What happened to Grace Sinclair? (Friday Barnes)

~14~

~case open!~

Friday stood up. This was amazing!  "REALLY?!"

Mack nodded. "Yeah!"

"Where is Mr Tarlee, I need all the information." Friday asked.

Mack grabbed her arm as she went to leave. "You can't, he isn't in the country, remember."

Morgan frowned. "Then how you know this?"

Mack let Friday sit back in her chair. "He called me from the Doha airport."

"Oh." Friday said, slumping slightly.

They were quiet for a moment, before Morgan slapped Mack over the head. "Dude! Tell us about it! God."

"Oh, right." Mack said, rubbing his head.

Then, he leaned forwards. The smack over the head couldn't stop him from being excited. "Well it turns out that Mr Sinclair had called AAMI just months before the hit and run and tried to pull out money on her life insurance. $80,000 to be exact."

Morgan whistled. "I'd like that much money."

"Yeah. So would I." Mack said, turning to the dark haired boy.

Morgan chuckled. "Maybe I should kill you. What's your life insurance worth?"

Friday waved her hand in front of their faces. "Focus guys."

Mack turned back to her. "Right, sorry. So anyway, he called the insurance company and gave them his social security number and they told him 'alright. We'll send your money. It's on its way'. And instead they called Mr Tarlee and said 'we think this man killed his wife to get the insurance money.'"

Friday wanted to kick herself. She hadn't even considered the fact that Mr Sinclair killed her. It all made sense. He hadn't cried or asked any questions about her wellbeing, just took the facts and went about his day.

"So then what?" She asked,

"Well, the insurance company is like 'we aren't gonna send this fugitive $80,000.' And so Mr Tarlee is like ok well don't send it to him and we will figure out the rest."

Friday waited for Mack to continue but he sat back in his chair. "That's all I know. Sorry Friday."

Friday nodded, thinking. Her supercomputer brain was spinning.

"Ok. Ok" she muttered to herself. She looked up at the boys in front of her. "Ok."

She stood up, grabbing her hat of which she had placed on the desk and rushing from the room.

Morgan frowned. "She's a bit odd, isn't she?"

Mack smiled. "Yep. I think that's what makes her such a good detective."

~*~                               ~*~                                ~*~

Friday banged on the door of Ian's room. "Ian, open the door."

Ian opened the door. His hair was messy and his shirt hung off his frame in a disheveled manner.

"Mmmh?" He mumbled, eyes half closed, trying to catch the last wisps of his dream.

"My case is open again!" She said.

Ian nodded, smiling slightly. "That's great."

He stepped aside to let her in. "What time is it?"

Friday looked at her watch. "It's....oh. Sorry."

She gave him a sheepish grin. Ian had spent all of last night and most of that morning on a job and was only just getting some sleep.

Ian yawned and waved a hand in the air, dismissing the apology. "It's fine. I wasn't tired anyway."

Friday gave him a hug. "I'll come back later."

He rested his chin on the top of her head. "No, tell me now."

Friday looked up at him. He looked so tired.

She pulled him over to his room. "You sleep. I'll come back later."

Ian looked like he was going to protest but he yawned again. "Ok."

Friday shut the door to his apartment quietly, then went down the hallway to find Melanie instead.

She opened the door and found Melanie sitting on the small couch, watching something on her phone.

She turned when she heard Friday walk in. "Hello."

Friday took off her hat and tossed it into her room. "My case is open again!"

Melanie smiled. "How wonderful for you! You can go back to risking your life with Ian!"

Friday sat on the couch next to her best friend. "I do not risk my life."

Melanie raised her eyebrows but said nothing. "So what happened?"

Friday told Melanie everything Mack had told her.

Melanie had much the same reaction as Morgan.

"Wow." She said, laughing slightly. "I never expected this. Plot twist."

Friday nodded.

Melanie let out a breath. "So what now?"