A/N: Thanks for the feedback, Leya and Virtute! I love reading it. And yes, the mystery does pull to the front again, still mixed in with a little fun, but things will get more tense as we get closer to the end. Stay tuned!

Chapter 29

"So, is Duncan crazy?" Frank asked his father over his fast-food hamburger and fries that served as their dinner.

"I'm not sure." Fenton dipped his fries into a pile of ketchup and ate them. "At the least, he's very superstitious. And terrified."

"He seemed surprised about Emily being attacked."

"I think that was genuine." Fenton reached for his drink. "Not that he really could be a suspect with that shoulder wound."

"Yeah, he wouldn't have had the strength to fight with her," Frank said, as he leaned back in his chair. "I've got to admit it, Dad. This case has me stumped. I don't even know where to look next."

"How about the security office? Did you and Joe have a chance to sweep it for bugs?"

"No. We were going to do that today, but after Emily got attacked, we got a little sidetracked."

Fenton wiped his hands on a paper napkin. "No time like the present, I always say."

"Can we get in there at this hour? On the weekend?"

Fenton smiled. "Are you really asking me that question?"

Frank grinned. "You think I'd know better by now."

"You'd think," Fenton said as he stood and crumpled the paper sack his meal came in.

"We can take the van," Frank said, pulling the keys from his pocket.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Joe surveyed the Clarks' family room where everyone headed after dinner and smiled. "This is almost like a real movie theatre."

Emily smiled back at him. "Well, Dad likes to think it's the next best thing. This all started when Sarah worked at the Multi-plex in high school and he bought a used projector from them. He really got into it." She gestured towards the far wall. "So, now we have a screen and real movies. Dad buys them from some distribution place in Hollywood."

"So, every Sunday night is movie night?"

"You got it." Emily sat on one of the couches and patted the spot next to her. "Actually, we all like it, but we don't tell him that. We prefer the teasing."

Joe sat and watched as Emily's sister, Sarah, came in and took a seat on the sofa situated closer to the screen. She turned and gave her husband a questioning look as he entered the room. "Lizzie's zonked. I put her on your parents' bed." She smiled as Rob sat down and pulled his wife into his arms. "What's up for tonight, Steve?" he asked his father-in-law.

"Jaws", he replied. "I ordered it two months ago, and it's finally here."

"Oh, swell," muttered Rachel, as she squeezed into the recliner next to her husband.

Mike laughed and kissed her head. "It's okay, baby. It's October now. You have months before you have to get in the water again."

Joe leaned toward Emily. "Jaws, huh? That's pretty cool."

"It's pretty scary," she said with a smile. "I've always had this irrational fear of being in water where I can't see the bottom. This movie kept me out of the ocean for a month when I saw it in the theater."

"I think you're pretty safe here in the house," Joe teased.

Emily pulled her feet up off the carpet and tucked them underneath her. "Just in case," she said with a giggle.

Joe smiled and touched her arm. She flinched and tried to hide it, but he noticed. He reached for her hand and gently turned it in his so he could look at her forearm. "I didn't realize you were bruised this badly."

"It's okay," she said, trying to pull her hand back.

Joe held it firmly. "No, it's not." He traced his fingers over it lightly. "Does that hurt?"

Emily looked up at him and shook her head as her mother entered the room and turned off the lights.

"I have popcorn in the kitchen. Does anybody want some?"

She smiled as a chorus of groans greeted her. "If I eat one more thing, I'll explode," Mike said.

"Okay. Just let me know when you get hungry again," she told them as she made her way toward the sofa where Emily's dad was seated.

As the movie started and a cheer went up, Joe's eyes met Emily's again and he entwined his fingers with hers and kept her hand in his.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

"So, who has access to the security office?" Fenton asked Frank, as they entered the museum and quickly punched in the code to disable the alarm system.

"Anyone, apparently," Frank responded as they made their way across the tile floor. The security lamps gave them enough light to see as they moved down the corridor to Mitch's office. "They don't keep it locked from what I've seen."

"Any cameras trained on this door?" Fenton asked as he and Frank stepped inside.

"Not specifically. They have a few in the lobby, but they're set to the main entrance." Frank held up his finger to indicate silence as he and his dad began to methodically search the office for bugs.

After a few moments, Frank held up something in his hand triumphantly. Fenton nodded as he unscrewed the phone receiver. His expression grim, he held up another electronic device. After a few more moments of silent searching, Fenton turned to his son. "I think that's it."

"Yeah," Frank agreed. "It explains a lot. Anyone who wanted to accomplish what they did at the banquet the other night was probably well versed in the security plans for the evening."

"I wonder why Mitch didn't think to check for listening devices?"

Frank shrugged. "I'm not sure Joe and I would have thought to do it, if it wasn't so obvious that someone overheard us talking about the hidden staircase in this room."

"Speaking of that hidden staircase..."

Frank chuckled as he walked to the office door. "Right this way."

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Emily jumped as the shark attacked yet another group of teenagers in the water. She mentally shook herself. You look like an idiot. She stole a glance in Joe's direction. He was smiling and looking at her sister, Rachel, who'd practically climbed on top of her husband in fear. Emily giggled as she leaned closer to Joe and whispered, "She absolutely hates scary movies."

"I can tell." Joe grinned and turned to her. His face was mere inches from hers, and Emily's breath hitched. She swallowed hard. Joe reached forward with his free hand and pushed an errant curl behind her shoulder. Still holding her other hand in his, he made lazy circles on her palm with his thumb. "Did you tease her about that when you were kids?"

"Wh-what?" All of a sudden, Emily felt like she couldn't hold a single thought in her head.

Joe leaned in closer and said softly, "Being scared. Did you tease her?"

His breath was warm against her skin and she shivered. "Um, yeah. All the time."

Joe touched his head to hers as he whispered in her ear. "I thought so."

Emily knew she had goose bumps now. Joe slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against him. He kept his head close to hers, and lightly grazed his lips along her jaw and up to her ear. Her heart pounded faster. "Are you nervous?" he whispered as he nuzzled her neck.

"N-no," she managed. "Should I be?"

He chuckled low as he pressed his mouth to her cheek. "Definitely not." He caressed her back gently and slid his lips to her neck again. Emily's eyes closed and she felt her knees growing weak. Good thing I'm sitting down. The pressure of his soft lips and the gentle scratch of his chin against her skin was making her tingle all over. She tentatively reached up with her hand and slid it into his hair, holding him against her. She heard him suck in his breath at her touch and she shivered again. He lifted his eyes to hers and with one look, Emily knew her life had just changed completely.

"Hey, how about that popcorn?" Mike's voice broke through the haze in Emily's mind.

Her mother laughed. "I knew it wouldn't take your appetite long to resurface." She turned slightly and called over her shoulder, "Em, would you mind bringing in the popcorn and some bowls? You and Joe are closest to the kitchen."

"Yeah, sure," she said hurriedly, her eyes never leaving Joe's. The two of them stood and walked rapidly out of the room.

OOOOOoooooOOOOO

Frank and Fenton exited the main elevator on the third floor of the museum. They wound their way through the reception area and a row of cubicles before reaching Mr. Perriton's office. Frank looked at the door knob as he went to enter. "I see they still haven't gotten around to fixing this. It probably isn't even in the budget after all that's happened here."

Fenton fingered the splintered wood on the doorframe and surveyed the damaged metal plate. "If I didn't know better I'd say this was your brother's work."

Frank grinned. "Then you'd be right. Joe kicked it in when he was coming to rescue me from the fire."

"Yeah, he always excelled at breaking down doors." Fenton chuckled. "I still don't think Gertrude's forgiven him for destroying the lower half of the Dutch door in the kitchen all those years ago."

"Well, she probably shouldn't have shut it after he went outside. Joe's feet always moved faster than his brain when he was a kid." Frank crossed Perriton's office to the restroom leading to the hidden staircase. "He just figured it was open when he went in the backyard two minutes earlier, why wouldn't it still be open?"

Fenton shook his head and smiled. "I can still hear Gertrude carrying on about it to this day. 'That boy moves like a herd of elephants.'"

Frank flipped the light switch in the restroom. "Good thing he does. His door busting talent has actually been useful on more than one occasion since then."

Fenton paused and studied the built-in sink and cabinetry that covered the hidden staircase. "You think Perriton knew about this?"

"I don't know." Frank shook his head. "It was really well concealed. From the information Collig has, Perriton only came to work here three years ago. That was well after this remodel."

"Yeah." Fenton stepped through the opening into the stairwell. "I suppose we could ask him about it. Doesn't mean we'll get the truth though."

Frank pulled a large flashlight out of his "stake-out" duffle bag. He shone the beam around the old stairwell and down the steps.

Fenton grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. Go back. Right there. Stop."

He scrambled down the steps while Frank focused the light on a wall near the bottom of the flight of stairs.

Fenton reached down by a stud that was part of the new wall of the museum and pulled out what looked liked dark cloth to Frank.

"What is that, Dad?"

"A security guard uniform." Fenton shook it and a dark wig, a hat and a pair of brown shoes that had been rolled inside it came tumbling out.

"That's the same uniform the guy on the security video was wearing," Frank said as he hurried down the steps toward his father. "The guy who most likely ransacked Emily's office."

"Our culprit must have been storing it here for easy access."

"And that means that he could have gotten off the third floor elevators dressed normally, and exited from the basement as somebody else, and no one would be any wiser."

"I say we leave it here for now." Fenton began folding the garment around the other items that had been stored with it. "If it disappears, our perp will have his guard up. Right now, he thinks he's getting away with everything."

Frank nodded. "And hopefully, he'll do something careless soon."

Fenton stuffed the uniform back in the crevice he'd pulled it from. "They always do, son."

Frank held up his hand. "Did you hear that?"

"What?"

Frank held his finger over his lips to indicate silence and moved quietly to the top of the staircase. As he entered the restroom, he heard movement from the reception area outside Perriton's office. He quickly turned off the lights in the bathroom and ushered his father back into the stairwell. "Someone's coming."