J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you for continuing to read! Thank you especially to MargaretA66, ErinJordan, and max2013 for your reviews on the previous chapter and to everyone who has followed this story! I hope you all have a blessed Triduum and a happy Easter!

Chapter VIII

There was dead silence following Joe's statement.

"Are you sure?" Fenton broke the silence first.

Joe nodded, confidence obvious in the action. "I'm positive. I didn't recognize him in the heat of the moment, and I've been kinda out of it ever since then, but now that I think about it, I'm sure it was Angelo."

Evidently, Mario began to question Fenton's strange interruption to the conversation, which distracted Fenton's attention for a moment. He was about to cut off the call and tell Mario he would call him back, but then he thought better of it. He hastily explained what Joe had just said and then put the phone on speaker so that Mario could hear and take part in the larger conversation, in case he had anything to add.

"So, um, Joe, I'm sorry to hear what happened," Mario said first of all. He sounded as if he felt a bit awkward.

Joe shrugged, despite the fact that Mario wouldn't be able to see. "It's no big deal. At least…Well, it's not your fault and I'm not going to die or anything, so those are the main things."

"It's not that farfetched that Angelo would attack Joe," Frank said, bringing the conversation back on topic. "He was involved with Black Rose last time any of us heard anything about him and he knows what Joe looks like and who he is. What I don't see is why Angelo would warn Joe about a potential assassin or why he would do so in such a weird way. Also, I don't see how this fits with the photo that was sent to Mario."

"I don't think the photo is too hard to explain," Laura said. "It was warning Mario to find Angelo before it's too late. That could mean that Angelo really is the assassin and this person was trying to get Mario to stop him or it could mean that this person knew Angelo was going to try to warn Joe, which will get him into trouble with Black Rose if they find out about it."

"But who sent it?" Callie asked.

"That's the question," Fenton said. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "One of the questions, I should say. Frank's questions are important, too. Why did Angelo act the way he did?"

"Maybe he was just trying to confuse us," Joe suggested. "If he's still in with Black Rose, they really go in for elaborate mind games. It could be that he stabbed me to get Dad and Frank out here so he could get all of us in one stroke."

"What about the picture?" Frank asked.

"Who knows?" Joe replied. "It could have just been a way to get us to think of him, so we'd know who's after us, in case I didn't recognize his voice. Whatever the story is behind that part of it, there isn't a lot of use in Frank pretending to be me. Angelo knows what both of us look like. He wouldn't be fooled."

Fenton glanced at his watch. "Speaking of which, you'd better go and start getting ready, Frank."

"Okay," Frank replied. "Listen, Joe, try not to do anything stupid in the meantime."

"Yeah, sure," Joe said. He felt a stab of disappointment that no one was paying the least attention to his excellent point, but then he realized that, of course, his dad and brother had thought of the same thing. They must have decided it was worth the chance.

HBHBHBHBHB

A police detective helped Frank with the disguise. They used the type of hair dye that is sprayed on and will wash out, but there was plenty for multiple applications, so Frank would be able to keep up the masquerade for as long as was necessary. It surprised him when he looked in the mirror after just this first step was done to see how much he looked like his brother. Of course, there were still key differences, but they weren't quite so marked as Frank had always thought.

The next step was to use makeup to make Frank look more like his brother again. Since it would have to be reapplied, the police detective kept it as simple as he could and showed Frank how to do it himself. He explained that a perfect likeness would be very difficult to accomplish, even for a professional makeup artist, considering the differences in build, height, and muscle mass between the brothers. For this first time, the detective used makeup to make Frank's eyes look puffy and irritated, as if he had been pepper sprayed.

As he surveyed the results in the mirror, Frank couldn't help feeling disconcerted. The image in the mirror wasn't quite his brother—it had brown eyes in place of blue for one thing—but it was certainly more like Joe than himself. It was strange, watching this image mimic his every move and trying to wrap his head around the fact that he really was looking at himself.

He saw Callie enter the room in the mirror and he turned around to face her. "What do you think?"

The surprise on Callie's face couldn't be mistaken. "Wow. That's really good. If I didn't know better…" She paused as she picked up on some of the points that they hadn't had the time to disguise. "If I didn't know you or Joe very well, I'd think for sure you were Joe. What about your eyes, though? That's kind of a giveaway. Couldn't you use contact lenses or something to make them blue?"

"We didn't have time to get quality ones," Frank explained. "If I keep this up more than a day or so, we'll probably get some."

"Mm-hmm." Callie folded her arms and surveyed him one more time.

"Something wrong?"

"I was just thinking that I hope this doesn't have to go on too long. As much as I like Joe, I never wanted to marry him."

Frank made a face. "That's an awful thought: you being married to Joe. I'm going to try to pretend you never put that thought in my head."

Callie laughed. "You're the one who put it in my head. Seriously, though, do you really think this is going to do any good?"

"It might. Most likely, it won't help too much, but it might get Black Rose's attention off Joe, and that's worth a lot. He needs some time to recover." Frank gnawed his lip. "You'll help Mom keep an eye on him, won't you? He's probably going to need a round-the-clock guard to keep him resting."

"You can count on me," Callie promised.

"Thank you. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to Joe. You know things haven't been so great between us lately, and I wouldn't want that to be the way it all ends." A sigh escaped Frank's lips.

"Then maybe you should try to make up with him," Callie said.

"It's not as simple as that," Frank insisted. "Joe's been so disconnected, he might not even realize there's a problem. I think the most substantial conversation we've had since he moved out here was about how California's weather is nicer than Bayport's."

"Trust me," Callie replied. "If that's the most substantial conversation you've had for that long, he knows there's something wrong."

HBHBHBHBHB

When Tony and Phil arrived at the hospital, they were just as impressed as Callie by Frank's disguise. After a close scrutiny, though, they could see the flaws in the disguise. Neither was convinced the plan was going to work, but they agreed to go along with it anyway. Before they took Frank back to the apartment, they wanted to drop in on Joe and wish him well, but both Fenton and the police advised against that.

Frank tried to walk slowly and painfully, as if he was recovering from a wound like Joe's. He'd been injured enough times that he was able to pull it off convincingly, and he kept it up without breaking once until he was in Tony's car.

"This is a little dangerous for us, too, isn't it?" Phil asked as they drove along. "I mean, what if this assassin is the kind who blows up an entire apartment to get his mark?"

"I doubt he'd be that dramatic," Frank said.

As soon as they reached the apartment, Axel came bounding out to meet his master. When he saw Frank, though, he instantly stiffened and raised his hackles in warning.

Tony scratched his ears. "He's okay, Axel."

Instantly, Axel dropped his protective stance and wagged his tail at Frank.

"He's a good guard dog," Frank commented. "That will come in handy if the assassin does decide to pay us a visit."

"It's about time the mutt does something useful," Shaun said as he looked up at the others entering the apartment from where he was sprawled on the couch, his phone in his hand. "Most of the time…" He froze when he saw Frank. "Whoa. Dude, that's almost creepy, how much you look like Joe."

"Uh, thanks, I guess," Frank replied. "You must be Shaun."

Shaun nodded. "Shaun Stane. I take it you're Fred."

"Frank."

"Oh, yeah, something like that," Shaun said.

Tony rolled his eyes in mild annoyance. "Shaun's not so great with names. Just ask him the name of the town we're all from."

"I've got it now," Shaun insisted. "It's Baywatch."

The others couldn't help chuckling.

"I think it might be safest if you just call me Joe, even when we're alone here," Frank said. "It's best to get in the habit, so you remember when it counts."

"Frank…er, whatever," Phil said. He caught his mistake, but he wasn't sure it felt right to call Frank by his brother's name. "There's something I think I should show you. It could be a clue. You remember Darcy?"

Frank looked at him blankly. "Darcy?"

"The girl I dated for a couple of days a few years ago?" Phil prompted him.

The name still didn't ring any bells for Frank for a few seconds, but then a recollection began to form. "Right. I vaguely remember her. She was a waitress, right? What does she have to do with this?"

Phil frowned, discouraged by the fact that Frank had evidently never connected any importance to Darcy. "She's living here in town. We caught her trying to break in just yesterday. She said she was just trying to give me a note, and we believed her then, but Tony and I have been talking since, and we think it's possible she has something to do with Black Rose." He explained their reasoning, with some input from Tony.

"What do you think?" Tony asked eagerly once they had finished.

Frank didn't want to give an opinion with only a very one-sided story, so instead he countered with, "Could I see that note?"

Phil retrieved it from his room and handed it to him. Frank read it, but by the end, he had an unmistakable look of confusion on his face.

"What's she talking about here? What did Joe have to do with anything?"

Everyone looked at Phil. Shaun shifted his position so he was now kneeling in his armchair instead of sitting in it. Even Tony had an expression of intense curiosity on his face.

Phil shuffled his feet uncomfortably and glanced around at the others. "Do you really have to know?"

"If you think this note has to do with this attack on Joe, then yes, I need to know what she's talking about in it," Frank replied.

For a few more seconds, Phil hesitated about talking about it. Finally, he said, "Then you'll have to ask Joe about it. He knows the details about it better than I do, anyway."

Shaun's shoulders sagged. "That was a real letdown, man."

"You know, at this point, we've probably all thought of all the worst possible things that could have happened, so the most shocking thing about the facts is probably going to be how tame they are in comparison," Tony pointed out.

"I'm sure of that," was Phil's dry response. "It's more embarrassing than anything. Just ask Joe about it. If he thinks you need to know, he'll tell you."

"Sorry, but since you brought it up, you're going to have to tell me. Come on." Frank motioned toward one of the bedrooms.

"Hey, we're not going to get to hear?" Shaun pouted.

"From the sounds of it, it's a need-to-know sort of thing," Frank replied.

He headed toward the bedroom, and Phil followed him reluctantly. Then Frank sat on one of the beds and folded his arms.

"Okay," he said. "Talk quietly. The door doesn't look very soundproof."

Phil let out a long breath as he sat on the other bed. "It was that case when Tony's sisters, Lisa and Katherine, got kidnapped and the Denny Curso guy and O'Rourke and everything, remember?"

"I remember it." Frank tightened his jaw slightly. The details of that case were already far from pleasant, without whatever addition Phil was about to provide.

Phil looked at his hands without lifting his eyes once. "See, Darcy and I had only gone out a couple of times. We were really hitting it off, but I didn't ask the right questions."

"Meaning?"

"We have some very different values, I came to find out. You know, the whole waiting-till-marriage thing. We had a fight about it. We were at your house—your parents' house, I should say. Joe was in the living room by himself, doing some research, I think. Darcy went in there after we fought, and…I don't really know the details after that, to be completely honest."

"You know something about it. Just tell me the rest of it. There's no use dragging this thing out longer than it has to be."

Phil sighed and glanced to the window. "Um, well, I walked in a minute or so later. She must have surprised him. She was trying to force him to make out with her, but he wasn't having any of it. He got away from her pretty quick and threw her out."

"Is that all?" Frank asked in an even voice.

Phil nodded. "I told you it was underwhelming, especially after all the build-up that's been going on around here. It's just the sort of thing you'd rather forget about. Besides, I didn't want to go into the details in front of Shaun. He'd never let me hear the end of it."

"About what the fight was over?" Frank asked. "I don't know Shaun well enough to comment, but there's nothing wrong with your convictions. Mom and Dad drilled that pretty hard into my head, too. Anyone who'd make you feel ashamed about it needs to grow up."

"Shaun wouldn't really mean it," Phil said. "He's not such a bad guy. He just doesn't have a filter, doesn't know when to stop teasing someone, and doesn't seem to have any reservations in that area. I guess you're thinking this whole thing isn't that big a deal and we're just being oversensitive about it."

"No, I don't think that. Well, keeping it a deep, dark secret that can only be wrung out of you when absolutely necessary is a little overkill, but I can understand why neither you or Joe would want everyone knowing about it. I've got to warn you, if Darcy is involved in Black Rose, the details are all going to be drug out into the public."

"I know. It's almost embarrassing how embarrassed I am about it. I know it really got to Joe, too, though, so that's something."

"Yeah." Frank looked out the window a few minutes, thinking about it. Some other guys might not have minded much if they had been in Joe's shoes, but Frank knew that Joe had high ideals. He was dating Iola Morton at the time and Darcy was dating Phil. Joe would have never willingly gone along with anything that impugned his honor as Iola's boyfriend or Phil's friend. He also would have never dreamed of touching a woman in such a way without her permission. He was trained in self-defense. It had probably been a shock to find himself in a position like that. "If it bothered him so much, why didn't he even mention it?"

"Would have you?" Phil countered.

HBHBHBHBHB

"Are you comfortable?" Laura asked as she helped Joe settle into a bed in one of the hotel rooms they had rented.

The two rooms had two beds each, so they had decided that Joe and Fenton would share one room while Laura and Callie would share the other. There was a door connecting the two rooms, so no one had very far to go to see the others.

Joe was thinking that, apart from the aching from the stab wound, he'd never be comfortable with everyone swarming around him, ready to wait on him hand and foot like he was an invalid. Of course, it was only really his mom and Callie who were doing that, but he still felt smothered.

"I'm fine, Mom," he assured her. "I'm just going to take a nap, and I'll be fine."

Callie set a glass of water on his nightstand. "Taking a nap would be the best thing you could do. We'll let you sleep. I could stand a nap myself."

She headed for the other room. Laura followed her, but she took the opportunity to kiss Joe on the forehead. Joe only grimaced out of habit. He would never have admitted it, even to himself, but it was nice to feel like part of a family again.

The only one to remain in the room was Fenton. He waited until the door had closed behind the women to speak. "Do you really want to sleep, or is that just an excuse?"

"The pain meds are making me kind of sleepy," Joe admitted, "but I do want to talk to you alone, Dad. You couldn't have possibly agreed to this plan of Frank's. You didn't, did you? It's not going to help anything. You know as well as I do that if Black Rose is coming after any of us, they're coming after all of us, so what gives?"

"Most likely, yes," Fenton admitted, "but we don't really know anything for certain about Black Rose. We don't even know for sure that they're really behind this. Someone else…"

"Dad," Joe cut him off in a tone that made it clear that he saw through the argument.

Fenton sighed. "Okay. Frank and the police here do think that you might be a primary target. They think that since you're living out here by yourself, Black Rose might think it's easier to get at you than at Frank or me. I don't know that I agree, but I don't think Frank is putting himself in any additional danger in any case."

"And I can't take care of myself, so it's a win-win," Joe added sarcastically.

"Joe, you've been stabbed. That's kind of a big deal." Fenton paused. "But there is something we need to talk about. Last summer, when you we were held hostage by those jewel thieves, you told me that you acted the way you did because you couldn't bring yourself to kill, even in self-defense."

"And that's why I gave up detective work, because I knew that if I didn't, I'd wind up in a situation like that again and I wouldn't be able to do what I needed to."

"That's fair enough, and maybe even a prudent decision under the circumstances. But the circumstances are different now. You can't just keep hiding out here or anywhere else to try to stay out of danger now. You don't have to help us stop this assassin, but you are going to have protect yourself if the need arises, not to mention possibly your mom and Callie if I'm not here."

Joe put his hand on his forehead. "If it's that dangerous, maybe it would be better to send Mom and Callie home."

"Black Rose could easily find them there, and if they're after the three of us, who better could they use to get to us than them?" Fenton got up and went to his suitcase. He took out a small handgun and a case of ammunition, which he put in the drawer of the nightstand next to Joe's bed. "I want you to keep this with you wherever you go. You've got to understand that there's nothing wrong with defending yourself."

"I wouldn't be able to live myself if I killed someone, Dad," Joe insisted.

"And you probably won't get the chance to live with the consequences if you don't," Fenton replied.