Disclaimer: Only borrowing these wonderful characters from Rob Thomas. I sadly own nothing, but wish I did.
Chapter 9 – Sleuthing
Veronica spent most of Tuesday afternoon talking to several of Debbie's coworkers to try to put together a better picture of what her life had been like prior to the night on the bridge. She was able to find out that she'd been dating a man for the past few months, but none of the people she had talked to had met him yet, and they weren't even sure what his name was. Casey also wasn't sure who the man may have been as he'd been doing a lot of traveling for work right before the incident and hadn't been able to spend much time with Debbie.
After talking with several coworkers, Veronica was finally able to find one coworker that Debbie seemed to be the closest to, a young woman named Ashley. Ashley looked as though she was probably about the same age as Debbie. When Veronica mentioned why she was there, a forlorn look crossed across her face and she said they could talk in her office.
"I was so shocked when the news came out. Debbie was such a sweetheart, it was just a horrible tragedy," Ashley explained as she took a seat behind her desk and gestured at the empty chair in front of the desk for Veronica to take.
"We would have lunch together several times a week and we'd even gone out together a few times after work. That's actually how I found out that she use to dance at the Seventh Veil. She had tried to keep that a secret, but one night when we were out at a dance club, she ran into a couple of the girls she knew from there and the topic came up. She seemed pretty friendly with the girls, like they had been staying in touch, so they might have some information that would help you too. I'm sorry that I don't remember their names though."
When Veronica asked about the mystery boyfriend Ashley replied, "Yeah, I ran into her with him one night a couple weeks before… well you know." She shuddered a bit then continued, "She introduced him as something like BJ, TJ or PJ, but it was really loud in the club we were at and I'd had several drinks already by the time I ran into them, so my memory of the night is a little fuzzy. As I remember, he was pretty average build and average height, with sandy blonde hair, or maybe it was light brown. I can't really remember exactly which club we were at, although it might have been Growlers, but it could have been another club near there called The Clover."
Veronica thanked her for her help and asked her to give her a call if she thought of anything else that might help and left her with her number.
Veronica received a text from Logan at about 3pm to let her know the file was at his office and that she could pick it up whenever she wanted to. Well that's how she interpreted it anyway. In reality the text was only four words "file's here. ready whenever." Either he's not much for texting, or he's still upset about the case or Casey, she thought to herself. She made it back to his office at 4pm, hoping to maybe catch him and do a little damage control, but his receptionist said he had already gone to the Chamber meeting and wouldn't be done until 8pm or later. Veronica briefly wondered if he'd stalled on sending her the text until his meeting was starting in an attempt to avoid her.
Veronica spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Wallace and Cora, which she enjoyed but her mind was preoccupied by both the case and Logan. She kept imagining him with Alexis, both at the ball and this morning in his office. She thought about how convenient it was for them to work in the same office building, and to have late night planning meetings, seemingly on a regular basis since they had 'usual' dinner orders.
When she got home from dinner, she gave Mac a call and asked if she could swing by MI in the morning to take a look at her dad's computer, because she thought there was something wrong with it. She also hoped that maybe Mac could give her some intel on the clubs and other avenues she should think about trying. She was more than ready to admit that being gone for 8 years had put her at a disadvantage of knowing the ins and outs of the town and the best places to go for that sort of information.
Drifting off to sleep, she was thinking about Ashley's description of the mystery man known as BJ, TJ or PJ. That led to a very odd dream involving Tijuana, her in pajamas and giving some faceless mystery guy oral sex. She woke up from that dream cursing to herself that it sort of sucked being back in Neptune.
Mac met her at the office in the morning, and when she was done giving Keith's PC a tune up, she asked what else she needed help with. Veronica wanted to ask her about Alexis in addition to the case, but wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. She decided to just bite the bullet and ask about her first otherwise she was worried she'd be too preoccupied on that to focus on the case.
Veronica let out a deep sigh, and Mac could tell that she was struggling with what to say. "Hey Bond, obviously there's something on your mind that you want to ask, so just spit it out already," she paused and narrowed her eyes at Veronica, "and I don't think it has to do with your case does it?'
"No," Veronica said glumly, "but I don't want you to think I'm being petty or jealous."
Mac smiled realizing it was about Alexis. "You want to know more about Alexis don't you?"
"If I just nod and don't say it, does that make it seem less petty?" Veronica asked with a sheepish expression across her face.
Mac chuckled and then sat down next to her on the small couch. Mac gave her a quick sympathetic pat on her shoulder and smiled knowingly at her. "Logan and Alexis met at the beginning of our Junior year at Hearst. I think she had transferred from some other college up around LA. They were both taking Political Science classes and when he found out that she was really into surfing, he invited her to join him a few times. They seemed to really hit it off quickly after that. In some ways, Alexis always seemed like a female version of Logan to me. They had so many similar traits," she made a slightly disgruntled face, "like coming across as extremely arrogant sometimes and being able to sweet talk their way into getting things they wanted. They both grew up with wealthy families too. Her parents own a successful winery outside of LA. They seemed to really enjoy challenging each other, and it didn't really matter what the competition was, they just each had to try to out do the other. I will say he probably had the best grades he ever had since he'd been at Hearst once they started trying to beat each other, so I guess that was a positive thing."
Mac paused and then got a more agitated look on her face. "But I never really trusted her and we never became very good friends. I tried to tolerate her for Logan's sake though. After a few months of casual dating, they became more of an official couple. He would bring her along on trips we would all take together during school breaks and they were always at parties and other events together."
She hesitated a bit then continued, "I sort of became suspicious though that Alexis wasn't always the faithful girlfriend that she pretended to be, which was maybe why I had a hard time warming up to her initially, like it was a vibe she gave off or something. But the few times I would mention something to either Logan or Dick that seemed questionable, they would both tell me that I was just imaging it or over reacting. They would both excuse her behavior saying that she was just a flirt like Logan could be sometimes and it was innocent."
"During the last term of their Senior year, they ended up moving in together and then Logan proposed right after graduation. I was in the process of moving up to San Francisco at that point, and so I wasn't around them as much for a while after that." She paused as if trying to remember back, "I saw them when I came back the first year for Christmas to visit my family and everything seemed fine, but then by the time I came back the following Thanksgiving, I heard that they had called off the engagement."
"I was still living in San Francisco though, so I didn't get a lot of details about what was going on. By the time I moved back, she was still around off and on, but they were no longer living together and didn't seem like a real couple anymore. And then of course when Logan became Mayor and she secured the Chamber of Commerce spot, they started being together a lot more again. But I never did hear what had happened to end the engagement. I got the sense that Dick never heard the real reason either, because I was never able to get an answer from him about it. I don't even know if it was Logan that ended the engagement or if it was Alexis."
She gave Veronica a somewhat sympathetic smile, wondering to herself how much the story might be troubling her.
"Personally I'm glad he didn't marry her," Mac shared, "but he sure hasn't cut her completely out of his life either. She seems to be the type of woman who likes to keep guys around so she can use them for whatever she might need them for. I've always thought she was super manipulative, but the guys just seem to be oblivious to it."
Veronica told her about the run in she had the prior morning at his office, to which Mac confirmed that sounded like typical Alexis behavior. "She frequently has her hands all over him whenever possible, but always in a way that doesn't seem to push the boundaries of inappropriate. But I guess some people are just more touchy-feely than others." She shivered like that would be the worst thing in the world. Veronica chuckled a little since neither of them had ever been the big touchy-feely type, well not in public, and excluding significant others of course.
"Do you think he still loves her?" Veronica asked point blank.
Mac let out a deep sigh, "I think you need to ask him that. He loved her enough at one time to propose, but I don't know about now. But you know he loved you too right?"
Veronica nodded solemnly, although Mac wasn't sure how convinced she was.
"I probably shouldn't even mention this, but you're one of my dearest friends, and so is he now. We'd been back at school for a few weeks, so it was probably right around the beginning of October of our sophomore year, and I had stopped over at the Grand to pick up a check from our website earnings. He'd had quite a few drinks before I arrived, or I don't think he would have said anything." Veronica couldn't help but wonder if it was October 3rd, the anniversary of Lilly's death. She had also found her self more than a little drunk on several of those anniversaries after she had left, even more so during years that she felt particularly alone.
"I don't remember everything he went on about, but I do remember him saying that cliché of 'if you love something let it go' quote, and telling me that was why he didn't try to contact you after you left and transferred to school in Virginia. That he loved you too much to keep messing up your life, disappointing you and causing you pain. It was glaringly obvious how much he loved you Veronica."
Veronica's face changed to a sorrowful expression, and she nodded her head in understanding.
"If it means anything, or if you care for it to mean anything," she said with a mischievous little smile and hoped this might end the melancholy tone that had developed, "this was the first Masquerade Ball after-party on the yacht that Logan didn't bring her along to."
Veronica couldn't help but smile brightly at that and then for some unknown reason got a little embarrassed about her reaction.
"Come on Veronica," Mac continued, "you've got to admit there's still a lot of chemistry between you and Logan, right? I noticed the way the two of you were eyeing each other on the yacht, even if you were trying to play it cool. And sorry to say, but the ice cream cover didn't really fool me. Your cheeks and neck were a bit too rosy to be from just sitting around chatting about Massachusetts. Maybe you should try to get him to go back to being clean shaven if you want to get away with more mischief without being caught."
Veronica could feel her face get even hotter as she was completely embarrassed now and covered her face with her hands, shaking her head.
"I mean really, how long could you expect to go without sampling the fettuccine again?" Mac continued to tease, enjoying herself as Veronica squirmed from her playful accusations.
"Enough!" Veronica exclaimed, still clearly a bit embarrassed that she wasn't as sneaky as she had hoped when they were on the yacht.
Veronica quickly changed the subject to Debbie's case. She gave Mac an overview of what she'd learned from talking to her co-workers.
"I was able to get a copy of the police report and read through it. Casey had mentioned being told there was a suicide note, but there wasn't a copy of one in the file, which seems a little suspicious to me. But then the investigation notes did allude to something being found that suggested she had been depressed over a recent break up. Their theory was that she was upset about the break up and then jumped from the bridge. They found her car abandoned on the bridge in the middle of the night, with a vial containing a small amount of Liquid X, her purse and cell phone in the car." A shiver spread through Veronica again thinking about how similar it really was to Lynn's case.
"They still haven't recovered her body from the bay though and without it, they couldn't do an autopsy or toxicology report to confirm that she'd taken the rest of the vial, so that's just conjecture. Other than the missing note, there's nothing about the case file that's really jumping out at me though. The police were also never able to identify who her mystery boyfriend was."
When she said the only information they had to go on for the boyfriend's name was BJ, TJ or PJ, Mac laughed. "Well that really narrows it down doesn't it?"
Veronica really wanted to try to find the girls from the Seventh Veil that Debbie had been friends with, but didn't think going down there by herself was probably a great idea. Mac suggested her calling Casey to see if he could go with her. She said she would have volunteered Dick, but with his connections to his own club, she didn't think that would work out well, and given Logan was the Mayor, she also didn't think that was going to be a good option since she didn't think he should really be seen hanging around a strip club. They both agreed that Wallace probably wouldn't be a great choice either, since he had his own reputation to keep up for teaching and coaching at the high school. Veronica agreed that Casey made the most sense, and he had said that he'd be willing to help in any way he could.
She dialed Casey's number. "Hey, how'd you like to go watch strippers with me tonight?" she teased as he answered the phone. Mac could hear Casey laugh on the other end of the line. Veronica filled him in on her plan and they agreed he would meet her at Keith and Alicia's house around 9pm and they would head over to the strip club then.
Mac said she could try going through the video from Growler's security cameras, but it might take her a while to find Debbie, if she had even been there, since they weren't sure which club she'd been seen at by Ashley. She did have some facial recognition software that could help if they wanted to give that a try.
"I should warn you though that The Clover has connections to the Fitzpatrick's. Molly's actually the one who opened the night club, seemingly to get in a more respectable business. Of course it doesn't take a PI license to deduce where her startup capital likely came from. It competes quite heavily with Growlers, while it doesn't cater so much to the type of customers that the River Styx pulls in. And while Dick tries to keep the drug element out of Growlers as much as possible, it's pretty broadly known that The Clover isn't as strict and there's a lot of speculation that there's probably a Fitzpatrick distribution network selling drugs over there."
Given her connection and loyalty to Dick, Mac said that she had mostly stayed away from The Clover, so she wasn't able to give her much more information than that.
Veronica decided that while they would hit the Seventh Veil tonight, that maybe she should wait until Friday night to visit The Clover and Growlers to see if they could find anyone who might have known Debbie. She thought they'd have better luck if it was on a busier night. She told Mac to hold off running through the security footage until she could see how much she could find out at The Seventh Veil.
Veronica decided she'd probably have more luck at the Seventh Veil if she was dressed to blend in a bit more, so she stopped off at a clothing store before heading home to eat dinner. She didn't really have any undercover clothes left, as that wasn't something she ever had to do at the DA's Office. She actually had fun finding a rather provocative outfit for the occasion. All of her important body parts were well covered, but it definitely showed more skin than her normal going out attire. Maybe there were some parts of being a P.I that she had missed after all. What girl doesn't like to play dress-up every now and then.
Back at Keith's she ate a quick dinner and then got dressed for their investigative outing. She had asked Casey to bring any recent pictures he had of Debbie along too in case they needed to use them. She was just strapping on the new heels she'd bought to go along with the outfit, when she heard Casey knock at the door. She grabbed her purse and a light jacket and headed to the front door. As she swung the front door open, her eyes opened in surprise to find Logan standing there. Her surprise was mirrored in his face as he took a look at her outfit.
"Um…" he slowly stuttered out, "I, uh, was in the neighborhood and saw you were home, and, uh, wanted to apologize for yesterday at my office."
"Oh," was all she was able to get out of her mouth as her brain tried to catch up with what was going on.
And of course as luck would have it, because that just seemed to be how the universe in Neptune still operated, Casey came bounding up the steps right behind Logan to meet her.
"Wow, we really need to stop meeting like this," Casey joked as he saw Logan and Veronica both standing at the doorway.
Logan's expression became even more confused as he glanced at the very provocative outfit Veronica was wearing and then back at Casey.
"Sorry, I'd better be going." Logan quickly blurted out as he turned to head back down the steps toward his car.
"No wait Logan," Veronica was able to squeak out as her brain was racing to figure out what to say to explain the situation.
Logan paused for a moment at the bottom of the steps and turned to give her a slightly bothered look. "It's fine Veronica," he said trying to keep his voice calm and neutral. "I'll catch up with you later. Have fun wherever you two are off to." And with that he quickly made it to his car and drove off.
Casey quickly figured out what was going on. "He doesn't know you're working on a case for me does he?"
Veronica gave him a slightly guilty look, "No. I may not have mentioned that was the reason why I was meeting you Monday night or yesterday."
Casey shook his head and laughed at her. "You'd better not get me in trouble with the Mayor of Neptune, Veronica. I don't need any mysterious infractions thrown at me from City Hall," he added in a teasing tone.
"Seriously though, you should let him know you're working for me. I know you have client confidentiality rules to worry about, but I'm fine with you letting Logan know about the case you're working on for me. While I'm flattered you may have considered making him a little jealous by keeping him in the dark, I don't think that's a good idea in the long run."
She smiled appreciatively and said she agreed, and that she'd straighten everything out the next day.
They had a little bit of luck at the Seventh Veil, finding a couple girls that did know Debbie, but none of them knew who her mystery boyfriend was. They all supported Casey's claim that even when she worked there, they never saw her take any drugs and that she rarely even drank alcohol. Overall though the night was sort of a bust, and on top of it, Logan was probably even less happy with her than he had been when she left his office on Tuesday. Casey and Veronica tentatively planned to visit both Growlers and The Clover on Friday night to see if they would have any more luck in trying to track down Debbie's mystery boyfriend. That gave her tomorrow to set everything straight with Logan.
