The Dane Commission (The Dane Chronicles) (33 page)

Once they were
in Ryan’s car, and exiting out of the IntelliHealth parking lot, Jeff said,
“Okay, Ryan where are we going?”

Ryan reached
for his tablet, and sync’d it with the car. Now the GPS in his tablet could
lead them to the local address for Frances.

“Cohen wants
me to talk with Dr. Frances in person.”

“Wow, that’s
pretty cool. But why am I here, and what’s with all the mystery?”

“Cohen thinks
the SID program, was impersonating Dr. Sid Frances at the Saturday meeting, and
then afterwards at a private meeting between the two of them.”

“What? SID was
impersonating Sid?”

“Yes, SID
the
program
, was impersonating Sid Frances the man.”

“Oh my god,
really? Is he sure?”

“No, he’s not
sure. That’s why we’re going to talk with Dr. Frances.”

They drove for
a few minutes in silence while Jeff absorbed what Ryan just told him.

“Okay, but why
am I here?”
“Jeff, I brought you because you are my friend, this is a very weird thing to
do and basically, I need a sidekick with me.”

Jeff paused briefly.

“I’m not the
sidekick. I know the man better than you do. In fact, he was the reason I came
to IntelliHealth in the first place.”

There was a
pause. He looked at Ryan and saw that he was smiling.

“Okay, I am the sidekick. So where exactly are we going right now?”

Ryan laughed.

“I have a list
of three home addresses for Dr. Frances. The first is local, and we’re headed
there right now. If he’s there, I need to find out if he actually attended the
meeting on Saturday.”

“And if he
did?”

“Well, I don’t
know exactly; I’ll play by ear. If he’s not there, then we go home and leave
tomorrow for Bellingham, Washington.”

“What am I
supposed to tell my wife, Kali?” said Jeff. “Hello dear, I’m off to Washington
to see if a robot has eaten Dr. Frances?” Ryan chuckled, thinking he was lucky
Jean was at her parents, or he would be facing the same conversation.
Ryan handed the tablet to Jeff and said, “Here take this and help guide me
there. Dr. Frances’ address is already set.”
”Okay,” he said watching the display, “turn right at the next light.”

When they arrived at Dr. Frances’ home, they found a gate closed across the
driveway. It was a low gate, with lots of pretty curves, looking mostly like
decoration. They parked outside. Ryan turned the car off, and they got out.
Jeff found an intercom on the gate. Glancing at Ryan, who shrugged, he pushed
the button. No sound emerged, it was completely dead.

Ryan pushed on
the gate.
It was locked.

He leaned over
and looked at the back of it. He saw that it was rusted through in places, and
seemed to be in pieces from exposure. It had the appearance of being unused for
years.

Looking up the
driveway, they could see weeds and overgrowth. There were lights leading to the
house, but none of them were on. A Mercedes covered in dust sat in the
driveway. Ryan noticed an ant bed formed around the base of the front tire.

The two men
looked at each other.
“Jeff, that car hasn’t moved in a long time.”

Jeff nodded.

Ryan said,
“Jump in there and go ring his doorbell.”

“That is not
what the sidekick does, my friend. I will wait and guard the car.”

Looking at the
gate again, Ryan wondered why he was doing this.

“Keep your
cell phone handy. This is creepy, and I may need back-up.”

“Yes, of
course, I have it here Ryan,” he said, “But who should I call for back-up?”

With a big
sigh, Ryan climbed over the gate and dropped to the ground inside.

“Hey Ryan, at
least there are no big dogs in there.”

“Thanks Jeff,
I hadn’t thought of that.”

He walked
around a corner and followed the stone walkway to the front door. It wasn’t a
mansion, but it was a good-sized home. He counted thirty-five steps on the path
to the front door. Next to the door was a fountain in front of a big picture
window. It wasn’t running, and the window behind was dirty. He gathered
himself, and nervously he knocked on the door.

Silence.

He pushed the
doorbell, but still there was no sound from the house.
“Dr. Frances are you there? I need to speak with you!”

He waited, but
there was no response.

Anxiously, he
walked around to the back yard, to find the same state of disuse. There was a
tennis court with weeds growing through the cracks; a pool, with mold and
debris resting on the bottom.

He found a
backdoor and knocked, but no one answered.

He called out
again, “Dr. Frances, please are you there? I need to speak with you.”

His ear
pressed against the door, he listened but heard nothing.
’No sounds of life here,’ he thought.
Only the wind blowing around the decaying yard.

He walked back
around to the front and found another car had pulled up to the driveway. An
older couple were out of their car and talking with Jeff. Ryan spotted a
release for the gate as he walked up. Pleased he didn’t have to jump over
again, he opened the gate, and walked up to the conversation.
“Ah, Ryan I’m glad you’re here. These are the Bentworths, and they live next
door, up the hill there.”
“Yes, I’m Larry and this is my wife Nancy. We were hoping you would have a lawn
man do some maintenance around here.”

“Yes, it
certainly seems to need it, doesn’t it?” said Ryan.
“Yes it does, the mosquitoes are heavy this year, and we all need to keep the
grass mowed to help.”

“We are
looking for the man who lives here, Dr. Frances. Do you know him?”

“We did, but
he sent us a message some time ago saying that he had moved on,” the gentleman
said. His wife added, “That was about six or seven years ago.”

“Do you
remember if he left a forwarding address?” said Ryan.

“Yes, it was
someplace in Washington state… Bellingham maybe.”

“Well, thank
you so much. I’ll see about getting the lawn mowed.”

“Thank you,
goodbye,” they said as they got back in their car. They were obviously pleased
to have met someone attached to the property.

Ryan stepped
close to Jeff.

“No one’s
here. The back is as dead as the front. The whole place looks like it was
deserted years ago. No one is maintaining it, and I don’t think it has power.”

He looked up
the hill, watching the Bentworths as turned into their driveway in the
distance.
“They mentioned the Bellingham address; that’s the next one on Rosemary’s
list.”

“Why would he
just walk away from this?” Jeff asked.
”I don’t know. It doesn’t make sense.”

“So I guess
we’re going to Bellingham.”
“Yep.”
“I don’t think I like being on your commission Ryan.”

“Neither do
I.”

They got back
in the car, and headed back to IntelliHealth. When they got there, Ryan let
Jeff out at the curb.

“Jeff, lets
meet at the airport in the morning. I’ll forward the travel details from Lara.
Thanks for coming with me.”

“Quite an
adventure, yes?”

“Yes, it
certainly is.”

“Very good,
Ryan. I will see you in the morning.”

Ryan drove home.

It was still
in the afternoon, so he sent a few messages from his tablet.

He sent Cohen
and Rosemary a message saying that the local address for Frances was deserted.
He and Jeff were moving on to the Washington address in the morning.

He sent a
message to Jim asking him to respond if he found anything in the video footage.
He also forwarded the travel details from Lara to Jeff.

Lastly, he
sent a message to Jean saying that he had to go to Bellingham, Washington on
business to retrieve some information for Dr. Cohen. He would be in contact
soon, and hoped that they were having fun in Florida.

He went to bed
wondering what he would find in Washington. He had visions of finding a
desiccated old man propped up at a table.

‘This wasn’t
exactly what I signed up for,’ he thought.

The next
morning found Ryan and Jeff on a plane, flying to Washington.

Ryan loved to
fly, but Jeff seemed squeamish. He made a mental note to find a better sidekick
when all this was over. They landed and found the car Lara had arranged already
waiting for them. Ryan sync’d his tablet to the rental car, and followed the
GPS directions to the address in Bellingham.

Dr. Frances’
home was large and positioned on an overhang such that it looked out over the
woods behind. The driveway had no gate this time, and they were able to drive
all the way to the front door. The drive split and circled in front of the
house.

They parked
the car, and walked up to the front door.
Overall, the whole house looked to be in good repair. And outside, the yard and
shrubs were maintained.
Ryan pushed the doorbell, and from within the house, he could hear its ring.

There was no
answer.

Ryan called
through the door, “Dr. Sid Frances? It’s an emergency may we speak with you?”
Jeff knocked but the house returned only silence.

Together they
walked around the house and looked in the back yard.

Like the
front, the back yard was mowed, and the property maintained, but there were no
signs of life. There were no lawn chairs, no umbrellas or tables with glasses.
Sterile.

It reminded
Ryan of a house for sale.

Breaking the
silence, in a low voice Jeff said, “On our way in, I noticed some kind of
community clubhouse. Maybe we can ask there to see if anyone knows something
about this house.”
“Jeff, that’s a great idea. I may just keep you after all.”

“What?”

They walked
back around the house to the car and Ryan drove back to the front of the
community. Sure enough they found an information center sitting next to some
sort of activity facility.

They walked
inside and asked about the Sid Frances property. After a minute or two, a clerk
at the front retrieved a gentleman who introduced himself as the Property
Manager for the community. To Ryan, he seemed far too eager to speak with them.

Something had
perturbed the man.

“Yes, I know
the property.” The man adjusted his pants as he stormed around the front desk.
Talking fast, he said, “It’s a real headache for us. The owner is some fancy
doctor who won’t return my calls, or mail. Are you here to respond to my complaints?
Are you a lawyer?”

Ryan held his
hands up.

“Hold on,
we’re trying to help. We work for Dr. Frances, and we’re afraid something may
have happened to him. We’re trying to find him. When was the last time you
heard from him?”
The man slowed a little, but was still tense, ready to fight.

“He stopped
maintaining the place about five years ago, and we’ve had to do it for him ever
since. We add the maintenance fees to his homeowners’ dues, but it would be
best for him to make arrangements himself. Can you remind him that he has a
property here? He has responsibilities to the community.”

Ryan was still
trying to calm the man down. He took the man’s hand and shook it rapidly. “I’m
Ryan Dane, and this is Jeff Sarin.”

“Tom Spencer,
Rolling Waters, Property Manager.”

“It’s very
nice to meet you, Tom. We’re from his place of work, and we’ve been trying to
locate him ourselves. Maybe we can help each other. Is there any chance you
could let us look around to see if there’s any clue where he might be?”

Taking a deep
breath, Mr. Spencer said, “Normally I would say no, but since we haven’t heard
from him in so long. Let's go in together, but no one may take anything. We are
just looking for information, agreed?”

“Yes, thanks
Tom. And in return we’ll help you get some support on this property when we
return to work.”