It was four days later when Don approached me with something on his mind. He pulls out a map from his backpack, and for some stupid reason, someone decided to make a map of our town. He unrolls it and pulls out a few highlighters and pens before looking up at me expectantly. "Well?"

"Well, what?"

He takes a yellow pen and inches around the map before circling something. He then starts looking over the map again, and marks another in bright orange. He hands me the light blue without looking up, "Mark the Dog-Chow Incorporated building."

"The warehouse? I thought they were putting a Comen'Go there."

"That's the plan, but until then, mark it on the map." I shrug and start mimicking him. We look like idiots on the kitchen table, but at least amends have been made.

When our fine work has been done, he starts off on a Don-like rampage. "Yellow is the guy Daughtry's store. We know he's practically out of business, and when I talked to Cassie Balducci – her dad's a tax collector – the guy's been shelf-less and has barely been crawling by for a few months now."

"Okay. How did you get Cass to tell you about her dad?" Don cups his chin in one of his hands as he micro-analyzes the map. "Believe it or not," he dares, pulling away his hand and smiling at me, "you don't need to sleep with a girl to have a conversation with one."

"Shit bro, low blow." I punch him softly, but he's back to his map. "Okay, but the orange is his Dad's banking company's place. Daughtry Banking. What we need to do is figure out why pop Daughtry has been keeping his son's head above water." I scratch my head – nah, I don't get what he's going on about. I don't particularly care, but I guess I'm supposed to be nice to him, you know? At least pretend to listen. "Is it really bad that his dad is helping him out?"

"Basic economics state that there's no income for the family doing this. A banking dad is supposed to be a banker first, and he's a first-generation American Irishman. Daughtry's been in the grocery business and making very little income over the last few years, if any at all. Now, looking at the report on Zimmerman's trial-"

"You pulled Dad's work stuff out to snoop?" I exclaim. He blinks at me with an arched brow. "Wouldn't you do the same? Anyway," he continues, pulling out a few papers and laying them out across the town map, "Zimmerman didn't just rob the guy. Look at the photos and the reports. He trashed the guy's business. He-"

"Don, I don't see a connection or value behind this. So some high-n'-mighty thug trashed the guy, so what?"

"Daughtry isn't he one who brought up the charges though. It was the business next door, the party supply place. With all of this damage done, Daughtry didn't file any charges? That doesn't add up."

Okay. So now I see. He's found things that don't fit together and is staring at them until some massive force throws the two together. But what?
Wait a fat minute, what about me? What if I throw it all together?

"There's a reason why Daughtry didn't file any charges." I lay a hand out over the map while trying to think. "What if Zimmerman was just getting back at Daughtry for something?"

"That's what I'm thinking. But, what if it's deeper than that? What if it's a jab at pops Daughtry?" He smiles a wry smile at me. "That's what I'm thinking. Now, we've also got records in city hall how that old dog chow place went under. When I asked about it, apparently grocer Daughtry went out and bought the warehouse. I can't think of a palpable reason for him to do that, can you?"

"But we agreed that the Comen'Go's going there."

"True," He says, tracing my penmanship with a long finger, "but I'm not finding any documents in city hall saying that another Comen'Go is actually taking over the place." I look at him with an apparently startled expression, so he presses on. "The only notice that the place is being taken over by Comen'Go is that banner out on the fence in front of it. When I asked around in City Hall, they couldn't confirm that Comen'Go is actually putting up another place four miles away from their main-hub store. I'm waiting on an email reply from the manager of the hub before I believe it, but I think that it's a staged sign."

"So, pops Daughtry might still own it?"

"Yeah."

"And… bagboy-wanna-be might have been mugged so the gang could get back at pops?"

He looks at me. "It's all nothing more than a relative theory, but I think that it puts the pieces together. We could have found the ties between it all!" I scratch my head as he beams proudly. "I just don't get the importance of the warehouse. What does it have to do with anything?"

"That is what I want to find out," Don concludes, "And what I think we should do today."

"Aww, you're kidding me." I mumble, looking at my watch. Its quarter past seven in the morning. "If we're gonna do anything like that, we shouldn't do it at the break of the morning. Let's aim for tonight instead."

"Why?"

"Don," I lean against the table and look down at him with the wryest smile I can muster. "You're the expert on thinking here, but have you ever gone somewhere you weren't supposed to before? Ever sneak around?" He furrows his brow at me before shrugging. "Fine, you have a point."

"Good! Then I'll head out to Rodger's for the afternoon and I'll be back at nine tonight. Sound good?"

"What's going on at Steven's?"

"Post-party for the upcoming game. We're against De La Salle next Monday, and since we're gonna win, why not celebrate now?" Don's face melts slowly back into his natural expression of worry and he rolls his eyes. "Okay, but nine? You promise?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Sure I lied a little to him; that's what brothers are for, right? I didn't even bother telling Dad so I went out in the next hour.

Okay, a day to myself. Then I've gotta get back to Don to make sure he doesn't get in trouble breaking into some broken-down warehouse. I'm not sure if we'll find anything, but hell, at least it's a shot. It'll teach him, too, just how much he needs me – he needs that every now and then, if you ask me.

Oh, and the party isn't at Steven's. It's a Diego's, and he's a little more than what anyone would sign up for.

I'm ready for another night out on the town. Lets see what he can get out of his parent's cupboards this time.

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I'm not even lying when I say I have the next 13 chapters already for this, but pretty much diddly-doo ready for my other two. I'm going to start (hopefully, if I remember) updating this a little more regularly to help push me towards the other stories. Please bear with me, real life's getting a little rough around the edges here.

We're setting the stage for the big night you guys, but before that happens you need to get to know the boys a little better. As always, comments are sincerely appreciated!