Page 24 of Fool Me Once

Cameron had been about toslam the door, but the name Frank made her stop.

“Frank? That is who wehave in common?” Cameron asked.

Cain had hoped to keepthat information a little longer so he could get the measure of the woman.

Glancing past hershoulder, he saw that her apartment was in fact perfectly clean. He also sawthere were several air-conditioning scents hung around the door and throughoutthe apartment.

“You were worried it wasthe cop, weren’t you?” Leah asked.

Cameron sighed. “I … I hadmy doubts.”

“What brings you back?”Cameron asked. “You left to save Frank, and now you’re back. Why?”

Cameron shrugged. “When Ileft, I was broke and didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have any belongings otherthan a backpack. Anyway, I worked from day to day, until I was finally able tosave up enough money to rent a place, and then from there, I was able to buy aplace. A little café. It was a small tourist town, and it was so sweet andbeautiful. Like everything else, big business saw the dollar signs, came, andput me out of business. I had to sell everything, and then I moved back here.”

Cain looked at her, and heknew from the information Lewis had sent him, it was all true.

“Do you know Frank?”Cameron asked.

“Yes, we do.”

“He’s not in prison still,is he? I tried to do everything to get him out, but no one would listen to me.”She sighed. “It was useless.”

“It’s not useless now,” hesaid. “I got Frank out. Your cop friend met a tragic accident.”

He saw the hope inCameron’s eyes finally light up. “He did?”

“Yes. He died severalyears ago.” There was no point in getting to the nitty-gritty details. Shedidn’t need to know how he died or why.

Cain would do it all overagain. Frank was a good guy.

“Would you like to comeinside?” Cameron asked.

“Yes,” Cain said, beforeLeah could potentially invite the woman back to his place. He still wanted tomake sure this woman was good enough for Frank. Her apartment was small, but itwould seem she had the best one in the place.

“Could you not find abetter apartment building?” Cain asked.

“Damn it, Cain, don’t berude,” Leah said.

Cameron laughed. “No, no,it is fine, and perfectly valid. There were other apartments I could havepicked, but that would mean I wouldn’t be able to buy my shop.”

She moved toward the smalltable in the sitting room.

Cain saw there wereseveral pictures of a building that looked like a café. He recognized thebuilding. There were also several legal-looking documents as well.

“I didn’t lose everything.I knew when the right time to sell was. I had enough money to buy a place andtake care of the internal revamp. It did mean that I had to take a shittyapartment, but I’ve never been afraid of a challenge.” Cameron smiled at thetwo of them.

“Is your café open?” Leahasked.

“Not yet. I’m having thegrand opening Friday.” She looked so nervous. “Anyway, enough about me. Tell meabout Frank. Is he okay? Did he have a family? A wife?”

He saw it was hard for herto ask that.

“Frank’s single,” Leahsaid.

“And he’s a chef,” Cainsaid.

Cameron smiled. “Yes, ofcourse he would be. He always loved to cook and experiment. It was how we met.Our love of food.” She sighed.

---