Frankie Drake Mysteries

Come in!

Drinks, madam.

Thank you, Crosby.

Oh. Carnations.

What woman doesn't love the aroma of a funeral?

Oh, ginger ale. How cosmopolitan.

Do we have to go to this thing tonight, Abe?

- Oh, sweetie, we must. - This dinner's our ticket

- to expand into Canada. - Yeah, but does it

- have to be Toronto? - The city's growing

like a wildfire. Amory Steel needs to be here.

Besides, pumpkin, it's only for a few days.

Yeah, but it's hard

to imagine a more boring city filled with more boring people.

Well, then...

...it's up to us to show them how to live.

- Now, now, tiger. - What's the point

of having beautiful things if you can't show them off?

- Not that I don't love to make an entrance,

but we shouldn't keep your guests waiting.

Just one thing missing.

- Oh? - Pearls.

- They're gone! - What?

Keep your knickers on!

- Mary? - Flo! What are you doing here?

- I have a life outside of the morgue. Now, get in here

before you ruin everything. - What are you talking about? - Just do it!

- What is going on? - Mary!

Keep your voice down. He'll be here any second.

- We don't want you to spook him. - Who'll be here?

A suspect. Who else?

We're pulling a little sting operation.

In your own office?

- We're gonna use the back door. - He'll never know it's

- a detective agency. - And this place is très swanky.

- What kind of a sting operation is this?

Cheating husband.

- I didn't think you did matrimonial.

- Well, things are a little bit slow.

- Why is Flo here? - She's not a detective.

She's the bait.

- This philanderer likes a real woman, if you know what I mean.

- Now the real question is why are you here?

- I need to speak with Frankie urgently. - You could talk to me.

- No, it's personal. It's not about me, it's about Frankie.

- Is everything OK? - I don't know. I just need to see her.

- OK. Well, she's in The Ward at Quon's.

Yeah, of course she is.

- OK. Mary, it's time for you to go. But if anything's wrong

- anything - you tell me. - I will. Don't worry.

Good luck.

OK.

Well... hello there, handsome.

- Oh, hello. I'm looking for Frankie Drake.

Thank you very much.

Frank... ie?

Oh.

Fra... Oh, good lord!

- Hi, Mary. - Uh...

What is going on?

Well, I'm quitting smoking.

For good, this time.

It's a Chinese treatment called cupping.

Oh. It looks like you've been

attacked by an octopus.

Ah... but never mind.

Just... get dressed. You have a problem.

Oh. Thank you, but I'm just going to have regular tea

for once.

- You ever had green tea before? - No...

but I'm sure I'll love it.

So what's the problem?

- This has a lot of leaves in it.

I was referring to my problem.

Oh, right.

A string of pearls was stolen last night

- from the Crown Ascot Hotel. - Really?

- They were priceless. - Who's the mark?

- Abe Amory of Amory Steel, Pittsburgh.

- And he needs a little outside help.

Thanks for the tip, Mary.

Oh, no. Frankie, you're the last person he'd want to see.

The thief left something in place of the pearls.

You stole evidence?

- I... borrowed. - You could lose your job!

I know. My father is probably

turning in his grave right now, but this is important.

Why would your father care?

Well, he was a policeman.

- Really? You never told me that.

- I didn't? - No.

- Oh, he was just a patrolman, but a very good one. He may

have even known your father.

My father? What does he have to do with this?

- Do you know what that is? - It's a feather.

- Oh, Frankie, that's a drake feather.

Apparently this was your father's calling card.

- Calling card? Wait, how do you know all of this?

- Well, it's the talk of the station! - What are you talking about?

- The last time anyone saw this feather

was over 20 years ago, when a shipment of gold bars

was stolen on its way to the Bank of Toronto.

- My father was just a small-time con-man.

Well apparently, at the time,

the cops were convinced that your father was behind it.

But they could never pin it on him.

Cops have long memories, Frankie.

- So now they're looking at you. - Me?! No, that's crazy!

- Well, you know that, and I know that,

- but all anyone is saying... - What? What is everyone saying?

- The feather doesn't fall far from the Drake.

- You should've seen the look on his face

when I snapped a picture of him and Flo

canoodling on the couch!

Are you listening?

Yeah! You... you had cannoli.

- Frankie, you had nothing to do with that robbery,

- so what's the point in worrying? - The cops suspect me.

Me! Can you believe it?

Well, did you steal them?

Sorry, I had to ask. Well, all we have to do

is figure out what really happened

and everything will be fine. Piece of cake.

We obviously know it's a professional job.

- The thief's gonna be looking to fence those pearls.

- Well, I'll ask around with the usual suspects

and see if they've heard anything. And you?

- I'm gonna have a chat with an old family friend.

Hello, Jack. It's been a while.

Frankie. I got your message.

What's wrong?

It's true.

The feather was Ned's calling card.

You've gotta understand, Frankie,

there are some things your dad didn't want you to know.

- I'm sure he would make an exception in this case.

Tell me about the gold.

This was before you were born,

and Ned was a different man back then.

He heard about a shipment of gold bars coming in

from England, so we made a plan.

- You robbed an armoured carriage.

- Right in the middle of a snowstorm.

God, you should have seen us, all wrapped up, wearing these

crazy ski goggles Ned found. We cleaned it out.

Left only the feather.

- He always told me the feather was just his good luck charm.

- It was both. - When your mom died,

Ned couldn't risk doing a job this big again.

He had you to think about.

The cops never could nail us. It drove them crazy.

- Which is why the police were always so hard on him.

Now it looks like I'm their target.

Was the feather public knowledge?

- No. - So whoever knew

about the pearls must have known my father well. Someone like

- his right-hand man. - If I had snatched

those pearls, I'd never leave you to take the fall.

- Well, someone else must've known about the feather.

Just tell me the truth, Jack.

Your dad and I...

we had a little help, back in the day.

Jack. Let's make this quick.

I'm supposed to be at a constituency meeting.

Nice to see you too, Alderman.

- Who's the broad? - Morris Flynn,

meet Frankie Drake.

Frankie?

I didn't mean...

- I don't know what to say. - Yes, it is a day of surprises.

For instance, I just learned that my father

was a master thief and head of a criminal gang.

- Yeah. Well, that's all in the past now, Frankie.

- Back in the day, Morris was the best fence this side of the border.

Pretty good training ground for a politician.

- A career financed by your share of the gold, no doubt.

- We all used it to set ourselves up.

I opened a printing business.

Ned saved his share to take care of you.

- So it was just you two and my father?

- That's not much of a gang. - Well, there was Vinnie,

God rest his soul. He died

last year, traveling the world.

- He bought shares in a steamer. - But you didn't

- call me here to reminisce. - I'm sure you heard about

the pearls that were stolen from the Crown Ascot last night.

- The thief left a drake feather behind.

- Which is going to have the police

knocking down my door any minute. Yours will be next.

- Well, tell her, Jack! - We didn't do this.

- If it wasn't you, then who? - Who else knew about the feather?

There must be someone else from back then.

- See, that's the thing, Frankie.

It's just us. There's no one else.

- You think they're telling you the truth?

- It turns out Jack has been lying to me my whole life.

- But you don't think he'd do anything to hurt you?

- Nothing would surprise me. - Well, I've checked

with Toronto's shadier jewelers. No one's prepared

to handle anything as hot as those pearls.