"Sure," he agreed. "Go on back," he jerked a thumb indicating the door was unlocked. Frank accompanied Joe while the two men remained in the outer office to talk. He was having a hard time accepting that not only did the bank president believe the man was innocent but from the lax security at the jail, the sheriff obviously thought so too.

"Joe!" Remy leapt to his feet when he saw Joe, a smile lighting up his face although his eyes remained sad.

"Hi, Pops," Joe said. "This is Frank Hardy. Frank, this is Remy Conroy," Joe made the introductions.

"Hello, Frank," Pops said. "It's nice to meet you."

"And you, Sir," Frank returned the greeting politely. "Um, can I ask you a question?" he asked a bit hesitantly.

"You just did," Pops said, grinning at Joe who had been the butt of that particular line more times than he cared to remember. "But you may ask another."

Frank glanced at Joe, his stomach knotting because he knew Joe would be angry with him once again. "Joe said your daughter was going to be attending school in Switzerland and a Swiss bank book was found in your room," he began, cringing as Joe's hand clamped on his shoulder.

"That's right!" Joe said excitedly. "Who all knows Sally is going to Switzerland?"

Frank gave an inaudible sigh of relief. That wasn't the question he had wanted to ask but it could lead to the answer he had been seeking. And Joe wasn't upset, although from the pressure Joe was applying to his shoulder, he suspected Joe had guessed what his question was to have been.

"You, Bill, Todd, Cody, Max and a few of Sally's friends," Pops answered. "As you know, she was only turned down a few days ago."

"What?" Frank asked, confused.

"Sally was holding out for a college in England but got a letter letting her know she wasn't accepted four days ago," Pops explained.

"So her attendance in Switzerland was only decided four days ago," Frank stated.

"Correct," Joe acknowledged.

"And only those people you mentioned know she was denied by the one in England?" Frank asked. Pops nodded.

"So whoever planted the bank account knew she was turned down," Joe said. "It would have been pointless to have used it if Sally weren't going there."

"But it would take time to get the bank book from there to here," Frank pointed out.

"Which means the account may not really be in Remy's name," Joe deduced.

"Or it could mean the culprit had been planning this since Sally's acceptance in Switzerland and didn't know she was waiting for word from England," Frank said, causing Joe's face to fall.

"So it could be anyone," Joe growled in frustration. "Don't worry, Pops," he continued. "We'll find this guy and get you out of this mess."

"You be careful," Pops admonished Joe. "Sally told me what happened last night. I don't want you getting hurt. I would rather go to prison than have anything happen to you."

Frank couldn't help but notice the sincerity in his voice and eyes as he looked at Joe and spoke. "I'll be careful," Joe promised, smiling at him. "We better get busy," he added. "You take care and I'll be by to see you again."

Pops nodded at Joe. "It was nice meeting you, Sir," Frank said to him.

"You too, young man," Pops responded. "Keep an eye on him, huh?" he asked Frank. "Joe has a tendency to act first and think later."

"I will," Frank promised him as he followed Joe from the room.

In the office, Bill Burton was still talking to the sheriff. "Ah, Joe," he said as Joe came into view. "I was waiting for you."

"You were?" Joe asked, surprised.

"I was wondering if you would like to come down to the bank and look around? Maybe you can find something the investigators missed," Burton offered.

"That would be great," Joe thanked him. Frank stared at the man in shock, too dumbfounded to say anything.

"I'll call and have Max show you around," Burton told Joe before leaving.

Frank said nothing as Joe had a few words with Sheriff Reiner. It was obvious Reiner was still antagonistic towards Frank and his father and he thought it best to have as little to do with the man as possible. But once the two boys left the station, Frank began talking.

"Why would the president of the bank ask you, a teenager and a friend of the suspect, to look around the bank? He sounded like he trusted you more than the investigators," Frank commented.

Joe shrugged, a bit embarrassed. "About six months ago, his Faberge collection was stolen," Joe informed Frank. "I found the collection and the two men who took them went to jail as did the fence they used to try and get rid of the pieces."

Frank looked at Joe, impressed. "You do seem to have a natural proclivity for solving mysteries," he observed, remembering the words of Laura at the hospital the previous evening. "So, how did you find the eggs?" he asked.

"What?" Joe asked, confused.

"His collection. How did you find them?" Frank clarified.

"They weren't eggs," Joe corrected him. "His Faberge collection was a collection of enamel and gold pieces from the Russian court dated in the late eighteen hundreds."

"I thought Faberge were eggs," Frank commented.

Joe shook his head. "No. A lot of people get that confused, me included, until I got involved in the case."

"So, how did you find them?" Frank pushed.

Joe shrugged his shoulders. "Luck," he said modestly, but Frank could tell there was more to it than that.

"There had to be more than luck in finding the collection, especially if you did it when the police couldn't," Frank commented.

"Yeah, well," Joe shrugged his shoulders again. "Truthfully," he confided, "I want to be a detective when I finish school." Joe really didn't want to brag so he hoped this might change the subject. It did.

"Me too," Frank admitted, pleased he had something in common with his younger brother.

They arrived at the bank in ten minutes and were sent into the office of Max Remmulus. Remmulus was an average man, not too short, not too tall, not skinny but not fat. He had black hair which was growing thin on top and a pair of beady brown eyes behind a pair of plastic framed glasses. He stood up as Joe and Frank entered his office.

"Welcome, welcome," he said, reaching out to grasp Joe's hand. "I haven't seen you in months," he greeted him.

"It has been awhile," Joe agreed. "Did Mr. Burton call you?" he asked.

"He did," affirmed Remmulus. "And anything you need, just let me know. I have a pair of passes for you and a key to the restricted areas, but, um," he faltered and looked at Frank.

"I'll take charge of the key," Joe said, realizing the man didn't know Frank and wasn't going to trust him in the restricted areas alone. "And let me introduce you to Frank Hardy," he added, ashamed because he hadn't made the introduction immediately. "Frank, this is Max Remmulus, the bank manager."

"Nice to meet you, Sir," Frank said, shaking the man's hand.

Remeulus nodded his head in acknowledgement. "I have other things to do, but you just poke around and let me know if you need anything," he said, handing Joe the key and each boy a pass.

"Thank you," Joe replied as he and Frank left the office.

"Where do you want to start?" Joe asked Frank.

Frank got the distinct impression that Joe was trying hard to be friends with him. There was something about his face that reminded Frank of his aunt Gertrude when she was being introduced to an extremely obnoxious client of his father's. He knew he was putting Joe's patience to the test by suspecting Remy Conroy of the embezzlement but until he had a better suspect, Conroy was it. Joe seemed a bit too trusting and he felt it possible that Conroy was using Joe in this matter.

"I would like to see Mr. Conroy's computer terminal," Frank admitted, seeing Joe's smile tighten a bit more.

"Okay," Joe replied, saying nothing more. He led Frank over to an area which had served as Remy's office and had not been occupied since his dismissal from the bank and incarceration.

"I wonder if there is a list of passwords around?" Frank asked.

"I am pretty sure there would be one in the CEO's office," Joe replied. "But you probably won't need it."

"Joe, there are way too many possibilities for passwords," Frank explained patiently. "It would be more expedient to get the list first and then attempt to track the movements made on this computer."

Joe leaned over the keyboard and typed in a few letters. Access denied. He tried another word. Access denied. He tried again and the monitor lit up.

"How did you know?" Frank asked, amazed as he sat down at the desk.

Joe shrugged. "Pops is a wiz with numbers but he isn't too bright when it comes to security matters."

"So even someone who didn't know him could probably crack his passwords?" Frank queried.

"I used the first two letters of Dawson's, Sally's and my name to get in," he answered. "It wouldn't take too much effort for anyone to get enough info to get in."

Frank set to work as Joe left to explore the rest of the bank. Frank went through several of the transactions completed on the computer. He could find nothing wrong with anything but he kept searching. After an hour and a half, he sat up straight and took a special interest in one transaction that was labeled unverified. The unverified transaction was made less than two minutes after money had been transferred from another account. Had Conroy slipped up? Had he been so careless as to leave this on his computer?