"What kind of torture equipment?" Frank wanted to know.

"I don't know exactly," she said. "I just recognized it as some of the stuff I've seen in movies. And what's worse is that it looked like there was blood on it! I drove straight home and locked myself in. There were guys in suits knocking on my door all night long. This morning, when it looked like the coast was clear, I ran out to my car and drove over here as quickly as I could."

"What makes you think they were Mafia?" Joe asked, his skepticism gone.

"I don't know," Bess said. "It was just the impression I got."

"'Tony Fanelli' does sound like a Mafia name," Joe grinned.

"It also sounds really familiar," Frank said thoughtfully. After a moment more of thought, he pulled out his PDA and punched in Fanelli's name. After a few moments of searching, a file scrolled on the screen. "Now I remember!" he exclaimed. "There was an article in the paper a few months ago about how Tony Fanelli had been arrested on suspicion of ties to organized crime. The charges were dropped when the witness disappeared."

"Sounds like typical Mafia operations to me," Joe replied.

"I don't want to disappear!" Bess wailed.

"Don't worry," Frank assured her. "We won't let anything happen to you."

"Yeah," Joe agreed, "then we'd hear it from Nancy for sure!" This was followed by, "Ouch! Why is everybody always hitting me?" as he rubbed the spot on his arm where Bess had slugged him.

"It's because you deserve it," Frank replied as he dialed a number on his cell phone. "Good morning, Faith," Frank said when Agent Luck answered the phone.

"Good morning, sir," Frank's right hand agent replied.

"I need everything there is to know about one Tony Fanelli," he told her. "Just e-mail the file to my phone."

"Yes, sir," Agent Luck said as she hung up.

"Don't you think that you're going a little overboard?" Joe asked. "This looks like an open and shut case to me. Tony worked over Jamie to find out if Bess had told her anything. When she told him, he set Bess up to 'disappear.' Case closed!"

"And how do you explain the scream that Bess heard, oh Wise Detective?" Frank shot back.

"Ummmm," Joe's face turned red. "That one's a little harder."

Frank rolled his eyes and turned back to Bess. "Do you still have the address that Fanelli sent you to?"

"Of course," Bess told him. She rummaged in her purse for a moment and handed a slip of paper to him.

Frank typed the address into his PDA and a moment later he was looking at the county records. "It looks like that building used to be an office building, but it's been closed for a few months." He scrolled down on the screen. "It's owned by Hampton Holdings." He clicked on a link. "What do we have here?" he murmured, half to himself.

"What is it?" Joe asked.

"Hampton Holdings is a shell company that traces back to Angelina Scinelli," Frank replied.

"Who's that?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Frank said. He typed her name into the PDA. "Wow," he said, "Miss Scinelli has been a busy girl. According to this she's being investigated by the FBI for ties to organized crime. They believe she is the head of the Scinelli crime family."

"Well, that seems kind of obvious to me," Joe replied. "Why haven't they arrested her yet?"

"Apparently she doesn't do the dirty work herself, so they haven't been able to get anything on her."

"Well," Joe said, speaking to Bess, "Good news, Bess."

"What's that?"

"You weren't imagining things," he said with a grin. He quickly dodged another blow that Bess aimed at his arm. "Ha! I'm too quick for you!" Then, "Ouch!" as Frank smacked him on the back of the head.

"You were saying?" Frank said with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Joe said with a grimace. "What's our plan?" Joe asked.

"Easy," Frank said, "we take down the Scinelli crime family."

"So I figured," Joe replied, "the question is how. And what are we going to do with Bess while we do?"

"Well," Frank told them, "I don't see any reason why she can't stay here. We just bought this place, so nobody should know where it is. We can get some furniture in here and Bess should be completely safe."

"Are you sure?" Bess asked doubtfully.

"Absolutely," Frank assured her. "Now why don't you have Joe take you back to your place so that you can get some things."

"Okay," the model agreed somewhat hesitantly.

"And, Joe," Frank cautioned, "I don't need to tell you how important it is that you aren't followed."

"Right," Joe agreed. "In that case, you might want to get her car out of the driveway before someone notices it."

"Good thinking," Frank said. "Give me your keys, Bess." As she handed him her car keys, Frank added, "I'll try to think up a plan of attack while you two are gone."

"Sounds good," Joe agreed as he and Bess headed out. They climbed into Joe's customized 1970 GTO Judge and a moment later they roared away from the house.

Frank's brain was working in high gear as he pulled Bess' car into his spacious four car garage. He closed the overhead door and pulled out his cell phone as he walked through the door connecting the garage to the house's kitchen. He quickly dialed.

"Yes, sir?" Agent Luck answered.

"I need you to keep this to yourself," Frank told her, "but I need you to do something for me."

"Of course," she replied.

"I need you to get a bedroom set, some dishes, and some food and deliver it to my new house," Frank instructed. "Use one of the Network vans and pull straight into the garage when you arrive. Also, use my personal expense account; I'll reimburse it later."

"Anything in particular that you want?" she asked.

"Use your best judgment," Frank replied. "Just let me know when you are almost here."

"Affirmative, sir," Faith Luck said before ending the call.

Frank tucked the phone back into his pocket and sat back down on the stairs. Now that Bess' accommodations were taken care of, he could worry about what to do next.

After about thirty minutes of driving, Joe pulled his car into the parking lot outside of Bess' apartment. He studied the area carefully before shutting off his engine. "We're being watched," he informed Bess.

"What? Where?" she asked, starting to jerk her head around.

Joe laid his hand on her arm. "Don't look," he warned. "We don't want to let them know that we're onto them." He motioned to her mirror. "They're in a blue minivan at the other end of the lot," he told her.

Bess carefully checked the mirror. "I see them," she agreed.

"Do you recognize them?" Joe wanted to know.

"They look kind of familiar," Bess said, "but I'm not positive." She sighed. "I'm a lousy witness."

"Now, now," Joe said, "that can't be true." He grinned, "Otherwise they wouldn't be trying to kill you."

Bess glared at him. "You can be replaced," she threatened.

"Yeah, yeah," Joe said, "I've heard that before." His expression became serious. "Now here's the plan. We are going to walk into your apartment like nothing is wrong. I'll stand guard while you pack. Then we'll walk back out and leave. Piece of cake."

"What if they try to stop us?" Bess asked nervously.

"They'll have to get through me first," Joe said as he checked the load in the gun he was wearing in a shoulder holster. The click of the action sounded ominous in the closed car as he chambered a round. "Let's go," he said as he replaced the gun in his shoulder holster.

The two young people hopped out of the car. Joe pretended to laugh at something that Bess had said as they walked casually towards the apartment building. Within moments they were in the apartment with the door locked behind them.

"See?" Joe said with a smile. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Bess let out a sigh of relief. "No, I guess it wasn't," she agreed.

"Now get to your packing," Joe ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Bess replied with a mock salute.

"And try to keep it light," Joe teased.

Bess rolled her eyes and started walking towards her bedroom. She was stopped by a firm knock on the door. She glanced fearfully at Joe. He silently motioned for her to look through the peephole. She looked at the two men in suits that stood outside. "I think they're the two men from the minivan," she whispered to Joe.

Joe glanced through the peephole. "You're right," he whispered back. "You go pack; I'll take care of this."

Bess quickly retreated to her room. Joe pulled out his gun and released the safety. He held the gun behind his back as he opened the apartment door a crack.

"May I help you gentlemen?" Joe asked the two men in suits.

One of the men held up a badge. "I'm Detective James and this is Detective Monroe. We are with the Chicago Police Department Homicide Unit." He held up a sheet of paper. "We have a warrant for the arrest of Miss Bess Marvin!"