Lance Knight knew that he had other business to attend to, so gave Ben one of his business cards, asking Frances to call him at her earliest convenience to arrange a meeting.
Ben said "Sure," before saying goodbye and closing the front door to get back to his vacuuming.
As Lance was walking back to his car, considering going to the hospital to see if he could find Doctors Tachibana and Robinson, he happened to glance at the house next door and saw the name ANDERSON on the mailbox.
Taking a chance, he secured the Twist scroll in his car along with the others and walked next door.
William Anderson heard his doorbell ring over the stereo playing some of his favorite CDs. Pausing the unit, he got up and saw who was calling this late on a Sunday afternoon.
Not recognizing the visitor, but sensing no danger, he answered it.
"Hello. Can I help you?" William asked politely.
"Yes. My name is Lance Knight and—"
"Tachibana no Akane has already brokered a peace accord between me and Benton," said William, as he was about to close the door.
"That's not what I'm here about," said Lance, which caused William to stop and hear the man out. "While I'm Benton's younger brother, unfortunately his reputation tends to precede me, but I'm really a nice guy once you get to know me."
"Okay. Maybe we're getting off on the wrong paw here," said William, sensing his visitor was a werepanther while Lance could tell he was talking to a werefox, despite the fact both were still currently in their human forms. "How can I help you?"
"Actually, I'm looking for my niece Frieda. Is she here? I hear she and your youngest son Eric are friends."
"True, but right now my wife is escorting her, Eric, and their friend Spencer Lawson clothes shopping. Eric just joined last week," said William, cautiously bringing the fingers of both hands up to form a \/\/.
"I know. Congratulations. Then Frieda must have her phone either on vibrate or off, because she has yet to return any of my calls," said Lance. "She takes after her mother, my sister-in-law, when it comes to shopping."
"Confidentially, don't all women?" asked William in jest.
Lance just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Anyway, if she happens to stop by here before bedtime..."
"Tell you what. Give me a moment and I'll call my wife," offered William, taking his cellphone out of a pants' pocket.
AT "THE BIG BOX STORE" BETWEEN MOON LAKE AND SEATTLE...
Eric Anderson was looking over the more traditional clothing along with both his girlfriends and his mother.
"What do you think of this one?" he asked, holding up a designer t-shirt against his chest.
"Lego builders do it one brick at a time," read Spencer. "OH PUH-LEASE!"
"Do you even still build with Legos?" asked Frieda, while flipping through a rack of shirts to see if there was anything she liked to recommend to Eric.
"Some of the video games are cool," was Eric's only answer, as he put the shirt back.
"That I'll concede," replied Frieda, as Spencer simply nodded her head in agreement.
They're bonding, realized Martha Anderson with a smile on her face, watching the three teenagers. Okay, bonding more than they already are with this "link" thing they have between them. But Eric's not only finally out of his shell, but he's fully interacting with and has TWO girlfriends who he really loves and they feel the same about him!
Two was a little bit more than his parents ever hoped for, but as long as the three of them were happy and neither girl mistreated her son...
Then Martha's cellphone rang.
After the brief conversation with her husband, Martha hung up and said, "Frieda, your uncle Lance is at our house and wants you to call him right away."
Frieda fished her cellphone out of her purse and looked at it. "Dang. Missed a lot of calls from him, but odd that he never left any messages. Shows you what happens when I reset it so my father's calls would go straight to voicemail."
With that, she called her uncle back.
Moments after William hung up his cellphone, Lance's began to ring.
"Excuse me," he said, taking his out of a suit jacket pocket to answer. "Hope you're having a great time young lady, but I would like to have a chat with you at some point. Are you free for dinner tonight?"
"Is everything all right?" Frieda wanted to know, which made her friends and Mrs. Anderson stop what they were doing and look at her.
"As far as I know, but there are some things we need to discuss privately that I don't feel like discussing over the phone."
"Okay. Dinner at your house?"
"Fine. Say, about three hours?" asked Lance, thinking about the scrolls he still had to deliver and the chat he wanted to have with Frances Twist.
"It might be closer to four on my end," said Frieda, thinking about where they were, how much shopping they still had to do, and how long it would take to drive back to Moon Lake and at least unload Spencer's stuff at her house.
Lance Knight looked at his wristwatch. Four hours would put them somewhere between 7 and 8 pm at the latest. "No problem. I still have some Council business to finish up so if I'm not already there, just let yourself in," said Lance, knowing that Frieda had a key to his house, something her parents were unaware of. "I'll bring dinner with me."
"No problem. See you later," said Frieda, before hanging up the phone.
"Is everything all right?" her friends asked.
"Uncle Lance just has some family matters he wants to discuss with me," was Frieda's answer. I wonder what that's all about? she wondered.
Lance hung up his cellphone. When they were alone, he planned to bring Frieda up to date on everything he could without breaking Elders' Council confidentiality. The younger Knight brother had been informed that while bi-polar disorder tended to run in families, it also bounced around the family tree, sometimes skipping branches and generations before rearing its ugly head again.
While Lance had been privately informed by Benton's doctors that he and Frieda were more than likely safe, he planned to dedicate time to get tested to make absolutely sure of that, and was going to suggest to his niece she should do the same.