Hello and thank you to all who left me wonderful reviews on my last story, and to those who are following, favorites or just following along thank you. Also I want to thank my beta reader for helping me with my story. Here is my new chapter hope you like, :)
A Brother's Revenge Chapter 20
Joe cast his eyes downward at the table feeling so embarrassed by his actions that he couldn't bear to look at anyone. Anxious thoughts began flooding through his head again, I'm no good! I am a loser! "I...I..." He was suddenly overcome by the overwhelming need to flee. "I need to go." He announced abruptly and reached for his crutches which were leaning against the picnic table and started to get up.
"Joe, honey, wait." Laura called urgently to her son to stop him from leaving. She couldn't let him go off by himself, not after what Fenton had said. "Why don't we..." She started to say when a boisterous voice boomed out cutting off her words. "Hello! Hello all! Happy July 4th! Looks like quite a party going on here!"
Everyone looked up to see Harry Garrett, a retired cop who worked at the shooting range with Pete, coming up to their picnic table. Joe slowly shook his head at the colorful Hawaiian shirt the man had on that was a size too small and buttoned wrong over his large belly and blue shorts and brown sandals over white socks. He also had a large brown paper bag with grease stains tucked under his left arm. He was a likeable guy and full of confidence in himself, as evidenced by the way he dressed.
"Pete, my boy! Good to see you." The heavyset man said cheerfully slapping him on the back.
"Harry, good to see you too." Pete said with a forced smile.
"I saw you over here with the Missus," Harry said, smiling at Lindsey. "and the Hardy clan and their young friends. Thought I'd come over and say hi." Frank and Joe's friends either gave him a polite smile and a hello or a wave. "Laura and Trudy, how are you?" He added cheerfully greeting the ladies. "You both are looking as lovely as ever." He flashed a flirtatious grin at Gertrude.
"Oh, good Lord." Gertrude rolled her eyes and huffed, at the sight of the man. "That's Gertrude to you, Mr. Garrett."
"Thank you, Harry." Laura said politely. She had met the retired officer a few times at various social gatherings that she had attended with Fenton. She found him to be nice, although she could see why many women kept their distance from him, which was probably why he was still single. He could be very outspoken and noting the food stains on his shirt he was also a bit of a slob. Laura stole a quick glance at her youngest and noticed that Joe had let go of his crutches and was still seated, his attention now focused on the boisterous man. Thank you, Harry, she thought breathing a sigh of relief.
"And who is this little lad?" Harry asked nodding at Trevor sitting between Frank and Joe.
"Uh, Harry, you've met him before. That's Trevor, our son." Pete answered putting his arm around his wife.
"No way, this can't be Trevor!" The man said shaking his head in disbelief, "The last time I saw him he was just a tiny sprout."
"It is, it's me." Trevor said proudly pointing at his chest.
"How old are you, son?"
"Seven."
"Seven?"
The boy nodded.
"Well, you look just like your daddy. I betcha you're going to grow up and be a cop just like him, huh." Harry said with a wink of his eye. Pete grimaced at the comment.
"Nope!" the little boy's reply beaming from ear to ear. "I'm gonna to be a detective just like Frank and Joe!"
"Awww!" The girls cooed as the boys laughed at the little boy's response, making Frank and Joe's faces once again turn a bright shade of pink.
"Is that so." The man chuckled, "Those are going to be some big shoes to fill. Although, I can see why any boy would want to be like the Hardy boys. Building up a good reputation with such an amazing talent for crime solving." He walked around the table to where the boys were sitting and stopped behind Joe putting his big hands firmly on his shoulders giving them a friendly squeeze. "just like their father."
Joe suddenly felt very uncomfortable. His heart began pounding out of his chest, and his breathing became heavy. Then he felt an instant relief when the hands left his shoulders. "Say Laura, where's that husband of yours? Working on a case no doubt." Harry asked looking around for the famous detective.
"Something like that." Laura answered vaguely. That grabbed both Frank and Joe's attention as they looked around realizing for the first time that their father wasn't there. Where the heck did, he go? Joe wondered.
Harry then turned his attention to the brothers, saying with a serious face, "So, Frank, Joe how are you boys? I'm sorry to hear what you are being accused of Frank. Murder? I don't believe it for one second that you would kill that man." Harry continued, patting Frank on the shoulder. "You hang in there, bud, it's gonna be fine. Don't you worry, Chief Collig and his men will get the real culprit."
"They better or I will." Joe murmured under his breath. He wasn't going to lose his brother. Frank's not going to jail...there's no way in hell I'll let that happen, he thought.
"Ah...Thank you for that Harry." Frank vaguely answered, he suddenly felt a slight twinge in his heart and began to rub his chest. Something didn't feel right, and it had to do with Joe. He didn't want to draw attention to himself so trying to ignore the feeling and dropping his hand into his lap, he asked, "Are you here to join in on the festivities?" Laura however noticed him rubbing his chest as did Callie.
Damnit Joe! Why can't you see what you're doing to your brother? Callie cursed in her thoughts which was something she normally never did. It was the only thing she could think of to say. Truthfully, she was scared that Frank would end up back in the hospital again. She didn't want to lose him.
"That's the plan, to watch the fireworks and eat the good food." Harry's eyes swept over the food left on the table. "Looks like you got quite a spread here yourselves."
"Would you like to join us, Harry?" Laura asked politely.
"Aw thank you ma'am, but I brought my own." Harry held up his greasy brown paper bag and opened it. He pulled out a footlong sandwich wrapped in tinfoil.
"What on earth is that?" Gertrude replied wrinkling her nose at the stench of the sandwich.
"A spicy salami smothered in onions, red and green peppers, jalapeno and my personal favorite spicy mustard. Made by yours truly."
"Phew, that's a relief." Tony murmured to Chet wiping his brow. "Obviously he didn't get it from our restaurant, because for one the place is closed and my parents are gone for the weekend and two my mom wouldn't dare serve it in a greasy brown paper bag."
Harry held out the sandwich to the group. "Would anyone like one? I have plenty." He offered.
"Good heavens no thank you." Gertrude said in disgust as everyone else declined the offer.
"Oh, I think I'm going to be sick." Lindsey said staring at the sandwich as she put the bottle of ginger ale she was drinking down on the table and then cupped a hand over her mouth other hand on her pregnant belly. She abruptly got up and ran to the nearest bathrooms.
"Is she okay?" Harry asked in concern.
"Yeah," Pete answered, "she's fine, just pregnant."
"Well, congrats to you both!"
"Thanks, I better go and make sure she's okay." Pete stood up to leave, looked at his son, "Oh wait Trevor...I..." he couldn't leave him.
"Go ahead go, Pete. We'll keep an eye on him for you." Laura reassuring the young father.
"Are you sure? He can be a handful." Pete asked.
"Oh, I know all about handfuls, believe me." Laura said glancing at her boys then back at Pete. "Yes go, Trevor is in good hands."
"Okay, Thank you Laura." Pete said gratefully, then turned to his son. "Trevor, Mom's fine, stay here with Mrs. Hardy, and be good. We'll be back."
"K Daddy!" Trevor replied waving at his dad as he left to go tend to his wife.
"Anyone else?" Harry asked once again for any takers on a sandwich.
"No thank you." Vanessa said kindly. "That's too spicy of a sandwich for me."
"That does sound tempting. I'd try one Mr. Garrett, that is if I wasn't stuffed and ready to explode with hot dogs. Thank you anyway." Chet groaned patting his stomach.
"Serves you right, Chet, maybe that will teach you not to pig out like that." Brenda replied, and then dropped her voice and whispered to him. "If you ask me that sandwich sounds gross."
Once again Joe's anxious thoughts grabbed him and wouldn't let go and he felt the need to flee from the group. He had to get a way, then an impulsive idea struck him. After all that's my nature, right? Reckless... Impulsive. It could work. Why not? He took a breath, here goes. "Harry, I'll give one a whirl." He replied flashing the best Joe Hardy smile that he could muster, at the same time ignoring the bewildered looks he was getting from everyone. Don't look at them, they can't know he told himself.
"Here you go my boy." Harry said handing the younger Hardy a sandwich.
"Thank you, Harry!" Joe unwrapped the sandwich and took a big bite, chewed and then swallow it down, "Mmmm! So good!"
"You're welcome. Glad you like it." Harry laughed. "Listen I'm going to go and let you all enjoy your party. Happy 4th to you all. Laura, you tell Fenton I said hello."
"I will, thank you and happy 4th of July to you as well, Harry." Laura replied, as the man waved goodbye and headed down the boardwalk.
"Are you seriously going to eat that after all you've eaten tonight?" Callie asked Joe sharply. She couldn't help it, her anger with Joe got the better of her.
"Yep." Joe said between chews, and shrugged his shoulders, "Watch me."
Chet and Tony sat with opened mouth while Biff cursed something under his breath watching Joe eat the sandwich with gusto. Brenda had a hand over her mouth, Lizzy whispered to Marcy, 'Gross! I can't believe he's eating that', Marcy just nodded her response unable to turn away.
Joe continued eating and chewing then started gagging on the food in his mouth turning his face pale, he quickly took a drink of his soda to help swallow the bite down. He opened his mouth and lifted up his tongue to show Callie it was gone. He flashed a witty smile at her. Callie just rolled her eyes at him.
"Joe, don't eat anymore." Frank ordered with concern. His brother could be a bottomless pit when it came to food, but he had a bad feeling about what Joe was doing and didn't want him to make himself sick.
Vanessa leaned forward, put her hand on Joe's arm and winkled her nose. "Yes, Joe please stop." She said voicing her concern. "You're scaring me. Why do you keep acting like this?"
Joe said nothing, shrugged off Vanessa's hand, ignored the stares and forced himself to keep on eating the sandwich.
"Joe, listen to them." Laura said, urging her son to listen. Now his behavior really had her scared.
"You're going to..." Gertrude added her concern.
"Will everyone just relax ...I." Joe said then all at once his stomach started churning violently. Breathing heavily, "I..." He gulped, trying to hold back the bile that was threatening to come up. He dropped his sandwich and grabbed his crutches which were leaning against the picnic table and, jumping to his feet, bolted towards the nearest bathrooms at the pier as fast as his crutches could take him, dodging people and anything else that was in his path.
"Joe!" Everyone exclaimed, concern evident in their voices.
Everyone was instantly on their feet. Laura, Biff, and Vanessa started to go after him. "I got him!" Frank announced, leaving no room for anyone to argue and ran off after his brother. He had had enough of this. He wanted some answers. Whether he wanted to or not he was going to make Joe tell him what was going on.
Laura exchanged concerned looks with Gertrude. She wanted to talk to Frank first, before he confronted his brother. She didn't know what to do now. "Maybe it's better this way. Maybe Joe will tell Frank what happened on the pier himself." Gertrude said trying to sound hopeful.
"Yes, but will Joe actually tell him, or will he just bury it?" Laura wondered. She pulled out her phone and began texting Fenton on what just happened. Please tell me you got in touch w/ Dr. Reese. J's behavior is getting worse. He stuffed himself w/food making himself sick. He ran off. F went after him.
Within seconds her phone beeped. It was Fenton. He responded to her saying, Yes, talking w/Dr now. Working out a plan. Meeting with Sam and Chief shortly. B back soon as I can. Try not to worry.
Little Trevor looked around the group confused with what was happening. He didn't know why everyone was acting so weird and where Frank and Joe had run off to and so he started to feel scared. "I want Mommy!" His little voice trembled out; he frowned and his bottom lip started quivering.
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry. Everything's alright." Laura put her phone away and went over to the little boy and knelt down beside him and pulled him into a hug. "Mommy will be back soon." she pulled him back to look at him. "Okay?" He just nodded.
"What happened?" He asked between hiccups. "Is Frank and Joe com'n back?" His sad tear-filled blue eyes looked up at her, reminding Laura of how Joe used to look at her when he was little and sad.
"Joe just got an upset tummy. Frank went to make sure he's okay, just like your Mommy and Dad did. They'll be back." Laura reassured him.
The little boy nodded as she wiped a tear from his face. "Okay."
"Hey I got an idea." Laura said addressing the teens at the table. "Why don't you guys play a game with Trevor until his parents' come back."
Chet too, had picked up on Joe's strange behavior. The fighting with his father, arguing with Callie and the McNeely's, and what was with the glare Joe kept sending to Biff? He knew that they needed to do something to help, and this was one thing they could do.
Chet exchanged looks Biff and Tony they both nodded okay, "Sure, we'd be glad too, Mrs. Hardy." Chet smiled. Marcy, Brenda and Lizzy agreed to play a game with the little boy as well.
"Thank you, everyone. That will be a big help." Laura sighed gratefully. Then she turned back to the little boy. "By that time Frank and Joe should be back and then it will be just a little bit before the fireworks start." She smiled playfully poking his chest, "maybe you can talk them into playing a game with you as well. How does that sound?"
"'K, I'd like that." Trevor's face suddenly lit up and a huge smile spread across his mouth, the tears and fear banished.
"That's a good idea, Laura. We could all use a distraction right now. " Gertrude praised the idea. "While you're all doing that Laura and I will finish cleaning up the picnic."
"We'll help clean up." Marcy offered and began gathering up the dirty plates. "No, no, no, thank you though", Gertrude insisted, "Laura and I will take care of that. You guys go play with Trevor. Just keep an eye on him and stay close by."
"Okay so what kind of game should we play?" Biff asked, scratching the back of his head. "There's relay races, ring toss," He began throwing out suggestions. Then he got excited, "OOOOO, I know, I know, football!"
"Um Biff, I don't know if football is a good idea." Tony replied, "I mean especially the way you play, remember he's only seven, and he's littler than all of us, so we don't want to break him. His parents may not like that." He didn't mind the idea of playing a game with the kid. He had a big Italian family and even though he didn't have siblings, he did have little cousins that were around Trevor's age so, they were pretty cool and could be a lot of fun. He just remembered they also had lots and lots of energy.
"Why don't you ask Trevor? Maybe there's a game he would like to play." Laura threw out as a suggestion of her own. She smiled at the boy. "What would you like to play?"
"Sure, we can play any game you like." Tony said coming down to Trevor's level.
The little boy looked around the group as he thought. "I really want to play Gotcha." He finally decided. "But Joe's not here to play with me." He frowned, it was the only one game he had his heart set on playing, and the only person he really wanted to play it with him was Joe.
Hearing that broke Laura's heart. She wondered if Joe realized how much of an impact he was making on the little boy. Laura thought back to those agonizing moments when he had gone missing for three days and how scared to death his friends and family were thinking that he might be gone forever. If Joe were to leave them for any reason, it would definitely make an impact on everyone and she wondered if he knew that.
"What is Gotcha?" Vanessa asked curiously. "I don't think I've ever heard of that game."
"It's actually a fancy name for tag that Joe came up with." Biff answered. He went on to explain the game. "When the tagger tags the other player instead of yelling out, 'tag you're it!' You yell out, 'Gotcha!' as you tag the person. Then that person is now it. I think the last time they played the game Trevor was it, and that's why he got excited when he saw Joe earlier and yelled out 'Gotcha!' and accidentally knocked him down to the ground. So, I believe Joe is now it." Trevor nodded to confirm Biff's explanation.
"Wow, that's creative. And Joe came up with that?" Vanessa was impressed with how Joe had turned a simple game of tag into a fun game, by simply changing the name.
As Biff nodded yes, he thought, damn it, Joe. Why do you do things like this? Biff saw the disappointment on Trevor's face. Maybe he could try to help. He knelt down to the boy's level.
"So, what do you say Trevor, can we play Gotcha with you. We could all use the practice so that way we'll be good at it. And when Joe's leg is feeling better, I'm sure he'll play the game with you too. We can all play together one day or something like that." He glanced up at Laura to make sure he was saying the right things, and to his relief Laura gave him a smile and a slight nod.
Then he felt a slap on his shoulder Biff turned to see the little boy with a mischievous smile across his face, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement, "Gotcha!" and then he turned and ran so Biff couldn't tag him back.
Soon the little boy had Biff, Tony, Chet, and their dates in a full game of Gotcha, running, laughing and having fun over in a grassy area not too far from their picnic area as the teens had promised. Laura paused a moment from cleaning up the picnic, and smiled, as she watched them all have fun. Hopefully Joe would be able to join in the games soon for the little boy's sake. She went back to cleaning up the picnic with her worried thoughts on both her boys.
FJFJFFJFJFJFJJFJF
Vanessa stayed back from the game to help clean up. She picked up a dirty plate and then threw it in the trash can and started thinking about Joe. She was so worried about him. She liked him very much, they had just started going out, and as she told Joe at the agency, she wanted to take thing slowly but if she was truthful with herself, she was kind of hoping by the end of the night that they would leave as boyfriend and girlfriend, or at the very least heading in that direction. She wasn't sure what to make of Joe's mood swings though, and she wanted to cry, scream or something but she didn't know what to do or how to help. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Vanessa are you alright?"
Vanessa turned to see it was Callie, concern written all over her face. She brushed a tear that escaped from her eye, and smiled with a sigh, "Yeah, I'm just worried about Joe. I wish I knew what to do for him."
"I know the feeling. I'm worried about Frank; he's been going through depression and some health issues and it's been quite a battle for him. And with all the drama that has been going on today it is not helping him one bit." Callie huffed. She ran a hand through her hair fuming. She folded her arms across her chest. "I'll be glad when Frank's in school at Princeton. He'll be away from all of the stress here at home. That is if he's not back in the hospital again."
"You're talking about Joe, aren't you?" Vanessa asked her, staring at her.
"What?" Callie asked, startled by Vanessa's question.
"When you said Frank will be away from the stress here at home, are you talking about Joe?"
When Callie didn't answer her Vanessa asked, "Do you and Joe argue with each other often? I got the feeling that there's some anger issues between the two of you from the way you were going at each other, and I'm sure that that doesn't help anything."
Callie looked down at her manicured fingernails. She did feel slightly ashamed of herself for arguing with Joe like she did. But she couldn't help how she felt.
"Joe and I have a very complicated history, especially since I started dating Frank. We both know how to push each other's buttons, and mostly it has to do with Frank. I think it's because it seems like we are both trying to compete for his attention. I guess some of it is jealousy, Frank does have a deep connection with Joe." She paused for again trying to find the right thing to say, "Like I said it's complicated. Do you want to take a walk with me? I could use someone to talk to and I'll try to explain my history with Joe. It will take our minds off worrying about the brothers we love."
'Sure." Vanessa agreed, checking her phone. "Well, I do have to go and meet up with my mom in the parking lot. We can talk as we walk on the way."
"Okay" Callie agreed and with that the two girls began heading towards the parking lot.
FJFJFFJFJFJFJJFJF
Frank ran down the pier after his brother. He slowed down to a jog to catch his breath and went over to the restrooms, where he had seen Joe disappear into. He saw a few guys coming out of the restroom. Then he noticed a man in his sixties with gray hair poking out from under the blue cap he had on his head. He was wearing the name 'Jim' on the badge clipped on a blue polo shirt with a Bayport pier logo in red print on the front. The man was sweeping up the trash along the area. He looked like he must be part of the crew that was working for the pier department. Frank didn't know why but something about the way that this guy was acting bugged him. But he didn't have time to worry about that now, he had to check on his brother. He was about to make his way inside, when someone called his name, 'Frank!" he stopped in his tracks and turned to see that it was Pete.
"Is Joe alright? I'm waiting for Lindsey to come out of the lady's room and I saw Joe running up here. He didn't look so good. Looked like he was going to be sick. I called to him, but he ignored me and darted inside the men's restroom. I thought he was going to fall and injure himself the way he was using his crutches."
When his breathing was finally back to normal Frank replied, "Yeah, I think he ate something that didn't agree with him or something like that. I'm going in to check on him." he started to go inside again and then turned and said. "I'm sorry Pete about Joe's outburst. Our emotions are all over the place at the moment."
"No, Frank. I'm the one who owes your family, but most especially you, an apology." Pete shook his head and pointed a finger to his chest. "Joe's right it is my fault that the gun went missing, I didn't follow proper protocol because I wasn't thinking clearly and was under a lot of stress lately as you know with my family situation and our financial problems." He swallowed a lump in his throat. "But that's no excuse for me being irresponsible and losing your gun. Chief Collig has every right to fire me over that. I just wish I could go back and redo that Monday all over again."
"You and me both." Frank calmly said, "I wasn't thinking clearly that day either. There are no hard feelings towards you about the missing gun issue. A lot of that is my fault as well, I should have waited like I normally do to make sure that you had it instead of just leaving it on the counter." He extended his hand out to Pete. "And I am sorry for that."
Pete accepted Frank's handshake, "That means a lot. I do want to make it up to you, though. If you or your brother ever need anything, just ask."
"I'll keep that in mind," Frank continued, "Listen I'll talk to my dad. He's got some pull with Chief Collig, so I'll see if he will put in a good word for you so you can keep your job at the shooting range. The Chief maybe a hard ass at times but he is a fair man."
"Thanks Frank."
"Listen, I better see about Joe." he said as he turned to enter the bathroom just as Lindsey came out of the lady's restroom. She said a quick hello to Frank before leaving with Pete to head back to the picnic area to find their son.
FJFJFFJFJFJFJJFJF
As he approached the men's bathroom door, Frank took a deep breath and let it out. "Stay calm". He told himself before opening the door and made his way inside. He noticed right away that Joe's crutches were laying haphazardly on the floor. He bent down to pick them up and propped them up against the wall when he heard Joe vomiting in one of the stalls. Thankfully there wasn't anyone else inside the bathroom at the moment. Frank saw a closed for cleaning sign hanging by the bathroom door. He took the sign and hung it outside so no one would come in and bother them. With the sign he would be able to talk to Joe without any interruptions.
First things first though. He called out, "Joe, are you alright?"
"Yep! Be right out...no wait, oh shit!" and began vomiting again. After Joe finally stopped vomiting, he flushed the toilet and stepped out of the stall holding on to the door for support. He found Frank leaning against one of the sinks with his arms folded across his chest. Frank's head was tilted downward, staring at the floor and Joe could tell he was pissed. He couldn't see Frank's eyes, but he knew that they were angry and his jaw was tightly clenched.
"Remind me never to eat anything Harry makes ever again," Joe groaned holding his stomach. He limped up to the sink next to Frank. He turned on the water and splashed some on his face and rinsed out his mouth. He then grabbed some paper towels out of the dispenser, and wiped his face with them before discarding the towels in the nearby trash can.
He knew why Frank was here and why he had followed him into the bathroom. He wanted answers. Joe was starting to feel nervous about that and didn't know what he could tell him. How could he tell Frank, his perfect big brother, the one who had always looked out for him that he had almost let the darkness take him?
"Is there anything you need to talk to me about?" Frank asked simply, raising his gaze and looking straight at Joe.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked vaguely looking away as he tried to avoid Frank's gaze.
"What do you mean, what do I mean?" Frank asked. "Let's see, how about your irrational behavior lately, you and Dad fighting, and then there's you arguing with Callie and the McNeely's. And lastly you glaring at Biff. What was that about?"
"With Biff, it was nothing he was just going on and on about football and I wanted him to stop because he was rambling. And you know that whole missing gun thing is a sticky subject for me. The way Lindsey was talking she made it sound like she was blaming you and that bugged me." Joe said. "As for Callie you can tell her to mind her own damn business and to leave me alone!"
"Hey!"
"What?" Joe shot back. "She started it with her bitchy attitude. You're the one marrying her, not me, so good luck with that."
"I'd suggest you watch what you're saying about Callie." Frank bit the edge of his tongue to hold back his temper. "She didn't force you to eat that sandwich plus everything else you consumed prior to that. Why the hell did you want to make yourself sick like that? I know that you did it on purpose."
"I didn't I... I just ate too much." Joe stammered.
Frank just stared at Joe with his arms crossed. His stance clearly indicated to Joe that he was not buying it.
Joe leaned against the other sink avoiding Frank's gaze. His nerves began to bubble up and cause an ache to return in his stomach. He remained quiet, refusing to look over at Frank.
Frank could feel the nervousness radiating off of his brother, it meant that Joe was scared. He was scared to tell him whatever it was that was bothering him. Frank rubbed his chest to ease the ache away. "Joe, talk to me please." He pleaded; his voice soft.
Joe noticed Frank rubbing his chest. It's my fault his chest hurts and his heart problems are acting up. I can't tell him. It'll kill him. But I have to give him something. He won't stop until I do. Sighing deeply, he answered, "I know you're pissed at me for being late, and I'm sorry for that. I never meant to scare you like that, especially with that threat against us and all."
"And I'm sorry too, for yelling at you like I did. When you didn't show up at the pier, I got scared that something had happened to you. It made me think of when you went missing those three days, when I thought Hayden had killed you." That's a start Frank thought, and he decided to move on to something else, "Let's talk about what happened earlier."
"Right after you ran off, after your fight with Dad, Vanessa told us what really happened was that you had a panic attack on your way to the pier. She said you then had her drive to the agency and you wanted to show her around." Frank began reiterating what Vanessa had told them after Joe had taken off. "She said that you calmed down and that you were really excited about showing her the office. That you told her it was your dream to work alongside me and Dad. She explained to us that you didn't go there to make out like Tony's uncle had said. She also said that as soon as Angelo and his crew had left you started acting strange again. She wanted to call me, but didn't have my number so that's why she texted Callie that message saying that something wasn't right. Joe, I know you had a panic attack just before you left the house, because you were worried that something bad was going to happen, was the second attack connected to that? Does that sound right?"
"Well, it did. my date with Vanessa is ruined and not because of the threat, but because of me. it's my fault. Just like always." Joe said, his shoulders slumping.
"What does that mean?"
Joe pursed his lips together and turned away. When the silence began to stretch on with Joe still not answering him, Frank became even more concerned. "Joe, c'mon, talk to me please."
"I can't."
"You can't? You can't talk to me?" Frank repeated in disbelief. He raised a brow. "Of course, you can. You know that. You can always talk to me about anything. I'm here for you little brother, always. Or is it that you won't talk to me?"
Joe turned back to Frank tears brimming in his eyes. "Yes. I want to talk to you. You don't know how much I want to. But no, I can't." He sighed, took a deep breath and just spit it out. "I'm sorry."
Frank slipped an arm around his brother and pulled him close to him. It broke his heart to see his brother upset like this. He began to tear up himself. What the hell happened that Joe can't tell me? He wondered. He pushed back his emotions and wiped a tear that escaped from his eyes, he spoke up again, "Does it have anything to do with these fights between you and Dad?" He didn't want to push his brother but it was important if he wanted to get to the bottom of the matter. "I know he said some hurtful things to you. And I'm sure he didn't really mean them. He was just concerned about you when you were late to the picnic. Did you two talk?"
"Yes, we talked, and yes, Dad apologized," Joe huffed he pulled away from Frank, "we both did. He brought up family counseling again, which I don't plan on going to."
"Why? I thought we all agreed to go?" Frank asked. "To help work things out and strengthen us as a family."
Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I changed my mind."
"What about the new agency?" Frank pressed on. "What about our dream? Or have you changed your mind on that too? Are you quitting on me? Vanessa also mentioned something about you were feeling some resentment towards Dad. What's that about?"
"I don't know Frank! Dad and I just don't get along plain and simple. Nothing you can do about it! We have different views on things. Maybe it's for the best that I'm not going to be part of the new agency. Can't we talk about this later?" Joe could feel his temper rising; Frank was really starting to push his buttons, "I want to go find Vanessa and try to salvage what's left of our date. If that's even possible."
"Okay fine, we'll talk later." Frank said taking a calming breath to cool his anger because he could see that Joe was holding on to his temper and his emotions by a thread. "Just answer me one more thing. What were you so excited about to tell me about before your run-in with Trevor?"
Joe quickly filled Frank in on the lead that Fenton had gotten from Sam about the hospital case and that the possibility of a bomb may have been planted in a utility closet and that Carolyn Matthews aka Nurse Matthews was a possible suspect in the case. "When Dad told me that I just had to come and tell you. I just wasn't expecting to literally run into Trevor. "
"It would make sense that Nurse Matthews would be a possible suspect in the case." Frank said, adding his point of view, "She would do anything to help Ryan plus she would know her way around the hospital because she is a nurse, and she does have a history of sneaking in to and out of hospitals before. We know that she helped Hayden escape from the mental hospital in Bellevue. Let's not forget that she is also wanted for murdering her stepfather's brother who was a patient in her care."
"And don't forget that she did kidnap me." Joe said, shuddering slightly at the memory. "Along with Cindy Hayden and Daniel Bartend. I wonder whatever happened to him? Nobody has heard from him either. He's probably hiding out half way around the world. I'm sure he knows that if he steps foot into the States that he'll be arrested for sure."
"Or, for all we know, he could still be here. You know there is something I've wanted to tell you as well. It has to do with the vandalism case." Frank paused, "that is if you're still interested in detective work."
Joe thought for a moment, of course he was interested, detective work was all he wanted to do. "I might be persuaded if you tell me about it."
"Okay then," Frank said shaking his head, "Dad did talk to Officer Baker this morning and the results came back from the lab on the fingerprints that were found on the black spray can. They may have a match."
"Really?"
"Yeah, the prints belong to a Bruce Linsky. They did a criminal background check on him. Turns out he was arrested two years ago for not showing up after he was ordered to appear in court over unpaid tickets, which is why they have his fingerprints on file. But nothing about it makes any sense. Why would he vandalize Callie's car and leave that message on the windshield? The only possible reason we could think of is that he may have some sort of connection to Jack or Ryan Hayden." Frank continued, "According to Chief Collig, Linsky and his wife are an older couple in their late sixties. They lived in an apartment building in town. Collig talked to the landlord who said that the couple haven't been paying their rent for the last couple of months. The landlord was going to evict them, but then they moved out in the middle of the night two days ago without a word to anyone. Collig has been having his officers trying to locate Linsky, but so far, they aren't having any luck. They've even been trying to locate family members and again no luck. He has asked Dad to help him locate him. Dad agreed but he is only treating it as a case of vandalism, until we know for sure on whether or not he has some connection to Hayden, because of the judge's order to stay out of my case. Collig is going to be sending Dad any information he has as well as a description of Linsky."
"So maybe this Linsky person was the one who left that flyer with the message on it on Vanessa's Jeep?" Joe questioned.
"Yeah, but the thing is he changed his M.O. He spray-painted the message on Callie's car, but he left a flyer on Vanessa's Jeep. Why the change?"
"Maybe he just did it at random, and all he wanted was to get the message across. That one of us is going to die." Joe suggested.
"That could be." Frank agreed, "Or the message could be from two different people."
"Our mystery dark haired figure?" Joe said. "The one from the security footage from the shooting range, be the same person framing you for Hayden's murder? He could be the same person you saw in the lobby of Callie's apartment building. And how is Linsky connected to him? Are they all connected to Jack and Ryan Hayden? I don't think it was two people sending the message though, the wording was to close"
"I think Linsky is the guy we need to talk to." Frank concluded, then paused when a thought crossed his mind. "I just thought of something?"
"What?"
"Tony mentioned to me earlier about an elderly couple fitting Linsky and his wife's descriptions. They came into their restaurant two, maybe three days ago? They ordered close to a hundred bucks worth of food, but then skipped out on the check. Both the man and the woman had gray-hair and looked to be a couple in their sixties... " His voice trailed off as he remembered the maintenance man with the blue cap, he saw sweeping up the area, he knew something was bothering him about the guy, call it a hunch or a feeling he wasn't sure but then his eyes widened. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed and then bolted out the bathroom.
"Frank, what is it!" Joe called, grabbing his crutches and hurrying outside after his brother. Just outside of the bathroom door Frank came to a complete halt, causing Joe to bump right into the back of him and almost fall over. Barely keeping his balance Joe asked. "Frank, what's going on?"
Frank quickly scanned the area with his eyes, the maintenance man was nowhere in sight. He turned around to answer Joe. "I'm not sure, but I think I saw Bruce Linsky."