Opening the door, he saw Frank heading for the building's parking lot out of the corner of his eyes. Groaning, he let the door shut and turned to follow his brother. "Exactly where do you think you're going?" he asked Frank.

"I'm going to go find Nancy," Frank said, unlocking the door to his car. "I want to know what she found out about Melissa."

"Are you positive that she went looking for Melissa?" Joe asked.

Frank shook his head. "No, I don't know that she went looking for Melissa. I'm guessing that she went searching for evidence against Melissa. Still, I want to know what she found."

Joe sighed, visions of going without lunch entering his head. "How about we go up to the apartment and you try calling Nancy instead. The telephone is a wonderful thing, Frank. It lets you talk to people while you do other things. Like eating lunch."

Frank rolled his eyes and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "And just what do you think I was doing when I was using this in the back of the taxi cab? I've called both Nancy and Callie's houses and gotten no answer."

"I wasn't paying attention," Joe said. "I was talking to the taxi driver."

"Flirting was more like it," Frank observed.

"Hey, how often do you run across a female taxi cab driver? That makes for interesting conversation. And can I help it if she thought I was cute?" Joe grinned. "Besides, I wasn't really flirting. I don't need to flirt. I have Vanessa. She's all the woman I need."

Frank fought back a groan. "We're getting off the subject here, Joe. When I called, I didn't get an answer from either girl's house. I even called Mom. She hasn't heard from Nancy."

"So what, you think she went and picked up Callie and Laurie and took them investigating with her?" Joe asked skeptically.

"I don't know what to think. I just know that I want to find out what Nancy may have uncovered. I'd try

calling her on her cell phone, but she doesn't have one. The only other thing I can think of is to go looking for her."

Joe felt his stomach rumble. "Or we could try this novel idea. Let's just be patient and wait for her here. She said she'd see us later."

"If Melissa killed those women, then we've got an innocent person sitting in that jail cell. I want to get her out of there as soon as possible."

"Frank," Joe argued. "I hate to point out the obvious, but Maggie's not so innocent, either way you look at it. If she's covering up for Melissa, she's still breaking the law. It's not exactly legal to confess to a crime you didn't commit."

"Still," Frank pressed. "We need to get this wrapped up. I don't like loose ends on a case."

Joe sighed. "I'm losing this argument, aren't I?"

Frank grinned. "Of course you are."

"Fine." Joe pulled his keys from his pocket and walked around Frank's car to his. "If I'm losing the argument, then I get the consolation prize. We're taking my car."

Frank close his door and joined his brother. "Why your car?"

"Because if I'm driving, then I control where we go. And we're going through a drive through first. I'm hungry." With that, Joe backed out and headed downtown.

Callie got into Nancy's car and smiled as they backed out of her driveway. "So, what exactly do you need my help with?" she asked.

"I need a lookout," Nancy said. "I want to get into Maggie Westbrook's house to look for something."

"Look for what?"

"To be specific, a CD case."

Callie bit her lower lip. "I don't know, Nancy. Maggie's a friend of mine. I'm not sure I feel right about helping you break into her home."

Nancy tried to think of the best way to break the news about Maggie to her friend. "Callie, I don't know quite how to tell you this, but..."

Callie closed her blue eyes. "Oh," she moaned. "I just knew it. Frank and Joe think she did something to Emma, don't they?"

Now it was Nancy's turn to bite her lip. "Uh, yeah, it's something like that. How did you know?"

Callie looked at Nancy. "I'm not stupid, you know. Although Joe likes to think I am. You weren't asking Maggie all those questions for nothing. Do they think she killed her? Because if they do, I'm going over there and letting Frank have it. Maggie would never hurt anyone!"

"Um, actually, Callie, that's why we're going to Maggie's house now. She confessed to killing both Emma and Sarah this morning."

Callie's hand flew to her mouth. "She did what?!"

"I was there, Callie. She confessed to both deaths. But I don't believe she killed either woman."

Callie was in shock. "How could she do that? She was Sarah's best friend for years. There's no way she'd hurt Sarah! For that matter, she couldn't have killed Emma either."

"I believe you, Callie," Nancy said. "That's why I need to get inside of Maggie's house. I think that Melissa is the killer. I just need some kind of proof to confront her with."

"Melissa?" Callie asked incredulously. "Little Melissa? Bright, overachiever, bordering on genius, Melissa? Thinking that Melissa would murder someone would be like saying Frank killed someone."

"Callie," Nancy said patiently, "people surprise you sometimes by doing the things you least expect of them. Did you expect me to pull a disappearing act on everyone five years ago?"

Callie looked thoughtful. "Well, now that you brought it up. No, I didn't." She was quiet as Nancy pulled onto Maggie's block.

"So you really think that Melissa killed Sarah and Emma?"

Nancy parked the car several houses away from Maggie's home and turned to Callie. "Yeah, I do. I don't why she did it, but I'm sure she's the killer."

"So Maggie confessed to cover up for what Melissa did?" Callie continued.

Nancy nodded. "That's what I think, anyway."

Callie leaned back in her seat. "Wow." She shook her head. "Wow." she repeated. "So, what do I do to help?"

"Just watch the house for me," Nancy said. "If you see anyone approach, honk the horn three times. Hopefully, it'll give me enough time to get out before anyone sees me. I'll cut through the backyard and meet you over on the next block."

"Who would see you?" Callie wanted to know.

"Melissa," Nancy said. "I'm not ready to confront her yet. I want to form some sort of plan with the guys first. Considering what she's done, she may be unstable. I don't want to do anything that might cause her to hurt anyone else."

Callie nodded her agreement. "Good idea," she said.

"And what if something happens and you don't get out of the house."

Nancy took a deep breath. "If I don't meet you within, let's say 10 minutes or so after you honk the horn, call Frank or Joe. Tell them what the plan was and that it seems to have gone wrong." She glanced behind her at Laurie, who was engrossed in a Gameboy game in the backseat. "Then get her out of here."

"Okay," Callie said, shifting over to the driver's seat as Nancy exited the car. "Tell me again why we're not waiting for Frank and Joe?"

Nancy grinned. "Because we're strong, independent women who can do this by ourselves. Plus, they were still in a meeting with the Chief when I called the police station half an hour ago."

"Right," Callie met her grin. "Well, get going, Nancy. We've got a case to finish solving, right?"

"Right," Nancy said. She turned and headed for Maggie's house.

Frank was out of the car before Joe had the chance to come to a complete stop. After a quick survey of the street and driveway, he turned to his brother. "I don't see her car. I'll check and see if Callie's around." Moving quickly to the door, he knocked several times.

Silence greeted him. He knocked harder as Joe joined him on the doorstep. Still he received no answer. Joe slipped his sunglasses off and peered through a living room window.

"Uh, Frank? I don't think anyone's here."

"I can see that," Frank replied, unable to keep the worry from his voice. "The question is, where is Callie? Her car is in the driveway."

"If I may make a suggestion, maybe she went with Nancy?" Joe ventured.

"With Laurie in tow?" Frank asked. "Callie was babysitting, wasn't she? Nancy wouldn't take Laurie with her to investigate a murder suspect."

Joe nearly reminded him that Nancy and he had taken Laurie with them to talk to Jeff Masters. "She wouldn't take her if she thought there was any danger involved," Joe said. "Besides, we don't know that they're tracking down Melissa. They could be anywhere. Knowing Callie, they may have taken off to some shopping."

Frank gave Joe a dirty look. "Knowing Callie?"

"I just meant that Vanessa and she love to go shopping. Maybe whatever Nancy's lead was didn't pan out. She came by to pick Laurie up, and Callie convinced her to take the afternoon off and go to the mall with her. For all we know, they may have even picked up Vanessa, too. Why don't we call around and see if we can locate Nancy before you panic."

"I'm not panicking," Frank said crossly. "But you are right about calling. We'll call Vanessa first. If she hasn't seen them, I'll try Mom and Dad again."

"We could also try Biff," Joe suggested. "Callie is his wife. If she went somewhere, she may have called or left a message for him."

We'll save calling Biff for last." Frank took the steps two at a time as he headed for the car.

"Actually, we should call Biff first. If Callie was going somewhere, wouldn't her husband be the first one she'd call?" Joe turned and followed Frank as he spoke.

Frank had already gotten into the car. Watching as Joe went around the front and slid into the driver's seat, he replied. "Let's say that she didn't call Biff, and she is tagging along with Nancy to investigate Melissa. Do you want to explain to him how we somehow managed to get his wife involved in a murder investigation?"

"I'm not afraid of Biff," Joe said grinning. "Besides, like I said before, maybe they're out shopping."

Frank snorted. "Nancy's homed in on a prime murder

suspect. Trust me, Joe. She isn't shopping."

Nancy rang the doorbell several times before coming to the conclusion that no one was home. Slipping around to the back door, it didn't take long before Nancy had the lock picked and the door open. Making her way through the house, she headed upstairs to find Melissa's room.

Opening the door, she surveyed the mess that could be only be created by a teenager. Clothes were strewn across the back of a chair, the foot of the bed, and the dresser. Books and CD's lay scattered about, along with bits of jewelry and several pairs of sandals. Nancy picked through the CD's laying on the floor in front of Melissa's stereo, then through several stacks of CD's on the dresser, hoping to find the empty case for the music she'd found earlier at Steven's house.

She came up empty handed. Quickly, she moved to the nightstand and searched it. No CD case to be found there, either. Placing her hands on her hips, she surveyed the casual chaos and opted for the dresser. Opening the top drawer, she carefully sifted through it's contents, but found nothing to support her theory that the CD was Melissa's. She repeated the search with the other dresser drawers. Feeling frustrated, she was about ready to give up when she spotted the corner of a shoe box sticking out from underneath the lace bed skirt.

"Joe mentioned going through a shoe box when he was stuck under Melissa's bed. If this is it, then he didn't do a very good job of making sure it was back in it's place," Nancy murmured to herself as she bent down and retrieved the box. Removing the lid, she examined the things within it. Pushing aside a small blue address book, she fingered a locket shaped like a heart. Inside the locket were pictures of an older couple, beaming proudly at the camera. "Are these your parents, Melissa?" Nancy asked softly. "Why are they relegated to a shoebox under your bed?" She dropped the locket back in the box and pushed aside a scarf, only to find an empty CD case staring up at her. "Thank you, Joe," Nancy said to the empty room. "N'Sync - No Strings Attached," she read aloud to herself. "Gotcha honey," she said, putting the shoe box back under the bed. Stopping to make sure that the CD for this case wasn't in the player in Melissa's room, Nancy pocketed the empty case.

As she headed for the stairs, she heard a car horn honk furiously three times. Quickly, she made a dash for the back door. Just as her hand reached for the doorknob, the door swung open to reveal Melissa standing before her, backpack slung over one shoulder.

Confusion was written on the teenager's face. "What are you doing back here in our house? Didn't you cause enough trouble this morning?"