"Tony!" Frank greeted the driver in surprise. "You were following us? Why?"
"I was on my way to your place to show you my new car," Tony explained. "But I saw you leaving with Phil and thought I could catch up with you at his place." Tony stopped speaking and scowled. "But then you speeded up and headed off in a different direction so I decided to follow you in case you needed some help."
"We thought you might be my stalker," Frank told him ruefully.
"Nice car," Phil told Tony, stepping up beside Frank at the driver's window.
"Two years of saving, but she's all mine," Tony said with satisfaction, opening the door as the other boys stepped back. He got out of the car and looked appreciatively at his new wheels.
"You paid cash?" Phil demanded in surprise. "For a new car?" Tony nodded. "Your dad helped, right?"
"No," Tony denied with a shake of his head. "I've just been saving almost every dime I earned," he explained, grinning.
"That's great," Frank told him, clapping him on the back.
"Any leads on your stalker?" Tony asked, turning the conversation back to Frank's problem.
"Why don't you come on over to my place and Frank can fill you in when we get there?" suggested Phil.
"Sure," Tony agreed. "Just one question, though: Where's Joe?"
"He went to Camille's," said Frank.
"Oh." The single word, spoken so softly that Frank almost never heard it carried a connotation that immediately put Frank on edge.
"What?" demanded Frank, his sharp brown eyes narrowing speculatively on his friend.
"Nothing," Tony said, giving him and Phil a lame smile that let them know it was anything but. "I'll follow you guys."
"Not until you tell me what you meant," Frank said. "What's wrong? Has it something to do with Camille?"
"Look, I didn't mean to say anything," Tony started but Frank interrupted him in a clipped voice.
"If it is something to do with Camille then you have to tell me," Frank demanded. "Joe's my brother and if you know something that affects him you have to tell me."
"I don't think she's the right girl for Joe," Tony confessed.
"Why?" Phil asked in surprise.
"She's not as nice as she lets people think she is," Tony answered.
"She lets people think she's nice?" Phil asked dubiously. In his opinion, Camille was very outspoken and he felt most people were afraid she would say something embarrassing or hurtful and so shied away from her.
"Once you get to know her," Tony amended. "After Joe started dating her we gave her a chance and, you have to admit, she comes off as a very sweet girl, albeit, opinionated."
"True," acknowledged Frank. He had thought the same thing.
"But when I went to get my insurance for my new car she was at the hair salon next door. She was yelling at someone," Tony continued.
"Girls get upset if their hair isn't exactly right," Phil said with a shrug. "I know my mom sure does."
"Even Joe gets upset when he is having a bad hair day," Frank put in, aware it wasn't just a female thing.
"But the woman she was screaming at was apologizing for the inconvenience," Tony said, shaking his head. "It was over the appointment, not her hair."
"Maybe she was having a bad day," Frank suggested, frowning.
"Could be," Tony concurred with a shrug. "But she just doesn't seem like the type of girl Joe normally gets into. Iola and Vanessa were different but they were both really sweet and thoughtful and would have helped out anyone. I can't imagine either of them behaving the way Camille did."
"We don't really know Camille all that well," admitted Frank. "I just assumed that since she was Judge Lane's daughter that she was okay."
"Just because she isn't nice doesn't mean she isn't okay," Phil pointed out. "Are you going to tell Joe?"
Frank thought it over. "No," he said finally. "If she isn't nice, he will figure it out on his own. If I, or anyone, say anything without proof then he will take it personally and get mad."
"And spend even more time with her," Tony guessed. Frank nodded. "Okay, we keep quite about Camille. Now, how about we head to Phil's and get off the street?"
Joe arrived home almost an hour after Frank. "How was your night?" Frank asked Joe, going into his room and sitting down on the bed.
"Great," Joe replied, smiling as he pulled open a drawer and reached for his jammies. "I told Camille about the case and she raised a point we haven't considered." Joe went on to tell Frank about her idea that the stalker had to be someone they had spoken with recently, unless someone they had talked to had mentioned Reynolds to the stalker.
"Not bad," Frank approved of her theory. "Because we know we haven't been followed. Let's make a list," he said, going to Joe's desk and sitting down. He took a piece of paper and a pencil then looked over at Joe. "Who all did you talk to about the case?" he asked. "Long time friend or not," he clarified.
"Camille, Riley, O'Neil, the chief, you, mom and dad," Joe answered. "There aren't all that many people to talk to in the hospital," he pointed out. "What about you?"
"Phil, Chet, Tony, Callie, Liz, and Biff," Frank answered, jotting their names down. "We discussed the case at lunch today."
"What about Karen and Helen?" Joe asked, naming Biff's and Chet's girlfriends who normally sat with them at lunch.
"Helen was absent and Liz skipped lunch," Frank informed his brother. He looked at the names he had written down. "None of these could be our stalker," he said, frustrated. "We've known everyone except for Camille and Officer O'Neil for ages. And Camille likes you , not me, and O'Neil was on duty when Reynolds was snatched."
"Dr. Reynolds did say the stalker was probably someone we have known awhile," Joe reminded Frank.
"Yeah, I know," Frank said in a deadpan voice. "The sad truth is that one of our closest friends has decided to reveal themselves as the psycho they are. Get real!" he demanded.
"So, maybe it is someone following you but only some of the time," Joe suggested, his lips turning down a bit as his brain screamed at him to remember something that he couldn't recall.
"I feel like we are going around in circles," Frank said wearily.
"Has Chief Collig called yet?" Joe asked.
"Yes," answered Frank. "Dr. Reynolds never had a liaison with anyone on the force. Whoever he was supposed to have met was not a cop."
"Looks like we need to talk to Lacey again," Joe said. "And we still have to go to Stoney's Gym." Frank nodded. "Anything else?" Joe asked, seeing the look on Frank's face that told him his brother had something on his mind.
"I was just wondering how things are going between you and Camille?" Frank asked a bit too casually.
Joe's blue eyes lit up and he broke into a huge grin, the kind that transformed his face into a heart. "Great!" he said, falling down onto his bed and looking up at the ceiling as he put his hands behind his head. "She's awesome! Honestly, I never thought I would meet anyone that I like better than Vanessa but I have!"
"Better than Vanessa?" Frank gasped in surprise. "But..but you've only known Camille for a month!"
"What do I need to know?" retorted Joe, still grinning broadly. "She's wonderful! She really likes me and we have a lot in common. But not too much. We're different enough so that I doubt we could ever grow bored with each other. And her dad is a judge so mom and dad have no qualms about her. She's..." he broke off, searching for the right word. "She's perfect! Matter of fact, I can easily see us spending the rest of our lives together."