When Frank and Fenton arrived home they went upstairs to Fenton's office. Fenton went to one of the file cabinets and unlocked it. He removed a file and handed it to Frank. "This is what I have on McCormick," he said as Frank opened the file.
The phone rang and Fenton answered it. Frank took the file to his room to go through. He was interrupted some time later by his father. "Stephanie just called," he told Frank. "I'm going to check out the address his parole officer had."
"I'm coming too," Frank said, standing up.
"No," Fenton stated. "Stay here. This is most likely a dead end. I put a call through to George Anderson in Charlotte, North Carolina" he added. "Paul had a brother, Tony, who lived there. George is going to fax us his address and a picture."
"You think he's involved?" Frank asked.
"Something's been nagging me," Fenton admitted. "Blevins and Barnes were just hired thugs but Wagner seemed to have a personal stake in this."
"You think the imposter doctor is Tony McCormick," Frank deduced.
Fenton nodded. "He has a degree in psychology from Duke University," Fenton replied. "I remember it being mentioned when I was informed of Paul's father's suicide."
Fenton left and Frank sat back down to finish reading the file. Almost an hour later he put the file down and walked downstairs. His mother met him at the foot of the stairs. "I've got soup and sandwiches ready," she said.
"Thanks," he said with a faint smile. "But I'm not hungry."
"Tough," she told him. "You skipped breakfast but you're not skipping lunch." Frank started to argue but she put a hand over his mouth. "How much help are you going to be to your brother if you faint from hunger?" she demanded.
Frank took her had and kissed it. "You're right, as usual," he said, going with her into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. After lunch, Frank helped his mother with the dishes. They were just finishing up when the phone rang.
"Hello," Frank said into the receiver, snagging it before the second ring.
"Tell Fenton he has a present on the front porch," an unfamiliar voice said before disconnecting.
Frank hung up the phone, told his mom to stay inside and went to the front door. He looked out the window. Seeing no one, he looked down. Lying on the porch was a manila envelope. Frank opened the door and gently picked up the envelope. Bringing it inside, he carefully opened it and looked inside. The blood drained from his face and he closed his eyes.
"Frank," he heard his mother say as she came over and placed a hand on his arm. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he said, closing the envelope so she couldn't see. Laura yanked the envelope from Frank's hands, her eyes defying him to try and stop her, she opened the envelope and looked inside. Tears sprang to her eyes and she fell to her knees sobbing.
Frank knelt down and pulled her into his arms. "It may not be Joe's," he told her soothingly.
"It is," she said, still crying. Frank held her a moment more then helped her to the sofa. He picked up the phone and called Vanessa. He thought it would be better to have someone who loved Joe stay with her which is why he chose her over Callie.
"Vanessa, can you come over?" he asked when she had answered the phone. "I need you to stay with mom."
"Of course," she readily agreed. "What's happened? Have you found Joe?"
"I'll tell you when you get here," he promised and hung up. He then called Chief Collig at the police station and told him about the "present" and phone call. "I'll bring it in when Vanessa gets here," he concluded his call.
Vanessa arrived and Frank brought her up to date. He then told her about the envelope. "What was in it?" she asked.
"A knife, covered in blood," he answered.
"Oh no," she whispered, tears falling down her cheeks.
Frank put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "Mom's real upset," he said. "I'm going to run this to the station and wait and see if it's Joe's. Then I'll be back. Can you stay with her that long?" he asked.
"Of course," Vanessa said, sniffing. "I'll do anything I can to help," she told him.
"Don't worry," Frank said, trying to reassure her. "We'll find Joe and in a week's time we'll all be arguing over what movie we're going to go see."
Vanessa smiled faintly at him and nodded. She left Frank and went into the living room to stay with Laura.
Frank arrived at the police department and headed for forensics. He and Joe had been here many times and the officers were so used to them they even kept Frank's and Joe's blood samples in a special file. He left the envelope with Officer Tyson and went upstairs to see Chief Collig. While Frank waited for the results he discussed the case with Collig.
"What I don't understand is how Wagner managed to be in charge of Joe's evaluation," Frank said. "He hadn't been working at Corwin long enough."
"That's a very good question," Chief Collig said, frowning in thought. "I'll check it out," he promised as his phone rang. "That was forensics," he told Frank when he had hung up. "It was Joe's blood," he confirmed. "And Paul McCormick's fingerprints were on the handle," he added.
Frank drove home. Coming into the house he was met at the door by his mother. Her eyes were flashing angrily. Before he could ask what was wrong she directed her anger at him. "Why didn't you tell me?" she practically screamed at him.
Frank saw a paper in her hand. It was the fax of Paul McCormick's brother, Tony. It was also the doctor who had been in charge of Joe. "We didn't know until this morning," he told her honestly.
Laura started crying again, the fight gone out of her. "Why?" she asked. "Why is this happening?"
Frank put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed tightly. "Joe's okay," he said, not believing it.
"No, he's not!" Laura stormed at him, pulling out of his comforting embrace. "McCormick is a madman," she said. "You don't know how your father had nightmares after finding his victims," she told him, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Dad told me about the beatings and the burns," Frank said, swallowing hard as he thought about his brother. Vanessa stood in the entryway to the living room, tears streaming down her cheeks, listening to the possible fate of the man she one day hoped to marry.
"Did he tell you about the mutilations?" she demanded.
"What?" he sshouted in shock, his face draining of color and his breathing becoming heavier.
"After his victims had been missing for a few days, he started sending their fingers to the parents. One a day and always with the last finger there was a note where the body could be found."
