"Elle, can you show me some sympathy? I'm still recuperating…" Joe groaned as Elle asked him for the umpteenth time if he was feeling well enough to return to Chicago with her and finish up his work. She deliberately aimed the shower on his forehead rather than his scalp and the shampoo suds flooded down, stinging his eyes.

"Ow!!!!! Watch it!!!!! My eyes are my best assets! You're supposed to be good at this!"

Elle's face hovered above his- her expression set in a sadistic smile. She held on to the head of the retractable spout of the Hardys' kitchen sink with an evil gleam in her eyes as she spoke too sweetly for his liking.

"I had it, babying you. If you are well enough to grumble and complain, you are well enough to work. You still owe me some paperwork, buddy."

"Anyone told you that you're one slave driver? I almost died! I saw the black tunnel with light on the other side!" He scowled at her, struggling to sit up before she could inflict anymore damage to his sore eyes. Rising to a comfortable position on the kitchen stool, grimacing from the same old pain in his abdomen, Joe reached over and snatched the spout from Elle, deciding that he would wash his own hair.

The insufferable pain had lessened down to a dull throb and, after almost four weeks of stay in the hospital, counting those days when he was out of commission, the doctor proclaimed him to be well enough to go back home. The announcement was the only moment in which Joe actually liked the portly, bespectacled guy with a too-thin nose.

He kept washing his hair but the suds didn't seem to be diminishing. Looking up, he realized that Elle was pouring shampoo on his head as he was rinsing it off.

"Elle, these kinky games can come later! My brains are freezing from the water!" He bellowed in a whisper. He was used to verbally articulate his needs in whispers now- groan in whispers, shout in whispers, laugh in whispers, and gossip in whispers. The last talent was being taught to him by Callie who just couldn't help positioning herself as the Bayport's unofficial representative for the Enquirer.

"Chicago or Bayport?" She held the shampoo bottle just out of his grip. Joe, still paranoid about his wound splitting open again, could not act as agilely as before. His hands reached over his head and grasped futilely for his mother's bottle expensive salon formulation. Obsessing in secret with that particular shampoo because it had the fragrance of an orchard bursting with citrus fruits and, most importantly, it gave his light blond hair a silky sheen, he found the same shampoo in a upscale hair salon in Chicago and gawked at the price.

He hoped his dad's credit was still healthy.

Giving up, Joe fumed, leaned back against the kitchen sink and crossed his arms. Elle stood still, sulking for a moment before she stormed away and sat down on a barstool, holding on to the precious shampoo bottle.

"It's not as if you don't know what I want, Elle. I am home now… Vanessa's letting me take care Hallie for a while and, even though I'm still weak from my injuries, I can take care of her with my parent's help. And they are all so happy to have me back, especially Frank…" He tried to talk sense into her when he suddenly heard a sniff.

"Are you crying, partner?"

"No…" She shook her head, denying the tear that was trickling down her pale cheek. If caffeine was Frank's stimulant, a pretty face was Joe's. His heart burst with the achingly lovely sight and he remembered the first time he laid eyes on Elle in the tutorial room- his heart palpitated excitedly at the sight of a gorgeous eye-candy, definitely useful when lessons were boring, but he played it cool. If he could commit and Elle was a little saner, they might have something great going on there after the few casual dates they had.

Standing up, a little sore still, he stumbled over and sat down on the barstool beside her, draping an arm across her shoulders, his wet hair dripping soapy water onto the towel around his neck and shoulders. "Hey, I didn't know you cared so much… I mean, you hardly visited me…"

"I did. But I timed my visits strategically."

"Huh?"

She rubbed the sides of her eyes before facing him, smiling tediously. "While you were sleeping. I hate mushy meetings."

Joe shook his head, smiling in resignation when a bright idea slapped him on the side of his head. "I have a brilliant idea! How about you relocate to Bayport?"

"No," Came the swift, deliberate reply.

"Why? This is a great place! I'll show you around when I'm feeling fit enough which should be soon… you'll fall in love with it, I promise."

"I like Chicago. Oh well, if you're not coming with me, I'm not going to beg. We'll still be friends." Elle rested her head on his shoulder briefly before nodding over to the sink. He smiled at her and with more effort, got down from the barstool with her help and they walked slowly back to the sink, friends again.

He was never so cautious about each and every of his actions, literally.

"I know you sent your mom and dad to the movies with Hallie, but where's Frank?"

"Dying to see him?" Joe teased. She narrowed her eyes lethally before her features relaxed. Shrugging, her eyes hooded over with some regret.

"Your brother is going to get married soon. I'm not someone to break up a wonderful couple meant for each other. Besides… someone else asked me out on date. And I'm quite interested. That someone else told me something very interesting too. Frank thinks Richard Thompson has a partner. The someone else did some checks and asked some questions. Richard Thompson's landlady recalled him 'going downstairs" to make calls quite often instead of using the phone in the house. With Frank's deductions, the presence of another party seemed rather plausible. Simon's on it now but he does not have much leads."

"So the case's not ended yet?"

"They are still in the process of establishing Richard Thompson's contacts- the people he knew, talk to... etc. etc. This guy is pretty sneaky. Simon had his computer hauled in but they couldn't get anything from the hard disk. Richard used a deletion program that disallowed forensic programs to obtain information from files that are deleted the normal way."

"Frank didn't tell me any of these…" Joe knitted his brows as Elle positioned his head over the sink properly before she proceeded to wash his hair properly.

"He probably didn't want you to worry. The FBI and police are acting like the case is over so the hidden partner won't be alerted. Prudent move." Elle nodded her head sagely in approval, her eyes staring at somewhere else, and water started trickling down into Joe's ears.

"Hey, hey…. Water in my ears soon! Watch it will you? Frank's supposed to come home for dinner. I'll ask him about it… wait… Elle… is "the someone else", Simon?"

"Yes. Why?"

Joe crossed his arms and pouted as Elle hummed the theme from the movie Psycho. He didn't like it at all, he realized. He didn't like Frank not telling about the new angle in a case he thought was over and he didn't like the sudden images of Simon Lee pawing over Elle on their first date.

She might even wash the FBI's hair, a privilege she reserved for Joe, her best friend!

Biting down his lips, he couldn't imagine being more annoyed and frustrated.

***

"I thought over what you said, Frank, and you could be right. Only, we don't have concrete evidence of a hidden partner. Have read through the case file…"

"Right. And still, it seemed like solo work."

"Looks to be that way. But I know now that he makes calls out of a pay phone. We managed to get a list of phone numbers dialed to and from the three pay phones around the area. Nothing suspicious… but there are quite a few unidentified numbers."

"I see. I'll come back with the evidence that all of you missed. Thanks, Simon. At least you heard me out."

"Least I can do."

Frank stepped into the farmhouse for the first time since he had rushed his brother out of the attic for help. The policemen had found the elderly owner, David Marlon, lying six feet underground and drew the conclusion, owing to the time of death, that right after Richard Thompson buried the recluse; he proceeded to kidnap Hallie which was why he had soil on his soles- their major lucky break. Frank didn't know why Richard Thompson would kill someone just to occupy his house. Most likely, the reason and chances to clarify just why he kidnapped and killed those children but spared Hallie long enough for Hallie to be rescued, had died with Richard Thompson.

It was pretty obvious that Richard spent most of his time in this remote farmhouse and as Frank explored the inside under the moonlight, he had a good idea in which of its five rooms had Richard made his nestling place. He stepped inside the corner room, the one which received the least sunlight from its badly positioned windows and raised his eyes at the posters of the same snake plastered all over the walls.

Wow. Reptile Man. Why this snake?

He remembered that Con Riley had retrieved a snake from where they found Hallie. The case file had identified it as an "Inland Taipan" and nothing more. Now as he studied the pictures of an innocuous brown-colored snake, he wondered if the snake retrieved was the same as the posters'.

Whipping out his cell phone, he made a call to the expert on this area, Biff. Frank had a vague understanding that two people could connect with each other intimately simply base on a common interest and it seemed like, besides kidnapping children and killing them, Richard's other passion was for this snake. Maybe it could lead him somewhere- wouldn't hurt to try.

"Hello, Frank! How's the case? Chet told me about Joe and I called our main guy a couple of times. He sounded real weak..."

"Hey, buddy. Joe's recently discharged and pampered like a king by my mom and dad at home. I'm beginning to think I'm his servant too… his 'gopher.' He's doing fine but nothing's stopping him from eliciting sympathy for some privileges…" Frank smiled wryly at how Joe would wrinkle his face in tormenting pain all the time only to break into a smile when Laura cooed over him before retreating into the kitchen to fix something good and healthy for him to eat. Up till now, Joe had managed to take over their father's den, caused Fenton to rush out and buy all sorts of food that he felt like eating, even if he couldn't consume them yet, and magazines he felt like reading. Fenton even presented Joe with a supplementary credit card to help "tide him over cash flow problems". Plus the mess Joe and Hallie made all the time at home had their parents seriously considered paying extra to the part-time domestic help they hired about a year ago so she would put in more hours to tidy up the den which was looking more and more like a playroom with each passing day.

Father and daughter were as childish and playful as each other, which was why Joe got along so well with Hallie as they both speak the same language. However, the daughter had an excuse to be childish because she was six and utterly adorable. Her father, twenty-three and some months going on to become a three-year old infantile, desperately needed growing up. Seven years- Frank had forgotten just how bratty and spoilt Joe could be if he wanted.

"Ah! I kinda figured that out…. So, knowing how busy you are, I don't think you'll be calling me on a Monday evening just to ask about my life. Whassup?"

"You know anything about 'Inland Taipan'?"

"Only that they are the most neurotoxic snakes in the planet and they are native to Australia, not to mention, they are highly protected species. Why?"

"So, to get one over here…"

"It'll have to be smuggled. Not that difficult to smuggle one in- just need tons of luck, getting past the Australian and America customs."

"Biff… do you know of anyone who smuggles in Inland Taipan?" Frank asked, a little hopeful. His friends usually had networks that would surprise him.

"Hey, hey, hey. It's I-I-L-E-G-A-L. If I know something like that, why would I tell you, a law-abiding private D, man?"

"Biff… I'm not talking about those big-wigs that I'm sure you won't dabble with. But surely you know of people who go to these countries and come back with some extras to boast about which they won't declare in front of customs…"

He heard Biff sighed. "Yah, some guys do boast about it on this certain message board- Reptile Lovers Chat. There's a locked forum in which… well, the nation's seriously disturbed snakes' fanatics lurk around."

"I'll go check it out. Thanks!"

"Don't get yourself killed, Frank. By the way, when's the wedding? I heard it might be postponed."

"Postponed?" Frank smiled, a little wider. "No… it may be brought forward…"

"I'll be there. I'll never miss seeing Frank Hardy sign his freedom away for the world- …"

"I knew you're the one teaching my brother astray all those years." Frank shook his head, unable to wipe the grin off his face.