Lost at Sea

Then he scowled. "What's killing me is I don't have any answers. I don't know who the bastard she was sleeping with was. I don't know when their affair started or how long it had been going on. I don't know if she was in love with the guy or if she was planning to leave me. Worst of all, I don't know why she would do that to me and the kids."

Celia squeezed his hands. "Frank, please listen to me. The truth is that you're not likely to ever get the answers to your questions. You're going to have to let all that go. With her death, none of that matters any more. All you can do is focus on taking care of your family and yourself."

"I know you're right," he said, "but it just hurts so bad to be betrayed that way. It makes me wonder when she stopped loving me."

"No!" Celia said fiercely, "you're wrong. Whatever else may have happened, it's clear that Meredith still cared deeply about you and the kids. Look what you found out at IMC: she bought the maximum life insurance to make sure you all were protected. She maxed out her contributions to the 401K plan to put money away for your future. I don't know what else happened in her life, but those sure look like caring acts to me. "

"Thanks, Celia. I'll try to remember that."

As they stood to leave, he looked down at the table. Neither one of them had touched their food. "I guess I'm not a very good lunch date," he said wryly.

"Don't worry about that," she replied lightly, "missing a meal or two is probably a good thing for me."

Frank looked down at her slim shape. "It sure looks good to me," he thought. Then he was startled to realize he was thinking about her in a sexual way. "It's been a long time," he told himself ruefully.

As they walked out the door, she took his arm. "Please stay in touch, Frank, and let me know if there's anything I can do. I'd really like to help." Then she reached up and gave him a kiss on the cheek. As she turned away, Frank thought he saw a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

Driving back home, Frank was surprised to find that his mood had lightened. "I guess I really needed to get that off my chest," he told himself.

The next Saturday, Frank had been out in the yard picking up limbs that had fallen during a storm. When he got inside, he saw Lori talking on the telephone. He turned to Bobby, who was standing nearby. "Did someone call?" Frank asked.

"No," Bobby said dismissively, "she's just talking to her new BFF Celia."

Frank was surprised. "Does she call Celia often? And what's a BFF?"

"Oh, Dad," Bobby replied in exasperation, "you're so out of it. BFF is 'best friend forever.'"

Just then, Lori looked up and saw her father. "Daddy, can we ask Celia over for dinner?"

"Let me talk to her," he said, extending his hand toward his daughter. When she handed him the phone, he said, "Hi, Celia, I guess you heard that. Would you like to have dinner with Lori tonight? Bobby and I will be here too."

He heard her melodic laugh followed by a quick acceptance.

"Great," he said, "why don't you get here about 6:00?"

After they'd concluded arrangements, Frank hung up and turned to his daughter. "Well, she's coming," he said. "I hope you're happy."

"Oh, yes, Daddy" she squealed.

"Well, in that case, you and Bobby need to start doing some straightening up around here so she doesn't think we live like pigs."

"Oh, Dad, do I have to?" Bobby complained, but before Frank could reply, the boy turned and started to pick up the clothes he'd left in the den.

"He's still a teenager," Frank thought, "but he seems to be doing better."

As he turned to head for the kitchen, Frank began to consider what dish he could make. "Definitely something better than spaghetti and meatballs," he thought, remembering the first time Celia had eaten with them. He finally decided on a fish dish he considered one of his specialties. He felt confident in his ability to make it, and the kids liked it well enough, which was always a plus.

To do that, he knew he'd have to make a trip to the grocery store. Explaining his errand to Bobby and Lori, he enjoined them to stay in the house till he got back. He found a nice piece of salmon in the seafood department, and then decided to pick up some dessert from the bakery. "I ought to pick up a nice bottle of wine while I'm at it," he thought, and turned his cart down the appropriate aisle. After finding what he wanted, he made a detour to the store's floral department and picked up a bouquet for the table.

On his way home, he began to think about what he was doing. "I'm really going all out on this meal!" he realized in surprise. He finally decided it was because he owed Celia a good meal. "After all, I did ruin her lunch," he told himself.

Celia rang the doorbell promptly at 6:00, and before Frank could get to the door, Lori was already showing her in. To Frank's amazement, even Bobby deigned to present himself, and the teenaged boy actually made a little polite conversation.

For his part, Frank found himself feeling a bit awkward and inarticulate, but if she noticed, Celia made no sign. Instead she chatted happily with Lori and willingly went with her to see something the girl wanted to show Celia in her room. By the time the two of them reappeared, dinner was almost ready.

The meal proved a great success. Celia was suitably impressed by his cooking skills ("Ooh, a man who can cook. Mother warned me about men like you!" she teased) and was also clearly at ease with his kids, both of whom chattered away to her in response to her questions.

When dessert was finished, she insisted on joining in the clean-up, and with her help the dishes were soon cleared, rinsed and put in the dishwasher to be run later. At that point, Bobby wandered off to resume a video game he had paused, and Lori wanted to watch a favorite program she had TiVo'd, so the two adults refilled their wine glasses and wandered out to the living room.

"Frank, everything was wonderful," Celia complimented him. "I don't know when I've had such a good time. Thank you so much for asking me."

"I think Lori would never have spoken to me again if I hadn't," Frank laughed, and Celia joined him. "She's a wonderful young lady, and you're lucky to have her," she responded. "And her Dad does pretty well too." Frank felt his face flush.

But then Celia's face took on a more serious look. "Frank, in addition to having a lovely time with you, I'm glad you invited me because there's some information I want to share with you."

Frank caught the new tone in her voice and looked at her curiously.

"This is highly confidential, Frank, but I feel I know you well enough to trust you. And it concerns you, at least indirectly."

Now she definitely had his attention.

"As you know," Celia began, "the GBI had to make a routine investigation before a death certificate could be issued for your wife. And, as you also know, we found nothing to give us any reason not to proceed with the declaration, which was duly issued."

She took a deep breath and continued. "Naturally, we did the same thing on John Collier, but there we found a few oddities. For one thing, it appears he was in financial trouble after a series of bad investment decisions."

Frank nodded. What Celia said mirrored what Amanda Collier had told him.

"Moreover, in the last few weeks," Celia went on, "the security department at IMC let us know that they have uncovered what appear to be significant irregularities in the Southeastern Region accounting department, the function that John Collier headed. Even more disturbing, they believe they've uncovered a fraudulent invoicing scheme that may have embezzled millions of dollars from IMC, and John Collier appears to have authorized it!"

"Poor Amanda," Frank commented, "she didn't deserve this."

But then he began to process what Celia had told him, and new possibilities began to arise. "Could John Collier have had a hand in the crash?" he asked. "Could it have been a way to cover his tracks?"

When Celia said nothing, Frank's imagination went into high gear. "What if Meredith found out about Collier's scheme? What if he murdered her to silence her and used the plane crash to hide the evidence? Could he still be alive? Maybe he's tucked away in some villa by the sea, laughing at all of us?"

"Slow down, Frank," Celia urged, "you're getting carried away. The most likely scenario is still that the plane went down unexpectedly, just like we've thought all along. If Collier was indeed involved in an embezzling scheme, the crash cut short his plans. We'll investigate all the possibilities, but we can't jump to conclusions, and neither should you."

But it was hard for Frank to turn off his imagination. "You don't think Meredith could have been in on it, do you?" he asked abruptly.

Celia sighed. "It's not impossible," she conceded, "but we don't think it's likely. In the first place, if she were involved, that would mean she was planning in advance to abandon her family. It's unusual for a mother to abandon her children, especially kids their age," she said, gesturing toward the kids' rooms. "Collier, in contrast, had no children, and his wife has indicated that their marriage was on the rocks at the time of his disappearance. Moreover, unlike Collier, Meredith's finances were in good shape, and she did nothing prior to her disappearance that would suggest she was in on any scheme, assuming there was one. In fact, if anything, her actions were just the opposite of someone planning to disappear."

"But all that is just speculation. The one fact we do have," Celia went on, "is that Meredith's plane did go down at sea.

She had hoped to calm Frank, but as she looked at the man, she could see that he was still upset by her revelations.

"Frank, you've got to promise me that you won't say anything about all this. It's highly confidential, and if word got out, it could jeopardize our investigation. It could also get me fired."

That brought Frank up short; he realized that Celia had taken a risk in confiding in him, and he owed her an obligation to keep quiet.

"I understand, Celia, and I promise I won't compromise your investigation. But I have to ask: why did you tell me all this?"

She looked at him seriously. "It's highly unlikely, Frank, but there's always the possibility that you might hear something or find out something that could help us shed light on all this. If you do, Frank, promise me you'll contact me right away. No 'Lone Ranger' acts, please."

He returned her look. "I promise, Celia." Then he smiled, "Besides, having to contact you again wouldn't be such a chore."

The smile she gave him seemed to brighten the room.

Shortly after that, Celia had to leave. Before doing so, she made a point of saying goodbye to both Bobby and Lori. Frank noted that Bobby actually paused his game to say good night, a real compliment coming from him. Once again Lori walked her friend to the door, extracting a promise from Celia to call her. But this time, after Lori had hugged her, Celia made a point of leaning back inside the door and bestowing a kiss on Frank's cheek. As she walked to her car, Lori looked up at her father and said, "She likes you, Daddy."

Frank smiled at his daughter and clasped her to him. "Well, I like her too."

After everyone had turned in for the night and the house had grown quiet, Frank lay in his bed, chewing over what Celia had told him and all the various scenarios he had imagined. "Oh, Merry," he thought, "what did you get yourself into?" Finally, he fell into a restless sleep.

It was a week later while Frank was on his computer when he noticed something unusual. He had been reading about some of his favorite sports teams, and as he got ready to click on his "Falcons" bookmark, he noticed the Facebook icon just above it. On a whim, he clicked it.

Frank was not a Facebook follower; in truth, he rarely ever visited the site. The only reason he had set up an account was to allow him to keep an eye on his children. Both Bobby and Lori loved the social networking site and used it as another way to stay in touch with their friends.

Frank had initially had no objection, but after reading a couple of scary articles about some of the pitfalls, he set up his own account and insisted that Bobby and Lori "friend" him. He also had them give him their passwords to their pages as well. That way, he reasoned, I'll be able to see any messages or pictures they post, as well as anything their friends send to them. Even more important, he figured Bobby and Lori would know he could monitor them, and that, he hoped, would encourage them to be prudent.

As he logged on to his own page, most of what he saw held little interest for him. But he did notice a "friend request" from someone he had never heard of: Tom Thomason. The name didn't sound familiar, and there was no picture, only a silhouette. When Frank clicked on the name, the stranger's page blandly informed him that personal information was available only to friends.

"Hey, Bobby," he yelled, "do we know a Tom Thomason?"

His son walked into the room and saw that his father was looking at Facebook. "Oh, that guy. Just ignore him, Dad. He's been bugging me to friend him for weeks now. I just delete his requests."

Lori popped into the room just then. "Yeah, he's been trying to get me to friend him too. He's just some Facebook creep."

That was enough to catch Frank's attention: some unknown person not only wanted to make contact with him but also with his children! There were all kinds of scam artists out there, Frank knew, and a few far worse predators as well. He was alarmed, but he didn't want to frighten his children, so all he said was, "You two did exactly the right thing," he assured them. "Don't ever respond to anyone you don't know well over the Internet."

Grasping for ways to protect his family, he had a sudden idea: "I wonder if Celia could help us find out who this Thomason creep is?" He called her at home, and she must have seen his name on Caller I.D. because she answered warmly, "Hi, Frank."

"Hi, Celia, I'm glad I caught you. Is there any chance you could come over? Something odd has come up and I'd like to check it out with you, if you're free."

"It's nothing serious, is it? Bobby and Lori are OK, aren't they?"

As he reassured her, Frank couldn't help but observe that she seemed as concerned about his children as he was. It gave him a warm feeling.

She told him she'd been working in the yard, but could be over in 45 minutes. To Frank's surprise, almost exactly to the minute her car pulled up to the curb. With Merry, he remembered, you were lucky if she wasn't more than an hour late trying to make her image perfect. But here was Celia, right on time, obviously freshly showered and clad in a casual but attractive outfit, with her hair nicely combed and wearing fresh make-up. It was clear that she'd made a special effort, even in such a short time.

"You look nice, Celia. You didn't have to get all dressed up for us," he told her.

She squeezed his hand, "Thank you, Frank. I wanted to."

Once she was in the house, Frank called his kids. When they came noisily into the den, he asked them to tell Celia about their would-be Facebook friend. As the official "expert" in the family, Bobby seized the opportunity to show off by rapidly logging on to each of the three of the family's Facebook accounts in turn and retrieving the friend requests from the mysterious Tom Thomason.

After complimenting Bobby on his skill, Celia seated herself in front of the screen and called up all the unread and archived messages, but she wasn't able to uncover any additional information. Finally, she looked up at Bobby and Lori. "The most likely answer is that this is some kind of marketing ploy. If you had accepted the request, you'd probably be receiving all kinds of ads for junk you don't want or offers for imaginary gold from Nigeria. There are some bad people out there, and you should never give any information about yourself to strangers. OK?"

The two kids nodded solemnly, and Frank thought to himself that hearing that message from Celia probably had more impact on them than when he had given it.

It had grown dark outside while they'd been working at the computer, and Frank knew that his kids would soon be hungry. "Celia, we're probably going to go out to get some dinner in a little while. It won't be anything fancy -- just a family-style restaurant -- but we'd love to have you join us if you can."

Immediately, as Frank had known they would, Lori and even Bobby began to clamor for her to come with them. She laughingly surrendered to the inevitable.

The four of them piled into Frank's sedan and headed off to a casual place not far from their home. As they drove, Celia began asking the two kids about some of what she'd seen posted on their Facebook pages, and soon Lori and Bobby were eagerly talking about their friends and activities.

As he listened to the conversation, Frank marveled, "Celia probably already knows more about what's going on in Lori's and Bobby's lives than Merry ever did!" He recalled that on the rare occasions before her death when they'd all gone out together, Meredith's conversations revolved mainly around her job. He felt guilty for his disloyalty, but he knew it was true.

The lively conversation continued through dinner and the trip back home, and Frank was pleased when Celia came in the house with them. The kids promptly plopped themselves in front of the tv and asked Celia to come watch with them, but she begged off. "I need to talk with your Dad a while." She took his hand and led him into the living room.

After they were seated, her face grew serious and she said, "I didn't want to alarm Bobby and Lori, but I don't really think those Facebook requests were a marketing ploy. The Bureau has gotten warnings about some identity theft scams, but those normally don't target children. This looks to me like someone is making a concerted effort to get information about your family."

The thought of a threat to his children sent a chill through Frank. "Who could it be? What could they want?"

"I don't know, Frank," she replied. "This doesn't seem to fit any pattern of cyberscam I've seen before."

"What can we do? Should I close their Facebook accounts? Should I keep them off the Net altogether?"

She looked thoughtful. "I don't think that's necessary -- as long as they're careful and don't have any interactions with strangers. And if they get nonsense emails with embedded websites, warn them never to click on the links."

She thought some more and then spoke up. "The trouble with the Internet is that it's so amorphous: you can't tell who you're dealing with or where they are. But it's not quite as opaque as most people think. I've got a friend with the federal government who might be able to help us. He probably can't find out who Tom Thomason is, but he might be able to tell us where he lives. Let me make a phone call on Monday and I'll let you know what I find out."

With that, she arose and went into the den to say goodnight to the two kids. When she returned, Frank walked her to the door, but before he opened it, he hugged her. "You've been like a guardian angel to us," he said earnestly. "I don't know what we would have done without you."

She looked him in the eye for a moment, then gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "I don't know whether I want to be an angel," she said with a wink, "they don't have all that much fun!" Then she turned and walked rapidly to her car, leaving Frank standing there bemused.

True to her word, Celia called Frank late on Monday morning. "Do you know anyone in Palm Beach, Florida?" she asked.

"Not a soul," Frank replied.

"Well, whoever 'Tom Thomason' is, he set up his Facebook account from a zip code that starts with 334, so he's somewhere in Palm Beach County," she said.