Joe looked up at Frank as his brother arrived next to him, and gave him a shaky smile. "Whew! THAT was close," he said.

Frank stared at him for a second, before offering Joe his hand to help him up. Having done so, he gave him a big hug. "I thought that was IT for a minute!" Frank answered with a shudder.

"Dude, me too. That’s why I said it was close!" Joe responded, with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Frank shook his head at Joe’s ability to laugh when he had almost gotten his head blown off. At the same time, an officer asked, "What happened?" as a mouse scurried across the floor.

"A MOUSE?" Joe asked, incredulous. "I almost got killed because of a mouse?" Now, the impact of what happened hit him as a shiver went through his body.

"I guess that’s why he didn’t answer when the officer shouted to watch out," Frank said, beginning to smile.

"Well, did you find anyone?" Joe asked one of the officers, who shook his head in amazement.

"No! It would be virtually impossible for anyone to escape this place. I don’t understand it," he said, puzzled. "Man, the Chief’s gonna be all over us for this one!"

"What was so important, anyway?" Frank asked, turning to Joe. "You were waving us over like a madman before you—well, almost got shot," Frank finished.

Joe’s eyes lit up as he remembered his discovery. "You guys are not going to believe this," Joe said, excitedly. "But look what I found!" Turning to the case, he showed them the picture that had been hidden in the display case. It contained a mountain, covered with snow.

Frank gasped. "That’s the Painting! "Swiss Alps- Escape!" I can’t believe it! It wasn’t stolen after all!" He gaped at his brother in amazement.

"I know!" Joe said, trying to piece all of it together. "I looked at the cases which were similar in all the thefts. Something about it just struck me as funny. When I went to take a look at it, I discovered that the stand, itself, was hollow. So that means…"

"That means," Frank cut in excitedly, "That this whole thing was rigged! The broken glass case with the note in it must have been set to rise when the original document, or painting, or whatever- was dropped!"

"That’s why we couldn’t find anyone- because no one was here!" an officer said in awe. "What’s the setup?"

Frank’s eyes grew wide as an idea hit him. "Guys!" he shouted. "If this particular painting wasn’t stolen, and they’re all in similar containers…"

Now Joe interrupted. "Then maybe none of the items were stolen!"

He stared at Frank, and the officers looked equally shocked. "You mean- there WERE no thefts?" one asked.

"Well, let’s find out!" another joined in.

Close to a half an hour later, officers from accompanying museums had been contacted and had rechecked the original locations of the thefts. To their utter astonishment, every single item was located- right in its original form and container in the hollow cases.

"I… I don’t get it," Joe muttered. "I mean, someone had to be in the Museums. How else could Frank have gotten hurt?"

"Maybe someone is working the inside angle rigging the stands, and just happened to be there that night," Frank hypothesized.

"But Frank!" Joe said in exasperation. "Never in my life have I seen something like this! Do we even have a case now? I mean, technically nothing has been taken! That means that these messages mean something big, because who one earth would go to all the trouble of sending them- and not take anything?!"

Frank shrugged, perplexed. This was the most bizarre thing he’d ever seen.

After promising to keep in touch with the officers, who were going to continue to try and figure this out, Frank and Joe decided to head back to the hotel, eager to run this past Callie and Vanessa. They even discussed giving their father, internationally known private investigator Fenton Hardy, a call, to see what he thought. In any event, they were totally confused and needed to start somewhere.

Despite the late hour, Joe decided to knock on the girls’ door. He noticed at once that Frank headed into their room first for some reason. To his surprise, Vanessa answered the door at once and crept into the hallway quietly, shutting the door behind her.

"Hey," she said with a soft smile. "We have to talk."

"Do we ever!" Joe replied. "Van, you won’t believe what we found out tonight!" He gave her a quick hug, eager to get her and Callie into their room to discuss what had happened.

"Wait!" she said, grabbing onto his hand. "Please, Joe. I have a problem first, and I don’t know what to do."

Joe was immediately concerned. Vanessa wasn’t a melodramatic person, so if she asked for help, she usually needed it. "What’s wrong?" he asked her.

Vanessa motioned him to follow her to the end of the hallway. Normally, she kept her word, but something was telling her that this time might be a good time to not do that. She was really worried about Callie.

"Okay," Vanessa began in a low voice. "Let me tell you what happened today."

Joe nodded, and gently teased her, "Should I get my slippers?" Vanessa was famous for her long-winded stories and jokes, but that’s one of the things that Joe found to be most endearing about her.

Vanessa met his eyes. "No. This is the Reader’s Digest, Cliff’s Notes, version, okay?"

Joe was instantly alert. "Go ahead," he responded.

Vanessa spoke quickly and quietly. "Okay, I’m NOT supposed to know about this, but here goes. Jenna visited Callie today, and, in her normally snotty way, mentioned that Frank and her had a little fling last night!"

"What?!" Joe said out loud, in shock, and he had to be shushed by Vanessa.

"Listen!" Vanessa cut in. "And be quiet- I don’t want either of them to know we’re talking about this! Anyway, Jenna said that Frank kissed her and implied that a lot more went on than that, since she was with Frank so long. When did he get back from the train, Joe?" Her eyes pleaded with him to explain.

Joe was confused. "I… well, I don’t know," he said, honestly. "I went to sleep right away." Snapping back to reality, he felt a bit defensive of his brother. "Come on, Van! Frank wouldn’t do that to Callie- you know that as well as I do!"

"Do I?" Vanessa replied. "More importantly, do you?" she asked. "Frank’s been all over Jenna and vice versa- you certainly can’t deny that. I thought everything was getting better until last night, but…" she faltered, searching for the right words. "Callie’s just really devastated, I can tell. You know her- she hides her emotions pretty well, and she even defended Frank to me, but I know her. Come on- find out the dirt for me!"

Joe sighed, and wrapped an arm around Vanessa. "I still don’t think Frank would do it," he said at last. "But I’ll find out what I can." He paused for a minute, thinking.

"What?!" Vanessa pounced on him. "What are you thinking? Come on, spill it!"

Joe laughed in spite of the seriousness of the situation. Vanessa was incredibly impulsive and animated, and he was amused by her enthusiasm. Still, she was right- he was thinking something. "Well," he said, thoughtfully. "Frank was acting weird this morning. He kind of mentioned it had to do with Jenna and Callie, but he wouldn’t talk. And then Callie was acting weird yesterday afternoon, when I caught up with her. She…" Joe paused, not wanting to betray Callie’s confidence.

Vanessa saw that, but pushed him, gently. "Callie did what?" she asked. "Joe, we’re only trying to help them because we care," she reminded him.

With a sigh, Joe told her about how distraught Callie had been, and how she had been in tears.

‘But that was BEFORE last night, when Frank and Callie seemed fine," Vanessa said.

"That’s a good point," Joe reflected.

"Joe?" Callie asked, coming into the hall, and walking towards him. "What are you doing here?! Aren’t you supposed to be at the Museum?!"

Joe and Vanessa shot each other looks, each signaling the other to remain quiet.

"Yeah, Cal, but we found out some amazing stuff tonight," he answered her, "and Frank and I would like to run it by you. Come on- let’s go into the room."

"O.. Oh," Callie stammered, before regaining her composure. "Sure, okay."

As Callie entered the room with him and Vanessa, Joe realized how powerful knowledge could be. Only the closest observer would have noticed Frank trying not to look like he was avoiding Callie, and Callie doing the same. He was amazed at how ridiculously good his brother and Callie were at disguising their problems.

Callie, however, didn’t know that Frank knew about Dave. She had no idea that he had received a rather incriminating, although entirely misconstrued, photograph. All she knew was that Jenna had told her that she and Frank had become intimate, and, of course, Frank had no clue about that. He was thinking over and over again about Callie and Dave, and fighting back disgust at the thought. It was so much harder for him to deal with this as he faced her in person.

As greetings were exchanged, Joe got ready to tell the girls about their findings today with Frank.

He noticed playing cards on the corner of his dresser as he scooted over to let Vanessa in, and couldn’t help but to think that this situation with Callie and Frank was a game, waiting to be played out.

Glancing at Vanessa, he couldn’t wait to see who would make the first move.

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