"Doesn't the lawyer know how to contact her?" Frank asked.
Con shook his head. "She contacts him once a month. Her last call was four days ago."
"Frank..." Collig began.
"I know," Frank interrupted him sadly. "I have to let mom and dad know." He stood up as did his two friends. "Let me know if you find her?" he asked.
"We will," Collig promised. "You have your dad get in touch with me as soon as he gets home." Frank nodded and the three teens departed.
"Now what?" asked Chet glumly as the three piled into the van.
"Now, I see about getting in touch with Dad," Frank responded. "Tomorrow, as soon as the produce stand opens, we set up a stake out. If Angelic went there once, she may go again."
"And if she does, we'll follow her back to Joe," asserted Phil.
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Several hours had passed since Joe had heard the gunshot. He had waited for Angelic to return but after two hours, he felt like screaming or crying; he wasn't sure which. Both, he knew, were unproductive, so he had started searching, not for the first time, his cell for a secret passage. Finding nothing for the umpteenth time, he turned his attention to the Bowflex he had been given. Twenty minutes into his workout, he pulled off his shirt as sweat began to pour down his back. He knew he should take a break but he was filled with frustration and anger and this was his only outlet.
When Angelic finally entered the basement, Joe was so absorbed he didn't hear her. She stood just inside the basement door, watching his abdomen as it rippled with his efforts. His chest glistened and she held her breath as he ceased his movements when he became aware of her presence.
"You killed him," Joe accused her, his eyes showing a deep sadness.
"Yes," she admitted, coming closer.
"You don't even care that you took his life?" Joe asked her, not understanding how she could be so cold. She wasn't even attempting to justify herself.
"Joe, I told you, I am not going to lie to you," Angelic said patiently as she came over to him. "So if you don't want to hear my answers, don't ask." She looked at the tray on the floor. "You didn't finish your snack."
"I lost my appetite," Joe confessed. "Are you going to punish me for that?" he asked, bitterly.
"Of course not," answered Angelic, unlocking the cage. After laying down the keys, she went inside. "Only when you don't eat your meals," she told him. "You have to stay healthy." Involuntarily, she reached out and put her hand on his chest.
Joe jerked away from her. "Don't touch me," he ordered.
Angelic picked up the tray and exited the cage. After relocking it, she told Joe dinner would be in two hours. She turned on the CD player, letting ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" resonate through the room before she left.
Heaving a deep sigh, Joe headed into the bathroom for a shower.
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After his friends had left, Frank obtained the needed number and made a call to the ship his parents were on. "Frank?" Fenton answered. "What is it? Has something happened?"
"Angelic," Frank answered. "She's got Joe." He then explained about her being released.
"Keep looking for him," Fenton ordered. "Your mother and I will be home as soon as I can make arrangements."
After Frank hung up, he sat and stared at the phone, wondering what he could do that he wasn't doing. His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Hi, Callie," he said, smiling wanly at her when he opened the door. "What are you doing here?"
"Keeping you from getting sick," she answered.
"What?" Frank asked, confused.
"When was the last time you ate?" she demanded.
He opened his mouth to answer but then stopped and thought about it. "Yesterday afternoon," he replied.
"I thought so," she stated. "I'll fix you something to eat. You can't do Joe any good if you pass out from malnutrition."
"I, uh, don't think there is much in the house," Frank told her. "Joe and I were planning on eating out until Auntie got here."
"Then let's head to the market and get something," Callie said. She saw Frank hesitate. "Take your cell phone," She told him. "Phil called and told me about the stake out idea for tomorrow. You can't do any more tonight and this will help take your mind off of it."
"I don't want to take my mind off of it," Frank complained but allowed himself to be led from the house. He locked the door. "I want to know where Joe is."
"We'll find him," she promised.
"But will it be too late?" he voiced his fears. "What if she has already killed him?"
"Don't even think it!" Callie ordered sternly. "If she was going to kill him, she wouldn't have kidnapped him."
"She did before," Frank reminded her. Callie remained quiet and the two of them got into Callie's car and drove to the nearest shopping center.
As Callie pulled into a parking space, Frank leapt from the vehicle before it had come to a complete stop and raced to the car directly across the lane and grabbed the arm of the girl who was busy putting a bag into the back of her car.
"Where is he?" Frank growled, barely controlling the urge to hit the girl he held securely by the arm. Callie finished parking her car and hurried over to the two.
"Let me go," Angelic ordered Frank, her voice calm, her manner, cool.
"Not until you tell me where my brother is," Frank retorted, gripping her tighter.
"I will never tell you where he is," Angelic informed him. "You know I won't share. But, if you don't let me go you will never find him. And he will die."
Callie could see a vein ready to pop on Frank's forehead and winced as she watched how tightly he gritted his teeth as he released her and stepped back.
"Is he okay?" Frank demanded hoarsely, his eyes begging.
"Of course, he's okay," Angelic answered. "And as long as he has me, he will remain so. But I'm warning you...if you try and take him away from me, I will kill him."
She bent down to pick up the items that had fallen when she had been grabbed and put them in the car. When she turned around she held a revolver in her hand. She took aim and fired.
