Lily sauntered down to the cellar, a satisfied little smile on her face. When Davis called and told her that he’d already grabbed Joe, the girl had quickly made her way to the small, rundown house that they rented a couple blocks from the Hardy residence; their ‘safe house,’ they called it, coincidence placing it so close to Frank’s.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”  Her voice cut through the quiet of the cold musty room, and Joe suppressed a shiver as Davis’s words came back to haunt him:  When Lily of the Valley gets here, she’s going to kill you.

I used to like that flower, too, the youth thought wearily. It was no use trying to struggle because Davis had looped the rope around his neck and hog-tied him so that if he tried to move he’d cut off his own oxygen.  Joe already had the mark on his throat to prove it.

Lily squatted down in front of him and smirked. “You told,” she said eyeing him through cold blue eyes, and Joe found himself wondering if his own eyes ever looked like that.  He’d always liked having blue eyes but now faced with Lily’s, he suddenly wished he had any other color.  He wanted nothing in common with her.

He tried to shake his head, gasping when the ropes tightened.

“Of course not,” she said patronizingly and then stood up and pulled her coat closed.  “It’s not very warm in here, is it?”

Joe couldn’t answer as he tried to watch her, but it was hard when she moved around behind him.  Davis watched from the doorway, at the bottom of the stairs that led down from the kitchen of the house.

Lily sighed and this time when she crouched down in front of him, Joe felt his heart just about hammer out of his chest – she was holding a gun…and it was pointed at him!

* * *

“So we’re looking for high school or post-secondary students,” Collig confirmed, having read Iola’s statement and after talking to Fenton.

“It certainly explains the oddity of items taken,” Fenton mused, “making me lean more towards high school students.”

“Possibly from the higher end income class, since the items stolen weren’t necessarily that valuable,” Collig agreed, seeing where the detective was going with that.

“Exactly.”  Fenton was sitting across from the Police Chief, “That narrows it down to the two high schools, and given what physical description, Iola was able to provide, we can narrow it down to seniors – I only know of one junior that falls anywhere near the height or build of her abductors.”

The chief nodded.  “That’s right.  The Hooper boy – the kid involved with the beer…”

Nodding, Fenton continued, “However, he’s a close friend of Iola’s and if he had been involved, she’d have been able to ID him immediately.”

“True,” the cop admitted and then sighed, “So we pull up any JV records for high school students and hope we get lucky.”

The detective sat back heavily in the chair and shrugged.  “Honestly, Ezra, I don’t think we’re going to find anything.  These kids are good.”

“What do you suggest, then?” the police chief asked, knowing Fenton was right. There was a chance that they’d find something, but a bigger one that they wouldn’t.

“Well, we have two high schools,” Fenton started.  “I’ll talk with the boys when I get home and see if they have any ideas about their own school.”

“That’s a good idea,” Collig agreed.  “I’ll have Riley drop by Bayport West High School and talk to the principal there.  He might have some ideas of potential suspects among his students.”

“If not, I’ll consider seeing if Frank is interested in doing a bit of undercover work there,” Fenton said, glancing down at his watch and realizing it was close to supper time.

“I’ll give you a call if anything pops up on the JV record check,” Ezra said, standing up when his friend did.

Fenton nodded and moved towards the door, anxious to talk to his sons about their fellow students.  In the back of his mind, he already had one suspect: Davis Getty.  But he wasn’t sure if that was coming from logic or emotion, since he knew that teen was responsible for what had happened to Joe.

* * *

Joe closed his eyes as he felt the cold barrel pressed in against his forehead.  He refused to look at his murderess – to give her the satisfaction of seeing the light go out of his eyes.

An unbidden tear traced a bitter path down his cheek as he couldn’t keep his body from shaking with the realization that he was about to die. There was nothing he could do.  He hadn’t been able to outrun Davis when he tackled him and knocked him out, and there was no way he could outrun Lily’s gun….

He could swear he heard her finger start to squeeze the trigger…and then he heard a small snort and the pressure was gone – the gun no longer pressed in against his head.

Opening his eyes, he saw Lily stand up.  She looked down at him and shook her head.  “Did you honestly think you’d get off that easy?  I don’t think so.”  Addressing her brother, Lily kept her eyes on the bound teen.  “Let’s go.  I think I’ll give Frank a call and see if he wants to do something.”  She shivered and rubbed her arms.  “It’s too cold to stay down here for much longer anyway.”  And then without saying anything else, she left, following Davis up the stairs.

Joe heard the soft click of a lock and knew they were gone.  And that was when he first noticed just how cold it was….

* * *

Frank pulled into the driveway, shut off the van and sat quietly for a few moments.  He and Biff had spent the last two hours scouring the neighborhood and local hangouts looking for Joe – but they had turned up nothing. It was as if the younger teen had just vanished off the face of the earth.  But that was one explanation Frank was not willing to accept!

“I’m missing something,” he muttered, staring at his house, but not ready to go in yet.  He hadn’t told his mother that Joe never showed up at Biff’s house, not wanting her to worry needlessly if the younger boy had just gotten innocently side-tracked or something.  “But what?”

His mind mulled over the recent attacks as the frown on his face grew.  “Damn it,” he exclaimed, getting more frustrated at himself than anything else, “if I hadn’t been so distracted this never would have happened, because we should have been trying to find out who was doing this!  There’s no way it was all coincidental!”

Slapping the steering wheel in frustration, Frank was relieved when he saw his father’s car pull up beside him.  Fenton was hardly out of the car when Frank was saying, “Dad, Joe’s missing!”

* * *

Iola was sitting at the kitchen table when a knock came on the door. Startled, she was very relieved when Chet hurried past her to get it, giving her a supportive smile as he did.

And then the dark haired girl relaxed when she saw who was there – it was her new friend, Callie!

“Hi Callie!” she greeted warmly, inviting her into the house.  “What are you doing here?”

Callie, a demonstrative person by nature, gave the younger girl a quick hug before she carefully inspected her, frowning at the sling, “I heard what happened from Liz and I just had to come by myself to make sure you were okay.  Although I have to admit I did get lost a couple of times before I found the right place.  I never knew you lived on a farm – that’s pretty cool!”

“I’ve been better,” Iola admitted as the two girls sat down at the kitchen table and Chet discreetly left the kitchen again. The Mortons had already eaten and were now congregating in the living room to watch a movie.  And then she smiled a bit sheepishly, “Sorry, I don’t really like to advertise that I’m a farm girl…some people aren’t very nice about it.”

The other girl got a thoughtful look on her face.  “Yeah, I can see that. People are pretty quick to judge you by what you look like or where you come from.”

“Tell me about it,” Iola sighed.  “It was okay in elementary school.  And actually lots of kids thought it was cool, but now…well, ‘country bumpkin’ is not exactly the title I’m going for in high school!”

Callie laughed, her brown eyes twinkling, as she appraised the pretty teen. “Trust me, girl, you ain’t no bumpkin!”

Iola smiled.  “Thanks Callie.”  And then her dark brown eyes glinted with excitement.  “Joe came by today, too!”

“Really?” Callie said, relieved. If he was well enough to visit Iola, Joe must be feeling a bit better. Worried about him, she had only resisted calling because she felt bad about breaking her promise to him, not to tell anyone, and she wasn’t sure what his reaction would be.  So she decided she’d wait until tomorrow…let him cool down….

“Yes,” the younger girl’s voice rang with excitement, even as she lowered it and whispered, “He kissed me!”

Callie just about laughed at the expression on her friend’s face – it was so sweet.  Poor girl, she thought, she’s got it bad.  Shaking her head, she grasped Iola’s hand in hers and whispered back, “And?”

“And I just about died and went to Heaven,” Iola sighed in pure contentment, and Callie felt a warmth wash over her; overflow from just how happy she could see Iola was about this.

She was just glad that Joe finally realized, and reciprocated obviously, how Iola felt about him. There was no doubt in Callie’s mind, that no matter what else he might or might not be, Joe was sincere if nothing else!

“That is so great!” Callie said, forcing a smile, as the warmth she had been feeling was replaced with a strong sense of melancholy.  She envied her young friend this threshold that she was crossing – the first crush/love…as she, herself, had yet to experience anything of this intensity.  An image of dark brown eyes in a handsome face, framed by hair so dark it was almost black, flashed across her mind and she shook her head: Frank Hardy already had a girlfriend!  And then Callie frowned, her thoughts turning back to the alley. What kind of girlfriend, though?

“Callie, what’s wrong?” Iola asked, catching the change in her friend’s mood even through her own delirium over Joe.

Callie bit her lip and regarded the other girl seriously.  She started to brush her off but realized she needed to talk to someone…and between Liz and Iola, she felt this was a better conversation to have with Iola.

* * *

Joe took a deep breath and tried to work his hands loose. The rope pulled against his throat and he stopped, gasping in another breath when the rope slackened a bit.

This isn’t going to work, he thought despairingly as he shivered uncontrollably, silently cursing Davis for taking his jacket from him before tying him up!

His body was aching and already his fingers and toes were numb from the cold and lack of circulation, as Davis had bound him tightly. He tried to work the gag from his mouth, hoping that someone might hear him yell, but after about ten minutes the only thing he had succeeded in doing was chafing his mouth too!

He had no idea how long it had been since Davis grabbed him, but he was positive it was a couple of hours, and he wondered if anyone was looking for him yet.

I think I’ll give Frank a call and see if he wants to do something…. Lily’s words echoed in his mind and Joe let out a weary, shuddering sigh.  At one time he would have had no doubts about his brother, but now he wasn’t so sure.  If Frank knew he was missing, would he look for him, or would he go out with Lily, leaving the search to be done by someone else?  As another hot tear fought its way past his bravado, Joe just wasn’t so sure anymore….

Shivering hard, he closed his eyes and gave into the weariness that had been tugging at him for the past couple of hours.

* * *

“Hey Hero, what’cha doing?”  Lily’s voice greeted Frank when he answered the phone.  He had been hoping it was Joe.

“Lily, I can’t talk right now—” he started, needing to keep the line clear in case Joe called or someone called with word on him…kidnappers even.  Fenton had brought in the police immediately upon learning that his younger son had never made it to Biff’s house, and an extensive search had been launched.

“That’s not fair!” Lily sulked, cutting him off.  “You said I could call you anytime, and now you don’t want to talk to me!”

“Joe’s missing,” Frank told her, wishing he’d had a chance to get a replacement cell phone for the one that was ruined when he and Lily had been almost swamped by the rogue speedboat. That way he could placate her and still keep the house line free!

“Oh, really?” Lily said sounding shocked, “That’s pretty cool.”

“Excuse me?”  Frank’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief.  “Since when is someone missing, cool?”

“I just meant, you hear about this kind of stuff happening all the time, but it’s never to anyone you know, if you get my drift,” Lily tried to explain as she lay across her bed and put a fresh coat of nail polish on her manicured nails.

“It’s not in any way ‘cool’,” Frank’s voice was icy.  “I have to go.”

“Frank, please, I’m sorry,” her voice caught him before he could hang up, abashed and apologetic.  “You’re right, it isn’t…I just – it just didn’t come out right.  Anyway, do you want to go out somewhere and grab a pop or something?  To help you get your mind off things…”

“No,” the teen said immediately, “The only thing I want to do is find my brother.”

“Frank—”

Frank cut her off.  “No Lily, I need to find Joe.  Please don’t call back here ‘cause you’re tying up the line.  I’ll give you a call later, when I get a chance.  I promise!”  And then he hung up before she got a chance to say anything.

* * *

Lily stared at the phone in disbelief.  Frank had hung up on her! Furious, she got up off the bed, grabbed her car keys and stalked out of the bedroom.

Hurrying down the stairs she saw Davis talking to Evan and glared at them.  “Where are the shovels?”

* * *

“She was there?” Iola’s voice rang with incredulity as she listened to Callie’s story; her dark brown eyes flashed with intense anger. The other girl nodded her head.

“Yes, I saw the two cars.  Lily was in her silver Mustang and Davis was driving that Corvette. There was a couple of other guys in the car too,” she shuddered, suddenly realizing it was more than just Davis and Evan who’d been in on hurting Joe.

“Maybe she tried to stop them?” the younger girl offered, hating to think that anyone could have been there as a spectator and not tried to help.  She didn’t think Lily would actually hurt Joe herself, ‘cause that kind of stuff was beneath her – or so Iola hoped.

Callie shrugged but didn’t look convinced.  “Maybe.  But if so, why’d she take off like that without even making sure Joe got help?”

“She saw you?”  Again Iola grasped at straws and this time the other girl shook her head.

“No way,” she refuted. “First, she couldn’t have known I would go into the alley, and, secondly, she was too intent on driving.”  Callie repressed a shiver.  “You never saw the expression on her face, Iola, it was actually chilling; like one of those looks nasty jocks get when they’re on a major ego-trip!”

Iola bit her lip for a moment and then said, “You have to tell Frank, Callie.  He has to know…” she paused and sighed, “It’s going to kill him…but he has to know!”

Callie glanced down at the hot chocolate Iola had made her as she absently stirred it with a spoon.  “I don’t know…I promised Joe I wouldn’t tell anyone….”

“And you’ve already broken that promise, a couple of times now!” Iola pressed.  “Look Cal, you’re new here and you have to trust me on this….” She paused before continuing, “When it comes to brothers, there are none like Frank and Joe, and if something worse happens to Joe because you never said anything to Frank, and he finds out…oh Callie, he’ll never forgive you!”  Iola glanced around conspiratorially as she lowered her voice again, “And between me and you, I think you and Frank would really get on well.”

Callie blushed and avoided looking at Iola.  Had she been that obvious about her attraction to the dark haired Hardy??

Iola reached out and patted her hand comfortingly.  “And I mean that.”

The other girl sighed and gave her a small smile.  “Liz kinda said the same thing…about Frank and Joe, that is.”

“That’s because it’s true,” Iola said nonchalantly as she watched her friend.  “So what are you waiting for?  Get your butt out of my house and go talk to Frank!  Please, Callie, if nothing else, for Joe.  He’s the one they hurt…and in case you don’t know it yet, he’s always the first one to do something to try and help everyone else!”

Callie slowly nodded her head, thinking of her first day and how nice Joe had been to her, even as she enlightened him about his flirtatious ways!  “Okay, Iola. I think I will.”  She stood up.  “Thank you.”

Iola stood and gave her a one armed hug.  “No…thank you, Callie.  Thank you for being worried enough to drop by.”

“Call me later,” Callie whispered as she pulled away and left the farm house.  She had to talk to Frank.

* * *

“What do you want a shovel for?” Davis demanded, looking at his sister.

“To dig a hole, moron, what else do you think I’d use it for?!”  Lily scoffed, wondering why she had to be surrounded by such stupid people.

Comprehension flitted across Davis’s face, although Evan still hadn’t got the connection.  “Joe’s dug himself into a metaphorical hole…so now you’re going to actually bury him in one!”

“Duh,” Lily snorted, “and to think you only got a B+ in English…. Now where the hell are the shovels?”

The boys looked at each other and Evan answered, “At the marina.”

“What are—”  Lily stopped herself, deciding she really didn’t want to know why the shovels were at the boathouse.  “Fine.  Well, come on, we’ll just have to buy new ones!”

“Okay,” Davis said, already starting to follow her, Evan right behind him, “But it might take a bit of time to find a hardware store open after supper.”

“All the better for Joe then, isn’t it?” Lily said over her shoulder as she headed towards the front door.  “It gives him a little longer to enjoy living….”

* * *

Joe was awake again and he listened, but the only sounds he heard were of the increasing wind howling around the house.  His eyes were closed, his breathing shallow.  All he wanted to do was sleep. Must…stay…awake, he tried to tell himself, but it was getting harder and harder to do.  He was so tired….Oh well, he thought, at least I’m not shivering as much anymore….

* * *

Jorgen Fruz stood on the front step of Biff Hooper’s house and paused. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his nerves and knocked.

A moment later the door was opened by Biff who looked at him, evidently shocked to see him.  “Jorgen?”

The Icelandic teen shifted uncomfortably on his feet as he seemed to be debating over what he was going to say.  After a moment, Biff pressed, “Do you want something? ‘Cause it’s a bit too cold and windy for me to stand here all night with the door open.”

“I want to know how you did it,” Jorgen finally admitted, “how’d you get away from Davis?”

Biff was shocked – that was about the last thing he expected to hear, from the last person in the world he expected to see.

* * *

Callie Shaw got out of her car and looked up at the house; she pulled her coat more tightly around her body as the gusting wind almost took her breath.  She was pretty sure this was the right house but regretted not double-checking the address with Iola before she left.

Walking slowly up to the front door, she almost turned around and left, but didn’t.  It was more than just Iola’s warning about Frank never forgiving her that prompted her bravado; it was also her own feelings. If something else did happen to Joe, and she found out that her telling Frank about Lily could have prevented it, she would never forgive herself…let alone Frank!

So raising her hand and knocking on the door, Callie waited until it was opened; saw it was Frank standing there and just blurted out, “Lily knows, Frank. She was in that alley when Davis and his friends beat up Joe.  She knew what they did and she did nothing!”

There she’d said it; Frank now knew….