Sally was sitting dejectedly in her apartment. The Mayberry Publishing Company had just informed her that her book would no longer be published due to reasons beyond their control. When she had tried to get in touch with the Editor of the company, she had been gently but firmly brushed off. Sally wondered how much more pain she was going to have to bear before Antoine Giroux would let up? How could she have been so blinded by his charm? She walked into her office and sat before her laptop, scrolling through her email wondering if anything new had been added since the last time she had viewed it. She stopped at Ambrose de Prince’s emails. She realized that he had sent several in a space of an hour. What can be so urgent? She wondered. She opened the mail and went through them quickly. She sat back in her chair her thoughts spiraling towards all the possibilities. What could she do, on top of everything her life was in danger? She thought of her friend Cal Parody. She looked up his number and called him.
“Hello Cal this is Sally.”
“Hello Sally how have you been doing? How is that great institute of yours doing?” Cal asked jokingly.
“Well Cal that is what I want to discus with you. I have been fired from my job.”
“What?” Cal exclaimed, “What happened?"
Sally told Cal everything that had happened.
“Goodness, I had no idea that Antoine Giroux was such a devious man.” Cal said.
Sally added, “Neither did I. But the main reason I called is because my life and Ambrose de Prince’s life are in danger. We need your help.”
She brought him up to date with her discovery of Pierre de Prince’s murder, in touch with his great-grandson and the revelation of Keith and Sergio’s plan to kill them both.
Cal promised to look into it. “However you both need to get into a safe house where they will not find you. Sally, I am sending one of my officers to your place right now, his name is Sam, don’t open the door until he gets there.” He gave her a description of Sam and the code Sam would use when he got there. “For your friend, I will get in touch with another agent who will get in touch with him. Do you have his phone number?”
Sally responded, “No I don’t have his phone number, I have been in touch with him by email. “
“Ask him to send you his phone number.” Cal ordered
Sally sat back behind her desk and sent out an email to Ambrose. She asked that he send his address and phone number. She transferred the information to Cal. Sam knocked gave her the required code and took her to the safe house. At the safe house, Cal called and asked to speak with Sally.
Sally picked up the scrambled phone, “Hello Cal thank you so much for the quick response, how far have you gotten to tracking Sergio and Keith?”
“We are working on that and we will soon be wrapping it up.” Cal answered. “Since they are unaware that their plan has been discovered, they have been carrying out their affairs openly. Why I called is to let you know that I have been trying to get in touch with Ambrose de Prince at the address he gave you. When my men got there they discovered that Ambrose had left the place some years back. They have no idea where he has moved. Are you sure this is the address he gave you?”
Sally with a confused frown on her forehead, replied, “Yes I am sure I gave you the right address.
“It is in Portland, Oregon right?" Cal responded, "There is no Ambrose de Prince in Oregon.”
“Have you tried calling the phone number I gave you?” Sally asked.
“Yes we tried that,” Cal responded, “However someone else owns the phone number.”
“Let me get in touch with him via his email address and find out what’s going on,” Sally decided.
“All right have Sam call me back when you have something for me. On this end we will try and find out where he is. Make sure you use the laptop provided at the safe house. That laptop is not traceable. It must have been how Serge and Keith found out all you knew about Pierre.” Cal responded.
Sally picked up the laptop and sent another email to Ambrose, letting him know that Cal had tried to get in touch with him but had been unable to do so
Ambrose was at home, about two blocks from his office when he received the email. Frowning “I don’t understand what is going on” he replied. “Let me have his phone number and we can take it from there.”
Sally sent Cal’s phone number. When Ambrose received it he called Cal and when Cal picked up the phone, he introduced himself, “I am Ambrose de Prince, I understand from Sally Wentworth that you were unable to reach me.”
Cal in surprise looked at his phone and wondered why no caller ID showed on his phone. “Yes I tried to get in touch with you but I was unable to do so, my phone has caller ID and for one reason or another it’s not showing your phone number.” Ambrose looked down at his phone; well your phone number is printed on my phone,” he responded.
“I need you to go to the safe house in Portland until we can apprehend Serge and Keith.” Cal replied. After giving him the location and the code to enter Cal hung up. Ambrose quickly got a few things and departed to the safe house. Using the scrambled phone and laptop he was able to inform Cal and Sally he was at the safe house. Sally breathed a sign of relief.
After several days of following leads Cal finally apprehended Serge de Prince and Keith Robinson with their accomplices which included Antoine Giroux. After they were tried and locked up Sally sent an email to let Ambrose know. He replied that he would be leaving the safe house and she should give Cal his thanks for the protection offered in the safe house. Sally replied and for some reason the mail came back to her saying that the address was unknown. Baffled Sally tried several times but she got the same reply. She informed Cal who also tried at his end and got the same response. He asked for officers to go to the safe house in Portland and found that no one had been there. He informed Sally and she wondered what could have happened. She finally went through all the email that Ambrose had sent and discovered that they were dated wrongly. Instead of reading 2013 they all read 2009. How can that be Sally wondered. We actually have been communicating through a four-year interval. She wondered what had become of him. Searching for him in the Internet yielded no results, and going to the address he had given was the same. No one had heard of him. Ambrose de Prince had simply vanished into thin air. She informed Cal who used the resources at his disposal but he was unable to find him. After several tries they both gave up but Sally never forgot Ambrose de Prince.