| The first person Frank Ahearn ever | | | | airport and to his new home. A few |
| disappeared was Ken. He spotted him at a | | | | seconds later, he was gone. And Frank |
| Borders in north Jersey about three | | | | neversaw him again. |
| years ago - a pale, geeky-looking guy in | | | | According to the FBI, nearly 60,000 to |
| a golf shirt and khakis, thumbing | | | | 80,000 Americans disappear every month. |
| through a pile of books about Central | | | | Only a fraction of these are involuntary |
| America andoffshore banking. It took | | | | disappearances, like children who are |
| Frank about a half second to figure him | | | | abducted. Many people disappear because |
| out: Ken was skipping town. | | | | they want to. A lot of times these |
| "I betcha you're going to buy a condo in | | | | disappearances go unreported, because |
| Costa Rica," Frank said to the man, | | | | the individual doesn't have strong ties |
| hisvoice low, so no one else could hear. | | | | tohis or her community, like a family, |
| "And bank in Belize." | | | | or a prominent job, and doesn't have |
| Ken's slackened mouth curled into a big | | | | someonelooking out for them. To be |
| dumb O that almost made Frank laugh. He | | | | harsh: nobody cares. |
| looked at Frank - a tall, longhaired guy | | | | But one needn't be on the run or |
| dressed in black with a cartoonish | | | | anonymous to harbor a fantasy of |
| goatee, thick tattooed arms and a | | | | disappearing. |
| twisted and discolored front tooth - and | | | | Who hasn't once dreamed of fleeing his |
| fumbled for a response. But now Frank | | | | life - no matter how contented it is - |
| was talking again, running his mouth in | | | | just forthe chance to start anew? |
| his thick New York accent. | | | | Several years ago, Money magazine |
| "The problem is, if you're running from | | | | published a studythat found that one in |
| someone," he rattled on, "they're going | | | | five Americans had considered leaving |
| to find you." | | | | the United States. The same survey |
| Ken looked like he might faint right | | | | stated that three million Americans |
| there in the café part of Borders. So | | | | would leave immediately if theyknew how. |
| Frankdecided to explain himself. He was | | | | "Lots of people have the feeling," Frank |
| a "skip tracer," he told Ken - a | | | | tells me. "You want to shoot yourself or |
| slippery sort of business that | | | | run. It's called freedom. I'm teaching |
| specialized in finding people. Mobsters, | | | | people how to be free." That word |
| drug lords, wife beaters, rock stars - | | | | freedom gets |
| Frank found guys for a living. He'd | | | | Frank jumping. In fact, he has the word |
| hunted as far as Bali to bring them | | | | tattooed in script across his back. |
| back. | | | | Of course, it's harder than ever to |
| He knew all the tricks, and he couldn't | | | | disappear. People have never been more |
| help but notice that Ken was already | | | | closely monitored. It may not yet have |
| fuckingup. | | | | reached Orwellian proportions, but |
| "You bought your books with a credit | | | | chances are someone is almost always |
| card and discount card," Frank told Ken. | | | | watching you - from subway stations to |
| Itwas a rookie mistake - both were | | | | airports to football games to Internet |
| easily traceable. A couple of | | | | spyware checking in on the whereabouts |
| well-placed phone calls, and any | | | | of your computerized mouse. Credit |
| respectable private eye could find Ken | | | | cards, bank accounts and utility bills |
| in the time it took to microwave | | | | all leave a trail. Cell phones are even |
| popcorn. | | | | worse. If the average American tried to |
| Ken shifted uncomfortably in his | | | | leave town tomorrow, they'd likely be |
| sandals, still not believing this guy, | | | | found in 24 hours. "When you're looking |
| wondering if he was for real - or if | | | | for someone, the world is like a |
| Frank, in fact, had been sent to hunt | | | | gigantic database," says Frank. "Data is |
| him down. But then Frank offered him a | | | | like a bad disease, it will never go |
| business card - depicting a De | | | | away." |
| Chirico-esque mannequin standingalone on | | | | After he disappeared Ken, Frank thought |
| a white beach, staring out at a big blue | | | | about how he could make it part of his |
| ocean and a headline that asked simply | | | | business. It seemed so outlandish, so |
| "Are you looking for someone?" - and | | | | improbable - working the other side of |
| walked away, just like that. | | | | the grid. He'd think about it on his |
| Two weeks later, Ken emailed. Frank was | | | | ride to Starbucks in the morning, all |
| right: Ken was trying to run away. He | | | | through the afternoonas he tracked down |
| was in trouble. Not long ago the | | | | crazies and deadbeats, and late at night |
| government had paid him big money to | | | | in bed, as he watched the 11 PM news. He |
| testify in a fraud case against his | | | | developed plans, obsessed - and obsessed |
| former employer, a mid-sized supplies | | | | some more. |
| company with government contracts. Ken | | | | Talking about it today, he can sound |
| had been one of the company's | | | | like the blind oracle from the Matrix |
| accountants. Somehow his namehad leaked, | | | | movies, speaking rhapsodically with his |
| and he was targeted as a rat. He got | | | | thick arms cutting the air and his |
| mysterious phone calls. Threats were | | | | goatee dancing off his face about giving |
| made. A man approached him on the street | | | | people new lives, with new names, in new |
| and announced, cryptically, your | | | | dimensions. "Disappearing," says Frank, |
| "life will be made uncomfortable." An | | | | "is like peeling off all of those old |
| ex-colleague warned "I'm gonna get you." | | | | layers that define you and putting up |
| Ken told Frank he feared for his life. | | | | new ones." |
| He'd thought about calling the police - | | | | In time Frank developed a disappearance |
| butworried the police would never be | | | | strategy that he broke into three |
| able to fully protect him. He didn't | | | | stages. The first stage was |
| have any big attachments - no wife, no | | | | misinformation - the total obliteration |
| children. He felt there was only one | | | | of personal information files, from |
| option. But Ken had no idea how to do | | | | phone bills to apartment leases to |
| it. | | | | health club memberships. The second |
| Finally Ken summoned the nerve to ask | | | | stage was disinformation - the creation |
| Frank a question that changed both of | | | | of a Byzantine web of false data to lead |
| their lives. | | | | someone's pursuers astray while |
| "Can you help me disappear?" | | | | exhausting their personnel and financial |
| Frank Ahearn never thought he'd wind up | | | | resources. The final stage was |
| helping people disappear. From the | | | | reformation - the creation of dummy |
| beginning, he'd always worked the other | | | | corporations to hold and spendmoney and |
| side. It was thrilling, sometimes | | | | then getting to where you want to go and |
| dangerous work, finding people. | | | | making sure you don't gettraced there. |
| Challenging, too. Usually, all Frank got | | | | Finally, Frank felt ready to go public |
| was an old phonenumber or an abandoned | | | | with his disappearing plan. He penned an |
| address. Sometimes it was just a name | | | | article about his idea on the web site - |
| and a city, an exceptionally tough | | | | a site for living, banking and buying |
| request, but one that he could almost do | | | | property offshore - spoke at some |
| with his eyes closed. | | | | mystery writer's conferences, and |
| To find someone, you had to fool people. | | | | launched a website offering his |
| Frank had an instinctive talent for | | | | services. The emails came in almost |
| "gagging" - devising elaborate, phony | | | | immediately. Many were from |
| stories designed to elicit information | | | | window-shopping customers that Frank |
| out of individuals or companies that | | | | calls "Dear Abbys." "They're fantasizing |
| weren't supposed to give it to him. | | | | about disappearing," he explains. "They |
| "Professional lying," he dubbed it. For | | | | want to feel it out and see if it's |
| instance, he'd call a utilities company, | | | | possible. A lot go through all their |
| like Con Edison, and, posing as a | | | | problems and how life sucks. Then I |
| collection agency, he'd ask for his | | | | won't hear from them ever again." |
| victim's forwarding address. Or he'd | | | | Some potential customers, naturally, |
| call a relative, tell them he was FedEx | | | | turned out to be criminals. One admitted |
| trying to deliver a package and extract | | | | that he was facing a charge of violating |
| the victim's address that way. Sometimes | | | | the federal Racketeer Influenced And |
| the work was mind-numbingly rote - | | | | Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, and |
| toiling through miles of data, scouring | | | | needed an exit. Dozens requested fake |
| records, flipping through the White | | | | passports, how to change an identity or |
| Pages. If the person who disappeared | | | | appropriate a dead cousin's Social |
| knew what he was doing, it made Frank's | | | | Security number. Asked if he takes on |
| work even harder. | | | | criminal cases, he says categorically |
| But Frank was first-rate. "Frank has | | | | no, adding, "I don't like showering with |
| helped me track down hundreds of | | | | men." He got adulterers, too: a woman |
| individuals,all of whom did not want to | | | | who wanted to know how to rent an |
| be located," says Robert Jerlow, a | | | | apartment without her husband knowing. |
| private investigatorfrom Orange, | | | | Once a sixteen-year-old boy wrote: "I |
| California, who specializes in fraud and | | | | hate my life, I have 27 bucks, can you |
| organized crime. "He finds my guys and | | | | help me get away?" Frank politely |
| gals hiding under rocks all over the | | | | declined. "Your life will get better, I |
| world." | | | | promise," he wrote back. "It's only the |
| He was so damned good that clients | | | | beginning." |
| occasionally wondered if he'd been a New | | | | Roughly one in 100 of the initial |
| York City detective - or an FBI agent. | | | | inquirers were truly serious. Frank |
| Which made him chuckle a bit. Years ago, | | | | called the serious ones "The |
| he was accepted to the NYC police | | | | Disappearers." He had three of them in |
| academy, but, at the last minute, he | | | | his first year, and six the second, and |
| decided not to go. | | | | charged them as much as $30,000 apiece, |
| "I guess I didn't like the uniformity of | | | | plus expenses, depending upon their |
| that sort of thing," he says. "And the | | | | situation. |
| money wasn't very good." | | | | Jennifer came along not long after Ken. |
| In the early 1990s, Frank was hired by a | | | | She was a 40-something criminal defense |
| private investigator (who was working | | | | attorney from New England ("the |
| foran insurance company) to hunt down | | | | lesbian," Frank calls her). For twenty |
| Robert Scarletta and his wife who owned | | | | years, she'd been arguing and winning |
| the national armored truck company | | | | cases. But then she lost a major one |
| Revere Armored. As Frank remembers it, | | | | with her client getting hit with a hefty |
| Scarletta and his wife went on the run | | | | sentence. The client, whom she called |
| after authorities started asking | | | | "the asshole who couldn't take what was |
| questions about missing millions. Before | | | | coming his way," blamed her for losing, |
| leaving, they'd stuffed their private | | | | and threatened her. When Jennifer |
| plane with cash, according to Frank. By | | | | contacted Frank, she was distraught. "I |
| gagging small airports, Frank tracked | | | | should have stuck to [real estate] |
| that plane all over the country. He then | | | | closings," she said to him. |
| lied to casinos to get win loss | | | | Frank took her on. First he gave |
| statements, which showed that Scarletta | | | | Jennifer the tools to wage informational |
| was a heavy gambler, spending millions | | | | warfare, deviating and canceling her |
| of dollars he didn't have. And after | | | | accounts. Then, using an old friend's |
| four months orso of hunting, after | | | | name and a ghost address on the West |
| compiling miles of incriminating data, | | | | Coast (a Mail Box Etc account), Jennifer |
| the Scarlettas must havefelt the | | | | set up a shelf corporation in a |
| pressure of the situation because, as | | | | midwestern state to spend her money and |
| Frank says, they finally negotiated | | | | hold assets. Known as corporate |
| their surrender to authorities. | | | | cloaking, she would use the corporation |
| Sometimes Frank's assignments were | | | | to pay for everything - from renting an |
| glitzy. When the Oscars statues were | | | | apartment to opening a bank account, |
| stolenin 2000, Frank hunted down one of | | | | signing up for cable and buying new |
| the key players. He says he found Monica | | | | shoes. As a consumer, Jennifer would be |
| Lewinsky before anyone else. ("I got her | | | | just as good as dead. |
| phone record framed on my wall," he | | | | But unlike Ken, Jennifer did not want to |
| boasts.) Earlier this year, he was hired | | | | flee the country. She wanted to stay on |
| to locate the hotel clerk whom Russell | | | | the East Coast. Frank recommended she |
| Crowe cracked over the head with a | | | | move to a medium-sized city, one that |
| phone. That one was child's play says | | | | wouldbe big enough to get lost in. |
| Frank. Heturned the guy up in fifteen | | | | Jennifer did, and stopped working as an |
| minutes flat. | | | | attorney. But there was a wrinkle. She |
| Were all of Frank's techniques lawful? | | | | didn't have Ken's financial resources, |
| "A gray area," he tells me, which is his | | | | and needed to work again, which |
| coyway of confessing to the slipperiness | | | | presented Frank with a new hurdle. When |
| of the job. He then cites the "Gram | | | | Jennifer got a job, she would be |
| Leach Biley Act," a federal law, which | | | | required to pay taxes in the new state. |
| forbids people from lying about anything | | | | That would send her name and address to |
| regarding afinancial institution. In | | | | the IRS and make her vulnerable to dirty |
| other words, Frank can't call up someone | | | | investigators. To keep off the radar, |
| and pretend he's a bank. "I follow this | | | | she could - illegally - pay taxes in the |
| strictly," he declares. | | | | state where her ghost address is |
| Over the years Frank has worked for | | | | located. Frank says he simply explained |
| everyone - insurance companies, | | | | this to Jennifer, and doesn't know what |
| government agencies, private eyes, | | | | she decided to do. |
| attorneys, tabloids. He did thousands of | | | | Ada was next. A pretty grey-blond in her |
| cases. Which, when he thought of it, | | | | late twenties, she had a psychopath |
| meant that he also had thousands of | | | | ex-husband with an epic history of drug |
| enemies. He began to losesleep, worried | | | | and assault charges. Even though they |
| about hang-up phone calls he got and | | | | were divorced, the man still came around |
| jumped when he heard noisesin the night. | | | | - and beat her. She feared that one |
| "Did the crazy biker who got his MC | | | | night her husband would kill her and her |
| repo'd figure out it was me?" he'dask | | | | 5-year old son. She wanted to go, but |
| himself. "Did the husband that got | | | | she also trembled at the thought of |
| caught cheating know I was the one | | | | completely leaving her life behind. |
| thatpulled his phone records? Did we | | | | "She found the idea [of disappearing] |
| leave a trail?" | | | | extremely scary," remembers Frank. "The |
| He became fanatical about his privacy - | | | | idea of going someplace and not knowing |
| still is today. Phone directories have | | | | people and also the isolation from her |
| nolisting for him. He has a P.O. box, | | | | family and missing holidays. She talked |
| but no official home address. Almost | | | | about scenarios like missing weddings, |
| everything is paid for in cash. His | | | | and what if there is a death." |
| sleek black Cadillac? Registered to an | | | | Between Ada and her mother, she had |
| old address. When he travels, he | | | | $3,000. But after showing Frank police |
| switches hotels nightly - which is also | | | | records, hospital pictures, and divorce |
| a symptom of his interminable | | | | and custody papers, he took on the case |
| restlessness. Call one of the five world | | | | pro bono. Ada's bills were altered. But |
| numbers listed on his website and you go | | | | because of the small budget, she |
| straight to a voice mail. When I talked | | | | couldn't fly anywhere to fake an |
| to him the first time, he said he had an | | | | apartment search. Instead, for the |
| office in Manhattan. Later, I learned he | | | | misinformation stage, Frank had her |
| didn't. Some private dick's joke that | | | | mother make a phone call every Thursday |
| Frank might not even exist. "I talk to | | | | night at around 6 to a random home in a |
| guys a lot of guys on the phone, other | | | | northern Plains state. For 10 minutes, |
| PIs, and they're like | | | | the mother talked with the same stranger |
| 'you've met this guy Frank, you know | | | | about how weird it was that she got the |
| him?'" says Jerry Palace, a former NYPD | | | | wrong number again and how sorry she was |
| detective and now running his own | | | | about it. Later she joked with the |
| investigative outfit in Westchester. | | | | stranger about the repeat misdial, maybe |
| "Frankie Boy is a legend. And it's | | | | mentioned the weather. This act would |
| funny, I'm probably one of the only | | | | help distract anyone looking for Ada. |
| freakin' guys who've met him." | | | | Finally, Frank set up a shelf |
| One sweaty morning in late June I meet | | | | corporation for the girl and linked it |
| him on a grimy highway overpass | | | | to a fake Mail Box Etc address. Frank |
| innowhere, New Jersey, not far from the | | | | told Ada to move and take a job that |
| George Washington Bridge. We meet there | | | | mostly paid cash. He told herthat when |
| because it's an anonymous place, and | | | | her son enrolled in school to use a |
| Frank appreciates anonymous places. | | | | different last name. |
| Frank, 41, with his brown heavy metal | | | | Like many of Frank's clients, Ada was |
| hair and sizeable frame, is sometimes | | | | conflicted, even melancholy when the |
| mistaken forthe professional wrestler | | | | process was finally over. She was free, |
| Kevin Nash, who also played "The | | | | but "she would never see her family |
| Russian" in the movie "The Punisher." | | | | again," Frank says. "And when her mother |
| Today, he sports faded jean shorts, | | | | dies, she is going to have to make a |
| leather boat shoes and an oversized | | | | very hard decision of whether or not to |
| white wife beater with a picture of Bob | | | | go back. If she goes back, it could be |
| Marley. "I'm a huge Bob Marley fan," he | | | | very bad." |
| hollers over ninety-mile per hour | | | | Not all of Frank's clients are as |
| traffic, as we walk towards his | | | | sympathetic as Ada. From time to time, |
| just-washedblack Cadillac. "He was | | | | he hashelped people who probably didn't |
| always singing about freedom." | | | | deserve it. He once disappeared a man |
| When Frank talks - and he's always | | | | who was amid a divorce case, and wanted |
| talking - his head and arms move rapidly | | | | to hide money that could be taken in a |
| as ifto punctuate his points. "You can't | | | | settlement. Frank claims he checked to |
| keep me still," he says as he points the | | | | see if the man had a criminal record of |
| car south on the highway, his thumbs | | | | any kind,including incidents of spousal |
| drumming the steering wheel to the | | | | abuse, but found nothing. These are not |
| radio. "I have to be constantly going." | | | | the cases that make Frank the proudest. |
| By the late 90's, Frank was making it | | | | But that doesn't mean he sweats the |
| big in the skip tracing business. He | | | | ethics too much. "Nothing in life is |
| says hewas raking in $40,000, $50,000 a | | | | black and white," he says. "Starting |
| month, employed eight people, and owned | | | | over is having the ability to recognize |
| a speedboat, a zippy crotch rocket, and | | | | that life is filled with grey." |
| a 924 Porsche. He ate at expensive | | | | Recently, an evangelical Christian woman |
| restaurants and drank expensive wine. "A | | | | contacted Frank and told him that what |
| gluttonous time," he calls it. | | | | he did "was horrible that everybody |
| But trouble followed. In 2000, the IRS | | | | should face their problems and not |
| told Frank he owed over $100,000 in back | | | | hide," he recalls. "She ran her whole |
| taxes, money he didn't have. He claimed | | | | Jesus Christ rant on me." Frank was |
| bankruptcy. He got divorced. In 2002, he | | | | nonplussed. "I told her |
| shuttered the office and let his staff | | | | Peter himself ran and denied who he was |
| go. "There was a lot gained and a lot | | | | in the garden." |
| was lost,"he recalls. At that time, he | | | | Frank says he's ready to pull off a |
| started missing life in New York City, | | | | disappearing act himself. "We're leaving |
| after having moved away to a distant | | | | this place, just as soon as it sells," |
| shady suburb of New Jersey to be with | | | | he tells me as we drive to a pale yellow |
| his now ex-wife. He wrote some poetry | | | | prefab that Frank shares the house with |
| about his troubles. One night he ended | | | | his fiancée and skip tracing partner, |
| up at a poetry slam in | | | | Eileen. Inside, it is sparkling, the |
| Greenwich Village, where he took the | | | | wall-to-wall carpets just washed, but |
| microphone. Everything concerning these | | | | full of boxes with very little on any of |
| tumultuous times poured out in one | | | | the white walls. The only room not boxed |
| flowing, if not unusual, poetic song ("I | | | | up is the one-window office, where they |
| do a lot of weird stuff like that," he | | | | sometimes work. |
| says about slamming that night. "It | | | | "We've been living like this, in boxes, |
| occupies me."). | | | | for a little while now," Eileen says to |
| It took him two years to get his life | | | | me. She is pretty in a biker chick kind |
| back on track and his business above | | | | of way - tough, thin as a chopstick, |
| water. | | | | white blond, with a bunch of tattoos, |
| Not long after, Frank met Ken. | | | | including a butterfly on her chest, a |
| A few days after Ken's phone call, Frank | | | | large wizard on her back and a thorny |
| met him again at Borders and laid out | | | | vine that winds up one arm. "I'm not |
| what needed to be done. For starters, | | | | used to it. But it doesn't bother Frank. |
| they would never meet again in person in | | | | That's the way he is. Always in motion." |
| the States. They'd speak only by | | | | I ask Frank where he's headed. Before he |
| telephone, and only using prepaid phone | | | | answers, he takes a swig of black |
| cards bought with cash. Frank ordered | | | | coffee, his fifth cup of the day. "Let's |
| Ken to cancel all his credit cards and | | | | just say it's gonna be a nice place on |
| get rid of his cell phone, too. He | | | | the ocean and not a trailer park." |
| instructed him to change the spelling of | | | | Frank never sees the people he |
| his name - not a total name change, just | | | | disappears once their gone. That's his |
| add a few wrong letters here and there - | | | | policy. The less he knows the better. |
| on all his utility bills and have | | | | Have any of them ever been caught? He |
| everything forwarded to an address Frank | | | | doesn't know. |
| had set up in Salt Lake City. A month | | | | The fact is, he can help erase the |
| later, Kenmoved his mail from Salt Lake | | | | things that identified a person, hide |
| to Boise. A month after that, he moved | | | | their tracks,and get them moved away |
| it to Los Angeles. He kept all his | | | | safely -- once they're gone it's another |
| balances current and paid in full. | | | | story. They're on their own. |
| Next Frank sent Ken to middling town in | | | | Staying disappeared isn't easy. |
| Colorado, where he had him apply for an | | | | Loneliness hits hard, makes you start |
| apartment rental and run a credit check. | | | | thinking about what you left behind - |
| That would be one of the first of what | | | | the old friends, the family, a meal at a |
| Frank called Ken's "false leads." The | | | | particular restaurant, the friendly wave |
| credit check would enter Ken's name in a | | | | of a neighbor. As a disappeared person, |
| national database, so if someone started | | | | you are stripped of your history, even |
| looking for him, they'd see the Colorado | | | | your personality. "Disappearing is a |
| inquiry and head there. But they'd find | | | | lifestyle," says Frank. "Mr. Miami can't |
| nothing since Ken hadn't rented an | | | | be Mr. Miami anymore. He's gotta be Mr. |
| apartment in that state, of course. | | | | Des Moines." Sometimes there are |
| Frank also told Ken to deposit $300 in | | | | failures. Frank cites the case of Sammy |
| an ATM account. Then Frank took Ken's | | | | "The Bull" Gravano, the Mafia turncoat |
| ATM card and moved it around the globe - | | | | who moved to Arizona under the Federal |
| asking trusted colleagues to use it and | | | | Witness Relocation program, only to |
| take out money in places like Florida, | | | | chafe at the quiet life. He wrote an |
| California and England. | | | | autobiography, jetting around the world |
| Finally, Frank migrated Ken's money | | | | and signing autographs like a superstar, |
| offshore (from Canada) and created three | | | | and eventually returned to crime. In |
| International Business Corporations, | | | | 2000, he was arrested for distributing |
| which could not be traced - not even by | | | | ecstasy pills and sentenced to 15 years. |
| policeor foreign governments. That's | | | | "What I tell people in the end is 'this |
| because Frank smartly placed the money | | | | is it,'" Frank says. "Don't slack. The |
| in countries that didn't recognize the | | | | guy looking for you can make a million |
| Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty - meaning | | | | mistakes. If you make one mistake, it's |
| that the banks in these countries were | | | | over.'" |
| the equivalent of Fort Knox. From then | | | | Of course, one of the difficulties with |
| on, Ken would only use the corporations | | | | Frank's business is that it's impossible |
| to buy things. Frank had successfully | | | | to get client testimonials. You don't |
| ended Ken's life as a private | | | | see Ada's face on a brochure saying, |
| individual; he was now a phantom | | | | "Frank changed my life," and when I ask |
| corporation. | | | | Frank if there's any way at all I could |
| A little more than three months after | | | | reach out to any of his disappeared |
| their first encounter in the bookstore, | | | | clients, he just laughs. But I persist, |
| Ken was ready to be disappeared. As his | | | | and finally he tells me he'll try to |
| destination he'd picked a tropical | | | | geta message out to one of them: Ken. |
| island country, dreaming of lazy living | | | | A few weeks later, Frank and I receive |
| and frozen margaritas. But at Frank's | | | | an email from an anonymous overseas |
| instruction, he would travel a | | | | e-mail account. |
| circuitous route. He took a plane to one | | | | Sirs, |
| country, before buying a ticket there | | | | Frank has shown me freedom. Life is good |
| with cash and heading to a second | | | | at the beach. |
| country, where he met Frank and | | | | Signedunder the sun |
| purchased a ticket to his final | | | | I do not, of course, have any way of |
| destination. To this day, Frank | | | | knowing if the email is phony or for |
| remembers Ken - still geeked out ina | | | | real. But I like happy endings, so I |
| golf shirt and khakis - beaming like the | | | | hope it is from Ken. |
| Cheshire cat as he entered a cab for the | | | | |