J.M.J.
Author's note: Thank you for continuing to read! Thanks especially to Candylou and max2013 for your reviews! It's great to hear from both of you; it's like seeing an old friend again! I hope you enjoy this next chapter. God bless!
Chapter II
"I know. It's just that it's tight enough already, just trying to make rent. You don't want me to have to live on ramen noodles, do you?"
That was as much as Joe and Phil heard of Tony's phone conversation as they entered the apartment that they all shared. Tony's German shepherd, Axel, came bounding toward the door as soon as he heard it open, and Tony cut off his conversation to get after him.
"No, Axel, get down!" he ordered the dog.
Joe scratched the dog's ears as he jumped up so the he could lick Joe's face. "Hey, Axel. How're you doing, pal?"
"I wish you wouldn't let him do that," Tony complained. Then he said into the phone, "Hey, Sis, I'm going to have to call you back. Phil and Joe just rolled in." He ended the call and then told his roommates, "She says to tell you hi."
"She who?" Phil asked, bending down to take his turn petting Axel. "You've got three sisters, you know."
"Maria, the middle one." Tony headed back toward the kitchen. "Say, what brought you guys in from the beach so early? There's still a good three hours of daylight. And where's Shaun? I thought you all drove together."
"Uh, Shaun is hanging out with some friends," Joe replied, making for the bedroom he shared with Shaun to change out of his swim trunks.
Tony turned around long enough to give him a suspicious look. "And why aren't you hanging out with those friends? Phil, I can see, but you?"
Joe pretended not to hear him as he closed the bedroom door behind him. Tony shifted his questioning look to Phil, who shuffled his feet and shrugged slightly.
"It was kind of crowded at the beach," was the only explanation Phil offered before retreating to the other bedroom in the apartment to change.
Tony looked at Axel, who cocked his head and looked back. "I guess that means whatever's up with those two is none of our business, huh, Ax?" He went to the refrigerator and rummaged around in the freezer, but there wasn't much there to choose from. He mentally berated himself for not stopping by a grocery store on the way back from the outreach event. After a couple seconds' deliberation, he pulled out a frozen pizza and started getting it ready to put in the oven.
He couldn't help being a bit curious what was going on with his two friends. Generally, Joe could roll with the punches and not let anything bother him, and Phil didn't usually get into any trouble in the first place. As for coming home without Shaun, that was really unusual, especially since they had taken his Jeep to the beach. Tony couldn't quite believe that he would have given the others the go-ahead to take his Jeep to get out of a social situation.
Phil emerged from his and Tony's room before Joe came out of his. He was wearing a t-shirt from Greenberg University, where he had graduated that spring. "Frozen pizza for supper again?" he asked, not hiding how unimpressed he was.
Tony shrugged. "If we don't want to eat frozen food, someone around here is going to have to learn how to cook. And be here enough of the time to actually do it."
Phil flopped into a chair at the table. It creaked loudly in protest. "You know how some people daydream about coming out to California? They're nuts, all of them."
"It's not like you know how to cook back in Bayport."
"That's not what I meant. It's everything here."
"If you'd grown up here, you'd like it," Tony pointed out. "You're just homesick."
Phil didn't reply. He didn't particularly want to admit it, but it was true. He was far more homesick than he had ever been at college.
"Maybe," Tony went on, leaning back against the counter, "it would help if you cut down on beach time a little."
"And do what?" Phil countered. He didn't wait for Tony to respond before he went on, "I mean, I wouldn't mind. I just don't know what else I'd do. That's the problem with this place. I don't know anyone here besides you and Joe and Shaun. You've got to fight the traffic to get anywhere. Everything is twice as expensive as it is back home, and once I actually get someplace, it really isn't any fun, so, yeah. Might as well sit on the beach and be bored as sit somewhere else and be bored."
"Why don't you just go home, then?"
Phil sighed. "I can't. I've got my high-paying job in exactly the field I studied to be in. I can't just quit after a couple of months. Besides, in this business, you're pretty much going to be on the west coast no matter what, so I might as well get used to it."
The oven beeped to signal that it was preheated, which offered a welcome break in the conversation and a chance to change the subject. Yet that didn't stop either one of them from thinking about it. Truth be told, Tony had been thinking a lot about going home. It wasn't that he disliked California like Phil did, but he was more than a little homesick, too. He missed his family especially. That was what Maria had been calling about, trying to convince him to come home. She framed it that it would just be for a visit, but Tony knew that once he was there, his parents and sisters would all try to talk him into not going back, just like they had last time. The problem was that there wasn't anything for him to do there. Of course, he could always work for his dad in his construction business, but Tony knew already that that wasn't for him. Somehow, he couldn't find anything that was, and he'd been wrestling with that for a long time.
Joe finally emerged from his bedroom about the time the pizza was ready. He was recovered somewhat from the shock of seeing Darcy again, and he was determined not to let her ruin one more second of his time than he could help. "Mmm. That smells great," he declared, grabbing a slice. He took a big bite out of it, but then he noticed that Tony had paused to silently say grace. Joe felt a little prick of conscience and closed his eyes to say a quick prayer himself.
"So, Tony, how was the young adult group thing?" Joe asked, his mouth full.
"It was good," Tony said and then gave a few highlights. When he finished, he added, "How was the beach, besides crowded?"
Joe stopped chewing for a second. "The waves were good," he said finally. "I didn't wipe out, so that was a plus. How's Maria? Is she starting college yet?"
"Yeah, she just started at that one in Virginia," Tony explained. "It's not quite as far from home as Lisa and I have gone."
"What's Lisa doing these days?" Joe asked. Like most of Tony's friends, Joe's relationship with Tony's oldest sister was strained. In her high school days, Lisa had been condescending and unpleasant and had gotten herself into a lot of trouble. She had patched things up with her family fairly well, but there were still some raw wounds when it came to other people in her life.
"She's in Illinois in college," Tony replied. "She had been home over the summer. Dad gave her a summer job working in the office. She really likes it. College, that is."
The conversation continued on with mostly small talk. Eventually, Phil went into his room to read some more. Joe started a movie on his laptop, and after a few minutes, Tony became interested enough to watch.
It was a little after ten-thirty by the time Shaun showed up.
"Hey, Joe, what was up with you swiping my Jeep and stranding me at the beach?" he asked as soon as he was inside the door. He didn't sound too upset, but he was definitely confused. "That text Phil sent didn't tell me much. Darcy thought you must have gotten sick."
"Sorry about that," Joe replied. "We, uh…"
"You were trying to avoid Darcy," Shaun finished for him. "You'd have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see that. What is she, your crazy ex-girlfriend?"
"As a matter of fact, she's Phil's crazy ex-girlfriend," Joe said, squirming.
Shaun snorted in amusement. "Phil had a girlfriend? And a crazy one to boot? Huh. Who woulda thought? I mean, he's so square, I wouldn't have thought a girl like Darcy would date him. Wait, is he around?"
"Darcy?" Tony asked. He looked over at Joe. "You mean, the Darcy that I worked with for a little while and Phil went on, like, two dates with? She was at the beach?"
"So you know her, too?" Shaun said. He threw up his hands. "How come all you squares know a hot chick like Darcy, and you never even thought to introduce me? What did she do that was so crazy?"
Phil opened the door of his bedroom. "I am around, if you were wondering, Shaun."
"Oh, sorry about the square jab," Shaun replied.
"You just called Joe and me squares to our faces," Tony protested. "You didn't seem too sorry about that."
"Can I help it that you guys are all squares?" Shaun countered. "But c'mon, give me the deets. What's up with this Darcy? Is she really crazy? I mean, I need some warning if she is. I've only seen her on the beach a few times, but from what I've seen, I want to see more."
Phil refrained from looking at Joe. "She, um, she cheated on me."
"Is that all?" Shaun laughed. "Look, I don't know what the dating scene is like back in Baybridge, but in the real world, that happens sometimes. Honestly, if you only went out a couple of times, is it even really cheating?"
"It's kind of complicated," Phil said. "Look, if you want to hang out with Darcy, fine, whatever. Just don't ever bring her around here and don't expect me to hang out with her."
"Fair enough," Shaun agreed. "It's not like I'd bring a girl to this dump, anyway. She'd nope right out of here. Besides, it's a little crowded for my tastes. No offense."
Joe abruptly stood up. "I've got to be at work early tomorrow. I'm going to bed."
HBHBHBHBHB
Frank knocked at the door of his father's office, more to tease him than out of real formality. The door was partly open anyway, and Frank could see that his dad was sitting at his laptop, reading something with a frown of deep concentration. He jumped when he heard the knock, but then he smiled when he saw that it was Frank.
"Hi, there. What brings you over to this part of town?" Fenton asked.
"I had a few minutes before work, and I thought I'd stop in to say hi," Frank replied. "It looks like you're busy, though."
Fenton pushed the laptop to the side. "Not too much. I could use a break from that, to tell the truth."
"Tough case?"
"A little. A lot of research," Fenton explained. "Not very interesting research, I might add."
Frank chuckled. "There are some advantages to being a patrol officer instead of a detective."
"A few," Fenton conceded. He paused to look Frank over. Even though Frank wasn't on duty yet, he was in his uniform. Fenton had never really expected to see either one of his boys in a police uniform, but it made him proud. "So, how's Burns doing as a training officer?"
"I think he's the one who's supposed to be judging how I'm doing," Frank replied. "But he's great. We've really hit it off well. He also doesn't seem to have my 'amateur detective' status ingrained in his head, like some of the other guys do."
"Like Captain Olaf?"
"I wouldn't name names when it comes to the second in command of the Bayport PD…"
Fenton grinned. "Enough said, then."
"Say, where's Sam at?" Frank asked. "I haven't seen him around for a little while." Sam Radley was Fenton's partner in his detective agency, as well as an old friend of the Hardy family.
"Canada. He's working on another case up there, trying to find a missing person. He'll probably be back any day now."
"So you're all alone here for the time being?" Frank commented, his tone changing slightly.
"Don't get started on that," Fenton said.
"On what?"
"Either rethinking your choice to become a police officer or getting on your brother's case for leaving. Neither one of you has any obligation to work for me, and it's good for you to be completely on your own for awhile."
"Mm-hmm." Frank wasn't convinced, at least not in Joe's case.
Fenton could see it in Frank's face that he had something to say about his younger brother's life choices. "Look, Frank…" he started, but fortunately his phone rang, cutting him off. He looked at the screen, frowning slightly at the familiar name of the caller.
"Maybe I'd better be going," Frank said, starting to stand up.
"Wait," Fenton told him. "This might be something you want to hear." He answered the phone with a professional greeting and then listened for a few seconds. Then he said, "Hold on, Mario. Frank is here. I think he'd better hear this, too."
Frank raised an eyebrow. The only Mario he knew was Mario Beretta, a young man about three years older than him. Back when Fenton was still an NYPD officer, Mario's family had gotten mixed up with the mob, leaving Mario and his sibling orphans. At the same time, despite only being a child then, Mario had run afoul of a certain Evangeline Moretti, who had sworn revenge against several people, including Fenton, Sam Radley, and Mario. Fortunately, she was safely in jail now, but not before she had wreaked havoc in the Hardys' lives.
Fenton turned the phone on speaker and asked Mario if he could still hear.
"Yes, I can." Mario's voice came through clearly, but he sounded agitated. "Hi, Frank."
"Hi, Mario," Frank replied. "We haven't talked in a long time."
"No kidding. But I didn't call to catch up. Like I was about to tell Mr. Hardy, I've got some trouble, I think. It's my brother, Angelo."
Frank glanced at Fenton. They were both acquainted with Angelo, too. He was a few years older again and had carried on the family legacy of getting in way over his head in illegal dealings. The last time the Hardys had heard of him, he'd been working for a criminal organization known as Black Rose.
"Have you heard from him?" Frank asked.
"I'm not sure. See, I got an envelope in the mail today. All that was in it was a photograph of Angelo standing in front of, I don't know, some kind of nightclub or something. It's dark and there's a neon sign. I have no idea where it's at. On the back, someone printed some text from a computer and taped it on there. All it says is 'Find him before it's too late.' There was no return address on the envelope. Nothing to give any indication who sent it."
"Is there a postmark on the envelope?" Fenton asked.
"Yeah, but it doesn't help. It's Bayport."
Frank took in a long breath. "Dad, do you think that means Angelo's in Bayport?"
"I don't know." Fenton bit his lip. "There aren't very many nightclubs in Bayport. You said there's a neon sign, Mario. What does it say?"
"I can't read it. It's blurry. I can snap a picture of it and send it to you."
"Do that."
There was a few seconds' pause, and then the picture came in a text to Fenton's phone. He and Frank leaned over it to examine it. It was just as Mario described: Angelo Beretta standing in front of a darkened building. A streetlight was giving the picture its only lighting. The neon sign seemed to be pink and yellow, and it was the only part of the picture that was blurry.
"Someone blurred it out on purpose," Frank commented.
A second later, a second text came through with a snapshot of the back of the photo. The words were printed with correct spelling and capitalization, and they ended with a period. The small square of paper was surrounded by tape affixing it to the back of the photo.
"Where are you at, Mario?" Frank asked.
"Philadelphia. Why?"
"Could you bring this picture here? There might be a clue on it that we could find if we saw it in person."
"Sure," Mario replied. "If you think that it means Angelo is in Bayport, I'd probably better come. Why do you think someone sent it? I mean, I assume someone is telling me to find Angelo, but I just don't get it."
"There are three possibilities that I can see," Fenton said. "One, the whole thing could be some kind of prank that means nothing or, two, someone sent it to you because Angelo is in trouble or going to be in trouble and they're warning you to help him or, three, it's some kind of riddle and it isn't what it seems at all."
