A/N: Thank you for all the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter...

Chapter 10

Morning came all too soon for Veronica. When she awoke she found her arm draped across Logan's chest, her face tucked into his ribcage. She lay still, listening to his steady breathing. She was surprised at how rested she felt, that she had been able to sleep at all. As tender as the night had ended, it could not quite erase the horror she had felt seeing her father unconscious and bleeding. Regretfully, she sat up so as not to wake Logan, and slid out of the bed. She hated to leave the tranquility of his arms, but her mind had started racing the moment she woke. She was worried about her dad and furious that someone had tried to kill him. She was shocked that Jerry Sacks had died, but at the same time, knew that was a clue that the police department had something to do with it.

Grabbing her bag, she slipped quietly from the room, digging in it to pull out her cellphone to call the hospital. After verifying that her dad hadn't taken a turn for the worse, she went into the bathroom to shower and change.

Veronica was starting to obsess about her dad and what had happened. She felt helpless, realizing how alone he was Neptune, how he had been battling a war without any comrades close by. How had she left him here fighting alone, for so long? Cliff McCormack was the closest thing he had to a partner, but Cliff was restricted by the firm lines of the law. There was no one that Keith had at MI, no partner to help out with tough cases since she had left. It wasn't something she had allowed herself to dwell on often, but being here and seeing it firsthand…terrified her.

Reflecting was getting her nowhere. She could go back and forth all day about why she should or shouldn't have left, but that wouldn't change what had happened last night. Keith would need her help to get back on his feet, and that would take time. She was suddenly glad that the job in New York had fallen through because she couldn't see herself leaving Neptune anytime soon. From what the doctors had implied the night before, he wouldn't be able to get around on his own for a while. At the very least, she would need to issue refunds on any open cases at MI and figure out day-to-day living for him until he was better able. That could potentially take a few days or even weeks.

Her mind turned to Logan and his case. They were so close to the truth, she could taste it. She had been working out a plan since the two of them had left the police department the afternoon before. Even though she hadn't had a chance to talk to Logan about what she was thinking, she hoped he would be up to a little P.I. work today.

She finished up her shower and toweled dry, recalling suddenly how she had basically thrown herself at Logan; her face warming at the thought. It had felt so right at the time; it still felt right. Veronica felt no regret at finding solace in him. She hoped he didn't regret it either.

Logan had felt her leave his side and slip out of the room. Still dozing, he heard her out in the living room on the phone and then the shower start up. He was reluctant to get up and dress, content instead to lay there in her bed, imagining her with him still. He wanted to put off reality, put off what the day might bring for as long as possible.

He knew Veronica must have been on the phone with the hospital, and he wondered how Keith had fared in the night. Hopefully there had been no change for the worse. Logan worried about Veronica, about what she might do in response to the attack of her dad. He remembered all too well the steely resolve that would overtake her whole person when someone close to her was hurt; this time would be no exception, he was sure. As much as she had changed, nothing could bring her back to her old ways more than a threat to Keith.

Logan was taking it as a good sign that she hadn't woke in horror that he was with her, in her bed. It seemed like that was telling in itself, that perhaps she wasn't regretting what had happened in the night. He certainly didn't regret it.

Eventually, he heard her making her way into the room to sit on the bed next to him, and he turned to face her. She had a serious look in her eye as she said, "The only way I'm not going to spend the day obsessing about my dad is by nailing Gia and Luke to the wall." She paused. "Let's go make them sweat."

He saw no trace of remorse in her face, and he felt a weight lifting off his chest. In a teasing tone he replied, "Good morning to you, too."

She looked surprised for a moment, sitting back a little. "Good morning." Then she leaned down to kiss him lightly on the lips. "Did you sleep very well?"

His heart in his throat, he looked straight into her eyes, trying to read her thoughts. He felt his mouth curl into a relieved smile. "Pretty well, actually. How are you doing this morning? How's your dad?"

She sat back to let him sit up, and responded, "He's stable, no change. They still said it will be a few days before I can see him." She swallowed, emotion shining in her eyes. "I'm so glad it seems like he'll be all right. "

He leaned down to grab his pants off the floor, then stood up and began to put them on. Smirking, he teased, "You don't happen to have a shirt I could borrow? If I recall correctly, mine seems to have become less than wearable."

She laughed, making his breath catch. He watched as she stood, tucking her hair behind her ears. She rubbed her neck, and met his eye, "Uh…I'm sure I can find something in Dad's closet. How do you feel about …Hawaiian print?" He shook his head. "No? Plaid? Argyle? Come on, your killing me here!"

Logan stepped close to her, taking her face in his hands, and kissed her nose. "Just a plain white tee works fine. Nothing flashy. We can head over to the beach house and I can change." He released her. "Now, tell me about your thoughts on Gia and Luke. I'm all ears."

He could see in her expression that she wasn't ready to talk about it yet, about them and what had happened. He could live with that, at least for a while. She wasn't throwing him out to the curb, shirtless, at least not yet anyway, which was a positive sign. He knew she was right about focusing on his case. They were too close to solving it and clearing him to just set it aside for even a day.

She started toward the door. "I'll go find a shirt. On our way to Dick's we can grab some coffee and then we can go over what I'm thinking." Veronica stopped as she stepped into the hallway and turned back to look at him. Quietly, she smiled and said, "Thank you for staying last night. I'm…..glad you did." Then disappeared down the hallway and into what he assumed to be Keith's room.

Veronica waited while Logan finished dressing and then they headed out, grabbing some coffee and pastries at a coffee drive through near the beach house. When they walked into the house, they found Dick was already out on the water surfing. She was glad that they didn't have to deal with him right then. She could imagine his snarky attitude and snide comments about Logan not coming home for the night. It wasn't something she was ready to have to explain to anyone, least of all Dick. She wasn't even willing to talk to Logan about it yet.

He left her for a few minutes at the dining table while he went to change into his own shirt and some clean jeans. When he came back, he sat down across from her, setting the borrowed shirt next to her bag and nodded at her. "All right, let's hear your plan. Enough stalling."

Logan was quiet while Veronica explained her idea about bugging Gia's apartment and haunting her with phone calls of recordings of Carrie's voice. She hoped it would spook Gia into tripping up and exposing herself and Luke as setting up Logan. Veronica was almost positive that Gia hadn't actually committed the murder. She figured that Luke had to have been the one to have actually electrocuted Carrie.

"Gia's the weak link, Logan. I think we can get her to talk."

Logan was brooding, obviously mulling over everything that she had just proposed. "If that's true, Veronica, then Luke is dangerous. I don't want you anywhere near him if you honestly think he's the one that killed Carrie." He ran a hand over his face. "What do you propose to do about him?"

She nodded, "I completely agree that he's dangerous. I don't really want to be around him at all. I think if we can get Gia upset enough, she'll hang her own noose. What I think will happen is when she hears the phone call from the dead, she'll call Luke and imply what we already know to be true. I won't need to even be near Luke. "

"I don't trust that they won't figure out it's you who's behind it all. They know you're in town, you said yourself that you asked them about the night Susan died. They've got to know you're helping me. I'm worried, honestly, Veronica, that you could be in danger because of me. Because I chose to bring you back here." He blew out a sigh, "I don't like this. At all."

Veronica wasn't surprised he was concerned. She had expected it, actually. "Well, I have given that some thought, about Luke being unhinged or…angry. I think you should tail him."

Obviously surprised, Logan responded, "Really."

She chuckled. "Yes, really. I'm not suggesting that I can handle this all on my own. I recognize this could get ugly. If you follow Luke, when Gia calls him, and she will, you will be able to see exactly where he's heading. If I stay somewhere where I can watch Gia, I can follow her to wherever they meet. When you follow him, you will follow him to where I am." She stood up, gathering her things, finishing her coffee. "Keep your enemies close." Pausing in her actions, she looked at him. "What do you think? You can call and warn me if it looks like Luke is going after me. I'm not worried about Gia. She's not dangerous, she's just an accessory."

Slowly, Logan nodded. "I think it's as good a plan as any, I guess."

Logan had taken Veronica back to retrieve her dad's car and then headed to MI. He was learning that surveillance took preparation. Veronica had needed to edit a sound bite of Carrie's voice and figure out a way to get the bug into Gia's apartment. They also had to find out the schedules of both Gia and Luke. With a few phone calls, they were able to confirm that Gia was home, and that Luke was at his office.

By the time Logan had left to find and follow Luke, it was early afternoon. He had parked across the street from where Luke's office was, and had shot Veronica a quick text to Veronica when he had seen Luke come out and get into his car and left. But she had replied back that she hadn't even gotten set up but to keep close to Luke, so Logan had shadowed him as closely as he dared.

It had been hours of driving, and now he was across the street from a bath house Luke had just entered. The implications were pretty obvious as to what Luke was doing in there, and Logan was quite surprised by this revelation. He wondered if Gia knew her fiancé was having affairs with men.

His phone rang and he answered, seeing that it was Veronica. "Hey."

"I made the call to Gia, she immediately freaked out and called her partner in crime. Have you seen Luke pick up?"

Logan grunted. "Well, I can't actually see Luke right now. Apparently he had to make a pit stop for some hot man-on-man action."

There was a slight pause. "What are you talking about?"

"Luke is inside a West Hollywood bath house." And Logan was not tempted to follow.

"What's he doing in a bath-oh." Veronica was silent. "Hold on, someone's at her door." She didn't say anything for a few minutes. "It's Cobb. She called Cobb."

That was unexpected. Logan glanced across the street, making sure Luke hadn't reappeared.

Suddenly, Veronica exclaimed, "No. Freaking. Way!"

Logan felt impatient as he demanded, "Update, please."

She groaned in disgust. "Ick, they're totally doing it."

Logan was shocked. First Luke gay, and now Gia having an affair with Cobb? Something was off about this. "Are you serious?"

"Gia seduced her lap dog into killing Carrie. "

He felt a flash of worry go through him. "Can you see them?"

"No, thank god. I can hear them though…"He could almost feel her shudder through the line. "Oh, shit."

"What? What's going on?" Logan demanded.

"Oh, Dad had all the good listening devices locked up, so I had to use one of the old bugs that uses FM signal, on the end of dial, 88.6 no one listens to it…it's going in and out."

"As in 88.6 Rock Hard Rock?"

There was a slight pause on her end of the line. "Tell me you're joking."

"Neptune's new classic rock station."

"Huh, well, it should be fine, it only transmits a hundred yards or so. Hey, I think I see Carrie's tablet on Gia's table. What did it look like? Was it a big one or a little one?"

He rolled his eyes. "Seriously? It was one of the little white ones. But she would have to be stupid to keep it there."

Veronica guffawed. "I sat behind Gia in algebra. Nothing would shock me."

"Well, Carrie's was inscribed, " Logan said, suddenly remembering, "It said "Rock you very much from the MTV Music Awards' or something like that."

There was shuffling on her side of the phone, and then she said, "I need to get a closer look."

Raw alarm shot through him. "Veronica." He said, warningly. Logan started his car, all thoughts of Luke gone. He needed to get back to Neptune, now. He pulled out from his parking spot and quickly made a U-turn, heading for the freeway.

"Relax! I'm not going to break in. She invited me to come over sometime while I was here. I will just take her up on that offer…but after Cobb leaves."

"She could be a murderer." He stressed the last word, worried.

"Logan, it's Gia Goodman. The day I can't handle Gia Goodman, ha." When he didn't respond, she continued, "Seriously, I can take her."

He knew what she was saying, but he didn't like it. He also knew there was no way to talk her out of it. The most he could do was to get there as soon as possible. "Please, don't do anything stupid. I can be there in just over two hours if I don't hit traffic." This, he realized, would be next to impossible. It was near rush hour already, there would be no way to avoid it.

"I'll wait till he leaves, and give it plenty of time to make sure he doesn't come back. It will be fine."

Unconvinced, Logan stepped on the gas.

A/N: I think it's safe to say that Logan didn't stay and wait for Luke to leave the bath house. I think he would have been racing to get back to Gia's as soon as possible. From what I googled, from Hollywood to San Diego it is 2 hours, 7 minutes, so I think if we assume that Logan started following Luke at around 1:30, give them the drive time plus all the stops and traffic in between, it could have been well after 4 before Logan talked to Veronica and left to get back to Neptune, right at rush hour.