Chapter 20

Frank pays Troy Compton's dad a visit. Frank and Nancy's feelings for each other heat up.

Frank and Anita finished the drive back by mid-afternoon. She said goodbye to Frank and Lucy, fired up her Harley, and was on her way. Frank decided to spend the remainder of the afternoon researching the doctor in Green Cove Springs that visited Cobb and try to discover who the father of Maggie's baby might be. He and Lucy headed back into the trailer. He saw that his answering machine light was blinking again. He punched the play button and it was a hang-up. The caller ID told him, by the 570 area code, that it was a Scranton number again. When he did a reverse lookup on the number before, it came up as unlisted. He had not expended the energy to find out who it was listed to yet. The odds were that it was a telemarketer or some other automated call. He couldn't shake the feeling that it might be something else. Right now, he couldn't let it distract him. Time was critical on the Bullock case.

He settled in front of his computer. Lucy lay down at his feet.

"Sorry I've been neglecting you girl. I promise I'll take some time off after this case and we'll have some fun".

He scratched between her ears and she wagged her tail in thanks.

Frank decided to start with the doctor Anita had seen at Cobb's property. He used Google to search for Doctor Robert Wells in Green Cove Springs. He expected Wells to come up as a general practitioner, internist, urologist, or even an oncologist based on Cobb's age. What he discovered was not expected. Doctor Wells was an obstetrician. What could that possibly mean? What was Cobb hiding on that property? More unanswered questions. It now seemed important to find the baby's father. Since he was an intern at the church, Frank though he might find some clues on the church's web site. He looked at the staff page first. The seminary student was not listed. He then went into the photo gallery page to look at pictures of recent events. He started with the youth group picnic. There were three pictures out of the 25 for this event that showed Maggie Bullock. In two of them, she was next to a handsome young man wearing a Christianity Today pastel polo shirt. He then looked at photos for an event called "Rock the Universe", a Christian music event at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando. Of the 60 photos, Maggie was in seven of them, four of which also contained the mystery young man.

"He must be the one", Frank said out loud. Lucy looked up at him as if she knew exactly what he was talking about.

Frank finally hit pay dirt when he looked at the May edition of the church newsletter. Toward the end of the document, there was a blurb about the seminary students that would be participating in the summer internship program at Christianity Today. There were three. One was female. The second, a twenty something prematurely balding man. The third was an exact match for the mystery man seen in the pictures with Maggie Bullock. The article identified him as Troy Compton, a young man from Amelia Island, just north of Jacksonville. Frank found two Comptons in Amelia Island. One was a 70 year old woman and the other, Joseph Compton, was 42. He made note of the address and telephone number. Frank would visit the Compton house tomorrow.

As Frank continued to search, there was a knock on the door of his trailer. Lucy, who had been dozing at his feet, jumped up to greet the visitor. She shot out the doggie door before Frank had a chance to see who it was. It was Nancy.

"Hi Frank, I saw your car and thought I would take a chance on coming by and checking on the patient".

"Which one, Lucy or me?"

"Well, mostly Lucy, but I wanted to see how you were doing too".

Nancy was wearing a tank top and yoga pants which showed off her fit body. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail which showed off her attractive hazel eyes. Frank wondered if she always looked this good or if he was just starting to notice.

"Come on in. I'm just doing some research, but I'm mostly done for tonight".

Nancy sat down in one of Frank's two chairs and Lucy came to her immediately. Nancy looked at the snake bite site and felt the wound carefully. Lucy wagged her tail seemingly enjoying the attention.

"She is healing just fine", Nancy said. "I think she is going to recover fully".

"I'm honored by the house call. You certainly offer premium service".

"Lucy is a special patient. I don't offer this service to everyone".

This snappy interchange was followed by a lingering silence. Finally Nancy was the first to speak again.

"Are you OK Frank?"

"I'm not sure I'll ever be completely OK. I'm better. Being able to open up to you the other night was a big help. It's just one day at a time for me".

Nancy patted his arm and ten left her hand on his forearm. Frank felt that same warmth as the last time she had touched him. It was spreading up his arm. Suddenly Nancy sprung to her feet.

"C'mon. You and Lucy can walk me home. I want to watch her walk".

Frank followed Nancy and Lucy out of the trailer. They decided to walk the short distance on the beach instead of on the road. Since it was Sunday afternoon, the beach was nearly deserted. The Floridians were in their air conditioned houses and the tourists had either left or had not arrived for the week yet. Nancy and Frank walked at a slow pace while Lucy stalked the sea birds searching for tasty morsels in the sand. They walked close to each other, their hands and arms occasionally touching every few steps. Finally Nancy grabbed Frank's hand and they walked along like a couple of teenagers. Various feelings went through Frank's mind including guild, excitement, comfort, and other long dormant feelings. They turned to use the walkover that would take them toward Nancy's place. Lucy ran ahead and was lying on the porch by the time Frank and Nancy reached the house. She looked a bit too comfortable. Frank regretted that it was time to stop holding hands. While he was prolonging it, Nancy moved in for a hug. The warmth rapidly spread through Frank's body. Nancy kissed his cheek and then moved to kiss his lips. The warmth was now reaching its boiling point. Nancy whispered to Frank asking if he would like to come inside. Frank tensed up. She had her answer before he could verbalize it. He just wasn't ready.

"I'm sorry. This case. I've got a busy day tomorrow".

"It's OK", Nancy said. It's just not time yet".

Frank gave her one last hug questioning his reluctance to take this next step as he did. Nancy was smart, beautiful, independent, and most importantly, Lucy liked her. As he walked back toward the beach with Lucy, he nearly turned back toward Nancy's house, but instead continued back to the trailer.