Frank shrugged. "I hope so. Remembering and being able to identify the murderer is the only way she can move on with her life. It was obvious when she told us what happened how frustrated she was not to remember. But regardless of whether she's remembered anything or not doesn't matter in the long run if the killer BELIEVES she's remembered."

Joe parked the van and did a quick survey of the parking lot. "Chet's still here. I guess he's skipping school today as well. That's good; he'll want to know about this."

The two brothers left the van and walked toward the front entrance of the hospital. Frank continued the conversation. "I'm just glad to find out that Devon's grandparents are on her side. I couldn't imagine what it feel like to believe every member of your family thinks you are crazy."

Joe grinned widely as he pressed the call button for the elevator. "Too late. We KNOW you are crazy."

Frank punched his brother in the arm good-naturedly. "Such a comedian. Try not to be as humorous around Devon. Come on, the psychiatric unit is on the sixth floor."

"You know this from experience?" Joe couldn't help but rib his brother some more. Frank shook his head, accustomed to his brother's jokes.

"Yeah because Mom and Dad have threatened to put YOU there. Seriously though, Joe, none of these jokes around Devon."

This time Joe punched Frank. "What do you take me for? I'm not an insensitive jerk you know."

Before Frank could retort, the elevator stopped at the sixth floor. Frank noticed as he approached the nurse's desk that the young, pretty RN seemed a bit harried as she talked on the phone. He waited until she hung up the receiver.

"Excuse me, but could you tell me which room is Devon Marshand's?"

The nurse looked up sharply and then looked toward two security guards standing outside a room talking to one another. She raised her voice. "Jack, Tom, these two are asking about the Marshand girl."

Before Frank and Joe knew what was happening the two guards had pushed them against the wall and were being frisked. Joe struggled and twisted his head back as far as he could. "What is going on? Has something happened to Devon?"

The guard holding Frank found his wallet and opened it. "Frank Hardy. Any relation to Fenton Hardy?"

"He's our father. That's my brother Joe. What's going on? Why the strong arm tactics?"

The guards released the two brothers and led the way to the waiting room. Frank and Joe sat down, perplexed by the guards' involvement. Jack sat opposite them while Tom went back to the nurse's station. Jack took a deep breath. "About thirty minutes ago someone pulled the fire alarm box on this floor. During the confusion, Devon Marshand disappeared from her room. She couldn't have done it by herself. Her wrists were restrained to the side rails. No one saw anything."

Joe remembered Chet's car in the parking lot and exchanged a look with Frank. The older Hardy just looked concerned. "Had anyone been in her room today?"

"Not that the nurse was aware of. We are, of course, concerned. She was admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt. She could be a danger to herself."

Or in danger from the murder. Frank thought to himself. Where was Chet? What had he and Devon done? "We don't know anything about what happened. Devon is a friend from school. We were just coming by to check on her. But if we find anything..."

"Let Officer Riley at the Bayport PD know. He's handling the investigation."

"Frank and Joe Hardy, why am I NOT surprised to see you here?" Con Riley shook his head as he approached the two. "Thanks Jack. I'll take it from here. Okay guys tell me what you know."

Joe sighed. "Con, we really don't know anything about Devon leaving the hospital. We came because Dad wanted us to protect her."

"Protect her from what?"

"From the person who killed her parents and sister." Frank filled Con in on what they had learned from their Dad and the Marshands that morning.

Con frowned. "I was really hoping that the two of you and/or Chet had helped her get out of here. Where is Chet by the way? I saw that junk heap he calls a car in the parking lot."

Joe frowned. "Good question. He left our house well over an hour to come here."

"So he could be responsible for her disappearing act."

Frank shook his head. "It doesn't sound like Chet though. He wouldn't break the law by pulling that alarm unless something was horribly wrong. Besides if he helped her escape, where did they go? His car is still in the parking lot and Devon's Amigo was totaled yesterday."

Joe stood and began to pace back and forth. "But then where is he? He's got to be with Devon. So if he's with her and they aren't in Queenie, then..."

"Then the killer must have both of them." Frank added ominously.

*****

"Uncle Rex, why?"

Rex Avery laughed humorlessly as he tightened the bonds he'd used on Devon's wrists. Chet was already tied to a chair beside the distraught girl. "Why Devon? Do you really want to know why? I thought I could scare you enough to drive you back to the hospital. But it didn't work. I thought the wreck would really drive you over the edge but if anything it made you stronger. I knew when you came to dinner last night that you had remembered everything. I decided, right then, that you had to die and it had to look like a suicide."

"You're a monster." Chet strained against his bonds angrily. "Just wait until I get my hands on you. I'll tear you from limb to limb."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing you aren't going to get free." Rex humored him. "I'm going to kill you both."

"Why Rex? Why did you kill Mom and Dad? He was your best friend." Devon didn't take her eyes off Rex Avery.

He glanced back at her, his eyes wide with righteous fury. "That's right, he was. But that didn't stop him from deciding to ruin my life."

Devon looked perplexed. "How? How was Dad going to ruin your life? Everything you had was because of him. HE brought you into his company and made you Vice President."

Picking up a glass off the table, Rex hurled it across the room. "He was going to send me to jail. His best friend. I thought friendship meant more. But no, not to David."

"What did you do?" Chet asked quietly. "He had to have had a reason to send you to jail."

"Money. It was about money wasn't it?" Devon shook her head. "I remember now overhearing Daddy and Mom talking late one night. She was helping Dad with the books and had discovered about twenty five thousand dollars missing from the company's books. You normally handle the company's finances. Did you steal it?"

"I was going to return the money. David would have never known it was gone if it hadn't been for your mother. I went there that night to beg him to let things slide. I promised him I would move away and never bother him or the company again. But he was too noble. He just couldn't let things pass."

Tears streamed down Devon's cheeks. "So you killed him and Mom and you would have killed me next if Mr. Seavers hadn't started banging on the door."

Rex took her head in both his hands. "I didn't even know you were home until you came into the office. David told me about the dance and I figured both DeLaney and you would be at the school. I didn't even go there that night planning to kill anyone but he wouldn't listen and your mother kept going on and on about how they trusted me and how I let them down."

Chet's heart went out to the pretty girl beside him. She now had her answers but he knew how painful this must be for her. She had trusted Avery; just as much if not more than her parents had. "Well, you'll be going to jail anyway. My best friends are Frank and Joe Hardy, remember. They'll find us and you'll go to prison where you belong."