8. chapter Cline's past. Hi, again. Had a great time in Denmark. Went to Aarhus and Copenhagen. I recommend Tivoli, great place! Anyway, let's continue! Ok, I don't know why I mixed Nancy in this, but I know what you mean. She sucks here, but you have to live with her the way she is for a few more chapters (rather many chapters, actually, maybe the whole story.), because I have already written them. well, on with the story.! ---------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the afternoon after the night when Callie and Frank broke up.

Frank was watching TV. The news had nothing new about his case, or rather, his and Joe's and their father's and the police's case. Nancy sat there with him but they hadn't talked much all day.

The doorbell rang.

Nancy went to open, she hoped it wasn't Callie. She was relieved when she saw Joe standing outside.

'Hi, Joe. Come on in' she said.

Joe smiled. 'Thanks, Nance. Where's my dear brother?'

'He's watching the television' Nancy answered.

'Of course' Joe said in a low voice and walked into the living room.

'Hello, Frank. How are you doing today?' he asked and sat down on the sofa.

'Been better, much better' Frank answered.

'Have you talked to Callie?' his brother asked.

'No, there's nothing to talk about. You're not still thinking about it, it's over' Frank said annoyed.

Nancy was listening and she was very glad to hear this, maybe too glad.

'Is it?!' she asked.

Frank and Joe looked at her.

She blushed. 'Oh, I didn't mean it that way.'

'Yes, you did' Joe said and grinned.

'Well, at least you don't have to lie to her' Nancy said and took Frank's hand.

He nodded. 'Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right..'

They kissed. Joe watched them and grinned. How cute.

He cleared his throat. 'Frank, have you listened to the tape we recorded while talking to Cline?'

Frank and Nancy stopped kissing. 'No' Frank answered.

'Why don't we try to find some hidden clues there?' Joe said and took the micro-cassette recorder from his pocket.

He put it on the table and pushed the 'play' button.

They all listened closely. Or Joe wasn't really listening he didn't feel any need for it, he just stared at Frank while he was listening. He'd find the clues.

'How about within the family? Have there been any family argues?' they heard Frank's voice ask.

Then there was a short silence.

'No. There's very much love within this family' Luise's voice answered coldly.

Joe reached out and turned off the recorder.

'That didn't sound well' Frank said, 'Do you think she was lying?' he asked.

'I don't know, what do you think?' Joe asked back.

-'I think she was. Does it bother you?'

-'Why should it bother me?'

-'Well, you were together and.'

-'For a night.'

-'Are you going to see her again?'

Joe thought. 'I don't know, why should I?'

Frank grinned. 'So you're going to act like you don't know her?'

'I've done it before and you didn't care then' Joe said, 'Now, it is obvious she was not telling the truth there so there can't be so much love within the family, right?'

Frank nodded. He suddenly remembered something.

'Hey, Joe. Do you remember Sarah and Randy from school?' he asked.

Joe smiled. 'Exactly what I was thinking about, bro. Sarah was interested in everything and everyone.'

'Including you' Frank said and grinned.

Joe didn't say anything for a while. 'That has nothing to do with this. But do you remember Randy?'

'He was the quiet type like he was invisible' Frank said.

Nancy stood up. 'I'll let you guys talk about this alone, I'm going to take a walk.'

She kissed Frank and went out.

'Aren't you going to tell mum and dad that you broke up with Callie?' Joe asked.

'Why do they have to know?' Frank asked.

-'Well, you were with Callie for 7 years, 7!'

-'I didn't know Randy wasn't Rose's son, did you?' Frank asked quickly to change the subject.

-'No, but apparently he isn't.'

-'So, we know that. What are we going to do next?'

-'You're the brain here, you tell me.'

-'Well, if there is something suspicious in the family we must find out.'

Joe thought for a moment. 'Perhaps we can find something in old school files' he suggested.

Frank nodded. 'Clever, but I'm so lazy today' he said and laid back on the sofa.

Joe smiled. He thought that was very unusual. 'You don't have to do it, I'll ask Callie to find it in the computer.'

Frank looked at him. 'Callie?' he repeated.

-'Yeah, is something wrong with that?'

Frank shook his head. 'I guess not, I don't like computer work anyway.'

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Joe ran fast to Callie's house. She and her friend rented a basement apartment and Biff's family lived in the same block.

He knocked at the door. Samantha, who was Callie's best friend opened. She wasn't part of the 'group'. But they knew her, anyway.

'Hello, Joe' she said smiling.

Joe smiled back. 'Hi, Sam. Is Callie at home?'

'Yeah, she's really pissed off. Did Frank really break up with her?' she asked.

'Yeah, he did. I don't understand what she's so sad about, Frank is pathetic' Joe said.

Samantha looked at him. 'Joe, you don't really mean that?'

-'Yes, I really mean that. Well, I guess he just broke her pride..'

He knocked on Callie's bedroom door. He heard Callie's voice.

'Who is it?'

'Joe' he answered.

He heard a key turn in the keyhole and a second later Callie opened.

'Oh, hi Joe' she said quietly and moved aside to let him in.

'Hi, Callie. Can you do me a favour?' Joe asked.

'Maybe, what is it?'

'Marry me!' Joe said with an emotional act.

Callie laughed. 'You do your job fast. Something else?'

'I need the files we found last week' Joe said more seriously.

-'Ok.' Callie sat down at her computer, 'I just have to print it out first. Why did you want me to keep them for so long?'

Joe sat on her bed. He didn't answer the question.

'How are you?' he asked kindly.

'Fine' Callie answered without looking at him.

Joe nodded. 'That's fine then.'

Callie printed the files and gave to Joe.

'Thanks sweetie' he said and dabbed on her shoulder.

'Bye' she said.

-'Bye.'

Joe said goodbye to Samantha and went out. There he met Biff who was on his way into the block.

-'Hey there, buddy, how's going?' he asked.

'OK' Biff answered, 'Were you at Callie's.'

-'Yeah.'

'She's been acting very weird today. I don't know why.'Biff said and looked at a window in Callie's and Samantha's apartment where he could see Samantha's face. The face suddenly disappeared.

Biff shook his head. 'She likes me' he said to himself.

Joe smiled. 'And Callie?' he asked.

'What about her?' then he understood. 'She's with Frank' Biff said ,'And she's like my best friend.'

-'Would she be that if she was available?'

-'Well.I.That's a whole other point.'

Joe walked closer to his friend. 'She is available' he whispered with a teasing voice.

Then he ran back to Frank's apartment and left Biff with a huge question mark on his face. -----------------------------------------------------

Nancy was back when he came.

'Hi, Joe. Where were you?' she asked, though she didn't care at all, just to say something.

'I was just picking up some stuff' Joe said, 'Where's Frank?'

'I'm here. You were quick' Frank answered and came into the kitchen.

'I got this' Joe said and waved a paperblock.

'Ok, let me see this, 'Frank said and took the block from his brothers hand.

He read over a few pages.

'Here it says:' he read out loud, 'That Christopher Cline was an excellent student and a great basketballplayer, nothing suspicious about him.'

'This is a murder investigation, everybody are suspicious' Joe said.

-'Randy has always been very quiet and still, his grades were OK, bla, bla, bla.'

'Give me that' Joe said and took the paperblock from Frank. He read it fast but suddenly he found something interesting.

'Listen to this' he said to Frank, 'It was a big scandal for the family when a psychologist found out from Randy that he liked his sister. God, he's sick and you call me sick?' Joe said and frowned.

(You have to excuse me, I know nothing about American schoolsystems)

'That's what I remembered' Frank said and ignored Joe's last words, 'Keep on.'

-'Well, there's not much more here but here's something about the police had to cut in at last.'

Frank nodded. 'The police must have something about it, we can talk to Collig.'

'Should we go?' Joe asked.

-'Take it easy, Joe. Tell me something about the others.'

Joe looked at other pages. 'The other two children who Cline had with Rose were twins. They did a lot of fighting and there were some others guys who always hanged out with them, some sort of a gang. That's pretty much it. There's only mentioned Sarah's and Randy's connections.'

'We'll ask Collig, but Joe, there's one thing we're forgetting. The attack, it must have a meaning, doesn't it?' Frank said, stood up and started walking around like he did when he was thinking about something he couldn't understand.

Joe lifted his shoulders. 'It might have been warning, you know. Someone trying to get us out of the case.'

'He.or she, can't be so stupid. I mean it obvious that something like that makes the police more interested in him.or her. Not even you are that dum' Frank added.

Joe didn't show any signs of that he thought it was funny.

'Well, should we go to Collig?' Frank said quickly.

Joe stood up from the sofa and they walked out.

Frank went on his car and Joe rode his motorcycle. ---------------------------------------------------------------