Frank hurried into the kitchen while Nancy placed a blanket over Ned. She stayed by his side pushing his hair off his forehead. She looked up as Frank came back into the room with a cloth. She took the cloth from him and put it on Ned’s forehead.

Nancy took Ned’s right hand in both of hers. She sat quietly. His eyes were closed and his hands felt clammy. She wondered what was wrong. She thought, Ned must have gotten sick from being out in the cold all night. I hope he’s going to be all right. He seldom gets sick. He has to be all right.

She felt a hand on her shoulder that jarred her from her thoughts. She turned and saw Maggie standing behind her. Nancy said, “He’s burning up.”

“The doctor is on his way,” Maggie said reaching down and feeling Ned’s forehead. “For now, keep the cloth on his forehead.”

Nancy nodded and focused on Ned. He appeared to be sleeping and that scared her even more. As she sat there, she hoped Ned was going to be all right. She hoped it was just a cold and it would go away soon. She didn’t want it to be anything serious.

Frank stood in the doorway watching Nancy hover over Ned. He knew how much Ned meant to her and hoped nothing was seriously wrong. He was still watching her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Melissa standing there. Melissa looked into the living room and quietly asked, “What’s going on?”

“Ned’s sick,” Frank replied glancing back into the living room. “Really sick. He’s burning up.”

“Will he be all right?”

“I hope so.”

At that moment, they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Frank turned and saw Bess and George coming down the stairs with Joe and Jeremy. When they reached the bottom, Jeremy asked, “What’s going on?”

“Ned’s sick,” Frank said. “Let’s go in the kitchen.”

Frank led the group into the kitchen as Maggie went into the living room carrying a basin with water. Once everyone was seated around the counter, Bess asked, “Is Ned really sick?”

“Yeah,” Frank said. “He came down a little while ago.”

“How serious is it?” George asked.

“I don’t know,” Frank admitted. “He’s burning up, but other than that, you know as much as I do.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Bess asked.

“I don’t know,” Frank said.

“How about I make breakfast?” Jeremy suggested. “We could all use something to eat.”

“I guess,” Frank said.

Joe decided to change the subject. “Did you find anything in the books?”

“There was a big difference between the two.”

“How big?” Melissa asked quickly.

“About twenty million dollars.” Frank leaned back in his chair.

“Twenty million dollars?” Melissa gasped.

“It seems as if the one set of books had the actual amount of money taken in for each concert. The other book has been adjusted to make it seem as if less money is being taken in.”

“But why?” Melissa asked. “What good could come from stealing that much money?”

“It could certainly make someone’s life a whole lot easier.”

“But who would want to steal money from me?” Melissa asked.

“Nancy and I were wondering that.” Frank got to his feet and started pacing the kitchen. “When we came up with the amount of missing money, we began to wonder who had the best chance of stealing it.”

“Jake has the opportunity,” Joe said.

“Jake wouldn’t steal from me,” Melissa said firmly. “Jake knows how important music is to me.”

“Do you know who sees your financial records?” Frank asked.

“I’m not sure. I think Jake sees them.”

“Then it’s possible Jake is stealing from you.”

“But I don’t understand. If Jake is involved, why is he taking the money? He makes a good deal as it is. I pay him well.” Melissa looked at Frank.

“We don’t know why,” Frank said. “But before we can accuse him, we need to make sure he’s the embezzler.”

“How can you find out if he is?”

“I want to have a chat with Jake.” Frank stated as he stopped to look at the others.

“Frank, are you sure you’re not the one running a fever?” Joe asked.

“Are you out of your mind?” George asked at the same time.

“I don’t know,” Melissa said. “You might offend Jake. He does get angry. Real angry.”

“We need to figure this out. It’s just like the threatening note. You need to find this out before anything happens to you.”

“I just can’t see Jake doing anything to harm me. Jake treats me like his daughter. I can’t see him trying to hurt me.”

“I hope you’re right,” Frank said softly.

They were all quiet for a few minutes. Melissa broke the silence. “I know you think Jake is involved. Maybe you should talk to him to clear him.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” Frank said staring at Joe, hoping he would stay quiet.

“But Jake knows you,” Joe said. “He’s seen us all together.”

“I’ll tell him I’m interested in the music business. Anything that’ll give me a chance to find out what’s going on.”

“You could probably talk to him before the concert tonight,” Melissa said.

“I think I will.”

At that moment they heard the doorbell. They looked down the hallway and watched Maggie go to the door. They saw her invite the doctor in and close the door as he went into the living room. Maggie looked into the living room then toward the kitchen. She said, “Frank.”

Frank moved quickly down the hall. He got beside Maggie and she said, “Maybe you can get Nancy to come out of here. The doctor needs to examine Ned. She doesn’t seem to listen to me.”

“I’ll try,” Frank said and went into the living room. He saw Nancy was sitting on the edge of the couch, still holding Ned’s hand. Frank touched her shoulder. She turned to look at him. Frank noticed the worried look on her face. He said, “Let’s go in the kitchen while the doctor examines Ned.”

“I don’t want to leave him,” Nancy said looking back at Ned.

“We’ll just go in the kitchen.” Frank put his hands on her shoulders and helped her to her feet. They went into the kitchen while Maggie stayed in the hallway.