J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you so much for continuing to read! Thank you especially to MargaretA66, Candylou, max2013, ErinJordan, and angelicalkiss for all your lovely reviews! I haven't forgotten the letter that Darcy was going to write. It could still turn up. I hope you enjoy this chapter! God bless!

Chapter IX

It was still early in the morning—a little before seven—when Lisa left her parents' house. She had taken the rest of the semester off from college after what had happened to Tony and was staying with her parents, and while it was good to be with her family again, it felt so empty and strange without her brother. His absence constantly stared her in the face and echoed in every room of the house. Even now, in the midst of an adventure that was very much concerned with the business of staying alive, she couldn't stop thinking of him. She could tell tears weren't far away—it had been a long time since they had been—and she told herself that she needed to think of something else if she wanted to keep from crying. At least the brisk, cold wind gave her an excuse for any redness about her eyes if anyone wondered.

"You know, Tony," she whispered as she walked along, her gloved hands buried deep in the pockets of her heavy winter coat, "if you can and you don't mind, could you help us all out here? I wouldn't want to admit it to anyone else, but I'm really scared."

Lisa wondered whether anyone was watching her. She could imagine a minion of Black Rose in every window and parked car that she passed, but she didn't know for sure whether they had a constant surveillance on her or not. They had seemed to before, but this morning try as she might, she never did see anyone watching her. In fact, the only people she saw at all were the drivers of a few cars that passed by and an elderly couple out for an early morning walk with their dog. They didn't seem like the sort of people whom Black Rose typically had in their employ.

She adopted an aimless sort of pattern as she walked. That was part of the plan, in case there was anyone watching her. If she walked too directly to Mr. Hardy's office, it would look as if that was where she meant to go, which in turn would make Black Rose suspicious that the entire thing was a setup. So Lisa walked down one street for a few blocks and up another for a few more, as if she was just trying to think.

It was approaching seven-thirty as she neared Mr. Hardy's office. It took a great deal of effort to keep from walking any faster or slower or giving any hint whatsoever that she knew something was going to happen. Lisa wasn't at all sure that she had been successful, so she consoled herself by hoping that no Black Rose agents were watching after all and that the entire elaborate plan was just a bit of playacting to give the story some additional credence.

Lisa was walking on the opposite side of the street from the office. There were a couple of parked cars along this stretch, although most of the businesses were still dark. They wouldn't open until eight or nine. The exception was Hardy and Radley, which had lights showing in the windows. Both Mr. Hardy's and Mr. Radley's cars were parked in front. To all appearances, they had simply come into the office early that morning, which wasn't unusual in their line of work.

As Lisa neared it, the passenger door of one of the parked cars opened and a woman got out while a man continued to sit in the driver's seat. The woman was bundled up in a winter coat, a hat, a scarf, and dark glasses so that Lisa could see very little about her. The only two prominent features that Lisa could see were the white cane she was carrying in one hand and the handle of the gun peeking out of her opposite pocket. For a moment, a wild, irrational fear gripped Lisa. She knew that this was supposed to be a policewoman who was merely playing a part, but what if somehow the real Evangeline had found out about the plan and had hijacked it so that she really could carry out her plot of revenge? That fear was so strong that Lisa almost missed her cue, which could have spoiled the whole plan.

Just in time, Lisa remembered herself. "Hey, what…" she started to shout, but then stopped herself as if she realized she was being foolish.

The woman reflexively whirled around, pulling the gun out of her pocket as she did. Before Lisa could say another word, she fired the gun. It was a blank. Lisa knew that; it was part of the plan, but it seemed so real that she felt an actual rush of panic that left her knees weak. It was a good thing that it was her part in the plan to crumple to the ground at this point as if she had been really shot.

Lisa didn't see the rest of the act, since all she had to do now was lie as still as possible on her face with her eyes closed. She heard the car door slam and the car pull away from the curb, as the police officer playing the part of Evangeline's driver whisked his partner away. A split second later, she heard the door of the office across the street open and footsteps come out.

"Look at that!" she heard Sam Radley shout, probably pointing at the retreating car.

"Wait! Over there!" Fenton Hardy shouted.

Footsteps jogged across the street and then Lisa felt someone gently touch her shoulder and then brush her hair back from her forehead. Lisa felt something wet on her temple as Fenton smeared some stage blood there while pretending to be getting a look at her face.

"It's Lisa Prito," Fenton announced in an impressively horrified tone. "She's been shot."

"Is she dead?" Sam Radley asked as he leaned over her.

Lisa felt two fingers placed against her neck. "No," Fenton said. "She has a pulse. Call 911. Hurry!"

From there, everything went like clockwork. Sam placed the call, and within minutes, an ambulance and several police cars had arrived. The paramedics and all the officers were aware of what was really happening, since they had been carefully screened and briefed the day before. It was a bit hard for Lisa to continue to pretend to be unconscious, especially when the paramedics started working on her. They only pretended to give her an IV; Lisa was certain she would have flinched and maybe even made a noise if they had really used a needle on her. It was a relief once they had her in the ambulance, and she could drop the act, at least until they reached the hospital. Then she would have to go back to feigning unconsciousness until she was put into her room.

HBHBHBHBHB

Frank was among the officers who answered the call about the shooting. He and Burns were in the second car to arrive. They beat the ambulance there by a little bit, considering that their beat was closer than the hospital. The first thing Frank did was to run over to where his dad and Sam were hovering over Lisa and ask, as if he didn't already know perfectly well, what had happened. All three were watching out of the corners of their eyes to see if anyone was watching.

There were two bystanders who had witnessed the whole thing, and so Frank took careful note of them. They both seemed very shaken up, which made Frank think they probably weren't Black Rose, unless they were acting. If they really were just innocent bystanders, Frank felt sorry for traumatizing them.

It was strangely exhausting to go through the act of investigating and trying not to say or do anything that would give the act away if anyone was watching. Frank was glad when his dad found an excuse to go back into the office with him, Sam, Chief Collig, and Burns.

"What do you think?" Collig asked as soon as the door was closed behind them and the likelihood of anyone spying on them was greatly lessened. "Do you think it will work?"

"I think it might," Fenton said. "You're still going to have someone watching the Pritos, though, right?"

"Right," Collig confirmed. "I've got Con Riley posted near their house right now. Plain clothes, of course, but Black Rose may very well know everyone on our police force. It's only a matter of time before they see through this whole ruse. We've got to think of something before that."

"I know," Fenton agreed. "This was all just a way to try to keep the Pritos safe while we buy ourselves some time."

"Time for what?" Burns objected. "This Black Rose group has been around longer than anybody even knows. Do you really think you can stop them?"

There was a brief silence as everyone thought silently that it didn't seem likely. Every time they thought they were about to make some progress on stopping Black Rose, they always found they were only grabbing at shadows. Now, with their connections to other law enforcement agencies severed and their reputations damaged, how could they ever hope to accomplish what they couldn't before?

They all looked up when the door opened and Joe came in. Instantly, Frank felt a slight panic. They had been so careful to keep anything suspicious to a minimum, and now Joe was pulling something like this.

"Joe! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at work. Everyone was supposed to be doing what they would normally be doing."

"That's kind of a long story," Joe replied. "It's on the news now, what happened. Since I was at home, it seemed like the most natural thing for me to come down here. How did it go? From what I could see on the news, it sounds like they don't know any different."

"So far, no problems, that we can see," Fenton said. "How much are they saying on the news? Did they give Lisa's name?"

"No. They said the police aren't releasing the name of the victim yet."

"Good. Then we don't have any leaks to the press," Collig said. "Just so you all know, I'm not going to release Lisa's name to the press at all. Under normal circumstances, that would be the procedure for her protection anyway, and in this case, I don't want any friends or relatives of the Pritos to find out if we can help it. The last thing they'll need is a lot of people asking them for details that they can't give."

Fenton nodded approvingly. "That will probably be for the best. Now we need to plan our next steps."

"Talking to Lisa should be a first priority," Frank said. "Hopefully, she will talk to us. She agreed to all this, so I think she probably will."

"Right," Collig agreed. "She might talk more easily to you or Joe, since she knows you both better than any of the rest of us."

Frank and Joe looked at one another. Frank was searching for any sign in his brother's face that he wanted to do this, rather than merely feeling like he had to. For his part, Joe would have liked to be a little surer of what he wanted to do, because he had no idea what he should do.

"I'm willing to try," Joe said finally.

"Do you think it would be better if we both went or just one of us?" Frank asked. From the way he said it, the question was addressed to the room in general, but he was asking for Joe's opinion. After all, any of the older men in the room wouldn't be able to do more than give a general answer based on general experience. Joe was the only one besides himself who knew Lisa well enough to offer an answer for her specific case.

"We should both go together," Joe replied. "I don't think it would make her nervous or anything. Lisa's used to us working together."

"That's decided, then." Collig looked at his watch. "Your shift ends at noon, Frank. I'd suggest you go to the hospital immediately afterward. Joe, it might look more natural if you went earlier."

Both Hardys nodded. Frank continued to watch Joe's face carefully. He knew that he had yet another thing to apologize for in his outburst when Joe had first come in, but he hoped that wouldn't spoil anything. The chance to work as a team again was too important to waste it by silly squabbling.

HBHBHBHBHB

Angelo.

Jazz.

Phil tapped the eraser of the pencil against his chin and then crossed out Angelo's name. He pursed his lips as he tried to think of anyone he could add to the list. Not a single name came to mind.

He was sitting at the table in his apartment as he worked at this. The paper with the news about Darcy's murder was spread out on it. He had reread it, but he was fairly certain that there were no clues in it. Even so, he had so little to work with that he couldn't help rereading it a few more times.

There was a knock at the door and Phil stiffened. Slowly, he got up and went to the window, trying to peer out through a gap in the blind. He relaxed when he saw it was Jenna Ridgeley.

"Hi," he said as he opened the door. "I was a little worried you might be someone with Black Rose."

Jenna stepped inside. "Yeah, I can't blame you there. But Black Rose wouldn't be coming after you, would they? What reason would they have for it?"

"What reason did they have for killing Darcy?"

"You're sure it was them?" Jenna asked.

"Frank said that Captain Gomez couldn't come out and say that they had found a black rose at the scene, but he hinted at it," Phil replied. "I'm almost positive it was them."

Jenna noticed the papers on the table. "You don't think it was Angelo?" she asked, noting that the name was crossed off.

"I think it could have been," Phil said. "If it wasn't Black Rose, he'd be my main suspect. It wouldn't be the first time he left one of those roses without officially being part of the organization. He could be trying to frame them or throw suspicion off himself. I just crossed him off because I don't have any way to find out about him. See, I asked for a few days off work. I've never investigated anything without the Hardys, but I think I should try."

"Could you use an assistant?" Jenna asked. "My boss told me to take a few days off work, too. She's really upset about what happened to Darcy. She really wanted to help her."

"I think she did," Phil replied. "Darcy was doing a lot better the last couple of months and she seemed happy."

Jenna nodded and looked down at the notepaper that Phil had been writing on again. "What does 'Jazz' mean?"

"He's a manager of a nightclub where Darcy was working a couple of months ago," Phil said. "I thought—I don't know—he might know something. Angelo got her the job. It's just possible that Jazz has some Black Rose connections."

"Well, then, let's go talk to him," Jenna suggested.

"I don't know that just barging in and asking him a bunch of questions would be the best idea," Phil said. "Especially if he really does have some Black Rose connections."

"Then what's the plan?"

"I don't know." Phil frowned but then a thought came to him. "There were a couple of other girls with Darcy when Shaun first met her. My old roommate, Shaun, you remember?"

Jenna smiled slightly. "He's a little hard to forget. He didn't quite fit in with you and Joe and…Tony."

"Yeah." Phil spoke quickly, trying to ward off the emotion that mention of his old friend threatened to bring to the surface. "Anyway, we were at the beach one day and Shaun met up with Darcy and these other two girls. It wasn't an accident. Darcy was meant to meet up with him. We never looked into those other two girls, whether they were just innocent bystanders or if they were in on it, too. I wonder if Shaun has stayed in contact with them."

"Maybe." Jenna chewed on her lip for a few seconds. "That seems like a really obvious thing to look into. I wonder why the Hardys missed it."

Phil bristled slightly in instinctive defense of his friends. "What are you getting at?"

"I don't know," Jenna claimed, unconvincingly. "It's just that…Well, about the Hardys…"

"What about them?" Phil asked, but he clearly could guess because he immediately went on, "They're excellent detectives, if that's what you're wondering about. What happened to Tony wasn't their fault."

Jenna hesitated as she tried to choose her words carefully. "It's just that Tony was a good friend of mine, too. It seems to me that if he was friends with such great detectives, they should have been able to save him."

"Maybe. But they did the best they could."

Jenna must have seen the slightest amount of doubt in his eyes. "Did they?"

For a few seconds, Phil debated with himself. "Okay. Yes, they made mistakes. But that doesn't mean they weren't doing everything in their power. And I don't think they could have saved Tony even if they hadn't made a single mistake. Angelo never meant for anyone to find him alive."