Joe waited, the surge of adrenaline reawakening the butterflies in his stomach. Staring at the page once more, he wondered why no one else had noticed it. ‘Hey, it took you three days to see it and you were looking for something!’ Joe reminded himself.

"Chief, hi!" Joe said excitedly, when Sam Peterson came on the line.

"Hello, Joe," Sam smiled at the enthusiasm evident in Joe’s voice. "So have you found something to put my department to shame?" he chuckled.

"Not sure yet," Joe replied. "But I have a few questions if you’ve got a minute."

"Fire away."

"Did anyone at BRG besides Brad Galloway and Kara’s supervisor know about the investigation?"

"One person. Hold on…"

Joe heard a drawer being opened and closed and the sound of shuffling papers as Sam searched for the name.

"…Justin Hahn. He works in Tech Services," Sam told him.

"Why was he involved?" Joe wrinkled his brow.

"We needed someone who could get onto Kara’s computer, find the transactions in question and copy them onto a disc without raising her suspicions. Security is pretty tight there; no one would ever ask to use another employee’s computer.

"When Hahn asked her to log him on to her computer so he could check for a virus and install a patch, she didn’t bat an eye. He got on, copied all the information we needed onto a disc and got off. He told Kara to change her password and she was none the wiser," Sam finished.

Joe sat, quickly making notes, his mind spinning with the new information he’d just learned. "Why this guy Hahn as opposed to someone else?" he finally asked. "Any special reason he was picked to do the job?"

"Funny you should mention that. Justin Hahn is Brad Galloway’s son-in-law. He’s the only person in Tech Services that Galloway trusted not to spill the beans."

‘Son-in-law?’ Joe thought, his eyes narrowing.

"So the only people at BRG who knew about the theft and subsequent investigation were Galloway, Kara’s supervisor Peter Jessup, and Hahn," Joe reiterated for confirmation.

"Right."

"Thanks, Chief!" Joe exclaimed, anxious to get off the phone.

"Joe, I can tell by your voice you’re onto something," Sam grinned. "Since it’ll be my officers who are eventually brow-beaten for whatever it is they missed, can you give me a hint?"

"Right now it’s just a hunch. I need to check out a few more things to see if it pans out or falls through," Joe replied, the promise he made to his father in the front of his mind.

"Just let me know how it turns out, okay?" Sam requested with a laugh.

"You bet. Thanks, Chief."

Hanging up the phone, Joe made a list of everyone who knew about, or was actively involved in the investigation. Crossing off the names of those who were the least likely to have stolen the money, he was left with two names – Peter Jessup, Kara’s supervisor and Justin Hahn, Galloway’s son-in-law. Over the next few hours, Joe did some digging on the two with one quickly emerging as a suspect.

In the past two-and-a-half years, Justin Hahn had purchased a brand new SUV, a new boat, a 100^th anniversary limited edition Harley Davidson motorcycle and a summer beach house. What Joe found interesting was despite being only a few years older than Kara, Justin had paid cash for all his new acquisitions. A little more investigating showed no other source of income other than what he earned at BRG Investments. A nice amount to be sure, but not nearly enough to pay cash for all his new toys. Now more than ever, Joe was sure his discovery proved Kara really had been framed, and he was almost certain who the real thief was.

Hearing the front door open, Joe quickly gathered up his notes. Despite the breakthrough, everything he had was still circumstantial. On the off chance he was wrong, Joe wasn’t ready to tell Kara just yet. Shoving everything into the file, Joe stashed it in the bedroom and went out to greet Kara and Vanessa.

"Hey, Baby," Joe pulled Vanessa into his arms and kissed her. "Have a good time?" he asked about their evening out, including Kara in his query.

"Very good," Vanessa replied with a mischievous smile at her friend.

"Ah, you went to Prito’s again," Joe guessed seeing Kara blush a bright crimson.

"Dinner was very good," Kara replied. "And on that note I’ll leave you two alone. Goodnight."

"Night," Joe and Vanessa chorused as Kara went into the bedroom and closed the door.

"C’mere," Joe said eagerly. He pulled Vanessa down the hall towards their bedroom, wanting to share his discovery with her.

"My, my, aren’t we frisky," Vanessa teased with a smile.

"That’s not what I want," Joe stopped abruptly and turned to her with a wink. "Well, not right this second anyway."

Tugging on Vanessa’s hand, he guided her into the room and shut the door. He began rifling through the file, impatiently.

"Remember that first day I talked to Kara?" Joe asked excitedly, not waiting for an answer. "She said she had no idea the money was even missing, let alone that she was a suspect until the second she was arrested." Finding what he wanted, Joe waved the paper at Vanessa animatedly. "So how do they explain this?!" He thrust his finger at the date of the last transfer almost four months earlier.

"Um, I don’t know…" Vanessa admitted, confused. "How do they explain what?"

"This!" Joe repeated agitated. "Kara was just arrested a few days ago but the transfers mysteriously stopped four months ago! Coincidentally, right after the secret, hush-hush investigation officially began."

"Right," Vanessa agreed, still having no idea what Joe was getting at. "That was when Brad Galloway first realized the money was missing."

"Exactly!" Joe said triumphantly, waving his hands. "That proves it wasn’t Kara who stole it!"

"Huh? I don’t follow you," Vanessa frowned, settling down on the edge of the bed.

"Okay," Joe began patiently. "Just say Kara really was stealing the money all along. She has no idea she’s been found out until the day the feds slap the handcuffs on her. Now, if she had no idea she’d been caught, why would she suddenly stop stealing money four months beforehand?"

"She wouldn’t," Vanessa replied, still confused.

"Right!" Joe cried out enthusiastically.

"Oh! Oh my God!" Vanessa jumped up as it all clicked. "She wouldn’t stop… which means she never stole it to begin with!"

"Right again! Whoever really stole the money – and framed Kara for it – got scared as soon as the investigation started. They were afraid they’d be found out so they stopped all the unauthorized transfers immediately. And that was their only mistake! It narrowed down the suspect list to TWO!" Joe grinned, holding up two fingers for emphasis.

"How do you figure that?"

"The real thief had to know about the investigation right from the start. The transfers stopped almost immediately after Galloway realized the money had been stolen! It had to be someone who helped gather the evidence against Kara."

"But that still doesn’t tell you who really stole the money," Vanessa said, deflated.

Joe simply looked at her, his grin growing even wider.

"You do know!" she exclaimed. Jumping up, Vanessa threw herself on Joe. "I knew you could do it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" she cried out, smothering Joe with kisses between each exclamation.

"Well, I still have to get some hard evidence," Joe laughed, enjoying Vanessa’s demonstrative show of thanks. "Right now everything I have is circumstantial."

"I can’t wait to tell Kara!" Vanessa cried out, moving towards the door.

"No!" Joe pulled her to a stop.

"Why not? She’ll be thrilled!"

"Because I don’t have anything that will hold up in court. Right now I don’t even have enough to convince Chief Peterson to reopen the investigation. I don’t want to get Kara’s hopes up for nothing," Joe explained, pulling Vanessa close to him. "Tomorrow I’m gonna see if I can talk to the guy. If I can trip him up and get something I can take back to Dad, maybe we can get Chief Peterson and the feds to investigate further."

Vanessa frowned, not sure she fully agreed with Joe. "I don’t see why we can’t at least tell Kara you’ve found a discrepancy that casts doubt on whether or not she’s guilty… who is this guy anyway?"

"His name is Justin Hahn," Joe answered. He works in Tech Support at BRG and he knew about the investigation pretty much from the get go."

"Why?"

"He’s the one who got onto Kara’s computer and copied all the information relating to the unauthorized transfers onto a disc for Chief Peterson," Joe continued stretching out on the bed and pulling Vanessa down next to him. He continued speaking, absently twirling a lock of her hair. "I did a little digging on him. In the past two-and-a-half-years he bought a car, a boat, a limited edition Harley and a beach house… and he paid cash for everything.

"He doesn’t make nearly enough at BRG to do that. He doesn’t come from money, hasn’t inherited any from some suddenly deceased rich relative and hasn’t hit the lottery. So how was he able to afford all that?" Joe mused.

"Simple, he stole the money and set up Kara to take the fall, if and when it was discovered," Vanessa spat out disgustedly.

"That’s what it looks like," Joe agreed. "But that’s not enough to take to the Chief – or even Dad. I need more. And to get it, I need to talk to him face-to-face."

"Do you think he’ll agree to see you?" Vanessa asked nestling her head on Joe’s shoulder.

"Hopefully. I’m gonna try and make him think I’m looking for more evidence against Kara. With any luck he’ll say something to implicate himself – if not I’ll give him a little push. Let him know I know everything isn’t exactly how it appears," Joe replied. "I need hard evidence before I can tell anyone about this – Justin Hahn is Brad Galloway’s son-in-law."

"What?!" Vanessa cried out, lifting her head.

"That was my initial reaction too," Joe laughed, shifting to face Vanessa. "Okay," he grinned, a wicked gleam in his eyes. "Now I’m frisky."