CHAPTER EIGHT

In the short time it took her to reach the car, Logan was already behind the wheel with the engine running. "Can you call Mac and see if she'll watch the baby a little longer?"

"Lunch at the beach?" Veronica asked hopefully.

He shook his head, "Neptune Grand to see Trina."

She did as he asked. When Mac picked up, she could hear Wyatt babbling in the background. "See, I told you it was mommy calling," Veronica smiled on the word mommy, "and I'm guessing you're not on your way home?"

"We can be if it's a problem."

"No this is rapidly turning into my favorite job title, Supreme Sitter? Chief Caregiver? What happened with the screenwriter?"

"Turns out he's someone I know, he went to Neptune High."

"Does anybody ever leave this town? Maybe it's some big government experiment in mind control?"

"Have you been taking brownies from Corny?"

"Yes, that's how the government is giving us the drugs. Corny is actually a spy."

"And selling wallets on Etsy is his cover?" Veronica grinned, "even our government could come up with a better secret identity than that."

"Where's my cynical and mistrustful best friend? She would believe government conspiracy and Corny…okay, I ruined my credibility making Corny the spy, how about unwitting patsy?"

"There you go. Now you can take your story to The Neptune Register and be tomorrow's headline." Both the valet and Logan were waiting for her to get out of the car, which she did. "I'm going to make Logan feed me lunch and then we're going to talk to Trina. Any new information for me?" Logan was heading for the front desk. She put her hand on his arm to stop his progress.

"I only managed to look into the security firm before Wyatt woke up. The firm, Porcellian Security has their corporate offices in, surprise, Neptune." She recited the address, "and Veronica? The owner of the company is listed as none other than Clarence Wiedman."

She frowned, "we may be a little longer than I thought."

"Take your time. Wyatt and I are planning to watch a riveting episode of Doc McStuffins and then she's going to tell me all about her life in the pen. The playpen, that is."

"Don't even mention my daughter and prison in the same sentence." Mac just laughed. "If you have any problems, call me." Mac was still chuckling when Veronica disconnected the call and returned the phone to her purse.

"Prison? Do we need to go home?" His tone was serious. What does it say about our lives that overhearing the word prison could actually mean something more than a joke?

"No, but you need to feed me." She slipped her hand in his and started for the elevator while she shared Mac's unfunny pun. "She also told me the company Trina hired, Porcellian Security is owned by Clarence Wiedman."

"Porcellian like the final club at Harvard?" Veronica stared at him. "Dum vivimus vivamus, while we live, let us live. It's their motto."

"Another rich boy secret society?" He just shrugged. "Don't you find it a little odd that Trina hired former Kane lackey as security for her movie? A movie the Kanes don't want her to make?"

"Trina, doing something odd? Shocker." He leaned his head back against the elevator, "although I suppose I should be nicer to her now. I don't know Veronica; it throws off my entire worldview. Is the sky still blue? Do bears shit in the woods? Is the Pope Catholic?"

The elevator pinged and the doors slid open. "Let's have lunch."

"I'm questioning my entire existence and all you can think about is food?"

"Did you just want to ride up and down in the elevator all day while your girlfriend grows increasingly cranky from her lack of sustenance?"

"Grows cranky? I thought that was your perpetual state of being." They didn't have reservations, but Logan took care of the problem with cash slipped to the maitre d'. "The rich still mocking you." His eyes grew wide as he listened to how much food she ordered. "Of course I'm going to have no money left, if you keep eating like that."

"The plates are small."

"And you know this how?"

"I ate here when I was pregnant and I left starving. I needed to eat another dinner that night." Her eyes glazed over, "French Dip and chorizo potato skins, mmm. You should be glad you missed it, I was an insatiable eating machine."

Logan frowned. "I'm sorry I missed it. I want to be here for the next one."

"You were here for the important stuff."

"Purely by luck." No paternity leave for unmarried sailors. Apparently, the Navy was still stuck in the past where all babies needed to be born within the sanctity of marriage. His leave now was ordinary vacation time he'd accumulated.

Veronica broke a breadstick and slathered it with butter. "Savannah Miller?"

"I knew it was too easy," he mumbled. "She was the hairstylist for Carrie's music video."

The breadstick paused on its way to her mouth, "I thought you slept with her?"

"I did." Logan shifted in his chair and his eyes roamed over the other tables. His hand smoothed out the tablecloth and fiddled with the silverware. It was always easy to measure his level of frustration or distress by how much he moved.

Veronica tilted her head and stared at him. Faithfulness was inherent in Logan. Of all the qualities she loved about him that was one of her favorites. It could be a residual effect of having a father who constantly cheated on your mother, but she thought it was more about the way Logan loved a person. When he loved you, it was complete. You got him, all of him, his time, attention, focus. There was no way he cheated on Carrie.

"Were you waiting for details?" She finished her breadstick and buttered another one. Sometimes it was like trying to coax a frightened animal out of its cage. Veronica let him nip and snarl his way through it at his own pace. "We met on the set and I knew she was interested, but I was with Carrie." He huffed, "do you need to know this? Is it necessary for your case?"

"No. I don't need to know." She took a sip of water, "the waiter is coming with our food." The waiter set down four plates in front of Veronica and one in front of Logan. One plate with the very skinny lamb chop she remembered from her last visit. She grinned; there was no way that would be enough to fill him. He glared at the small chop. "Don't get any ideas," she gestured to her dishes, "this here is my food."

"French Dip and chorizo potato skins?"

"Maybe if you're good." She cut her steak in half, put the bigger piece on his plate and split her fancy cheesy potatoes with him.

"Now I know you love me."

"Giving birth to your child wasn't enough? I needed to share my food too? The things I must do."

He pushed his food around the plate, "it was after. I slept with Savannah after Carrie cheated on me with Sean. I was too smothering and intense. She needed space."

"I'm sorry Logan." While faithfulness was his default setting in relationships, it was rarely reciprocated.

"Maybe it says more about me than it does about them? Apparently I don't rate fidelity."

There was a questioning lilt to his sentence. Veronica frowned. It seems you know he would never cheat, but he's not so sure about you. Duncan and Piz. Why won't our past leave us alone? "I've never cheated on you Logan and I will never cheat on you."

He leaned across the table and kissed her. "Can we talk about something simple for the rest of lunch? Read any good books lately?"

"Just yesterday I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I really liked the part where he ate through the apple, but he was still hungry."

"That sounds very autobiographical."

"But I'm already a beautiful butterfly." She batted her eyes at him and he smiled. "After we talk to Trina, I think we should go home. Clarence Wiedman can wait until tomorrow."

His brows shot up in surprise. "Are you sure you'd survive the night without pursuing a clue?"

"I thought we were trying to have a normal conversation."

"I said simple. You and I don't do normal."

Her head tilted, "Really? I think we're pretty normal."

"That's scary." He shook his head, "how'd you manage to do that with a straight face?"

Veronica grinned. "I've got skills." She ate the last breadstick. "Maybe we should talk about what you're planning to say to Trina."

"You have no power here, be gone, before somebody drops a house on you too."

"I guess the being nice to Trina is going to take a little work."

"You know my best childhood memory, aside from meeting you on a soccer field that is," he grinned, "was a Saturday spent with my sister. I was six and she was fourteen. My parents were gone and we were alone. They'd left the night before for some big Hollywood premiere and they weren't coming back until Sunday."

"They left you alone?"

His grin widened, "that was so a mom voice." She stuck her tongue out at him. "Very mature Veronica. Do you want to hear this or not?"

"Sorry."

"The housekeeper was supposed to be there, but she didn't show up. That's why she got fired and they hired Mrs. Navarro. Anyway," he stretched the word out, "Trina had plans to spend the day with her friends, but she canceled because she couldn't leave me alone and I thought she would be a real bitch about it."

"Really? At six you thought she'd be a real bitch?"

"I was a very advanced six-year-old and who's telling this story me or you?"

She sighed, "you."

"Now where was I? Right, Trina being a bitch, only she wasn't. We ate cereal and watched cartoons, then spent the day in the pool. My epic cannonball skills? Trina." He smiled. It could've been the memory of that day or the memory of the countless times he soaked her and Lilly with those epic cannonballs when they were trying to tan poolside. "She made grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk for dinner. Then we stayed up all night eating ice cream and watching movies. It was the first time I saw Easy Rider."

It was heartbreakingly simple. That's what every day should be like for a child; cartoons, cannonballs in the pool, eating ice cream and it was rare enough in his life that it took on the importance of his best memory. No wonder Easy Rider was his favorite movie and why he wanted to name the baby Wyatt. "Did you and Trina spend more time together after that?"

"Nuh-uh Mars, one story is all you get." She pouted. "I could tell you what happened that Sunday when my father came home and found ice cream on his ten thousand dollar sofa, but it might besmirch your fond memories of the man."

"And ruin ice cream for me."

He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "and we wouldn't want that. Ice cream being your favorite food group." She turned her head and placed a kiss in his palm. "I'm going to ask Trina about the clinic."

"I don't know if we should." It would be better if they had all the information first. This way, they could tell if she was lying to them. Everybody lies. Let's not even discuss why this is your life philosophy, Veronica. "Maybe you should find out what they do there before you ask her?"

Logan shook his head, "I want to give her a chance to tell me first." He picked up the check, "we should go it's time for my appointment in Samarra."

"How very Sturm und Drang of you," she muttered.

"Are you calling me dramatic?"

"Melodramatic.

"Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of Logan Echolls life."

Veronica rolled her eyes and dug out her cell to call Trina. When she answered, Veronica kept her tone casual, "hey I thought I'd stop by and give you a progress report, what room are you in?" A sardonic smile told her what Logan thought of her little misdirection routine. Trina gave her the room number. "See you in a little bit."

"Surprise attack?"

"It's how the west was won."

"Hmm, I thought it was killing the natives and stealing their land."

"Somebody was paying attention in history class." She hit the button for the ninth floor. Veronica gave him the room number and let him take the lead. He didn't seem in any hurry to reach Trina's suite and the twenty foot walk down the hall took a lot longer than necessary. First he paused to admire the new carpet and then he stopped to check out the artwork on the walls. The urge to push him down the hall was difficult to suppress and when they reached the door and he didn't immediately knock, Veronica almost growled with frustration. He lifted his hand to the door, paused, and then turned to grin at her. He knows how to drive me crazy both in and out of bed. She knocked and he chuckled.

When Trina answered, she seemed mildly annoyed to find her brother. "Logan?"

"Hey sis." He strolled past her into the room. "Love what you've done with the place, early-American slob?" If this was his idea of being nice to Trina, they were in trouble.

"I thought you were coming alone."

Veronica shrugged. "We were having lunch upstairs."

Logan pushed Trina's clothes off the sofa and made himself comfortable. "You act like you're not happy to see me, afraid?"

"Of your razor wit and cunning intellect? I think I can manage."

Some of the hard edge was gone, but the temperature in the room wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. She waited for Trina to sit first, in the chair next to Logan, before picking a spot where she could keep both of them in view. "We went to see Justin Smith about the screenplay."

"Okay." It really is a universal word; right up there with nothing, fine, and whatever.

"Why'd you buy the script Reen?" The use of the nickname turned the temperature up a few degrees closer to warm.

She hesitated, "to make a movie?"

Logan ducked his head and his gaze softened. Trina's hand was resting on the arm of her chair and he leaned forward to give it a gentle squeeze. Irresistible; was the word running through Veronica's thoughts. "Come on, tell me," his words were gentle.

An audible sigh, "I was in Switzerland when I got a call from Conner. He said there was a script floating around Hollywood about Lilly. Someone thought it would be brilliant casting to have him play Aaron. The protégé plays the mentor." A look of disgust crossed her face.

Isn't that exactly what you're doing Trina? She thought it, but she didn't say it.

"I had him overnight it to me and when I read it…it's actually really good. The dialogue was sharp and funny. It was well paced and suspenseful. The character of Lilly was one of those roles you could sink your teeth into. A possible Oscar winner. The way he wrote it, she's central to the story. Even after she's murdered, she appears as a ghost…"

Veronica's sharp intake of breath made both of them turn their heads to her. Logan's brow furrowed, "are you okay?" She didn't trust herself to say anything. Forcing a smile, she nodded at him.

"When Conner told me Charlene Lawrence was attached to play Lilly, I knew there was no way this movie wouldn't get made and…" she gnawed on her bottom lip. "I didn't really care about the movie itself. I just wanted Justin to cut the final scene."

"Where I kill Lilly."

Trina nodded. "I asked him to change the order; Weevil, Jake, Duncan and then Aaron with no mention of you. It would still leave it up to the audience to decide, but because it was the end, most people would conclude Aaron was guilty."

Instead of Logan. "Justin wouldn't change the script?"

Trina tore her gaze away from Logan and turned to Veronica. Her relief at Veronica taking over the questions was palatable. "He carried on about artistic integrity and that all the suspects needed to be included. To which I fired back that he conveniently left out Celeste and accused him of being sexist. Like women can't commit murder too."

There's the new poster slogan for feminism; women can be murderers too. "After that, how did you convince him to let you option the script?"

"I apologized, told him it was just my passion for the project and then I offered him a lot of money."

"How did you get the studio on board?"

"Jake Kane took care of that. Once he started threatening them, they were happy to dump the project. Charlene was a little more difficult, but I told her my shooting schedule was going to cause a conflict with her Twilight Divergent Games thing and she let me buy her out of her contract."

"What happened when the option expired?"

"I thought it would go away. We Hollywood types have a short attention span." That's the most self aware thing I've ever heard Trina say. From the surprised look on Logan's face, it was for him too. "I put it in a drawer and forgot about it. I was tired of acting, but it's the only thing I know how to do and I didn't even do it well. It was fun pretending to be other people, because…." She shook her head, "anyway, I started working with a small theater company; building sets, writing plays, directing. It was quiet."

"And then Justin tried selling his script to another studio?"

Trina nodded. "Tenacious fuck." Logan started laughing and Trina grinned. "Well he was. He wouldn't extend my option and there was a bidding war going on between two different studios. Charlene was interested again. The trades were going crazy with the rumors and it was all spiraling out of control."

"So you threw money at it." Logan's statement was without rancor or judgment.

"Isn't that the first rule of the Echolls Family Playbook? Money covers a multitude of sins?" The siblings exchanged a look and Logan nodded at her.

"Once you owned the script why not let it go? Why make a movie?"

"Because I was broke." She shrugged, "I wasn't exactly destitute, but… I had the script and I thought if I rewrote it and changed the names… I swapped parents, kept the locations."

"Why were you in Switzerland?" It was a very gentle opening gambit and Veronica was impressed. She expected him to go right for the clinic in a heavy handed approach, but he was playing it subtle.

"I shopped my way through all of Europe." Good response. Not a lie and vague enough to give nothing away.

"And decided to settle in Geneva?"

As soon as he uttered Geneva, Trina's gaze narrowed and she turned to Veronica. "Have you been investigating me?"

"It came up." On a computer search you had Mac do.

Trina weighed the words. Veronica could tell she was cycling through ways that her location could've come up in the investigation. It would only take her a few minutes before she landed on, "Conner told you?"

Now she could either lie with a yes or she could confess to her prying. Logan took the choice out of her hands, "what is Kleine Schritte?"

"German I think." Nice one, Trina.

Logan frowned, "why won't you tell me…"

"How about because it's none of your business?" Trina stood. "Don't you two have to get home to Wyatt?"

Veronica could tell Logan wasn't ready to let the subject drop, but she could also see they weren't going to get any further with Trina and she needed to ask some questions about the movie. "Are all of the cast and crew staying here at the hotel?"

"The above-the-line talent are staying here; everyone else is at the Suite Stay." As she answered, she started walking toward the door, a not-so-subtle hint she wanted them to leave. Trina leaned against the open door and waited for them.

If she didn't intervene, this battle of wills between the two could go on for days. She knew from experience that when he wanted something, Logan could put Justin to shame in the tenacious department. "We need to go home Logan."

He sighed and stood. On his way past his sister, he paused, "I love you too Reen."

Trina's eyes followed him from the suite. Her expression mirrored Logan's sad and wistful look from last night. When Veronica started to leave, Trina grabbed her arm. "Please stop investigating Kleine Schritte."

"Why?"

"I don't want Logan to know."