Author's Note: Um... I'm not sure I even have an explanation for this one. *shrugs*

Slightly Suspicious

"Any progress?" Joe asked, leaning over the edge of the couch to get a look at the computer screen. All of that seemed like gobbledegook to him. He wasn't sure what Frank was looking at or why, but better Frank than him.

Frank looked up at his brother. "There's a lot of data to go through, even just skimming the files. I've got a lot of work to do. You could help—"

"Nope. No can do, big brother. Kerrie Berrie's got me booked solid for the night, and you know what a good source she is," Joe told him, smiling. Frank rolled his eyes, but they both knew he was better at that sort of thing. If Frank had been the one responsible for charming Kerrie Berrie, he'd screw that right up. He wouldn't fool her for a second. Frank wouldn't fool anyone—if he wasn't genuinely interested in Nancy, no one would have believed it.

"Convenient."

"I thought you were working with your girlfriend anyway."

"One—Nancy is not my girlfriend. Two—she's with Mom. She said something about girl time, which means neither of them is likely to be back for hours," Frank said, eyes back on the computer. Joe grimaced. Girl time did not sound like a good thing, even if Nancy was along to get into the places that he and Frank couldn't. "Mom did promise no makeovers, so Nancy should be fine. Have you seen Dad yet today?"

"No."

Frank frowned. "Okay, not only is it a little weird for Dad to miss us when we just picked up Nancy, but even he can't spend an entire day on a golf course. He should be back by now."

Joe stopped to think about that. "You think Dad's really in trouble? No one else had an issue until after they left the resort."

"Dad could have found something that got him in trouble. He's a lot like you in that respect."

"Hey!"

Frank shrugged. "Just calling it like I see it. I might have Dad's looks and his brains, but you got his penchant for getting in trouble. Both of you are kidnapping magnets. We're either looking for you or for him, so..."

"You have been in your fair share of kidnappings, too," Joe said, annoyed with his brother. "You can't pretend that it was just us. We were both kidnapped in LA, remember?"

Frank nodded. "See if you can find Dad before your hot date, will you? I'd like to know he's okay. And if we do need to start looking for Dad, better we know sooner than later."

Joe figured his brother was overreacting, but he sensed an opportunity here. "All right, but if I go on some wild goose chase for Dad, then you have to do something for me."

"You mean besides your share of the work?"

"Cute." Joe smiled. "No, you are going to do something much more important than that. You are actually going to take Nancy out."

Frank shut the computer abruptly. If it was a door, he would have slammed it. "No."

"Yes," Joe insisted. "If for no other reason than to make sure your cover is believable. You need to eat. She needs to eat. Nothing wrong with that. Just make it a cutesy little dinner and hold her hand while you discuss the case. It's not that difficult."

Frank's hand curled into a fist, and he sounded angry. "Go find Dad. Now."

"You're still taking Nancy out. I'm going to make reservations for you."

"I hate you." Frank said, throwing a couch cushion at him. Joe dodged, and the cushion hit the wall without hurting anything. Frank groaned, leaning back on the couch.

Joe grinned, heading for the door. He knew he had won.

Frank tried to concentrate on the files from the computer. He knew it shouldn't be this difficult. He had been able to do searches while bleeding or concussed before and paid better attention. What Joe was doing shouldn't throw him off this much. This wasn't right. Frank should be better than this. He could do this in his sleep, but he wasn't. His mind kept wandering, and he had to go back and reread what he'd already looked over because he didn't remember any of it.

This was all Joe's fault. If something was distracting Frank, it should have been their father's absence, but instead, his brother had him all worked up by this idea of taking Nancy out to dinner. They had to end this cover. It was keeping Frank from doing what he needed to do. He didn't even know why. It shouldn't be that hard to pretend to have a girlfriend.

Only it was, and it was Nancy, and she wasn't like other girls.

He couldn't say Callie never asked about any of their cases, but Callie wasn't an investigator on her own. She didn't seek out cases like Nancy did. No one did, really. Frank, Joe, their father, Nancy... they were all kind of crazy when it came to mysteries. Even his mom didn't get involved in them, not that often. She was here now, and she was helping them in a limited way, but it was Nancy they'd all thought of when they wanted someone to get into the areas of the resort they couldn't.

They should have just tried to do it without anyone, even if Laura hadn't been able to come. Not that they'd ask Aunt Gertrude—that would have been a disaster.

Frank looked back at the screen. Why couldn't he just find what he needed? The sooner they ended this case, the sooner the distraction stopped and Nancy went back to River Heights. And he would never call her for help again.

He shouldn't have called her for this case.

He frowned, looking at the screen again. Wait a minute. This wasn't right. These were employee records, only they weren't labeled that way. They'd been dumped in another file, renamed to obscure their content. Who would do that? Did someone at the resort have these to keep tabs on other employees? Could some of the employees be involved in this scheme because they were being blackmailed?

He didn't know. He'd have to find a way to check these records against the other ones. Maybe—and this was a little iffy to him—the files had been copied by mistake, but if they weren't, then someone had a reason for getting this information. He couldn't think of many good reasons for that—if any. Maybe someone else was looking into the employees to find the source of the blackmail, but he would have thought they'd keep the files off the network in that case.

He needed to compare these files with the real ones. Then he'd know if anything had been altered, and if it was, that could tell him where to look next. It might give them their first real lead, and they could use that.

They definitely needed more than what Joe was getting from Kerrie.

"I've never done this before," Nancy said, looking down at her nails. She knew that was strange, since most girls her age had plenty of manicures before, even if they weren't professionally done. She wasn't one of them, though. All of this was new and strange.

"There's nothing wrong with a manicure," Laura told her. She studied her own hand for a moment. "Though this time I think the stylist went a bit far. I'm not sure what I'm going to tell Fenton about these ones. Joe will love them, at least, so that's something."

Nancy had opted for a pretty tame look, she thought, but now that her fingernails were done up and bright pink, she was regretting it some. The fake nails would get in the way of her work. "I don't know. Bess has tried to get me to wear fake nails before, but those were press-ons. She never did get me or George into a beauty parlor for something like this."

Laura wiggled her fingers. "I don't do it often—I think my wedding was one occasion, a couple of anniversaries another. Still, there's nothing wrong with a bit of indulgence now and then. If nothing else, I'll enjoy Frank's reaction as he tries not to say they're horrible."

"I'm not really sure we learned anything from those manicurists, either," Nancy said. "They claimed not to listen to any gossip, but with where they work, they should hear plenty. It doesn't seem right."

"They were lying," Laura agreed. "I think you may have pressed them in the wrong way. You made it sound like an interrogation. You need a little more... charm when you go about getting gossip. You might pick up a thing or two from Joe, much as I'd rather not encourage his bad habits."

"I thought you weren't involved in the case," Nancy began, asking the question that had bothered her for a while. "If you're here, why am I here? You can get into all the places they'd need a female investigator for. This... isn't some kind of trick, is it?"

"I suppose it might seem that way, since your cover was rushed and Joe is behaving rather poorly, but no, it's not a trick. When the boys called you, I was actually down with a bit of a bug, and it didn't look like I'd be up to taking this trip. Fenton almost called it off, he was that worried about me, but Frank said you would help if they needed you." Laura smiled. "I'm glad you were able to come. Your help means a lot to them."

"Yes, but with you here, I'm not sure I'm needed."

"Your flight was already booked by the time I recovered enough to join my boys," Laura answered. "And I do include Fenton in that. Sometimes he's worse than Frank or Joe with the trouble he can get into. Besides, while I am perfectly willing to assist my husband with the business, investigation never has been my strong suit. I leave that to the terminally curious and danger prone members of my family."

Nancy nodded. She still felt something was slightly off about all this. She just knew there was something Laura Hardy wasn't telling her. "Mrs. Hardy, are you... pregnant?"