"I’m sorry," Joe said.

Vanessa got off the bench and hurried inside. Joe stayed put. He knew he had hurt Vanessa, but felt it was the only solution. He needed to get through this first. Dealing with his hearing loss had to be his first priority.

*****

Back inside, Frank and Callie were still discussing the case. Callie said, "The clue to who is responsible has to be there."

"You’re right."

"Where were you that could have allowed for the van to be tampered with?"

"We went to see Coach Williams at school."

"What did he want?"

Frank related what the coach said and finished by saying, "And he gave me the baseballs that were tampered with to see if there was anything on them to give us a lead."

"Where are the baseballs now?"

"Still in the van."

"Was seeing the Coach the only stop you made?"

Frank shook his head. "We also stopped at Matt and Melissa’s."

"Anywhere else?"

"No. Then we started for home. Whoever tampered with the van did it sometime between leaving the house and leaving Matt and Melissa’s."

"But who?"

"I’m not sure," Frank said moving slightly trying to get comfortable. "When I was talking with Coach, I wasn’t looking at the van. We were inside at Matt and Melissa’s and couldn’t see the van then either."

At that moment they heard quick footsteps. They looked and saw Vanessa coming down the hallway. Tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"What happened?" Frank asked.

"Joe broke up with me," Vanessa cried.

"What?" Callie asked.

"Why?" Frank asked at the same time.

"Bye, Frank." Vanessa turned and fled from the house.

Callie looked at Frank. "I’ll call you later."

"Okay."

Callie gave him a quick kiss then followed Vanessa.

Frank sat quietly wondering why his brother broke up with Vanessa. It didn’t make sense. He knew he had to figure that out on top of what he already had on his plate.

*****

A while later, Frank was still in the living room pouring over his notes from the case. He had called Chet earlier and asked him to retrieve the baseballs from the van. Now, he was just waiting for Chet to arrive.

He kept trying to focus on the case, but his thoughts kept returning to Joe breaking up with Vanessa. He couldn’t understand it. Vanessa was the first girl in a long time that Joe really cared about. He couldn’t understand why he was pushing her away.

A knock on the door proceeded it being opened. A moment after the door closed, Chet stepped into the living room. "How are you doing?"

"I’m okay." Frank saw the bag. "Thanks for bring the stuff over."

"The baseballs were right where you said they’d be." Chet handed the bag gently to Frank. "Hopefully you’ll figure out a lead."

"I hoe so to"

"Why are they important?"

"Coach noticed a difference in them to the regulation ones. Someone purposely let these for the team."

"Was the person trying to hurt the team?"

"It’s possible."

"Why? What would the person gain from hurting others?"

"Don’t know. Hopefully we’ll find the person before anyone else gets hurt."

"I hope you can."

"Chet, I know we’ve rehashed this a couple times, but do you remember anything unusual at the pizza parlor? Was there someone there who seemed out of place?"

"All our classmates were there. No one seemed out of place."

"Are you sure? It may be the lead we’re looking for."

"Some football players and some others."

"Anyone else?"

Chet was quiet for a moment. "There was one person I didn’t expect to see."

"Who?"

"Rachel."

"Are you sure?"

"I am. The players were teasing her again and she left."

"Did you see Rachel walk away from the parlor?" Frank asked, getting a bad feeling.

"I saw her walk past the parlor window." Chet looked at Frank. "Are you thinking Rachel is behind all the weird stuff that’s been happening?"

"I don’t know," Frank admitted.

"I do hope you come up with something."

"Thanks for bringing this stuff over."

"No problem," Chet said. "I’ll see you later."

"Bye," Frank said and Chet left.

Frank looked down at the baseballs and wondered if Rachel was involved in all the incidents. He had a feeling it was possible, but wondered why she did it.