Alicia and Melissa-- As always, thanks for taking the time to review!

Capital Pursuits

Chapter 4

Early the next morning, Frank and Joe headed over to the National Air and Space Museum to visit with Jenna. The brothers spoke casually, but each was lost in his own thoughts.

Joe couldn't believe that he was spending a perfectly good morning on a museum tour that he was going to simply to make sure that his brother behaved himself. Never, in a million years, would Joe have thought he would be keeping an eye on Frank when it came to girls. Normally, it was the other way around. It's ironic, he thought to himself. A year ago, I would have told Frank he SHOULD be out looking for girls. Now, I WANT him to stay with Callie. Despite Frank's reassurances, Joe couldn't help but to see that Frank found Jenna attractive. With a sigh, he realized that he couldn't blame him. Jenna was attractive.

Frank, on the other hand, was excited about seeing the inner workings of the museum. He was intensely interested in aeronautics, and rarely would he have an opportunity to get to explore them in this much depth. He knew it was only a hobby. When he went to Princeton, he was fairly certain that he'd be a pre-law or Criminal Justice major. Still, he found this type of information very intriguing. He was also annoyed with both Vanessa and Joe. What he and Callie did was their business, and he would never cheat on her. Still, he had to admit that Jenna was pretty, and smart, and certainly seemed willing to sacrifice her own time to show him around as a friend. He pushed back the smallest lingering thought that Jenna might see him as MORE than a friend to the back of his mind, and walked through the entrance to the museum.

At once, Jenna appeared out of nowhere, and rushed up to give Frank, and then Joe, by obligation, a hug. "Hi guys! Are you ready?!" she exclaimed. "I hope you like what I have planned to show you today!"

"Absolutely!" Frank agreed. Joe nodded, and they began their tour.

As they walked over the next two hours, Joe couldn't help but to think that maybe he had been wrong about Jenna. Despite his unwillingness to be there, Jenna proved herself to be the perfect guide, pointing out displays going to be set up soon, explaining the historical significance of certain models, and telling anecdotes about famous fliers. Even Joe found himself interested as he listened to her, and found himself laughing more than he had intended to.

"Well, that's about it, I guess," Jenna concluded. " I hope you had a good time!"

"We did, thanks," Joe responded sincerely. "You sure know your stuff!"

Jenna smiled. "Well, we have to take pretty intensive tests to be guides here. It's not like you can just come off the streets and say, 'Hey, I'd like a job'."

"You'd do the people who hired you proud," Frank said to her with admiration. "This has really been a highlight. Can I ask you one question, though?"

"Sure thing," she responded, meeting Frank's eyes and giving him a smile.

"You've done a great job, but I noticed that when we were taking the tour, there appeared to be an area that was sectioned off in the background. It looked like there were a lot of security guards in the area. Is there something big going on?" Frank realized how nosy he sounded, and blushed. "Sorry. As I told you last night, Joe and I do a lot of investigative work. It's my natural instinct to be curious."

"I've always thought someone with intelligence and curiosity is very… stimulating," she replied with a coy smile, and gently touched Frank's arm. Joe noticed he didn't seem to mind.

"Um, Jenna," Joe cut in. "IS there something going on? I'm sure that's why Frank appears so interested," he said, pointedly.

Jenna ignored the remark. "Actually, guys, those aren't museum officials. They're police officers and members of the FBI."

"That's unusual, isn't it?" Frank asked her.

"Well, this IS Washington, D.C.," Joe said to his brother.

Jenna looked around sneakily, and then motioned the brothers to follow her. Puzzled, they did so, until they were led to a rather quiet part of the main museum. "Sorry, guys," Jenna said at last. "I'm not supposed to be talking about this. It's top secret. I wasn't even supposed to know about it- it's sort of hush hush."

"What is?" Joe asked, getting a bit tired of being led around.

"Promise you won't tell on me if I tell you," she said.

"Of course not!" Frank interjected. "Anything you say will be held in the strictest confidence."

Joe couldn't help but to think that Frank was awfully quick to make promises to someone he barely knew.

"I knew I could count on you," she purred, again touching Frank's arm.

"Jenna, what do you want to tell us?" Joe asked, exasperated.

"Okay," she said quietly. "The government is trying to keep this quiet, but since I work here, I happen to know about it."

"Yeah?" Joe prodded, curious as to whether there even WAS anything going on.

"A few days ago, a very valuable artifact was stolen from the museum—one of the first original plane designs from over a century ago. It wasn't on display, because obviously the security at night is super-modern. Plus, guard dogs patrol the area."

"So it must have been an inside job," Frank surmised.

"That's what the buzz is!"

"How valuable was this?" Joe asked.

"Priceless, especially to the aviation community. But there's something even more odd about it," she added.

"What's that?" Frank questioned, interested.

"I was dating a cop until a few days ago. I'm single now," she added hurriedly. Joe tried to avoid getting angry as he listened to her. "Anyway, he told me a little about what was going on, but you have to swear not to tell."

"Geez, Jenna, didn't we do that already?" Joe could barely hide his annoyance.

Frank shot his brother a dirty look. "I apologize for my brother, Jenna. I'm sure you're just nervous about revealing confidential information. Please, go on."

Jenna's eyes widened in excitement. "Okay, here's the weird part. In the display case, where the papers were being stored, there was a Green envelope left there. It had one word, "AGIB", and then it said- catch this- "So Defendants Will Prevail." Isn't that the most bizarre thing you've ever heard?" she finished.

Joe, thinking back to their last few cases, sighed. "No, it's not the most bizarre thing, but it IS strange, I'll give you that!"

"Hmmm," Frank pondered. "Now you have me interested."

Joe groaned inwardly at his brother's poor word choice as he watched Jenna's face light up.

Frank continued. "Jenna, have there been any other robberies as of late that have been similar to this?"

"Gosh, I don't know," she replied. " I only had the inside scoop because I worked here. Why?"

"I don't know. I mean, when a note or something is left, that's highly unusual, especially if it's not direct or specific. Usually, it means something," he finished.

"Frank, you're so smart," Jenna said, emphasizing the last word. Frank beamed.

Joe cut in. "That's not brain surgery, Jenna."

Joe noticed that Frank was able to tear his eyes away from Jenna long enough to shoot him yet another dirty look. If looks could kill, I'd be dead now, he thought inwardly.

"Well, if there WAS another robbery, could we see something like that by investigating it?" Frank asked.

"Uh uh," Joe cut in. "Sorry, Jenna, but we're on vacation. With our girlfriends," he added at the last moment.

Jenna turned to Frank. "Well, by law, if a robbery has been committed and reported to government authorities, there has to be a record of it somewhere," she added. "There's an updated listing daily of goings on in the area in the Library of Congress, although few people pay attention to it. I mean, if something was going on- a pattern, if you'd call it that- that's where it would be. Plus, if anything happened in the museums, well- I mean, I have a pass that could get me in most places. But," she finished with a sigh, "I can look into it on my own. I don't want to disturb your vacation. I'm sure Kelly wants to spend time with you."

"Callie," Joe muttered.

"Excuse me?" Jenna asked.

"Callie, not Kelly. You spent the whole night with her yesterday and you don't know her name?"

"Joe, that's enough! Jenna has been kind enough to take us on a tour and give up her morning. Plus, she's given us a good idea for a case. What if there is a pattern? Aren't you remotely curious?!" Frank said.

"Quite honestly, no," Joe said back to his brother. "There's been one robbery, and we're not even supposed to know about it! We came here to have fun, and that's what I intend to do. I will not get on a case that… that… well, that there's no reason for us to be on!" Joe was finding it harder and harder to be patient with Frank.

"Well, I for one am not going to let Jenna investigate this alone. It could be dangerous!"

Joe couldn't believe this. "Frank!" he said, finally losing his temper. "I don't believe that Jenna WAS going to do this, until YOU mentioned it."

"I think we should head to the Library right away," said Frank, ignoring his brother. "If we don't find anything, what did we lose?"

Joe's mouth fell open. "You're supposed to spend the day with Callie, remember?! You lose a day!" he finally managed to get out. Frank was acting like such a moron lately. Joe hoped he never acted that badly when it came to girls, although he had a feeling that in the past, he was actually worse. But that's in the past, he thought silently. And now I have Vanessa, and that's it. And my brother has Callie. Joe felt his temper begin to boil.

Frank sighed. Joe was right. Still, he could always call Callie. She would want him to help someone out. Besides, it would probably lead to nothing anyway. Mentally promising to call her and to make it up to her, he met Joe's eyes. "Tell her I'm sorry and I'll call her. She'll understand." With that, he turned away with Jenna.

Joe, furious, called out after his brother, "Tell her yourself!"

He couldn't shake the feeling that Jenna Barkalow was up to no good. Trying to decide what on earth he was going to tell Callie, he headed back to the hotel.