Frank and Callie were walking down mainstreet in Bayport. The weekend day was bright and lovely, and Callie's auburn hair shone in the sunlight like gold. Frank, however, was staring at the sidewalk, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"Frank," Callie smiled as she pulled him out of the way of a lamppost. "You should really watch where you're going."

"Wha- Oh." He looked at her sheepishly. "Sorry," he grinned, "I guess I'm being pretty poor company."

"You're never poor company, but you are distracted. Come on, buy me a milkshake and let's talk it out."

He laughed, took her hand, and led her across the street to an ice cream parlor. They ordered their ice cream and sat at a table by a window to talk. Callie started, "What's up? Trouble with the case?"

He nodded. "The main suspect we have right now is Paul's brother, Adler Haas. The problem is, we're chasing a ghost. He's supposed to be dead. Burnt to a crisp."

Callie took a sip of her milkshake. "So you have to figure out if this person is just pretending to be Adler, or if Adler never died, and just faked his own death."

"Well, he was in prison, so that seems unlikely. Paul saw the body."

She nodded slowly. "Paul saw a body. You said it was burned, right? Burned bodies can be hard to identify-"

Frank snapped his fingers. "That's possible, but-" He paused, thinking. "We'd have to check… that'd be difficult…" He trailed off and looked up at Callie.

"Callie, you're a genius!" He leaned over the table and kissed her quickly.

"Frank!" She blushed and looked around her, embarrassed.

He smiled, only slightly abashed, "Sorry, Callie." *

She brushed her hair back, and took another sip of her milkshake. "So, what's the plan now?"

Frank thought for a moment. "I suppose we'll get in touch with the prison, try to look into their records. Dad's trying to convince Paul to move to a safe house and keep the other boys at home. He thinks another attack is due soon. The bomb was a close one."

Callie nodded. "That was scary. Iola's been worried sick."

"So you think if Joe asked her to go steady, Iola would say yes?"

A laugh exploded from Callie. "Of course! She's crazy about him, don't you know?"

Frank chuckled. "Oh, I know. Joe doesn't quite see it yet. He's a smart kid, but when it comes to Iola he is an idiot."

"She's hoping he'll ask her on their date tonight."

Frank frowned. "Joe asked Iola on a date? Tonight?"

Callie nodded innocently. "Why, yes, didn't he tell you?"

Frank pulled a hand through his hair. "No, because I'd tell him it's nuts to go out when he's undercover and possibly has a target on his back!"

Callie clapped both hands over her mouth. "You mean-?"

Frank stood up, abruptly, "They could be in danger!" He squeezed Callie's hand. "I'm sorry, Callie, I've got to go. Did Iola say where they're going?"

She shook her head. "No, only that she was going to wear her polka-dot dress!"

Frank's expression went blank. "Does that tell us anything?"

"They're going somewhere nicer than the movies, where there's a lot of people. But not so nice as a sit-down restaurant. It'd be someplace where there's walking, perhaps the pier, or a park, or a carnival-"

Frank's mouth was open. "Okay, that actually tells us a lot. Thanks Callie, you're amazing."

She smiled. "Yes, I know, now go!"

Frank dashed out of the ice cream parlor. "Be safe!" She called after him.

*PDA was discouraged during the 1950s, women who participated in PDA were seen as floozies. Double standard, I know, but that's life.