The dinner table was silent, except for the sound of clinking cutlery. Laura had managed to evict Gillian from the house with the excuse that their dinner was ready. No one was looking at anyone else, except Frank who was gazing from face to face, confused.

"What’s got into everyone?" he asked. "Did someone die?"

"Only your feelings for Callie!" Joe snapped.

"Joe, shut up!" hissed his mother. Joe opened his mouth, but the look on his mother’s face silenced him dead.

Frank pushed his plate away, having suddenly lost his appetite. "I don’t understand why your so pissed with me Joe, Gillian’s just a friend. From what I can gather from Callie’s demeanour, there doesn’t seem to be anything serious between us."

Fenton shifted uncomfortably on his chair. Joe made a humphing noise.

They all jumped as Frank hands came crashing down upon the tabletop. Rising suddenly, he caused his chair to tip to the floor, he picked it up, slammed it back under the counter and stalked off up the stairs. They flinched at the sound of his bedroom door slamming.

"Well done Joe, you handled that well," said his mother sarcastically. She left the table and climbed the stairs after her son.

"Its just…" began Joe.

"It’s not JUST anything!" barked his father. "Now I’m aware you’re trying to protect Callie, but please put yourself in Frank’s shoes. Remember how confused it was when you were in his situation? The last thing he needs right now is you coming down on him for something he’s not in control of!"

Joe felt ashamed. "Sorry Dad."

"I don’t think its me you should be apologising to!"

Joe began to rise from the table. His father put a restraining hand on his arm. "Now is not a good time, give him a chance to calm down."

***

It was dark outside when Joe miserably left the house to meet his friends. He opened the van door and pushed some equipment into the glove box. He happened to glance at the rear view mirror and saw a familiar black sedan car parked across the street from their driveway. Acting nonchalantly, so as not to alert the driver, he locked the van and returned to the house. He scooted quickly through the building, out the back door and crept around the side of the house. Checking that the car was still parked in the same place, and using garden features for cover, he was able to get within just a few feet of the back of the vehicle. He tensed and sprang forward to surprise the driver, unfortunately, he didn’t count on the tree root that was lurking under his foot and he tripped and went down. The car immediately shot off. Joe punched the lawn in frustration.

***

The van pulled into Biff’s driveway and Joe gave the horn a short blast. Biff and Chet climbed in the front seat next to him. They were similarly dressed in dark colours.

Chet studied Joe’s face. "Okay Champ, what’s the problem?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on Joe, I’ve known you long enough to know when something’s up, what’s happened?"

"I had a little run in with Frank, that’s all."

"A ‘little run in’?" Biff repeated, amazed. "You two never have little run ins!"

"Well, we did tonight," said Joe quietly, putting the van into gear "Look guys, I’d rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind."

"Okay," agreed Chet after a pause. "Let’s get this show on the road." He and Biff looked at each other concerned, they didn’t like seeing their friend troubled.

"I almost caught our mystery car-following friend again earlier, but he saw me and drove off. He was parked right outside the house, watching."

"That guy’s got a nerve!" breathed Biff.

"Yeah, he’s certainly persistent."

Twenty minutes of silent driving later they were once more sitting across the road from the apartment.

"How are we going to get in?" asked Biff.

"Through the front door," said Joe opening the glove box and pulling out a small bag. He handed a torch to each of his chums.

"Eh?" asked Chet. "Rewind a little, and run that one by me again."

"Through the front door," repeated Joe. He balanced the torch between his knees and opened the pouch to demonstrate to his friends that it held Frank’s lock-picking equipment.

"Vanessa was right, we are going to get ourselves arrested," said Chet.

Joe turned to him. "We won’t get caught if you and Biff keep a look out whilst I pick the lock. It shouldn’t take more than a few seconds, it doesn’t look particularly sophisticated." They climbed out of the van and Joe walked up to the front door. Biff and Chet took their positions, looking in different directions. Joe rapped on the door loudly.

"What are you doing?" hissed Biff, over his shoulder.

"Thought I’d better check that no one was home first, we’d look pretty stupid if we entered the apartment, only to come face to face with Mr Powers, or a new tenant."

No one came to the door, so Joe inserted a thin, bent, metal rod into the key hole. He turned it quickly, gave it a jiggle and then a jerk. There was a clicking noise and the door swung open with a creak. He beckoned to his friends and they all quickly entered the building, shutting the door quietly behind them. An unpleasant stench immediately filled their nostrils.

"Man-alive! What’s that smell?" asked Chet holding his nose, feeling sick. They turned on their torches and shone them about. The sight that met them was an apartment that obviously hadn’t felt a wipe of detergent in quite a few weeks. They went from room to room, finding each as bad as the last. The kitchen was by far the worse with unwashed cutlery stacked in the sink. As Biff approached, he could see fungi growing on one of the plates.

"This place is disgusting!" he grimaced. "How can anyone live like this – the guy’s a slob!"

"Yeah, this would put even me off eating!" joked Chet.

"It’s not that bad!" commented Joe rummaging through the items on the kitchen table. Something large and furry abruptly scuttled over his hand causing him to shout out and jump back. He ran straight into Chet who caught him just before he fell.

"Rats!" said Joe, gritting his teeth, hopping about and shaking his hand loosely at the wrist vigorously. "If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s RATS!"

"I’ve been looking to lease an apartment," said Biff, humourlessly. "And I find I’m strangely drawn to this place, I wonder if the rent’s reasonable."

"They’d have to pay me to live here," remarked Chet.

"Let’s take a look around and see what we can find," said Joe. They separated and began to rifling through drawers etc.

"This is weird, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of anything - most of the drawers are as good as empty," observed Chet.

"I agree. I think Mr Powers may have been using the apartment as a stopgap, but there has to be something of use here," said Joe.

"There’s not even any personally possessions, just a few items of clothing, and most of those are in the wash bin," said Biff.

"Well, seems you’re so interested, I think you should empty it out and have a good rummage," said Joe.

"I don’t think I’m goi…" Biff stopped mid-sentence and froze. They heard the creaking of the front door and the voice of the old man trying to talk an unsuspecting, possibly future tenant into leasing the apartment. They looked at each other aghast. Joe put his fingers to his lips and pointed towards the bathroom. Moving quietly the three quickly moved to the room and shut the door silently behind them.

"Quickly, out the window," whispered Joe. "Be as quiet as you can," he leaned his full weight against the door to stop anyone entering and watched as Chet reached up, unlatched the window and raised it. Luckily the window was well oiled and opened silently. Chet mounted the side of the bath, cocked his leg over and dropped out of site - quickly followed by Biff. Joe released the door to follow his friends, however, he was halted mid-stride by something in the waste basket that caught his eye. He stopped and stuffed it into his pocket before climbing through the window and dropping to the ground.

"That was far too close for comfort," said Chet. "I think you’ve lost the apartment, Biff. The guy who Old Man Hubbard was showing around sounded real enthusiastic!"

"Oh, shoot!" laughed Biff, clicking his fingers.

***

Safely back at Biff’s place, Joe emptied his pocket. "look what I found guys," he said holding up the small note book.

"Did you get that from the apartment?" asked Biff surprised.

"Yep, it was the waste bin in the bathroom - luckily, no rats leapt out on me that time," he opened the cover, but was disappointed to find that the pages were all blank as the preceding pages had been torn out. Unperturbed, he proceeded held the book up to the overhead light and inspected from an angle.

"You got a pencil, Biff?" He asked. His friend handed one over to him and watched as he sat down on the side of the bed. Rubbing the side of the lead gently across the page, Biff and Chet’s were amazed to see writing beginning to appear.

"What does it say?" asked Chet excitedly.