Sergeant Riley searched the room while Officer Jerome gathered prints. When Con had finished, he turned to Frank. "Well, there isn't a rifle on the premises."

"What?" Frank asked, confused.

Realizing Frank hadn't heard, he told him about someone shooting at Joe earlier. "Was he hit?" demanded Frank in alarm.

"No. He's fine," Con quickly assured him. "But when I searched the area, I found shell casings belonging to bullets from a rifle."

After the officers left, Frank returned to work and finished out his shift. It was early in the morning when he got home but he needed to call Callie. He glanced at his watch. Seven fifteen. Knowing she had a nine o'clock appointment and would be up, he called her. He told her about what had happened during the night and warned her to be careful if she did go to The Excelsior. He also requested she ring Chet on his cell phone about eight-thirty and warn him as well.

After hanging up, he went into the kitchen for something to eat and then headed upstairs. He looked in on Joe who was still asleep, then went to the bathroom and took a shower and readied himself for bed. After putting onhis pajamas, he typed Joe a note telling him about the man at the hotel. He went back into the bathroom and taped the note to the mirror before going to bed.

When Joe awoke, he checked in Frank's room to see if he had made it home. Finding his brother dead to the world, Joe readied himself for the morning, finding the note on the mirror almost immediately. He read it and tossed it in the waste can before getting dressed.

He headed downstairs to find his mother awake and at the desk in the living room. "I'm going for a run," he informed her.

"I woud rather you didn't," she told him, looking worried. "I really don't want you going out alone with someone trying to kill you."

"But it will be hours before Frank wakes up," Joe complained.

"Why don't you ask Stan to join you?" suggested Laura. "I've noticed he jogs a few times a week."

"Good idea," Joe agreed, smiling. He kissed his mom on the cheek and headed over to Stan's. When Stan opened the door, Joe grinned broadly at him. "I was just going to go for a run and mom suggested I ask you since she noticed you liked to jog," Joe said. "But before you answer, I have to warn you that someone still wants me dead and being with me could be hazardous to your health," he added seriously.

"Then you shouldn't be out jogging," Stan replied sternly.

"I know," admitted Joe. "But if I hid every time someone was after me, I'd have to spend half my life inside."

"Well, now, that would be a shame," Stan said,looking at Joe sympathetically. "I'm ready if you are," he added. "I was just getting ready to go for a jog anyway."

"Let's go," Joe said, leading the way off the porch.

"Did your mother really say she noticed me jogging?" Stan asked Joe as they headed toward the east side of town.

"Yeah," Joe said. "Mom's pretty observant."

"She's very good with flowers, too," Stan commented. "She has the prettiest flower garden I have seen in a long time."

Joe glanced at Stan through the corner of his eyes. It sounded to him like Stan might have a crush on his mom. He had better try and nip this right now. "She puts a lot of time into it," Joe told him. "She said she likes to keep the garden pretty for Dad because he sees too much of the bad things in life elsewhere. She says it's only fair he has nice things to look at when he's at home."

"For your dad, right," Stan said and never mentioned Laura again.

"Hey, look," Joe said, coming to a stop and looking across the street at a light green car parked in front of a cafe.

"You think that's the one that had the shooter in it?" Stan asked, stopping beside Joe.

"It certainly looks like the same car," Joe answered.

"Let's go in," Stan said. "Maybe we can find out who it belongs to."

Inside, Joe spotted a man wo seemed to fit the description Frank had left him in his note. Joe led the way over to a table near him, and the man who sat with him, and took a seat. He and Stan picked up menus and buried themselves behind them. As Joe listened to the men's conversation the waitress arrived. Stan ordered two orange juices and flapjacks for each of them. The waitress left, taking the menus with her.

Stan watched Joe's face in concern. He seemed to be upset by what he was hearing. He wished he were sitting beside Joe so he could know what was being said that had the youth so distressed.

"The package is safe," said the man Frank had described. "If only we can take care of those brats of Hardy's before he finds out we're operating out of his home town."

"The boss said to get one of them," the other man stated.

"Which one?" the first man asked.

"Doesn't matter," was the reply. "They're both going to die before it's over with. We'll just snatch the first one we can and kill the other one."