He couldn’t recognize one of them because he’d never seen before – a man of about 40 years old, whose face was set in concern and deep sadness; he walked, holding his left arm around the other person’s shoulders. The other person was Joe, but recognizing him was rather difficult. He seemed to be too lost in his own world to notice anything of what was happening around him. The other man was constantly talking to him, but he wasn’t replying. From what Frank had heard from his father about Joe not so long ago, the other man must have been Robert Owen, who was now taking him to his home in New York.

Frank stood up when they almost reached him. "Um, Joe?..I…" He wanted to say something, but the lump in his throat left him speechless.

Joe looked up at the speaker, but seeing who stood in front of him, instantly lowered his head again - but for that moment of looking at him, Frank had seen the haunted look in Joe’s red and puffy eyes, he was sniffing his nose every once in awhile, obviously trying not to break off crying again.

"Joe, I'm-I'm sorry about what happened yesterday," Frank sincerely said over the lump in his throat. "I really am."

Joe only gave a slight nod in reply, still looking down at the floor.

"I'm Robert Owen," the other man introduced himself, reaching out his palm. Frank shook it, "Frank Hardy."

"Hardy? Any connection to Fenton Hardy?"

"He’s my father."

"Convey my thanks to him," Robert squeezed Frank’s hand tighter. "He saved Joe’s life," he comfortingly patted Joe on his shoulder. His face frowned when he saw’s Joe’s fixed stare, full of confusion and horror, fastened on something on Frank’s neck. "Joe, what’s wrong?"

Joe, silently pointed a shaky finger at something near the collar of Frank’s dark blue shirt. "This… this chain," he whispered hoarsely. "It…"

Frank, a bit confused, looked down at it, "Yeah, it’s from my parents. Why?"

"Parents?" Joe raised his eyes, full of terror, at him. "Your parents?"

Frank nodded, not understanding why his chain was frightening Joe so much. Joe put a hand over his mouth, his wide-opened terrified eyes were studying Frank’s face. "Dear God…" he whispered, shaking his head. "It…I…."

To say that Frank was taken aback would not be a lie. As Joe continued staring at him, shock in his eyes, he couldn’t help but feel awkward.

"Joe, what…." Robert started, but never finished his sentence.

"Unbelievable….." Joe whispered, still gazing into Frank’s confused eyes. "Get me out of here…." he suddenly broke the eyes contact with Frank and literally darted off.

"Joe, what…. wait! Sorry, Frank, it was nice to meet you," Robert hurriedly said and ran after Joe who was rushing towards the exit. "Joe, wait for me!"

Frank followed them with his eyes, completely dumbfounded. What was so wrong with his chain? And why was Joe so terrified by it? He stood in the corridor, watching as the couple disappeared. He looked down at his chain, but saw nothing new. When he looked up again, neither Joe nor Robert were in view any longer.

Returning to his seat in the waiting room, he continued waiting for his mother, his mind asking him questions he couldn’t answer.

A little golden smiling sun was shining from his chest.

Just as Chief Collig and Fenton Hardy were about to leave the hospital, a young nurse caught up with them and asked them to contact Dr. Scott.

"Who’s he?" Fenton wondered as Collig turned around and started back into the building.

"He’s treating Angelica Cadwell," the Chief replied. "Cross your fingers, Fent, because I asked him to contact me when Angelica was feeling better."

His expectations came true, the doctor told both men that Angelica would be able to testify later that day. What’s more, the moment she came out of her shock, she’d pleaded the police to come because, according to her words, she’d had something very important to say, but later on told about her husband’s death. Then she’d asked for some time alone with her children.

"I wonder what it is that she wants to tell us," Collig wondered out loud.

But only after three hours of waiting, which both men had spent searching for more clues to the case in vain, they were finally allowed to visit Mrs. Cadwell, who was a rather thin, blond-headed, brown-eyed woman of about 50 years old. Sitting on her hospital bed, she was nervously clutching her blanket and sniffing her nose all the time. She was obviously tense and her face was set in sorrow, but her red eyes were dry.

Angelica nodded at the two men as they entered and whispered ‘hello’ to them.

Collig introduced himself and Fenton and started, "Your doctor tells me you want to tell me something very important."

Angelica rubbed her nose and nodded, looking down, "Yes," he said in a quiet wavering voice. "I understand that it will probably cause me troubles with the police after, but…. but I should say it…. Is he really dead now?" she raised her eyes, full of fear, at the Chief.

"Who?"

"That man, Luis."

"Yes, he really is," Collig assured her. "Do you know something important about him?"

"I don’t….I…" she nervously licked her lips, lowering her eyes again. "I just have to do it. I owe it to Greg. If it wasn’t for me…" Angelica did her best not to burst into tears. "I should have told the police about it many years ago, but…I couldn’t!" she looked Collig in the eyes. "He threatened me, he said that if I went to the police then he’d take my kids away from me! And I have four children, four! I couldn’t let him do that! Do you understand?"

"Erm…Not really, who threatened you and why?" Collig narrowed his eyes, intrigued.

"Luis, he was a terrible man, terrible!!" the woman put her hand on her neck, breathing heavily in nervous tension.

"Did he do something with your family?" Fenton chimed in.

"No, he didn’t, but…. It’s long story," Angelica shifted on her bed. "It happened many years ago and he said he would never do any harm to my family if I didn’t tell anyone. He promised he’d watching me all the time and if I told anybody about that day he would do the same to my little boys…. I didn’t want anything to happen to my boys…." Angelica wheezed, her face squinting.

Collig poured a glass of water and handed it to the woman who couldn’t control her emotions. She accepted the glass with shaking hands and drank it.

"Mrs. Cadwell, could you please start from the very beginning," Collig asked her. He could feel that this woman knew the key to the whole case. "What happened those many years ago?"

"You see, Luis and I, we both studied in the same school, but in different classes, we didn’t know each other, so when we graduated I never expected to see him again," she swallowed nervously. "I then lived in Los Angeles with my husband and my kids when one day, almost 10 years later after graduation, he came to me…." he wiped the tears from her eyes.

"He said…said I should do something for him and if I didn’t he’d destroy my family. He asked for only one thing…. He promised he’d never lay a finger on my relatives once I did what he wanted me to do…." she looked pleadingly, as if asking for forgiveness, Collig in the eyes. "I really had no choice, you must believe me, I never wanted it to happen! I was just afraid he’d do something terrible to my kids! I was so scared…. I couldn’t tell anyone, he’d been keeping up with everything I’d done all those years…. I was so stupid, I believed him that he wouldn’t come back if I was silent…. He…."

"What did he ask you to do?" Fenton interrupted her, impatient to hear the rest of the story.

Angelica blew her nose into a handkerchief, "I had to…had to play the mother of a boy," she replied, her voice full of tears. "I didn’t know anything about that child, he just told me to…he said he wanted to give him away to somebody…."

"What boy?" Fenton asked, his face paling.

"I don’t know!! I asked, but he didn’t tell me. He said the less I knew the better it would be for everyone and me. All I know is that it was a little boy; he was nine months or so… I don’t know where or who Luis had got him from and for what purpose…" she choked with tears. "But he wanted to give him away…"

"Go on," Collig urged her. "What happened next?"

"We went to an orphanage, there, nearby and we met a man… Luis did all the talking all the time… I…I was so frightened that I just couldn’t speak. He said his name was John and mine was Angela….He said that the boy was our son and we wanted to give him away to somebody who’d be able to care about him better than we did," Angelica’s voice was becoming squeaky. "The man…whoever he was, he was a good man, I know he was, he had a kind face….. he agreed and accepted the boy…."

"Name!! Both names! The boy’s and the man’s!" Fenton shouted, taking the sobbing woman by her shoulders. "What were their names??!"

"The boy’s name was Joe and the man’s name, I don’t know, he never said…. Please, forgive me, God knows how much I didn’t want to do that, but my children…." she covered her eyes with her hands, shaking with tears.

Chief Collig searched the file he had with his shaking hands and took out a photograph of Paul Stevenson, "Was it this man who took the boy?" he asked hoarsely, feeling his heart beating madly in his chest.

Angelica took her eyes off her face, raised her wet eyes at the photo and scarcely nodded, "Yes, it was him."