Nancy, Ned and Joe sat in silence for 10 minutes waiting for Officer Stamwell to return. He finally returned and opened the door. He looked at Joe. "Come with me. She’s down the hall."

Joe got to his feet and looked at Nancy and Ned. Nancy said, "We’ll wait here for you."

Joe nodded and left the room. Nancy looked at Ned once they were alone and said, "I’m glad this nightmare is over."

"Same here," Ned said pulling her close to him. He hugged her tightly. "Now we can look toward the future and make some definite plans."

"The plans for our wedding," Nancy said.

"Absolutely." Ned leaned down and gave Nancy a kiss.

* * * * *

Joe followed Officer Stamwell down the hall. He pushed the door open and stood back so Joe could enter. Before he closed the door, Officer Stamwell said, "Just knock on the door when you’re ready."

Joe nodded and the door closed. Joe turned to see Victoria wearing a pair of blue jeans and a denim shirt. Her long brown hair hung limply on her shoulders. Her hands were folded on the table and he could see the handcuffs.

Joe watched as Victoria lifted her head and looked at him. He noticed she was smiling with the same bright smile he’d seen when they first me. Joe stayed standing and asked, "What do you want?"

"I’m glad to see you," Victoria said. "Have a seat."

"Tell me what you want, or I’m leaving."

"Joe, I know people are still missing, including your parents. I want you to know how sorry I am."

"You know it’s much too late to apologize," Joe said. "You could’ve stopped this, but you didn’t."

"I had to go along with him. I had to."

"No you didn’t," Joe said. "It takes a lot more to stand up for yourself and believe in the right thing than to jump on the bandwagon and follow blindly."

"I really didn’t mean for any of this to happen."

"I don’t want to hear your apologies," Joe snapped. "Unless you have something important to say, I’m leaving."

"Joe, please," Victoria begged.

Joe stopped before heading toward the door. He turned and looked at Victoria. He said, "Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t walk out of here right now."

"Because I care about you," Victoria said. Joe glared at her. "Joe, I’m serious. At first, I was angry because of what you did to my father. I was willing to help my brother any way that I could to get back at you. But things changed. I started to get to know you better and I think I was falling in love with you."

"You could’ve prevented this," Joe said. "But you were more concerned about revenge." He put his hands on the table and looked Victoria in the eye. "Your revenge cost a lot of people their lives."

"I know," Victoria said, tears streaming down her face. "I’m sorry. I wish I could go back and stop all this. I wish your parents were alive for you. I should’ve stood up to my brother. Maybe if I had, none of this would’ve happened."

"I’ve got news for you," Joe said standing straight. "My parents are alive."

"When were they found? Are they all right?"

"You don’t care," Joe said. "But you are lucky."

"How am I lucky?"

"If my parents were never found, you’d rot in a jail cell for the rest of your life." Joe shrugged his shoulders. "But since they are alive, you might just spend the next 50 years in jail."

Joe went to the door and knocked on it. A moment later the door opened. As Joe started out the door, Victoria asked, "Joe, will you forgive me?"

He turned to look at her. Joe couldn’t forgive her. He turned away. He walked out of the room and the door closed behind him. As he walked down the hallway to the room where he had left Nancy and Ned, he felt pretty good. It was possible he could forgive her in time, maybe. But, right then, with Frank still in the hospital, he couldn’t.

Joe opened the door to the room Nancy and Ned were waiting in. He saw them sitting in the same chairs as earlier. Nancy was leaning with her head on Ned’s shoulder and her eyes were closed. Joe cleared his throat and Nancy opened her eyes.

Ned asked, "Everything all set?"

Joe nodded. "Let’s get out of here."

Nancy and Ned got to their feet and followed Joe out of the police station. Once outside, Nancy asked, "Joe, are you all right?"

"Yeah," Joe said letting out a deep breath. "I’m fine."

"Let’s get back to the hotel, then," Ned said.

The three of them walked back to the hotel in silence. When they arrived, Nancy and Ned went into the dining room while Joe went up to his room.

Joe went inside and closed the door. He stretched out on his bed and closed his eyes. He was exhausted. The confrontation with Victoria had drained whatever energy he had regained the night before. Within minutes, he was asleep once again.