A/N: Thanks for the reviews Mrs. Frank, Jackie and Virtute! Fun to read, as always! Back to the mystery and actual investigating in this chapter. Thanks to everyone reading. I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 12

The next morning, Nancy led Frank down a hallway near the lobby to meet Joe and Emily before heading off towards the set of The Resort. She felt Frank had been anxious about Joe's injuries and was eager to get an update from him. She watched him hurry over to his brother and give him an affectionate cuff on the shoulder.

"Hey, how are you feeling this morning?"

"Pretty good," Joe admitted.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Enough," Joe replied with a grin.

Emily rolled her eyes. "Behave."

"Here comes Dirk," Nancy announced, eager to change the subject, before it turned to the amount of sleep Frank had gotten last night.

"Hey guys." Dirk greeted them warmly, then glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching and ushered them quickly into an empty conference room.

He pulled out his ID as he turned to the brothers. "Frank? Joe? Nice to meet you," he said, shaking their hands and showing them his badge.

"Yeah, you too," Joe replied.

"I'm looking forward to working with you both," Dirk said.

"Likewise," Frank replied. "You've definitely got one of the best covers I've ever seen."

"Yeah, art theft is a lot different than most other crime. The covers definitely tend to be more interesting, to say the least," Dirk said with a grin.

"I guess the people who are stealing art aren't the same ones knocking off convenience stores," Joe noted.

"Not quite," Dirk agreed, then clapped his hands together. "So…if you're all ready, I have your assignments for the morning." He turned to Emily. "I want you to be an extra. I need you to look out for any kind of prop you think is suspicious. I have my ideas, but I can't really examine any of the set pieces, since I'm supposed to be acting." He looked at Nancy. "I want you to have a speaking part."

"What?" Nancy was horrified. "I can't act."

"Sure you can, you're a detective, aren't you?" Dirk smiled and handed her a script. "You only have a couple of lines. But I want you watch the lead female actress. Something's funny with her."

He looked toward Frank and Joe. "You two are crew guys." He handed them passes to the set. "I need you to have access to the prop room, and anything and anyone else behind the scenes we might need to check out."

They nodded.

"All right, are we ready then?" Dirk smiled as he looked to Nancy and Emily. "I'm going to have to revert back to my jackass personality for awhile. So, whatever I may say to you, I apologize for in advance."

"Likewise," Emily countered with a grin.

Dirk chuckled. "Okay, I'll catch you all afterwards and we can compare notes. Don't wait for me, I'll come up to your room later on," he said, gesturing to Frank and Nancy as he stepped out of the conference room.

"Well, here goes nothing," Nancy said, looking dubiously at her script.

"You'll be fabulous," Frank assured her. "Promise you won't leave me for a career in Hollywood."

"Oh, Hardy," Nancy said, rolling her eyes and then smiling at him. "Let's go, Em."

Emily gave Joe a little backwards wave, then caught up to Nancy as she entered the hallway. "Yeah, we'd better hurry. You don't want to keep your Golden Globe waiting."

"You, too?" Nancy asked in mock indignation. "You're starting to sound like Joe."

"I guess that's what happens when you 'marry' him," Emily said. "I'm guessing you'll start acting like Frank soon enough."

Nancy stopped short. "Don't say that. I couldn't ever be that responsible. I'd die of boredom." She started walking again. "My mission is to loosen Frank up. Get him to unwind a little bit."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And how do you plan on doing that?"

Nancy gave her a sly look. "Maybe we'll have to go shopping again later. Have another look at that bustier."

Emily's jaw dropped, then she started laughing. "You know…I think that's a fabulous idea. Frank Hardy could really use a woman wearing a black bustier in his life."

OOO

Joe turned to Frank back in the conference room. "So I guess we get to do the grunt work?"

"It's all in the way you look at it, bro." Frank put his arm around Joe's shoulder. "We have the opportunity to investigate wherever we want to on this set now," he said, holding up the ID pass now hanging around his neck.

Joe grinned. "Then what are we waiting for?"

OOOoooOOO

Nancy stood in a dressing room on the set, surveying the costumes she and Emily were supposed to wear for their upcoming scene. No way. No way in a million years was she putting this on and appearing in public. Much less on television. She turned to Emily who was holding up her costume, a look of disbelief on her face.

"French maid outfits!" Emily exclaimed in a horrified tone. "Are they joking?"

Nancy picked up a pair of fishnet tights. "This is so not me."

Emily laughed. "What self-respecting maid walks around dressed like this? I mean, seriously, you're going to clean toilets in this getup?"

Nancy snorted. "There is no way I can do this."

She sighed heavily as she examined the high-heeled pumps that went with her outfit while Emily pulled off her sundress and slipped her costume over her head.

"Oh my gosh!" Emily exclaimed, surveying the short skirt and low-cut top. "I look like..." She paused and turned around surveying the view from behind in the large mirror hanging over the make-up table. "Well, you know what I look like."

Nancy was struggling to get her tights on. "This is what happens when your show is scheduled opposite Charlie's Angels," she grunted.

The door to the dressing room flew open, and a heavily made-up woman with hair the color of Lucille Ball's, stepped in. "Ready for your hair and make-up, girls?" She walked over to where they were standing and looked critically at Nancy and Emily. "You fill out the top of that dress very nicely," she told Emily. Turning to Nancy, she said, "We'll get you some enhancements for yours, sweetie."

Nancy looked at Emily, her eyes widening. "This is not happening," she muttered, plopping herself resignedly in the make-up chair.

OOOoooOOO

Frank strolled over to the prop room, followed by Joe, where they were greeted by a large, rather sweaty guy who gestured toward the back of the room. "They want that sofa," he called out, as he walked past them toting a large dining room chair.

"Did he say 'sofa?'" Joe asked.

"I'm afraid so." Frank looked to the back of the prop room. "After you."

They traipsed to the last aisle of the prop room where they saw the sofa waiting for them, along with a dark-haired man holding a clipboard.

"Are you the new guys?" he asked, not looking up from his clipboard.

"Yeah, that'd be us," Joe acknowledged.

"Did you want us to get this?" Frank gestured to the couch.

"Um, no, not yet. I have some smaller items I need catalogued at the moment." He sighed. "Some jerk has really messed things up in here. We're missing a painting, and who knows what else."

He glanced up from his clipboard. "Here. You guys take this, go down that aisle, and try to locate the items listed on it. If you can't find something, circle it."

"It'll be our pleasure," Frank said, taking the clipboard.

"Yeah, whatever. Come find me when you're done."

"Are you the prop master?" Joe asked.

"No, I'm Ed, his assistant. Craig is the prop master, and he's gonna have my ass if any more of this stuff goes missing." He stomped off, yelling an order to another crew member walking through the door. "Fred, the dining room table. Today, please."

Frank followed his brother down an aisle in the converted exhibit hall, and scanned the list in his hands. "This could be exactly what we're looking for."

"Yeah, I know," Joe agreed. "The other items that are missing must be art that's been smuggled out."

Frank nodded. "So maybe that means Ed isn't in on it if he doesn't know where the items have gone."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's just a cover and he's behind it," Joe theorized.

"We've got a lot to try and figure out here." Frank studied at the items on the shelf in front of him.

"What do we do if we find something that might be a smuggled art?" Joe asked.

Frank thought for a moment. "Let's conveniently 'misplace' it, then have Emily or Dirk come check it out later."

"Sounds good." Joe clapped his hands together. "Let's get started."

OOOoooOOO

Nancy exited the dressing room, followed by Emily, and headed toward the set of The Resort. Emily was struggling in vain to raise the neckline of her dress, while Nancy was teetering on her ridiculously high heels.

"Tell me again why you're a detective, Nancy?" Emily asked, laughing at their predicament.

"Probably for the same reason you're dating one. It just happened." She stopped short. "I have to take these off," she said, slipping the shoes from her feet. She looked up at Emily and burst out laughing. "You look like you're ready to pop out of a cake."

"I'm ready to pop out of something, that's for sure," she said, giving her top another tug. She giggled at Nancy. "Oh my gosh, Nance. That makeup makes you look like you're going to the set of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

"Don't remind me." Nancy made a face. "If my friends in River Heights ever saw me looking like this...well, let's just say I'd never live it down."

"Then you'd better hope they don't watch The Resort," Emily said with a smirk.

"Oh geez, it's one of Bess's favorite shows. Dirk Benson and all." She shook her head. "Hopefully she won't recognize me."

They both looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Let's get this nightmare over with," Nancy said, walking onto the set.

OOOoooOOO

"Two silver candle sticks?" Frank called out.

"Check," Joe said, holding them up.

"One china vase?"

"Got it," Joe responded.

Frank made a check mark on the list.

"One small painting on an easel?"

Joe searched the shelf. "I'm not seeing it. Wait a minute." He pulled something out from behind a cardboard box. "Is this it?"

"I don't know, it's fairly small," Frank set the clipboard down and took it from Joe. "It's a Gauguin." He looked up. "You don't suppose...?"

"Only one way to find out," Joe answered with a toothy grin. He grabbed a knife from a set of silverware resting on the shelf. "Shall we?"

Frank handed him the painting. "Careful, Joe," he instructed, as Joe pulled the frame away from the canvas. As before, the overlaying Gauguin was merely covering another painting.

"What is that?" Frank wanted to know.

Joe looked at him. "It says 'Vincent,'" he told him, pointing to the signature at the bottom of the painting.

"Another one?" Frank was incredulous.

Joe shook his head. "How would I know?" He searched around. "We need a place to stash this until we can get a hold of Dirk or Em."

"Yeah," Frank said as he looked behind him. "We also need something to cover it. Do you see anything?"

"Um, maybe." Joe began rummaging through some of the items on the shelf. "How about these?" He held up a pile of brocade cloth napkins.

"I guess they're as good as anything," Frank said, taking the napkins from Joe and quickly wrapping them around the painting.

"Frank, I'm not sure that's the right attitude to take with multi-million dollar paintings."

Just as they finished securing the napkins around the piece of art with a long corded drapery tassel, they heard the door to the prop room open.

"Someone's coming," Joe hissed. He snatched the painting from Frank and hurriedly stashed it into a large cardboard box on the shelf, covering it with a tablecloth just as Ed approached them.

"How's it going?"

"It's going," Joe said with a grin.

"Good. Oh, I need that box on the set right now." He gestured to the carton with the Van Gogh in it, leaned over toward the shelf, picked it up, and started walking down the aisle.

Frank and Joe exchanged nervous glances as he disappeared down the main walkway of the prop room and out the door toward the set.

"What now?" Joe demanded.

"We go get it back," Frank said firmly.

OOOoooOOO

Nancy was standing on the "living room" set for The Resort going over her four lines and trying not to look as self-conscious as she felt. Dirk Benson walked by her and said in a low voice. "The older lady…she's the one I want you to watch."

Nancy nodded, looking over to the edge of the set, where a woman, probably in her fifties, she guessed, was fussing with her jewelry. Nancy studied her for a moment, taking note of her fastidious appearance, carefully manicured nails and perfectly applied make-up. Oh, I recognize her. She's acted in lots of things. The woman's name escaped her though, as she continued to observe her surreptitiously.

"Okay, let's mark this scene," said a man in a baseball cap, whom Nancy assumed to be the director.

"Ready, Miss Randolph?" he asked the older woman.

She nodded, pasting a bright smile on her face.

Penelope Randolph, Nancy thought. I wonder why Dirk wants me to keep an eye on her?

"Benson, you ready?" the director called out.

"Yep," Dirk said, stepping onto the set, and giving Nancy what she thought was a reassuring wink.

"Okay, start when you're comfortable, I just want to get a read on the lights."

OOO

Dirk Benson stepped onto the stage and began reciting his lines, as Frank and Joe appeared on the edge of the set, looking for the box with the Van Gogh.

"You see it?" Frank asked.

"No," Joe told him, looking around. He hit Frank's arm with the back of his hand as an actress stepped onto the set. "Is that...Nancy?"

Frank followed Joe's gaze and spotted his girlfriend entering the scene in her French maid costume. His jaw dropped and he couldn't stop staring as Nancy walked up to Penelope Randolph, carrying a tea service.

"It is," Joe said, looking at him sideways with a grin. "Frank?"

Frank was mesmerized as he watched her recite her lines perfectly, then exit the scene gracefully on high heels that looked impossibly difficult to walk on. "Wow," he said softly.

"Frank, the box. It's on the dining room table," Joe gestured, pointing to the set next to the one they were standing on.

"What?" Frank turned to Joe. "Oh," he said, changing his focus. "Good. Let's try to get over there and snag it."

OOOoooOOO

Nancy exited the set and moved over to where Emily was watching and waiting behind a false wall.

"That was amazing, Nancy," Emily congratulated her.

Nancy grinned ruefully. "It certainly was the cheesiest thing I've ever done."

Emily gave her an impish grin. "Well, judging by the look on your boyfriend's face, I don't think he thought it was cheesy."

Nancy looked startled as she spotted Frank and Joe standing on the opposite side of the set. "Oh, no! You're kidding me." She turned to Emily. "Tell me he really didn't see me dressed like this."

"'Fraid so," Emily said with a grin. "And he appeared to be enjoying it."

"But it's not me. And this..." She grabbed the top of her dress. "This is false advertising."

Emily choked back the laughter. "I think it was the overall effect he appreciated. Not any one specific part of the outfit."

Nancy rolled her eyes. "Well, it's just one humiliation on top of another today." She turned to Emily and gave her a sly grin. "And what are you doing hiding back here anyway? I think you need to get out there and give Joe an eyeful of this costume, too."

"Joe needs to see me in this like he needs a hole in his head," Emily told her firmly. "This dress is barely staying on. And besides," Emily pointed in the direction of the set, "that loser was hitting on me a little while ago, and I'm trying to stay out of groping range."

"Him?" Nancy asked, pointing to a young, handsome blond, lounging on a sofa. "He plays Dirk's brother on the show, right?"

Emily nodded.

"Bess thinks he's really hot," Nancy told her.

"Well, she can have him," Emily replied. "He may be really good looking, but he's a jerk," she finished with a scowl. "And, unlike Dirk, I don't think he's faking."

Dirk Benson sidled up behind the two girls. "Great job, Nancy."

"Thanks, but I may never forgive you for this."

He laughed. "Sorry about the costumes, ladies. When I read the script and saw they were casting for maids, I thought they actually meant maids...not this." He gestured to their outfits. "I think this is somebody's sick idea of how to boost our ratings."

"Do they need boosting that much?" Nancy asked.

Dirk's face was grim. "Well, until I can do my hair like Farrah's and bounce across the set when I walk...yes. Charlie's Angels is killing us."

Nancy smiled and turned to Emily. "Make sure you put a little bounce in your...um...walk when you're out there."

Emily rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well listen, Em, when you're dusting the set in your next scene, pay attention to the bookshelves," Dirk instructed. "I can never get close enough, but there are a few items over there I'd like to get a better look at."

She nodded. "I'll do my best."

"I know you will." He winked at them both then walked back on the set.