When Veronica wakes the next morning she can feel herself grinning. She doesn't think it has ever happened to her before, to be smiling before she even reached consciousness. The grin is only tempered by the pit in her stomach. She turns her head to find two deep brown eyes staring at her. He inches a little closer then rolls onto his back...hoping for a belly rub. Veronica obliges.
"Good morning Cartman!" The dog whimpers a little with delight then hops back off the bed, ready for some kibble.
Veronica has a big day ahead of her. Over some Kung Pao Chicken and some Happy Family, she and Logan talked about the strategy for the day. He and Dick would go and hang out at the Pier and the beach. It was a little chilly today to go surfing and the surf report didn't do anything to encourage the idea so they'll probably leave their boards at home. She and Logan both downloaded tracking apps for their phones - she wants to be able to keep and eye on him as much as possible but if she loses actual sight of him, she'll be able to track his approximate location on her phone. It was a nice evening, relaxed, comfortable, easy. She said goodnight at a reasonable hour and came back to her Dad's and crawled into bed. She supposes that the reason she was smiling when she woke up was because she was smiling when she fell asleep. However, the giddy butterflies that inhabited her stomach last night had turned to lead this morning. Piz. She needed to call him. He had left a message last night when he called, wondering where she was, if she'd made her return arrangements yet, saying he loved her and missed her...Piz...never gave her butterflies, ever. He certainly made her smile when he walked into a room, being a person that she genuinely loved and was happy to see. Analyzing it now, she feels much the same about Piz as she does when she sees Wallace or Mac...happiness, affection...but not butterflies. She used to hate the feeling of butterflies...she can only remember feeling them with two people, first Duncan, then Logan. Perhaps it was the way Duncan dumped and ignored her the first time they broke up that made her think the butterflies were a sign of weakness on her part. They made her feel girlie - and the girlie girl inside of her died along with Lily and she was sure the rape further buried that part of her forever. But last night, when the butterflies returned, all she wanted to do was embrace them - she could picture herself now - dressed in a pretty pale yellow sundress, walking through a meadow, butterflies everywhere, holding hands with the boy that understands her like no one else has and perhaps ever will.
Cartman barks, Veronica has been standing, holding the bag of kibble and daydreaming, torturing the poor dog by not putting the stuff in his bowl. She does so now then heads to get dressed. She laughs to herself as she grabs black pants, a black and white color block sweater, a black leather jacket and her black studded bag, all a far cry from pale yellow cotton. She promises herself to find that dress sometime this summer.
It's a sunny day on the Neptune Pier with a brisk breeze coming off the ocean and Veronica breaths in deeply. East coast beaches don't smell the same as west coast beaches, she can't articulate the difference except to say that west coast beaches smell like home and youth. East coast beaches smell like adulthood and independence.
She texts Logan: 'here yet?'
'Not yet.'
That's fine with Veronica, she'll stark looking for Vinnie. She decides to walk the length of the pier and then start to make her way back. She enjoys watching the people. When she was a child, her mother loved to sit and watch people and she liked to play a game where the two if them would make up stories about the people they saw. Mostly her mother would make up realistic assumptions about who people were, like nurses or construction workers. Every once in awhile she would go on a fairy tale venture and make up something fantastical like secret agents or a princess in disguise. It was a fun game that Veronica loved to play as a child. But now, Veronica's a jaded grownup and she looks at each person and merely wonders what everyone's damage is, what's their dirty secret. She's found a little nook towards the end of the pier, a small space that extends out from the pier proper, it has a railing that she can lean on to help support the weight of her dad's camera. She checks her phone for Logan's blip on her location app! he's still not quite here. She scans the crowd with her own eyes, picks a spot to look more closely at, then tries to find that same group quickly through the huge telephoto lens on the camera. She's practicing being accurate and practicing her ability to notice detail. Then she sees something familiar and zeros her camera in on a bench in the distance. And there he is, Vinnie Van Lowe, chomping on popcorn, his jet black hair slicked back, wearing a turquoise t-shirt that he's rolled the sleeves up on to look more like a tank top. She leaves her spot and heads back in his general direction. She goes past his spot on the pier and then comes back up from behind him, taking a seat on a bench that sits back to back with the one he is in.
Draping her arm across the back, she turns her head in his direction just enough to make sure he hears her.
"Let me guess...bounty hunting escaped circus performers...?"
Vinnie turns in her general direction and, keeping his cards close, registers little or no recognition. "Well, if it isn't the barrister. I heard you blew this popsicle stand and went legit."
"To legit to quit. So who's the money in this town the pulls the strings on your predecessor in the sheriff office?"
"Now Miss...Del Vecchio is it? How would I know something like that?"
Veronica has to admit that despite his skeevy ways, Vinnie always did have pretty good PI chops.
"I think you've got your ways and I need to know what you know. Where's the money in this town?"
"Well, still with more money than God would be Jake Kane...but he's become some weird-ass recluse, hold up on that mansion that he's let a jungle grow up around. Word on him is that he's dying...liver cancer or something. Wife long gone, daughter dead, fugitive son that's never coming home. I doubt he gives a flying fig what's happening in the sheriff's office...let alone what becomes of Logan Echolls... If I were interested in what happens to Logan Echolls...I'd want to get my hands on some of the surveillance video from De Ville's loft the night she died."
"Why...what do you know."
"Miss Bishop herself had hired me to follow Echolls, she thought he was cheating on her, so I was outside her loft the night she died."
That didn't make sense to Veronica...why would Carrie tail Logan when they weren't even really involved.
"And..."
"So...this was like the fifth time in 2 weeks that I'd followed him to her place and it was always the same. He'd be there until midnight or 1 am, then that Navarro kid would show up in some muscle car, or once or twice his bike, pull up in the back of the building, Echolls would come out then Navarro would drive him home. They'd come back the next day. Echolls would go in the back then come out the front, get in his car and leave."
"And the paparazzi didn't pick up on this system?" It all sound conspicuous to Veronica.
"The razzi didn't know to watch for Navarro. They all stayed focused on Deville's windows and Logan's car. Anyway, I reported all his activities to Ms. Bishop, he was clearly not cheating on her, which she had no real reaction to, she seemed most interested in his daily routine..."
"Vinnie...the surveillance taped, can we get back to those?"
"Right...so this one night it was a little different. Navarro didn't come, Echolls just came right out the front, seeming in kind of a hurry...got in his car and sped off. The paps followed him. I knew where he was going and I was eating a sandwich so I wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere. So I'm sitting there and this sort of nondescript black cars pulls up - I threw down my sandwich a grabbed my camera. This guy gets out of the back seat, like he's being chauffeured around and the car leaves. The guy -pretty sure it was a guy- I guess it could've been a woman- dressed all in black wearing a trench coat over a hoodie - hood was up - from my angle I couldn't see the person's face. He goes in inside - probably there for 10 minutes - I see the car pull back around, guy come hurrying out and this time I see he's got on a full ski mask and sun glasses and away the car goes."
"And where did it go? Vinnie...you did follow the car didn't you?"
"Nah...I didn't think much of it at the time. That Bishop chick was into some crazy shit and had a constant parade of weirdos coming and going. And I still needed to finish my sandwich."
"Why haven't you come forward with this evidence?"
"It's nothing they don't already know, they have the surveillance tapes from the lobby, they can see the guy more clearly than I can. They'll use Echoll's hurried departure as evidence against him and ignore the other guy saying there's no proof he was there for De Ville, there are other units in that building?"
"Are there other surveillance cameras? Like in hallways?"
"That I don't know. Listen...I'm just trying to keep my head low, after my time in office I don't need anymore spotlight on me."
"I want those pictures that you took."
Vinnie looks at her camera and rolls his eyes. "Well, if I'd had a camera like that I might've been able to read the guy's DNA...you are welcome to the snapshots I took but don't get you're hopes up...you'll have to come to my van with me..."
As they walk towards Vinnie's van, Veronica gets a call from Gia...speaking of surveillance tapes.
"Hey Veronica...it's Gia...um...so something has come up...I mean it's like totally out of the blue...and so I can't meet with you tonight?"
Gia is talking even faster than normal. "That's okay Gia...maybe tomorrow morning instead?"
"Um...no...listen Veronica I'm sorry, I just don't think it's going to work out. I don't really even have any properties right now that would be right for you and don't you have to get back to New York or something? I'm...yeah...I'm sorry. I've got to go Veronica, bye."
And without a second to respond, Gia has hung up on Veronica. That seals it, she needs to get into Gia's place, something is not right."
Vinnie's been babbling at her the entire sine she was on the phone and she has no idea what he's been talking about but she does see that they've reached his van. She digs through her bag.
"Here, I've got a thumb drive you can load the picture onto."
He takes the drive and gets into his van from the back. If he intends for her to follow him he is mistaken, there's no way she climbing into that thing. But, he slides open the side door - he could take his show on the road based on all of the crap that's inside the van - disguises and props and tools, you'd think he was a traveling gypsy.
"So...you're legal now...we should go out sometime."
"That's not ever going to happen Vinnie..."
"Still pining away for Echolls huh?"
Veronica ignores the question. "Pictures Vinnie."
"Here you go. You didn't get them from me though..."
Veronica puts the drive in her purse. "See ya later Sam."
"Watch your back Ralph"
She needs to find time to investigate these pictures and she needs to find a way into Gia's place. She needs to find Logan, she needs to call Piz. She is feeling overwhelmed. She tracks Logan and sees that he's here and a little further down the pier. She wonders if they passed by each other earlier without even noticing. She walks back in his general direction but it's Dick's blonde hair that she see first about 20 yards away from her so she settles at a railing again and gets out her camera. First she locates the boys. She marvels at them together. Regardless of her distaste for Dick, she admits that he's been a good friend to Logan. They are easy together, Dick is animated and kind of spastic whereas Logan is calm and lithe, there's a gracefulness to the way he moves, a fluidity that she doesn't remember noticing before. The are laughing and enjoying themselves. She begins to pan the camera around the nearby crowds of people, looking for anyone looking at them. She is momentarily distracted by a little girl. Blonde with a heart-shaped mouth. She sure it's Vinnie mention of Jake Kane that has her suddenly thinking about Lily. The little girl she is watching is younger than Lily was when Veronica met her but she can imagine that Lily was similar. Gangly, having not started to develop at all, high energy, an attention hog, silly. It makes Veronica smile at first then she feels an overwhelming sadness for the fate of the entire Kane family, save perhaps Celeste whom she never liked. She did like Jake Kane at one point but that like turned to resentment and distrust then into pity and hatred. She wonders if both Lily and Duncan aren't better off gone, unable to see what's become of their father. The little girl bounds back to the person she's with, a woman. Veronica doesn't see any resemblance and the woman seems a little detached from the girl, not looking at her or responding to her as if she's her own. Veronica assumes she's an aunt or a nanny. In fact, the woman is mostly ignoring the little girl, concentrating hard on something else. With her camera she follows the woman's stare and ends up right back on Logan and Dick. She drops the camera from her eyes and looks at the scene from a distance. The woman that was staring gets out her phone and texts, then returns her attention to the little girl. Veronica lifts her camera again and clicks a few pictures but she is now noticing more people looking Logan's general direction, a few motioning his way or whispering into their companion's ear. Veronica has forgotten that Logan has some notoriety so of course people are going to be noticing him, and pointing and staring. Once again, her instincts are showing rust.
She texts him. "Let's go. I'll meet you back at Dick's."
She watches him through her camera get her text, look up and around to see if he can see her, he can't. He whacks Dick on the shoulder (he has busied himself flirting with some cute girl) and motions to him that it's time to leave. Dick makes Dick moves, pointing at the girl then making the ubiquitous thumb and pinky spread wide from ear to mouth "call me" signal, pointing back to the girl then making the two-handed shocker signal to say goodbye. Stay classy Dick.
Back at Dick's they look over the pictures from Vinnie but they shed little light on anything.
"I need to figure out how to get into Gia's."
"Her place has key cards, like the club has and speaking of which, I need to get over there. I'll catch up with you two cats later. Hey, if you decide to missionary with each other right here on the living room rug, do me a favor and throw down a sheet first. Don't want any spluge on my carpet. Bet you can't same the same huh Ronnie."
"Dick!" Logan and Veronica say simultaneously.
Once Dick is gone, Veronica dials Mac.
"Mac...how much do you know about key cards?"
After explaining her plan to Mac over the phone, "can I have your club key card?" She says to Logan. "Mac thinks she might be able to reprogram your card to get into Gia's place, we just need to figure out who installed the system at the club and in Gia's building."
"Eli will know who installed our stuff, he contracted them. He'll probably know who did Gia's place as well."
"We'd really luck out if it's the same company. Will you call him and find out while I make my way to Mac's? Otherwise, stay here and don't go anywhere. I watched people watching you today and I don't think you should be in public for awhile. Oh...can I borrow you car?"
Logan hands her his keys and his key card and she heads out the door. As she's coming down the steps in front of Dick's place her phone rings. It's Piz and she knows it's time to pay the piper, she can't ignore him anymore.
"Hello..."
"Hello beautiful! Did you get my message? How's that bracelet look on you?"
"It...looks...great..." She lies as she looks at her bare wrist.
He is quiet for a moment on the other end of the phone and she can tell that he senses she's lying.
"Have you booked your ticket home?" He asks her, lacking his usual high energy Piz-ness."
"I haven't...there just so much going on here...I just couldn't leave..."
"Sure you could," he shoots back, clearly annoyed "is Weevil okay, is he going to recover?"
"I think so..." She says quietly.
"Then come home, you promised..."
"Piz..."
"You not coming back are you?"
Until this very moment, she believed that she would go back but she can feel it deep down inside that he has spoken the truth.
"No...I don't think I am..."
"What about us...?"
"You deserve better...Piz...I love you, I do...but...we're, we're just not right for each other..."
"He's going to break your heart Veronica, just like he did before."
"This isn't about Logan."
"Keep telling yourself that Veronica. I know you love him, I see it in your eyes. You've never looked at me the way you look at him..I'm an idiot for thinking we could work."
"You are not an idiot Piz, you are a wonderful guy and you deserve to find someone..." Veronica's sentence trails off as she can't find words to express what she means.
"Goodbye Veronica..."
"Goodbye Piz..." She hangs up fighting back the tears that want to take her over. She hears the door open behind her.
"Hey Veronica...are you okay?" Logan calls to her.
Without turning around, "yep! Just a phone call to take. I'll call you in a bit!" She trots the rest of the way down the walk, hoping her body language conveys happy and in control because she's anything but...