Hey, everyone. Thanks for the reviews. Please keep reviewing. If not for me, do it for my beta. She put millions of hours into this, if not trillions. Thanks, Fraidy.

-The Silent Rumble

About twenty minutes later, he fell asleep, and he had been having this same damn nightmare, over and over again.

Megan normally didn't go off and do things by herself. Since Don was the leader of the team, she followed his orders; at least for the most part. That didn't mean that she didn't do her own thing every now and then—like she was doing now. She had figured it would probably be better not to let Don know where she was going, especially since he seemed unusually emotionally invested in this case.

After a bit of research, she found out where Gertrude Hardy was being held. It had taken twenty minutes to find out that Gertrude was being held in lockdown for "unsuitable behavior". She had started off in minimum security, but after a few violent attacks, she was quickly moved to maximum security.

She pulled into the gate of the prison, noting duly that it was farther away from the Hardy's house than Fenton's lockup was—or, at least, had been. The guard greeted her with a smile as she walked by the front desk. "Come on in, Megan," she said, greeting her warmly. "Stopped in for a cup of coffee?"

"Don't I wish," Megan replied with a chuckle. "Sorry, I'm here on business today. I need to look at Gertrude Hardy's records—and talk to her, if it's possible."

"I'll have to check with the supervisor. You would not believe this woman! I swear, she's given us more trouble than any other one in here! There's a reason we only give people plastic silverware—heaven knows what would happen if we gave her a steak knife!"

Megan shook her head as the guard went back to the office, where she noted that there were blinds closed over the windows.

Maybe the supervisor was taking a nap – she'd like to have taken one herself. Six months later, and she still couldn't believe all the chaos that taking down Fenton's ring had caused.

Not much more than ten seconds later, the supervisor was standing in front of her. "Greetings, Megan. I'm sorry to say that Gertrude can't receive any visitors right now."

"Really," Megan mused as she glanced over the sign-in sheet. Nope; there was no 'Laura'—of course, Laura wouldn't be so obvious. Apparently, Laura had never come to visit her brother's sister—or, at least, she hadn't been obvious about it. "Why not?"

The supervisor closed her eyes and sighed. "A couple of days ago, one of the inmates was taunting her because she had turned herself in. She started yelling and screaming, cussing people out. Then, suddenly, as some guards and I started approaching her, she yelled—'That bitch! I swear, that bitch will pay someday! I didn't turn myself in, she turned on me – because she wanted to stay with those scumbags she calls her children. She's been in this thing the whole time!' She said a few other choice words, too, and even attacked one of the guards with her fork, screaming the whole time, 'I want to kill that bitch.' Anyway, she can't be let out—she's still serving a week in solitary. Hopefully, that information helped anyway… sorry, Megan. Want me to let you know when she's out of lockup?"

"No, thanks. The information did help –I've definitely got what I need," Megan muttered. "Thank you very much." As soon as she was out of the prison, she flipped open her cell phone and called Don. "Hey, Don. I've got good news, and I've got bad news. The good news is, Gertrude is still in prison; the bad news is..."

--

FLASHBACK

"It's not a lie!" Joe yelled, tears running down his face as he sat in the front seat of the police car. "I told you! I showed you where he hit me!"

"I don't recall that," Chief Collig said with a straight face as he pulled up to the Hardy house. Joe was visibly shaking. He was terrified of Fenton – which was why he had told Chief Collig about him in the first place! Stepping out of the car and towards the door, Chief Collig grabbed Joe by his sweatshirt and rang the doorbell.

Fenton opened it, glaring at Joe like he was some rat Chief Collig had picked up off the street. "Can I help you?" he asked, his arms crossed.

"Fenton." Chief Collig released Joe, who didn't go anywhere. "Joe has told me some things that I believe you should be aware of. I'd like to talk, very briefly, with you." The two stepped in the open door, and Joe followed meekly behind.

"Of course," Fenton replied, calm and collected as ever. He shot Joe another look, and Joe meekly sat down in the corner, slumping in the overstuffed chair. He couldn't overhear Chief Collig talking to his father, but he was sure it was about nothing good.

Why had he even bothered to trust another individual? He knew the only other person he could trust on the planet to a small extent was Frank, and even recently Frank had been preoccupied with his own troubles. After a gang had attacked him, he'd stayed in his room most of the time. Laura had dragged him off to counseling, but even then he still hadn't talked.

Gertrude and Fenton oftenhad loud discussionsat the dinner table, with Frank overhearing their every word. Recently, Fenton had decided that they should send Frank away to Alan's, an old friend. The day Frank had left, Joe had watched as Frank had silently packed his suitcases. "I'll miss you," Joe had whispered. "Come back safely."

That night, Joe had been terrified to go to sleep in his own room, with Fenton down the hall. He'd gotten only an hour of sleep before one of his father's arguments had woken him up.

Now, still terrified, Joe watched Chief Collig leave, walking out the door. Fenton stayed in the kitchen for a few minutes.

"We're going, right now," Fenton said as he entered into the living room. He smiled as he realized Collig was already gone. He grabbed Joe's wrist and started dragging him out of the door. "You little bastard! – I knew I should have killed you the moment you were born!"

END FLASHBACK

Joe awoke with a start, grimacing as he remembered the night. Fenton had taken him to Jeff's, but he hadn't actually put two-and-two together before Frank had told him that he'd thought Collig was in on it.

Halfway through the ride there, they'd had to stop, and Fenton had given him a bottle of water—which Joe knew, no doubt, was drugged. About twenty minutes later, he fell asleep, and he had been having this same damn nightmare, over and over again. He had had the nagging suspicion that the water was drugged, but he drank it anyway, knowing full well what would happen if he didn't. He couldn't believe his mother was in on it; it was too much of a shock to take with everything else.

"You coward!" Joe jumped as he heard his father shout. "You think you're so brave, telling your stupid stories and filthy lies! Wait until I get done with you and your brother, then you'll see who's in charge!" He flung the door open angrily, and Frank fell, face-first, right into Joe.