A/N: Thank you, thank you to Caranath, max2013, catlover1033, Stork Hardy, Jackie, bhar, Lady Emily, zenfrodo and Vinsmouse for the reviews! I always love reading what you have to say. And thank you to those reading as well. Back to the mystery!

Chapter 20

As Nancy removed the old key from the now opened main altar gate, she turned to Frank. "Like I said, you're a genius, Hardy."

Frank laughed. "Well, if practically tripping over the evidence is genius, then yes, I guess I qualify today."

Nancy hugged him. "I don't care how you found this key, just that you did."

Because this represented the first real clue she'd gotten in this case. She'd known all along that if she and Frank could just work together, this mystery would be solved in no time. He was an amazing detective.

Emily walked up to the altar gate and swung it back and forth on its stiff and squeaky hinges. "So this key was just lying on the floor of the Lady's chapel?"

"Sort of." Frank took the key from Nancy and examined it. "It was sticking out from underneath one of those portable kneelers. I just reached down and picked it up."

"Maybe that's where the perpetrator was hiding it," Nancy mused. "I need to examine that kneeler for more clues."

"You'd better hurry," Bess said. "Father Xavier will be back any minute…with the police."

"You're right," Nancy agreed. "Lock that gate before anyone sees it. I'll be in the chapel."

Nancy dashed across the marble floor of the cathedral and skidded through the door of the Lady's chapel.

She hurried over to the dark wood kneeler and began feeling around the red velvet cushions on the top and bottom. Not finding anything, she slipped her hand into the wooden compartment where prayer books and hymnals were stored. Her hand brushed over a small piece of paper. Nancy pulled it out and unfolded it. One word was handwritten on it. Ombrellino. What on earth did that mean? It looked Italian. Hopefully Emily could translate it for her. Art history used a lot of Italian terms.

She hurriedly stuffed it into the pocket of her jeans when she heard other male voices in the cathedral. The police had arrived. Swell.

OOOoooOOO

Later that afternoon in the hotel suite, Joe watched silently as Nancy, Bess and Emily sat at the table, going over each and every document they'd taken from the monastery, hoping to find something that might give them a clue as to who could have stolen the artifacts.

Kathy was seated in the armchair staring at him, her arms crossed in front of her, and a scowl on her face. Joe was ignoring her and he knew she didn't like it one bit. But since Tammy and Lauren had decided to go skiing, and since Kathy had refused to go with only the feds watching her, Joe was stuck with her.

He looked up as Frank entered the room, took in the scene in front of him, and smiled. Joe didn't know what there was to smile about. He was completely miserable, and having a hard time not showing it.

"Find anything yet?" Frank asked as he strolled over to Nancy, placed his hands on her shoulders, and began to rub her neck.

"Not yet," Nancy said, dropping her head down. "Thanks, honey. That feels amazing."

Joe shifted restlessly on the couch. He needed to be a part of this. Doing something he felt was important. Not to mention, he needed to watch over Emily so nothing like her being thrown in a dungeon and left for dead ever happened again.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" Frank continued.

"Not really." Emily's eyes welled up with tears. "It's so sad, Frank. Father Bertrand is the nicest man. Who would want to hurt him?"

"I don't know," he replied. "There are a lot of sick people out there."

"Yeah," Kathy chimed in. "Like the nut job chasing me, for one. I'm really starting to get tired of it. I'm a prisoner on my own vacation. I was too scared to even go out and ski today." She pouted in Joe's direction.

Joe fumed inwardly. Kathy had to be the most selfish, obnoxious, and immature person he'd ever met in his life. He honestly didn't know how much longer he could even stand to be in the same room with her.

Emily bent her head forward. "I'd really like to go to the hospital and see him. Is there any way we can do that?"

"Well, it's all the way in Geneva," Nancy reminded her. "And it's probably best if we stay here and try to figure out what's going on. We don't want anyone else getting hurt."

Emily nodded and wiped her eyes. "You're right." She picked up the paper she'd been studying and began reading it once more.

Joe watched her silently, his arms aching to hold her. She looked so sad. He couldn't stand being this close to her and not being able to touch her or comfort her.

"Hey!" Kathy was waving her hand in his face. "I was calling you, didn't you hear me?"

"I guess not," Joe said with a sigh. "Sorry."

"I'm bored," she whined. "I need to get out of this suite. Will you take me shopping or something?"

"Shopping?" Joe was stricken. He didn't go shopping. And going shopping with Kathy would be his worst nightmare.

"You're supposed to be watching me. And I want to leave. If you want me to go by myself, then fine, I'll go. But I'm not staying here one more minute." She placed her hands on her hips and moved closer, blocking Joe's view of the table…and Emily.

Joe glanced at his watch, then stood. "One hour. I will go shopping for one hour. Take it or leave it."

Kathy threw herself at him and hugged him. "That's all the time I need." She jumped up and ran for her bedroom to get ready.

Joe sighed in exasperation. He needed to come up with something to trap Kathy at her own game. Yesterday.

OOOoooOOO

Nancy groaned and tossed her pen down on the pile of papers in front of her. "I give up. We have been poring over these documents all afternoon. None of it even makes sense anymore."

Her eyes were swimming from trying to decipher pages of archaic documents written in either Latin or French. Her high school French wasn't helping her much, and she was worried that the articles that were in English might have lost something in the translation .

Frank smiled and sat in the chair next to her. "Here. Let me take a look at what you've got. Maybe a pair of fresh eyes will help."

"Please," Nancy said, gratefully sliding the papers toward him. "I feel like we're getting nowhere on this, and we're running out of time. If only I hadn't promised Father Xavier we would find the artifacts."

"Don't give up yet, babe." Frank picked up Nancy's notes and scanned the top sheet. "Tell me what you've learned."

"We have a missing monstrance, a stolen statue, another key to an altar gate where we thought there was only one, and a perpetrator desperate enough to try and kill me and Emily, because they think we know something we clearly don't," she said exasperated.

And it was that something that was driving her crazy. She felt like she should know what it was. It was tickling the back of her brain, but she couldn't seem to put it all together and figure it out. Maybe she needed a nap.

"Frank, we've been reading and re-reading these documents, trying to find what we've overlooked," Emily chimed in. "But nothing's clicking."

Frank leaned back in his chair. "Well, then maybe what you know isn't in the documents. Tell me something else."

"Wait a minute!" Nancy said. "I almost forgot. I found this note in the wooden compartment of the kneeler in the Lady's chapel. You know, where they keep the hymnals."

She pulled out the small piece of paper and handed it to Emily. "I think it's Italian. Do you know what it means?"

Emily unfolded the paper. "Umbrella."

"What?"

"It means 'umbrella' or 'parasol.'"

Nancy sighed, disappointment washing over her. "I thought it was a clue, not a shopping list."

Frank squeezed her hand. "Don't be discouraged. Think hard and tell me what you know for sure about this case."

"Whoever kidnapped us is on the inside," Nancy said. "No one else knows what's going on."

He nodded. "I think so, too. So that narrows it down."

Nancy shrugged. "I don't know. There are so many people in that monastery. It's huge."

"True, but the people who know you and what you're up to has to be fairly small. I mean, Father Bertrand doesn't want the information about the monstrance getting out, right? That would limit the amount of people he tells."

"Yes." Nancy turned to Frank. "So there are only maybe a dozen people who really know why we're there."

That did give her some hope. Even though the monastery was home to hundreds of monks and others who served there, hardly anyone even knew Nancy was there, let alone what she was doing.

"But what about the Madonna statue?" Bess asked. "Everyone's going to notice it's gone."

"Father Xavier is going to tell people that it's being cleaned in preparation for the pilgrimage visitors," Nancy explained.

"What about what happened to Father Bertrand?" Bess continued.

Nancy sighed. "That's a little harder, but he's going to try to make it seem like it was just a random act of violence."

"So, the police aren't ever going to be told about the statue?" Frank asked.

Nancy shook her head.

He leaned forward again, and reached for the legal pad. "Okay, that leaves Father Xavier, Father Bertrand, and who else? Who else knows you?"

"Um, the priests just underneath Father Bertrand. That would be Father Xavier, and the priest in charge of the library, Father Charles. Dr. Delacroix, I suppose, although I'm not sure he knows exactly why we're there, and Guillaume," Nancy concluded.

Bess snorted. "Guillaume? The only thing he's interested in is Emily."

Emily looked at her sharply. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please. Don't even try to deny it." Bess laughed. "He follows you around with those big brown puppy dog eyes, just hoping you'll glance his way."

Emily rolled her eyes. "Be serious, Bess."

"I am serious." Her smile showed her dimples. "He's got it bad."

Frank looked puzzled. "Isn't he a monk?"

"Yep," Bess continued. "A monk with raging hormones and the hots for Emily."

"He's not a monk," Emily corrected. "He's a candidate. And Bess is full of it."

"I'm not so sure she is," Nancy said, with a teasing smile. "I'd say he's pretty smitten, Em."

"I swear I haven't done one thing to encourage him."

Now it was Bess's turn to roll her eyes. "Excuse me? Does anyone have a mirror Emily could borrow? You don't have to do anything." She sighed. "I wish I could say that I was tempting enough to de-frock a monk. Especially that one. He's gorgeous."

Emily laughed as she crumpled up a piece of paper and tossed it at Bess. "I haven't de-frocked anyone."

Bess ducked and grinned at her. "Whatever."

Frank cleared his throat. "Could we get back to the case?" Then he set down the legal pad and turned to Emily with a grin. "A monk? Oh, Joe's going to love this."

She shoved him as her face turned a vivid shade of red. "Don't you dare."

Suddenly Nancy stood up. "I've got it. I know what we missed!"