"Uh, you want to play Monopoly again?" Vanessa asked Callie.

Callie sighed, and offered Vanessa a small smile. "Vanessa, why would I want to do that?" she asked. "You’ve beat me twice already."

"Well, I’m bored," Vanessa grumbled. "So much for a nice vacation with our boyfriends—as usual!"

Callie looked at her friend, who had plopped on the floor. "Van," she said, "try not to be mad at them. This is what they do. You’ll get used to it."

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. She replied, "How do you get used to something like that?! Oh, well," she sighed. "Maybe we can call Dave again and see if he’ll take us out."

Callie stiffened at once. "N…no," she stammered. "I don’t think that’s such a good idea."

"Why not?" Vanessa argued. "He’s nice. He knows his way around. He’s hot," she said with a smile. "AND- he’ll get us out of here for a while."

"No," Callie replied, somewhat more adamantly than she had intended to.

Vanessa sat up. "What’s going on, Cal? You go out with him the other day, and now you don’t want to see him? What aren’t you telling me?" She eyed Callie suspiciously.

"Vanessa, can we drop this?" Callie requested, seriously. "I don’t feel comfortable being with him- that’s it. I… I’ll probably tell you why later, but not now, okay? Come on. Let’s see if we can figure anything else out with this case."

Vanessa paused, unsure of what to do. Since when did Callie keep secrets from her? She was about to ask Callie that very thing when there was a knock on the door. Both girls raised their heads.

"Who could that be?" Callie asked, getting up. "The guys are at the Museum."

Vanessa shrugged as Callie went to answer the door.

"Oh," she heard Callie say. "Hi, Jenna."

Vanessa sighed, and stood up next to Callie, arms crossed. What now? She thought.

"Can I come in?" Jenna asked.

"Why?" Vanessa answered, at the same time that Callie said, "Okay." They looked at each other. Finally Vanessa relented. "Fine," she mumbled, and ushered Jenna inside.

Jenna looked apologetically at Vanessa, and asked Callie, "Can I speak to you- alone?"

"No!" Vanessa said out loud, but Callie held up her hand to silence her for a moment.

"Please?" Jenna begged. "It’s really very important that I talk to you. It… it’s about Frank."

"Oh, please," Vanessa mumbled.

"And what happened."

Callie exhaled deeply. Normally, she wasn’t into games, and clearly Jenna was playing one. However, slowly, she replied, "Okay—I’ll bite. What happened?"

Jenna glanced reluctantly at Vanessa, and Callie rolled her eyes. "Vanessa," she said, "Would you mind leaving us alone for a few minutes? Clearly, there’s something very secretive and important that Jenna feels is for my ears alone." The manner in which she said it made Vanessa know that Calllie wasn’t taking Jenna seriously, and she felt better about that.

"All right," she said, at last. "But I’ll be right back." Hesitantly, she left the room and closed the door. However, something in her told her not to leave the area. Hating herself for doing it, but justifying that she had to do it because she didn’t trust Jenna, Vanessa leaned down by the door and listened in.

"Callie, thanks for having me," Jenna said. "I… I just wanted to make sure we were okay with things. I assume Frank told you."

Callie felt her defenses go up at once, and she had an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Not knowing if it was because she didn’t trust Jenna or she didn’t like her, Callie tried to look neutral.

"No, Frank didn’t mention anything to me. I haven’t seen him since last night, actually," Callie replied steadily.

"Oh," Jenna said, her eyes bright with surprise. "So then you didn’t see what time he came back?"

Callie looked up at Jenna, who had a good 4 or 5 inches on her. "No," she said. "I didn’t. Then again, you couldn’t have either because he dropped you off."

Good girl, Vanessa thought, listening in.

"But Callie," Jenna cooed. "I DO know. Because he was with me last night."

Callie felt her heart stop for a minute, as she felt herself being drawn into this game. She tried to keep the upper hand. "What are you getting at?" she questioned at last.

"I thought Frank told you."

"He didn’t," Callie said through clenched teeth.

"Oh," Jenna said again, innocently. "It’s just that- well- Frank was talking about you last night. And, something happened – Oh, Callie, I feel just horrible!" she moaned.

"What?" Callie asked, feeling her face getting red.

Jenna paused, and then said, "When we were at the tracks last night, I guess the moment struck him as romantic and he--- well, he kissed me! I tried to say not to, that he had a girlfriend, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. We… wound up spending…," her face took on an excited red hue, "well, let’s just say a good portion of the night together after that. I’m so sorry," she added. "I just thought you might want to know."

Callie felt herself begin to tremble, and despite herself, she had to sit down. A million thoughts whirled through her mind. Frank had been so loving last night. Why would he kiss Jenna? Then again, she hadn’t seen him come in last night, and he… he seemed to be avoiding her today. Biting her lip, Callie said at last, "That’s a lie."

"No, it’s not," Jenna said with a smug smile. "Ask him."

Callie felt herself struggling to stay calm. Should she call the bluff or not? At last, she said, "Yeah, I’ll do that."

"I guess he just wanted a change. You know, the more sophisticated type in lieu of the country girl. I’m sure he was fond of you, though. That’s why he felt badly."

Callie stood up, eyes flashing. "Get the HELL out of my room!" she fired at Jenna.

"Okay," Jenna said, getting up to leave. "But don’t be so angry! I did you a favor by telling you! All’s fair in love and war!" With that, she spun out of the room. Vanessa had barely just enough time to dodge out of the way.

As soon as she was gone, Vanessa ran back into the room, and found Callie sitting on the bed, rubbing her forehead with shaking hands.

"Oh, Callie!" Vanessa cried, sitting next to her and putting her arms around her friend, hugging her. "I heard everything! She’s totally lying! You know Frank would never cheat on you- come on!"

Callie nodded slowly, fighting back the terrible lump in her throat. Through tear-filled eyes, she nodded at Vanessa, unable to speak.

"I’m calling him RIGHT NOW and telling him to get his butt back here, pronto!" she exclaimed.

"Don’t do that, Van," Callie managed to whisper. ‘I’m sure he’s telling the truth." She cleared her throat before she could speak again. "But maybe I could, like, talk to him tomorrow, after the investigation is done."

Vanessa felt Callie’s pain, and hugged her again. "I’ll tell Joe right now to get Frank," she offered again.

"No!" Callie said, fiercely. "You do NOT know about this. Please. This is between Frank and me."

Vanessa sighed, "Oh, Cal."

"I mean it."

"I know."

"I just want to tell him what Jenna said," Callie said, more gently. "To, uh…" words failed her.

"To verify that Jenna’s lying, right?" Vanessa prodded Callie.

Callie paused a moment too long for Vanessa’s liking. "Right," she said softly, and then excused herself from the room.

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