Laura Hardy answered the telephone reluctantly. Although most of the calls they'd been getting were supportive, a few had been rather nasty. "Hello, Hardy residence."

"Mom, is Frank awake yet? I thought he was going to join me over an hour ago," she heard her younger son ask.

"Joe, isn't he there?" she asked worriedly. "He left shortly after 2:00."

"That was over 3 hours ago. No, he never showed up here. Did he say anything when he left?"

"Only that he'd call if you were going to be late. I assumed he was going to meet you. He got a phone call just before he left. Someone who said he had a tip on the robberies."

"What did the man say?"

"I don't know. Frank didn't tell me. Joe, do you think he went off by himself to..."

"Well, maybe. But I'm sure he's okay. It's only 5:00. He said he'd call if he was going to be late. I don't think he'd consider it being late yet. Whose car does he have?"

"Mine. Do you think Con can put an alert out for it?"

"I'll ask him. I'll wrap things up here and come on home. What time is Dad due in?"

"Around seven."

"Don't worry, Mom. We'll probably hear from Frank before then. Be home soon, bye."

"Bye, dear, be careful."

Gertrude Hardy observed her sister-in-law's ashen face as she came into the kitchen. "Laura, what's wrong?" she asked as she forced her to sit down.

"Frank's missing..." she said, anguishly.

"What is it, Joe?" Con asked, seeing the troubled look on his face.

"Frank left the house over 3 hours ago. Mom said he got a phone call with a tip about the robberies, then he rushed out. She thought he was coming here to tell me. He must have gone to check it out himself."

Con angrily hit the table hard with his fist. "That sounds more like something you'd do, than Frank. He's usually less impulsive, and more responsible."

"He's got our mother's car. Can you put an alert out on it?" Joe asked. "Just to find it, not stop him?"

"Yes, I'll have to clear it through the chief, but I think he'll okay it. You goin' home."

"Yea, we haven't had any luck here. Unless we missed someone, there's nobody at that prison I know. I'll take the list home so dad can look over it. There could be someone from his past."

"Okay, I'll call you if we get anything on your mother's car."

It was almost 6:00 by the time Joe got home. He tried to keep his mother calm, but the longer they didn't hear from Frank, the more he worried too. Fenton arrived home an hour after Joe. His reaction to Frank's disappearance was the same as Con's.

"This is not like your brother!" he stormed.

"There had to be a good reason. Maybe they threatened him and told him to come alone," Joe suggested, then thought again. "No, that wouldn't stop him from getting backup. Maybe he just didn't have time to come get me."

"Then why didn't he call you once he was on the road?" Fenton asked.

"Well, I've got our cell phone, but you're right, he could have used Mom's. She always leaves it in the car," Joe answered.

"Oh, no," they heard Laura gasp. "Gertrude borrowed the phone Friday to take with her when she and her friends went to the city for the day. She hasn't returned it yet."

"Well, that answers why he didn't call you right away, but he should have been able to reach a phone by now," Fenton said, worriedly.

"Con put an alert out on Mom's car. He'll call if it's spotted," Joe told his father.

"Well, I guess we can't do anything until we hear from either Frank or Con. Did you say dinner was ready, dear?" he asked his wife, leading the group into the kitchen.

"Yes, but I'm not sure I could eat anything," Laura answered.

"As I said, we can't do anything at the moment. We might as well eat. We may not have time later," Fenton said as he sat down. He motioned to Gertrude to start getting dinner to the table.

"What did you find out about Villman, Dad?" Joe asked, as he sat down

"Not a lot. He started working for the state prison service thirteen years ago. He went to school at night to study prison administration. He worked as assistant warden at several prisons, then was given the warden position at Riverton three years ago. As far as the files go, his record is clean. There was a photograph, he did look familiar, but I haven't place him yet. What about you, did you have any luck?"

"No. Con and I went through all the inmates at Riverton. I didn't know any of them. I brought the list home so you could go over it," Joe answered.

"I'll look over it after dinner. Let's talk about something else for a while." Fenton said. They spent the rest of dinner asking Gertrude about her trip to New York. Just as they were finishing the doorbell rang.

"Hello, Fenton," Con said as Fenton motioned him in.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Fenton asked, leading Con into the kitchen. "Oh, have you had any dinner. There's plenty, have a seat."

"Thanks," Con said, as Gertrude placed a plate in front of him. "Laura's car has been spotted in New York. Just inside the city limits, only a few miles from Riverton. The alert specified only to report the car's location, not stop it, but it wasn't necessary. The car is parked and there's no one with it." He was interrupted by the phone ringing.

"Hardy residence," Fenton said, answering the phone.

"Fenton, this is Jeff Marshall."

Fenton paled, Jeff was an old friend on the New York police department. The coincidence of him calling right then and Laura's car being found in the city was too alarming. "Jeff. What's wrong?"

"I think you need to get to the city as soon as possible. Can you meet me at the Hamilton Hotel. It's about Frank."

"What's happened? Is he all right?"

"I don't know. He's not here, but we have a dead man, a clerk who ID'd Frank being here, and a car registered to Laura Hardy parked out front. I'd like you to look around before forensic cleans up. They haven't touched anything yet. I think I can hold them off for a few hours if you can get here immediately."

"We're on our way. With this weather it'll probably take us a couple of hours. Can you wait that long?"

"Yes, see you then," Jeff replied.