"Hello?"

"Frank, it’s me," Vanessa responded.

"Hi, Van. What’s up?" Frank replied.

"Um…well… have you spoken to Joe at all today?" she began, as it suddenly dawned on her that maybe Joe had already called Frank for help.

"No, not since last night. But I know Dad gave him a few days off to work on Kara’s case. I was going to call him a little later to see how it’s going. Is he there?"

"Well, no he’s not. That’s the problem," Vanessa said, troubled.

"What do you mean ‘that’s the problem’? Where is he?" Frank asked sitting up, picking up on the tone of Vanessa’s voice.

"Well, he went into the city today to meet with Justin Hahn," Vanessa began speaking rapidly as her anxiety increased. "He called me before he left and said he didn’t think it would take more than an hour and he’d be on his way home by one; one thirty at the latest. But he never called and he never came home," she finished breathlessly.

Frank got a chill recalling the last time he got a phone call like this from Vanessa – by the time he and Fenton finally found Joe, he was near death.

"Who is Justin Hahn? Why was Joe meeting with him and why did he go alone?!" Frank fired off the questions in rapid succession.

"He thinks Justin may be the one who really stole the money. He found something last night that seems to indicate Kara really was framed but he doesn’t have any hard evidence. So he called Justin this morning and asked to meet with him. Joe told him he was investigating Kara a little more so Justin would agree to see him.

"He said he needed something concrete, that would hold up in court to get Chief Peterson to reopen the investigation. He really feels badly about what happened yesterday so he wanted to check it out before he told you or your Dad, just in case it was nothing."

"Great, the one time he thinks things through, it gets him in trouble," Frank muttered. "So you haven’t heard from him at all today?"

"Well, he called me when he got to New York right before noon. He said he didn’t expect it to take any more than an hour, if that long and said he’d call me when he was on his way home… he never called, Frank," Vanessa finished, a hint of fear in her voice.

"Do you know exactly what he found that led him to believe this Hahn guy was the real thief?" Frank began pacing the floor, the phone cradled between his neck and shoulder.

"He noticed the transfers suddenly stopped four months ago. He thought that was odd. Kara had no idea the money had been stolen, let alone that she was a suspect until the day she was arrested last week-"

"So why would she stop stealing money four months ago if she had no idea she’d been found out," Frank finished, immediately picking up on the same thing Joe had. "Joe figured it had to be someone at BRG who knew about the investigation. When they realized the theft had been discovered, they stopped the transfers…which should have called attention to them, but it got overlooked by the feds and the police."

"Right. When Joe first spoke to Kara at lunch that day, she said she had no idea the money had been stolen or that she was a suspect until the day she was arrested, but I don’t know if that was in the official report," Vanessa explained.

"It wasn’t, but I wish it had been," Frank frowned. "Maybe one of us would have picked up on it sooner. Did Joe find out why Hahn was involved? The investigation wasn’t supposed to be common knowledge."

"They needed someone who could get onto Kara’s computer and copy the information they wanted without raising her suspicions. Justin works in Tech Services. He told Kara he needed to check for a virus on her computer and asked her to log him on. She didn’t think twice about it," Vanessa said, distastefully. "And there’s one other thing that might be important – Justin Hahn is Brad Galloway’s son-in-law."

"What?" Frank stopped pacing, momentarily shocked by that revelation.

"Supposedly he was the only one Galloway trusted to help with the investigation and keep quiet about it."

"Oh, man, that is so not good," Frank ran a hand through his hair, wondering how Joe always managed to land smack in the middle of trouble without even trying. "Did Joe say why he focused on Hahn as a suspect?" he asked as he resumed pacing. "There had to be a few other people at BRG who knew about the theft and subsequent investigation."

"Only Kara’s supervisor and Justin. Joe did a background check on both of them. Seems in the last two years Justin bought a new car, boat, motorcycle and beach house and he paid cash for everything. Joe couldn’t find any other source of income for him. He hadn’t come into any large sums of money that would allow him to buy all those things with cash," Vanessa replied.

"Not legally, anyway," Frank mused. "So Joe basically went on a fishing expedition. Figured he’d dangle the bait in front of Hahn and see if the guy might slip up and say something incriminating."

"That was the plan," Vanessa confirmed. "He got there okay, but I never heard from him again after that first phone call. I’m really worried about him, Frank," she finished softly.

"Do you know exactly where they were supposed to meet?" Frank asked.

"Starbucks…hold on a sec…" Vanessa found the paper she’d written the address on, just in case, and read it off to Frank.

"Okay, I’ll call Dad and we’ll go check it out," Frank said, pulling his jacket out of the closet. "See if anyone remembers seeing Joe and Justin together, maybe overheard them or saw where they headed when they left."

"I’m coming, too," Vanessa piped up quickly.

"Maybe you should stay home," Frank suggested knowing Joe wouldn’t want Vanessa along even if the chances of danger were slim. "What if Joe calls and you’re not home?"

"He was going to call on my cell phone," Vanessa said stubbornly. "I’m going with you, Frank. If you say no, I’ll just go by myself and I’ll beat you there since you still have to go explain all this to your Dad," she told him, refusing to take no for an answer.

Frank rolled his eyes in frustration. "You’ve been hanging around Joe way too long. You’re picking up all his bad habits."

"So am I going with you or by myself?" Vanessa asked, refusing to be dissuaded.

"Fine, I’ll be there in ten minutes," Frank muttered.

"Fine, I’ll be waiting in the lobby," Vanessa retorted. "Bye."

Turning back to Tony and Kara, she related what Frank had said. They both asked to go along and help in the search for Joe, but Vanessa asked them to stay at the apartment on the off chance Joe called there instead of her cell phone.

Grabbing her coat and purse, Vanessa went down to the lobby to wait for Frank. Peering out into the darkness she prayed they would find Joe safe and sound, fighting off the sense of dread that tried to tell her otherwise.