"Yes?" she asked him, sensing that he was staring at her.

Joe just smiled. "Nothing, babe. Just admiring the view. Come to think of it," he added, holding out his arms, "I think I need to get a closer look." He winked dramatically at her.

Vanessa laughed. "Not this time, Joe!" she said with a giggle. "We actually have work to get done."

"I know," Joe groaned. "But we’re waiting for the computer anyway." He looked at her with hopeful eyes.

Vanessa laughed again. "Joseph, get your mind on the case!" she quipped. "Why don’t we… talk or something?"

"OOOHHH, fun," Joe replied, teasing. "Okay. What do you want to talk about?"

Vanessa paused a moment before speaking. "I just wanted to tell you that I don’t like Jenna and I think Frank acted like a major jerk to Callie," she said, simply.

Joe sighed, feeling protective of his brother. "Well, Van," he said at least, "we all make mistakes. Plus, they seem to have made up. Look, I don’t trust Jenna, either, but what can you do? She’s essentially out of the picture. Frank, I think, was pretty sorry he fell for her, and Callie …. Well, who knows what she thinks? She’s always so private when it comes to my brother. Can we, like, not talk about THEM? You’ll make my life easier." He smiled at her.

Vanessa acquiesced. "All right. I’m sorry. And…." She paused, and met his eyes.

"And?" Joe prodded her.

"I’m glad that this time you were the one who didn’t have girl problems!" She blew him a kiss.

Joe got up, gave her a hug, and then looked over her shoulder as she began typing in information to find out about the embezzlement case. As she typed along and pulled up articles, he couldn’t help but to be impressed with how good at computers Vanessa really was. Sometimes, he didn’t think he deserved such an understanding, smart, and funny girlfriend. Of course, he’d never tell her that.

After several hours of reading and research, Joe honestly thought he was going to go out of his mind. He’d never had the patience for all this paperwork, even though he understood the necessity of it. Finally, he decided to talk out what he’d found with Vanessa, and see if it left them any better off at all.

"Van?" he said softly to her.

"Hmmm?" she asked, still reading another article.

"Let’s try to se if this makes sense."

"Okay," she said, and turned to him with a small smile. "I was getting tired of reading, to tell you the truth!"

"Vanessa, you know how important it is," he said to her with a twinkle in his eyes. "Patience is a virtue!"

"Please!" Vanessa said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, what do you think?"

Joe sat next to Vanessa and took out a pad, writing down some of the things they had discovered. "Okay," he began. "We know that six of the men involved in the embezzlement case are on death row. The other four are still at large. We have Pietra, Thornton, Pogle, and Green. After the trial, Pietra and Green disappear for a while, then seem to return to working, middle class lives. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out that they’re probably still under surveillance, but you don’t hear much about them after that."

"On the other hand," Vanessa interrupted, "Thornton and Pogle disappear. Perhaps there’s family around, although I’m sure they wouldn’t know anything. That leaves us one thing to do," she said, turning to Joe.

"Yup!" Joe said, and turned off the computer. "We have to pay Pietra or Green a visit. Maybe they know something. It was easy enough to access their home addresses though the on-line phone book. Good job, Van!" he concluded, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Vanessa grinned as she followed Joe out of the room. Then, a thought hit her. "Joe!" she said suddenly. "Which one do you want to go to?"

Joe shrugged. "Whichever. Do you have a preference?"

"Um, Green’s closer," she surmised.

"Green it is, then," Joe agreed.

Close to a half an hour later, Joe and Vanessa arrived at the home of George Green. They looked at each other nervously before ringing the doorbell. In a few moments, a large, bald-headed man answered the door. "Yes?" he asked, in a voice softer than what either Joe or Vanessa had been anticipating.

Joe took a deep breath, and then began to talk. He decided to be honest. "Mr. Green, my name is Joe Hardy, and this is Vanessa Bender. We’ve come today because we have reason to believe that there is going to be some sort of big robbery, or perhaps one is already going on. If we could have a few minutes of your time, we’d like to speak to you."

Green’s eyes grew wide, and he became a bit pale. "I don’t know anything about that stuff! I.. I’ve been clean the last few years- I was acquitted! I’ve got nothing to say to you." He went to shut the door.

Joe was able to stick his foot in at the last moment to prevent it from closing. "Mr. Green," he said, more loudly. "Please! We’re not accusing you of anything- no one is! We just want to talk to you."

The door was still not opening. Then, Vanessa, inspired, said, "Again, we’re not accusing you of anything. BUT… it’d be great if you helped us and the police. Maybe they’d leave you alone, finally," she finished, praying that she was right, and he had been being watched.

That did it. The door finally opened, and Green asked, hesitantly, "You think so?"

Joe breathed a sigh of relief. "We’ll be happy to inform the police, with whom we’re working, of your ongoing cooperation," he replied. "I’m sure they’ll be able to, ah, work something out!"

Green steeped outside, and shut the door behind him. He sat down on the front steps, and Joe and Vanessa sat next to him. "Thank you, Mr. Green," Vanessa said, and he nodded.

"What’s going on?" Green asked.

Joe and Vanessa spent the next several minutes informing Green of all they knew, including the museum robberies, the codes, and their theory that embezzlement might be happening again. Green listened intently, and Joe got the feeling that he really didn’t know about it. Finally, Joe concluded with, "So, do you think there’s any chance that Pietra might know something? What about Thornton or Pogle? Have you heard from them?"

Green shook his head. "Listen, kid. Sam Pietra- he’s tryin’ real hard like me to make an honest living. Six of our friends are awaiting the death penalty. We’re very lucky that we’re not with them." He paused a moment.

"You were found innocent," Vanessa added, trying to be supportive.

Green smirked. "Honey, you now as well as I do that was on a technicality. Yeah, I did it. So did the others. We just got lucky with some stupid cops and a good lawyer. Don’t sugarcoat it."

Vanessa was quiet. Joe picked up on the awkward silence.

"Okay," Joe said. "If that’s true, and Pietra IS trying to make an honest living, what about the other two? Does this sound like something they would do?"

Green sighed as a small smile came to his face. "Honestly, kid," he said with a slightly bemused tone, "This is right up their ally. Yeah, it’s them. Don’t you see the code? You just said you do. Their thefts had to deal with escape, right?"

"Well, yeah," Joe pondered. "Because they escaped."

"No," Green said with a shake of his head. "That has nothing to do with it! THINK, kid! This is so easy. I kind of admire their gumption for getting back into this. I’d never do it, man, even though it’s tempting as hell. Millions of dollars- all it takes is a few paperwork errors, some lost coins- come on! But that life is behind me now," he finished, for emphasis.

Joe was perplexed, as was Vanessa. "We’ll think about that, Mr. Green. But what about the families of the men? Would they leave them behind?"

Green shrugged. He replied, "Pogle is a bachelor- any family I know of can’t be that important. Maybe he has a living mother-I don’t remember. Thornton has a family- well, he did. A wife… a kid or two. Look it up- that’s easy info to get to. Listen," he replied, suddenly sullen. "I’m not going to tell you what they’re up to, and you can’t use what I said against me- it’s entrapment, if you’re wired. I really didn’t know about this, but I won’t rat out my- well, former friends. Are all law enforcement officials so stupid? Can’t you all see what’s going on?" He got up to leave.

"But why no robberies of the museums?" Joe asked in desperation.

"You already figured that out, kid. It’s all in the clues. Why waste time to get caught when it’s so easy to make money other ways? But it is easy- how can you not see what’s coming? I gotta go. Don’t forget your promise," he reminded them, and went in the house."

Vanessa and Joe walked in silence away from the apartment. They finally decided to have a seat on the ground rather than waiting for the Metro, which they could catch later, figuring they still had plenty of time to catch up with Frank and Callie.

"Well," Joe mused, "That was interesting."

"Indeed," Vanessa responded, quietly.

"Yup," Joe said. Finally, he said, more forcefully, "I can‘t stand this, Van! What are we missing?! I mean, what’s in escape, other than the fact that they did? And what’s with defendants, and Justice, and…." He stopped. Something was bothering him, although he couldn’t quite place it.

"Oh, Joe!" Vanessa gasped. "They don’t want escape for themselves! They want it for…."

Joe slapped his forehead. "For their friends! Duh! How did we miss that?! That’s how they’ll prevail! They want their friends off death row!"

"B… but you can’t just- like- blow up a prison, or cause a riot!" Vanessa cut in. "Only the President could pardon that!"

"You don’t suppose," Joe asked, turning to her, "That he’s in trouble, do you?!" He felt himself get pale. The President of the United States? Now, that was way out of their league.

"Maybe," Vanessa said, getting up and pacing on the grass. "But he’s got the Secret Service and massive security. He should be just fine."

"I hope so," Joe said, nervously. "But if he’s the only way to get the guys off death row…" his voice trailed off.

"Joe!" Vanessa shouted, jumping up and down in excitement. "He’s not! Let’s go!" she said, and motioned for him to get up.

"What’s the other option?" Joe asked, following her rapid movement away from the Mall.

"A re-trial on appeal! And how’s that gonna get done?!"

"It has to be taken…" Joe saw the light, and gasped, "By the Supreme Court! Vanessa, no way!" he shouted, loudly.

Vanessa was pale, too. Nervously, she was leading Joe to the library to get quick access to a computer, since she had left her own laptop at the hotel. She replied to him as they were jogging there, "Well, hon, it’s either the President or the Supreme Court! Take your pick!"

Joe bit his lip. This was too unbelievable. "Maybe Frank and Callie came up with the same thing," he added as they reached the library, winded. He took a moment to get his breath back, as did Vanessa.

"Maybe- I hope so," she said at last. Then, she headed into the library, followed closely by Joe. After getting a login ID, she typed in the names of Pogle and Thornton, tapping her fingernails impatiently as she waited to get any information she could get.

"There it is!" Joe said at last. He read the words out loud. "Green was right. Pogle only had a living mother. She’s in Nevada now. I guess we could call her. I… I don’t feel like taking a trip now. I have a feeling that something’s going to happen, soon! Hey- look up the other guy while we’re here," he said, ignoring the stern look from the librarian who obviously wanted to go home for the day.

"Five minutes!" she said.

Joe turned to her and gave her a thumbs up sign. She turned away, and Joe shrugged.

"Okay, okay," Vanessa said hurriedly as he fingers whipped across the keyboard. "Thornton… yeah, okay. Married. Divorced." Suddenly, Vanessa paled and covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, God! Joe!"

Joe caught her as she leaned back against him. "What? What is it, Van?! Are you okay?!" He couldn’t believe how white Vanessa was.

"No," she whispered, and pointed to the screen. "Look at his ex -wife’s name… and they had a daughter!"

Joe was confused, and then he saw exactly what she meant, and he felt his heart stop a beat. The ex -wife had gone back to her maiden name- Barkalow.

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