Hey!! So this is the movie insert that I was asking about in my other story about Catt, Odds and Ends.If you are a reader of that story, then you already know that follows Catt and her involvement in the treasure hunt told in Book of Secrets. If you are finding this story first, then you probably don't know who Catt is. You might want to read Odds and Ends, because the ficlets in that story play a huge role not only in introducing Catt but in explaining the past for Ben and Riley as well. I will not be taking the time to explain any of this in this story, so it is possible to get confused.

Okay, now, time to disclaim: I don't own any of the proper nouns other than Catt.

Happy reading!! (I had a teacher in elementary school that wrote that everywhere. It was a little disturbing.)

Karina.


Catt Gates sighed, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder. Her eyes were glazing over as her uncle Ben, in his stride standing at the podium, told the too-familiar story of their ancestor Thomas Gates. Separating her hair into three sections, she quietly began weaving it into a braid as she listened, her gaze drifting over the collection of college students around her. A recent college grad herself, she could feel sympathy for them. A good number of them looked genuinely interested, but most were here solely for the credit.

"So, recapping…" Ben began, signaling the conclusion of his lecture. Catt sat up straighter, attempting to look like she had been paying attention. Her grandfather, sitting next to her on the side of the stage, turned to give her a sharp look. Just as Catt was beginning to form a guilty expression, she felt her phone vibrate from the back pocket of her jeans. Hearing the sound, Patrick's look of disapproval deepened. Checking the ID, Catt stood up.

"I need to take this." She whispered to her grandfather, who nodded and waved her off. Slipping out a side door into a cool, green courtyard, Catt flipped open the phone.

"Hello, stranger." She said, a slight smile at her lips.

"Catt!" The familiar voice sighed. "Good, you picked up."

"Why wouldn't I?" She asked, leaning against the wall.

"Because that would simply top off the capital day I am having." Riley's voice had a punch of humorless sarcasm that was only slightly unlike him. "I need a favor."

"What have you done now?" She asked, glancing down into her purse for her car keys.

"I'll tell you on the ride home." He sighed. "Can you just pick me up at the Border's on L Street?"

"Yeah, sure thing." Catt started walking towards the parking lot, scanning the lot for her Subaru. "Where's the Ferrari?"

"I'll tell you when you get here." He said. "We're going to lunch too. I'm starving."

"Like that's anything new." Catt mumbled, sliding into the driver's seat. "I'll be there in like, ten minutes. I'm at the Georgetown campus." They said goodbye and hung up. Catt rolled her eyes, wondering what Riley got himself into.

oOoOoOoOo

"6 million??" Catt felt her jaw drop as she repeated the phrase. Riley nodded, attacking his ziti a little too viciously. "That's…a lot." Catt finally added.

"Yes, Catt. It is." Riley was still glaring down at his pasta, as though it were the dish's fault that his Ferrari had been taken from him. Catt felt a certain amount of pity for him. He wasn't much older than her, and she knew that she could have been just as easily swindled. Ben, she knew, would not be as sympathetic. Not because he didn't like Riley; he felt a certain responsibility towards the younger man. Ben would assume it was one of life's hard lessons, though, one that Riley would have had to learn at some point anyway. Ben also did not understand the odd devotion to the car like Catt did.

"Well, I know this isn't what you want to hear, but it could be worse." Catt shrugged, sipping her iced tea. "You could be kicked out of your apartment, too. And then you would be a homeless bum on the streets, having to fight off other bums with just your bare hands. And your hands aren't good for much more than working a keyboard. You're just not a fighter, Riley. You would never survive the hobo jungle out there." Riley laughed gently, and Catt frowned. "And with this new look you've got, you wouldn't really fit in with the other hobos. They'd probably tease you. You'd end up crawling back to me and Ben, and we'd have to feel sorry, so you would end up living in Grandpa Patrick's basement, which isn't very comfy."

"Patrick's basement?" Riley threw her a quizzical look. "Why not a nice, cozy room at the manor?"

"Long story." Catt rolled her eyes, feeling her cell phone vibrate again. "Hold on." She flipped open the phone. "Speak of the devil. How are you, Ben?"

"Catt, you need to come home." Ben cut her off.

"Why?" Catt asked, knitting her eyebrows together. "I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"The family name is being slaughtered once again." Ben said. In a hollow voice, he explained that Thomas's name had been found on a missing Booth diary page. "Your grandfather is having a fit. He's just walking around pacing." Ben sighed. "I don't know what to do. We know Thomas wasn't involved. There was no way he was involved."

"I know, Ben." Catt nodded, Riley watching, concerned. "Look, you know what you have to do. You have to have another look at that page. There's got to be something you missed the first time. Some kind of proof that Thomas wasn't involved."

"Proof." Ben nodded to himself, and idea forming. "We need to look at that page again. But she wouldn't…no. I have to break in." Catt raised an eyebrow, hoping Ben would elaborate. "We need Riley." Ben finally said. Catt opened her mouth to speak, but Ben cut her off. "Meet me in front of his place as soon as you can."

"Okay, but Ben, Riley isn't…" Catt trailed off, realizing Ben had hung up on her. She rolled her eyes, and reminded herself that he was acting like a jerk because he was stressed.

"What isn't Riley?" He asked, finishing his lunch.

"At his apartment." Catt said, pulling out her debit card. "And I'm assuming, since he is also Ferrari-less, that it is my job to escort him home, where we have a completely stressed-out Ben Gates waiting for us."

"This sounds like fun." Riley said, motioning over the waitress.

oOoOoOoOo

Catt pulled up in front of Riley's apartment, Ben sitting on the front steps, reading. She popped the trunk, and helped Riley unload his stuff as Ben looked up at them in confusion.

"I tried to tell you he was with me." Catt yelled over the open back. "But you're being a stressed out jerk."

"Sorry." Ben muttered as Catt slammed the back shut. He turned his gaze to Riley. "Where's the Ferrari?"

"IRS impounded it." Riley said, setting down the cut-out that Catt had laughed hysterically at.

"IRS?" Ben asked.

"My accountant set up a corporation on an island that didn't exist, and assured me that that's how rich people did it." Riley informed him, trying and failing to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "So I got audited, and slapped with a huge fine, plus interest." Riley sighed, looking down at Ben. "Do you know what taxes are on 5 million?" Ben shook his head. Catt had already been informed of this. "6 million."

Ben and Catt let out identical low whistles. Riley gave them both a strange look.

"But enough about me." Riley sat down next to Ben, the day beginning to catch up to him. "What's new with you?" He was genuinely interested, as Catt had kept mum about most of the details.

"Well, my girlfriend kicked me out, I'm living with my dad…and my family killed President Lincoln." Ben mumbled. Catt nodded, leaning against the car.

"All right." Riley nodded in mock approval.

"I need your help." Ben finally admitted. Catt and Riley both laughed.

"As usual." Catt said, getting back into the driver's seat.

oOoOoOoOo

"Remember the plan, Catt." Ben said, getting out of the Subaru which Catt had parked under an overhang on the back of the garage.

"Stay in the car, be ready to go pedal to the medal, I get it." Catt said, watching Riley jump out. "Just keep your cell phone on in case."

"Okay." Ben mumbled as Riley slammed the door.

"Good luck, boys." Catt called out the door before Ben closed it.

oOoOoOoOo

Not five minutes later, Catt saw a pair of headlights head up the long driveway. Hitting her number one speed dial, she put the phone to her ear.

"Someone's coming." She hissed as soon as Ben picked up.

"I can see the car." Both watched as Abigail stepped out, a vaguely familiar guy running around to help her.

"That's Conner the White House curator." Catt muttered, watching them talk. "He was asking her out before she even kicked you out."

"Thanks, Catt." Ben rolled his eyes. "We'll be out in a minute."

"You better hurry." Catt said before hanging up.

She watched Conner and Abigail enter, and then saw Conner come out. She waited, but didn't see the other two males she knew were in there. Knowing Riley would keep his phone on vibrate, she hit her number two speed dial.

"Now's not a good time, Catt." Riley said as he picked up.

"Why?"

"I cannot believe you broke in!" Catt heard Abigail yell.

"That's why." Riley said. Both Riley and Catt waited as Ben and Abigail negotiated. Finally, after a deal made with Boston tea tables (which, Catt though to herself, I had helped pick out.), Riley relayed the message to pull out to the front.

As everyone, Abigail included, loaded into the car, Catt couldn't help but insist that Riley take the front seat.

"Are you trying to torture them?" He asked, sliding in next to Catt.

"Make them think, more like." She smirked, hearing them bicker already. "They make a good team. They just need to admit it."

"Really?" Riley looked back at the bickering couple. "Well, good luck."

oOoOoOoOo

"Ben, we've been looking at this page for hours." Riley grumbled, pulling off his glasses. "There's nothing there.

"Ben, I really don't think we're going to find anything." Abigail shook her head gently, watching the screen.

Ben sighed, rubbing his forehead. Catt watched, knowing she was thinking the same thing. There had to be something.

"Look at it this way." Riley started an effort to cheer up his two friends. "In a hundred years, no one is going to remember anyone involved in the Lincoln assassination besides Booth."

"That's not true." Ben argued, dropping his hand. "Do you know the expression "His name is mud"?"

"Yes, of course" Riley said.

"Really?" Ben looked at him in slight disbelief. Catt groaned to herself, knowing what was coming. "Do you know the origin?"

Riley gave him a look. "Does anyone but you?" Catt raised a hand, but Riley's expression informed her that she didn't count. She tuned out the lecture, having heard it several times before.

"Dr. Samuel Mudd was convicted of being a coconspirator in the Lincoln assassination. The evidence was circumstantial, he was later pardoned, but it didn't matter. Mudd's name still lives in infamy and I will not let Thomas Gates' name be mud." Catt admired the determination in his voice, but was beginning to think it was hopeless. Staring at the page, she didn't see anything but the words clearly written and a few smudges. Well, that smudge kind of looked like an X. Wait…X is a letter. She though to herself. Pointing to the screen, she looked over and saw Abigail nodding, her eyes on the same X.

"Ben, look at this." Abigail sat up, pointing to the letter. Ben turned to the screen, putting his glasses back on. Squinting slightly, he caught sight of the letter between Catt and Abigail's fingers.

"Oh…" His eyes widened slightly as he extended his vision to include the next couple of smudges that were slowly becoming clearer. "That's quite something, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Riley leaned over, also inspecting the page. "It says smudge." Abigail gave him a look, and Catt laughed gently. "It's nothing."

Ben shook his head, and started to take command. "Residual ink from the facing page. Flip it." Abigail performed a few quick key functions as Catt moved in even closer.

"The letters are backwards." She said, realizing that what had looked like a random symbol was actually an E. As the page flipped, it became obvious that what had been just smudges were now letters paired together in a few neat lines across the page.

"It's the cipher!" There was a note of triumph as Ben made his discovery. Abigail quickly agreed. "It's the cipher! Playfair ciphers encode letters in pairs. This. This could prove his story."

"Ben." Abigail said, a grounding tone in her voice. "Unless you decode the cipher, this does not prove your theory."

"That's okay, that's okay." Ben reassured her, still staring at the screen in awe. "All we need is a five letter keyword."

"What's the keyword?" Riley asked, getting in on the party.

"I don't know yet." Ben said flatly.

"Great." Catt rolled her eyes, instantly thinking back to the story. If there was a key word, it would be hidden in there somewhere.

"Let's start from the beginning." Riley was saying, puling Catt back into the present. "A. Aardvark."

"More than five letters." Catt automatically corrected him as Abigail got up and headed to the printer. Riley jumped into her seat, starting to type in words at random. "It won't be a random word." She reasoned quietly. "It's something we already know. It's got to be in the story somehow. Thomas wouldn't do that."

"Catt, I doubt Thomas Gates knew that his great great grandson was going to have to find the treasure to clear the family name." Riley reminded her. She stood next to him, her eyes on the screen.

"He would have said something." She shook her head, thinking. "He would have left a clue. He was Gates. They're as bad as Freemasons with the whole leaving clues thing."

"You need to stop." Riley said, rolling his eyes. "You're getting too much like Ben."

Catt rolled her eyes and hit his arm. He hit her back, a bit more gently. Catt kicked him, the rubber sole of her Chuck Taylors hitting the canvas upper of his Converse. Riley kicked back, hitting her in the shin. She winced slightly, but raised her hand and hit him upside the head. Finally, Riley swiveled the computer chair around, coming face to face with the woman behind him.

"Catt, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into." He hissed, his face inches from hers.

"You wouldn't hurt me." She smirked. "I'm a girl. If Ben's taught you anything, it's chivalry."

Riley thought for a moment, trying to find a way to argue the point, but he knew she was right. Ben had instilled in him very early on that any woman, most especially his niece, was to be treated with the utmost respect in his presence. "Fine then." He finally conceded. "I won't hurt you. But I can make you miserable."

"How?" Catt asked, raising an eyebrow. Her gaze was so steady on Riley, she didn't notice how his hands had slowly started to raise up to her sides.

"Oh, I might know of a few secret spots…" He trailed off, his fingers tickling her sides. Catt instantly felt her knees buckle as the sensation made her start to giggle incoherently.

"No, Riley!" She managed to shriek before she dissolved into a fit of laughter. Placing her hands on the desk to keep her standing, she tried to control her laughter. "Not…fair!" She managed to spit out. "Ow, it hurts." She wheezed. Riley stopped instantly.

"What happened?" Ben asked, looking over from the printer.

"Riley made me laugh so much I pulled something in my abs." Catt moaned, Riley jumping up and pushing her into the chair. She was still laughing, though she clutched her stomach tightly. "Ow. You suck." She finally glared up at him.

"I didn't mean to." Riley looked from Ben to Catt, concerned. "I swear."

"It was an accident." Catt agreed. She straightened up, taking a deep breath. "And it's not that bad." She mock-glared, sneering. "Riley's just a mean bean."

"Am not." Riley responded instantly.

"Let's go before you two break something." Ben rolled his eyes, the cipher in hand. Catt nodded, and she, Riley, and Abigail followed him out.