Joe spoke first. "We’re back," he began, awkwardly. "Um, are you ready to work?"

"Yes," Frank said softly, and Callie nodded. Along with what had just happened, they were also both embarrassed that Joe and Vanessa knew anything about their fight. Intensely private people when it came to their relationship, they weren’t used to having people speculate on any of their issues. This time, though, they had no choice.

Joe forced a smile. "Good, because we have a lot to do," he said. "No more games; just the case."

Callie looked up slowly. "Right," she repeated. "No more games."

Joe and Vanessa took the initial list that had been made, and tried to figure out what the saying "So Defendants Will Prevail" meant, and what, if anything, the word "AGIB" meant. Frank and Callie stared at the list of Museums, stolen items, and colored enveloped.

"Hmmm," Vanessa said after a little while. "I wonder."

"Wonder what?" Joe asked. "Did you see something?"

"I don’t know," Vanessa began, unsteadily. "But look at the word-"AGIB’. I mean, if all the robberies were a fake, then maybe whomever was doing this was sending out a ‘jibe’- you know, a taunting of some kind. That would make sense, even though it’s spelled slightly differently."

Joe was impressed. "That’s true!" he said to her, giving her a quick hug. "Good thinking."

Frank, who had overheard this, looked at them. "It IS a good idea, Van, and it’s pretty clear what it means. But…."

"What?" Vanessa asked.

"I don’t see why the perpetrators wouldn’t have spelled it the right way. It doesn’t make sense, really."

"Oh," Vanessa replied. "Yeah, I guess you’re right."

Callie tried to bail Vanessa out. "I think it IS a taunting," she said. "But look at the word again. Maybe we could figure out something- could it be a name?" she asked.

"Possibly," Frank nodded, impressed. He hadn’t thought of that.

Callie took the paper from Vanessa and stared at the word. Slowly, she took a pen from her purse and began counting on her fingers.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Vanessa asked.

"I really don’t know," Callie admitted. "I was kind of counting the numbers that correspond to the letters in the alphabet. You never know…"

Joe laughed- they were going too far with this. Still, he continued to admire Callie’s perseverance. "Okay," he said to her. "The word is "AGIB". Let’s see what number combinations we can come up with."

He counted with Callie. "There are 4 letters," he said.

"And if we look at what position each one is in the alphabet, we get A=1, G=7, I=9, and B=2. So, it’s either individually those numbers, or maybe it’s a date- 1792? What on earth happened then?" Callie sighed. "Maybe I’m wrong. "

"We could check it out, though," Frank said softly, and Callie was surprised by his continued support despite their still unresolved blow out.

Joe shrugged. "Well, let’s say that the thieves were ‘taunting’ us through a ‘jibe’, and agree to look at the numbers 4 and 1792. To be honest, I have no idea where to start, but we’ll keep those ideas in mind," he concluded.

"Okay," Frank agreed. "Now let’s move on to the "So Defendants Will Prevail." What do you all think?"

Joe’s eyes lit up. "Well," he said, thoughtfully. "If we agree this is a message of some sort, then the people who are doing it are, or were, defendants. Maybe they escaped or something, and now they want to prevail or to get revenge."

Frank smiled, and said, "That’s a good theory, actually."

"Of course!" Joe laughed. Then he added, "Maybe we should check on recent cases where there were escapes, or that involved Museum personnel."

"Good idea! And…maybe there are four of them," Vanessa added.

"Could be," Callie cut in, "but that’s a bit of a stretch to assume at this point. It’d be like saying they escaped in 1792- which couldn’t have happened," she finished with a small smile.

"What about the Museums, and the colors?" Joe asked, happy to at least be tossing some theories around.

"Let’s look," Frank said, and each person tried to figure out a connection in his or her own way.

After close to a half an hour of guessing and hypothesizing, Vanessa finally said, "Look, guys. I need a break, because I am totally drawing a blank on this one! Want to play Monopoly or something? It’ll give us to chance to regroup."

Callie rolled her eyes. "You always want to play that game because you always win," she said with a smile. Although her headache had subsided quite a bit, she was still tired, weak, and very upset, and didn’t feel like participating.

"Come on!" Joe said with a smile. "Vanessa won’t beat me- but I get to be the car!"

Seeing Joe and Vanessa’s enthusiasm, Callie gave in. She glanced at Frank out of the corner of her eye, noticing that he, too, looked tired and upset, as Joe and Vanessa went to get the game in the other room. Shaking her head slightly, she looked at the list in her hands again, studying it. No more games, she thought silently to herself. Isn’t that what Joe said?

She closed her eyes momentarily as the list continued to flash through her mind, burned into it since she’d been perusing it so long. Museums. Colors. No more games. She yawned, eyes still closed, wondering what Frank was doing, wanting to smack him and hold him at the same time. Museums. Colors. No more games. Shut up, Joe, she thought again, trying to concentrate on Frank—but she couldn’t, as those words and phrases ran through her mind. Museums. Colors. Games. Monopoly- no.

And then Callie gasped out loud and sat straight up, heart pounding. No way- could it be?!

Frank, seeing Callie sit up so quickly and hearing her gasp, looked at her from his seat next to the table. "What?" he asked, instinct moving him to her. "What’s wrong?"

Callie swung her legs over the side of the bed and grabbed Frank’s arm. "Frank!" she said suddenly. "Let’s look at that list again! I think… I think I might get it!"

Frank met her eyes and nodded, excited. "Okay," he said, handing her the piece of paper. "Take a look."

Callie did so, muttering under her breath, yes, yup, yeah. "Oh my!" she said at last.

"What?" Frank asked her again, wanting to see what she did. Joe and Vanessa entered the room, laughing. They stopped when they saw the look on Callie’s face and the concern on Frank’s.

"What’s up, guys?" Joe asked, sitting next to Callie, who was intently studying the list.

Finally, Callie answered. "Joe," she said shakily, "I think I know what this means."

"Really?!" he said. "Well, what is it?!"

"You started me thinking about games," Callie began, biting her lip. "What has this been so far? One big game! Someone is taunting, or sending a jibe, at someone else. No robberies have been committed. And yet- yet someone took the time to send someone else a message- someone wants to prevail at something."

"But we know that," Frank interrupted, but Callie shrugged him off.

"Listen!" she said back. "Look at the list."

1) The National Air and Space Museum- Green envelope

3) The International Gallery- Blue envelope

4) The National Museum of American History- Pink envelope

"Okay," said Frank, still not understanding.

"It’s a game!" Callie retorted. "The National Air and Space Museum deals with Science and Nature. The Babe Ruth Museum deals with Sports. The International Gallery is Geography." Callie paused, getting excited.

Joe groaned. "I get it!" he added, ignoring Frank and Vanessa. "Callie, you’re brilliant!" He gave her a hug.

"What?" Vanessa asked, agitated.

Joe continued. "Van, Frank- listen to what Callie said. I’ll finish. The National Museum of American History deals with Entertainment pieces. The Holocaust Museum is Historical, obviously. The Smithsonian American Art Museum- well, that deals with Art, and the literature of the pieces that explain it!"

"So?" Frank and Vanessa said at the same time.

"So," Callie said, eyes aglow with excitement, "it IS a game- TRIVIAL PURSUIT! Come on, Frank- we’ve played that lots of times! Each envelope is the corresponding color category for the appropriate Museum! Like, Science and Nature would be the green category or envelope, and Geography would be the Blue category or envelope!"

"You’re right!" Frank added, astonished.

"And it is a JIBE," Joe added. "Because the pursuit has been trivial- unimportant! Something much larger is at stake here!"

"B… but what does it all mean?!" Vanessa cried. "If the cops have been sent on a trivial pursuit, where would that leads them? And why?"

Frank paused, mind spinning. He couldn’t believe Callie had come up with that, and Vanessa had understood the jibe, and Joe had seen and made a good guess about the slogan. He was the only one whose mind had been blank.

"Uh," he said at last, "Maybe we ought to think about how the game is played! The object is to get all six slices of the pie filled in before reaching the center, where your opponents choose the final category."

"I don’t like the thought of final," Vanessa said with a shudder.

Joe’s eyes lit up. "Where in D.C. is something centralized around the Museums?" he asked.

Callie smiled, catching on. It was bizarre to be thinking like Joe for once, instead of Frank. "Well, the MALL is in the middle of most of the museums," she said.

"Good!" Joe said. "What’s at either end of the Mall?"

Frank interjected. "The Capitol Building is at one end, and the Washington Monument is at the other."

They all looked at each other. Finally, Frank spoke. "I think it’s the Washington Monument," he said at last.

"So do I," Joe put in.

"Why?" the girls asked.

"Because it’s centered around US flags, and there are 6 or 7 of them. What’s in the middle? The statue!"

"Let’s notify the police right away!" Vanessa said, and the others agreed.

In their excitement, they had forgotten about 1792, the number 4, the recent court cases, and the fact that someone had to be working the inside angle on the Museums.

They hurried, planning on meeting the officers at the statue at once…

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