J.M.J.

Author's note: Thank you so much for continuing to read! Thank you especially to MargaretA66, Demigod2020PJFAN, Candylou, ErinJordan, caseykam, Called by Magic, and max2013 for your reviews on the last chapter or two! I so appreciate hearing your thoughts. Is it bad that I was rather pleased that a few of you mentioned that the last chapter caused you to cry? I mean, it's not that I want you to be sad, but it does mean that I accomplished something. So thank you all again! One more chapter to go after this. God bless!

Chapter XXVI

The young man was sitting at a table, handcuffed to the chair. His dark hair was falling over his eyes, which were almost too big for his thin face. His attitude was nervous, neither sullen nor defiant. As Fenton looked at him through the two-way mirror into the interrogation room, he could see a certain resemblance to Angelo Beretta. This definitely was not him, though.

"He said he'd talk to you and no one else," the police detective said to him. The detective was named Kimberly Jameson. She had already spent more than an hour trying to persuade the suspect to talk while they waited for Fenton to arrive, but she had had no luck.

"You got his name, though," Fenton commented. He had already been told the man's name was Sawyer Gillespie.

"Right, but we got that from his driver's license and his car registration," Jameson said. "The license plate and description of his car were a match to the one that tried to force you off the road. He himself matches the description of your suspect, Beretta, so I thought that might be where the rumors came from that this Beretta guy was in the area."

"I was just thinking the same thing," Fenton said, "and I doubt it's a coincidence. Let's go in and talk to him."

They went into the interrogation room. Sawyer looked up at them, a bit of fear showing in his eyes.

"My name is Fenton Hardy," Fenton introduced himself.

"I know," Sawyer said. "I said I'd talk to you, but just you. The cop lady has to go."

"It would be better to have her here," Fenton said as he sat at the table across from him. "That way there's two witnesses to everything you say."

"I don't know that I want two witnesses." Sawyer paused and seemed to think better of it. "Oh, well. I might as well tell you the whole story, not that there's a whole lot to tell. See, before this, I was clean. Really. I just was homeless, up in New York after I lost my job because they accused me of stealing out of the till. I was trying to find work and I was getting desperate. I didn't want to spend another winter out on the streets. I wasn't finding anything, because everywhere wanted me to explain why I got fired from my last job and when they heard, they didn't want to give me a chance. So I made up a sign that said I'd be willing to do odd jobs for cash and took to the sidewalks. One day, this lady walked up to me and said she might have a job for me, if I was good at keeping my mouth shut. I didn't like the sound of it. It sounded like it was something illegal, but when she told me what she wanted me to do, I didn't think it was illegal, so I agreed. See, she said she just wanted me to come down to Miami and hang around bars and stuff and introduce myself as Angelo Beretta to the other people there. She said to use my own name and ID everywhere else, and so I didn't see how that was wrong."

"You didn't think that you might be providing an alibi for someone who would be committing a crime?" Fenton asked.

"No. I never thought of that, at first. I guess I should have, but I don't know how these things work. Anyway, I came down here. She paid for my hotel and she even bought me a car. I figured this was about the sweetest deal anyone had ever landed. But then she wanted me to pretend to try to run a car off the road—your car, Mr. Hardy. She said she didn't want anyone to actually get hurt; she just wanted to put a scare into you. That did seem illegal, so I didn't want to do it. That's when she explained that I'd been helping this Angelo guy make an alibi for himself and was already breaking the law. She said if I didn't do what she told me to, she'd turn me into the police herself, and they wouldn't believe me if I tried to blame her. I got scared, so I did it."

"Who is this woman? Fenton asked. He cast a quick glance at Jameson before deciding that the officer was letting him handle the interrogation, since the suspect only wanted to talk to him.

"I don't know her whole name," Sawyer said. "All she ever told me was Darcy."

Fenton sat up straighter. "Darcy? Hold on a second." He took out his phone and pulled up a screenshot he had taken for reference of a picture Darcy had posted to one of her social media accounts a few weeks earlier. "Is this the woman?"

Sawyer looked at the picture closely for a few seconds before nodding. "Yeah. I think so. I can't be totally sure, but if it isn't, it's someone who looks a lot like her."

This was an unexpected development. Sawyer was able to give very little other information that was helpful, so before long, Fenton ended the interview. The first thing he did was try to call Frank, but Frank didn't answer. He next tried Joe but remembered just before attempting the call that Joe still had no cell phone. Instead, he tried Callie, but she didn't answer, either. Finally, he called Captain Gomez's number. The officer answered immediately.

Fenton reported that the Miami police had captured the would-be assassin, or rather the decoy. Then he explained about the possible lead to Darcy.

"Interesting," Gomez said. Fenton thought he sounded rather subdued. "I believe she's still in the hospital under psychiatric observation. We'll investigate from this end. Mr. Hardy, we've had a development that you need to know about."

HBHBHBHBHB

It had been a long day. Gomez would have liked nothing better than to just go home and try to forget it, but he wouldn't be able to go home for a long time and he was sure he'd never forget this one. He had been hoping it wouldn't turn into a homicide, but he had known all along that that was the most likely scenario.

Angelo Beretta hadn't been picked up yet. He must have known exactly what he was doing and left the scene immediately. There was no word on what kind of car he would be driving, but there were none in the state of California registered to him. Gomez was still waiting to hear on the check of the other forty-seven continental states, but he wasn't going to hold his breath. Beretta seemed to know how to avoid being found. That was the aggravating thing about him. One moment, he seemed like he was in way over his head and had no idea what he was doing. The next, he seemed like a professional who had everything planned out. It was baffling to say the least, and Gomez wasn't cherishing any high hopes of bringing Beretta to justice any time soon.

Not that his opinion mattered. He had a job to do and he had to do it thoroughly. The search was still ongoing, but he had come back to headquarters to tackle things from another angle. He had called Mario Beretta and Shaun Stane into headquarters for questioning while he sent Phil Cohen down to the hospital. They both came voluntarily, although Shaun seemed confused at his summons. It didn't take Gomez long to decide that Shaun had nothing to do with Angelo. There certainly wasn't any evidence to support the theory, and Shaun was able to satisfactorily answer all his questions. Even the question of where Shaun's money came from was answered easily enough when Shaun reluctantly explained that many of his all-nighters included poker with a group of friends who were incompetent players. It netted him enough to pay his rent most of the time, and when it didn't, he had a large pool of friends that he borrowed from. A few phone calls confirmed the story, unlikely though it was. Gomez decided to let one of his detectives question Shaun a little longer, while he turned his attention to Mario.

The interview took place in Gomez's office. He took a few moments to observe Mario before beginning his questions. The young man seemed ill-at-ease and upset, but not particularly nervous.

"Are you doing all right?" Gomez began.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mario replied.

Gomez leaned back in his chair. "Are you? I'm not sure I would be if I had just found out my brother kidnapped, tortured, and murdered someone."

Mario hung his head. "I meant that I was fine to answer questions."

"You were already in town when Prito was kidnapped. Why?"

"I was looking for my brother."

"How did you know to look for him here?"

"The Hardys told me he was here."

"The Hardys knew you were looking for him?"

"Yes. Maybe I'd better start from the beginning." Mario took a breath and collected himself before continuing. "I've been acquainted with the Hardys for quite a few years, more or less. A few weeks ago, I got an anonymous letter. All it contained was a picture of Angelo standing in front of what looked like a nightclub. On the back was a message that said to find my brother before it was too late. I don't have the picture on me, but I can bring it later if you want to see it. I didn't know who sent it or why or where the picture was taken. I asked the Hardys to help me look for Angelo. But then they got the message that Joe had been attacked and didn't have time to bother about Angelo, at least not until Joe realized that it was Angelo who attacked him. I thought I had better come out and help look, so I did."

"That was a couple weeks ago," Gomez noted. "You've been out here ever since? Paying for hotel rooms and a rented car?"

"Yes, for most of it. The last few nights, Joe and the other guys let me stay at their apartment, which has helped."

"Still, that's quite the determination to find your brother. Why do you want to find him so bad?"

"Whatever else he is and whatever he's done, he is my brother. That message made it sound like he was in trouble, and I wanted to help him if I could. I didn't know what it meant about being 'too late.' Do you think the person who wrote it knew Angelo was planning on murder?"

"By Angelo's own admission, this wouldn't be the first murder he committed."

"Yes, but what if the message wasn't meaning that it would be too late for Angelo, but rather that it would be too late for his victim?"

"It's possible. There's a lot of possible explanations for everything. I'd like to back up a little, though. What were you planning on doing if you found your brother? Before he kidnapped Prito, that is."

Mario looked at his hands for a few seconds before answering. "I guess I just planned on talking to him."

"Do you think that would have helped?"

"No, but I wanted to be able to say I tried everything."

"What about now? What would you do if you found him now?"

"It depends on how I found him. If I somehow just ran into him, I'd try to convince him to give himself up. I know he wouldn't do it, but like I said, I would want to be able to say I tried. But if I just found out where he was, I'd tell you or the local authorities, wherever he happened to be."

"You'd turn him in yourself?" Gomez raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Yes. Why wouldn't I? He needs to answer for what he's done and be prevented from doing any more harm."

Gomez picked up a pen off his desk and clicked it a couple of times. "How did your brother get involved with this Black Rose organization?"

"I don't know, exactly. I know that our parents were mixed up with Black Rose and that was why they were murdered almost twenty years ago. Angelo says he joined to infiltrate the organization and put an end to it, but I don't know how he found them. I don't know if he contacted them or if they contacted him, and I don't know what kind of initiation he must have had. I haven't seen or talked to him in almost four years, and as far as I know, it must have been in that period that he joined them."

"Do you have any idea why he would target the Hardys?"

"He said he wanted a copy of that picture."

Gomez shook his head. "If that's all he wanted, he could have gotten it without assault, kidnapping, and murder. This was about something bigger. Do you think it's possible that Prito was actually his main target?"

Mario wrinkled his forehead. "No. I don't see how. As far as I know, he would have never met Tony before all this, or if he did, it would have only been briefly, much too briefly to have a personal problem with him. Are you saying that none of this was really about either the picture or the Hardys? Then what was it about?"

"I'm not saying anything of the kind, other than that I think it's very improbable that that picture was the real goal. The next goal that might have made sense was the Hardys. Angelo did have a personal grudge against them before this, I understand, as well as a professional one, as part of Black Rose. Yet he had no less than three clear opportunities to kill Joe and at least one each to kill Frank and Callie, but he didn't take any of them. Moreover, despite his connections to competent assassins, he hired an amateur to make a phony attempt on Fenton and Laura Hardy's lives. If he was trying to scare them about their own safety, he overdid it. If he was trying to send a message and the kidnapping and murder of Prito was part of that message, wouldn't it have been clearer if he had made some definite request of them? The entire pattern of his behavior was erratic. If the ultimate goal of all this really rested with the Hardys, then Angelo did an admirable job of switching leads between being a bumbling idiot who only avoided capture by accident and a genius who had us all playing into his hands."

"Maybe he was trying to confuse us all."

"But to what end? If his ultimate goal is to kill the Hardys, why not do it while he had the chance? If he wanted to force them to do something for him, why not tell them what it was so that they could do it? If he wanted to keep them from investigating him, why draw their attention to himself in the first place, and in such a way that they are guaranteed to neither forget him or be satisfied until he has answered for his crimes?"

"Then what was his goal?"

"What indeed?" Gomez rubbed his chin as he looked at Mario thoughtfully.

"Do you think I had something to do with this?" Mario half rose from his chair in a sudden flash of defensiveness.

"Sit down," Gomez told him sternly. "I think it very likely you have something to do with it, even if it's involuntary and unconscious. You were called in, too, you know."

"Darcy says she did that."

"Had you met Darcy before this?"

"No. In fact, I never have met her at all."

"Then why would she have any interest in helping you in any way?"

"How should I know? I just said I've never met her," Mario said. "Look, are you going to arrest me or something?"

"No, of course not. You're free to go any time you like. I would advise you to be careful wherever you go. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Angelo's motives might somehow lead back to you."

HBHBHBHBHB

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Frank said.

He, Joe, and Callie were standing in the hallway outside Darcy's room at the hospital. It was the next day, and Joe had just been released. Frank had been permitted to go with Callie the night before and they had stayed in a hotel. When they had come to pick Joe up, they were stunned when he said he wanted to visit Darcy first.

"I know I wouldn't be up for something like this, not after yesterday," Callie added. "You don't owe her anything."

"I wouldn't mind doing this another time," Joe admitted, wavering slightly in his resolution until he added, "But there isn't going to be another time. I'm hopefully never going to see Darcy again, except maybe when they drag Angelo into a courtroom and call her as a witness. I don't want to lose my only chance at this."

"What are you going to do, exactly?" Frank asked.

Joe hesitated for a second or two. "I'm just going to clear the air. Like Callie said, I don't owe her anything, but it looks like she doesn't have anything. I just want to let her know she doesn't have to worry on my account, at least."

"She's made her choices." Frank shook his head. "I just don't get why you want to do this today, after…everything."

"That's why I want to do it today," Joe replied. "Angelo's still out there. None of us have any guarantee of a tomorrow. If I can set a few things right, I'd like to. It's only going to take five minutes. I wouldn't dream of being in there any longer."

He knocked on the door and Darcy's voice said to come in. For an instant, Joe's resolve deserted him and he shivered, but then he mastered himself and went inside. He found Darcy sitting up by the window, looking out. She turned to look at him and her jaw fell open.

"Joe! How…? Why…?" she stammered.

"Darcy." Joe nodded, both the action and the word stiffer than he meant them to be. "How are you doing?"

"What are you doing here?" Darcy asked instead of answering his question.

"I just wanted to tell you that I don't have any hard feelings toward you and I'm really glad you survived."

"Why should you be?"

"Because what you did that day and any other mistakes you've made don't have to be the end of the story. It took me a long time to get past that, but I can see that you've been hurt a lot worse than me. So I forgive you. I hope you make it once you get out of here." Joe paused for a couple of seconds. "That's all I really had to say."

He started to turn to leave, but Darcy called to him to wait.

"I don't know why you came to see me," Darcy said. "I wouldn't, if I was you. But since you did, could…could you give your mailing address? I might want to write something to you."

"What?" Joe asked.

"I…I don't want to say it out loud. I don't know if I want to write it. But if I do write it down, I want someone to send it to. Please."

The last thing Joe wanted to do was give her any kind of contact information, but he also didn't want to deny her request completely in her current state. He quickly thought of a compromise. "I don't know where I'm going to wind up in the coming months. I don't think I'll stay here. If you send it to my dad's office, he'll make sure it gets to me. I'll write the address down for you."

"Thank you," Darcy replied.

Joe wrote the address down and then made his retreat. He was a little shaky as he exited the room, but he could already feel a sense of relief. That dissipated a little when he saw that Captain Gomez had arrived and was talking to Frank and Callie.

"Hello, Joe," Gomez greeted him. "How is your head?"

"Better, thanks. What are you doing here? Did you come looking for us?"

"Uh, no. Actually, I have some questions for Darcy. She might know more than we realized. But since you're here, there is something I'd like to say to the three of you." Gomez took in a deep breath. "I'm sorry about your friend. I know that some of you didn't think I was doing everything I could. I did what I thought was best, but obviously it wasn't good enough."

"No," Joe said. "You did do the best you could. I should have been more cooperative."

"And I should have allowed you to cooperate," Gomez insisted.

"I don't think any of us blame you, Captain," Callie said.

"We all could have done better," Frank added. "Thank you for everything you did, sir."

Gomez shook hands with each of them before going into Darcy's room.