The first thing that Frank became aware of was pain and the darkness around him. He squinted his eyes and groaned, putting a hand up to his head.
"Frank?" he heard a woman say in the distance. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm fine," he managed to say as he opened his eyes to see Alex and Cody hovering over him.
"If you're fine, then I'm the King of England," smirked Cody as he crossed his arms.
"You're finally awake!" Alex said, sounding relieved. "It's Monday morning and you've been unconscious since Friday night."
"It's Monday already?" asked Frank as he tried to sit up. He felt two pairs of hands try and keep him down on the bed.
"Oh no you're not! You're not well enough to go anywhere," Alex told him as he carefully lay back down. "You just received some serious injuries! First with the gunshot wound - which should've been checked out right away - and now these burns? It's amazing both you and Michelle are still alive!" Alex told him.
"Where's...Michelle?" asked Frank, breathing heavily, trying not to let his pain show.
"We sent her to school. She's still a bit shook up from Friday but Jake's with her. Monica's back at The Nest, looking over the info we gathered over the weekend about Denner," Cody replied.
"Denner?" Frank repeated, not recognizing the name.
"Joseph Denner. He's the man we're after and the same one who put the bomb...in your apartment building," Alex explained, looking away.
"We haven't seen him since and neither has the local police," Cody put in.
"You're going to stay with one of us," said Alex. "Until you can find a new apartment and those injuries of yours heal some more."
Frank attempted to shift his position, trying to hide the winces of pain as he did so. His eyes told a story to Alex and Cody.
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Michelle walked into the lobby of her school, Jake right behind her before they stopped just inside.
"Michelle, don't you think this is a bit too conspicuous?" he quietly asked her.
"It is if you know something but none of these people know anything and some of them I've known since I was a child," she replied.
"Sure, now let's get to your principal," Jake told her as she started to lead him to the office.
They walked in the door. She looked at the principal in her office and walked inside with Jake following her. The woman looked up from her paperwork at them as Jake closed the door.
"Michelle Hana. You're someone I never expect to see on a Monday morning. What did you do this time?" she asked.
"I did nothing this time though people do tend to come to that conclusion when I come in here. You see, there's a little situation I'm involved in and have to keep in contact with Jake Shaw here until it settles over so I'll be having a cell phone in class," she explained.
The principal's eyebrows raised as she looked at her. "Are you serious?" she asked and the two nodded. "Alright. You can have it," she replied, wondering what was going on.
The two walked out of the room to greet the other students. One walked up to her.
"Hey Michelle. Where'd you dig this guy up?" he asked with a laugh.
Michelle gave him an impatient look. "Leave me alone Tommy. I'm not in the mood," she angrily told him. "And don't make me come over there!"
Jake noticed the boy quivered a bit in fear. 'Whoa. She must have some power in this school if the boys of her age act like that,' he thought to himself as she walked to her first class. "Are you going to be good for the day?"
Michelle nodded before walking into the classroom and Jake headed outside.
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Frank looked up at Alex, Cody and now Monica. "I'm not staying in here. I have to go..." he started, trying to life himself up.
"Oh no! You're not just yet. Not unless the doctors say you're alright to leave, we're not letting you go anywhere!" Cody told him just as a doctor walked into the room.
He looked between the four before his stare came to Frank. "Mr. Donovan, we're glad to see you've awoken. You'll soon be able to leave, just like you asked, but not until tomorrow because we'd like to keep an eye on you for 24 more hours," the doctor told him.
Alex, Cody and Monica could see the look of 'why not now?' in Frank's eyes.
00000
At the end of the day, Michelle packed up her books as Jake walked up to her.
"Ready?" he asked her.
She nodded as they walked out of the room into the lobby. Michelle glanced up from the book she was reading and gazed outside. "Such a beautiful day out, isn't it?" she asked him.
"Yeah, it is," he agreed as they climbed into the car.
Jake started the ignition and started towards the hospital, unaware that they had someone watching them from afar.
00000
Once they arrived, they went up to Frank's room to see that he was awake.
"Frank, how're you feeling?" asked Jake.
"Fine," he replied.
"That's just like you!" Jake said with a laugh.
"He said the same thing this morning," said Alex. "They're letting him tonight, by his request. He managed to persuade them!"
Jake gave a sigh as he shook his head and Monica walked inside.
"That's our Frank for them. Hey Monica, find out anything else about our man?" he asked her.
"Nothing that we already knew. He's a man who leads a normal life in one aspect but kills for pleasure in a totally different one and these two that he killed had no connection to him," she said as Cody came in.
Cody was gazing at the papers in his hands before looking up at them as Monica looked at the teen. She could see sadness in Michelle's eyes.
"Listen, I've got homework to do. I'll be at Amelia's if you need me," Michelle suddenly piped up as she headed out of the room.
"I'll go with you," Alex told her as she followed.
Jake, Cody and Monica watched them go before their stare came to Frank.
"There's something going on that girl's head. Something that she doesn't want to tell us," mumbled Jake as Frank shifted his position.
Frank gasped out in pain, alarming his co-workers. They hurried over to him as he put his hands on his side.
"Frank, what's wrong?" asked Cody.
"Nothing," he replied, stubborn to the end.
Later that night, Cody helped Frank sit down on a chair in Jake's living room as the others looked on.
"Now Frank. I want you to answer something for us," Monica told him.
"Whatever it is, I don't know," he immediately replied, trying not to let his back touch the chair.
"You mean you didn't know about Michelle and the two people who were murdered? I mean, you looked at the file before we did. Nothing stood out to you?" asked Jake, putting his hands in his pockets.
'Should I tell them?' he wondered. "Yes, I did look at the file. I saw the names. I made the connection. Is that what you want to hear? Michelle deserves better than what she has because her parents died in a brutal murder," he told them, the impatience obvious in his eyes.
He looked away from them as they looked at each other in shock.
TBC...
