"It looks like you nailed it, Frank," Joe said,

"I didn't really think that my theory was possible," Frank replied.

Spread out on the coffee table in front of them were dozens of letters mixed with photographs. Even without picking them up, the Hardys could tell that the pictures were of Brandi throughout different stages of her life.

Brandi lifted several of the photos. "My school pictures," she told them.

Frank picked up some of the letters. "Listen to this," he said after skimming them. "This one says, 'If you value the life of your friend's daughter, you will continue to keep silent. If you tell anyone what you know, the Hardys will never have their daughter back. All they will have is her head in a box.'" He threw the letter back on the table.

"That's awful!" Brandi exclaimed.

"Why didn't Collins recognize Brandi?" Joe wondered. "I mean, he's seen enough pictures of her."

Frank shuffled through the pictures. After a moment he said, "There doesn't appear to be any pictures from recent years." He compared Brandi's face to the most recent pictures. "She's changed a lot since the last picture," he said. "I almost wouldn't recognize her myself."

Brandi took the pictures and studied them herself. "You're right," she said. "The most recent one is my senior picture from high school."

Frank examined the letters. "The most recent letter," he told them, "is dated last week."

"That throws an interesting twist in the puzzle," Joe said. "We know why she was kidnapped and we know basically who did it, but specifically who did it? And who keeps sending the letters? Sexton and Colder are dead, and I don't think that they were the brains. I might think that it was Matson, but he's been dead for a lot longer than a week."

"Let's think this out logically," Frank said. "What do we know?"

"We know that whoever is doing this is probably someone close to the family," Brandi stated.

"How do you figure that?" Joe asked.

"Think about it," Brandi replied. "How could someone unknown to your family sneak into your house and make off with your kid and you not even hear anything?"

"Good point," Frank approved. "Most babies would make a fuss if a stranger picked them up."

"Also, whoever is behind this knows about Dad's relationships," Joe mused. "They knew just who to pressure."

"Also true," Frank agreed. "So who are we looking for?"

"Someone that was close enough to the family that I was familiar with him," Brandi summed up. "Also someone smart, this scheme wasn't thought up by your average thug."

"I think it's safe to say it wasn't Collins," Joe said wryly.

"But it had to be someone close enough to Collins to know if he spilled the beans," Brandi pointed out.

"So someone who was close to both Dad and Collins," Frank mused. "There can't be too many."

"I think it's about time to give Dad a call," Joe said. "He can probably help us."

"I agree," Frank said as he pulled out his phone. He swiftly dialed his father's number.

"Hi, Frank," his father answered on the second ring.

"Hi, Dad," Frank greeted the private investigator. He quickly told his father what had happened since they had last talked. He ended his recitation by asking, "Who can you think of that would be in a position to kidnap Brandi and keep an eye on John Collins?"

"Let me think for a minute," Fenton Hardy said as he racked his brain. "There are some officers that I was on the force with, for starters."

"What are their names?" Frank asked, his pencil poised above his notepad.

"Let's see. There was Tony Forrester and Sam Badger. Um, George Hankins and Fred Oliver. Wait. Scratch that. Fred Oliver was killed in duty five years ago."

"How sure are you of that?" Frank asked.

"I was at the funeral," Mr. Hardy replied. "It was open casket."

"No chance it was an Assassin posing as Oliver?"

"I think they would have seen that in the autopsy."

"True," Frank drew a line through Oliver's name on the pad. "Anyone else?"

"Well, there's Dan Fenzel of course."

"The police chief?" Frank asked in surprise.

"Yes," Fenton affirmed. "The three of us were pretty inseparable once upon a time."

Frank scribbled the name in large letters at the top of his list. "How come you didn't tell us this before?" Frank admonished.

"I didn't know Collins was involved before," Mr. Hardy reminded his son.

"You're right," Frank agreed sheepishly. "Are there any others that you can think of?"

"Not right now. There are some of your mother's lady friends, but I hardly think they're capable of something like this."

Frank thought of some of his mother's friends and had to agree. Frank exchanged a few more sentences with his father and then ended the call. He looked at Joe and Brandi. "Dad and Collins were good friends with Fenzel," he announced.

"We heard," Joe told him.

"This creates some interesting possibilities," Brandi mused.

"I say we lock him up right now!" Joe exclaimed.

"You know we can't do that without any evidence," Frank reminded his younger brother.

"I know," Joe moaned, "but I'm sure Fenzel is behind this. I had a hunch that he knew more than he was telling us when we talked to him earlier."

"But why would he send us to Collins?" Brandi pointed out. "By doing that he helped us."

"Not really," Joe argued. "He didn't have anything to lose by giving us that information and by appearing to help us, he throws suspicion off of himself."

"And don't forget the shooters," Frank spoke up. "Were they gunning for Collins or us? If they were after us, the only way they could have known that we were at the Collins house…"

"Is if Fenzel told them," Joe finished for him.

The three siblings looked at each other in shock. "Wow," Brandi said.

"I think we have a solid theory," Frank said.

"So what do we do know?" Brandi asked. "It's not like we can charge into his house and ransack it."

"No," Frank agreed. "But we can follow him to see where he leads us."

"What are we waiting for?" Joe said eagerly. "Let's go!"

"Hang on there," Frank said with a grin. "Let's not run off half cocked." He thought for a moment. "We'll need to use a different car," he said. "He'd see the GTO a mile away."

"Let's take the Network's Benz," Joe said. "Now that we know that the Assassins are involved, this counts as a Network case."

"That's true," Frank agreed. He quickly scribbled a list of equipment on the pad he carried. "Here's what we need," he said as he tore the page out of the pad and handed it to Joe. "You get this stuff together and we'll get ready to go."