, call me Francie" Chloe suddenly blurted out after a couple of minutes of awkward silence.
"Are you sure?" Robert asked, tilting his head so he could see her face better.
"Yeah... I think it's who I really am. Well, who I was. How did I become Chloe Tyler? And who in my life is deceiving me?" She asked, before leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes, frustrated.
"Well I have the coroners office number here…do you want me to call them?" He probed gently.
"Could you?" Francie asked meekly, "I don't think I could cope with hearing it from someone I don't know."
Robert picked up the phone and dialed in the 13 digit phone number which would allow him to connect with the county coroner. After a few minutes of enquiries he learnt that the registrar recorder had one copy of the death certificate, but also, for some unknown reason to the excitable receptionist, the Department of State had requested a copy.
Department of State? That's CIA! It has to be, why else would a copy be requested? What the hell happened to this girl sitting in front of me? I can't delve too far into this without getting into trouble, I guess I could just find the details of her life before her death and she can trace what happened from there.
He picked up the phone and dialed a contact in LA who gave him access details for the Police database. Several minutes later he had the last known address of Francine Calfo, and when he clicked on the address tab, he found there was one other occupant at the time the record was made, a Miss Sydney Bristow.
"Um Francie? I think we are getting somewhere" He said, smiling at the look of hope that spread across her features.
"What did you find?" She asked eagerly.
"I have your last known address, and also information that leads me to believe that Sydney Bristow was living with you at the time before your death."
"Oh My God. Can I have the address? I want to go." She said, slightly freaked out but overall happy she had finally found the link.
"It uh, says here that you died when the house was burnt down... but it lists another more recent address for Sydney Bristow. Do you want that?"
The next day, after having made her excuses to Rob and work for staying away longer, she found herself driving by the gorgeous blue Pacific, shading her eyes from the bright sun, as she made her way to the street where she believed all her answers lied.
She counted down the house numbers, and when she found the right apartment block, she pulled her car up outside and glanced nervously out of the window. She looked in the mirror and fluffed her hair up, before gingerly stepping out of the car and walking up to the house.
She took a deep breath and rang the doorbell, and about a minute later a familiar voice rang through the intercom… "Hello? Who is it?"