A/N: I know it's been a long time since I updated...and I'm REALLY sorry about that…BUT the good news is that I finally got a new computer! Which means…MORE UPDATES! YAY! Big thanks to everyone who has stuck with the story even though the updates have been sluggish and thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. Here we go now, on to Chapter 7!

Quintessential Bliss

Chapter Seven

"Well look at you," Nancy grinned at Joe as she walked into his plush office early the next morning.

Joe placed both of his hands on the surface of the polished desk and smiled back, "I feel so important."

"You look important," Nancy agreed with a nod. Closing the door behind her she sat in the chair in front of Joe's desk. Looking around she noticed the large amount of pictures of her and Joe scattered around the room. Looking back at Joe she raised an eyebrow, "It looks like you're obsessed with me…with us."

Joe laughed, "Obsessed? Try: in love with my wife." He shook his head, "Just don't talk about it in front of Frank. He was embarrassingly jealous about those pictures last night."

"Jealous?" Nancy joined Joe laughing. "Frank was jealous?"

"Yeah, it was weird." Joe shook his head and glanced at the notes on his desk. "He taught me the basics of investment banking. I figure if someone asks me questions and it goes too much further in depth I can reply with a 'oh, who wants to talk about work outside of the office?' or 'I don't want to bore you!' type of a sentence."

"Sounds well planned out," Nancy nodded. "What do you think we should do first?"

"Observe?" Joe suggested.

"That sounds smart," Nancy agreed. "Get to know our neighbors, our surroundings. See what happens."

"This neighborhood is very Betty Crocker," Joe said with a shake of his head. "It's scary."

"I know, I think we have casseroles to last us for weeks. Carrie Thompson, who lives in the house three doors down from ours…the one with the green shutters, she told me not to worry about any of them going bad. I can just put them in the freezer and they'll keep for months." Nancy shook her head. "It's crazy."

"Casserole?" Joe instantly perked up, "What kind of casserole?"

Nancy couldn't help but laugh, "Every variety you could think of, including tuna and green bean."

"I'm starving," Joe looked at Nancy meaningfully.

"Maybe you should get something for breakfast," Nancy suggested with a shrug.

Joe sighed dramatically, "Well, I have to call Vanessa and you never know how long she's going to want to talk. I mean, we are separated by the entire country and I've put myself in a very dangerous situation…not to mention she's worried about me living with another female…"

Nancy burst out laughing, "She's worried about you living with another female?" She laughed again, "Oh Joe, I've heard you ask for food in odd ways before but this one takes the cake."

"Please?" Joe asked and batted his eyelashes.

Nancy stood up, "Well I hope your tastes this morning run toward a half a grapefruit, because that's what's on the menu. It's healthy and easy to fix." At Joe's horrified expression Nancy smiled, "I'm kidding Joe."

Joe let out a sigh of relief, "Thank God."

"Tell Vanessa I promise to keep my hands off her man, as hard and impossible as it's going to be," She turned and left the room, making sure to close the door firmly behind her. So far the only room in the house they had been able to positively identify as bug free was Joe's study. In fact, the night before they had found bugs in the kitchen, living room and most disturbing of all, their bedroom.

Going to bed last night had been an awkward hurdle, Joe thought now. He and Nancy had been busy all day getting the house in order and meeting new neighbors that he hadn't given much thought to what they would do when it was time to go to bed.

He had solved the problem by pretending to fall asleep on the couch watching TV. He knew the ruse made sense for last night, after all it had been a long day and plenty of men fell asleep on the couch watching ESPN. Tonight however, would be a different story and he was pretty sure he was going to have to sleep in the bedroom.

Joe shoved the thought out of his mind; he'd think about it later and grabbed his cell phone to call Vanessa at work. While the receptionist connected him to Vanessa's office Joe turned and looked out the window. He watched as Frank jogged out of Callie's house and got into his car. Joe continued watching his brother drive away until Frank was out of sight. Joe couldn't help but feel a little jealous at Frank's ability to come and go as he pleased. So far Joe felt as if he had done nothing to further the case while Frank had made all the progress.

"This is Vanessa," Vanessa's professional voice broke into his thoughts and he turned away from the window.

"Hey babe," Joe said with a smile.

"Joe!" Vanessa's voice instantly brightened. "How are you? How's it going? What's your new house like?"

Joe laughed, "I'm good, it's going well and this house is insane. Very clean, borderline boring."

"Wow, I bet it's beautiful there."

"Sunny and warm, that's for sure," Joe replied. Vanessa was silent for a moment and Joe knew that she was trying to decide how to bring something up. "Van? What is it?"

"Joe," she began slowly. "Joe…" she said his name again and then stopped.

"What is it?" Joe sat up straighter in his desk chair, suddenly worried. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Vanessa rushed to assure him. "But…I'm a little concerned. This morning when I left for work…there was a note."

Instantly Joe's stomach dropped, he could feel the color draining from his face. His chest seized and it was suddenly hard to breathe. "A note?" He finally managed to say, the words sounded harsh and forced even to his own ears.

"There have been others." It was a statement, not a question. She could tell by Joe's voice that there had been more than just one note. "How many others?" She asked quietly.

Joe considered lying to her, considered lying to protect her just as he had been lying for months to protect her and his family from the stress and anxiety he felt every time he received one of the awful messages. He considered it for a full five seconds before he realized he needed to tell Vanessa the truth, "About one a week…since the newspaper article."

Vanessa's silence on the other end of the line was deafening. She took a deep breath before speaking, "That long?"

"Yes," Joe replied and scrubbed a hand over his face. "I didn't want to worry anyone."

"Does Frank know?"

"No," Joe replied. "What does the note say this time?"

"That's not important," Vanessa said quickly. "What's important is that you keep your mind on this case, come back home to me and as soon as that case is over you tell Frank and your father about the notes."

"I don't want them to know," Joe suddenly felt exhausted and he rested his face in his hands.

"Joe, they need to know," Her voice softened. "They love you Joe."

"I know," Joe replied wearily. There was another short silence, "Are you okay Vanessa? Maybe you should go stay with my parents. I don't like the idea of you seeing or reading any more of those notes."

"Actually, I was thinking of going to visit a friend," Vanessa's voice sounded nonchalant but Joe knew her well enough to know when she was holding something back.

"Which friend?" Joe asked suspiciously.

"One I haven't seen in awhile…she's um…" Vanessa's voice trailed off.

"No, no way Vanessa. You are not coming down here to visit Callie. No way," Joe shook his head vehemently even though Vanessa couldn't see. "No, no way. Not happening."

"Callie would be excited to see me," Vanessa said as if Joe hadn't said anything.

"You haven't talked to her about this yet?" Joe asked.

"Well no, not yet. But I'm sure she'd be excited to see me, I could help her with wedding stuff. After all, I'm an expert at it by now, considering we've had the longest engagement of all time," Vanessa tried to joke.

Joe however, wasn't laughing, "I'm sure Callie would agree with me when I say you can't come down here. You just can't. It's not safe and we don't know how dangerous it is."

"So you can put your life in danger and I have to sit here safe in my office?" Vanessa sounded exasperated.

"Vanessa, we've had this conversation before. This is what I do. This is my job. I made a promise to myself a long time ago that if I was going to continue in this line of work I would do everything in my power to keep the person I loved out of it." Joe couldn't help but think of that awful day years ago, when someone he had desperately loved had died because of what he did.

"Joe, I understand that but…" Vanessa began but Joe cut her off.

"Van, I've chosen this life. You haven't."

"Well that was a stupid thing to say," Vanessa replied angrily. "You're saying I haven't chosen this life? I chose you didn't I?" When Joe was silent Vanessa continued, "I'm wearing your ring on my finger, aren't I?" Vanessa's voice got thick with tears, "I'm the one who sits at home and worries about you and is strong for you when you get home, aren't I?"

"Vanessa…" Joe started but Vanessa was on a roll.

"Don't you dare tell me I haven't chosen this life Joseph Hardy. I choose this life every day that I love you." She took a deep breath, "You idiot." She finished but the words were said affectionately.

"Well," Joe didn't really know what to say. "Um."

"Yeah, um is right," Vanessa said with a watery laugh. "Don't worry, I won't visit Callie."

"Vanessa, it's not that you're not capable. It's just that I don't think I'd be able to handle it if anything bad happened to you because of me." Joe sighed and felt the familiar weight of a loved ones death on his shoulders.

"I know," Vanessa sighed. "I hate fighting over the phone."

"We didn't fight," Joe corrected her. "We just firmly put the other in their place."

Vanessa laughed, "That's true."

"I love you Vanessa," Joe murmured.

"I love you too Joe," Vanessa replied.

"Will you at least consider staying at my parents?" Joe asked hopefully.

"I'll consider it, but I won't do it," Vanessa replied. "I'm not afraid of a few nasty words written on a piece of paper."

"That's my girl," Joe replied and smiled. "Have a good rest of the day at work."

"You too," Vanessa replied. "Call me when you can."

"I will." When they had finally hung up Joe leaned back in his chair and rubbed his hands over his face. The notes. For some reason he hadn't expected them to continue after he had disappeared. Hopefully whoever was sending them hadn't realized he was gone yet and there would be no more while he was away. The idea of Vanessa receiving the notes while he wasn't there burned his blood and caused it to boil.

Joe sighed; it wouldn't do him any good to dwell on it now. He had to focus on one mystery at a time.

"Thanks for meeting me detective," Frank sat down at the corner table in the sixties themed restaurant. Frank had spent the morning digging up information about the Ananda community in the public records. He had a pretty good idea of what the detective was going to tell him, but he wanted to hear the man's take on it.

"No, thank you," the man replied and dug into his burger and fries with an enthusiasm that reminded Frank of his brother.

"So, what is it about that community detective?" Frank asked as he waved the waitress away, he wasn't hungry.

"I've been a detective in this city my entire career, going on twenty-nine years now." The detective dipped a group of fries in his ketchup. "In those twenty-nine years I've seen some pretty strange things. Your friend? The MacGregor boy?" When Frank nodded the man shook his head, "He's not the first man to go missing out of that community."

"He isn't?" Frank leaned forward.

"No, in my memory there have been five cases coming out of that place involving a husband who suddenly goes camping…or fishing…on a man's weekend. Two of them "moved" and were never seen from again…two of them came back talking about catching the big fish and sporting nice vacation tans."

"Do you remember what happened to the other one?" Frank asked.

"Of course I remember," he tapped two fingers to his temple. "I've got a steel trap memory in here. The man's name was Mark Haynes. He died," he took a sip of his drink. "His body washed up on the beach down in Mexico somewhere. Autopsy said he died by drowning."

"When was that Mr. Hubbard?"

"1984 and please call me Ron, Mr. Hubbard makes me sound my age." he replied with a toothy grin.

"Okay, Ron," Frank smiled; he couldn't help but like grizzled detective.

"The two men who came back from their man vacations still live there. Gregory Parks came back in 1992 and Benjamin Olson in 1997. In fact, I believe Gregory Parks is something of a leader in the community. One of those pillars people like so damn much. Personally I think when a neighborhood is too perfect it's boring. I like my neighbors normal, but I don't mind a nice healthy fight in the middle of the streets every now and again." Ron stretched out in the booth, "Man, it's a pain they've outlawed smoking in restaurants."

"Where can I find the two men who moved?" Frank asked.

"Not sure…they and their families up and disappeared. It isn't a crime to move, so nobody pursued it. I got a wild hair about it when it happened, learned that nobody had seen the men helping pack up their houses…but the families packed up and left, saying they were moving for jobs or whatnot. Peculiar. Chief told me not to make something out of nothing and I got full up on other cases," He shrugged. "Over time I let it drop. Nothing strange has happened out of that community since up until a few days ago, when your friend disappeared. I think it's all connected."

Frank nodded his head in agreement, "I think you're right."