“No,” Joe denied. “Look, I admit that this was a drastic way to get in here but it was the only way and I knew you and mom and dad would never have allowed me to do it.”

“You got that right!” Frank agreed vehemently.

“Would you please keep your voice down?” hissed Joe.

“Joe, she is one of the bad guys, remember? If she put you up to this then she did it to hurt you,” Frank told him.

“What kind of an idiot do you take me for?” demanded Joe huffily. Frank quirked an eyebrow. Scowling, Joe continued. “I did some checking. Crystal Lane, the daughter of Michael Lane and his wife, Faith, was an inmate here. She was actually improving and looking forward to going home, according to Charity. But one day, after the last visit from her parents, she allegedly committed suicide.”

“It’s possible,” Frank murmured, his face still showing remnants of disbelief.

“Is it?” countered Joe. “Look around. This room is like a prison. I’m not allowed to go anywhere without a member of the staff to accompany me.”

“Maybe she saved the medicine she was given and...” Frank broke off as Joe shook his head.

“Uh-uh,” Joe stated. He told Frank what Dr. Holden had told him. “Kind of strict, don’t cha think?”

“Not really,” disagreed Frank. “If the other patients are anything like you, I can see the need for those kind of measures.”

“Frank, I am not anorexic,” Joe stated firmly, willing his brother to believe him. “I just did what I read was typical behavior for someone who was.”

“Joe, I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Frank said, running a hand through his brown mane. “But I do know you’re sick. If you did this to yourself because of some case then, well...you’re still sick.”

“Okay,” Joe confessed. “I admit I may have gone too far but I promised Charity we would find out who killed her niece.”

“We?”

“Only one of us needs to be an inmate,” Joe explained. “You can get a job here.”

“You’re serious?” demanded Frank, beginning to believe Joe might be telling the truth.

“Please?” pleaded Joe. “I can't do this alone and besides, you can keep an eye on me if you do.” Joe grinned because he knew he had Frank hooked.

Frank knew it too. “Okay,” he relented. “But if you really were faking it you will start eating again.”

“I will,” Joe promised. “But I can’t eat too much to begin with or they will get suspicious.”

“What if I sneak something in?” asked Frank.

“Would you?” Joe readily agreed with the suggestion. “Truth be told, I’m starving.”

****

Frank waited until he and his parents had returned home to tell them what Joe had told him. As expected, his father hit the roof.

“I’ll kill him!” Fenton exclaimed, his brown eyes smoldering.

“You’ll have to wait your turn,” Laura snapped. “If he really has been faking it and making himself sick for some mystery he will be grounded for the rest of his life!”

“For a mystery,” Fenton latched onto the word, shaking his head. “I guess Dr. Bates was right. Joe is sick because of his chosen vocation.”

“But he said he wasn’t really sick,” Frank reminded them.

“Frank, even if your brother isn’t anorexic, he is still sick. He could have died. He may still die and all because of a case,” Fenton ended bitterly.

“When this mystery is over and Joe is back home, that’s it,” Laura stated firmly. “No more. Not until after high school at the earliest.”

“What?” demanded Frank hoarsely. He was being punished because of Joe’s stupidity?