J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you for continuing to read! Thank you especially to MargaretA66, caseykam, Candylou, max2013, and ErinJordan for your reviews on the previous chapter!

Chapter XI

"Hey, Tony, do you know anything about this?" Joe asked as he came out of his bedroom, holding the now-empty envelope in one hand. He had left the remains of his phone on the bed to be checked for fingerprints, but he brought the letter with him, since looking for fingerprints on paper was generally a lost cause.

Tony, Frank, and Callie all looked up. Mild curiosity passed over both Frank's and Callie's faces, but they didn't realize yet that it had anything to do with the case. Tony merely shrugged at the envelope.

"I haven't seen it before. Why?" he asked.

"It was on my bed," Joe replied. "I'm wondering who put it there and how it was delivered."
Frank was starting to pick up on the fact that something was wrong here. "What is it?"

"A threat." Joe handed him the sheet of paper. "It was with my missing cell phone, which was smashed. It does tell us one thing: I was right about it being Angelo who stabbed me."

Frank read through the message twice before commenting. Callie and Tony crowded next to him to read it over his shoulder.

Callie shivered. "Do you think he's serious?"

"Yeah," Joe replied bluntly.

"If it's really Angelo," Frank said. "Someone could just want us to think that, either to frame him because they've got a grudge against him or to conceal their own identity or both."

"It's Angelo, all right," Joe insisted.

Frank chewed his lip as he read through the letter one last time, scanning it for any possible additional clues. "It's strange timing that someone would have contacted Mario about him and Mario contacted us and then he turns up here, wanting something from you. If only you would have called me back when I asked you to, we might have avoided all this."

"Called you back?" Joe repeated blankly. "When was that?"

"The day before you were attacked," Frank tried to remind him. "I couldn't get hold of you, obviously, so I left a message with Phil to have you call me back."

Joe shook his head. "He never said anything to me. He must have forgotten."

"That's very possible," Tony pointed out. "He was a little preoccupied right around then with the whole Darcy thing starting up."

"Do you think she could be involved in all this, too?" Callie asked.

"Definitely," Joe said while at the same time, Frank replied, "Probably not."

They glanced at one another for a second, a spark of friction flying between them.

Joe crossed his arms. "Look, there's every reason to think she had something to do with this. She was in Bayport and just the right age when Black Rose was there recruiting. She latched onto our group in the middle of an investigation into Black Rose and then conveniently 'moved away.' Then she pops up here again, acting like a femme fatale toward me and a lovesick schoolgirl toward Phil, not to mention it's all right at the time when Black Rose once again rears its ugly head. How else can you explain all that?"

"She could be involved," Frank conceded, "but I doubt it. There were a lot of kids her age in Bayport at that same time, including everyone here right now. She didn't 'latch onto' our group; she just started dating Phil, which was a completely mutual situation. She obviously had a serious crush on him. Then she made a mistake and messed it all up. She apparently hasn't had a good relationship since then and has talked herself into exaggerating her crush on Phil to compensate. When she happened, by coincidence, to cross paths with Phil again, she didn't want to lose her opportunity again. She acted differently around you than she does around Phil because she wanted to save face in front of you and her friends that were there by acting cool and collected, while she's actively trying to win Phil over with her desperate act. The fact that Black Rose has resurfaced is just a coincidence."

Joe narrowed his eyes slightly. "Just how much do you know about what happened?"

"I know the whole story," Frank admitted. "I got Phil to tell me."

Joe rolled his eyes with a groan and turned away. "Great. I guess that's what I get for only having an unspoken agreement about it."

"Hey, he was trying to help," Frank pointed out. "He knew that if we were going to investigate Darcy, we had to be on the same page."

"'We?'" Joe repeated, turning again to look at Frank. "Who else did he tell?"

Frank tried to keep his voice calm and even. "Just me. When I said 'we,' I meant you and me. If we can still work together."

"You tell me."

"You made your wishes very clear as far as detective work went," Frank replied with a tight jaw. "We were just respecting your wishes."

"Now who's 'we'?" Joe retorted.

It was Frank's turn to roll his eyes. "You're impossible."

"Would you two just stop?" Callie interjected. "This is ridiculous. Someone's threatening all our lives, and all you two can do is argue?"

Instantly, both Hardys dropped the conversation. Joe let out a little huff of annoyance and kept his eyes cast down. Frank folded his arms and then unfolded them and put his hands in his pockets.

"Sorry," he said, though he wasn't sure whether he was saying it to Callie or to Joe.

"Yeah, sorry," Joe muttered unconvincingly.

An awkward silence followed the exchange of apologies. Tony was trying to decide whether he should try to make some kind of joke to lighten the mood or if he should just excuse himself. He wasn't really sure what had just happened, and he didn't think he should ask. Callie, on the other hand, didn't have the option of escape and jokes were the farthest thing from her mind at the moment. She was trying to think of a way to change the subject.

She was spared the necessity of coming up with anything when Phil walked in the door. He had his phone in his hand and he was looking at it even as he came in, although he did glance up.

"Hey, everybody," he greeted the room in general, but it was clearly a mere formality. The deep frown on his face made it clear that he wasn't in any mood for small talk. "Say, Frank, Joe, I'm really glad you guys are here. There's something I've got to show you. It's about Darcy."

Callie grimaced. Joe ran an exasperated hand through his hair, and even Frank had to close his eyes and take a deep breath at the amazingly bad timing of it. Tony, at least, was far enough removed from the situation that he could grin in bemusement at the irony.

Phil noticed none of these reactions. He held his phone up for Frank to see, and Joe came closer so that he could read what was on the screen, too. It was a series of text messages from Darcy. Phil hadn't responded to any of them, but Darcy had kept up a running monologue by herself. Most of it was pleading for Phil to answer. Each message was more desperate-sounding than the one before it, until finally the last one read:

I guess this is goodbye then. I don't want to be alone. I'd rather be dead than be alone. I hope you know that this is all because of you.

"Uh, that sounds like she's going to kill herself," Joe said as soon as he had read it.

"That's what I thought, too," Phil replied. "She started texting while I was at work and then I left, and she kept it up all the way home. What do I do?"

"Try to find out where she's at to begin with," Frank said. "She's probably at home. Do you know where she lives?"

"No."

"Okay, then call her and try to get her to tell you. Does anyone else know where she lives? Joe?"

"Don't look at me," Joe replied.

"Shaun probably would," Tony said. "That's how this whole thing started. He met her and they hit it off, or at least, Shaun thought they did."

"Well, where's Shaun?" Frank asked.

Tony shrugged helplessly. "Who knows? He never tells us where he's going. He's been gone all night."

"He's been gone all night without telling anyone where he was and an assassin on the loose?" Frank shook his head. "Well, you've got his phone number, don't you? Call him and see if you can get him to answer."

Tony pulled out his phone and started to place the call.

"Darcy's not answering," Phil said as he took his own phone away from his ear.

Everyone waited in tense silence to see what luck Tony would have. All their hopes rose as Tony said, "Shaun, listen, do you know where Darcy lives?"

"Why do you wanna know?" Shaun countered suspiciously. "You're not going to play some prank on her for sneaking around our apartment, are you?"

"This is serious." Tony glanced at Frank in a silent request for advice, who gave a slight nod for him to go ahead and explain. "We think she might be trying to kill herself."

To his surprise—and disgust—Shaun laughed. "Dude, you guys really have her pegged for some kind of weirdo, don't you?"

"Well, if we're wrong, we're wrong, nothing lost. But do you really want to take that chance?" Tony countered.

There was a short pause. "Are you for real?"

"Yes! Now, have you been to her place or not?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't know, like, the address or anything. We'd been partying pretty hard by then and…"

"I don't care about that. What street is it on? What does it look like? Does she have a roommate, someone else we could call?"

"Hold on, hold on. She lives by herself—never understood how she could afford that, 'cause I don't think she works…"

"Not important. She's got to have some friends. Do you know anyone?"

"Everly might know. She'd at least know how to get there."

"Do you have her number?"

"Maybe. Let me see. Uh...Oh, I just remembered. She—Darcy, not Everly—lives on that street with all the palm trees and that park with the weird fountain."

Palm trees weren't a particularly helpful description, since most of the streets had palm trees, but there was only one park that Tony could think of like what Shaun was described.

"Overlook?"

"Yeah, that's the one. It's that big apartment building with some kind of abstract sculpture in front. It looked sick to me, but I wasn't really thinking about art at the moment."

Tony pulled the phone a few inches away from his mouth to talk to the others. "I've got a street and kind of a description. I don't know how much more we're going to get. He sounds like he's hung-over or something."

"Let's see if we can track it down from that," Frank said.

They ran outside. Phil's car was still out front, and even though it was a tight squeeze, they piled inside it. Phil took the wheel, while Tony claimed the front passenger seat, keeping the phone call with Shaun going in case he could get some more useful information.

Overlook Boulevard wasn't far from the boys' apartment. It had earned its name for its stunning view of the beach and the ocean as it climbed upward, but the car hadn't climbed that far before they spotted an apartment building with an abstract sculpture that evoked images of waves to mind. Phil parked the car, and they examined the board from which they could ring individual apartments. Just in case, while the others were looking at the board, Joe tried the door. It was locked.

"Here it is!" Callie pointed at Darcy's name on the board just before she pressed the button next to it. They waited, but there was no response. "What now?" Callie asked. "We can't get in unless someone buzzes us in."

Frank pressed the button for the apartment next to Darcy's. "We'll try other people until we find someone who will let us in."

"Shouldn't we call the police?" Phil asked.

"Now that we've got an address, yes," Frank told him. "But we shouldn't wait for them."

While Phil made the call, Frank tried several more apartments until he found one with an occupant who took the situation seriously. The door opened, and the Hardys and their friends ran to the stairs. Darcy's apartment was on the second floor.

Frank reached it first and pounded on the door. There was no answer.

"I guess now we'll have to wait for the police," Tony said.

That only lasted about two seconds before Joe couldn't take the waiting anymore. "You know, a door like this, you give it one good kick and…"

"Joe…" Frank tried to warn him, but Joe had already put his words into action.

He kicked the door right next to the knob and there was a loud crack as the lock broke. Fortunately, Darcy hadn't put the deadbolt into place, and so it was enough for the door to swing open. Though the others found Joe's methods a bit questionable, they crowded in after him.

There was a little foyer and then beyond that, the living room, although only a small portion of it was visible until they turned the corner. Joe was the first to turn it, and while he had seen some gruesome things in his life, he froze at the sight that met his eyes. An exclamation escaped him. Darcy was hanging from a hook in the ceiling.

"Joe, hold her up," Frank ordered.

He was no less shocked, but he didn't let that slow his reactions. He took a pocketknife from his pocket and rushed toward the rope. Joe recovered himself and held onto Darcy to lower her gently once Frank had cut the rope.

"Is she dead?" Phil asked, looking down at the still form with a pale face.

Frank checked for a pulse, but couldn't find one. "Callie, call 911 again and tell them to send an ambulance, too." He fumbled with the noose for a second before he realized he'd have to cut it off. Then he checked her airway.

Joe recognized what he was doing. He didn't indulge himself in any queasiness before he jumped in with chest compressions. Frank supplied the breaths.

"Is there anything I can do?" Tony asked.

Frank paused his work just long enough to tell him, "Go down to the street so you can show the police and paramedics in."

Tony hurried away, while Phil continued to watch with a horrified expression.

Joe started to tire from the exertion much more quickly than he expected, and he realized that maybe he wasn't quite so recovered as he supposed. After a few more seconds, he realized he wasn't going to hold out until help arrived. "Phil, can you take over here?" he requested.

"Uh, sure," Phil replied, jumping in as Joe scooted backwards to get out of the way.

For a few seconds, Joe could only sit on the floor and try to catch his breath. He wasn't sure what he was thinking or feeling. In all honesty, he wasn't thinking or feeling much. All he could think was that they had to save her if they could and all he could feel was an appalling, shocked numbness.

Callie was about to check on him when several people appeared in the doorway.

"What's going on in here?" one man demanded in a coarse voice.

He was clearly a neighbor, not a police officer or paramedic, and Callie could see that the same applied to the handful of other people who were crowding in behind him, trying to see what all the commotion was about. Callie redirected her steps to stand in front of them.

"Please, stay back," she requested. "You've got to get out of the way. There's going to be emergency personnel coming in any minute. You can't block the way."

"But what happened to her?" someone else asked.

"Is it an OD? That girl always looked like she was on drugs to me," someone else asserted.

"It wasn't an OD," Callie replied, although she didn't want to say what it had been.

Even though she was smaller than any of them, she continued to try to shoo them out into the hallway, and she was making some progress. Then Joe recovered himself enough to get up and help her.

The paramedics arrived a few minutes later, and the immediately went to work on Darcy as Frank and Phil stepped aside to give them room. It was another tense few minutes later before one of them announced:

"She's got a pulse."