Frank and his dad were at work in Fenton's office. They were sorting through Bayport's police records that had any mention of Paul or any of the boys who worked for him. The time was 5:46.

"You know, son, looking at that clock is not going to make the time go faster."

Frank grinned sheepishly. "I know, but I'm dying to know how things are going on Joe's end."

His father agreed. "And you're still friends even though he put that bruise on your face?"

Indeed, Joe's punch from earlier that day left a shiny bruise on Frank's jaw. Frank shook his head, almost laughing. "He just was a little too rough, and I was a little too slow pulling back. Clearly our fake fighting could use some work."

Rifling through the pages some more, Frank noticed a pattern. "Dad, Paul and all 5 guys have criminal records?"

Fenton nodded. "Of course, for the high school boys, it's just petty crimes- vandalism, littering, underage drinking. Nothing that's put them behind bars. Paul's actually gotten all of them out of trouble quite a few times."

Frank set the file down and leaned back in his chair. "But why though? Why does Paul go out of his way to help these guys?"

"If you look at Paul's file, you'll see that he was just like these guys back in the 20s. He actually went to jail at 25 years old, and stayed there for 15 years."

"Gee whiz, that's rough." Frank was once again searching through papers. "Where does it say that?"

"Oh, it's in the folder right after Paul's, see, his original name was Viktor Haas. He changed his name before he moved to Bayport. He let the police know though. He wanted to go straight. No more crooked stuff."

Viktor Haas' file was much larger than Paul Alton's. Contained within was a tragic tale that arrested Frank's attention.

'Viktor Haas was born 1895 to Gustav and Anya Haas in Philidephia. Two years later a younger brother was born, by the name of Adler. Anya Haas died giving birth to a third child in 1899, and Gustav left the two boys in care of their grandfather shortly after. Gustav was never seen again. Their grandfather died in 1909, and Viktor became sole breadwinner for him and his brother. He moved from job to job, and it is during this time that he turned to a life of crime."

The file went on, describing gangs, short stints in jail with his brother, protest of The Great War, and eventually the tragedy that would land Victor in jail for the next 15 years.

Frank addressed his father. "Have you read this? There's some pretty heavy stuff in here."

Fenton shook his head. "I glanced through it, but I didn't see everything."

"Paul and his brother got caught up in some inter-gang fighting that led to the death of a few police officers. Paul or Victor was 25. Adler was 23. They were both sentenced to 15 years in Eastern State Penitentiary."

Frank was interrupted by the jarring ring of the phone. He immediately dropped the file and picked up the phone.

"Joe?"

"Yeah," Joe answered, "Is Dad nearby?"

Fenton had moved his chair next to Frank. He got close to the headset. "I'm here son, how are things going?" He asked in a loud voice.

"Things are going fine, but not really according to plan. The guys didn't buy our fight, but they were still impressed by our commitment to the case. Ron's taken me under his wing, talking with the other guys, and I'm in, for all intents and purposes. Unless Paul or one of the guys is in on it, any criminal should believe I'm one of them."

Frank was incredulous. "So you punched me in the face for nothing?!"

Joe laughed. "Maybe not. The guys thought it was really funny."

"Oh, ha-ha," Frank responded sarcastically. So what have you learned?"

"These guys are like family. Everyone of them has had something awful in their past, a death of a parent, being abandoned, being roughed up. Paul managed to find them at their lowest point, and he does whatever he can to help them. I've only been here 3 hours but it's clear these guys pretty much worship the guy. He seems swell. I can't imagine him hurting anybody."

This surprised Frank and Fenton, who explained to Joe the darkness in Paul's past, when he'd been known as Victor Haas.

Joe asked, "So, what happened to change him so much?"

Frank chewed the end of his pencil, thinking intently. "I'm guessing whatever the answer is will lead us to the attacker. Paul's past may be coming back to haunt him."