Biff stopped mid-stride and stumbled. He came to a stop just short of the person he had almost tackled. The person stopped and swung around at the noise. Biff was surprised when he looked into Joe's face. "We've been chasing you? We thought someone grabbed you," Biff said.
"Went…t'get…flashlight. Came back…saw…someone…near…van," Joe was breathing heavily, almost gasping. "Went…that way…" Joe pointed towards the park at the end of the street. Then he bent over and put his hands on his knees for support. Joe's eyes were streaming and he quickly tried to swipe at them with his sleeve.
"Hey, take it easy," Frank interrupted. "Sit down on the curb for a minute. You need to catch your breath."
Joe ignored Frank and continued, "Couldn't … catch him. Keep…looking," he panted and started to limp in the direction he had pointed.
Frank closed the distance quickly and stopped Joe. "No Joe, we probably won't catch up with him now anyway. Sit down for a minute," he said, his brow creased with worry as he listened to Joe's labored breathing.
Joe finally relented and eased down onto the curb amidst the fallen leaves. His lungs were burning and he felt like he couldn't get enough oxygen.
"I'll go check it out," Biff volunteered seeing that Joe didn't want to let this go. He streaked off towards the park.
"Why…trouble…catching my…breath?" Joe asked.
"Well, first because you were supposed to be resting but instead you're out running sprints, second because you keep talking instead of breathing and third because of what the ammonia fumes did to your lungs. It just takes a little while to recover from that," Frank said as he placed a hand on Joe's back, subconsciously reassuring both of them.
Joe hated this feeling more than anything. He knew if he had been in better shape, then he would have been able to take that guy down a few blocks ago. As it was, he could hardly breathe. He tried to take a deep breath and started to cough. Spots danced in front of his eyes and he lowered his head towards his knees.
Biff came back then, "I couldn't find any sign of a person. It's pretty dark in the park though."
"Thanks…for…looking," Joe said punctuating each break with a cough.
Frank turned to Biff and asked, "Can you go back to the house and get the van and then pick us up?"
"Sure thing," Biff said and he was off in a flash.
"I can…walk…back," Joe said as he started to get up. Breathing was starting to get a little easier, but he could tell he might pay for that little run in more ways than one as the ache in his head started and he coughed again.
"No way baby brother; we'll wait. It will only take a few minutes," Frank said, putting a restraining hand on his shoulder and holding him down. Frank watched him carefully and wished there was something more tangible he could do to help Joe.
After a few minutes, Joe answered Frank's unvoiced question, "I'm okay…I can breathe better…now. Don't worry."
"Where you're concerned, I always worry. That's my job as a big brother," Frank said as they sat in the damp autumn leaves.
Biff showed up five minutes later with the van and Mr. Hardy, who would not accept the "Frank and Joe are both fine," that Biff tried to offer.
"Are you both okay?" Fenton asked quickly looking both of them over from head to toe. "Joe, you're flushed," he added as he saw the red hue of Joe's face illuminated by the head lights of the van.
"We're okay, Dad," Frank said as he carefully pulled Joe to his feet. "Joe found someone watching him as he was looking over the work on the van so he tried to chase him down, but we lost him."
Fenton shook his head slightly as he draped his arm carefully around Joe's shoulders and led him away from the other boys to the van. He said quietly, "What would you have done with him Joe if you had caught him? Don't you think he might have been able to overpower you? Even if he was a suspect, wait for backup next time."
"Sorry Dad," Joe said looking miserable. He knew it was stupid after he had gotten a block away, but he was never one to give up a good chase. "I should have thought about that," Joe answered as he climbed into the back of the van and leaned his head against the cool glass waiting for everyone else to get in.
Fenton climbed in beside him and said quietly, "I just don't want you to end up back in the hospital Joe," he said seriously, then added with a smile, "I don't think our insurance rates could take it at this point."
An hour later Frank and Joe were sitting alone at the kitchen table, having to content themselves with a snack from the kitchen rather than a trip to Mr. Pizza to which Laura had given a resounding "No!" once the boys came in and Fenton explained what had happened.
"Frank, this seems like one of those cases where the list of suspects is so short that it should be really easy to figure out," Joe said as he pulled more chips out of the bag and used them to scoop out mounds of French onion dip from the container.
"It's called 'dip' you know, not 'scoop'. Are you going to leave any for the rest of us?"
Joe gave him a scowl and continued eating.
"I know what you mean," Frank said. "Did you get a glimpse of the person you were chasing, anything that might help us?"
"Nothing useful really. I'm pretty sure he had on a Bayport High jacket, but it was dark and not very easy to tell. I don't think he was used to running, not really a trained athlete, but he wasn't in bad shape," Joe said. "If I had been in better shape, I could have nailed him and this case would be solved," Joe muttered and pushed the chips and an almost empty container of dip away.
"You're not out of shape Joe, you got hurt. You'll be back playing football and tackling suspects before you know it. Just give yourself a break," Frank said. "We have two weeks until the Southport game and I'm sure you'll be fine by then."
"You're right," Joe sighed.
"I know I am," Frank grinned, "I'm just glad you finally accepted it."
Joe chucked his balled up napkin at Frank.
"What was he doing when you spotted him?" Frank asked.
"Well, he was near the side door of the van. I think he was still hoping that the notebook was inside somewhere," Joe said. "I was in the garage for a few minutes hunting through the mess that Mom wants cleaned up looking for a flashlight. I don't think that he got very far in his search though."
"So we know he is still looking for the notebook and is willing to take risks in order to get it back," Frank said, "What else do we know? Oh, hold on I'm going to get a copy of what was written in the notebook."
A few minutes later, the boys were examining the text again.
"Well, it says 'It was supposed to be my part – not his' and it certainly didn't look like a girl I was chasing tonight, so we can probably rule out any girls," Joe said while stirring his chocolate milk. "See, I eliminated half the world's population as suspects, can you do better than that?" he said smiling at his brother.
"What would I do without you Joe?" Frank said distractedly still staring at the paper. "Well, we know revenge is the motive, he says so himself. And he also says rehearsals will be fun for him. Well, if the rehearsals are fun for him then it stands to reason that he is still part of the play in someway or has at least been around the rehearsals."
"That makes sense," Joe said. "Especially since he had to be there to knock the ladder over and knock me on the head."
"Well, that also means that Ryan, the only other person who didn't get the lead role is probably not who we are looking for. Have you seen him hanging around the rehearsals at all?" Frank asked.
Joe stared at the ceiling and after searching his memory, finally said, "No. I haven't seen him around at all after school. I just can't see him doing anything like this anyways. He is always helpful and…well just a nice guy."
"This is really strange when you look at it," Frank said. "If he really wanted the part, why didn't he audition for it like everyone else? At least then, he could have had a fair chance. Was anyone allowed to audition?" he asked.
"Yeah, I just signed up on the form and showed up at the scheduled time. I didn't have to do anything special," Joe said just as his cell phone rang on the table.
He picked up his phone quickly as smiled when he saw the name. "Hey Ness!" he said as he answered and went into the living room for a little privacy.
A few minutes later, Joe walked back into the kitchen to join his brother.
"What did Vanessa have to say?" Frank asked as he looked up from the paper he had been reading over and over.
"She told me that they scheduled another rehearsal for tomorrow since the one on Friday got cut short due to the ammonia spill. We need to go Frank. The play opens on Thursday night. We have no idea when this guy is going to put his plan in motion," Joe said his blue eyes flashing. "People are in danger."
"You are in danger Joe. He is not going to let any loose ends remain and he seems to consider you and that notebook loose ends," Frank said. "We'll go, but you stick with me."