Page 8 of Burke (The Haven #2)

He frowned at that and nodded. “You want to start with their names?”

Reluctantly she gave him her sister’s name and what she knew about the boyfriend. “I don’t know if that’s his real name. That’s just the name I know him as. She called him Jay one time, but recently, as of this morning, she called him Frankie, so now I’m not sure at all.”

At the name, the detective clicked on his computer and shared, “I have another man here in the system.” Then he gave her the name.

At that, she winced. “That’s my father.” He turned to face her, and she nodded.

“He’s done time for fraud, and my sister has now picked up a boyfriend who appears to be taking her along the same pathway. ”

“And yet she did this on her own.”

“I don’t know if she would have done it without his influence, but, either way, she’s definitely capable at this point, and happily so,” she grumbled, with a nod.

“Are you in communication with your father?”

She snorted. “No. I’m not by any means a beloved child.”

“And why is that?”

“Because I’ve chosen a different path for my life.”

“What do you mean?”

She shrugged. “My father doesn’t see any point in working and thinks it’s much better to steal or to defraud somebody of their money because he didn’t have to do the work for it.”

“So, he doesn’t think there’s any work involved in defrauding people?” he asked. “Because most of the criminals who we nabbed have put a fair bit of work into it.”

“If it’s work, maybe he doesn’t see it as work when it’s a con,” she suggested, frowning. “Meaning that I think it’s more of a game to him.”

“Now that makes more sense,… yes. Do they know how you feel about it?”

“Oh yes,” she declared, “and that’s the problem. I have been very vocal about my lack of interest in their lifestyle for a very long time, but they really don’t care, and they are who they are. They think I’m some stupid chump for having jobs and earning my own way.”

“So, why are you involved in this case now?”

“Because it involves someone I know and consider as a friend,” she shared.

“The guy who Silvia’s defrauding, Burke Thomas, is her ex-boyfriend.

She somehow managed to open up three credit card accounts in his name and has been living it up on them, and he knew nothing about it.

He’s a war veteran,” she explained, “and, while they were together, she continually charged up his credit cards. He finally had enough of it and cut up and canceled those cards before she could do more damage. She says that basically he owes her this.”

“Oh, does he now?” Detective Martin snorted. “Of course, it doesn’t matter to her that he was out there serving the country while she was sitting at home doing nothing, right?”

“Exactly, and my family doesn’t have any respect for veterans. Burke was injured pretty badly, and I think maybe she thought it would be a really nice affluent life for her, and she could sit back and be queen of the day, without having to do anything.”

The detective lifted his head from his notebook and stared at her. “So, depending on how long he served and the extent of his injuries, there’s likely a pension, but that doesn’t mean big money.”

“No, of course not. So here he was, trying to find work, plus he was recovering from multiple surgeries, and Silvia was grossed out about that,” she admitted. “She was clearly in it for the money.”

“But there was no money?” he asked.

“Apparently not what she was expecting.” When he nodded, she went on. “Then, when he finally had enough and broke up with her, she took it personally.”

“Why did he break up with her?”

“She was spending his money without his permission, and she also had an affair,” she pointed out and watched as his eyebrows shot up.

“I didn’t say that she was particularly smart, but she is extremely beautiful and very manipulative.

On the surface, she’s extremely easy to talk to and friendly,” she added, then fell silent.

“In other words, when he came back and was a bit of an easy mark, particularly if he was disabled or injured in any way, she just stepped right in and took advantage.”

“Yeah, something like that,” she muttered.

“And, no, I have no love for my sister over it all. In fact, I don’t even recognize her anymore.

Maybe I’ve just had blinders on, but it’s got to stop.

Obviously the choices my father and my sister have made have distanced me from my family, and this is more of the same.

However, now Silvia has this boyfriend, and he,…

he really scares me,” she whispered. “Frankie and I think the last name is Jenson.”

The detective’s gaze narrowed, as he added, “He’s not coming up in the database as having any record.”

“And I don’t know if he does or not, but Silvia told me that he’s done this many times.” she shared. “All I know is, when I do see them, there’s always that look in his eyes.”

“What look?”

“That look that says, I better be doing what I’m supposed to be doing—or else .”

“And what are you supposed to be doing?”

“Presumably keeping my mouth shut.”

“So, you’re here at a certain amount of risk.”

“Yes,” she declared. “As much as I hate to even think of it, I suspect that my sister will be at risk whenever she ceases to be useful too.”

He nodded at that. “That’s not very different from any other con that’s being run. They have a group of people they work with, and, when you have lost your usefulness, you become a liability,” he explained, “and it seems Silvia might be up against that soon.”

“That is my worry,” Shirley muttered. “I’ve been hoping that something would go wrong between them, and she would break up with him, but she’s not showing any signs of that.”

He just nodded and kept taking notes.

Shirley asked, “Is there anything you can do to help Burke?”

“We’ve got calls in to him, and he’s coming into town to talk to us.” He looked at his watch and noted, “He should be here pretty soon.”

“Burke’s coming here?” she asked, struggling to keep the delight out of her tone.

“Yeah.” Just then, his phone buzzed. “If I’m lucky, that would be him right now. Give me a minute.” He stood up and left the area.

She sat back and looked around, wondering if she would be lucky enough for it to be him.

And, sure enough, when she turned to look up again, he stood there, smiling at her.

She hopped up, and, when he opened his arms, she gave him a great big hug.

“Oh, my goodness,” she muttered. “You’re looking fabulous and all healed up. ”

“I’ve been, well,… I was doing a whole lot better until I heard what your sister was up to.”

“I know. I’m…”

Immediately he placed a finger across her lips. “I know you’re sorry. This has just been a shit show from the beginning.”

“I know. I know,” she agreed, “and I’m really hoping they can do something for you.”

“Me too, but I’m worried about this Frankie guy… and you.”

“Me too,” she murmured. “I was hoping,” she began, with half a laugh, “that maybe he was wanted or something, and they would just pick him up, and he would be out of our lives, but it doesn’t seem I’ll be quite so lucky.”

“And that’s not necessarily an easy answer either,” Burke noted, “because jail isn’t forever.”

“Right, I hadn’t thought of that.”

Just then Detective Martin came back over and sat down. “Now, let’s go over the details.”

“What more do you need from me?” Shirley asked.

“I’ll just need you to sign your statements, and then you can go.”

She smiled and nodded, and, with that, they got down to business.