"Sorry for asking," Vicki said, "but what did he look like?"

"He looked a lot like Justin looks now," Laura replied, "Black hair, green eyes, and a little tall for a boy his age. That’s the only reason why he got picked on."

"How come you never told me before," Justin suddenly asked, "I have a brother somewhere and I didn’t know about him until now. It’s been fifteen years."

"We meant to tell you later," his mother assured him, "We just didn’t think it was right to tell you, when you barely even knew him. I don’t believe you even remember him."

"I hate to bring this up," C. J. spoke up, "but someone who looks remarkably like Michael was involved in what we see as an attempted robbery this afternoon. We even found a file on him in the police station."

Frank and Joe looked more uncomfortable than anyone else did there. They were only visiting when this happened and felt out of place with where the current conversation was going.

"Excuse me a minute," Frank said, silencing the group, "I would like to say that we have no proof but the picture. We can’t be sure that was real evidence or not, but to me something seems out of place here."

"I agree," Joe jumped in, "It seems strange that he would reappear after all these years and do something like this. He even has a record. Don’t you think the police would have called you about him before?" Jim and Laura Ice thought about it a moment.

"I suppose that they would have called," Jim said, "but then again, the cops we had investigating weren’t the ones we have now."

Vicki, C. J, and Justin glanced at each other uncertain on whether to say anything more. Frank and Joe were right. Nothing added up anymore. Silence once again filled the room.

"We should probably go," Vicki said, standing up, "I think we need to talk this whole thing over first." C. J, Frank, and Joe stood slowly and walked towards the front door.

Justin didn’t move to stop them. He only watched as they exited, not even responding to C. J. saying that she would call him later. Everything was too confusing at the moment for him. C. J. stood by her van for second before climbing in. Vicki, unknowing to C. J, gave her friend a worried but sympathetic glance before climbing in herself. Frank and Joe didn’t know this about C. J. yet, but she sometimes tended to get upset at times, which was a very rare thing.

They soon reached C. J’s house, and C. J. quickly ran inside. She left a message that she was staying at Vicki’s and gathered some things together. Then she walked two houses down and opened Vicki’s front door. Frank and Joe were staying at Vicki’s, since they had a guestroom.

C. J. threw her duffel bag on the floor in Vicki’s room and walked in. Vicki was on the computer, looking up some information on the Internet. There was a possible chance that something about the disappearance had been posted somewhere. Frank and Joe weren’t there for the moment.

"Can I try," C. J. asked after Vicki had many unsuccessful tries. Vicki gladly gave up the computer and grabbed another chair to watch for clues. There were thousands of sites concerning disappearances, but none of them seemed to be what they were looking for.

Vicki glanced out the window and suddenly realized that it was getting dark and cloudy. Streetlights were turning on and people were turning on their house lights. Just before C. J. had entered, she had been sure to hide the ring in a safe place. About a year ago, she had discovered a secret panel in one wall. It consisted of a shelf where she could put her most valuable possessions. So far, the ring was the only thing in there.

Suddenly, the lights in the house went off. Even the computer screen went blank. Both girls immediately glanced out the window. They were the only house with no lights.

"Something definitely isn’t right," Vicki said, turning to C. J, "Why aren’t the other lights out too?" They both glanced at each other, both of their faces showing the expression of worry.

"I don’t know," C. J. said and then stopped. The sound of a door opening downstairs drew their attention, "but that doesn’t seem right either. I don’t believe we gave Frank or Joe a key to the house…and we locked the doors. They would have knocked."

The slow steady fall of footsteps reached the stairs and then continued up. It was hard to tell how many people were there, but it was definitely more than one. The steps stopped just outside Vicki’s bedroom door. Then came the unmistakable sound of the knob turning and someone entering. Vicki and C. J. could see well enough in the dark now so they both charged forward at the same time. Instead of the results they expected though, both girls got hit with hard blows and saw nothing.