A/N: Thanks for taking time to leave comments, Caranath, Jackie, unobtrusive, zenfrodo, Kenna, Vinsmouse and bhar! You made me smile. I'm just happy I'm not Nancy. LOL A bit of a transition chapter here as we get back into the mystery, but the anger still lingers. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 28

The next morning, Nancy was awakened by a knock on the front door of the cabin.

"Yoo-hoo!" Aunt Susan called from the front porch. "Is anybody awake?"

Nancy sat up and rubbed her eyes, momentarily forgetting where she was. She looked down and saw Frank lying next to her in a deep sleep, and knew he hadn't heard a thing.

The knocking sounded again, more urgent this time.

Oh, crap. Nancy shook Frank. "Honey, get up! Get up, now. You have to get out of here."

"Hmmm, wh-what?"

"Get out. Go into the living room. Emily's aunt is here."

"Nan, stop, I'm sleeping." Frank rolled over, pulling the pillow on top of his head.

Nancy whisked the covers off him, and Frank sat up, startled. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Get out! We can't let Susan find us together." Nancy gave him a little shove. "Go on."

"I hope everybody's decent," Susan's voice called out, as Nancy heard the doorknob jiggle.

OOO

Frank stumbled into the living room, the comforter wrapped around his waist, and a pillow in his hand. He lay down on the nearest sofa, then looked over to see Joe exiting his bedroom in much the same manner. Frank slammed the pillow over his head, desperately wishing he was still asleep.

Susan tiptoed through the front door, calling out a greeting in an annoyingly chipper voice. Frank cracked one eye open as Susan stopped in front of the couches. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you weren't awake. It's after eight o'clock."

"That's okay," Joe mumbled.

"Um, do you know if the girls are up?"

Joe shook his head. "No idea."

Frank thought Susan looked a bit deflated. "Oh. Well, no, of course you wouldn't. Um, would you mind meeting at the main house in an hour or so? I'll have breakfast waiting."

Joe nodded.

Susan turned and walked to the door. "Sorry again for waking you." She stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.

Joe stood up, dragging his comforter, and disappeared into his bedroom without a backward glance at Frank.

Frank tried again to readjust his pillow, and drift back to sleep, when he realized Nancy was now standing in front of him.

"Frank?"

"No, baby, please," he murmured. "I need to sleep."

She smiled, then bent down and kissed him on the cheek. "Okay. I'm getting in the shower."

OOOoooOOO

Joe crawled back into bed and pulled Emily into him, closing his eyes.

"Everything all right?" she murmured.

"Yeah," he mumbled, kissing her absently on the shoulder. "Night."

Emily waited until she was sure Joe had fallen back to sleep before she slipped out of his embrace and headed for the bathroom.

OOOoooOOO

Twenty minutes later, Emily walked into the living room of the cabin. She saw Frank sleeping on the couch and smiled. He must be exhausted. She wandered into the kitchen to pour herself a glass of juice, and looked up as Nancy came out of her bedroom.

Nancy rushed over to her, after the scanning the room.

For Joe, Emily thought.

"Oh, Em, I need to talk to you." Nancy reached out and hugged her. "I'm so sorry about last night."

Emily hugged her back. "I know."

She didn't blame Nancy for anything that had happened at the bar. As far as Emily was concerned they were both equally to blame…and equally stupid for underestimating the risks involved when one decided to dress up as a prostitute. In the cold light of day, Emily couldn't believe how naive they'd been.

"I wasn't going to leave you there. As soon as I called for help, I came back inside. I just couldn't get away from this creeper cowboy in the front room before Frank and Joe got there." Nancy's eyes were worried as she searched Emily's face.

"It's all right," Emily reassured her. "You didn't force me into coming with you. I knew the risks, and I wanted to go. I promise I don't think for one second this is your fault, Nance."

Nancy stepped back. "It doesn't matter, I still feel responsible. It was my idea."

Emily handed her the carton of orange juice. "You couldn't have known what was going to happen."

"Yeah, but she should have."

Joe walked into the kitchen and put his arm around Emily's shoulders. "It was stupid and irresponsible to go into a bar full of men, dressed like hookers, and not know how it might turn out."

Uh, oh. Emily did not want to start the day with a huge scene. She wanted Joe to focus on the case, not have another knock-down, drag out fight. This time with Nancy.

"Joe..." Nancy began.

"A good detective does that, Nancy. Thinks things through." Joe picked up Emily's drink and started to walk back toward the bedroom, taking Emily with him. "They also don't put innocent people in harm's way when it isn't necessary."

Emily shot Nancy an apologetic look over her shoulder, but for now she was going to placate Joe. But by the end of the day, this would all be resolved. She was going to insist on it.

Joe closed the bedroom door behind him. "You okay, honey?"

"I'm fine." Emily smiled and touched him lightly on the arm. "Joe, this really isn't Nancy's fault, you know. I went there willingly. You need to stop blaming her."

Joe's mouth tightened into a thin line and his eyes grew dark. "You wouldn't have gone there at all if she hadn't brought it up in the first place. In my mind, that makes her responsible."

Emily sighed. He was still too angry to be rational. She would try again later. She leaned in and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "Why don't you get showered and we can head up to the farmhouse and see what my aunt wants, okay?"

Joe smiled. "Okay." He hugged her tightly, then headed into the bathroom.

Maybe he'll feel more ready to accept Nancy's apology after he's gotten a dozen or so waffles in him, she thought as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and slipped an elastic band around it.

OOO

"Oooooh!" Nancy slammed her glass onto the counter, sloshing orange juice everywhere. Why did Joe have to have a stubborn streak a mile wide?

"What's the matter?" Frank called out sleepily.

"Your pigheaded brother! That's what's the matter," she sputtered, grabbing a dishcloth.

"What's he done now?" Frank sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"He's impossible." Nancy mopped up the juice and threw the dishcloth in the sink. "Emily's not mad at me. She listened. She understood. But Joe...?"

Frank walked over and put his arms around her. "Joe is stubborn. He's also very protective of Emily. I'll talk to him."

"We're not going to get anywhere on this case if we can't resolve this," Nancy grumbled. "I just want to apologize to him."

Frank kissed the top of her head. "I'll talk to him. After I have a shower and some breakfast." He glanced at the clock on the wall. "Oh yeah, I think Susan said something about coming up to the house for breakfast."

"What time?"

"Probably about twenty minutes from now, if I remember right." Frank took a sip of Nancy's juice. "I'll let Joe and Em know."

He banged on Joe and Emily's bedroom door and called out, "We need to be at the house by nine o'clock." Then he turned to Nancy. "I'm getting in the shower."

OOOoooOOO

"And I found this one in the pantry on top of the potato bin," Susan handed Frank a photo of her on the back porch.

Frank turned the photo over and read the back. "I'm getting closer," he read aloud. Whoever this idiot was, he was both stupid and fearless. Not a good combination.

"Well, he's trying to scare you, that's for sure." Nancy took the photo from Frank.

"He's doing a good job, too." Susan picked up a plate and stepped over to the counter. "I don't know what to think anymore." She replenished it with bacon and sat it down on the table. Joe promptly picked up two pieces.

"Is this the only photo you found today?" Frank asked.

"There was another one by the flour." She handed it to him. "It just said, 'Be careful.'"

"You know, just because you're finding these today doesn't mean they were planted today." Joe put a big forkful of waffles into his mouth.

"I agree," Frank said. "I think whoever did this, hid them all at once, knowing that it would take you awhile to discover them." Which meant it could be anyone, not just whoever had access to the house in the past couple of days.

Susan sighed. "It still doesn't change the fact that whoever did this was in my house."

"No, it doesn't," Frank admitted. And the likelihood of that person being a complete stranger was somewhere between slim and none.

"Emily? How would your mother feel about having a visitor for a little while?" Susan asked.

Emily looked up from her plate. "Well, if it's you, Aunt Susan, I'm sure she'd love it. Are you thinking of leaving here?"

Susan nodded and began crying. "I don't think I can stay until all this is resolved. It's making me a nervous wreck."

"Well, then let's go call her." Emily put her arm around her aunt and led her into the next room.

Frank and Nancy exchanged glances. "I'm going to search this house for more pictures," Nancy told him.

"Good idea," Frank said. "Maybe you can get Emily to help you."

Nancy glanced warily at Joe. "I don't know if I have permission to speak to her or not."

Joe scooped up another forkful of waffles. "As long as you don't dress her up like a hooker and throw her into a bar full of men, it should be fine."

"Joe, I–" Nancy began to protest.

"Okay, enough for now," Frank interrupted. "We'll talk about this later."

He wanted to focus on the investigation at the moment, not personal issues. Especially not when he was holding a clue in his hand. But he wasn't going to let the personal crap go on forever either.

He stared at Joe. "And we will talk about this."

Joe shrugged, picked up his plate and deposited it in the sink. "I'm going to kiss my girlfriend goodbye. I'll meet you at the barn," he said to Frank as he walked out of the room.

Frank looked over and saw Nancy's clenched fist resting on the table. He covered it with his hand, then leaned in and kissed her. "Easy, Tiger. I promise this will all work out."

"He just makes me so mad," she fumed.

OOOoooOOO

Emily looked up from her aunt's desk as Joe entered the sewing room.

"Where's Susan?" he asked, as Emily stood and walked over to him, twining her arms around his neck.

"Oh, she went upstairs to start packing. My mom said she could stay as long as she wanted."

"What does your uncle think about that?" Joe pulled her close and nuzzled her right below her ear.

Emily giggled as chills went up her spine. She was ticklish there, and Joe knew it. "I don't know. I think he wants her to be happy and not scared out of her mind twenty-four hours a day."

Joe kissed Emily softly. "Yeah, but I wouldn't want you that far away from me."

"And I wouldn't go."

He pulled her into him again, kissing her longingly, while she tangled her fingers in his hair. She loved kissing Joe. He always made her weak in the knees and slightly dizzy, even though they'd been together for a long time now.

"Oh, excuse me."

Emily broke away from him hastily as her aunt entered the room.

"Um, I guess I'd better get out to the barn," Joe said, giving Emily's hand a squeeze.

"Okay, I'll see you for lunch. " She smiled at him.

Aunt Susan leaned into her niece as Joe started to walk away. "Really, sweetheart, do you think you ought to let him be so...familiar...with you?"

Emily glanced at Joe out of the corner of her eye. He winked at her as he left the room, and she stifled a giggle. "I think it's fine, Aunt Susan. We've been dating for almost a whole year now."

Susan sighed. "Well, you know what they say, dear. He won't buy the cow if he can get the milk for free."

Emily choked on her laughter and gave her aunt an innocent look. "Are you saying I'm a cow, Aunt Susan?"

"No, of course not dear." Susan looked up and Emily widened her eyes. "Oh, never mind. I'm sure he's a trustworthy young man. Just be careful, dear."

Emily hugged her aunt. "I will. I promise. Now, let's get working on a list of everything I'm supposed to be doing while you're gone."