"Joe, come out here," Frank shouted.

Inside, Joe had made the last of the french toast and put it on a plate. Shutting off the stove and making sure to put the pan way back on the stove, he came out. His eyes bulged out at the site of the arrow.

"What the…?" Joe started.

"I don’t know. All I do know is that if I hadn’t stooped down to pick up the paper, that arrow would have skewered my head," Frank replied.

Joe’s eyes narrowed at that thought, his temper began to flare. Frank sensed this and put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy Joe. We don’t want Jason to know."

"Don’t want me to know what?" a small voice said behind them.

They turned around to find Jason staring at the arrow. "What is that? Is that an arrow?"

"It’s nothing you should worry about. Go back inside and finish your breakfast," Frank suggested.

"OK," Jason replied going back inside.

"I’ll go get a bag, and we can do something about this," Joe said.

He went inside and got a trashbag, a sharp utility knife, and a camera. Joe took a couple of pictures of the arrow still lodged in the wall. It took a little work, but the brothers managed to get the arrow out of the wall without breaking the arrowhead off. Frank took the time to read the note.

"Oh no," Joe groaned. Jason was really in danger now.

"I know what you mean. Let’s take care of this, and I’ll call Staci. Let’s go over to her house and have her stay here with Boomer until we find out who this is," Frank said, tying the bag.

Joe nodded, "Vanessa will be here soon. We got to do something to distract him."

"Let’s make sure he’s had breakfast first, and then will see about that," Frank replied.

They went back into the house. Staci agreed to come over and bring Boomer with her. She just had to put something things in a couple bags for herself and Boomer. Frank promised to pick her up

Frank came back into the living room as Joe and Jason were eating. "Is everything OK?" Jason asked.

"Well, Staci said that she’d come over here with Boomer, and stay until we figure out what’s going on," Frank replied.

Jason perked up. "Boomer’s coming over here?" he happily asked.

Frank couldn’t help but smile back, "Yeah, we’re going to go pick her up in a little while."

By the time they had finished cleaning up, Vanessa had come up with her jeep. Vanessa stayed with Jason, while the brothers left to pick up Staci. Vanesssa stayed with Jason in the living watching cartoons. She didn’t mind watching Jason. He was a sweet kid.

Soon the brothers were at Staci’s house. They knocked at the door, and Staci opened it with the phone in her other hand. She signaled them to come in.

"Dad…I promise I’ll be OK. I’m taking Boomer with me…I’ll be out of Bridgeport so you won’t have to worry… It’s only because the Hardys feel Boomer will help to protect Jason while they investigate…Yes, I have Chief Tellman’s beeper on speed-dial on my cellphone…You’ll be working nights?…Yeah, I’ll leave the alarm on…OK, love you too, bye," Staci hung up the phone at put it on the receiver.

"Has your Dad found out anything?" Frank asked.

Staci shook her head, "No. That’s why he’s so worried. Though he did feel a little better knowing I’ll be out of the county with Boomer."

"Are you ready?" Joe asked, taking up Boomer’s leash.

"I’m ready. I packed some food and things for Boomer too," Staci replied. She picked up a backpack, and put it on her back. Then picking up her purse, and the bag of Boomer’s things, she turned on the alarm.

They left the house, walking towards the jeep. "Will Boomer be OK in the jeep?" Joe asked.

"He loves car rides," Staci replied, putting her pack and other things in the cargo hold of the jeep. Frank opened the door, and Staci got in with Boomer following. They rode back, enjoying the relative calm of the drive.

Soon they arrived at the house. Jason and Vanessa were waiting outside, when the jeep pulled up. Jason was excited that Boomer would be staying with them. Frank and Joe were both relieved that Jason had calmed down, and seemed at ease with the dog in the house.

After lunch, Jason went for his nap with Boomer in his room. Frank and Joe stayed in the dining room to go over what evidence they had.

"Staci, what do you know about the murders in the outskirts?" Frank asked.

"Not much. They were all nice-looking, athletic guys. They were both eighteen-years-old. They both bled to death," Staci replied, looking a little disturbed.

"Did they find anything at the crime scenes?" he asked.

Staci thought a moment, "Just bloody handprints all over the place. They were the victims though. Body parts were every where. My dad said that the coroner nearly threw up."

"That doesn’t give us much. Only that we’re dealing with a serial killer," Joe replied.

Staci nodded, "That’s what my dad said the coroner concluded. All the knife wounds were made with the same instrument, in the same manner. All the body parts were taken off in the same order."

"Any trace of DNA or prints, or anything by the murder? I find it hard to believe that someone who commits that amount of violence doesn’t leave something behind," Vanessa asked.

"That’s what my father can’t believe either. But no, nothing so far," Staci said.

"Until now," Frank said. Both girls looked at him. "We found a piece of cloth near a bed in the house where Terry was found. It obviously tore off from a pair of pants."

"There’s an obvious pattern to his victims. And he has to do something, to get into the houses unnoticed," Joe added.

"Hmmm." Frank thought, "He must watch his victims for awhile. If the coroner said they bled to death, then that means that the killer had to have known that the victims would be alone for awhile."

"There’s just one thing missing from that. Why? I mean this guy hasn’t even said any thing to any news media," Vanessa said out loud.

"That’s the problem with serial killers. It’s hard to understand there brand of logic," Joe replied.

"Logic. Hey hold on second, remember that course we took over at the school in criminal psychology?" Frank asked Joe.

Joe nodded, "I remember that one. Very interesting."

"I think we should talk with Professor Manning, he might be able to help us figure out what type of person we’re dealing with," Frank suggested. He went up to call the university.

In a few minutes, Frank came back. "Professor Manning said that he’s leaving early today, but on Thursday we can go see him in the afternoon in his office. He said to bring much of a description of the crime scene as we can."

"Well, it looks like we can’t do anything until Thursday or until killer does something. But we still have other things to deal with in the mean time," Joe said.

"Other things?" Vanessa asked.

"We got this strange message delivered by an arrow this morning," Frank said, showing them the paper that they had placed in a plastic bag. Joe still seethed at the thought that the arrow could have seriously injured or killed Frank.

"Wow, what kind of nut is this?" Staci asked out loud.

"I wish we knew. But we have even less clues on this guy then we do the killer," Frank answered.

By that time they could hear movement in Jason’s room. Joe went upstairs to find Jason walking over to Boomer, who was happily wagging his tail.

"Did you sleep?" Joe asked, worried that Jason had another nightmare.

"No nightmares. I feel great," Jason replied, smiling. They came downstairs with Boomer following.

"Are you OK Jason?" Frank asked, kneeling down in front of him.

"I feel great! Can I go outside and play?" Jason asked.

"Sure, Joe and I will play tag football or baseball with you. Have you ever played either of those games?" Frank asked. Jason shook his head. "Well, we’ll teach you."

Staci smiled, "I better keep Boomer inside. If there’s one thing that gets him excited is a ball being tossed around, and once he gets it he won’t let go."

Jason went to put on his sneakers, and soon he was outside learning how to play touch football from Joe while Frank got out bat, some baseballs, and gloves for all them. Frank was grateful that Joe never wanted his old glove thrown out. The small glove was the perfect fit for Jason’s hand. Joe was glad that Frank had suggested that they play touch football, since Jason was too small to play tackle football, and it would also be fun to teach him how to play baseball.

Jason and Joe stood over by the bushes near the far end of the house, while Frank stood near the house, and got his arm ready to toss some pitches to Jason. Being the star pitcher of the university team, Frank was known for a super fastball. He knew he had to really take it easy, so that Jason had a chance of catching a ball.

Joe helped Jason put on his glove, then showed him how to catch a ball. "See Jason since you are a right-handed person, you’ll toss the ball with your right hand. So the glove goes on your left hand," Joe explained showing him how to fit his hand in the glove.

"OK," Jason said, making sure his hand fit in the glove.

"Are you ready Jason?" Frank shouted.

"Yeah, I’m ready," Jason shouted back. Meanwhile Joe had put on his own glove to catch any wayward baseballs.

Frank lightly tossed the first one to Jason. He missed it, as it went a little too high over his head.

"Sorry Jason, try this one," Frank shouted. Joe stood ready as Frank tossed the second baseball. This time Jason caught it!

"Wow, I caught it!" Jason excitedly said, jumping up and down. In watching Jason’s excitement, Frank and Joe didn’t see the hand that reach out from under the bush and retrieve the wayward baseball.

Frank tossed a couple of more baseballs to Jason, before deciding to teach him how to pitch. "Hey Jason, why don’t you come over here, and I can show you how to pitch," Frank suggested. While Jason trotted over to Frank, Joe picked up the remaining baseballs and took them over to Frank.

As he was walking back Joe noticed some movement in the bushes where he and Jason had just been standing. Soon he saw an arm cocking back, with a baseball in the hand.

"Frank, DUCK!" Joe shouted. In the instant he said that, the hand threw the ball towards Frank’s head.

Frank ducked, taking Jason with him, and shielding him. Joe threw down the balls he was carrying and ran towards the flying ball. The ball sailed over Frank just as he ducked. Joe caught the ball in his glove.

"Frank, stay with Jason," Joe shouted. He dropped the ball and ran towards the bushes. No one was there. Wow, he’s fast. He looked around but didn’t see any footprints, or anything that would indicate somebody was there.

Joe went back to Frank who was still holding onto Jason. Jason was crying. Suddenly Boomer came flying out of the back door, with Staci and Vanessa following.

"What’s going on?" Staci asked, coming over to where they were.

"There was somebody out there!" Joe yelled pointed towards the bushes.

"Boomer come here," Staci yelled running towards the bushes. "Seek Boomer." Boomer sniffed around with his sensing on guard. He ran towards them towards the other side, with Staci following. Boomer kept going. Seeing nothing Staci called him back. They went back to find Jason still crying.

"Is everything OK?" she asked.

"I don’t know, all of a sudden someone threw this at Frank," Joe angrily spat out. He showed her the baseball with the writing on it.