On their way to collect AJ, Frank handed Joe the notebook in which he had written their list of ‘to do’s’ the previous afternoon.

‘So what are your feelings about where we go from here?’ he asked his brother.

Joe gave Frank a guarded look.

‘Are you asking me about looking for Angelica, or are you still trying to psycho-analyse me?’ he asked. Frank brought the van to a stop at the intersection, and looked at Joe, his own eyes impossible to read behind his dark glasses. He said nothing.

‘Okay, okay,’ conceded Joe, looking down for a moment. ‘You didn’t deserve that.’

The lights changed to green and Frank turned his attention back to the road in front of them, still saying nothing. Joe felt like giving himself a smack across the forehead. He knew Frank was just looking out for him, as he always did, and it probably would help to confide in someone about the nature of the dreadful dream, but Joe just couldn’t talk about it. It did seem to have been triggered by this new case, and Frank would probably convince their father that they should drop it if he knew what the dream had been about. That would be so unfair to Angelica’s family! And how would he even begin to tell Frank that he had the starring role in the nightmare?? Just thinking about it made Joe sick to his stomach.

The van came to a halt and Joe realized that Frank had pulled up outside AJ’s house. Joe hastily undid his seatbelt.

‘I’ll go get him,’ Joe said and quickly climbed out of the van. He took several steps towards AJ’s front door before turning back. Resting his elbows on the edge of the open window, he gave his brother a lopsided grin.

‘Thanks for being there last night,’ he said in a very quiet, sincere voice. ‘I don’t want to you to think I’m not grateful. But it was just a stupid dream.’

Frank sighed.

‘Just promise me you’ll tell someone if things are getting too tough,’ he said. ‘That’s all I ask.’

‘I promise you’ll be the first to know,’ said Joe brightly, and raced off to AJ’s front door.

It’s like Homer Simpson promising to give up donuts, thought Frank to himself.

….

‘Here it is,’ said Joe. AJ moved his chair closer to Joe’s so that he could easily see the computer screen. They were looking at the front page of the Bayport Times, dated almost three years ago. Angelica Smith’s picture took up nearly half of the page.

AJ and Joe read the rest of the report. Angelica stared back at them from the screen. It was same picture Winston had shown the Hardys.

‘Let’s see if there are any follow-up reports over the next few days,’ murmured Joe, moving the mouse. ‘Here we are. This is dated the next day.’

The article went on to describe the impact of Angelica’s disappearance on her school friends. The principal of the school had organised counselling sessions and had invited the police to address the staff.

‘What do you reckon?’ Joe asked AJ.

‘Pretty sad,’ was AJ’s reply.

‘Yeah, I agree. But what do you think happened to her?’ asked Joe. ‘Got any ideas?’

‘I wouldn’t have liked to have been in the boyfriend’s shoes,’ said AJ, shuddering. ‘It would only have been a matter of time before everyone was pointing the finger at him.’

Joe searched further and found another article dated four days after Angelica’s disappearance.

Again there was the same picture of Angelica, and a photograph of Paul in his school uniform.

‘You were right on the money,’ said Joe.

‘It’s typical,’ was AJ’s modest response. ‘There were no other clues about where she’d gone. The parents had to blame someone.’

‘Well,’ said Joe, ‘let’s print these articles. Frank will want to have a look at them. At least the details check out with the information Winston gave us. I just hope we can find out something the police missed and solve this case. It would sure make life a bit easier for Winston.’

AJ turned back to his computer screen and continued his own search while Joe organised the printing.

‘It’s cool the way you and Frank help people out,’ AJ mused. ‘Like how you stopped all that bad stuff going down at our school. It’s not like you’re like the cops – you know, always telling people what to do and that, just for the sake of it. You do things that make a big difference.’

Joe grinned at AJ’s description of police business. He’d love to see Chief Collig’s reaction to a statement like that!

‘It gets sort of addictive,’ Joe told him. ‘You start with a puzzle with very few pieces. If you’re lucky, you find more pieces, and then put it together. And it does feel great when you’ve solved something.’

‘Take a look at this,’ AJ said, turning the screen a little so that Joe could see what he’d found. AJ had located the report about the hikers who had gone missing in Black’s forest who John Winter had eventually been found guilty of murdering. The faces of the three smiling young people put chills through Joe and AJ.

‘If there is a link between Angelica and John Winter, I thought maybe this kind of article would be useful,’ AJ told Joe.

‘Good idea,’ Joe replied. ‘Get a copy of it.’

‘Don’t ask me to read it, though,’ said AJ. ‘The whole thing gives me the creeps!’

….

Frank sat in one of the interview rooms reading the last page of the lengthy official police report about the disappearance of Angelica Smith. Chief Collig had been in an exceedingly good mood and had spent a lot of time chatting to Frank about the case before letting him seeing the official report. Collig had told Frank that there had never really been any evidence to suggest that Paul Williams had done anything to harm Angelica but there had been considerable pressure put on the police by Angelica’s family. Paul was, after all, the last person to have any contact with her. Collig had also confirmed that Ann Smith did break up with her husband and had left to live overseas. The father was living in another state.

‘Terrible business,’ Collig had said, shaking his head. ‘It absolutely destroyed that girl’s family. And we turned up nothing.’

‘Off the record, what do you think happened?’ Frank had asked.

‘Oh, it’s hard to say. Ann Smith did admit that she and Angelica hadn’t been exactly pleasant towards each other just before she left with Paul, but what teenager doesn’t need a good talking to from time to time? I doubt it was enough for Angelica to run away, but I’ve never understood the workings of the female mind. Maybe she did leave town.’

Frank returned the report to the clerk and went out the front of the station to wait for Joe and AJ. Sitting on the steps, he pondered what they had learnt so far about Angelica Smith. His mind kept going over what had happened to Angelica’s family afterwards. It had literally disintegrated! Would that happen to the Hardy family if such a thing were to befall them? Frank agreed with his brother about a lot of things, but he didn’t share Joe’s view about one particular thing: if one of them were to disappear, surely the waiting and wondering and speculating and hoping would be far worse than the grim reality that death had occurred. How could you go on with your own life on hold? No wonder Angelica’s family had self-destructed!

A sudden loud blast of a horn made Frank jump out of his skin. Looking up he saw the van parked alongside the steps, Joe leaning out of the window, waving his arms around.

‘Earth to Frank! Earth to Frank!’ his brother sang out, with AJ chuckling behind him. Several people walking by looked and laughed. Frank felt his face go red as he stood up.