"You didn’t do it, Joe. I don’t have proof, yet, but I know in my heart you couldn’t possibly hurt Vanessa – under the influence of drugs or not." Frank said emphatically. And he did believe it. He knew people could become violent and act totally out of character while on drugs, but deep inside he was absolutely certain Joe would never raise a hand to Vanessa under any circumstances.

Seeing Frank’s fervent belief in him, Joe allowed himself to hope that maybe Frank was right. Sagging back against the pillows, Joe closed his eyes and frowned in deep concentration trying to remember what had happened the previous evening, knowing even bits and pieces of memory could be all they needed.

"Damn." Joe finally swore under his breath. Sighing heavily he opened his eyes and looked at his older brother. "If I could only remember…something…anything!"

Frank patted his shoulder comfortingly. "You just woke up. Give it time. I’m sure you’ll start remembering soon."

Just then the door opened and Fenton Hardy walked in, hurrying to Joe’s bedside.

"How do you feel, Joe?" He asked calmly, the tone of his voice clashing with the worry written all over his face.

"Confused." Joe admitted. "Dad, I can’t remember anything."

"Hopefully, that’s only temporary." Fenton reassured him. "Andrew should be here any minute." He continued, referring to Andrew Worth, the Hardy’s lawyer. "I’ve arranged with the D.A. and Collig for you to be booked and arraigned as soon as you’re released. Andrew said there shouldn’t be any problem getting you out on bail."

Joe nodded, thankful he wouldn’t have to actually spend more than a few hours in a jail cell. As Joe was about to reply, the door opened once more and Andrew Worth, a man about Joe’s height but slimmer, with light brown hair and intense blue eyes, stepped in accompanied by Ezra Collig and Con Riley.

"The results of Joe’s blood test should be back within the next thirty minutes. I thought you’d want to be there when we got the results." Ezra said, looking directly at Fenton.

"Thank you. We’ll be there." Fenton replied in a clipped voice.

There was an awkward silence for a few seconds in which no one moved until Andrew broke the silence, addressing Collig and Riley.

"Gentleman, if you don’t mind I’d like to speak with my client in private."

Collig nodded in understanding and led Riley out the door.

Taking a small tape recorder out of his briefcase along with a pad and pen, Andrew turned back to Joe. "Tell me everything you can remember." He said simply.

Joe stared at the ceiling for a moment collecting his thoughts, then began to speak.

"I got home before Vanessa last night. I was watching TV when she called to tell me she was on her way home. We decided to order pizza from Prito’s. She said she’d pick it up, but she sounded really tired. I told her just to come on home, they could deliver it." Joe said, finding it hard to believe that had been less than fifteen hours earlier.

"Did she get home before the pizza was delivered?" Andrew asked.

"Yes. She came home and about ten minutes later the delivery guy buzzed to be let in. She went into the bedroom to change clothes and I let him in. He came up to the apartment, delivered the pizza, I paid him and he left."

"What happened next?"

"I took the pizza into the kitchen, put two slices on a plate and poured two glasses of soda. One for me and one for Van."

"She still hadn’t come out of the bedroom yet?" Andrew clarified.

"No, not yet. I yelled down the hall to tell her the pizza was here and she said she’d be right out. I took my pizza and soda and went back out to the living room. I took a few bites…and …" Joe’s voice trailed off as he stared at the wall once again.

"Joe? What is it?" Frank asked, at the look of intense concentration on his brother’s face.

"I’m not sure. That was all I could remember before but…gimme a second." Joe said quietly, as something tried to force itself up from the recesses of his memory. "Someone knocked on the door!" He exclaimed.

"Who was it?" Frank demanded excitedly.

"I…I don’t know!" Joe replied in frustration. "I thought it was the delivery guy again because no one rang the buzzer to be let into the building. So it had to be someone who was already inside."

"Or someone who didn’t want to broadcast their presence." Fenton added. "Someone who waited outside until another person was leaving and they could simply walk into the building unannounced."

"Isn’t there a video camera on the entrance to your building?" Frank asked.

"Yeah. It’s pointed right at the front door. It’s one of the things that sold me on that complex – the security." Joe affirmed.

"Collig probably already confiscated the tapes." Fenton guessed.

"Think he’ll let us look at them?" Frank queried his father.

"Probably. But if he turns down our request, he’d have to let Andrew have access to them as Joe’s attorney. So either way we’ll get a look at them."

"Joe, is there anything else you can remember?" Andrew looked at Joe.

"No." Joe shook his head in frustration.

"That’s all right." Andrew patted his leg. "I’m sure it’ll start coming back to you eventually." He was interrupted by a knock on the door as one of the police officers who had been assigned to guard Joe stuck his head in the door.

"Chief wanted me to let you know they’re ready to go over the test results with the doctor."

"Thank you. We’ll be right out." Andrew replied snapping his briefcase shut.

"Hey, what about me? Why can’t they do it in here?" Joe protested. "They’re MY test results. Don’t I even get to know what they are?"

Andrew smiled apologetically. "I’ll come back and tell you as soon as we’re done out there. I’ll be going with you to the police station and then the arraignment, while your Dad and Frank arrange for your bail. I’ll fill you in then, okay?"

"Guess I don’t have much choice." Joe snorted in disgust.

"Unfortunately not." Andrew said sympathetically. "And I know I don’t have to tell you this but…don’t say anything to anyone no matter how much they badger you. I’ll arrange a specific time for you to be questioned by the police in my presence. Until then, don’t talk to anyone but me, your father or Frank."

Joe nodded his understanding then watched forlornly as they all left the room, leaving him alone with the disturbing flashbacks that were slowly eating a hole in his heart.

*****

Frank, Fenton, Andrew, Ezra and Con were squeezed into the small office of the emergency room physician who had been treating Joe since his arrival, listening to the results of the various tests that had been run.

"Blood screens revealed a level of LSD in his system consistent with first time or one time use, along with the sedative administered by the EMT’s. Physical exam showed the beginnings of some bruising on his jaw and throat along with a few minor scratches on his face. We also found two puncture wounds indicating an injection of some kind, on his right arm. One can be traced back to the EMT’s, the other would appear to be where he injected the drugs."

"You said both marks were on his right arm?" Frank interrupted, his eyes lighting up.

The doctor flipped through the papers in his hand to be sure. "Yes." He confirmed. "The right arm."

"That proves it!" Frank exclaimed excitedly.

"The only thing it proves is what we’ve suspected from the beginning." Collig said sadly. "Joe was abusing drugs last night."

"No!" Frank said vehemently. "It proves just the opposite."

"How so?" Fenton questioned, apparently so worried about his youngest son he hadn’t picked up on whatever it was that had Frank so convinced.

"Joe is right handed. If he was shooting up, the needle mark would be on his left arm, not his right."

Fenton nodded, silently smiling his agreement.

"Frank," Con began softly, "Addicts leave tracks everywhere. Right arm. Left arm. Legs. Even between their toes."

"Tracks, Con!" Frank shouted angrily. "Plural! They only found one mark on Joe – one! And the doctor just said there were only enough drugs in his system from a single episode of use."

"Maybe he just now started experimenting." Con theorized.

"Or he may be having problems you don’t know about. When things start to go bad, people turn to drugs." Collig stated gently.

"What things?" Frank asked. "I know my brother better than anyone. He’s happier than he’s ever been in his life."

"Are he and Vanessa are having problems? Problems that you don’t know about?"

Frank glanced at his father and shook his head, a smile twitching at his lips. "Joe and Vanessa are so hopelessly in love with each other it borders on disgusting sometimes. If they were having problems, Joe would never be able to hide it. He’s lost without her. And even if they were having trouble, he’d never turn to drugs to try and deal with it."

"What about Iola Morton? He’ll always feel guilty about her death."

"True." Frank conceded. "But if that were the catalyst, Joe would’ve started using drugs when he was seventeen. Granted, he still feels guilty but he’s come to terms with her death. And six years is kind of a long time for a delayed reaction, don’t you think?" Frank replied looking from Ezra Collig to Con Riley and back again.

Con exchanged a dubious glance with his boss. He had to admit it made a certain amount of sense.

Seeing the still somewhat uncertain look on Collig’s face, Frank turned to the doctor, his eyes begging for help.

"He does have a point. Every first time drug user we get in the ER uses their dominant hand to inject the drug into the non-dominant arm." The doctor confirmed Frank’s theory. "It wouldn’t make sense for an inexperienced user to do it the other way around. Again, the amount of LSD in Joe’s system was from a single episode of use. If he’d been abusing drugs for a while now, the blood test would prove that." He flipped the pages of Joe’s chart back and forth in another quick review. "That’s clearly not the case here. He is most definitely not a habitual drug user."

"You’ve known Joe practically his whole life, Chief. Do you honestly believe he’d want to abuse drugs?" Frank pressed. Something in Collig’s eyes flickered and Frank could see he was considering Frank’s theory and what the doctor had said.

Collig thought about everything Frank had said, silently admitting the logic in it. He also saw that Frank might have overlooked one very important fact. Even if someone had gained access to the apartment, somehow managed to overpower Joe and forcibly inject him with LSD, it didn’t automatically clear Joe of the assault. It was still quite possible that Joe had been the one to attack Vanessa while in the grips of the hallucinogenic drug, even if he hadn’t taken it of his own accord.

"Frank," Collig began. "Even if Joe were set up, even if someone broke into their apartment, subdued Joe and shot him up with drugs, that doesn’t automatically mean he wasn’t the one who attacked Vanessa. You do realize that, don’t you?"

"Of course I realize that." Frank said evenly, knowing he had to acknowledge that possibility, no matter how small he thought it was.

"Just as long as you’re prepared for that possibility."

"So, you’ll consider that there could have been someone else in the apartment last night?" Frank asked hopefully.

"I’ll go with the facts. Those facts show that Joe is not a habitual user. They also show that since the needle marks are on Joe’s right arm and he is right handed, it raises serious doubts about whether or not he injected himself." Collig replied.