I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank those anonymous reviewers for posting such lovely comments: 'Nightwatcher'sunknowngirl', 'Mel' and 'fire god'. Hope you all continue to enjoy the story. Right, on with chapter 16.
Chapter 16
Are you sure you wouldn't like to take a flask of coffee with you and some blankets?" asked Mrs Holliday. "I'd hate for you both to get marooned outside in this filthy weather."
"No thank you," said Nancy, pulling on her jacket in the hallway. "We're hopefully not going to be that long and my car's fitted with snow chains remember. Did you find a pair of gloves that Frank could use, though?"
"Yes I did. They were my husband's, but of course, he won't be needing them now, God rest his soul."
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know your husband had passed away."
"He hasn't, he ran off with a floozy from Arizona, haven't seen him in years."
Nancy didn't quite know how to react to that, so she didn't. Luckily, Frank chose that moment to run down the stairs. He held his gloved hands up for Mrs Holliday to see. "They're a good fit, thanks."
"My pleasure." She opened the back door for them. "Now you young people be careful, and I don't just mean on the road."
"We will," said Nancy and gave her a peck on the cheek, "Thank you, you've been wonderful. And remember, you didn't see us."
Their hostess gave the side of her nose the obligatory tap and said: "Your secret is safe," and closed the door.
Frank put his cap on and pulled the peak down, and then wrapped a scarf about his neck again. He threw his arm across Nancy's shoulders and they trudged through the snow to the car. Nancy settled into the driving seat while Frank dropped into the passenger side and unfurled a checklist they'd made of what they needed to obtain.
"Let's go," he said.
They travelled along in companionable silence for quite some time, Nancy concentrating on keeping the car running no faster than 30 mph, mindful of the chains on her tires. They'd decided to wait until nightfall so that they could be as anonymous as possible, but of course, that meant time was of the essence.
"I can sense a spending spree coming," Nancy muttered. "It's okay though, I can cover it."
"You don't need to," said Frank.
Nancy looked across at him, mystified. "How do you figure that? You can't use your own bank account or your dad will be on top of you before you can blink."
"When I met up with Arthur Gray at my apartment building, he gave me this…" Frank pulled his wallet from his jacket and fished out a card. He turned it over and showed it to her. "It's a credit card registered to a Phillip Hardiman. Arthur also gave me false I.D. and told me to disappear, but I was so hot at how everything went down that I didn't have the stomach to use it, and I was damned if I was going to run! I got my family into this mess and I'll be the one to get them out of it!"
Nancy's eyes widened. "How much is the limit on it?"
"There isn't one. So we can have that binge – and do you know what? I won't feel one ounce of guilt. The Network owes me, big time!"
They did drive towards Bayport but didn't enter its borders, stopping just short and entering a smaller neighbourhood that had fewer stores, but stocked enough of the supplies they needed.
They purchased some clothes for Frank, including a jacket that fitted and a new pair of leather gloves, and then they crossed the street and entered an establishment and procured two new pre-paid cell phones, one red and one blue, which Frank intended on later registering under the name of Philip Hardiman. Lastly, they bought all the toiletries they'd need and then returned to the car.
"I've just got to visit one more place and then we can head back," Nancy said as she pulled away.
Frank had sorted out the boxed cell phones and placed them into the foot well. He now picked one up and started unpacking it, breaking the SIM card out and taking the back off the phone to fit the SIM into the console. He then finished by installing the battery and then snapping the back panel into place. It was only when he looked up afterwards that he realised Nancy had been driving them back into Bayport the entire time.
"Where are we going, you're going in the wrong direction!" Frank exclaimed sitting up straighter in his seat.
"Relax, Frank!" Nancy said, laying her hand on top of his. "I know what I'm doing."
"What do you mean? This wasn't part of the plan, where are you taking me?" He stared at Nancy dumbfounded. She seemed completely unconcerned as to the added stress she was putting him under and just kept on patting his hand. He looked out of the window and eventually realised she seemed to be following signs leading to the Bayport Hospital.
"Stop the car, Nancy…" he commanded quietly.
"Trust me."
"I said, stop the car – let me out."
"But…"
Frank grabbed the emergency brake and yanked it back sending the car into a slide and stalling the engine. Nancy coasted the car into the side of the road and managed a semi-controlled park.
"Frank, are you crazy? What was that all about?"
He dropped the phone into the side pocket of the door and then swept the packing material into the foot well and quickly exited the vehicle. He stood on the sidewalk glaring down through the windshield. Nancy got out herself and leaned on the door.
"You were taking me back to Dad weren't you?" Frank accused.
"No I wasn't, actually, I was trying to surprise you, but that's out of the question now." She leaned back in the car and went to the glove box and retrieved something from inside before exiting the car fully and approaching him. "Here," she said, and plonked a pair of binoculars into Frank's hands.
"What are these for?" He asked.
"I was going to take you over the back fence of the hospital so you could spy on Joe through his window. When I was visiting before, I noticed a perfect vantage point on the other side of the parking lot."
Frank stared at the binoculars and started to feel very guilty. "Aw man! I'm sorry Nan, I should have trusted you."
"Yes, you should have. Frank, I'm on your side remember. I'm not going to do anything to blow your cover. I wouldn't have gone to all this trouble if I was just going to deliver you back to your dad."
He stepped up and gave her an apologetic hug. "I'm sorry," he reiterated.
Nancy sighed and squeezed him a little tighter. "And I'm sorry I scared you. I know how much it's hurting you not to be able to see Joe and know how he's getting along, and I can make that happen. So would you like to go and see Joe, or would you prefer me to take you straight back to Mrs Holliday's place?"
Frank smiled and nodded. "Joe," he said, simply.
Ten minutes later they were standing side-by-side in the hospital grounds, in amongst a little ring of trees across the other side of the parking area. Nancy counted the windows along until she got to the one she believed belonged to Joe's room and pointed it out to her boyfriend.
Frank turned the peak of his cap to the back of his head, lifted the glasses to his eyes and focused them on the window in question, instantly seeing the inside of the entire room. His dad was sitting on the edge of the bed, nodding at Vanessa, who was sitting in a chair just under the window – although he could only see the back of her head, there was no mistaking her ash blond hair. Con was standing just inside the closed doorway, looking like he was taking an interest in whatever was being talked about, but not really understanding it. But best of all, there was Joe, sitting up in his bed, concentrating so very hard on whatever it was his girlfriend was saying. Then inexplicably, his brother suddenly looked out of the window and puckered his brow in the direction of where Frank and Nancy were standing. Frank gasped and stepped back, believing for an instant that he'd been spotted, but Joe almost immediately turned back to his father.
"Can I have a look?" Nancy asked, breaking into his reverie.
"Of course you can," Frank agreed, handing the binoculars to her with a broad grin.
"He looks great, much better than the last time I saw him, he wasn't looking good then." She gave the glasses back to Frank who immediately put them back up to his eyes for another look. "Happier?" she asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe," he said and dipped to give her a long kiss.
When Frank and Nancy eventually broke apart, he gave the parking lot a quick visual scan before they went back over to the railings. He saw that the car park was mostly free of cars – obviously the poor weather was putting off visitors. There were a number of men in reflective yellow coats who were slinging grit and salt into the road and walkways. Three were at the far end working in a line, and one was towards Joe's end of the building. Their heads were down and they didn't notice the two darkly dressed young people leaving over the boundary fence. Frank was satisfied they'd made a clean retreat.
Mrs Holliday was already opening the door for Frank and Nancy as they were mounting the back steps.
"Everything go okay?" she asked as she took a couple of the bags Nancy was carrying to allow her to go back for the remainder.
"Like clockwork," Frank assured her.
They shook their coats off and then went to the front room where Frank handed Nancy the cell phones. The blue one was still awaiting its SIM card and battery. "Why don't you assemble the other phone and then put them both on charge. I'll go and arrange flights for us in the meantime."
"Okay," Nancy agreed and sat down at the table to begin unpacking the second box.
Frank grabbed the remaining bags and took them up to his room and dumped them before heading for Mrs Holliday's computer. He identified a number of private plane rental organisations and began phoning around to see if he could possibly charter a flight to Florida for himself and Nancy. He wasn't keen on going the traditional route – although he could register his seat under the name Phillip Hardiman, Nancy would have to use her own name and that felt too public and easy to trace.
The second company he phoned was able to oblige his needs, although he still had something niggling in the back of his mind. It cost a pretty penny as well, but as it wasn't coming out of his pocket, he gave it very little thought.
Disappointingly, the flight wouldn't be able to leave until later on in the day and they would have a wait. In one way, however, that did them a favour as it gave them longer to prepare and they could leave in the dark – hopefully assuring his continuing anonymity.
He grimaced and sat back in his seat.
That niggle-bird was still there, pecking away at him. In fact, it had been building a nest all the way back from the hospital. He mentally shoved the bird in a virtual cage and headed back downstairs to report back to Nancy. He entered the front room to find her stretched out on the sofa reading her novel.
"There you are!" Nancy said and smiled, her eyes turning up at the corners. "I thought you'd got lost you were so long. Did you have any luck with getting us on a flight."
"Yeah. I privately chartered us an air taxi."
"Oh, fancy," she quipped. "Expensive was it?"
"Of course."
"Excellent – what time are we leaving?"
"It's scheduled to leave at 7.00 pm, so we need to be at the Bayport airstrip by 6.00 pm at the latest. We've got plenty of time."
"Why don't we pack now and get it out of the way, then tomorrow, we can sit and discuss properly our plan of action?" Nancy suggested, standing and putting her glasses to one side.
Feeling like-minded, Frank followed Nancy upstairs and began emptying out the bags that he'd dumped in his room earlier and opened his new suitcase. He started laying his clothes out into an order on the top of the bed ready to be stored in his luggage.
Nancy entered his room a little later, climbed up onto his bed and tucked her legs under herself to watch him.
"Look at how neatly you pack," she said impressed, "Everything has a place, even your toiletries."
No response from Frank, his face remained passive, as if he hadn't heard a word she'd said.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "Frank?"
He finally looked up, but was still unfocused. "Hmm?"
"What's up?"
He stopped packing and folded his arms. "Nothing, something is nagging at me is all."
"Nagging?"
"Yeah…niggling. Nothing specific."
"What's your gut telling you?"
Frank laughed. "You're starting to sound like Joe now. I'm just anxious is all, about our trip."
"Are you really sure that's all it is, because when I get a vibe like that, it usually means something."
Frank slowly sank down next her. "Well, I've got no idea what it could be, if anything."
"Well, let's see if we can pin it down," Nancy suggested. "How long have you felt like this?"
"Ever since we left the hospital grounds," he said.
"Is it about Joe? Something's worrying you – his health maybe?"
Frank shook his head. "No, not Joe, he looked better than I was expecting, actually."
"Your dad, Vanessa…Con even?"
"No. Nancy, I really don't think it's anything."
"Well, did you see something in the car park?"
This made Frank hesitate mid-denial. "Wait." He stood up and rapped his temples with his knuckles and then stopped dead and turned around slowly. "Those workers in the parking lot that were gritting the area."
"What about them?" Nancy coaxed.
"Well, one of them was all the way over the other side of the parking lot working alone, but there wasn't any snow at that end, it had already been cleared away, so I don't understand why he was there."
"Anything else?"
"No…yes! He was wearing one of those yellow reflective coats, but his was a sleeveless one instead of a full one like the others were wearing and he was right by Joe's window."
Nancy raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"We need to go back," Frank finally said. "We need to go back right now, something's not right!"