"Sorry." He smiled sheepishly at Sam Radley, seated across the table from him in the hotel restaurant, as the early morning sun streamed in through the windows.

By the time their flight had arrived in Miami they’d rented a car and found a hotel, it was close to midnight. Although he’d quickly fallen asleep, Frank found it was a restless sleep. He tossed and turned and awoke several times during the night, worried about Joe, Vanessa and what the morning would bring.

"I won’t take it personally." Sam chuckled. "You about ready?"

Frank nodded, draining the last of his coffee. "Let’s go."

As agreed, Frank dropped Sam off at police headquarters, promising to pick him up as soon as he was done talking to Ryan Bender’s landlord and neighbors. Checking the address Sam had written down, Frank consulted a map for directions and then pulled into traffic for the short trip to Ryan’s apartment.

*****

"So, what can I help you with?" The overweight, middle-aged man asked.

Seated across a desk from the landlord of the apartment complex where Ryan lived, Frank was glad to see the man appeared friendly and outgoing if slightly disheveled. Stanley Gormer hadn’t even asked Frank who he was or why he was so interested in Ryan Bender, seeming to be happy just to have someone to talk to. Frank could understand that, as he’d had no luck at all in questioning any of Ryan’s neighbors. It appeared everyone was working or had already left to complete early morning errands.

"What can you tell me about Ryan Bender?" Frank asked, deciding to forgo his cover story unless Gormer asked.

"Ryan Bender, huh? Nice enough guy. He’s been a good tenant for the most part. No loud parties or anything like that." He laughed. "Then again he does manage that club downtown so he’s probably looking for peace and quiet when he gets home. One strange thing though…" The man sat back rubbing his chin, thoughtfully.

"Oh?" Frank said expectantly.

"He’s been late with the rent a few times this year. Always told me about it ahead of time, and paid it when he said he would. But he’s been here several years and that’s never happened before. Think he’s having some kind of money troubles?" The man questioned.

"That’s a possibility." Frank concurred. "How many times was he late with the rent?"

"It was twice." Gormer replied, reaching for a receipt book on his desk. Flipping back several pages he let out a satisfied grunt. "First time in March and again in May. And he said he might be late this month. But that’s because he had to go out of town at the last minute and wasn’t sure when he’d be back. Some kind of family emergency he said."

"Family emergency?" Frank quirked an eyebrow. "When did he leave?"

"Couple of days ago." Gormer’s beeper suddenly went off causing him to jump. "Sorry, I have to go check this out." He said after reading the brief message. "Anything else?"

"No, you’ve been very helpful. Thank you." Frank stood and shook the man’s hand before leaving the office.

Checking his watch, Frank noted he still had quite a bit of time left before he had to pick up Sam at the police station. Watching to make sure Gormer was headed in the opposite direction, Frank quietly made his way to Ryan’s apartment.

Donning a pair of latex gloves he’d stuffed in his pocket, Frank glanced down the hall, checking both ways. Satisfied that he was alone, Frank crouched down in front of the door to pick the lock. Envying Joe’s lightning quick lock picking skills, Frank felt as if it was taking forever. Just as he felt a drop of sweat roll down his forehead, the lock popped open.

Quietly slipping inside, Frank stopped and scanned the room. A combination kitchen/dining room was off to his left, with a living room that opened up onto a balcony on the right. Frank noted the tidy surroundings that confirmed Ryan Bender liked things neat and orderly. Moving quietly down the hall in front of him, Frank glanced into the first room on the right, which turned out to be a bathroom. Continuing on, he poked his head into the next room. By the light streaming in through the windows, he could see it was a makeshift office and he quickly sat down at the desk next to the window and turned on the computer.

Smiling grimly, he was happy to see Ryan didn’t bother with a password. Searching the files, Frank was disappointed to find there was nothing he could use. It appeared Ryan Bender used his computer mostly for games and surfing the Internet. Logging on, Frank hoped Ryan had stored his password and was rewarded when the screen of a popular Internet provider popped up.

Checking the history, Frank pumped a fist into the air in a silent cheer of triumph, as he began following a trail of links to various websites having to do with Bayport. Opening the link to the Bayport Times, Frank scanned the articles Ryan had looked at. One of the first dealt with a ceremony honoring the Hardy’s for their work in the community and showed a picture of Fenton, Laura, Frank, Callie, Joe and Vanessa.

‘That explains how he knew Joe and Vanessa were a couple.’ Frank mused. He’d been curious as to how Ryan seemed to know so much about a cousin he hadn’t seen or heard from since he was six years old.

Digging a little deeper, Frank gasped when an article from several years earlier appeared on the screen. A slight shiver ran down his spine as he skimmed over the story surrounding Joe’s kidnapping, forced drug addiction and subsequent stint in rehab almost six years earlier.

‘So he obviously did his homework on Joe, too.’ Frank frowned.

Rummaging around in a desk drawer, Frank found a blank disc and popped it into the drive, copying all the pertinent articles and links. Checking his watch, he realized he had to hurry if he wanted to check the rest of the apartment before he had to pick up Sam at the police station. Quickly scanning the other links, he found one that led to a website for a Bayport attorney. Not exactly sure what that meant, Frank still felt it was important and copied the link onto the disc. Checking one last link, Frank found it was an online Bayport phone directory, leading to the page containing Joe and Vanessa’s address and phone number. Adding that information to the disc, Frank logged off and shut down the computer.

Pocketing the disc, he quietly made his way back to Ryan’s bedroom, where a quick search turned up nothing useful. As he turned to leave, his eyes fell on a hairbrush resting on top of the dresser. Recalling Chief Collig’s comment about Joe and Vanessa’s lab tests turning up unknown DNA, Frank made a spur of the moment decision. Walking out to the kitchen, he poked around until he found a small Ziploc bag, which he carried back to the bedroom. Carefully removing several strands of hair from the brush, he placed them in the bag. After one last sweep of the apartment to ensure everything was in place, he left with just enough time to pick up something for lunch and make it back to the police station.

*****

"I spoke with a Detective Joseph Martinez." Sam said as Frank drove steadily towards The Vault. "He said they’re certain there’s something going on at The Vault that’s not exactly legal but they don’t have any proof. Mendoza makes sure everything that goes on there is above reproach."

"Do they have any idea what it is they’re looking for?" Frank asked, intrigued at the information.

"Money laundering most likely, but the books are spotless. They’ve tried sending in undercover agents, moles, but they still come up empty. They even had an undercover officer get a job there, but when they thought he was getting too nosey he was fired."

"Maybe we’ll have better luck." Frank murmured as he eyed the large granite building on their right, the words ‘The Vault’ etched into its façade. Driving past it, Frank pulled into an open space in the next block. Getting out of the car, he and Sam backtracked to the club.

Walking in, Sam and Frank stood taking in their surroundings. A long bar took up one entire wall, while the opposite wall showed a disc jockey’s booth set up behind the glass wall of teller’s windows, apparently one of the bank furnishings that were kept in tact. A large hardwood dance floor took up a good chunk of the room with tables and chairs lining the back wall. To the left of the seating area against the back wall was a large, impressive, floor to ceiling bank vault.

"Can I help you?" A voice called out from behind the bar. "We’re not open yet."

"Yeah, is Ryan around?" Sam asked sauntering over to the bar.

"Who’s askin’?" The dark haired young man asked suspiciously.

"Couple of friends." Frank replied sidling up beside Sam. "Ryan said he might have some openings. Is he here?" Frank repeated Sam’s query.

"No, he’s not in." The man replied, wiping down the bar in slow, deliberate circles.

"That’s okay. We’ll wait." Sam said amiably, taking a seat on an empty stool. "When did you say he’d be back?"

"I didn’t."

"Oh. So when will he be back?" Sam asked, attempting to keep the man’s attention focused on him and not on Frank who appeared to be absently wandering about the club, while attempting to find the office.

"I don’t know." The man replied getting irritated. "He’s out of town."

"Hmm. He didn’t tell us he’d be going out of town." Sam frowned. "Where’d he go?"

"I don’t know." He repeated, as Frank’s movement’s caught his eye. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Who me?" Frank asked, imitating Joe’s best wide-eyed innocent look. "Just lookin’ around. Hey, where’s the bathroom?"

"Down there." The bartender pointed down the hall next to the large vault. "But make it quick. And then get out. Ryan ain’t here and he’s the one who does all the hiring and firing."

"Thanks." Frank smiled and disappeared down the hall, chuckling at Sam’s continuous, annoying attempts to get the bartender to inadvertently tell whatever he knew about Ryan Bender.

Passing the restroom, Frank continued on down the hall finding a janitorial closet and a stairway leading to a basement storage area before coming to a large oak door marked "Office". Pulling his shirttail out, Frank wrapped it around his hand and tried the door, not surprised to find it locked. Just as he was about to pull out his lock picks, a door at the end of the hall opened, and bright sunlight streamed in. Blinking rapidly, Frank saw two figures step through the door coming to an abrupt stop. With the sun shining in his eyes through the open door, Frank was unable to make out anything about the two men other than the fact that they were rather large and not very happy to see him.

"Who are you? And what are you doing?" One of the figures asked menacingly.

"Just lookin’ for the bathroom." Frank replied.

"You passed it." The figure pointed down the hall behind Frank.

Frank sighed as he realized they were obviously going to wait until he had used the bathroom and left, before they vacated the hallway.

"Thanks." He said, turning and making his way into the bathroom. Emerging a few minutes later, Frank saw the two men hadn’t moved an inch. Waving at them, he turned and joined Sam back at the bar.

"My buddy here says we need to come back when Ryan is here." Sam told Frank, pointing at the now aggravated bartender.

"Okay." Frank shrugged. "Bye." He said amiably waving at the man who continued to glower at he and Sam as they exited the club.

"Well, that didn’t get us very far." Frank said dejectedly, heading down the street. "We need to get back inside and get a look at his office."

"Agreed." Sam replied. "But we still have a lot of other information we didn’t have before. We know he used his computer to track down Joe and Vanessa’s address, and found out about Joe’s addiction and rehab. That fits in perfectly with the theory that he tried to set Joe up as at least experimenting with drugs. And we have the name of a Bayport attorney to check out. That’s gotta mean something."

"Still, we need…" Frank was abruptly cut off by two men who suddenly appeared in front of them.

Cursing himself for letting his guard down, Frank eyed the two men warily, certain they were the two he had encountered in the hallway. One was tall and blonde, with bulging muscles. The second, taller still although somewhat leaner, had black hair slicked back into a ponytail, and dark eyes that glinted with menace.

"Care to join us, gentlemen?" The blonde asked, the gun in his hands indicating he wouldn’t take no for an answer.

"Right this way." The second man said. Having maneuvered behind the two, he poked Sam in the back with his gun, nudging him towards the alley next to the nightclub.

Exchanging a glance, Sam and Frank realized they were trapped for the moment and let themselves be led into the deserted alleyway. Strewn with trash, empty boxes and scurrying rats, they walked past an overflowing dumpster and were roughly shoved forward until they came to a stop at the chain link fence at the end of the alleyway. The dark haired thug grabbed Sam by the shoulder and spun him around, while the blonde held Frank up against the fence.

"Why are you so interested in Ryan Bender?" He demanded.

"Hey, we’re just looking for work…Ooof!" Sam doubled over gasping for air, as his response was met with a swift punch to the stomach. Wincing as he tried to catch his breath, Sam shuddered when he heard Frank being dragged back a few steps and the familiar click of a switchblade. Slowly looking up, he saw the blonde was now standing behind Frank, holding one of Frank’s arms at a painful angle behind his back, and a knife dangerously close to his throat.