Jack wakes up to the sound of a wrecker loading Weasel's police cruiser onto the trailer.

"Jacky?" Race asks and the three teens peer out the window to see Weasel being loaded into an ambulance.

"What happened ta Weasel?" Specs asks as an EMT checks his vitals.

"Musta spun outta control when we did," Race says and Jack stretches out his hand.

"Give me da keys, Racer," He says and Race reluctantly drops the keys into Jack's palm. The three boys climb out of the non-dented side of the car and they push it out from the siding. Jack opens the extremely dented driver's door and climbs in. He starts the car and surprisingly it starts to run. Jack puts the car into drive and he drives them back to the apartment. Glass is everywhere and Race accidentally cuts himself on it. As soon as Jack pulls into his parking space, Race runs inside the apartment. Specs follows him to make sure that he doesn't do anything to make it worse.

"Wow, must have been some crash," A voice says and Jack shuts the car door to see Flavi leaned up against the side of the door.

"Yeah," Jack mutters and he rubs the back of his head nervously.

"Where's Race? Is this his fault?" Flavi asks and Jack shrugs.

"Doesn't matter at this point. I'll tell him to get on the fire escape once he's done cleaning up his battle wounds," Jack says and Flavi smiles at Jack.

"Thanks, Jack," Flavi says and Jack nods tiredly.

"No problem," He responds and Flavi watches as her coworker climbs up the fire escape and opens one of the windows to their apartment. "Racer!" Jack shouts and Race appears in the window.

"Kelly, I'se seen enough of your ugly mug today. Ya put me through enough trauma already.  What else could you possibly want from me?" Race whines and Flavi appears at the base of the fire escape.

"Ya girlfriend's here," Jack whispers and climbs into the window. He hipchecks Race right into the sill.

"Ooof," Race groans and turns around to glare at Jack.

"Have fun. I'se got to talk to Romeo," Jack says walking further into the apartment.

"Oh yeah, whatever," Race says sarcastically and he climbs out the window.

"Hey there, stranger," Flavi says casually and Race pushes the ladder down. He offers his hand to Flavi and pulls her up. Flavi lets go of his hand once she is on the ladder and just continues to climb.

"Ma lady," Race replies and Flavi climbs up the rest of the way. She stands next to him and the two of them look out over the city. Albert suddenly appears in the window.

"Race?" He asks and Race turns around to glare at Albert.

"What do ya want, DaSilva?" Race asks irritated.

"We ran out of Lucky Charms and I told Les I would I have some for him the next time he stopped over. He and his brother are coming over later tonight," Albert explains and Race gestures to Flavia.

"I'm busy, Al. Go ask Skittery," Race says and Albert crosses his arms.

"Skittery's being grumpy and won't do anything," Albert says and Race shrugs.

"So? I'se pretty sure that Skits does that for a living. Just ask him. The worst he can do is say no to ya," Race says and Albert sighs.

"Okay. Fine," Albert groans.

"Al, go talk to Skittery the Sloth and go get your Lucky Charms. Ain't gonna get em any other way," Race calls out and Flavi chuckles.

"You know you could get him his Lucky Charms like he wants," She says and Race turns back to her.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that? Albert got himself into this mess, he can get himself out of it," He replies. A couple moments later, a very irritated Skittery the Sloth wanders over to the window.

"Racetrack Higgins, get Albert his Lucky Charms!" Skittery groans.

"Well, Skittery the Sloth! How nice of youse to get up off the couch for once," Race says and Skittery throws a fake punch in his friend's direction. Race dodges it and Skittery nearly falls out of the window.

"Race!" Skittery shouts and Jack comes over and grabs Skittery out by the collar of his shirt. Davey stands next to Jack and looks a little scared for Skittery.

"Is he okay?" Davey asks Jack and Jack shoves the lanky teenage boy halfway across the room.

"Yeah, he's fine," Jack replies as Skittery stumbles over towards Albert. Davey looks a little unsettled at the rest of the happenings around the apartment. Loud music is playing in the background, it is extremely unorganized and the boys are doing flips over the back of the couch and off the couch. Crutchie, as usual, sits in a chair, unsure of what to do with all of this. Jojo comes sprinting over to him.

"Hey, Crutchie! Let's play Sorry!" Jojo says excitedly and Crutchie smiles. Crutchie is known as the undefeated Sorry champion among the group of boys. Jojo has been plotting to change that for quite some time. Jack wanders over to Romeo with Davey.

"Romeo, we need to talk about the case and about keeping you away from the cops," Jack says, sitting down next to the younger boy. Davey's eyes widen.

"You found enough evidence to get Romeo out of jail? That's not possible. The case has not been going on nearly long enough for you to have..." Davey stops mid rant, "You didn't break him out of jail, did you?"

"No, Dave. Come on! Why would I do something so...illegal?" Jack asks and Davey raises his eyebrows.

"You know that you could face jail time for this, Jack. You took a huge risk doing this and once someone finds out. You are going to be in a world of hurt and no one is going to let you near this case," Davey explains.

"I'm free! Isn't that all that matters? At least I have a cool story to tell the next cute girl I see," Romeo reasons and Davey shakes his head.

"Oh no. You aren't telling this story to another person. Quite honestly, Romeo, you shouldn't even leave this house!" Davey says.

"So, we need evidence now, don't we?" Jack asks and Davey shakes his head.

"Yes, unless you're a psychic and you can just figure it out," Davey says and Jack rolls his eyes.

"Alright, alright, I'll find some evidence. Where do we start?" Jack asks and Davey smiles.

"Best place to start is see what the police missed at the scene of the crime," Davey says and Jack cocks his head.

"The police found everything they needed," Jack says and Davey smirks deviously.

"Or did they?" He asks and Jack thinks through it for a second.

"Okay. I'se can take a couple of people with me, I guess. You, Race and Flavi, I guess. She's pretty smart," Jack says. He walks over to the window sill. Race and Flavi are talking about something with their backs to the window.

"And then Jack..." Race is in the middle of telling a story,

"Told Race and Flavi that he needs their help with something," Jack says and the two on the fire escape turn around.

"You need our help? You want Race's help?" Flavi asks with a hint of disbelief at the edge of her voice.

"Yes, I want both of your help," Jack says and Race slips an arm around Flavi's shoulders.

"With what?" Race asks and Flavi snuggles into his touch a little bit more.

"We need to investigate the crime scene where Romeo's girlfriend was found dead. I want to see if the police missed anything," Jack says and Flavi looks a little nervous.

"Jack, you do realize that we could get into huge trouble for doing this if we get caught, right?" Flavi asks and Jack nods.

"We'se got to be willing to take a risk and clear Romeo's name," Jack says and Race shrugs.

"Danger, trouble and various kinds of recklessness. I'm in. I think I even know how to create a diversion," Race says with a wicked grin.

"How? Listen, the less attention we draw to ourselves, the better," Jack says. Race pulls out his cell phone with a wicked grin.

"I'm gonna make a call to my old buddy, Spot Conlon," Race says.

A FEW MOMENTS LATER

"What do ya mean it's too hard to hold up a bank after dark?" Racetrack asks loudly over the phone. The sound of the loud voice of Spot Conlon comes over the speaker for a solid moment. Race eventually holds his phone away from his ear.

"Listen, can ya just make some kind of ruckus that will have all of the New York police over in Brooklyn?" Race asks. Jack could clearly hear the answer,

"Oh, that's what ya really wanted? Consider it done and tell Jacky Boy I said hi," Spot says and Jack smiles.

"Jack says hi back," Race says, "Now go do your thing so we'se can do some snooping."

"Okay, just expect loud noises, lots of them," Spot says and Flavi and Davey look a little nervous.

"You called Spot Conlon, the teenage gangster?" Davey asks, terrified.

"Good that you know who he is, Davey," Racetrack says and Flavi elbows him.

"Be nice," She says and Race rolls his eyes.

"What? He has an issue with my friendship with Spot Conlon. He's the one who has the problem. Not me," Race explains and Flavi shakes her head.

"I disagree with your logic once again, my friend," She says and Jack smiles.

"Well, that was great. Now, we gotta get moving. Thanks for making that call, Racer. I appreciate it. Okay, who wants to drive?" Jack asks.

"MEEEEEE!!!" Race shouts loudly, causing all other activity in the apartment to cease for a brief moment. Skittery the Sloth glares up at him.

"What'da ya shout for?" Skittery asks tiredly.

"Go back to ya moping, Sloth," Race says and Skittery rolls his eyes.

"My name ain't Sloth, it's Skittery, Tigger," Skittery says and Race pretends to look offended.

"Tigger? Who you calling, Tigger, Skittery?" Race asks and Skittery stands to his feet. Kid Blink and Mush notice the fight and step in.

"Whoa whoa whoa. Nobody's dying tonight," Mush says, using his strength that many girls find attractive, to hold Skittery back. Skittery frowns and plops back down the couch. Blink crosses his arms and looks at Race.

"Why is Jack taking you somewhere and not me?" He asks and Race shrugs.

"Guess you didn't make the cut this time. Sorry, Kid," Race says as Jack reaches for a different set of keys to a different car than the wrecked one.

"Race, stop gloating and come on," Jack calls out and Kid Blink reaches out for a fist bump.

"Don't die," He says to Race and the two boys fist bump sideways.

"Hey, if nobody dies, I consider that a success," Race says with a chuckle and Flavi rolls her eyes yet again. Race notices her eye roll and questions her,

"What?"

"You're gonna be the death of me, Higgins," Flavi replies and Race gets closer to her.

"Well, what if I wanna be?" He asks and their faces start to get closer. Jack loudly clears his throat.

"No PDA in front of the kids," Jack says and the two teens quickly pull apart.

"Jack, we weren't. I mean, I wasn't trying to," Flavi starts to explain and Davey looks exasperated.

"How hard is it to keep things to a Les level?" He asks. Race smirks.

"Davey, you know that the Newsies don't really do levels. Particularly Les levels," Race says, gently sliding his arm over Flavi's shoulders.

"Race!!! Don't be like that!" She says pulling away from him and Race pouts.

"Flavi, come back. I miss you," Race whines and Flavi shrugs. Being the shy person she is, she does not stray too far away from Race. Jack opens the door to the apartment.

"Are youse coming or not?" He asks and Flavi and Davey walk over. Race follows behind with his arms crossed.

"Yeah. I guess I should help my little brother out," Race groans and Romeo perks up from across the room. He runs over and hugs Race. Race gives the smaller boy a one arm hug and smiles.

"I want you to teach me another Poker trick when you come back," Romeo says and a smirk slides onto Race's face.

"I'se pretty sure I can teach ya more than one, kid" Race says and the other three head out the door. Romeo lets go of Race and Race follows the other three out to the car.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

After a surprisingly uneventful car trip, the group of four arrives at the crime scene. The whole park has been roped off by police lines and yellow crime scene tape. Jack steps over one of the lower pieces of tape and Davey's eyes go wide.

"You can't just do that!" He exclaims and Jack feigns a look of innocence.

"Do what?" Jack asks as he turns on the flashlight on his phone.

"Stepping over the line!! That's crossing the line on so many levels, Jack!!" Davey shouts and Jack shushes him.

"Youse wants to get caught?" Jack asks and Davey crosses his arm with a humongous frown on his face.

"What do you think?" He asks and Race rolls his eyes. He walks over to Davey and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Now, Dave. The first thing you gotta know about Jack Kelly is that he doesn't always play by the rules," Race says softly.

"I knew that much. I don't even think that Jack Kelly believes in rules!" Davey shouts in pure frustration.

"Davey, keep it down will ya?" Jack asks as he looks in the grass. His eyes widen as he spots something in the grass.

"Second thing, Jack typically knows what he is getting himself into when he does something that isn't the best thing to do," Race says as he watches Jack pull something out of the grass.

"A locket?" Jack asks and Davey stops listening to Race's lecture and steps over the police line.

"Lookey who's crossin the line!" Race exclaims to Flavi, causing her to giggle a little bit. Davey turns around and glares at him.

"Racetrack..." He warns, but his start to a lecture is cut off by a new voice.

"That locket belongs to me!" A female voice says catching absolutely all four of the teenagers off guard.

"This belongs to you?" Jack asks in slight disbelief. A gorgeous woman with long blonde curls smiles at the four and nods in Jack's direction.

"That's what I just said, wasn't it?" She asks and Jack smiles. He looks over to his left and notices Davey staring at the girl.

"Yeah. I'm sure my pal Davey thinks so too," Jack replies and Davey's face turns beet red. The woman chuckles a little bit, causing Davey to blush even more.

"The name is Betsy Sinclair," She says and pulls out a notebook, "I find crime scenes to be fascinating so I couldn't help but come down here and take a look when I heard about this murder."

"Crime scenes? What about the laws involved with them? Aren't those sort of interesting too?" Davey asks and Betsy smirks.

"Everything about a crime scene fascinates me. The more messy the case, the more thrilling it is on the legal side and just in general," She says with a hint of flirtation in her voice.

"You don't seem afraid to break the rules," Davey says and Race whispers in Flavi's ear,

"How much ya wanna bet he asks her out on a date?" Flavi gently swats Race away from her. The two continue to watch Davey and Betsy flirt in a slightly awkward way. Jack keeps poking around the crime scene hoping to find something useful or something that would give any kind of an explanation.

"I'm not afraid of much," Betsy says with a small tilt of her head.

"Seems like it. I'm David Jacobs by the way. If you don't mind me asking, what was your locket doing at this crime scene?" Davey asks innocently. Betsy pauses for a moment.

"I was out taking a walk and I heard a gunshot. Next thing I knew, a young girl was lying on the ground dead. I called the police and I checked for a pulse on the young woman. Of course I heard none so then, I called the police. The young boy that was with the girl was trying to explain something to me, but the police didn't listen to it so neither did I!" She says and Davey crosses his arms.

"You still didn't answer my question," He says.

"Oh! The locket! It must have fallen off when I went to help the kids out," She says and Davey smiles at her.

"That was sweet of you to help them even though there was nothing you could really do. Do you believe that the boy is innocent?" He asks her and Betsy thinks for a moment.

"I don't know. He seemed really afraid of what had happened. The boy claimed that it was his first date with the girl. Kids do so many things these days that I don't even know what to believe and what not to believe," She says and Davey nods.

"Well as a sort of witness, thanks for doing your best in answering," He says and Jack watches the interrogation with an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Something is not right about that girl. Betsy and Davey talk for a few more minutes and then Betsy walks away. Davey's eyes follow her right out of the park.

"Davey," Jack says interrupting his friend's thoughts. Davey keeps watching her for a moment. Jack shakes his head in disbelief at his friend. Out of all of them, Davey seems the least likely to lose his mind over a girl. Currently, he is acting worse than Romeo, which is saying something.

"He's got it bad," Race mutters and Jack walks up to Davey and elbows him.

"Huh? Yeah?" Davey asks quickly, breaking out of his stare.

"Dave, get your head out of la la land and back into reality. We'se got a case to solve," Jack says as he pockets the locket.

"You can't just take that! That's Betsy's!" Davey exclaims and Jack shushes him.

"It's evidence and it's not Betsy's evidence. It's my evidence," Jack says with a hint of irritation I n his voice.

"That's just crossing the line!" Davey says angrily.

"Everyone's done plenty of that tonight," Jack replies. Flavi notices something off in the bushes.

"Race, look in the bush," She says to her friend.

"What?" He asks with a tone of skepticism.

"Just do it!" Flavi whispers and Race shrugs. He climbs over the police tape and walks past his bickering brothers to the bush. Race looks in the small bush and sees a little pouch. It is stuck way back in the bush, so Race shakes the bush until it drops out. The little pouch hits the ground and some coins spill out.

"What in the world?" Race exclaims, causing the argument between Jack and Davey to stop.

"What did you do?" Jack asks and Race points to Flavi.

"Flavi saw something in the bush and told me to grab it. It was stuck way back there, so I had to shake the bush to get it to fall out. When it fell, a bunch of coins fell out," Race explains and Davey kneels down to pick up one of the coins.

"Jack, can you shine your flashlight over here?" He asks and Jack does. Davey gasps a little bit.

"What's wrong?" Jack asks and Davey shakes his head in disbelief.

"It's not what's wrong. These coins are super rare. I don't understand why anyone would leave these in a pouch in the middle of a park," He says as he picks up the pouch.

"Did you look inside for a note?" Flavi asks as she walks over to the line. Race offers her his hand which she takes. He then helps her climb over. Davey moves the coins around the inside of the pouch and comes upon a tiny rolled up piece of paper. He pulls it out with his fingers and unfolds it. It reads...

Treasures are the cover to the story of a very dark secret.

"What it that supposed to mean?" Race asks.

"Based on all of the mystery books I've read, this saying isn't exactly wrong. I find that dark secrets cover up a treasure to scare people away from them," Davey says softly.

"Nice deduction, Sherlock," Race says and Flavi chuckles a little bit.

"So, what do we do now?" Jack asks and Davey shrugs.

"Figure out the dark secret behind this treasure," He says, examining the piece of paper.

"You know, for a note in a bag of coins, this one is kinda cryptic," Jack says and Race rolls his eyes.

"Well, what do you think the person these was trying to say? Here, have some coins that are worth a lot of money. Have fun!" He comments sarcastically. Flavi sighs again.

"Jack, how do you deal with this every single day of your life?" Flavi asks. Jack smirks at Flavi and says,

"Survival. That's what gets me through the day."

"Hey! I'se ain't that bad!" Race says loudly and Flavi shushes him.

"I think somedays you're your own worst enemy," She says as she gently lays a hand on his shoulder. Race shakes his hand off of her and Jack points back to the paper.

"So, what do we do? Maybe we should take this to Romeo and ask him if he knows anything about it," He proposes and Davey stops for a minute.

"Have you talked to the parents of the deceased girl?" He asks. Jack shakes his head.

"Taking twenty or so boys to go talk to a family who have just lost their daughter is not the best move right now," Jack says. Davey rolls his eyes.

"No! Not all of you at once! Have Crutchie do it," He says before asking Jack, "Do all of you do everything together?"

"We'se brothers. Most of the time, yes," Jack replies.

"Don't say it's a bad idea, Davey. We'se full of bad ideas, but most of the time, we have a lot of fun doing them," Race says and Davey is speechless. Race speaks so much truth when he says this.

"Do you rope Flavi into all of them?" Davey asks and Flavi smirks at Race.

"Only the ones that I want in on," She says and Race beams at her. His arm snakes around her shoulders and she leans in comfortably. Jack sticks the piece of paper back inside the pouch and closes it. He tucks the pouch into his pocket and the group prepares to leave. Something seems off. Every time that Jack has been successful with something in his life, something goes tragically wrong. Every time without fail. The fact that something is actually going right for once makes Jack nervous and at the same time, gives him hope.

Until his cell phone rings. Jack looks at the name and sees that it is Mush.

"Hey, Mush. What's up?" Jack asks.

"Someone's on to us," Mush says nervously. Jack stops for a second in the middle of the sidewalk.

"What do you mean?" Jack asks, tossing Race the keys and heading towards a back alley. The other three shoot him a look of confusion but Jack waves them off. Race doesn't need to hear this if it's what Jack thinks it is.

"Somebody slipped a note under the door. Someone knows that our housing situation is not what we say it is," Mush answers nervously. Jack bites his lip in thought.

"Did ya open the door to see who was on the other side?" Jack asks.

"No. I just saw the note on the floor when I was going to lose to Crutchy at Sorry," Mush answers and Jack thinks for a second.

"Did you hide it?" Jack asks.

"Crutchy saw it," Mush says and Jack inwardly groans.

"Anyone else?" He asks.

"No," Mush answers and Jack breathes a small sigh of relief.

"Good. Keep it that way until I get back," He answers and goes to hang up.

"Wait! Jack, do you think this is related to the other thing we're working on?" Mush asks.

"I don't know. Listen, I gotta go or Racer is gonna get worried," Jack says and he hangs up. He runs down the street and back to the car only to discover that Race had actually left him. Perfect. At least he had time to walk home, alone with his thoughts. His mind felt like it was running at a million miles an hour and all he wanted to do was make it go away. The only way to do that was to go somewhere new. Somewhere like....Santa Fe.

AN:/ Well, if this chapter doesn't scream filler then I don't know what does. This is called I haven't worked on this book since January and I wanted to get something out for it. It's not great, but it could have been way worse. There was some plot development, I guess you could call it that. We discovered our first suspect!!!! Well actually, maybe our second. I'm not counting Romeo, everyone knows he didn't do it. Also, we haven't seen a whole lot of Flavi lately in the oneshots so she is back!!!!! For all of you who are Elley fans, she will not be appearing this book, but she for sure will be a character in Maybe It's Worth A Shot. Which also needs updated. Okay, peeps. I have some questions regarding a different book that I am working on.

1. Do you prefer a book with multiple endings and you can pick your favorite one or.... do you prefer a book with one ending where it is cut and dry what happens at the end? I think I know what I am going to do for the book that I am talking about, but I want to make sure that no one completely hates one thing or the other. Please be honest, you really aren't going to hurt my feelings.

This next one is about the Big Book Of Newsies...

What do you guys want to see me do first with that book? Do you want my thoughts on stuff, do you want character info(this includes major OCs like Flavi and Elley) or do you want historical info? If you have more stuff that you want to see me do, feel free to suggest stuff and I might do it!!

Okay, all done with questions. What did you guys think of the chapter? Feel free to comment, vote or do whatever you do. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm going to try to get better at updating this book and hopefully I will get over this nasty writer's block for this book. If anyone has an idea of where they think this book should go, I would be thrilled to hear it. Thanks for reading, commenting, voting, or doing whatever it is you do with books on here. See you around, friends!!!!