Chapter 6: What Frank Found
Frank Okafor arrived at nine the next morning.
He was a compact man in his early fifties, gray at the temples, with the kind of stillness that made you feel like he had already read the room before he walked into it.
He set a leather folder on our kitchen table and shook my hand before he shook Daniel's, which I noticed.
Madison came out of the guest room ten minutes late, still pulling her hair back.
She stopped when she saw Frank.
"You actually brought him here," she said.
"Sit down, Madison," Daniel said.
She sat.
Frank opened the folder.
"I've reviewed the summons and the filing.
I also ran background on the plaintiff and on Ryan Garrett." He looked at Madison.
"I'd like you to walk me through the timeline.
Start with when you first met Ryan Garrett."
"I already told Daniel everything."
"Tell me."
She did.
The conference in Cleveland.
The wellness brand.
The supplier.
Carter Briggs and the forty-six thousand dollars.
Her voice was flat and controlled, like she'd rehearsed it overnight.
Frank listened without interrupting.
When she finished, he looked down at his folder.
"The account number you forwarded to Carter Briggs," he said.
"Where did you get it?"
"Ryan sent it to me."
"By email?"
"Yes."
"Do you still have that email?"
She hesitated.
"I'd have to check."
"I'll need it." Frank made a note.
"I'll also need every communication you've had with Ryan Garrett since you arrived in Chicago.
Texts, emails, calls — all of it."
"That's private."
Frank looked up.
"Ms.
Cole, Carter Briggs's attorney is building a case that you knowingly provided false financial documentation to induce a transfer of funds.
If Ryan Garrett sent you that documentation and you forwarded it in good faith, that's your defense.
But I can only use it if I can see it."
Madison looked at Daniel.
"Show him," Daniel said.
She unlocked her phone and slid it across the table.
Frank scrolled for nearly three minutes without speaking.
His expression didn't change.
Then he stopped, went back, and read something a second time.
"This message," he said.
He turned the phone so Daniel and I could see the screen.
It was from Ryan Garrett.
Dated six weeks ago.
*Don't worry about the Briggs situation.
I've got someone working on it from the inside.
Just stay put and keep them comfortable.
The longer you stay, the less they'll want to make a scene.*
I read it twice.
*Keep them comfortable.*
I looked at Madison.
She was looking at the table.
"Keep them comfortable," I said.
"That's us.
Daniel and me."
She didn't answer.
"He told you to stay in our home and keep us comfortable so we wouldn't make a scene." My voice was steady, which surprised me.
"How long have you been managing us, Madison?"
"It wasn't like that."
"What was it like?"
"He said if I stayed somewhere stable, it would look better for the case.
That if I was bouncing between hotels it would look like I was running."
"And the laundry?" I asked.
"The credit card?
The breakfast demands?
Was that part of keeping us comfortable, or was that just for yourself?"
She finally looked up.
"That was just me being stupid.
I was stressed and I took it out on you and I know that was wrong."
"Wrong," I said.
"Yes."
Frank closed his folder.
"Here's where we are.
The civil suit is Carter Briggs's to pursue.
Madison, your exposure depends on whether you can demonstrate you acted in good faith — that you genuinely believed the business was real and that Ryan Garrett defrauded you as much as he defrauded Briggs." He paused.
"The message I just read makes that harder.
Because it shows Garrett was actively directing your behavior while the suit was pending, and you were following his instructions."
"I wasn't following instructions.
I was trying to stay calm."
"A judge won't see the difference." Frank looked at Daniel.
"My recommendation is that we file a third-party complaint against Ryan Garrett immediately.
We document Madison's role as a secondary victim of his scheme.
We cooperate fully with Briggs's attorney and we get ahead of this before it becomes something worse."
"What's something worse?" I asked.
Frank looked at me.
"If Garrett's pattern is what I think it is, there may be other victims.
If a criminal referral follows the civil case, anyone connected to Garrett's network comes under scrutiny." He let that sit for a moment.
"Including anyone at an address he used as a base of operations."
The kitchen was very quiet.
Daniel looked at Madison.
"Do you understand what he just said?"
She nodded.
One small movement.
"Then you're going to give Frank everything he asks for," Daniel said.
"Every message.
Every email.
Every call.
And you're going to stop communicating with Ryan Garrett as of right now."
Madison reached across the table and picked up her phone.
She opened her messages.
Found Ryan Garrett's thread.
And then she stopped.
There was a new message.
Sent four minutes ago, while Frank had been talking.
She read it.
Her face changed.
She turned the phone so Daniel could see.
*Ryan: Tell them nothing.
May you like
I have the original account documentation.
If you cooperate with their lawyer, I'll make sure it looks like you set the whole thing up yourself.*
