The family's shameful secret

Chapter 4:

   The room was hot as the sun came through the window. The curtains were open and the window slightly open. I looked out the window as the sun rays spread across my face. I sat there as all I could think about was what happened last night. I wondered why I just ran off like that. Was he going to try to....No. I removed that thought from my mind, but I felt embarrassed for reacting that way. I sat up and moved my hair from my face. There was a knock at my door and I knew who it was. I sat there looking at the door. I did not want to open it. "Finn, you awake?" He asked through the door and I took a long deep breath. "Yes." I spoke. "Ok, well I'm going to start cooking if you want to come down to the kitchen." "Well I'm going to take a shower, then we should try to contact Frank, if not we can track his number." I say then walk to the bathroom. I walk out of view from the mirror as I've always done and got undressed. I was about to get in the shower when I decided to finally look at myself in the mirror. Since the accident I never actually took a long look at the scar. The scar went from my neck, down half my torso. I looked away and hung my towel over the mirror and got into the shower. I sat there on the ground and contemplated last night. I got out of the shower and got dressed. I wrapped my neck and headed out of my room, I could smell something being made. I headed toward the kitchen and walked in. Daren looked over at me. "Hungry?" He asked and I shook my head. He pointed at the seat and I sat down. He continues to cook while sometimes glancing over at me. Once he had finished, he put a plate holding an omelet and some bacon on it in front of me. I took a bit of the omelet and smiled. "Good?" He asked. "Of course, you somehow have made even a simple omelet seem so decadent." I say as I go for another bit. He smiled and we continued to eat while making small talk.  Once done I offered to take the plates to the sink and hesitantly, he let me. I placed the dishes in the sink and headed back toward him. "So, you have the number?" I asked and he pulled out a piece of paper he had written the number on. I grabbed the paper and he handed me his phone. I dial the number and put the phone on speaker.  The phone rings a few times then is picked up.

    "Hello?" I hear from the phone. "Hello, is this Frank?" I ask and look over at Daren. "Who's asking?" He says and sounds suspicious. "This is Mark from the bank, I wanted to talk to you about some old transactions that have been stopped. We have a new policy where we can remove old transactions to make room for some new ones. Would you be interested in this?" I asked, talking in my best professional sounding voice. "Sure, what's the catch?" he asked sounding even more paranoid. "No catch sir, we are offering this to all of our customers. All we need is some information to confirm you are who you say you are and we can go ahead." I say and there was a long silence. I began to worry he was seeing through this ridiculous story when I heard him breathing. "Ok, what questions." He says and I knew it was a go. I asked him about the normal security questions such as his address, last digits of his social security, mother's maiden name and confirmation of his full name and phone number. "Thank you for your time today sir, the transactions should be removed in the next 24 hours and if nothing has changed after 24 hours, feel free to call back." I said and hung up the phone.

   Daren looked at me and seemed to be shocked. "How did you know that would work?" He asked while staring at me as I was writing the last bit of information I was given down on a piece of paper. "I didn't, but to me it made sense that if the transactions were something illegal and could get him in trouble he would take any opportunity to get those erased." I say, and Daren smiles. "That's smart." He says and I nod in agreement. "Now we know where he lives, his full name along with more information. First we should try to get a background check done on him to see if anything shows up that could be a clue." I say. "I know just the people to get that done." He says then grabs his phone and makes a call. The call was quick and all he said was Frank's full name and then hung up the phone. "It should be sent over by tonight or in the morning." He says and slides his phone in his pocket. "Well I think it's time we had a little stake out." I say.

     He packed a few things into the trunk of the car and sticks copies to some of the files in the back seat of the car and we started the long drive. After 2 hours we were there and parked down the road from his house. We took some photos on a camera Daren had brought and was watching. Nothing was happening until a younger guy ran out of the house and quickly got inside of a car. Out of the corner of my eye I could see an older guy standing by the door of the house and he was yelling. The guy in the car flicked him off and drove away. I looked at the license plate on the car and quickly wrote down the plate number. Daren asked me while I had written it down and I explained that if we find nothing on Frank or doesn't want to speak we can always go to the person he pissed off. Daren agreed that it was a good plan, but it could be dangerous. We stayed outside the house for another few hours. Occasionally, someone comes to the house but they don't stay longer than 10 minutes. I wrote down the license plates to all the cars along with the make and model. After it had hit 8pm we decided it was time to head back and get some rest. We drove back and I put all the numbers and car information inside a folder I was making on Frank. We got back to the house and brought the stuff out of the car and put it inside Daren's office. I started getting paranoid thinking someone may have followed us to the house and would take the files so I decided to sleep in his office. I grabbed a blanket and laid on the couch in his office and faced myself toward the door. For a while, I sat there just staring at the door, waiting for someone to walk in. Eventually my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep.