"He tried to kill her for money?" Joe growled. "It wasn’t even that much!"

"People have been known to kill for less than that." Fenton pointed out. "And we don’t know for sure that it was Ryan."

"But now that we have a name and an address, we can get proof." Frank said.

"Then let’s get it!" Joe fumed, impatiently.

"Joe," Fenton began, knowing his son was on the verge of exploding and hoping he wasn’t about to light the fuse, "You know you can’t actively work on this. You have to let Frank and I handle it."

The seething glare on Joe’s face told Frank things were about to deteriorate rapidly. "Dad, he has to be included to certain extent. I mean he was there when it happened, even if he doesn’t remember much yet. We have no idea what could trigger his memory. Keeping him on the outside of the investigation will only make our job that much harder." Frank pointed out, hoping to convince his father to at least let Joe help out behind the scenes.

Fenton glanced from Joe, who continued staring at him scornfully, to Frank who was attempting to look neutral. He tapped a pencil on the desk a few times, before tossing it aside with a sigh.

"Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do." He told Frank. "But he can’t be seen publicly doing anything even remotely related to this investigation." Fenton continued turning his intense gaze on Joe. "Any evidence you uncovered would automatically be considered tainted. It would never make it to court. You’d be shooting yourself in the foot."

Joe exhaled loudly, his anger dissipating as rapidly as it had begun. "I know, Dad. But I can’t do nothing. I’ll go crazy. Can’t I do something behind the scenes? Research? Computer searches? Anything?" Joe pleaded.

"I’m sure we can find something you can do – in private." Fenton emphasized, checking his watch. "But right now, we need to get down to the station and take a look at that surveillance video from your apartment building. Maybe you’ll see something that will jog your memory."

"What are we waiting for?" Joe was already up and half way to the door, glad to finally be doing something.

*****

As Frank drove the three of them to the police station in downtown Bayport, Fenton took the opportunity to call Sam Radley, his long time assistant. Having spoken with Sam the previous evening, Fenton quickly brought him up to date, giving him the information they had on Ryan Bender, meager as it was. He asked Sam to begin a basic background investigation on Ryan, hoping to get more concrete information than what they currently had which was nothing other than suspicion.

Arriving at the station, Fenton told the desk sergeant that Chief Collig was expecting them that morning. A few moments later, Con Riley appeared in the lobby and escorted them into a room with several chairs and a small couch arranged in front of a large television. Video equipment, camera’s and a computer sat on a table next to the television.

"Chief will be here in a minute." Con said leaning against a wall. He looked at Joe with a critical eye. "How are you doing?"

"Fine." Joe shrugged, noncommittally.

"Any word on Vanessa?"

"No change." Joe replied as the door opened and Ezra Collig walked in.

"Joe. Fenton. Frank." He greeted each of them. Walking over to the television, he popped in a videocassette, continuing to talk to them over his shoulder. "Unfortunately, it’s not very helpful. He obviously knew the camera was there and tried to avoid it but also didn’t want to call attention to that fact. His face is always turned away just enough that you can’t really see anything." Pressing a few buttons, he took a seat on one of the chairs. "Joe, let me know if you want me to stop it, or if you want to see anything again."

Joe nodded, leaning forward in the chair resting his forearms on his knees. The familiar image of his apartment building appeared on the screen as Joe took note of one of his neighbor’s exiting the building. A few seconds later, Davis Rennig approached the door and could be seen pressing the buzzer and speaking into the intercom. He then opened the door and disappeared into the building.

Almost immediately, a lone figure approached. The man was dressed in black jeans, a black jacket and wore a plain, dark colored baseball cap. Stepping up to the door, he appeared to be reading the list of names next to the intercom, although he never made any move to press one of the buttons. Keeping his head down, the man never put himself in a position where his face was in full view of the camera. As Joe watched the man, it occurred to him that he was experienced at that sort of thing. His movements appeared to be natural and nonchalant, but a trained eye could easily see he was purposely avoiding the camera without calling attention to that fact.

"He knows what he’s doing." Frank murmured, voicing Joe’s thoughts. "He’s done this kind of thing before."

Suddenly the door opened and Davis Rennig reappeared. Seeing the man standing there, Davis smiled and held the door open for him. The man expertly acknowledged the gesture without ever letting his face be seen by Davis or the camera and vanished into the lobby of the building.

"So much for security." Joe snorted in disgust, still bitterly angry at the ease with which the intruder had gained access to the building.

"Does he look familiar at all, Joe?" Fenton asked.

"No." Joe shook his head in frustration. "He looks like a hundred other guys."

"But a hundred other guys aren’t as skilled at evading the camera as he was." Frank pointed out. "That wasn’t the first time he’s done something like that."

Realizing they wouldn’t get anything from the video, Joe stood up, anxious to get back to the office and start searching for information on Ryan.

"Thanks for letting us take a look at it, Chief." Joe said.

"You’re welcome. Who knows, maybe you’ll remember something about him later on, when you’re not trying so hard." Collig replied, hiding his disappointment. He had secretly hoped Joe might recognize the man on the video, although he knew the chances were slim. His biggest fear was that while the investigation would reveal an intruder had indeed been in Joe and Vanessa’s apartment that night, it would also provide conclusive evidence that Joe had been the one wielding the knife used on Vanessa.

As they all turned to leave the room, Fenton’s cell phone rang.

"Fenton Hardy." He answered crisply. Listening intently, his face clouded over with a look of concern that quickly changed to disbelief. "What?! How?! When?!"

As all eyes stared at him, Fenton’s gaze locked on Joe, sending a shiver down Joe’s spine. "Is she all right?" Fenton queried. "What did the doctor say?"

Listening to his father’s half of the conversation, Joe felt a lead weight drop in his stomach.

"Okay, don’t leave her alone again. We’ll be right there." Fenton snapped the cell phone shut and placed it in his pocket glancing at Con, Ezra and Frank before looking back to Joe.