“And say what exactly? I never got to know them. I think that just hearing from me will be rubbing salt in their wounds. I won’t gain anything by it. No, I’m going to get on with my life as if I never met Ashley.”
Wayne sat eyeing the artwork decorating the room.
Luca offered a positive. “With her out of the way, the chance someone can use her potential testimony against you disappears.”
Now I can tell Regina to go to hell.
Luca needed to understand how Naomi might react to the news of Frank’s infidelity. “When do you expect to talk to Naomi?”
“I’m guessing when I get back to St Kitts.”
“I hope this thing with Ashley doesn’t ruin your engagement to Naomi.”
“Me too.”
“Whatever you need Frank, I’m here for you.”
“Thanks Luca.”
There was a knock on the door. Frank stood up. “I’ll get it.”
Frank opened it to find Naomi and Stash standing in front of him.
Shit. What are they doing here? How much does Naomi know?
Without smiling or moving, Naomi greeted him. “How are you holding up Mister Lover Boy?”
She knows!
Frank tried to smile and held out his arms to embrace her. Instead, she took a step back and let Stash enter first.
I’m screwed.
Frank let Stash then Naomi enter.
He followed Naomi into the living area. “I thought you were in Virginia talking to Boris.”
Naomi ignored his statement. “I asked how you were holding up, Frank?”
Frank lied. “I’m doing great now that you’re here.”
She’s got anger in her eyes.
He was waiting for her to lash out at him. Instead, she spoke with restraint. “I hope I’m not too late.”
What does she mean by that?
Luca Testini understood that it was time to let Frank and Naomi say what each had to say to the other. He stood up. “Naomi, Stash, great to see you.”
Luca pointed at Wayne. “This is Wayne Murphy and he is representing Frank here in Vancouver.”
Naomi stared mutely at Frank.
Luca knew he and Wayne needed to get out of the way. “Wayne and I were just leaving.”
He turned to Frank. “I’ll be downstairs in my room if you need me. If I don’t hear from you I’ll try to catch a flight back to San Francisco tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Luca and you as well, Wayne. I appreciate how quickly you were able to get me released.”
Frank shook hands with Wayne, then Luca.
With that, Wayne and Luca walked out.
At first, the silence was deafening.
Then Stash broke the ice and spoke. “Glad to see they released you, Frank.”
“Thanks, Stash.” Frank glanced over to Naomi.
Stash figured he’d best leave them alone to clear the air. He stuck his hands in his pockets. “I’m leaving as well. I’ll be downstairs in the bar. Just text me if you need me.”
Frank saw that Stash was looking at Naomi, not at him.
Stash walked out and left him alone with Naomi.
Turning to face the tirade he knew was coming, Frank found a silent Naomi.
The quiet was painful. “Thanks for coming, Naomi.”
Finally, she spoke to him. “I’m still your bodyguard. Of course I came. I always help you when you get in trouble. And since I’m here now, perhaps you should tell me exactly what happened Frank.”
Her face is hard as rock. I’ve no choice but to be completely honest.
Frank sat on the couch and looked at the floor. He started by explaining how he had discovered that his old girlfriend was working at SpaceLaser in Richmond. “I was shocked to find her there. Regina must have set me up. Then Ashley started asking me why I’d ordered her death. I suggested that we go for a walk away from the office.” Frank swallowed hard and looked to see if Naomi was softening.
“How did she take your explanation?”
“I thought she had accepted the situation but obviously, she didn’t. I even offered to buy her off.”
“I see. Then how did she end up in your hotel room and in your bed with your semen inside of her?” Naomi deliberately kept all emotion out of her voice.
Frank tried to explain. “Regina told me that the Space Laser opportunity was dead. I made plans to return to St Kitts. I was packed and ready to leave the next morning. Denver was to drive me. I had dinner in the hotel restaurant by myself. I’d ordered a bottle of wine to have with dinner and since I hadn’t finished it, I took it upstairs. After I finished the wine while I watched something on television, I was tired. I was already in bed, just dropping off to sleep, when she just showed up at my door. She just burst in.”
“Then, what happened? Did she rape you?”
“Pretty much. She took off her clothes and pushed me onto the bed.”
Naomi sat pokerfaced through Frank’s explanation.
Frank ended his tale by looking for sympathy. “I think she wanted to hurt me for choosing what I had to do, over what she thought I should have done instead. The fact that I also told her that I was getting married to you probably didn’t help either. I have no idea if she wanted to commit suicide so the cops would act like they did or if it was all an accident.”
After a long moment, Naomi looked into Frank’s eyes. “Who are you Frank? Where is the kind, tender man I fell in love with, the one I thought I could trust completely?”
Frank turned crimson. “I was tired and wasn’t thinking with my head. I should have realized she was up to something.”
“What she was up to was trying to win you back. She was fragile, Frank and you took advantage of her condition.”
“It was her that initiated the sex, not me.”
“You could have told her, “no, let’s just talk”. Or, you could have shut the door in her face. Is any of this making any sense to you?”
“It wasn’t like that. The only reason I had sex with her was in the hope that in some way it would satisfy her and let her know we would never be together again.”
Naomi shook her head in silence.
I don’t think that made sense, even to me.
Frank swallowed hard.
He knew he’d screwed up. I can’t lose Naomi. “I let her in because I thought I could confront her and make her realize that we were indeed through.”
“By sleeping with her?”
Frank tried one last ploy. “Yah, I screwed up. But it was strictly the physical act of having sex. I’m a man, what can I say… I felt no love for her. It’s you that I love, Naomi.”
Naomi spoke slowly in a calm voice. “I’m going to assume that she threw herself at you and that you were defenseless. I can be generous since we aren’t married yet. If you still want to marry me then you need to promise me that something like this won’t ever happen again. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
Naomi stepped to the window. “I’ll need some time to feel that you’re sincere, Frank.” Naomi went silent. She realized that she needed to change gears to clear her head. And Frank’s, too. She turned their attention back to the business. “Then why don’t you update me on the SpaceLaser situation?”
Fifteen minutes later, Naomi told Frank, “If it were me, I wouldn’t get involved with something so geopolitical. Things can change too fast and as an investor you can’t control the variables.”
She’s right. “Shall we head back home then? I think I’ve seen enough of Canada for now.”
Naomi’s tone seemed to improve. “I’ll contact the airlines and see if I can make travel arrangements for us to leave.”
“While you do that I think I’ll go out for a quick walk to clear my head.”
Frank felt Naomi’s eyes glaring at him.
“Sure, go ahead.”
45
Virginia
Regina Lofthouse’s personal phone buzzed. It’s my sister.
“Sis?”
All Regina could hear was her heart broken sister sobbing. Regina wanted to join in. I need to stay strong. “Sis, is that you?”
“You told me that my Ashley would be safe going to Canada.”
As Regina heard her sister’s sobs, she visualized Ashley’s intent lingering in the ether. “Frank wrecked my life, I’ll be damned if I can’t wreck his.”
Regina rubbed her brow. “Ashley suffered from anxiety and depression. You’ve heard the expression that it’s better to be working than letting your mind wander and get you into trouble. Well that’s why I was trying to help her keep busy.”
“You said you’d watch out for her.”
And now Cyrus might fire me!
Regina did her best not to get upset with her sister. “I tried. I even sent a young lawyer to watch over her.”
“Well he didn’t help much, did he? Ashley’s dead.”
“It’s hard to prevent an accidental overdose, Sis.”
“Are you convinced it was an accident? She was found in Frank Moretti’s bed. He tried to have her killed before. If he gets convicted this time it will be God’s justice… Do you really think she committed suicide?”
I can’t tell her that I think she might have. “No, of course not.”
“Good, because if she had, I couldn’t hold the service in the church.”
“The police concluded that it was definitely an accidental overdose.”
“Okay… Why has Frank Moretti been released? I thought you told me he was in jail.”
“He was released because the police did a full investigation and determined he was innocent. Now Ashley can finally rest in peace.”
“Will you come for the funeral?”
“Of course I’ll be there. How’s her sister doing?”
Ashley’s mother sighed. “She’s distraught but she’s handling it. Don’t forget this’ll be the second time we’ve all had to say goodbye to Ashley.”
“Have you made arrangements to have Ashley returned to Chicago yet?”
“That’s the main reason I was calling you Reggie. Could you please call the Coroner’s office up in Canada and arrange for me to bring Ashley home. I need to organize the funeral and I can’t until I know when she’ll be back here.”
“Sure, I can do that for you.”
“One more thing. I need you to tell Frank that there’s no way in hell that he’ll be allowed into Ashley’s funeral.”
Oh God, there’s no way he’d show up, or is there?
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell him.”
Regina sagged into her chair.
I’ll call the coroner, but first I need to decide how to handle Frank.
I don’t want to lose him as an agent.
Nor do I want to lose my potential fee when he does a deal.
46
Vancouver
Frank was walking down Georgia Street in the cool evening air. He was going over the conversations he’d had with Naomi in his head.
That didn’t go as badly as it might have.
She made it sound like she still wants to marry me.
Frank’s iPhone rang.
He looked at the screen thinking it might be Naomi telling him that she’d made the flight arrangements. The caller ID said it was Regina Lofthouse.
Reluctantly, Frank decided to answer. “What do you want, Regina?”
“For personal reasons I’d rather not talk to you right now, but we do need to talk for business reasons.”
The hell with you, Regina. “I can’t ever trust you again, so as far as I’m concerned, you and I are through.” Frank disconnected the call.
She can’t use Ashley’s testimony against me anymore.
He looked at the blank screen.
Frank was about to put his phone back into his pocket when it rang again. “What do you want?”
“I may have a small window of opportunity that should interest you. The Canadian Defense Ministry needs to buy new jets because their current ones are reaching the end of their service lives.”
Frank didn’t respond for ten seconds. I might be able to make a quick killing on the stock.
“What’s the hold up?”
“Supposedly, it was due to Canada delaying a defense policy review. Even so, the U.S. State Department has now given Canada the go ahead for the purchase. Today, Canada will apparently release their defense policy review but they still won’t announce who they’re considering for supplying their fighter jets.”
“How good is your information?”
“It’s very good.”
“Why do you think they’re delaying?”
“My guess is that they’ve decided to bypass American suppliers and are either looking into buying old jets that still have reasonable service time left or they’ve decided to buy from the Chinese.”
“Who are the American manufacturers in the running?”
Regina knew Frank was probably thinking he could make a few dollars by shorting the jet maker’s stock before the news got out and the shares fell.
“The obvious ones.”
“Why do you think they’re considering buying from China?”
“We just learned that as part of the trade negotiations with the Peoples Republic of China, they are demanding that Canada lift all national security restrictions on investment, access to all security-related sectors and carte blanche to acquire Canadian firms with sensitive technologies.” Regina’s voice sounded higher than normal.
“Wow.”
“Yes, wow. If Canada agrees, it will mean that China will have effectively co-opted Canada. That’ll mean that China could use Canada as a back door into the States. Just as we have strategic military bases in South Korea, Japan and the Philippines, in the event of war, the People’s Republic of China has struck deals to sell military assets to Malaysia, Laos, Philippines, Cambodia and Thailand. Now the PRC may soon have military assets in Canada.”
“What action are you taking?”
Regina went back to her normal tone. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Well if I was you I’d be preparing to disengage Canada from every major defense, security arrangement and trading arrangement that I have with them.”
What if I make investments based on Canada and the States disengaging and either the Prime Minister or the President change or come to their senses? I’d lose my investment. It’s way too risky.
Regina didn’t respond.
“Look Regina, don’t tell me anything more. As far as I’m concerned, you, the CIA and I are done on both a personal and business level. I’m heading home to St Kitts and I never want to hear from you again. Further, you will leave my passport in place so that I can enter the U.S. for as often as I wish. Are we in agreement?”
There goes any money for my retirement from Frank.
Regina Lofthouse was stuck and she knew it. “What if I have another deal where I can make you a great deal of money?”
Frank snorted into the phone. “I don’t need you to help me make money, Regina. And, if I ever have any problems with the FBI or CIA or Customs or anything else, I’ll let your boss know about how you tried to bribe me and how you arranged to have your niece travel to another country to kill herself while working directly for you.”
Regina Lofthouse felt her stomach tighten. “We’ll see about that, Frank. Meanwhile I have a message for you from Ashley’s mother. If you show up at her funeral you won’t be let in.”
But I didn’t kill her.
“Frank, did you hear me?”
“Yes. Don’t worry I won’t be going to the funeral. However, please tell her that I’m truly sorry that Ashley overdosed and that it had nothing to do with me.”
Regina straightened her back. “That’s where you’re wrong, it had everything to do with you, Frank. Goodbye.”
47
Frank decided to put Regina Lofthouse out of his mind. I don’t need to get mixed up with her geopolitical crap anyway. There’s too much money to be made the old fashioned way. The wa
y Anthony taught me.
Frank was finding the mix of low and medium rise buildings in Vancouver oddly comforting.
That was until he spotted a news ticker sign. * USA kills NAFTA *.
I guess the shit has hit the fan.
With Canada screwing the US, no wonder they pulled the plug. It’ll be interesting to see what Canada and China do now. I guess no matter how much you think things can’t change they inevitably do. And when they do change, one must change, either roll with the punches or figure out how to profit from the new opportunity.
This one I’m leaving alone.
His thoughts turned to Ashley.
She never got over the fact that I tried to have her killed.
Too bad.
I guess therapy doesn’t work for everyone.
I still wonder if it was really an accident or if she staged it to make it look like I may have killed her. Was she trying to exact revenge for all the wrongs she perceived I did against her?
Why couldn’t she see that everything that happened back then was her fault for not going along with me? If she had, we would have both gotten rich and probably been living together on St Kitts.
On the other hand, if she and I were together then I’d have never met Naomi and I’d probably be dead by now.
Frank stopped and turned around to head back to the hotel.
His thoughts continued to wander.
I remember the only time I saw Ashley, her sister and mother together. It was the day Ashley and I graduated. The three appeared so much alike. The light brown hair and soft facial features made for three angels.
How could she have done that to me?
I’m going to be forever scarred by waking up to her being dead beside me.
He opened the door to his suite to find Naomi sitting alone. “Where’s Stash?”
“He said he felt uncomfortable being the third wheel so I got him on the first flight back to St Kitts tonight. I got us leaving on a flight in the morning. Where’d you go?”
“Just went out for a walk to clear my head. While I was walking I did have a call from Regina. I told her that I didn’t want to hear from her again.”
Is This Goodbye?: A Frank Moretti Thriller Page 14
