The Pain Of Silence

Chapter 10

Fenton looked over the article as Mr. Tyler continued.

"Nearly four years ago, Scott was helping build some warehouses and he had an accident. He had been walking across a beam and someone left something that he ended up slipping on. I don't remember what caused it, but he ended up falling nearly two stories. His head hit the beam and when he fell, he hit his head again on the cement floor. He also sprained his wrist and bruised his leg."

Fenton spoke up. "He's pretty lucky. The article said it was over a two story fall, close to three."

"Here you are. gentlemen." Samantha came out of the kitchen with a tray of cookies and placed them on the table. She sat right beside Frank, smiling at him.

Rick smiled at his daughter. "Thanks Sam. Anyway, the doctors kept him under observation for a few days. He had some swelling that eventually went down, but nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe a screw came loose after all, if you know what I mean?" he asked, not wanting to say anything inappropriate in front of his daughter.

"I'm not a doctor, but that's possible," Fenton said. "Do you have a copier or scanner so I may have copies of these articles?"

"Of course. I'll do that right now. Sam, keep our guests company, I'll be right back." Rick departed the room. Fenton would have liked to discuss the case with Frank, but decided to wait until they had left.

"So, Samantha, thanks for making these cookies." Fenton reached over and took a cookie.

"You're welcome, sir." She looked at Frank. "Want one?"

If Joe were here, he'd be having a blast right now. "Sure, that'd be great." She handed him a cookie and Frank ate it.

"What are you working on right now?" she asked.

"Oh, well, we're working for your aunt right now. She's just having us look into a few things." Fenton was trying to stay away from bringing up her uncle.

"That's neat! So, have you always wanted to take after your father?" she asked Frank.

"I guess you can say that," he smiled. "For Joe and me, it seemed to come naturally. We like to help people."

"Aw, that's so sweet. You must be very brave." She batted her eyelashes at him.

Frank looked at his father for help, but got none, as his father was enjoying watching them. Fenton simply smiled at his son.

Thanks a lot, Dad! "Um, I try to be. It's a tough line of work. It's too bad Joe isn't here. He has a lot of good stories to tell. He loves—"

"But you're the one who's here," she smiled. "Why don't you tell me one?"

"Well, we've helped with kidnappings, thefts…you've heard of most of them already though…right?" he asked, guessing she already knew about their cases and jobs.

"Oh yes! Oh, I'm sorry about the death of your friend last year. What a tragedy! What was her name…" Samantha thought hard, but Frank knew whom she was talking about.

"Her name was Iola Morton. She was Joe's girlfriend at the time. We ended up saving…"

"Here you go!" Mr. Tyler returned with the copies, placed them on the table and sat down. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, your daughter was asking us about our line of work. So, you haven't heard from Scott at all? When was the last time you spoke with him?" Fenton asked.

"It's been at least a few months. Honestly. Over time we sort of moved on with our own lives. When he moved to North Carolina, we just lost touch. He had never told me they were moving. I called the house and Morgan told me. If it hadn't been the day before, I would have gone down but my work schedule was impossible to change. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about what was happening or else I would have been there in a split second to help them. After what you've told me, I wish things had been different." He looked over at his daughter. "Sam, can you excuse us for a moment? We have something private to discuss."

She nodded and stood up. "I'll be in the living room watching TV." She left them alone and they were able to talk about the case again.

"I know this is a little forward, but do you think that Morgan may have done something, or even Brooke may have done something to upset Scott?" Mr. Tyler asked.

The question surprised Fenton. "Well, it is a possibility. Why, do you know of any problems between them that we aren't aware of?"

Tyler shook his head. "No. I was just pointing out that maybe something angered Scott in order for him to do this. I remember just before the accident he had at work he told me something about Morgan having a male friend who he seemed pretty jealous of. I'm not trying to make them sound bad and I don't know if anything happened, but he had told me once that he thought she might be cheating on him."

Frank looked at his father questioningly. He didn't believe that Mrs. Tyler would have cheated.

"After all these years of knowing Morgan, I don't think she'd do that, but I'll be sure to ask her if something went wrong that could have caused all of this," Fenton said neutrally.

"The only reason I brought that up is because Scott complained about it a lot and he also told me they fought about it. I just can't see Scott hurting Brooke for no reason. Maybe he is sick. I don't know." Mr. Tyler scratched his forehead. "This is a lot to take in. Was there anything else you needed from me or any questions you have?"

"I have one if you don't mind. What ever happened with your father? Did he go to jail for what he did?" Frank asked.

Tyler looked down and frowned. "Actually he's dead. He ran his car off the road and was killed instantly. He had several officers after him at the time and he just lost it and went off the road."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" Frank immediately regretted asking the question.

"It's all right. Our mother had one hell of a time accepting what happened. With what happened to Scott and then to our Dad. It was horrible. I just hope it's not what's happening to my brother now. He went through hell."

"Well, I don't want to keep you any longer. Thanks for the copies and your information." Fenton shook hands with Mr. Tyler, and Frank did as well.

"No problem. If you need anything, give me a call. You can tell Morgan the same thing. I'm around if she needs anything. I hope he gets some help," Rick said as Samantha came running into the room.

"You're leaving?" she asked, sadly.

"Yes, I'm afraid we are," Fenton informed her.

Her eyes went wide. "May I ask one favor?" she grinned and Fenton nodded. "One second!"

Samantha took off, running upstairs, leaving the men confused.

"She's a handful, that one. I wouldn't be surprised if she…"

thump thump

Samantha came running back down the stairs with a newspaper in her hands. "Can I have your autographs?" She showed them a photo of Fenton with his sons on the front page. "Please?"

Frank turned his head and playfully rolled his eyes at his father, who smiled. "Sure you can."

A couple minutes later they were both walking to their car. "Well, that was interesting," Frank commented.

"What part? What we found out or our fan?" Fenton asked, and they both laughed.

"Everything. I can't believe he was abused as a child. I really think that accident must have triggered something in his memory and he is acting upon it," Frank declared.

"I agree. We'll stop at Vanessa's house and talk to the others before we head home."

They both got in the car, unaware of the person watching them from a distance.

Scott Tyler sat in his pickup truck, watching Fenton and Frank get in their car. He had planned to stop at his brother's house, to ask to spend the night on his way to Bayport but now he had other plans.

Once Fenton was out of sight, Scott drove off and made his way to the nearest motel.

Twenty minutes later he pulled up to a motel and paid for the night. He went to his room, planning on leaving first thing in the morning. He had to track them down before he was found. Hardy, you and your kid better stay out of the way! He wanted his wife and daughter out of Bayport as soon as possible. He was going to make sure he found them tomorrow and bring them back home.