CHAPTER 9

Frank stirred, and opened his eyes slowly against the glare of lights above him. He felt weak and tired. He tried to lift his head, but it felt too heavy. He noticed he was attached with IV tubes on his arms.

"Frank?" a familiar voice said worriedly from beside him. Joe's face appeared above Frank.

"W-What happened?" Frank whispered hoarsely. His throat felt dry. "Where am I?"

"You're in Inzell Community Hospital," Joe told him. "Shane's outside. He helped me to get you here."

Frank closed his eyes, trying to think carefully. Everything was jumbled. "I don't understand. Am I that sick?" he murmured.

At the moment, a fifty-year-old man in a white coat entered the room.

"Hello, Mr. Hardy, I see that you've woken up. That's a good sign," the man said. "I'm Dr. Nilson."

"I don't understand…" Frank said weakly.

"I've done some blood tests. I hate to say this…but you've been poisoned, Mr. Hardy," Dr. Nilson told him grimly, and hesitantly.

"P-Poison?" his voice faltered. He tried to sit up, but his head felt awfully dizzy, and heavy.

"Whoa…Slow down. You're still weak," he cautioned him, pushing him back to the bed.

"What? How?" Frank asked, but he had a dreadful feeling it made sense considering his current condition.

"That's what I'd like to know," Dr. Nilson told him curiously. "We still can't determine the type of poison – not because of the very tiny dosage in your blood system, but because it's an unknown type," he continued.

"How do you know it's a poison, and not some kind of virus?" Joe asked. His face paled slightly when he heard the news. If the poison was unidentified, the chances of finding the antidote were zilch.

For some unknown reason, the doctor looked around him carefully before closing the door. Frank and Joe looked puzzled by his manner. When Dr. Nilson turned to them, his voice turned low. "I've found out this poison has been used before," he told them quietly.

"Where?" Joe demanded.

"When I did Mr. Matteo's autopsy," Dr. Nilson answered grimly.

"You mean, Zach Matteo?" Frank asked in surprise.

"I thought he had a heart failure," Joe added.

"Ms. Matteo wanted this thing to be a secret from the press," Dr. Nilson told them. "Mr. Matteo did have a heart failure – as a result of the final stage from the poisoning."

Frank and Joe exchanged uneasy looks. "Why are you telling us? And how come you happened to know about the autopsy?" Joe asked, a little suspicious.

"I happened to be the only medical examiner on Inzell Island. This is a small place – not like New York," he explained. "I'd asked Ms. Matteo about her father's condition before he died. Now, maybe I can confirm it's the same poison by comparing Mr. Matteo's symptoms with Mr. Hardy's. Then maybe I can try to get an antidote – maybe not the exact one, but something that can weaken the poison."

"So, if you can't find the antidote, how long does it take for the poison to …" Frank found himself unable to continue the sentence.

"Maybe you can start by telling me what has happened," Dr. Nilson suggested. "Have you experienced any occasional dizziness, headaches, and blackouts lately?" he asked.

"Just this morning," Frank replied with dread.

Dr. Nilson nodded thoughtfully. He continued asking a series of questions before he made his conclusion. "Yes, you have similar symptoms like Mr. Matteo had before he died. That would mean, it might take about forty-eight to seventy-two hours before the poison reaches its final stage."

"So, I will die as if I'm having a heart failure?" Frank asked, surprised that his voice was calm.

"Yes," the doctor replied grimly. "But we still don't know when the poison was administered into your blood," he reminded them. "Your brother doesn't appear to have been poisoned. I've done a blood sample on him. Just have to give him some antibiotics for his mild cold. So, something must have happened to you," he said turning to Frank.

Frank tried to think carefully the things he did yesterday. The intruder! The thought suddenly hit him. Whoever it was, the person tried to put something in me before I stopped him. "Actually, something did happen last night," he said out loud, and told the doctor about last night's incident. "That would mean the dagger must have been laced with poison so that no one would get suspicious if I suddenly die," he concluded.

Joe suddenly banged the wall with his fist. The thought about someone with an intention to kill his brother, and succeeding it made him angry. He vowed to find the responsible person and made him pay for it. He couldn't face the thought of living without his brother.

Frank glanced at his brother worriedly. He knew Joe was taking this very hard. He could understand what Joe was feeling. He knew he felt the same way if something happened to Joe as well. Slowly, Frank turned to Dr. Nilson.

"Can I be released now?" he asked.

"Frank, you can't be serious! You're not well," Joe protested.

"Nonsense. If Mr. Matteo could play tennis before he died, then I'm not going to be stuck here waiting for the antidote," Frank reasoned. "If we find out who did this, we might find out the type of poison, and possibly the antidote."

"That doesn't give us much time, does it?" Joe retorted.

"Yes, you can go, if you're not feeling the headache," Dr. Nilson told Frank. "In the meantime, I'll try hard to prepare a possible antidote, but I won't say it's going to be smooth sailing. I'll let you know if there's any development." He helped Frank to pull out the tubes from his arms.

"Thanks," Frank replied, and carefully climbed out of the bed. His dizziness seemed to have gone for the moment.

"Please sign the form at the counter before you go," Dr. Nilson said before he went out.

There was a tensed silence before Joe spoke up. "So, do we tell Shane about this?" he asked.

Frank shook his head. "I don't want him to know. If we keep this a secret, we might find out the person who poisoned me."

"Only the person who did this knows about it," Joe said tightly.

They met Shane outside the room. "So, what is wrong with Frank?" he asked in concern.

"Just a little fever," Frank replied casually.

"I'm glad it's not that serious," Shane replied.

You don't know the rest of it, Frank thought grimly. He noticed Joe's jaw clenched tight in frustrated anger. Frank signed the release form before they walked out. They didn't speak further until they reached Verin Island.

Joe felt numb as he, Frank, and Shane walked back to the resort. He wasn't sure how to feel anymore – everything was just a mixture of anger, frustration, helpless, and fear. His brother seemed to look calm and composed, but underneath Joe could tell he was probably counting the hours before he – Stop! Joe ordered himself sternly. Frank is not going to die, he chided himself silently. He's not. He's not. He's not. He repeated the words in his head, each time growing with fierce determination. He would make sure of that. If Frank were too weak to do the investigation, then everything would be depended on Joe.

All of the sudden, he felt the responsibility that he had to carry on his shoulders. Joe panicked slightly when he thought about the possibilities that he couldn't solve the case, or finding the responsible person for the poisoning, or the antidote on time. All these must required some deep brain logical thinking, and this was something more of Frank's department. Then, I'm going to try to think like Frank if I have to, Joe thought, trying to shake away the doubt and fear inside him.

"I'm heading to the construction site to check on things," Shane announced, breaking the boys' thoughts. "Do you want to join me?" he asked them.

The brothers shook their head.

"No, thanks, we have a lot to do," Joe replied. "When are you meeting Ms. Matteo?" he asked.

"She'll be in New York all day, but I've made an appointment to meet her this evening," Shane explained.

"I guess we'll have to wait then," Joe said, hiding his frustration. Just when the investigation was starting to get time-critical, every suspect seemed to be slowly disappearing.

"See you guys later," Shane told them. "Take care of yourself, Frank," he said, patting Frank's shoulder comfortingly. Joe's eyes landed on a ring on Shane's finger. Somehow he had a peculiar feeling he had seen that before, but he couldn't remember where.

"Yeah," Frank replied slowly before Shane left. Then he turned to Joe. "What was that all about?" he asked. "Why is Shane meeting Ms. Matteo?"

Joe had forgotten about mentioning this to Frank, since he was distracted by Frank's sickness this morning. He quickly told his brother about his conversation with Shane, and also added about his conversation with Jane.

"So, Jim and Jane already knew about our identity before we arrived," Frank concluded thoughtfully. "That would mean one of them must have sent us the warning note."

"What about Neil?" Joe asked. "Do you think he could also have known about us? After all, he seems to be on good terms with Shane."

"It's hard to say," Frank admitted. "Shane looks like as if he trusts this guy. I'm going to assume that Neil knew about it, too."

"Great, now we suddenly have a lot of potential murderers," Joe commented sarcastically.

"I hope it wouldn't turn to murder," Frank added quietly.

"Frank, I didn't mean anything by my comment," Joe started saying, feeling guilty.

Frank waved him off. "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it," he assured his brother.

"Do you want to head back to our room?" Joe asked his brother.

Frank shook his head. "I think it's time we have a look around. Maybe we find some clues about our intruder," he replied. He was starting to feel the headache, but he decided to ignore it, even though it was hard.

They walked around the small island, searching the grounds around the building to find any clues of the intruder. They worked for almost an hour, but the result was a disappointment.

They were walking along the edge of the woods, when something moving behind one of the trees caught Frank's eyes.

"Somebody's watching us," Frank reported quietly to his brother.

"Where?" Joe glanced around him.

"There, near the bushes, in the woods – on your left," Frank said.

Joe turned to that direction. Sure he enough, when he spotted a figure huddling behind one of the trees. It could be their intruder! Joe thought with a slight hope.

Then before the brothers could do anything, the figure dashed deeper into the woods. Without hesitation, they ran after the man, too.

"Hey, I think it's Jim Owen!" Joe exclaimed when he managed to get a look at the figure.

"Then, it's important we catch him right away," Frank replied. "You go to the left and I'll go this way."

Joe nodded, and ran to his left. He knew there would be better chances to get Jim if both of them were separated.

Frank rushed through the woods, and at the same time, trying to avoid overgrown roots and branches that were spreading out of the trees. He heard sounds of footsteps running ahead of him. He realized Jim might be somewhere in front, but his view was partly hidden from the hanging leaves, and branches to confirm it. As suddenly as it came, Frank was hit again by a sudden dizziness and headache. No, no, no, not now! The effect made him felt disoriented by his surroundings. He stopped, and glanced around him. Which way? He thought frantically.

He whipped around when he heard a faint sound somewhere to his right. A flash of movement far ahead caught his eyes. Frank immediately sprinted into the woods blindly, and ran as fast as he could. His headache became annoying, and he found himself stumbled a few times against thick roots that were snaking all over the ground. His heart was pounding loudly in his ears, and his breathing grew ragged. He wiped the sweat that trickled into his eyes with his hand.

The faint sound of running footsteps ahead of him told him he needed to move faster. He ran blindly, not knowing whether he was running in circles. Blackness almost enveloped him, but he forced it to go away. Got to move on, he commanded himself. He tripped over another root. This time he couldn't hold himself, and fell to the ground. His head hit against a tree trunk with a thud, and fell down. He lay there on the ground, unmoving.