"What is it?" She asked taking a seat on the couch next to Joe.

"I think I found something." He said handing the reports to her and pointing out the birthdate of each victim. "Look. They were all born on the same day."

"That’s Frank’s birthday." Vanessa observed.

"Uh-huh. And he was born in New York City, too." Joe replied. "Do you think you could work your magic on the computer and see if there’s anything else they all have in common?"

"I could try. Do you have any idea what it could be?" Vanessa asked getting up and leading Joe down the hall to the office. She sat down in front of the computer and looked at Joe who pulled a chair up next to her.

"Um…not really." He smiled sheepishly.

"That’s ok." She replied with a smile of her own. "Let’s see what we can find."

For the next fifteen minutes, Vanessa entered the information from the reports Joe had brought home into the computer. Pulling up the program she needed, Vanessa began entering various parameters for a search. Joe watched, almost mesmerized, as Vanessa’s fingers flew over the keyboard, a look of intense concentration on her face. Sitting back, she looked at the monitor critically, absently chewing on her lower lip, deep in thought.

Joe leaned forward, whispering in her ear. "Do you know how sexy you look right now?"

Vanessa smiled as Joe planted a few well-placed kisses on her neck, and then gently pushed him away.

"If you keep doing that, I’ll never finish this." She admonished him.

"Spoilsport." Joe grumbled and contented himself with running his fingers through her long, ash-blonde hair.

A few minutes later, Vanessa sat back in her chair, snuggling a little closer to Joe. "If they have anything else in common, we should know in a minute."

"So can I go back to what I was doing before, while we wait?" Joe asked, burying his face in Vanessa’s neck without waiting for a reply. Almost immediately, a beep sounded alerting them to a match.

"I hate computers." Joe groaned, pulling away from a laughing Vanessa.

"Lenox Hill Hospital." Vanessa pointed. "They were all born in the same hospital."

"In the same city, on the same day." Joe said thinking out loud. Reaching forward, he picked up the phone and dialed his parents number.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mom."

"Hi, honey! How was therapy today?" Laura asked.

"Good." Joe replied, rolling his eyes at Vanessa. "Can I ask you a question, Mom?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"What hospital was Frank born in?" Joe asked.

"Lenox Hill Hospital. Why?"

"No reason." Joe lied.

"Out of the blue you suddenly had a burning need to know what hospital your brother was born in?" She asked, the sarcasm in her voice identical to the tone Joe often used.

"Something like that." Joe responded evasively.

"You don’t expect me to buy that do you?"

"Well…no, but…"

"Don’t worry, I won’t ask."

"Thanks, Mom." Joe said, relieved.

"You’re welcome. Now I want something more than ‘good’ as a response to my question. How was therapy? Are you making progress? Have you seen Dr. Gregory recently?" Laura fired off the questions.

Joe relayed the good news from his doctor resulting in such loud squeals of delight from Laura that Joe had to pull the phone away from his ear. Erupting in giggles, Vanessa sat back and listened to Joe’s half of the conversation

"I will." Pause. "I will." Another pause. "I will." Joe said a third time, a hint of exasperation creeping into his voice, silenced by a light slap on the leg from Vanessa.

"Yes." Joe sighed, staring at the ceiling. "Ok. Uh-huh. Yeah. Love you too, Mom. Bye."

Putting the phone down, he turned to Vanessa with a pleading look. "Please don’t make me call Frank now. He’ll be worse than Mom was."

"She loves you, Joe. Be glad she cares so much." Vanessa gently reprimanded him.

"I know." He sighed. "And I am glad, believe me. But sometimes I feel like I’m being smothered. Between her and Frank…"

"…and me?" Vanessa asked, knowing how much Joe hated people ‘hovering’ over him.

Joe smiled at her and wisely ignored the question. "It just gets a little overwhelming."

"You have to remember it was only two months ago that we almost lost you." Vanessa said, surprised to find her voice shaking. Her eyes suddenly burned with tears as she was assaulted by memories of the first twenty-four hours when Joe was missing, and no one knew where he was or what was happening to him.

"Hey, don’t cry." Joe said, quickly pulling Vanessa into his arms, regretting his ‘complaints’ about being smothered.

He tried to imagine what it was like for his family waiting, wondering and worrying about him. He thought about how they must have felt when he was finally found, when they saw him for the first time in the hospital, not knowing whether he would live or die. Listening to Vanessa crying softly, he knew she was reliving the whole horrible experience.

"I’m sorry." She said quietly, lifting a tear stained face to look at him.

"Hey, don’t apologize." Joe smiled, wiping away the last of her tears. "It’s nice to know I’m loved."

Straightening up, Vanessa sniffled and then turned back to the computer. "So now you know that all three victims were born on July 14, 1977 in Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. What hospital was Frank born in?" She asked, realizing Joe hadn’t passed on that information.

He hesitated a moment before answering. "Lenox Hill."

"Oh." She replied, unsure of what else to say. "So where do you want to go from here?"

Joe thought a moment before answering. "Is there a way you can get a list of everyone who was born in that hospital on July 14, 1977?"

"I should be able to. It’s public record." She replied, logging on to the Internet. After a few unsuccessful searches, she found the information Joe requested and printed it out.

Comparing the list Vanessa gave him to the police reports, Joe pointed out to Vanessa that the three victims were assaulted in the order they were born.

"But there are other people who were skipped." She said, noticing names in between those of Kent Graham, Leona Soris and Jason Linges. "Why were these three chosen and the others weren’t?"

Joe glanced back and forth between the reports and the list before finally throwing up his hands in defeat. "I have no idea." He said, obviously frustrated.

"Hey, you made a lot of progress." Vanessa reminded him. "Don’t be so hard on yourself. I’m sure when you talk it out with your Dad and Frank tomorrow you’ll figure it all out."