A/N: Here is a short, but pivotal chapter. Thanks for the PMs and review. Candylou, to follow up on your observations... Yes, I suppose Frank does seem more limited as a cop. And, as a writer I know there is some risk at casting him and Joe in their respective independent roles. But it's not necessarily an indicator of how things will stay. As I noted before, sometimes when you employ an element which is controversial it is for the purpose of it later resolving to a more favorable end. So, on that count, stay tuned. With regard to Iola, I think she was rather shocked at both events. With relation to her missing niece, I feel she just needed to have a less emotional reaction and focus on how they will need to address the recovery. So it wouldn't have lent much to her sense of keeping a cool head if she was simply another blubbering, totally affected relative. I appreciate that feedback and invite you (or any reader) to drop me a PM with additional perspective. A couple people drop me a PM after each chapter to voice their opinion and we go back and forth. At times, it helps me shape future chapters.

Thanks for reading

-Carly

-Chapter 12-

Frank had realized he stuck his foot squarely in his mouth. He miscalculated. And now, amidst an already immensely difficult time, he had to avoid telling Iola something that simply had to come from Joe himself.

"Are you going to tell me?!" Iola pleaded. She could read his face and knew he had said something he shouldn't have.

"Iola... I am so sorry. I just..." he closed his eyes for a moment. "You need to ask your husband. It's really all I can say. He owes you a first-person explanation." He turned away from her. Iola stood there. The sky was growing with grey clouds and the wind picked up. Iola knew that she must speak to Joe without further delay. In spite of the catastrophic events surrounding her niece, brother and best friend. She knew that it was impossible to delay further. Frank hadn't said anything. But she supposed he didn't need to. Iola inhaled deeply then looked up to her brother.

"Babe, I hate to leave you and Cal right now...but..." Chet looked at her and nodded.

"It's ok, sis. You go do what you need to for yourself. You know how to reach me." Chet had already had the wind knocked out of him today. The idea that his sister was going to have stress compounded upon her was even more than he could imagine. He looked down at her with as much empathy as his drained emotional reserve could muster. Iola leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, I do. I will be in touch. I promise." With that she turned and scurried off.

Chet gave Frank a blank look. He looked apprehensive.

"On top of everything that has happened today, I hope you aren't going to go there, bro." Chet shook his head briefly.

"No. I have bigger worries, Frank. Iola can handle herself. Though if my deduction is on target, Joe better be prepared for her left hook. If he crossed the line that I presume he did, he has a better than good chance to expect it." Frank nodded.

"Yes. I rather suppose he should be... prepared." Chet shook his head. In spite of his world being turned on its side, he didn't want his sister to be hurt."

"Today has been a real shit storm, Frank." he said quietly. Starring off into space. Lost in thought.

"I'm doing everything I can. I want you to know that." Chet nodded with as much as blinking.

"I'm sure you are, Frank. Please take no offence if I go over your head and put your dad on retainer." Frank looked down.

"That won't be possible, Chet. He isn't available. At least not right away."

"You called him already?"

"Yesterday." Chet shot him a sideways glance.

"Are you clairvoyant, Frank?" He shook his head.

"Nope. I just called him regarding another matter."

"I can guess what that was." Chet said with a snort. Frank shrugged.

"If he can't come to help screw his kid's head back on straight. I'm afraid you will have to wait as well. His case is federal and he can't take leave for at least a week. But when he comes back I'm sure he will be ok with rearranging his schedule to help you. No retainer required, by the way." Chet glanced at him again.

"Guess it is what it is. But, you will understand if I don't wait that long."

"I didn't think you would. Just remember, this kook has more than your daughter now. There are multiple victims."

"Which is why I expect a case book on each within 36 hours." Frank looked down, rolling his eyes.

"That's a joke, right?"

"Not a chance, Frank." The elder Hardy sighed slowly.

"Chet, the old man gave carte blanche on this for you. But I don't even have the casebook on non-Bayport kidnappings. Just some highlighted courtesy reports. If you want full case logs for those other kidnappings, you are going to have to dump some money or pressure in the right place." Chet shrugged.

"I will do what is needed." He then looked back towards Callie's car parked in the other lot. "You need us any longer, Frank? I'm tired. I need to get Cal out of here. We need to plan on how we will deal with this." Frank shook his head.

"Yeah, man. You need to get her out of here. This aint no place to be. I will be in touch soon." Chet nodded without looking at him.

"Ok, Frank.


Joe stood in the kitchen of his home and poured himself his fifth cup of coffee. He had a decent amount of rest, but still felt completely stressed and restless. He stood near the bay window starring off into space. He was brought back to the moment when he heard the side entrance door slam. Familiar sounding footsteps approached. Determined and deliberate steps. Joe knew it was Iola. He even knew she was mad by the sounds. He sighed lightly and turned from the window.

Standing in the doorway was indeed his wife. Iola's stance and expression told Joe that he was accurate with his assumption that his wife was mad. She hadn't said a word to this point. But her eyes cut through him. Joe set down his cup and gave a weak wave.

"Hey, Iola." He said softly.

He appeared distraught and tired to her. She had every intention of storming through the door and ripping right into him. She stepped forward and their eyes locked for a few moments. Joe couldn't maintain looking at her. His eyes shifted to the floor. They glanced back up at her. Shame was written all over his face. Iola closed her eyes tightly. A wide range of emotions flooding her mind. But she knew. She knew without him saying a single word.

"You have no idea how much you just hurt me." Iola's voice was level and calm. "As if the events of this day were not bad enough. My brother and my best friend are heartbroken. I am heartbroken. My niece is out there! I can only hope and pray she is still alive! And on top of that, I have to deal with your selfish shit!" At this point, Joe looked genuinely confused.

"Pardon? What do you mean you are hoping and praying? Iola inhaled deeply. She supposed it was not unreasonable that he would be quite oblivious to the matter of the abduction.

"I'm so sorry. Last night Maddie got kidnapped! I am beyond myself! Chet and Callie are in shock. And to top it all off, I get to hear that my husband and I should probably be having a talk."

"Frank told you something?" Joe asked cautiously. Iola looked down in disgust. Was he trying to avoid or cover it up at this point? She swung her arm up and her open palm slammed into Joe's face. Joe fell backwards a step and he looked back over to her. "I'd say that's a Yes." Iola's eyes reduced to slits as she bore down on him.

Frank didn't tell me anything! He didn't have to. When I walked into this room I could see it was painted all over your face!" Joe looked to her somewhat fearfully.

"What was painted all over my face?"

"Guilt!"

"Ok, yes, I am guilt ridden. What more do you want from me?" Emotion was clear as his face reddened. He threw his arms up. "Tell me, Iola! What can I say that will make you feel better?" Iola shook her head in anger.

"I am way beyond words making me feel better today. But, by God you better tell me exactly what you have been up to. Pretend I don't have a pretty damn good idea already."

"Ok." Joe said a bit blankly. The jig was very much up. She knew he had failed her and the only thing left was to come clean and let the chips fall. He walked over to the kitchen table and sat down. He gestured for Iola to sit. She stood there for a few moments, then walked over to the table and sat down. She crossed her arms and looked across the table.

"Ok, I am listening." Joe pulled at his shirt collar and looked up sheepishly.

"Alright. Two nights ago, I used dad's plane and I went to Atlantic City." Iola was not expecting to hear that. She knew he was capable of such an act. But figured he would address other things first. She bit her lower lip and looked up.

"Tell me we still own this house free and clear." Joe nodded.

"The house is fine. But, don't be surprised if you notice the savings account is about $22,000 light." Iola rubbed her temples and looked accusingly at her husband.

"$22,000? Well, that knocks the savings down by about a third. Great job. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that that is the more palatable news." Joe nodded.

"It is."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense. Pretend I don't have a pretty good idea already." Joe looked at her briefly. He shook his head.

"I don't have any good excuse. I, uh, took someone with me to Atlantic City." Iola rolled her eyes.

"No shit." Joe knew he wasn't going to earn any sympathy in this talk. Not that he deserved any.

"Ok, I took Vanessa..." He paused, tilting his head in somber thought "She and I have been seeing each other from time to time." Iola shook her head.

"How long, Joe?" She snapped at him.

"Six months, give or take." Iola's face showed a lot of sadness at hearing the formal admission. She thought that she must not have been a good enough woman if Joe had to go out and seek a casual fling with the flirty secretary. Still, she disliked him for needing to do it.

"Ok, then. Anything else?" The question was meant to be rhetorical and sarcastic. A snide comment from a wife after she heard of her husband's indiscretions. Joe cleared his throat.

"Yes. There is." Iola, somewhat surprised, figuring that there were probably additional tales of financial discord to be heard. She pursed her lips a moment then nodded.

"Ok, Joe. I assume you are into a loan shark for a shit ton and finally got cut off, which forced you to finally tap our savings accou..." She couldn't complete her thought before he cut her off.

"I think I love her." Iola sat there in complete surprise. A stunned look covered her face, which paled before his eyes. Her stomach sank.

"Excuse me...?" She rasped almost inaudibly.


"This isn't happening to us." Callie's voice broke the very long silence as she sat in the chair on the porch of the Morton farm house. Chet, who was sitting nearby looking out the window as the sun started to set. A distressed expression painted over his face. The last few hours consisted mainly of the pair just trying to absorb how dramatically things had changed in just 24 short hours.

"It's my fault." Chet managed to say, voice cracking.

"No. It isn't." Callie's head turned towards him. "I thought it was. Then I thought it was mine. But as much as it may make us feel better to place blame on each other, or ourselves, it won't help Maddie. We can go over it in our heads for the hundredth time. Can say if we only did this, or only did that. But it doesn't matter." Chet kept looking out into the fields. The sun dropping lower. A tear fell.

"She is out there... somewhere." Callie looked out into space.

"Fight. You fight, baby. Don't give up."

The grief that both parents felt was beyond measure. The retching feeling they both had in their stomachs seemed to keep them locked into a state of mental and physical overload.

"Cal?"

"Yeah, huh?" Callie rubbed her eyes trying to shake off the mental fog.

"We need to find her. Meaning us. You and I. Frank can only do so much. Fenton won't be home for another week. It's up to us. Not the police. Not the FBI." Callie nodded.

"I know." She sniffled deeply, trying her best not to trigger another round of crying. But it was hard. "I think back to last year. When I said I'd find Nicole. And while that happened, all I can really think about is the Hell I know that she went through before we found her. And what makes me sick to my stomach is I know she was one of the lucky ones that defied the odds." Her head sank to the table as she wept. Chet scooted his chair over and ran his hand along her back.

"We are going to find her. Frank promised to get me a preliminary case book by tomorrow. We will have something to work with. I have a connection working on getting case info for the other missing girls, too. We will have a lot of info to work with." Callie nodded as she continued to weep. She took a deep breath and raised her head.

"Yeah. We will find her if I have to tear this country apart." She closed her eyes as the sun finally set. Deep in thought. All the emotions running through her head at once.

"Do you want me to contact your parents? I'm sure Frank may have told them. I'm not sure. But they may be of some comfort." Callie shook her head briefly.

"No. I don't have answers for them. Mom would...well, you know her. She means well. Dad would probably just blame us and pray." Chet nodded.

"I've said more than a few prayers today." he said quietly. Callie bit her lower lip trying not to cry again.

"Yeah. Me too." She turned and looked at him.

"Hun, can I... Would you mind if..." Chet's eyes met hers.

"Aimee?" Callie nodded.

"I'd drive myself, but..." Chet held up a hand.

"It's ok, babe. Just have her come out. I don't mind." Callie sighed then smiled to him.

"I appreciate that. It means a lot." Chet smiled back at her.

"It's ok, baby." Callie picked up her phone and looked at her call and text log.

"Jeez. I got popular today. I turned it off. I don't even recognize most of the numbers." She went about her text.

"Investigators, media, you name it. I have mine of silent except for Frank. He will get any news that's important. So, if it's not him, I don't want to deal with it."

"The media will have a circus." She had a distant look in her eyes. "After all, we live on the right side of the tracks." Chet looked over at her, unsure of what to make from the last statement.

"Not sure I follow you." Callie shook her head.

"It's not important right now. Just think for these initial reports and inquires we should let Frank handle it. I don't want to be poked and prodded by the media looking to use our hardship to increase ratings."

"Yeah. They don't care about anything but a story." He sighed deeply and looked down at the floor. "Damned if I am going to help them make money at my little girl's expense." Callie's phone buzzed. She looked down at it. Then over to Chet.

"She will be here soon." Chet closed his eyes and nodded slowly. He honestly didn't care about having any potential fights with Aimee. Hell, he didn't even really know her. With all that had happened that day, he was just happy if anyone could help offer his wife some peace or sanity.


Maddie's eyes attempted to focus in the inky blackness. She was slowly gaining consciousness. She lay upon an uncomfortable surface, uncertain what it was. She blinked rapidly in hopes the cloudiness in her vision would dissipate. Her head ached in a way she could only equate to the time she had drank some of her mom's whiskey, and woke up the following day with deep regret.

The room slowly came into view. There was very little she could actually see because it was apparently night. There seemed to be only one small window which supplied a pale beam of moonlight. Maddie felt the surface she was laying on. She could sense it was a very worn out thin mattress. It seemed to lay on top of a bed of springs. Overall it was quite uncomfortable. Her body ached. She tried to adjust her position by turning, but fell back into place as something restrained her ability to turn completely.

"What the Hell?" she asked herself. Her hands moved quickly down her body. One leg felt painful as she tried to move it. It became quickly evident that something was tied or attached to her right ankle. She grasped towards her foot in the darkness and felt a metal clamp of some sort wrapped around her lower leg. Attached to the clamp seemed to be a thick wire. Maddie figured it must be a cable. Perhaps the kind they used to put dogs out in a yard. Maddie started breathing heavily as a sense of intense anxiety struck her. She had been taken and was now, apparently, someone's prisoner! She began kicking with her restrained leg. The cable was apparently attached to the metal bed frame she lay upon. She continued to kick. Gasping in the darkness!

"No! No! No! Help me!" She screamed into the blackness.

"Please... try not to be afraid, Maddie." A voice sounded from the other side of the room. Maddie quickly turned towards the voice. She blinked and finally made out the shape of another figure sitting in a bed about ten foot away. The voice seemed familiar.

"Jaime?" She called out. A moment of silence.

"Yeah." Maddie was at least somewhat relieved in the moment that she was not alone and was with someone she knew.

"What happened to me? What are we doing here? Do you know where we are?" Her voice quavered. Jaime sighed. Maddie could see her silhouette in the moonlight as she sat there. As the moments of silence wore on, Maddie's heavy breathing gave way to weeping. "Tell me!" she pleaded.

"You were taken." Jaime managed.

"Taken?! By who?" Maddie rasped amidst her crying.

"I don't know his name."

"Do...do you know where we are?"

"Not exactly. I know we are in Virginia, I think." Maddie shook her head trying to get her mind around it all.

"What place is this?"

"I'm not really sure. I know its huge. It's a really big place...and it seems to be abandoned. It sits in the middle of nowhere as far as I can tell. Lots of fields and woods." The detail that Jaime gave seemed to confuse Maddie.

"How do you know all that? It's dark out and we are chained to our beds." Maddie heard Jamie sigh deeply.

"I know... I know because I've been here for a long time. Over a few months... I think." Maddie sensed Jaime was also in distress as her voice cracked several times and seemed to be growing in stress. Yet, she was quite confused by her answer.

"I don't understand. We were just in Bayport! How do you know this? What do you mean that you've been here for months?" Again, Maddie's voice increased in anxiety.

"Maddie... I am so sorry." She whispered in distress. Maddie heard Jaime begin to cry freely. It then occurred to her that perhaps Jaime had some kind of role in her being there.

"Jaime?! What do you mean? What happened? Talk to me... please." After several moments of nothing by crying, Maddie heard her companion sniffle deeply and try to breathe normally.

"He made me... He made me find someone. He picked you after I sent him your photo at the skating rink."

"What the Hell are you talking about? Who is he?"

"I said I don't know his name."

"Then why are you helping him? And if you are with him, why are you here with me? None of this makes sense!" Jaime, still attempting to control her crying slowly exhaled.

"I'm not with him, Maddie. I am every bit a prisoner as you are." She paused. "And, so is my sister."

"Your sister?! Where is she?" Jaime began weeping again.

"She..she got taken with me that day. After the first couple weeks he separated us. I haven't seen her since." After several more moments of delay due to her intense weeping, she continued. "He told me that if I didn't cooperate in helping him find others, that he would kill Jesse."

Maddie stared over towards Jaime in the darkness. She was so confused. She was uncertain if Jaime was telling her the truth. She clearly felt a lot of anger at being in the place she was, no matter how it happened. All she knew is she wanted her mom and dad and sisters. She wanted to be free and safe. Her weeping increased with every thought of her situation.

"No...no...no...why me? Why did he pick me?" Maddie rasped. Jaime looked back into the darkness at her.

"He says you're pretty."

Maddie's lower jaw quivered in fear.