Frank awoke early the next morning. He was on his way out the door when the phone rang.

"We found Blevins," Chief Collig's voice blared into Frank's ear. "He had the piece still missing from Maxine's on him," he added.

"Where are you?" Frank asked.

"Barment Bay," Chief Collig replied. "Under Pier 4."

"We're on our way," Frank promised and hung up. He ran upstairs to tell his father who was getting dressed, then he called Jerry and asked if they could go later.

"My cousin's getting married this afternoon," Jerry told him. "We can go tomorrow after school," he suggested.

Frank bit his lip at the delay but agreed and made plans to meet after school. Fenton came running downstairs and the two of them left.

"Weren't you supposed to see Mrs. Brown this morning?" Frank asked his father.

"I called her last night," Fenton informed him. "She's going to get in touch with McCormick's parole officer and get back to me at lunch."

Fenton parked at the docks and he and Frank walked down to the base of Pier 4. Blevins' body was lying face up in the sand.

"Whoever killed him didn't even bother to try and get rid of the body," Chief Collig said, walking over to the Hardys. "High tide won't even reach this far up the shore."

"Then why bring him here in the first place?" Frank asked, stooping down to look at the body.

On the left hand was a gold ring with a ruby inset. The missing piece taken from Maxines which had not been in Joe's drawer. There was no blood in sight but around his neck was an imprint of what might have been fishing line. He still wore the light blue pants and shirt associated with his job as orderly at the Corwin Institute.

"The coroner estimates he has been dead for at least twelve hours," Chief Collig told them. And his body wasn't brought here," he added in response to Frank's question. "He died here." Fenton looked at Collig questioningly.

"We have two witnesses," Chief Collig stated. "Blevins and two other men, one matching the description of the imposter Dr. Wagner, were seen coming in this direction yesterday afternoon," he continued.

"What did the other man look like?" Fenton asked.

"White, five foot eleven, one hundred and eighty pounds with short straight black hair," Collig read froim his notepad. He looked up. "Sound familiar?" he asked Fenton, noticing his mouth had tightened and his eyes hardened.

"Yes," Fenton said. "I really had hoped we were wrong, but it's Paul McCormick," he said, then brought Collig up to date on the Hardys' investigation.

Chief Collig put a hand on Fenton's shoulder and squeezed comfortingly. He also recognized the name.

Frank stood up and looked at his dad suspiciously. "What haven't you told me?" he asked.

Fenton's eyes fell from Frank's and he looked at the ground. "What?" Frank demanded angrily, coming over and gripping his father's arm so tight, he winced with pain.

Chief Collig cleared his throat. "We'll wrap up here," he said. "We've already got an APB on Wagner. We'll run a search on McCormick and see if we can turn up a recent address," he added, moving away.

"Well?" Frank demanded again after Chief Collig had left them.

Fenton took a deep breath and looked back up at Frank's face. His own face softened as he stared into Frank's taut one. "McCormick was a serial killer," he said. "He tortured his victims before he killed them."

"How?" Frank asked, his brown eyes full of fear and a sense of hopelessness.

"He would get them weak with hunger, make them sick, usually by getting them wet and leaving them out in the cold, and then he would start beating them," he paused and swallowed before continuing. "When the bodies were found, there were also cigarette burns all over them."

Frank let go of his father's arm and turned around. He walked back to the car silently, tears streaming down his cheeks. Only when he got into the car did he realize his father had followed.

"We can't give up hope," Fenton told Frank.

"Never," Frank whispered, sniffing and wiping his eyes on his shirt sleeve. "Mom..." he started.

"Can't know," Fenton hastily ended Frank's sentence. "She's always worrying about you two," he added. "I don't know if she could handle it," he explained. Frank nodded. He wasn't sure he could handle it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxx

"Good morning Joesph." Joe was awakened by a cheerful voice. He opened his eyes and saw Dr. Wagner and another man standing in front of him. "Enjoying your weekend?" the stranger asked.

Joe's eyes shot darts of hatred at the two men but he never spoke.

Dr. Wagner opened a bag he was holding and pulled out a bottle of water. He opened it and brought it to Joe's lips. Joe drank until the bottle was empty.

The stranger smiled. "We can't have you getting dehydrated can we?" he asked with a laugh. "You would miss all the fun."

"Why are you doing this to me?" Joe asked, realizing this man was the one in charge.

"Because your father killed mine," he snarled, getting right in Joe's face. He stared into Joe's blue eyes and laughed. "This didn't quite work out the way I had planned," he said, backing up. "Tony, here," he said, pointing to the man Joe had believed to be Dr. Wagner, "is my brother. I killed the real Dr. Wagner so Tony could take his place. Then I had a friend of mine at the courthouse arrange it so Tony would be in charge of your evaluation. You were supposed to go crazy," he added, his face hardening. "Like my father. Then, after a week or so, you were going to hang yourself."

"But your girlfriend decided to play detective and ruined it," Tony snarled.

"If you hurt her..." Joe started angrily but shut up abruptly as he was backhanded across the face. A trickle of blood seeped from his lip as he looked back at Tony's brother.

"You will only speak when you are spoken to," he said in a deceptively quite voice, his brown eyes filled with hatred as he stared down at Joe. "And when you do, you will address me and my brother as Mr. McCormick. Is that clear?"

"Drop dead," Joe told him calmly, waiting for the next slap he knew would follow.

McCormick raised his had but then a gleam came into his eyes and he put his hand down. "Would you like some breakfast?" he asked Joe, smiling. Joe glared at him but refused to speak. Tony and his brother, who, Joe found out was named Paul when Tony addressed him, ate breakfast on the floor in front of him. Joe's stomach growled, betraying his hunger and making Tony and Paul laugh. Joe kept his mouth shut because he knew it would be futile to ask for anything to eat.

After his captors had finished eating, Tony went outside. Paul untied Joe from the chair and pulled him up. Half carrying him, he took Joe outside and down a path to a stream where Tony stood in swim trunks. Paul pushed Joe into the water where he landed beside Tony. Tony grabbed Joe and pushed him under the water, holding him there for a few seconds. When Joe came up he gasped for air. He barely had time to hold his breath before Tony pushed him under once again. A minute later, he pulled Joe back up.

"That should be good enough," Paul told his brother. Tony hauled Joe out of the water and pushed him onto the rocks, then climbed out and took a towel from beside his clothes to dry off with. Paul pulled Joe to his feet and took him back to the cabin. He retied Joe to the chair, still soaking wet. Shivering, Joe looked down at Paul as he finished tying him up. "What was the purpose of that?" he asked.

Paul stood up and backhanded Joe. "You only speak when you're allowed to," he reminded Joe in a cheery voice. He reached in his pocket and pulled out some masking tape. "You don't really need this," he said, "but it's a chilly day. Who knows?" he added, pulling off a strap wide enough for Joe's mouth. "You might catch a cold. We can't have you coughing and disturbing the wildlife around here," he ended, laughing as he put the tape firmly over Joe's mouth.

"One more thing," he said, pulling out his knife and flicking the blade open. "We need to send daddy a present." He stooped down and took a hold of Joe's bare foot. Joe winced. His forced trip to the stream had caused him a few abrasions as he had stepped on twigs and rocks at a fast pace. Paul grinned up at Joe then brought the knife close to Joe's big toe.

"This might hurt a bit," he said, bringing it slowly closer. Joe's toe started bleeding as the knife began piercing his skin.