Frank nodded. "I wonder what caused that," he commented, stooping down to look at the fan's remains. He knew better than to touch it until it had cooled down.
"Leave it for now," Kenny ordered. "Let's get back to work."
Artie shot Kenny a dirty look but picked up his camera. "There's another fan in the back near the ladder," Artie told Frank. "Would you please get it?"
"Sure," Frank agreed and went to retrieve the fan. Frank used a different plug for the fan in case the previous one was damaged. Three hours later, Artie was satisfied with the shoot and sent Frank to give the film to Beverly.
Paul went to change while Artie and Kenny discussed the next day's shoot. No one was paying any attention to him so Joe made his way over to the fan. He rummaged around the debris. He couldn't find anything that looked like it didn't belong so he stood up and turned to go to the dressing room but stopped when he saw Danny watching him.
"What were you doing?" Danny demanded.
"Just looking through the mess," Joe replied. "What are you doing here?" he asked, remembering Danny had supposedly left for the day.
"I left my sweater," Danny explained. "I thought the shoot was over," he continued, looking at Joe suspiciously.
"Kenny decided to just change outfits and locations," Joe responded with a shrug.
"Joe!" Paul shouted, coming out of the dressing room. "Shelia's ready for you."
"Later," Joe said to Danny and went inside the dressing room. Danny followed Joe inside and picked up a sweater hanging at the end of a rack where the models kept their own clothing. He shot Joe a look of pure animosity then left.
Joe let Shelia help him out of his outfit. "That's looking bad," Shelia told Joe, seeing the huge bruise on his side.
"It feels as bad as it looks," Joe confessed, grimacing with pain as he raised his arms to slip into his own shirt.
"Better put a compress on it this evening," she advised, taking the designer clothing and walking away.
Joe finished dressing and went back outside to find Danny and Paul in conversation. As Joe approached, Danny left.
"What happened between you and Danny?" Paul asked Joe, looking at him curiously as he approached.
"Nothing. Why?" Joe replied, genuinely confused.
"Danny came out of the dressing room and started asking all kinds of questions about you," Paul informed him.
"Like what?" Joe asked, stunned.
"He wanted to know what modeling you've done before; who your agent is; and how professional did I think you were," Paul revealed, shaking his head. "He sounded positively paranoid!"
"Weird," Joe responded with a laugh, secretly wondering why Danny seemed to be investigating him. "Um..what did you answer?" Joe asked, curious.
"I couldn't tell you that," Paul refused. "It might go to your head," he teased. "Look, I'm going to split. It's been hectic. Take care of that side."
"I will," Joe promised, waving as Paul took off at a jog.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Frank pulled to a stop behind Joe in the Hardy driveway and got out. He reached the door of the van and pulled it open just as Joe's seat buckle snapped free. Frank helped Joe ease out.
"Oooh," groaned Joe as Frank's hand came in contact with Joe's side.
"Sorry," Frank said, wincing for Joe's sake. "Why ever did you go back to the studio today?" he demanded.
"Kenny had an epiphany," Joe informed him. "Besides, if I let anyone know how bad this did hurt, I'd get kicked off the set."
They reached the front door and Frank unlocked it. Entering, their mother came from the kitchen to greet them. "Let me see," she ordered. Iola had told her it was a bruised bone but she wanted to see for herself how bad it was herself, knowing his skin would show it as well.
Joe eased up his shirt. "It looked better before," Frank said, frowning. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Yeah," Joe said. "But I could use a compress," he said, lifting an eyebrow at his mother.
"Get him upstairs and into bed," Laura ordered Frank. "I'll bring the compress and something to eat."
Joe gave her a big grin. "You're a lifesaver," he said.
"Did you get the personnel records?" Joe asked as they went upstairs.
"Yeah," Frank answered. "But they're on disk so I'll check them out while you rest. Mr. Demar wants the disk back."
"Be sure and check out Danny Donaldson," Joe told him. "Paul said he was asking a lot of questions about me," he added.
"I will," Frank promised. He helped Joe out of his clothes and into his pajamas and waited for their mother to arrive before going into his own room to load the disk.
"Honey, come and have some dinner before you start that," Laura insisted, poking her head into his room from the bathroom that connected his and Joe's room.
"I'm not hungry," Frank told her. "Artie and I stopped for lunch on the way back to the studio from the park and I ate a bit too much."
"All right, then," Laura said. "I'll put you a plate in the refrigerator and you can nuke it later."
"Thanks," he said, glancing at her with a smile.
"I'm going over to Marla Anderson's for a little while," Laura told him. "Keep an eye on your brother," she requested.
"I will," he promised. "Have fun."
Frank pulled up Danny's file. Knowing Joe would want to see it, he hit print then moved on to Kenny Parsons. Frank also printed Artie's, Paul's and Beverly's files. Finally, he printed up the missing models. Troy Spencer and Jeff Benatar. Taking the papers with him, he went through the bathroom into Joe's room, dropping the papers and grabbing the hand that landed on his shoulder as he passed the threshold.