So this is actually the same day that I started this story, but I realize that the first chapter was short and bad quality. This chapter is longer and hopefully better. It gives you an answer to a question that you may have picked up on in the last chapter.

Please review! (Love & Constructive Criticism are welcome!)


"Where do you wanna go?" Joe asked the other two as he was driving. "I'm absolutely starving. All of that 'defusing a bomb' has really got me beat."

"Honestly, I don't care where we go to eat, as long as we eat something," Nancy shrugged and Frank agreed.

"Let's go to Chili's. A cheeseburger sounds really good right now," Joe said, practically drooling.

"You always think cheeseburgers sound good," Frank laughed at his brother.

"Well, excuse me, Mr. Picky-Eater, but I know exactly what I like and that's what I stick to," Joe nodded his head in satisfaction.

"How in the world does that not make you a picky eater and how does that make me 'Mr. Picky-Eater'?" Frank quizzed his brother.

"I don't know, exactly. But it doesn't really matter, we're here anyway."

Frank was in the backseat while Nancy was up in the front with Joe. When Frank got out of the truck, he opened up Nancy's door for her.

"What a perfect gentleman," Joe said sarcastically.

As soon as they got inside Nancy said that she had to go to the bathroom and that she'd be right back.

Once she left, Frank looked at his brother. "Why did you give me that glare when I grinned at Nancy?"

"I gave it to you because we can't get to close, remember?"

"It's not like she's harmful toward us and our investigation, Joe. Besides, she's very trustworthy and extremely capable of taking care of herself. She isn't putting us in danger and we aren't putting her in danger. And, even if one or both or even all of us were in danger, we can save ourselves and help the others along the way. As I just said, Nancy is capable of taking care of herself and so are we. There's no need to complain or be so worried about this."

"Frank, that's not what I'm talking about." When Frank stared at his brother with a blank expression, Joe sighed and started to remind him. "Callie's about at her last straw right now. If she finds out that you even think about Nancy she'll leave."

"She wouldn't have to find out now would she?" Frank asked.

"Eventually you would come crashing down and you'd admit to it Frank. She'd start grilling you as soon as we got back to Bayport and you'd break under the pressure and the guilt. And, if somehow you survived through that, I'd end up telling Callie."

"You wouldn't," Frank declared.

"It would be for your own good, Frank. Callie doesn't want to date a guy that keeps secrets from her and lies to her. With the detective business you kinda have to keep secrets and sometimes even lie, but that wouldn't be part of the job. It's part of your personal life, of your love life, of your whole life not including the job. And you don't deserve somebody who is on the edge of leaving you because of a few mistakes, that aren't exactly killer ones. If you even start to make googly eyes at Nancy I will call Callie ASAP and you guys will be over. Plus, if you and Callie weren't together you might get a shot with Nancy."

For some reason Frank was being weird and completely out of character, but Joe would bring it up to him later because, at the time, there was a waitress ready to lead them to their table and Nancy was walking back to them from the bathroom.

Frank sat down and patted the seat for Nancy to sit down. Since Frank wasn't directly telling Nancy to sit down next to him, Joe took the seat and Nancy was forced to sit across from them.

They ordered their drinks and meals and Nancy was briefed up on the case.

"So what's the case about guys? Can I help you?" Nancy urged eagerly.

"It's a murder," Joe said, a little bit too loudly. A lot of the people turned in their seats and stared at him. Blushing slightly he lied by saying, "Sorry. I'm talking about a movie. Toy Story 3, I'm sure you've all heard of it. That sounds terrible out of context.. Carry on!"

"There wasn't a murder in Toy Story 3, Joe," Frank chided his brother.

Before Joe could answer, Nancy put on her best false-crying act and dramatically said, "It murdered my heart."

"Exactly! Somebody who gets it!" Joe exclaimed, giving his brother a look. Joe held his hand up and Nancy, now laughing instead of crying, high-fived him.

"So what kind of murder is it?" Nancy asked, already thoroughly intrigued. Although she had solved plenty of cases before, she hadn't solved many murder mysteries. In fact, every time she got a murder case to solve she got really excited. Of course she always had to cover up her excitement though because it wasn't right to be so excited about a murder.

"'Meat Is Murder, But Murder Is Also Murder'," Joe said, cracking up. Nancy stared at the young man, wondering what was going on in his head. "Psych. It's a Psych reference. Episode name. Never mind," Joe said, laughing and being awkward.

"Anyways..." Frank said, feeling as if his brother was partially crazy, "It doesn't really matter what type of murder it is. Murder is murder. But, if you're wondering how it was done, it was extremely gruesome. There was a bullet wound, directly inside the chest, and it was taken out with a knife. You can actually see where it was lodged, in between the heart and the collarbone. The person left the knife on top of the man's chest."

"Hey, man. Our food's coming. How about you stop talking about that for now?" Joe asked.

Frank agreed and then looked over to Nancy and whispered, "We have the files and the papers in the truck. You can see them when we finish eating."

HB+ND=ND+HB

The trio had just walked out of Chili's when they heard a crash.

"Hey! Get out of there!" Joe yelled at the man who had broken the window to their truck.

Joe took a run for it with Frank and Nancy right behind him.

When they got to the truck, there was nobody in it, but they discovered that the files were gone!