"Hello Miss Kelly," greeted the valet as he opened the door. She and Joe climbed out of the car. As the valet got behind the steering wheel, Joe looked at the house.

It was more of a mansion than a house. It was two stories with a balcony all across the top floor. There was a porch surrounding the ground floor and a swing hung from it's roof on the far right of the entrance. Beside the house could be seen tennis courts and in the background, Joe could make out stables.

Kelly took his arm and together they entered the house. "Dad," she called to a tall man leaning an arm against the fireplace mantle. "I think it's time you met Jonny," she said as she led Joe over to the man sporting a brown sport coat over a white shirt and blue jeans.

The man straightened and stared at Joe like he was surprised to see him. His brown hair was slicked back with mousse and his green eyes were taking in Joe's appearance.

"Dad, this is Jonny Harris. Jonny, my dad," Kelly made the introduction. "You two get acquainted," she said, reaching up and giving her father a peck on the cheek. "I'll go get us some drinks," she added to Joe.

"It's nice to finally meet Kelly's father," Joe said politely, if a little stiffly.

"No need to be formal," Kelly's dad said. "Call me Tom." He reached out and shook Joe's hand. "My little girl has talked a lot about you."

"Really?" Joe asked.

"She said you were interested in increasing your finances," Tom stated. "She thinks she loves you," he added when Joe never spoke.

"She's a wonderful girl," Joe said.

"She's my life," Tom told him, looking into Joe's eyes with unsmiling ones. "You hurt her and you die."

"I hurt her," Joe replied, not breaking eye contact, "I'd want to."

Tom stared at Joe for a moment longer, then smiled and pulled Joe close, curling an arm over Joe's shoulder. "How much money do you have to invest?" he asked Joe.

"Right now, nothing," Joe said. "In a few weeks, a million or more."

"How are you going to get that much money in such a short time?" Tom asked, watching Joe with his sharp green eyes.

"My dad's not well," Joe said, and left it at that.

"Kelly told me you and he never got along," Tom said, accepting Joe's remark. "Come along, I want you to meet a couple of my friends."

Tom led Joe over to where three men were standing near a table laden with food. "Gentlemen," Tom interrupted the trio, "I'd like you to meet Jonny Harris. Jonny, this is Sven Sorrenson, Steve Temple, and Nathan Miller." Tom looked Steve in the eyes and added, "Jonny's coming into an inheritance that he would like to invest.."

Joe had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing. The threesome reminded him of the Three Stooges. Nathan was heavy set with a shiny bald head. He acknowledged Joe then turned back to the buffet and started piling up a plate. Sven had curly brown hair, chubby cheeks and stood about five foot seven. He looked Joe over, nodded to Tom and walked away.

Steve stood about five nine and had thin straight black hair, beady brown eyes and a stocky build. He looked Joe over and said, "Let's go have a chat."

"You may use the study," Tom said and turned away. "I'll find Kelly and tell her you won't be long."

"So tell me, why are you wanting to get into this business?" Steve asked Joe once they had taken seats in the study.

"To make money," Joe replied, wondering what kind of business he was talking about. He had a really bad feeling about this and wished he had never heard of Jonny.

"There are other ways to make money," Steve said, interrupting Joe's thoughts.

"But not as fast," Joe said.

"Less dangerous."

"You do it," Joe countered, then added, "Why are you trying to talk me out of this. Isn't my money green enough?"

"Smart alecs don't last long kid," Steve said softly, leaning back in his chair and touching his forefingers together at his lips as he looked at Joe. "I'm not trying to talk you out of it. I just want you to know what you're getting into. You'll be playing with the big boys."

"I can handle it," Joe assured him.

"We shall see," Steve replied. "Come," he said, rising. "Let us get back to the party." As he reached the door he spun around. "One more thing Jonny."

"What?" Joe asked.

"You had someone following you earlier. Don't let it happen again."

"How do you know?" Joe demanded. "Have you been following me?"

"My associates followed Kelly. We like to know who we're doing business with. You've got some holes in your history, so I doubt you're a narc. But watch your back. They are out there," he added, leaving the room.

Joe stood staring after Steve. He knew a narc was someone who worked for the Drug Enforcement Agency, which meant Jonny was probably getting ready to become a dealer. And what about Frank? If they thought he was a narc, what had they done to him?

He left the study and pulled the door shut behind him. "Hi babe," Kelly said, coming over and pushing a drink in his hand. "Ready to party?"

"No," he answered, giving a fake yawn. "I'm really beat. I think I'll head home."

''Do you mind if I stay?'' Kelly asked him. She didn't argue as he'd expected her to. Joe shook his head. ''I know you hate parties.'' she continued. ''But this one was important for you.'' she smiled and gave him a quick kiss. ''You did great. Daddy loves you. You can take my car. I'll see you tomorrow as usual?'' she asked.

''Sure,'' Joe replied. ''See ya.,'' he added.

When Joe arrived at the boardinghouse he saw Frank's rental still in the parking lot. He went inside and rapped on Frank's door. Frank let him in.

''That looks like it hurts,'' Joe said, looking at Frank's black eye.

''Talk about your classical case of understatement.'' Frank moaned. ''I got hit by Mr. Universe,'' Frank grumbled the sarcastic statement to Joe.

''What happened?'' Joe inquired. Frank told Joe about getting ambushed in the parking lot earlier. ''I don't know who they were though,'' Frank ended.

''The bald guy sounds like Nathan Miller,'' Joe said, proceeding to tell Frank about what happened at the party and where Kelly lived.

''I think we may be in over our heads, Joe,'' Frank implied. ''We'd better get in touch with Dad now.''

Joe agreed. ''I still would like to know about Jonny,'' he said. ''I'm getting crossed vibes on him from what I've heard from everyone.''

''What do you mean?''

''His dad said he left home because he wanted to be normal. And independent. Drug dealing is far from normal. And Jim seems to like Jonny. I don't think he, or Zoe for that matter, would like Jonny so much if he's as bad as he seems to be," Joe explained.

''What are you saying?'' Frank asked, perplexed about almost everything Joe'd just said to him about Jonny.

''I think maybe Jonny was doing some undercover work of his own.''

''And someone found out?'' Frank asked.

''No, I really don't think so,'' Joe stated, shaking his head slowly. ''No one has seemed particularly surprised to see me. I think Jonny went into hiding.''

''But why?''

''That's the sixty-four million dollar question,'' Joe replied. ''I'd like to stay on this case until he acually turns up.''

''It's to dangerous,'' Frank argued.

''Can't we talk this one over with dad first, Frank?'' Joe tried to reason with him. ''We could get the DEA to hook up with us.'' As Frank still hesitated, Joe moved in for the kill, ''These are major players. They're willing to set me up with almost one million dollars worth of goods. Think how much cleaner the streets would be without them."

''Okay already,'' Frank finally agreed. ''I'm going home now. I'll talk to dad and get everything checked out. I'll see you tomorrow. Be very careful though,'' Frank added anxiously.

Joe left Frank's apartment and went to his own apartment and went to bed. A short time later he was awakened by someone pounding on his door. Opening it up he was forced back into the room by four men with pistols drawn and facing him. One man grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed the pistol right into Joe's cheek.