Sorry about publishing this a little early. I will be out tomorrow at the time I usually publish and fear I will forget with the upset to my routine.
I hope you enjoy this chapter and thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews you gave the last chapter! They mean so much!
"Have you heard from Joe?"
Immediately Frank's mind filled with alarm bells. He was at the Mortons' house, working on a school project with Chet. Although Joe had been invited over, he had elected to stay late at school so he could watch the wrestling team. He had shown an interest in joining and Laura had thought it was an excellent idea, the perfect way for Joe to get rid of some of his extra energy while making friends he hadn't met through his older brother.
A quick glance at the time told Frank that practice had finished about half an hour beforehand. He could remember his mother and Joe working out exactly what their plan was going to be. Laura would pick Joe up from the school gates after practice finished, earlier if he decided wrestling was not for him and wanted to go home. Joe should have already been back with their mother.
"No, no, I haven't," Frank stammered, trying not to let the nerves seep into his voice.
But he was terrified. Where was Joe? Their father had recently gone away to New York to tie up some ends with a case. Had someone waited until the detective was out of town to make their move?
He put the call on speakerphone so that he could send a text to Joe, asking to know where he was. Laura's voice was tight with worry, immediately drawing a concerned expression from Chet.
"I've spoken to the coach," Laura told him. "He is saying Joe was at practice but that he disappeared almost as soon as it finished. I was only a few minutes late. I just got stuck in traffic but when I got here he was gone."
Frank drank in the information, trying to eliminate possibilities. But he didn't feel like there was anything he could rule out.
"I don't want to call the police unless we have to. If Joe is out there of his own accord, it will only panic him," Laura pointed out.
Frank was forced to agree. His father had been desperately trying to make progress in the way Joe viewed the police but it was very slow going. He had been through far too much at the hands of cops to immediately trust them. But if someone had taken him, calling the police might be the best thing.
"I'm going to ask Mrs Morton if she can drive me to the school. See if I can pick up any clues as to where Joe might have gone," Frank said. "Where are you now?"
Laura told Frank she was driving all the possible routes Joe might have taken home if he had decided to walk back. Frank praised her for the smart idea and promised to keep her updated if he found anything. Chet was still staring at Frank as he ended the call.
"Is Joe really missing?"
"Joe might have just run off to get some space. He sneaks out sometimes when he doesn't think we realise."
Frank knew it was dangerous but he knew that Joe was benefitting from having the space to explore the town at his own pace and he always made it back safely so they couldn't really complain.
"But there's a chance this isn't just Joe going off to get space and that means we have to find him as quickly as possible. He's never done this before: disappeared when he knows he is meant to be somewhere at a certain time."
Chet pulled out his phone, saying he knew some people on the wrestling club. He could message them and see if they had seen where Joe had gone when the practice had ended. Frank thanked him. He was just getting up to find Mrs Morton when he collided with Iola. She immediately read his expression.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Frank glanced back at Chet, trying to work out if he should worry Iola when it could turn out to be nothing at all. But Chet nodded. Frank got the feeling it was more because he didn't think there was any point trying to conceal it from Iola when she might be able to help.
"Joe's missing. He was meant to meet our mom outside the school after wrestling practice but he didn't show up."
"Is he missing as in kidnapped or missing as in hiding out in the woods again?" Iola questioned.
"We don't know," Frank admitted.
He glanced down at his phone, seeing Joe had not replied to his text. Grimacing, Frank called him. The call did not connect. Alarm bells began ringing. Frank would have loved it if Joe had answered but he would have accepted Joe declining the call. At least then he could have created a scenario in which Joe was okay but feeling overwhelmed and declining calls because he couldn't face the idea of answering them. But no. With the calls not even connecting, Frank was forced to face the idea of Joe's phone being taken from him and smashed by thugs roughly bundling him into the back of a van.
A fresh wave of terror gripped him. He needed to get to the school as soon as possible.
"Mrs Morton!" he called into the house.
Frank was just climbing into Mrs Morton's car when Iola threw open the front door and raced out into the yard.
"I've found him!" she shouted.
She was waving her phone about excitedly and Frank could see there was still a call connected. He raced over to her as she hurriedly explained she had called around the houses of people she knew from the wrestling team and Biff Hooper, from her homeroom, had said he knew exactly where Joe was. At his house.
Frank easily filled in the gaps. Biff was an energetic, sociable young man who relished in any excuse to move. He was on almost every team the school had, including the wrestling team. Frank could imagine that he and Joe would have hit it off if they ended up talking at the practice but why Joe had gone home with Biff, why he wasn't answering calls... that was beyond him.
Frank took the phone from Iola, immediately calling his brother's name into it.
"Hey," Joe replied, sheepishly.
"What on Earth are you doing? Scaring us like that?" Frank snapped. "Mom is out looking for you. I was heading to the school to see if you had been kidnapped!"
He immediately regretted the tone he had taken because Joe's voice suddenly became very defensive.
"It's not my fault Mrs Hardy forgot about me," Joe snapped.
"Forgot?" Frank spluttered.
He believed his mother when she said she was only a few minutes late. Laura didn't lie to him. And she certainly didn't forget them she had agreed to pick up one of her sons when Joe being left to walk home alone could turn out to be so dangerous. But Frank could already think of a probable series of events. Joe got out of practice early, or even on time. He saw Laura wasn't there, maybe waited a minute or so. Biff invited Joe around his house. And Joe, used to the terrible parenting of the Bramptons, assumed he had been forgotten and that he might as well take Biff up on the offer.
"Why didn't you just call Mom?" Frank sighed, hoping his voice only gave away exasperation.
Exasperation didn't put Joe on edge. It didn't make him feel like he needed to fight back.
"My phone is flat," Joe admitted.
Frank grimaced. He bit back the urge to scold Joe for not thinking ahead and letting his phone run down. What mattered was just getting their family reunited. Then they could talk to Joe once things had calmed down.
"I need to call Mom," Frank told Joe. "She is worried sick about you."
He paused, about to hang up when he had a thought.
"Can you get me the Hoopers' phone number so I can pass a number on to mom?"
The Hoopers lived in a pleasant house not too far from the Morton's. In fact, the Morton farm was on the way from the Hardy house to the Hoopers' which was the reason Frank had requested his mother collect him. He knew his mother had called ahead, knew Joe was aware they were coming. He wanted to come in case Joe had gotten himself worked up, was considering running away. He hoped he might be able to help calm things down.
There were five members of the Hooper family, Biff being the youngest of three brothers. Frank could see Mrs Hooper, a squarely built woman with the same blonde hair as her youngest son, waiting in the window as Laura pulled up on their driveway. Mrs Hooper was opening the front door before Frank and Laura had even managed to get out of their car.
"I'm so sorry," she rushed, hurrying towards them. "I didn't realise he hadn't told you he was coming round ours. He said it would be okay."
Laura batted a hand about dismissively, saying that it was okay.
"We've found him now. He just gave us quite a scare. Is he inside?"
Mrs Hooper nodded.
"Waiting for you in the kitchen."
Biff Hooper was watching from the top of the stairs as Frank and Laura made their way into the home. He met Frank's eye, seeming to be about to ask a question before deciding against it. Instead, he watched as mother and son moved through his house.
The Hooper family kitchen was cluttered with all sorts of cooking equipment, a high kitchen island in the centre of the room. Joe was sitting on one of the raised bar stalls around it, his school bag on the table in front of him. He was wearing his coat, looking ready to go at a moment's notice.
He didn't react as Frank and Laura entered.
"Joe," Laura called.
There was an unsteadiness to her voice. She was battling back relieved sobs.
"What happens now?" Joe asked.
He didn't look at them. His eyes were on his hands.
Laura took a steadying breath, glancing down at Frank. Then she moved forwards. She put a hand on Joe's shoulder.
"Why don't you go and wait in the car?" she told him. "Frank, could you go with him?"
Frank nodded. He could tell his mother needed a moment to gather herself, needed a few seconds to speak to Mrs Hooper. She had been as terrified as Frank had been, still pale at the thought of something terrible happening to her boy.
Joe turned. For the first time, his eyes landed on Frank and Laura. Frank studied him, wondering what sort of reaction they were going to get. And he could see Joe was defensive. He understood he had done something wrong, caused a problem. He was preparing to defend his actions.
"Come on," Frank said calmly, guiding Joe gently out toward the car.
Frank did not enjoy the ride home. He knew there was some victory in it. Joe was safely back with them. They were taking him home where they knew he couldn't get into trouble. But there was tension in the car. Laura was going through a cycle of emotions, radiating such an intensity that Frank would have been nervous to talk to her. Joe looked like he wanted to jump out of the car at the first opportunity.
Just as they were entering their neighbourhood, Laura decided to speak. She kept her eyes fixed upon the road, fought to keep her voice level.
"Joe, you cannot be doing this," Laura said, firmly.
Joe glowered.
"Doing what? I just went to a friend's. That's what you told me to do. Make friends."
Maybe it was his tone or the way Joe seemed to have no understanding of what he had done but Laura snapped.
"It is not the making friends I have a problem with and you know it!"
Immediately she regretted it. Joe turned sharply to her.
"Do I know it? Because you're acting like I'm some dumb kid who needs to be supervised wherever he goes!"
Frank winced. He thought about intervening but didn't think it would help anything.
"You know that is not what I mean!"
Joe went to exchange another barb but Laura raised her hand to request a moment of silence. Turning down the next street, she drew in a deep breath and continued, her voice tight but quiet.
"You scared me, Joe," Laura said. "I know in New York you were allowed to do what you wanted when you wanted but that is not how this is going to work in this family. If you are planning on staying out after dark, you need to tell me. I need to know where you go in case something happens."
Joe had been expecting an argument. He was startled into silence by the sudden quiet of the car. Frank watched him try to summon a response before he turned to glare out of the window.
"I do not want to scare you and I am not going to force you to stay at home but you can't do this, Joe. Marsden was active in this town once. He might still have friends here who could wish to do you harm. And your father is a famous detective. And you left enemies in New York. It's not like we were able to keep your return to us a secret. One of them might come after you."
She took another steadying breath to stop the waves of emotion that were creeping into her voice as she spoke.
"What was your plan when you were done at the Hoopers?" she asked.
"I don't know," Joe grumbled. "Walk home if they wouldn't let me stay the night."
Frank noticed his mother's hands tightening on the steering wheel. If Iola had not thought to call the Hooper family, they might have feared Joe was missing for an entire night. They likely would have called the police, started a town-wide search.
But she picked a different option to focus on.
"Walk home at night? In the dark? Joe, you're fourteen. I don't want you out there in the middle of the night where anyone could find you. Your phone wasn't even working."
Joe had a response prepared, no doubt some witty, sharp barb meant to further his point but Laura continued and the gentleness of her tone was able to subdue him far better than any attack.
"I'm your mother, Joe. It's my job to worry about you, to do all I can to keep you safe. And I know I failed. Trust me, I know. But the Bramptons failed too."
It was with those words that Laura pulled into their driveway. She glanced back at Frank in the rearview mirror, silently requesting he give her and Joe space to talk. Feeling compelled to say something to Joe, Frank leant forward and told Joe he was really glad to have him back home safe. Then he climbed out of the car and headed into the house.
Joe turned toward Laura. He fixed his eyes on her, scanning every inch of her. He was looking for muscles tightly coiling in preparation for an attack. He needed to be ready if she lashed out at him.
Laura read the assessment from the way his eyes played over her. She shook her head, sighing. She tried to shift into a non-threatening position but her every gesture seemed to put Joe on edge.
"I am not going to ground you because I think it is important you make friends right now. But I am going to be driving you to and from school every day unless you call me up and tell me who you are going to be with and when you are going to be finished," Laura said, studying Joe in the mirror. "But this is your only chance. If you lie to me about this or you fail to tell me where you are going to go, I will be grounding you. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Joe growled back.
Laura paused, watching as he turned to the door to get out. She caught his arm.
"I don't think you do understand, Joe," Laura said, softly. "I am not doing this because I want you to feel like you're some sort of prisoner. I am not doing this because you're some property that belongs to me. You're my son. I lost you once and I don't want to ever have to go through that again. And I don't ever want you to have to go through the things Marsden put you through again. I want what's best for you. I want you to grow up to be happy and healthy and feel loved. And I want you to be safe. I can't keep you safe if I don't know where you are and I can't protect you if you go out at night and some man snatches you off the streets."
She took a deep breath, very aware of the fact that her son was not even turning to look at her.
"I guess this isn't what you're used to. The Bramptons didn't notice when you stayed out for the night?"
Joe nodded weakly.
"Well, we're going to. And we're going to worry."
Laura paused.
"Maybe, tomorrow, we could invite the Mortons and your new friend, Biff, over. I'll let you off me picking you up if you promise to walk back with Frank and them and you can get to know them."
Joe said nothing. He found himself looking out of the window, trying to work out what his next move should be. And his gaze dropped to his wing mirror. His reflection stared back at him. It was easy for him to forget just how much he looked like Laura given how Fenton's genetics had seemed to be entirely overpowering when they had made Frank. But there was so much of her in him. And as his attention drifted onto her, he found himself staring.
There was something very useful about knowing how a person reacted to you when they thought you weren't looking. Joe had grown up aware some of the people who professed to be his greatest allies were actually scheming against him. Marsden's closest advisors, who acted like Joe was one of them when they were with Marden had been plotting ways to get rid of the kid they feared might one day run the organisation. Joe had learnt to watch what people did in reflections, to listen by doorways you had just left from.
And Laura was staring at him like her heart was breaking. There was such a desperation across her face. All she wanted was for him to be okay. And even without the knowledge her son was watching, Laura radiated that need.
"I'd… I'd like that," Joe said, turning to her. "Thank you for noticing I wasn't there."
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