Laurie was checking missed messages on her phone as she stepped off the plane at LaGuardia. She was in the middle of a text from Alex explaining that he would be staying late at the courthouse when she did a double take at one of the passengers waiting near the gate.
She almost didn’t recognize Frankie Harrington. When they’d met at Katz’s, Frankie had come directly from her internship and was dressed accordingly. Now her tiny frame was swallowed by an oversized flannel shirt and baggy faded jeans with a hole in one knee, a beanie pulled over her dark, wavy hair, and a backpack and parka bundled on her lap. She looked like a regular college student.
“Frankie?”
Startled, Frankie looked up, removing her AirPods from her ears. “Oh my gosh, Laurie. Did you just get off the plane from Boston?”
“I did.”
“That’s so funny. It sounds like the trip went well. I already talked to Simon and Ethan.”
Laurie had been on the plane for less than an hour and yet her time in Boston felt like an eternity away. “Simon and Michelle are officially on board for the show. I still need to convince Ethan.”
“He told me,” Frankie said. “That’s why I’m at the airport. I’m going up to Boston. My judge said it was fine to take a long weekend.”
A woman sitting nearby removed her coat and purse from the seat next to Frankie to make room for Laurie.
“Don’t push Ethan,” Laurie said, nodding thank-you to the woman and settling in beside Frankie. “Give me a little time to work the case. I’m confident I can find a new angle, and that will be enough to convince him.”
“But I might be able to help in that regard.” Frankie’s dark eyes widened with optimism. “Most of my parents’ belongings have been in storage all these years. Maybe I’ll find something relevant to the investigation.”
Laurie’s curiosity piqued. “Have you ever gone through their things before?”
“No, it’s kind of a long story. As I understand it, by the time anyone started talking about my parents’ estate, the police already suspected my brothers. They notified the probate court and the life insurance company, trying to keep my brothers from inheriting.”
“Simon mentioned that,” Laurie said.
“The thing is, I always thought my parents’ personal belongings were in storage because my brothers were too upset to sort through it. As I got older and had the option, I felt the same way. But Betsy only recently told me that as part of the probate process Simon and Ethan agreed not to take anything and to leave it all for me.”
Laurie was about to ask why when she answered her own question. “Neither of them wanted the other to have it.”
Frankie nodded sadly. “I can’t believe I went all these years without realizing they suspected each other. Betsy convinced them not to hold up the entire estate over it. They eventually took their trust accounts and their part of the life insurance, but the personal effects still belong to me. I’m ready to go through it all. Maybe I’ll find something new, and we can use that to convince Ethan.”
“I appreciate the help, Frankie. But I assume the police already searched the house before everything went into storage?”
She shook her head. “No, that’s the thing. They had posted crime scene tape at the beach house for days. When they were done, we didn’t want to be in the place where… you know, it all happened. We went back to Boston. I stayed with the Wards, and my brothers stayed at our house in the city until the estate sold it, but there was a lot of back-and-forth. Point is, I don’t remember the police ever showing up at our house in Boston.”
Laurie made a mental note. It was yet another item on her list of things to discuss with the Harbor Bay police. If true, their failure to search the house was consistent with the twins’ claims of a shoddy investigation.
“Ethan also mentioned that someone left flowers at your mother’s grave, but not your father’s. Do you remember that?”
“Oh that’s right. That was a while ago, but it happened a couple of times. I always assumed it was one of her friends from church or something.”
Laurie didn’t mention Ethan’s suspicions that it had been Simon. An announcement at the gate advised passengers on the next flight to Boston that they were beginning pre-boarding.
“Frankie, before you go, did you know anything about the argument your brothers had the night of the graduation party? They both say that’s why they were keeping a distance.”
Frankie sighed. “I know that now, but it’s yet another thing they kept from me until I started asking questions. I’ve always sensed that Annabeth didn’t like to talk about Simon or even Michelle, but I never knew the source of her grudge. Apparently, my father didn’t approve.”
It was becoming clear to Laurie that, despite their differences, both of Frankie’s brothers had tried to protect their younger sister from getting pulled into their feud.
“Do you think it’s possible my show could have access to the items you have in storage? If we go forward, we’ll be filming in Harbor Bay. We’ll try to get permission to film at your family’s old house and the yacht club. But having a sense of what your life in Boston was like would be helpful,” Laurie explained.
“Of course. Anything at all.”
Laurie reached into her bag for a blank copy of the Fisher Blake production agreement. “I should give you a copy of this while we’re here. It’s our studio’s standard—”
With one glance at the agreement, Frankie asked Laurie if she had a pen. “Simon, Dennis, and Walter all read it for me after you gave copies to Simon and Michelle.”
“Helps to have three lawyers in the family, I guess.” Laurie pulled a pen from her bag.
“Trust me,” Frankie said as she signed, “I could practically recite every clause by now.”
Frankie popped up from her seat just as the gate attendant was making the final boarding call. She gave Laurie a quick hug before rushing toward the gate.
Laurie watched her until she disappeared into the jetway, then turned and slowly walked away.
She’d initially been desperate to land this case to appease Brett and keep Ryan from homing in on the production of her show, but now she was truly invested. She could see how much Frankie loved her brothers and wanted to trust them again. And having met Simon and Ethan, she sensed they both wanted to remain close to their little sister. She found herself hoping she could somehow bring the Harrington family back together again.
Was it possible they didn’t do it?