J.M.J.
Author's note: Thank you for continuing to read! Thank you especially to Candylou, MargaretA66, ErinJordan, and max2013 for your reviews on the previous chapter! Whew, another one that I had to rewrite completely from scratch. I think this should be about the last one that will be like that. In any case, I hope you enjoy. God bless!
Chapter XV
"I haven't any idea what would be in those boxes," John Beretta said.
Joe and Sam had returned to the hospital and were asking about the boxes which they had discovered in Mario's apartment. Neither John nor Belle could shed any light on what the attacker might have been searching for.
"I doubt Mario even knows what's in some of them," Belle added. "Some of it did belong to Mom and Dad. It sounds like he did have a box or two of his own stuff, but I wouldn't know anything about that, either. All I know is that I could never bear to look through the boxes of Mom and Dad's stuff. We were going to throw them away, but Mario couldn't do that, so he took them. I doubt if he's gone through them."
Joe frowned in discouragement. "It would make sense if the attacker was looking for something in one of those boxes. Your parents were somewhat involved with Black Rose. There might have been some kind of evidence in there without us ever knowing."
"They were also involved with Evangeline's father," John pointed out. "Maybe there was something she wanted from those boxes."
"It's possible," Sam admitted, "but she's never said anything to indicate that. All she's ever said she wanted was revenge. Besides, she claims that she hated her father. I doubt she'd want anything that had to do with him. Black Rose definitely has the stronger motive."
"But why would they try to take it now?" Belle asked. "They've had plenty of time before this."
"They couldn't frame Evangeline for it until she was out of jail," Joe pointed out. "If they really were the ones behind it, it looks like they were trying to do just that."
"So they were just waiting until Evangeline was out of jail?" Belle replied with a shake of her head.
Joe and Sam looked at one another as the same thought occurred to them both. Maybe Black Rose hadn't just been waiting.
"Excuse us. We need to talk for a second," Sam said.
He and Joe retreated to a part of the waiting area where they could talk without anyone eavesdropping.
"Do you think Black Rose could have gotten Evangeline paroled?" Joe asked.
"I don't know," Sam replied. "I don't know how much influence they have. They would have had to get to the parole board and bribe or threaten them."
"What about the psychiatrist who testified that Evangeline is reformed? They could have bribed or threatened her."
"Possibly. That wouldn't have guaranteed she'd get out."
"Here's another idea," Joe said after a moment's thought. "Maybe they didn't get her out, but maybe it's still not a coincidence. I mean, since she's out, Black Rose might have thought they needed to act now to get to Mario, before Evangeline would beat them to him."
"That could be, too," Sam agreed. "I'm going to make some phone calls and see if I can learn anything."
HBHBHBHBHB
Officer Burns was shaking his head as he and Frank stepped off the elevator onto the floor of the hospital where Lisa Prito had her room. The floor was fairly quiet, as the hospital had moved as many patients as possible to other floors to keep this one clear. Fortunately, the hospital didn't have a large influx of patients at the moment. However, there were quite a few police officers, doctors, nurses, janitors, and hospitality staff on the floor.
"What's wrong?" Frank asked his partner, noting his look of disapproval.
"There are too many people," Burns said. "We're not going to be able to keep this up for long without someone slipping."
"True," Frank admitted, thinking that it would have been better if they had found a way to get Lisa somewhere so hidden that Black Rose would have no idea where she was. He didn't say it out loud, of course; he didn't want to be the one to let some inkling of what was really going on slip to the wrong person. After all, hospital staff who were in on the plan had been kept to an absolute minimum: only those who needed to know to arrange the whole thing and those who would have to go into Lisa's room to keep up appearances knew that Lisa wasn't really in a coma.
While Frank and Burns checked in with the officers who were on duty, Frank noted that none of the other Pritos were still in the waiting room. However, the officers mentioned that Maria was in Lisa's room.
"Fenton Hardy thought that it would look the most natural if at least one of them was with her as much as the hospital rules allows, but that the rest of them wouldn't be hanging around the waiting room all the time," one of the officers explained. His name was Daryl Emmett and he had been on the Bayport police force for nearly eight years. Not all the officers in the department had been told the full story of what was happening with Lisa Prito; only those who could be absolutely trusted and would be needed for guard duty.
"No doubt he's right," Burns replied with a nod. "Any idea what this meeting is about?"
Neither he nor Frank was on duty at the moment, but they had been called in for a special meeting with Fenton and Chief Collig at the hospital. Neither of those two appeared to have arrived yet.
Emmett's partner, Tate Kelly, nodded. "I think we'd better let the chief explain when he gets here."
The enigmatic non-answer only piqued Frank's curiosity more, although he had an inkling what this might be about. He found a spot where he could see the elevator and leaned against the wall to watch and wait.
When the elevator stopped at that floor a few minutes later, he expected to see his father and the chief of police step off it, but it was neither of them. Instead it was Iola Morton, looking a little unsure of herself. Instantly, Emmett and Kelly started toward her.
"It's okay," Frank told them. "She's a friend of mine. And Lisa's. She knows what's going on here."
Iola heard him and she looked relieved to find someone she knew there. Frank went to meet her.
"Hi, Iola. What are you doing here?" he asked, trying not to sound abrupt.
"I thought I'd see how everything was going," Iola replied. "You know, it's much fun just sitting around and wondering. How is it going?"
"As far as I know, it's not going anywhere. Nothing's happening. Which is good, I guess. It might not have been such a good idea for you to come here."
"Why not?" Iola asked. "If Lisa had really been hurt, I would have come to visit her."
"Shh," Frank warned her, instinctively looking around to see if anyone was close enough to overhear. "There might be some people on this floor who don't realize she hasn't been."
"Sorry."
"You might be right," Frank admitted, "but we've already talked about this. Under the circumstances, I don't think she'd be allowed any visitors, which works well for us. I wouldn't put it past Black Rose to try to slip someone in here under the guise of a friend."
"You don't think I'm secretly Black Rose?" Iola asked. She was a bit unsure whether she was teasing or not.
"Of course not, but we don't know all Lisa's friends," Frank explained. "It's easier to turn all of them away instead of just some."
"Fair enough," Iola admitted. She frowned. "I guess I might as well be going now."
Before she could turn away, Frank said, "Hold on. Since you did come all the way down here, Chief Collig might make an exception. He's going to be here in a few minutes. I have a feeling what he wants to talk about would be good for you to hear, too."
"Me? Why?"
"Just a feeling I have." Frank slipped his hands into his coat pockets. Even in the heated building, the weather outside still made it feel chilly. "Chet stopped by our place a couple of hours ago. It was a very strange visit."
"Oh?" Iola was trying a little too hard to sound as if she knew nothing about it and wasn't particularly interested.
"You didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"
"What makes you think I would?" Iola countered. When Frank didn't answer, she went on, "What was so strange about it, anyway?"
"He wanted to talk about Joe and about one case in particular. He seems to think everything started to go wrong during that case in Ziyou."
Iola gave him a puzzled look, clearly not understanding why he was telling her this. "Didn't it?"
"Yes and no. Some things were wrong before that and some didn't go wrong until afterwards. But it got me thinking about something."
"What?"
"Has Joe ever talked to you about ghosts?"
"Um, not that I remember."
Frank half-smiled. "I think you'd remember if he told you about this. What about Biff? Has he ever mentioned anything about ghosts to you?"
"No."
"That's what I thought. They evidently never told Chet about it. Joe wanted to talk to me about it one time, and Biff has never said a word to me. I wonder if they've ever talked to Phil about it. I suspect—I don't know for sure—but I suspect they talked it over with Tony. That doesn't do us much good now, though."
"Talked about what?" Iola asked.
"The ghost they believe they saw in Ziyou."
Iola shook her head as if she thought she hadn't heard right. "What? But I didn't think either one of them believed in ghosts any more than you do."
"They didn't, which is a point in their story's favor." Frank chewed his lip thoughtfully. Then he shrugged. "I don't know what it all means. Maybe it doesn't mean anything. I just seems like it should."
"I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying," Iola admitted.
Before Frank could reply, the elevator stopped on that floor again. This time, it was Fenton, along with Chief Collig and Captain Olaf.
"We can talk about it another time," Frank said. "Maybe by then I'll have it all sorted out."
They went to meet the newcomers, as did Burns, Emmett, and Kelly. Frank explained why he had asked Iola to stay, and Chief Collig agreed. Then the whole group went into Lisa's room. They found Lisa and Maria playing a game of checkers, both looking very bored. The girls looked up when the group came in.
Lisa only managed a shy general greeting, but Maria was bolder. "Hi. I hope one of you smuggled in a deck of cards. You know, checkers is the only game they have in this room, and after fifteen consecutive games of checkers, almost anything sounds fun in comparison."
"Sorry, Maria," Chief Collig said, smiling slightly. "You'll have to bring your own cards next time you come. Lisa, I brought that sketch back that the police artist did. I want you to take another look at it and see if you're really sure that it's the woman who was following you."
He opened a folder that he was carrying and showed the paper inside to Lisa. She studied it for several seconds, but Maria was the only other one who could see it, as she was hanging over Lisa's shoulder.
"Yes, I'm sure it's her," Lisa said finally.
"Do you know who she is?" Maria asked eagerly.
Collig didn't reply directly. Instead, he took the paper back from her and handed it to Frank. "What do you think?"
Frank took one look at the drawing and groaned. "How is that even possible?"
"Who is it?" Iola asked. She could see the drawing as Frank held it and she didn't recognize the woman in it.
"Her name is Alyssa Roche," Fenton said. "Frank, Joe, and I encountered her in Ziyou a couple of years ago. She was a Black Rose operative. There are just two problems. First, she claimed she had infiltrated Black Rose as an undercover agent. Another agent corroborated her story, so we didn't doubt it, even though many of her actions didn't look like she was on our side. The second problem is that she's supposed to be in jail."
"Well, she's not in jail now," Lisa insisted. "And if she's not really Black Rose, why would she be following me around and leaving those creepy flowers on Tony's grave and everything?"
"There's one person who might know," Frank said. "If we can get in touch with him."
"Who's that?" Maria asked.
"The agent who corroborated Alyssa's story," Fenton said, knowing who his son was thinking of without Frank having to explain further. "His name is Edmund Wight."
HBHBHBHBHB
"Are you sure he wants to talk to me?" Phil asked. He and Shaun were standing in front of Jazz's. It was one in the afternoon and the nightclub was dark and quiet. It didn't look like anyone was around.
Shaun realized he was biting his nails. He pulled his fingertips from his mouth and nodded as stoutly as he could. "I told you. I went here last night, and, uh, he recognized me and he said there was something more he could tell you after all, so he wanted you to come here today."
"Why didn't he just tell you last night?" Phil asked, watching as Shaun went straight back to biting his nails.
"Um, I don't know. Maybe there were too many people around and he didn't want overheard. Yeah, that was it. I'm sure it was."
Phil looked back at the door and frowned. There was something about this that he didn't like at all. For one thing, he was certain that Jazz disliked him just as much as he disliked Jazz. The nightclub owner wouldn't have sent for him when he could have just given the message to Shaun. For another, he didn't like how nervous Shaun was acting. It was out of character and unnerving.
"I've never seen you bite your nails before," Phil said pointedly.
Shaun whipped his hands behind his back and clasped them together. "It's just a nervous habit. I mean, a bad habit. Definitely a bad habit. Not nervous. What's there to be nervous about?"
"That's what I'd like to know." Phil took a deep breath and tried to think what the Hardys would do. They'd go through with it, he thought. "All right. Let's get this over with."
He led the way around to the back of the club. Shaun followed him, biting his nails all the way. As Phil reached the back door, one final desperate plea to turn around and get out of there came from some small corner of his brain. He faltered as he tried to knock on the door, but then he pushed the feeling aside and rapped against the door.
There was no response right away. The waiting made Shaun so nervous that he even forgot about biting his nails. He just stood there with his fingertips between his lips, as still as if he had been turned to stone.
Then the door opened and Jazz peered out. Despite the dark interior of the club, he was wearing dark glasses. He sighed when he saw who was at the door. "Should have listened to my advice, kid," he said as Phil came inside. "It's too late now."
Phil froze just inside the threshold. It was too dark in comparison to the outdoors to see much inside, but he could still see Jazz's face in the light from the doorway.
"Too late? What are you talking about?" he asked.
He had no sooner asked the question than he felt someone grab him from behind. Whoever the person was, he was strong and he had the element of surprise. He pinned Phil's arms to his side and then kicked at his legs to throw him off-balance. As Phil was struggling to break free, someone else came from in front and cuffed him hard in the face.
"You need to mind your own business, Cohen," a male voice told him. He thought it was the person who had hit him from in front. "Leave Darcy buried, or you'll be buried next to her."
"You said you weren't going to hurt anybody if I did what you told me," Shaun whined.
"Shut up!" the voice commanded him. "Or when we finish with him, we can work on you next."
After that came a rain of quick, heavy blows. Phil tried to defend himself—kicking, if he couldn't get his arms free—but he was no match for his assailants. He was vaguely aware of sinking to the floor and then there was darkness.