"His life could depend on it?" Joe scoffed, after the door had closed behind him.. "Who is he kidding? He just said the only problem would be an infection. A tetanus shot would take care of that."

"Where you in his lab?" Frank asked Joe.

Joe looked up into his brother's eyes and considered lying. "Yes," he finally admitted. "But I was looking for this one, remember?"

"Did you get near one of the wolves?" Frank demanded, coming over and snatching up Joe's hand. He had spotted the dried blood. "It bit you?"

"No," Joe denied, pulling his hand away.

"Let me see," Frank ordered, taking his hand once again. He gave it a close inspection and then dropped it. "Well, at least it didn't bite or scratch you or anything," he said, returning to the file cabinet.

"I wonder why he's so interested in an intruder anyway?" Joe asked, his blue eyes going a shade darker. "I didn't disturb anything."

"Who knows?" Frank shrugged. "One mystery at a time, huh? Get back to work."

Joe looked through a few more folders but finally gave up and just sat at the desk watching Frank go through the material he found in the file cabinets. Two hours after their arrival at the lab, Joe had had enough. "We aren't finding anything here," he said, standing up. "Can we leave now?"

Frank looked up from the paper he was reading. "Ten more minutes?" he asked, realizing Joe was bored.

"Okay," Joe agreed. "But I'm going to see if there's a bathroom in this place." Frank nodded, his concentration once again on the paper in front of him.

Joe smiled and shook his head. He envied Frank's ability to absorb information no matter how dull it seemed, but he had accepted the fact that he, himself, was no scholar and chose not to waste time trying to be something he wasn't.

Knowing he hadn't passed the restroom on his way to the lab, Joe headed in the other direction. As he neared the end of the hall, the over-powering scent of pine assaulted his nostrils. Wrinkling his nose to try and block the smell, he reached the bathroom and went inside. He went to the sink and washed his hands, eliminating the rest of the blood from them, then splashed some water on his face. Drying off, he hurried back out before he got sick from the pine smell.

Exiting the men's room, he crashed into the towering figure of Dr. Mayhem. "Isn't there a men's room on the second floor?" Joe asked, looking at the brown headed man suspiciously.

"There is," admitted Mayhem, "But I..uh.."

"Still looking for your intruder?" Joe guessed correctly when Mayhem's speech began to falter. "Why don't you just relax? I'm sure if he was hurt by one of your wolves he would go to the hospital," he added, wrinkling his nose again. Someone must have dropped a bottle of the concentrated stuff in the bathroom, the thought flashed through Joe's mind.

"I suppose you are right," Mayhem agreed, watching Joe's facial features curiously. "I guess I will see you around since you're interning here?" he asked casually.

"It will probably be inevitable," Joe agreed.

"Are you living on campus?" Mayhem inquired in a friendly tone, his green eyes still searching Joe's face.

The hairs on Joe's neck stood up as a warning bell sounded in his brain. Was this man somehow involved with Craig's disappearance? Did he know anything about the missing research? "No," Joe replied. "I'm staying with some friends," he fibbed.

"Nearby?" Mayhem asked quickly, then, as if realizing he sounded too inquisitive, continued. "It would be a shame for you to have to commute a long way. I, myself, live only a few blocks from campus and have an extra room if you find your commute to be too long."

"Thanks for the offer," Joe said. "I'll keep that in mind. Now, if you'll excuse me, I..uh..have to get Frank. It's time for us to leave."

"Of course," Mayhem said, stepping aside to let Joe pass.

"That took long enough," Frank commented when Joe returned to the lab.

"I bumped into the eerie Dr. Mayhem," Joe informed his brother. "Let's go. I'll tell you about it on the way," he promised.

"He invited you to stay with him?" Frank asked in disbelief after Joe had told him about his bizarre conversation with Mayhem. His forehead wrinkled in thought. "Maybe we should have him checked out."

"Agreed," Joe said. "But why would a scientist who specializes in wolves be interested in plate tectonics?"

***

The next morning it was decided that while Joe went to the university to meet with Professor Aliem and begin work as his intern, Frank would go and visit Angela Thompson, the professor's former intern.

Frank checked the address he had written down then looked back to the enormous closed gate blocking the entrance. The addresses matched. He reached through the window of the van and pushed the button on the stone wall standing to the front and side of the gate.

"Yes?" inquired a voice through an intercom.

"I would like to see Ms. Angela Thompson, please," Frank requested, his voice firm but polite.

"Have you an appointment?" the voice asked.

"No," admitted Frank, frowning. He had thought he might have a problem getting her to talk to him. Not being allowed to see her had never crossed his mind. "I'm from the university," he added, hoping that would make a difference.

"One moment, please," the detached voice stated.

Frank waited a minute. And another. And another. He put the van into reverse but before he could step on the gas to back out, the massive gate began to swing open. Frank put the van back into first gear and drove through the open gate and up the drive, coming to a stop in front of the three-story mansion.

He was greeted at the door by a young woman in her early twenties with long, black hair which had been braided and clung to her waist at the side. The woman's eyes were so dark, Frank could have sworn they were black yet her skin was fair, making him think the sun seldom, if ever, touched her.

"I'm Frank Hardy," Frank introduced himself, aware he had been staring. "I'm one of Professor Aliem's' new assistants. Are you Angela?" he asked.

"I am," Angela acknowledged. "I'm afraid I don't understand. Why are you here?"

Frank hesitated only for a second before deciding to be completely honest with her. "I'm a private investigator. We, my father, brother, and I, have been asked to look into the disappearance of some of the professor's research and the disappearance of Craig Deyman."

"And you think I have something to do with it," she commented bitterly. "Please leave," she continued, her voice turning hard. "You are not welcome here." With these words, the door behind her opened fully and two beefy individuals stepped through. Both men were scowling at Frank with an intensity that turned his stomach into knots.