"Why?" Joe asked.

"I need to pick up a couple things for tomorrow night," Frank said reclining the passenger seat back a little so he was sitting more comfortably. He was still sore even though it had been a couple days since the accident.

"Can’t it wait?" Joe asked. "I mean, you should be home resting. You’re still not up to par."

"I need to do this," Frank said. "Everything else is already set. I just need to pick up a few things that I would have done if I hadn’t been in the hospital."

"I really don’t think you should be doing this."

"Stop worrying," Frank said. "Just head to the mall."

"All right."

Frank watched Joe glance at him out of the corner of his eye. "Joe, what is it?"

"I was just wondering if you’ve remembered anything."

"Not a thing and it’s not even bothering me that I can’t. Maybe it’s better that I don’t."

"Are you sure? I mean, you may be the only witness who can give an explanation of what went on while on that road."

"I think the only important thing is that I wasn’t seriously hurt. Maybe, just maybe, those memories will come back in a flash."

"And if it happens, it will happen at the most inopportune time."

Frank gave a small laugh. "You’re probably right."

Joe found a spot relatively close to the mall doors in the packed parking lot. They climbed out of the van and made their way inside. Joe followed Frank through the crowd wondering what was so important that couldn’t wait. He didn’t want to leave Frank alone in case he started to not feel well.

Frank stopped quickly and turned to face Joe, who asked, "What is it? What’s wrong?"

"Mom needs us to pick up a Poinsettia for the dinner table," Frank said. "Do you think you could get it to save time?"

Joe was quiet for a moment. "Fine. Where will I find you?"

"We’ll meet back here in the food court."

"All right," Joe said. "Just take it easy."

"Yes, Mom," Frank said sarcastically.

Joe shook his head and headed for the flower shop. He knew Frank was up to something and wished he could figure it out.

Reaching the shop, he had to wait 20 minutes before he was taken care of. As soon as he had the plant, he made his way back toward the food court. Approaching the area, he saw Frank sitting at a table leaning his head against his right hand. He also saw Frank’s face was pale.

Quickly moving toward his brother, Joe watched Frank life his head and open his eyes. Joe asked, "You all right?"

"Yeah, just a headache. Too much noise in here."

"Are you ready to go?"

Frank nodded slightly. Frank stood, grabbed his bags and they headed for the van. Once inside, Frank secured his seatbelt and leaned back in the seat.

"Too much too soon?" Joe asked as he headed for home.

"Yeah. The noise level in there was more than I could handle."

"Did you get everything you needed?"

"Yeah," Frank mumbled.

Joe saw Frank was dozing off and figured it was probably for the best. He headed the van through town figuring that would be the fastest way home.

Stopping at a red light in the center of town, Joe looked around at the people moving from store to store and the vehicle passing through the intersection. A red car passing in front of the van caught Joe’s attention since there was damage on the passenger side.

"Red car," Joe mumbled. Then he remembered Sheriff Crandall said the paint found on Frank’s car was red.

Hitting the turn signal on the van, he turned into traffic following the red car. The car was heading toward the business district. Joe wanted to know if this had been the vehicle that had injured his brother.

He followed the car keeping a distance behind. He memorized the license plate number in case he lost sight of it.

The car finally pulled over and Joe parked the van right behind it. As he got out, he saw a young girl climb out from behind the wheel. He slowly approached her. "Excuse me. I‘m Joe Hardy and was wondering if I could ask you a question."

The girl turned. She looked to be about 17 with long, red hair. "About what?" she asked hesitantly.

"Where did you get the damage to your car?"

"What?"

"The damage," Joe said. "Where did it happen?"

"I think it happened a couple days ago when I was coming back to town after visiting a friend. I got home and noticed the damage."

"Were you on the interstate between here and the university?" Joe asked feeling he had been right to follow this car.

"How did you know?" the girl asked, surprised.