Frankie's Adventure Chapter 4

By Simahoyo

The sudden change in Adela stayed. She wasn't looking around at the cars, not even at the Shelby Cobra that Frankie was itching to look over. She was quiet, and turned inward. Still a little pale. What the hell? He took her hand, and she looked at him.

"I'm not feeling my best. I guess I was more tired than I realized. I hate to ask, but would you take me home please?" And her tone was still phoney. Frankie had thought she was really honest, but this was defiantly fake. He was disappointed. Something was up with her, and after his recent problem with Riley, he was all too aware that not every woman was what she seemed to be.

After dropping Adela at home, Frankie drove around thinking. Her police record was clean. Maybe Dean had dumped her or something. The more he thought about it, the more he figured it was worth it to call the guy and ask about her. They should be home from Fenway by now. He parked under a tree, and called Janie on his cell phone.

"Janie, hi. I want to see if Agent Dean is around someplace. I have a question or two for him. He heard his sister blow out a breath impatiently, then the sound as she moved. He could hear the phone transfer, then Dean's voice. "Hello?"

"Hi, It's Frankie. Sorry to bug you (he knew better than top say interrupt), but I had a weird reaction from my date to your name. Do you know Adela Osceola?" There was a short silence.

"Yeah, I did, years ago. But it was a case, so I can't really talk about it, you know."

"Oh hell, I really need to find out why she had such a reaction to your name. If you dumped her, that's not a big deal, but if she's hinckey, I need to know."

Dean coughed, whispered something to Janie, and then spoke to Frankie. "Ok, but this goes no further. It was twelve years ago, down in Florida, on the edge of the Brighton Reservation. It's a place where nobody quite knows who has jurisdiction over where. Part is federal, part Indian land, and part state park. So, I was called in to investigate the murder of a state game warden. It was a mess from the beginning. No one saw the murder, and the suspects included the victim's fiancé and an escaped mental patient."

"Sounds bad from the getgo. What was a mental patient doing way out there?"

"He was under the care of a Nurse Practitioner."

"Adela."

"Yeah. She was in her first year working out there, and she knew the family. Hey, cut it out!" He started laughing. Frankie could hear Janie in the background. He closed his eyes against the mental image of his sister having sex, or anything leading to it, and shivered. (Yuck!) The cell phone shut off. Not that he exactly blamed the dude. But this was no help in finding out what was up with Adela. Now what? Ma? No way. Frost? Well, yeah, even though he could be competition, he knew about the Riley thing. Frankie tapped in his number.

"Frankie, wassup?"

"I got woman problems. You up for some advice?"

"Yeah, man, anytime. I'm at the Robber. Korsac's here too. C'mon over."

"Okay. Thanks." Frankie started his car, and tried to shut off his head chatter like Maura tried to teach him. But the thoughts kept leaking in. Is she criminal? Is she okay, but has crappy luck? Should he give her a chance or run for cover? His brain felt like a target in a video game.

When he walked into the Robber, Korsak held up a coffee, while Frost gave him a big ole grin. He sat with them.

"So, what's goin' on? Another Riley?", asked Frost.

"That's the problem. I don't know. She does stuff that isn't quite legal, but it's to help people. Like feeding the homeless in the park and stuff like that. Then, I mention Gabriel Dean, and she goes all pale and wants to go home all the sudden. So, I called Dean, but he was still with Janie, and she interrupted the stuff he was telling me."

Korsak looked at Frost, and both of them laughed. Frankie didn't like it. It was his sister. He frowned at them and they shut up. At least they had some class.

Korsak look a sip of coffee, and the waitress came over. It was way early to start in drinking since he was likely to keep doing it because of the way he was feeling. Frankie ordered coffee and a burger. When she left, he didn't even look as she walked away.

"You got it bad, bro..", said Frost. "So that did Dean tell you..."

"He said he met her during a case in Florida. She was a first year Nurse Practitioner. Worked with mental patients. Some guy was killed, and they thought one of her patients mighta done it. And that's all I got. No, hey, she told me one of her patient's killed a friend of hers. So why'd she get all shook up when I mentioned Dean?"

Korsak leaned forward and started ticking ideas off on his fingers. "Maybe he dumped her. She could be the one that found the body. She feels responsible because it was her patient, or she maybe did it."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Except that she could have found the body. She said it was a friend, so that would shake her up. I'm hoping she's ok."

"Did you run her name?" Frost was looking both interested and smug. He was the computer guy, and he made sure everyone knew it.

"Couple a parking tickets, paid. And arrested for demonstrating. That was it."

"Did you check Florida?"

"Yeah Frost, I did. Zip. She mentioned a brother, Mike. I didn't run her family. It happened near Brighton Reservation."

Frost got out his slick phone with all the bells and whistles. He must have been able to connect with his police computer somehow. His fingers were moving like a jazz piano player. It only took a few minutes, then he got that satisfied, slightly superior look on his face. "Found it."

Korsak looked eager. Frankie was feeling scared and excited.

"Mike Osceola Jr., 22 years old. Speeding. Paid the ticket. Charges dropped on a, "Person of interest" for a murder in June, 2000. Oh, he was a juvie then. Probably thought he was a witness. Where there's a junior, there's a senior." Frost poked around some more, then read.

"His old man was a game warden. He's so clean he squeaks. Not even a parking ticket. I'll just run the last name." They waited while Frost looked. "Mary Cypress Osceola. Couple of parking tickets. What's with them and the parking tickets? She's eighty by the way. That's it."

Frankie was relieved and disappointed. "Dean said he didn't dump her. I guess I should talk to Dean again, or take the bull by the tail, so to speak."

"You mean talk to her? Yeah. I'd do it.", offered Korsak.

"No offense, but you're not an expert on keeping woman happy."

"Your mother seems to like me."

Frankie's mouth dropped open. First Cavenaugh, then Korsak? What was she thinking? He closed his mouth."Okay. I'll figure some way to get the info. Sheesh. Maybe if Dean can stand to spend ten minutes away from Janie. Oh hell." He hit the table, and stood up. "Thanks guys. I'll update you later." then he walked out.

His brain was still kind of mushy. He'd usually call Janie, but he knew she was busy. He guessed he was on his own. He needed to figure this one out, if he was ever going to get the gold shield.