A/N: Warning: Rated T for language. There are 2 F** bombs here. I don't like to write F**bombs, but this situation seemed completely called for it. I think you all will agree.
Chapter 11 Information Overload
Somehow, Mac made it through the night without any awkward incidents with Dick. He had helped clean up after their late supper with the Mars' and then had headed to take a shower, staying far out of both Veronica and Mac's way well after Keith had left to go home. He had behaved in a perfectly courteous way, soft spoken and calm.
When he returned to his spot on the couch, Dick had turned the television on, keeping the volume down low, ignoring Mac as she passed back and forth, readying the apartment for the night. When she had finally said good night, Dick had given her a deep, smoldering stare, his blue eyes inviting her to join him. Shrugging when she had not responded, he muttered good night and returned watching whatever it was that he had been watching.
There was a moment when it flashed in her mind what would happen if she sat down beside him. Imagining his surprised response, with his eager hands on her body, she almost caved. But as she watched him, something twisted inside her, and the moment passed. Shutting herself into her room, Mac found herself standing still at the door, listening for signs of whether Dick would try to barge into her room. She felt almost…disappointed…when there was none. She readied herself for bed and crawled in, staring at the ceiling, confused and frustrated at her feelings. Mac could hear the sounds of the television, low as it was, sifting through under her door. It took a long time to fall asleep.
She purposely had set her alarm an hour earlier than normal. With Keith's request for Madison's email to the Ten and Veronica's request to work on Dick's case part of the morning, Mac knew she needed the extra time at the office. She needed the solitude. Instead of sleeping past three snooze buttons, she dragged herself out of her bed as quietly as she could, took a shower, dressed, and exited her room, intending to sneak past Dick and leave, hitting a coffee shop on the way to MI. But as soon as she entered the living room, Mac saw right away that sneaking by would not be an option.
Obviously waiting for her, Dick held out one of two coffees he held in his hands towards her. "I heard you get up."
She took the extended cup. "Wow, don't you sleep in?"
"I've been surfing my entire life. Sleeping in equals lost waves. Beauty sleep is for pussies." He motioned towards the table. "I left a note telling Ronnie we went to the office. And, by the way, someone needs to take me in to get these stitches out of my face….they're starting to itch."
Mac made a face. "Gross. I didn't need to know that, thank you very much." She didn't follow as Dick turned to open the door. "Really, you can just stay here; it's going to be pretty boring at the office." Not stopping, Dick opened the door and stepped out, ignoring her. When it was clear that he wouldn't be swayed out of going, Mac sighed and grabbed her bags to follow him out to her parked car. There was no one around; it was too early in the morning, so she called out to him, "Hey, well, what if I don't want you there? I need to focus on work."
That stopped him. He swiveled around with a gleam in his eye. "Are you saying you can't focus with me around? Am I that distracting to you?" He circled back around towards the car. "You can relax, Mac, I need to do some work myself. I was hoping to borrow one of those many computers you have while you work away, if that's possible." He waited by the passenger door until Mac pulled her keys and unlocked the car with the fob. "I promise to keep my hands to myself and give you no distractions."
Why wasn't Dick making another move? Mac pondered on that the whole way to MI and the whole time she helped to set a lap top up for him to use at the couch. He acted as if the whole incident from two nights previous hadn't even happened, as if he had never told her "this is going to happen." Thinking back to how firm his resolve had been when he had stated it, she was utterly clueless as to why he was keeping his distance, especially after the 'incident' from last night-why hadn't he been teasing her mercilessly about the Vertical Limit class? It was beyond her. Dick was behaving like a perfect gentleman that was not plagued with a high libido. He seemed calm and in control.
Thinking about that made her realize that Dick wasn't even acting like a person going through withdrawal. She watched as he crouched over the keyboard, his attention fixed on whatever it was he was working on. She had picked up some pamphlets about the signs of withdrawal, and while it specifically said that not all people exhibited the same symptoms, it did say that at least some would be apparent. As much as she could tell, he didn't have any real signs. He hadn't even asked once for a drink in three days and there was nowhere that he could be sneaking a drink…she and Veronica had emptied their one cupboard out and someone had been with him the entire time. She supposed he could have been sneaking out at night, but she honestly doubted that possibility.
Sitting down at her desk, Mac decided to quit obsessing and get to work. It wasn't helping anyone by worrying about emotional states; she needed to keep working on the cases. She had a feeling that today or tomorrow Veronica would take what she had learned to the Sinclair's, and with that, Mac's life would be forever changed. The best thing Mac could possibly do was to concentrate on the tasks at hand, which for her was a cyber-chase. She booted up her computers and set to work.
There were multiple things that she needed to get done today which was why she had chosen to come in earlier than everyone else. The extra hour of silence would help her to concentrate and find the exact time-stamped video footage of the front of the Grand, away from prying eyes. No one knew that she had been there as well on Thursday night and she wanted to keep it that way. It was a humiliating fact that she had been drawn there. Dick's demons had understandably brought him there that night, but Mac felt like people thought she was stronger than her demons. But the truth was that those demons had brought her to the Grand that night and to the spot where Cassidy's life had ended. It was amazing, really, that she had missed Dick by mere minutes, if his timeline was right. She was about to find out.
Tapping on her keyboard, she pulled up the Grand's page, bypassing the firewalls and going directly into the security footage. She pulled up June third and scrolled through the various camera angles, which were labeled in code. It would take time to figure out which camera she wanted since it wasn't straight forward. The page contained a spreadsheet showing each coded area in its own column. Each column held the footage for the entire day, meaning she could click to watch the beginnings of each to verify the area and then she would be able to skip to the time she needed to look at. Mac considered asking Dick to help with this task, but looking to where he sat, engrossed in his work, she changed her mind. Whatever work he was doing, it seemed important. She kept at it instead.
It took almost thirty minutes, but she finally found the camera footage that showed the front of the Grand. It took another ten to get to the footage of six forty p.m. and beyond. Mac played it at normal speed and let the footage roll as she watched carefully, looking for signs of either her or Dick. The foot traffic seemed light, which, if she remembered correctly, was the case when she was there; most people seemed to park in the garage and enter from the side elevator. There was a valet standing at his post, looking bored. He stood hunched over the valet podium, chin resting on both hands, staring out towards the road. A few people passed him to enter the front door…and then Dick sauntered out, opening the door widely to let a woman in before he stepped further out onto the stoop of the hotel entrance.
He didn't look drunk at all. He was dressed in typical board shorts and a t-shirt, flip flops on his feet. His step was sure as he passed the valet, heading toward the right edge of what the camera picked up, disappearing out of the shot. There was no suspicious movement for about three minutes, until a man in a dark suit exited the building and handed the valet a parking ticket. In his hand he held a bottle of water. Mac felt the hair on the back of her neck stick up.
The valet found the appropriate key and headed left, towards the parking garage and out of the shot. At that point, the suited man glanced around as if looking for someone and then walked over to the area where Dick had disappeared out of the shot a few minutes before. Two minutes passed, and then Dick's obvious blond mane and his shoulder appeared at the bottom edge, darting in and out of the scene as if he were speaking or arguing with someone off camera, and then he was gone. The suited man then returned, setting his elbow on the edge of the Valet's stand, as if waiting, leaning into where the box of keys were, fidgeting there. When he rose back up, instead of watching for the Valet with his vehicle, he turned toward the doors of the hotel. Mac checked the time stamp. If her recollection was correct…she knew what was about to happen.
Thursday Night, 7:00 p.m.
Mac stepped out of the elevator and strolled into the lobby, glancing around at all the people that were milling about, tugging at the short skirt of her dress. Although no one was paying attention to her, she felt conspicuous dressed as if she were waiting to begin a fancy date. In honor of proving to Cassidy that she was her own woman that was held back by nothing, she had worn a dress that she rarely wore: a navy blue sleeveless one-piece number, with crisscross straps that tied around her neck halter style. The heels she wore were leather gray peep-toes that zipped in the back. When she had chosen the outfit that morning, she hadn't taken into account that she would be alone. Mac had just wanted to look good and feel good about herself tonight. There hadn't been a plan beyond that, and she wasn't really even sure how she had ended up at the Neptune Grand. But the pull had been strong and she hadn't fought it, instead choosing to go along with the urge to pay tribute to a boy whose life had ended much too soon in a much too horrible way.
It felt wrong suddenly, being here. She needed fresh air. Turning back toward the elevator that would take her back to her car, her eyes caught on the front lobby door and she felt a need to go out that way instead. Fresh air was just beyond her reach, if she would just take the few steps necessary to get there.
With a burst of energy, she beat a path toward the door and as she stepped out, a dark suited man rushed to hold open the door for her, as he was coming in from outside. Pleased with the gentleman-like gesture, Mac gave a weak smile, clinging to sanity. "Thank you so much."
The man smile kindly back, his perfectly white teeth gleaming. "Absolutely. Anything for a pretty lady."
Oh, brother. She really didn't have time for his shenanigans. Automatically, her back straightened and she turned back to really look at him. She smiled tightly, but kept on her way out past the awning and into the soft light of the evening. Tipping her head back, she stared up at the high-rise building, her mind forgetting about the man until she realized he had followed her out to where she stood, looking up with her. "Nice evening, huh?"
Her eyes slid over to look at him, her expression unimpressed. "I guess so, yeah." Stepping away from him, Mac took her time to look around, thinking back to ten years before. She had been spared that night from having to see what had become of Cassidy…the police figured out right away that Mac was nothing more than a victim and ushered her out through the back of the hotel and away from prying eyes, also away from the crime scene. But she knew where Cassidy had landed and she knew how gruesome the scene had been. She had asked all the questions that her morbid curiosity could think to ask, and Veronica, being the good friend that she was, had told her. It had been almost ten years since that conversation, but Mac still remembered it word-for-word. It had caused her pain then and caused her pain now.
Her mourning, however, was being interrupted at this moment by an imbecile who clearly was not reading her body language very well. Mac just wanted to be left alone, but this buffoon was still being a complete creeper. He had taken his jacket off and was standing there as if waiting for her to suddenly realize that he was God's gift to women. His grin was slimy and made her skin crawl. She wondered how to get away from him without making an obvious scene.
She was spared the awkwardness of that when the sound of running feet on pavement interrupted the silence, and she heard, "Hey man, sorry it took so long but this ticket and key didn't match up to the car back there…." Mac stopped listening as the suited man became involved with his conversation with the valet, choosing at that moment to head back inside of the Grand and back to her car.
Unbelievable. She had literally missed Dick by two minutes and had run straight into the man that they believed drugged him. When she had first heard Dick's account, she had assumed that there was no way that could have been the case and had pushed all thought of it aside, focusing on the hope that he was drugged at the beach. But this video proved that this man, whom Dick had assumed worked for the Grand, did not actually work there. Mac could verify it, because the valet would have recognized an employee to start with. And, as far as she knew, employees would not check their vehicles in with Valet.
Chewing her lip, Mac clicked back to the point where Dick exited the building. Hoping to see proof of his 'public drunkenness' she slowed the feed down to see any slight stumble or waver on his part. Her suspicion was that any odd behavior he might have been exhibiting would have been from grief, not liquor, and sure enough, on second observation nothing struck her as off. Averting her eyes from where Dick was now quietly working, her movements became carefully controlled as she zoomed the footage in as clearly as she could possibly get it to the front door, to see if maybe the suited man had been hovering there while Dick left the building.
There was nothing to see from this view, so Mac quickly saved the file to a zip drive and went back to the original file on the Grand's server and began once again scrolling through the code to find the camera angle inside the Grand pointing to the entrance. Checking the time, Mac saw she might only have ten minutes at the most before Keith and Veronica arrived for the morning. Her fingers flew even faster than before, trying to get through as much footage as possible. Finding the angle within a few minutes, Mac was able to get to the right spot in the feed much quicker than with the first bit of footage of the outside.
Coinciding with the time stamp from the outside, she clicked play right at the moment that Dick came into view from the direction of where she knew the bar was located. He made his way to the door, pausing once to look back at the lobby with a lost look on his face and turned back to head out the door. The woman he had opened the door for entered, a smile on her face as she past him, Mac could see her tell him 'thank you' and she disappeared off toward the restaurant. As she disappeared from the screen, the suited man appeared, walking slowly towards the front door from the bar, a cell phone to one ear, a water bottle in his other hand. It was apparent that the conversation was heated as the man began pacing back and forth in front of the door, and when he disconnected, he stared out the door for a few moments. Shaking the water bottle, he examined it before seemingly bracing himself and heading out.
The minutes ticked by and then Mac herself came into the view; self-consciously tugging at the hem of her dress. She saw herself pause, to take in the whole of the lobby, and then steel herself to step out onto the front sidewalk. Again more time passed before she reappeared, resolutely heading toward the parking garage elevator and to her car.
Pausing the footage, Mac stared silently at the screen. Dick was typing away at whatever it was he was working on, completely ignoring her. She rolled her chair out away from the desk, pushing the edge of the mahogany desktop with her hands. How was she going to explain that she had been there, had even talked to their suspect? Thinking back, Mac knew she hadn't recognized him at all. The most she could do was recall what the video showed and maybe the tone of voice, which was deep. Woot for her. Her description was as piss-poor as the worst witness descriptions ever were. How helpful was that going to be?
Sunlight was bleeding in through the window, casting eerie shadows across the dark paneled walls. It gave Mac a sense of foreboding as she cleared her throat to ask, "Hey, Dick? Do you have a sec?"
A hand shot up, silently conveying he was in the middle of something, so she waited without comment. From below, she could hear the slamming of a car door and knew that one of her partners had arrived for the morning, right on time. Mac saved her work while she waited for Dick and began to hack into the City of Neptune's mainframe, trying to find camera footage from the beach.
This was what she was good at: hacking and cracking into the cyber world. All this super-sleuthing was beginning to wear her down. It was quick work, getting into the security end of the city's site; it took her less than half the time than it had taken to get into the Grand's. Clicking her way through all the firewalls, she merely nodded at both Keith and Veronica when they stepped into the office, bypassing her and going straight to their desks. When Dick finished whatever it was he had been working on and approached her, it was her turn to put a hand up to stop him. "Give me five minutes."
The five minutes she requested was merely an avoidance tactic. Mac knew Veronica really needed to see the Grand's footage. As much as she dreaded to admit it, Mac was a key witness in Dick's case. Clicking out of the city's site, Mac closed down her internet connection and booted up the saved footage from the zip drive. Taking calming breaths, she stood up from her desk and strolled into the back office, stepping up to Veronica's desk and waiting for her to finish up a phone call. As Veronica set the receiver back into the cradle, Mac told her, "There has been a development in Dick's case that I need to consult with you about. I'm pretty sure it's a huge break. Do you have some time to sit down with Dick and me?"
"As a matter of fact, I have news as well. Weevil says that the Land Rover was 'processed' on Sunday. It was already stripped when they got it."
Instead of showing the footage right away, Mac decided to do some interrogating first. After watching the tape a few times through she had come to the determination that someone had definitely planned to target Dick that night, whether the suited man was acting alone or not. She had both Veronica and Dick sit across from her at her desk. Before she sat down in her own chair, Mac firmly shut the door between offices to afford them some privacy.
Looking both of them squarely in the eye, Mac asked, "Can you think of any reason, big or small, why someone would want to cause you harm, Dick?"
Dick didn't answer right away. Instead, he fidgeted with the arm rest of his chair, his eyes cast down, obviously thinking. Cynically, he finally answered, "I don't have any enemies, Mac. Everyone loves me."
"Dick, plenty of people has a motive to drug you. Let's talk about the possibilities," Veronica piped up next to him. "Who have you made mad?"
He threw his hands in the air in frustration. "I don't know why you think I should know that! I mean, honestly, I have just been minding my own business. I haven't wanted to piss anyone off lately."
Taking that in, Mac ran her fingers over her mouth. "Tell me about Thursday. I mean the whole day and not just after work." Dick noticeably stiffened. Mac watched as he effectively put an invisible wall up around him, seeming to shut down. "Did someone know you were headed to the Grand that night?"
Veronica seemed to notice his hesitance as well. She turned to face him in her chair. "Look, Dick, tell us what we can do to make you trust us." She paused, hesitant herself. "I promise… to protect you if you're into something illegal."
Her words caused Dick to push even further back in his own chair. "What, you think that I'm into fraud, now, too? Or that I'm what? Trafficking drugs?"
"Well," Veronica quietly pointed out, "Can you blame me?"
He dragged his good hand through his hair, muttering under his breath. He scowled at Veronica. "No, I guess I can't, but it would be nice if you would at least believe in me a little bit."
"Dick." His eyes flew over to meet Mac's. "Who have you made mad? Someone wanted to get even with you for something, and they took their opportunity that night. You need to wrack your brain for anything and everything that you have ever done. Someone did this to you on purpose. Just tell us what you did on Thursday; it might be that you cut someone off in traffic, it could be that small. Please."
Flicking his hair back, Dick's eyes roamed the room and finally came to a decision. Sighing deeply, he nodded, as if to himself. "Okay, but this can't go beyond this room, all right? No one really knows what I'm doing and I want it to stay that way."
"Even Logan?" Veronica prodded.
"Well, he knows a little bit. Nothing lately. But he's not saying anything." He straightened in his chair. "Uh, so, well, basically on Thursday, everything was a normal work day except at one o'clock, I met with the County Board about buying a piece of property deep in 09er country."
"Huh." Veronica sat back in her chair. "You're building a new house? What's wrong with the beach house?" She looked unconvinced. "Who cares about some property?"
Dick rolled his eyes. "It's not property for a house…it's a business venture."
"You're expanding the Water Dog?" Mac asked. "That's great that it's going so well, Dick."
He was silent for a few moments, chewing his lip. "The property isn't for the Water Dog, either. I found a piece of property that I want to renovate for a different reason completely. That's why I need you not to say anything about my involvement. I'm trying to be a silent partner. It's really important to me that my name not be involved with this project at all."
The two women shared a look, and Veronica finally said, "I'm hoping that your reasons are admirable, Dick, but when you say it like that, it sounds as if it's illegal."
"Oh. My. Hell. Veronica. Can't you get over that, Ronnie? I am not doing anything illegal!"
"Well, then explain it to me." Veronica crossed her legs. "Mars Investigations is known for its discretion, Dick. We won't breathe a word if we can help it. But if it boils down to the fact that this is the reason you were attacked, it won't be us that you'll need to be worried about."
Dick flopped himself back into his chair in defeat. "I found some property, okay? I want to open a safe place for abused kids to be able to go and learn how to cope with the world. I've been working with some people, and…." His eyes traced the edge of the desk, back and forth, back and forth. He raised them to meet Mac's eye and said meekly, "I just don't want my name involved right now. That's all."
While he was speaking, Mac felt as if all the air had whooshed out of her lungs, she was so shocked at his revelation. Her heart in her throat, she stared into his eyes, the world falling away from around them. She heard herself whisper, "But…why would you do that?"
Pursing his lips, he squint his eyes at her. "You really need to ask that?"
Veronica, always on task, cleared her throat as if to remind them of her presence. "So, this property is on prime 09er property, you say? So that would mean there might be a number of people not happy with 'trash' in their town, wouldn't you think? I could see that there might be quite a few people that wouldn't want you encouraging riffraff, and a safe haven for troubled kids? That smells of controversy."
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Dick looked over at Veronica. "Yeah, well, I don't think so. I met with the county board on Thursday and they passed my proposal. I just got the email this morning that I was waiting for, saying it's unanimous. The property has been cleared for what I want to do with it." Glancing between them, Dick went on, "If you two wouldn't have found me Friday—let's just say things could have gotten ugly. The board definitely wouldn't have liked hearing that the main donator of a foundation like this was involved in…whatever this is."
"There's your motive, Dick. Someone doesn't want you building this facility on 09er property. Who else knows about this proposal?" Veronica asked.
"Just the panel on the board, Logan knows a little, you two, uh…" Dick listed, "my real estate agent and my lawyer...oh, and I have a consultant from a similar foundation out of San Diego that I've been dealing with."
"Do you know any of the people on the panel? Have you pissed any of them off, say, in the past twenty-eight years?" Veronica motioned toward Mac. "Look up the Balboa County board members. Let's take a look at who we've got there."
Mac turned to her computer monitor and stopped. It really was time for her to show them the footage. She had stalled long enough. First, though, she pulled up the city's site which had a link to the county's site. Within a few seconds, she was looking at the all the board names, as well as the twelve member's names that were on the panel. She printed it out and handed it to Veronica.
As the two across the desk leaned over the paper, Mac shut down the internet, booted up the zip drive to queue the footage of the Grand, and waited while Dick and Veronica stared at the names. "Do you see anyone of interest?"
Dick shook his head and Veronica sighed. "This list doesn't have first names. One of us will need to do a little more digging." She looked up and noticed what Mac had on her computer screen. "Looks like you want to show us something. Is that the footage from the Grand?"
Nodding, Mac turned the monitor so it was better facing them all, and searched for the words to begin what she needed to tell them. All she really needed to do was click play and the footage would tell them what she was struggling to say. "You need to watch this, all the way through. You'll see why I'm convinced that what happened to Dick was not random." Swallowing hard, she added, "And you'll see we have a new witness."
Waiting for their understanding was a long time coming. As the footage showed Dick exit the building, both Dick and Veronica leaned in closely. They both inhaled rapidly as the suited man exited behind him, water bottle in hand. When the man handed his valet stub to the valet, Dick shook his head in disgust. And when the man disappeared and Dick's head came into view at the bottom of the screen, he just nodded. He started to speak, but Mac shushed him, only saying, "Not yet, wait."
She felt Veronica glance over at her and lean in even closer, as if realizing the importance of what was yet to come. They all watched in silence as the suited man leaned into the Valet podium and did whatever he did there. Mac tensed as she watched herself exit and the man rush to open the door for her.
"Holy shit! What the hell, Mac?!" Dick breathed, voice strained.
Veronica was silent, her eyes not leaving the screen, continuing to watch the footage, as the man followed Mac out of the shot and then back again, to speak with the Valet. When Mac pulled up the next bit of footage of the lobby and pressed play, Veronica wordlessly watched as the scene unfolded. She waited until Mac clicked out of the file and turned to face the two of them as if to a firing squad before commenting, "Well, that's an interesting turn of events."
"Please," Mac whispered, "Don't judge me."
Dick pulled away from the desk, hands rubbing violently into his face, pressing deep into his eye sockets. "Are you fucking kidding me? What were you doing at the Grand? How the fuck did I miss you there? Who the hell was that guy?" He slammed his hands down into his lap. "This is unbelievable."
Veronica, bless her, waited until Dick's sputterings had run out of steam and sat silent in shock. When she seemed sure that he would stay quiet, she looked at both of them, and then calmly said, "Judging from Dick's response, he didn't know that man. Did you know him, Mac?"
"I had never seen him until that night. He tried to pick me up, but failed miserably. I wasn't good company that night." When Dick audibly harrumphed, Mac defensively added, "I didn't know I was there when you were there, Dick, and I for sure had no idea that this guy had anything to do with anything at all!"
"Well, why in the hell didn't you at least say you were there before now?" Dick shot accusingly at her.
Throwing her hands in the air defensively, Mac slowly said miserably, "Like you were so excited to admit you were there, too, Dick. I was embarrassed. I am embarrassed. It's not something I thought was important, so I kept it quiet." There was a moment as she stared at him that something sparked between them, and then it was gone. Closing her eyes, she said to Veronica, "I can tell you for certain that the guy didn't work there; he gave the Valet a ticket that didn't match the car he went to get or something. I don't know what that was about. But the valet didn't act like he knew who he was. "
"So this guy gave me a dosed bottle of water and then asked you out? Why the hell were you even there, Mac, dressed like that? And you were pissed I was alone Thursday night? It's a wonder that dude didn't follow you out to your car and rape you right there in the parking garage! If he would have known you were next out that door, he could have dosed you!" Dick stood up, angrily pointing at her. "Do you have any idea how lucky it was me that he dosed?" Leaning heavily back in her chair, Mac silently took what he said with no argument or defense. She deserved everything that he gave. As if realizing that she wasn't going to fight back, Dick unceremoniously sat down, clumsily bumping into the edge of the desk.
When she was sure he was not going to say anymore, Mac looked at both him and Veronica levelly. "Look, you're completely right. I think that's part of why I was so mad, Dick, because I realized what happened to you that night could have easily happened to me. It could happen to any of us at any time. But I've watched the tape a few times though, and I've decided you were definitely not a random hit." Turning back to her keyboard, Mac tapped and clicked back to the footage of when Dick left the bar and the man came out after him. "Right here, see how he's on the phone? And then he looks out the door, to where you are, Dick, watch what he does with the water bottle. It's like he's readying himself for what he has to do." She stopped the footage and turned to look at him. "He did this to you on purpose."
Keith suddenly burst through his office door with a huge grin on his face. "We got it, kids. Ms. McDougal confirmed there's a property outside of Park City that is rarely used but owned by the family. I'm meeting her with her husband now to discuss what I have found so far and hopefully discuss Madison's connection. I need you to come with me, Veronica." He stopped as he took in their sober faces. "Who died?"
"No one died, Dad, we're just finding out some information on Dick's case that we aren't sure what to do with yet." Veronica stood and stepped away from Mac's desk. "I agree completely with what Mac sees on that footage, Dick. We need to figure out who that man is; he's the key," she told them. "I think you should print a close up picture of him and take it down to the Grand; see if anyone recognizes him. Ask the Valet from that night, the bartender. And we need to look further into this list of the panel members." She disappeared into her office and reappeared with her messenger bag. "Dad and I have to go take care of this Tennison thing." She paused to really look at Mac, crinkling her face in regret. "I'm sorry, but this has to be taken care of right now. I hate to leave you."
Waving her hand, Mac told her, "We have to go get Dick's stitches out and he needs a checkup. We have plenty to do. I'll work on what I can. Don't worry about us."
During all of this, Dick had kept still, staring at Mac with an incredulous look on his face. He glanced between the two women, stood up and stomped over to where the laptop he had been working on sat on the coffee table. He sat down, pulling the computer onto his lap. Clicking through some menus, he began typing away, ignoring everyone in the room.
The office of Mars Investigations was silent save from the clacking of typing fingers. Veronica and Keith had left more than twenty minutes earlier and no words had been spoken since. Mac was working on finding out the names of those on the panel and Dick was working on…something. She really didn't know what, but she assumed it was for his foundation or whatever he was calling it.
It warmed her heart to think that Dick cared enough to even want to try to help those in need. People in real need. She knew that abuse was a silent epidemic that hurt countless people, children especially. She figured she knew what prompted his yearning to help. Mac herself had always secretly wished she could do something similar, but money was a definite factor. She had none. So she donated what cash she could to national organizations and donated amounts of time a few times a year to an abuse center in San Diego. She ran in a yearly awareness marathon event every September. But this thing that Dick was trying to do…it would help countless people here in Neptune. It would be unreal, what it could do for the community. It would help raise awareness, and more people would talk about it instead of ignore it.
Lost in her thoughts, Mac didn't notice that Dick had left his place at the couch to come sit across from her until his foot loudly plunked into the base of her desk. She jumped, startled. Catching his eye, she waited, letting him decide the tone of whatever it was he wanted to say.
He stared at her, hotly. She felt a slow furl of heat beginning in the base of her belly, her heart beginning a slow thudding. Finally, he asked, "Why were you at the Grand, looking like that?"
Mac didn't pretend to misunderstand. Pulling her hands into her lap, she didn't break his stare. She chose honesty. "For Cassidy."
Lightly, he shook his head. "Who can compete with a ghost?"
Exhaling, Mac shrugged. "Not like that, Dick. It was to prove something. Prove that I'm a woman now that can't be controlled by him anymore. It's done." Swallowing, she brought her hands to together on the top of her desk. "I let Cassidy rule me for too many years, Dick. He doesn't own me, but he ruled me. How can someone rule a life that they do not own? Why should I let him? I go through phases in my life, in cycles. Where I let his memory become more important than it should be. Moments of complete weakness, and it ruins things. It ruins my relationships…because no one understands why it's so hard for me. Why I have dark days." Running a finger through her hair, she smiled, chagrined. "Thursday morning started and finished as a dark day. I picked out that dress, and waited for Veronica to leave the apartment before heading out to work so she wouldn't give me a hard time about it. She completely forgot that it was June third anyway, she only would have teased me mercilessly that I had a date or something." Catching his questioning look, she shook her head self-consciously. "Anyway, after work, I went to the Max, where I take a kick-box class. Instead of going to class, though, I used the locker room and got dressed, carefully. Then I went on a cruise, kind of like you did that night. I drove by where he took me on our first date…I had a cocktail at the restaurant that he took me to on…that night. Suddenly, I felt pulled to go to the Grand. I haven't done that on June third since the first couple years after it happened. It was just too hard to go there, you know? I still don't know why I let myself go there, but I just felt an unavoidable pull to be there. I got there, parked in the garage, went to the lobby….I almost turned straight around and left, but I felt the need to go out to the front walk." Her hands were running up and down her arms now. "I went out there, I came back in…and I left. That was just after seven, according to the time-stamp. I hit a few other places and then headed back to the apartment. I changed before I got home; so that Veronica wouldn't know…she had no idea what I did that night, and never asked me about it. The only reason she even knew or remembered, I'm sure, was because she talked to Logan that night."
Listening, Dick seemed to be closely watching her every move. He waited until she appeared to be finished with her story to say, "I'm sorry you had to do all that alone, Mac. I would have gone with you if I'd known." He began tapping his foot on the ground nervously. "But I meant it when I said, you are damn lucky it wasn't you that was attacked. That guy, he had that look, Mac. There's no way to convince me otherwise."
"That was something...I had to do on my own, though, Dick. I hear what you're saying. I appreciate your concern. But it's over now." It was her turn to watch him as she asked, "How much of a drunk are you really?"
His eyes widened at the question and quickly looked down. "I like my drink," he hedged, picking at an invisible speck of dust on his pant leg.
Shaking her head, she persisted, "That's not my question. You're not acting like a person in withdrawal. I'm starting to wonder about the doctor's opinion that you can't be left alone. How much of a drunk are you?"
He inhaled and then slowly let the breath out, obviously thinking. "Look, who am I to argue with a doctor's opinion? He says I need adult supervision, I got adult supervision," he gestured over to her, "in the form of a hottie with a body. No nurse required." Shrugging, he grinned guiltily, "Doctor knows best."
Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Mac tried to look irritated. "So you're telling me that you aren't an alcoholic?"
"Well, hell, Mac, how am I supposed to answer that? Do most alcoholics know that they have a problem? I drink a fair amount. But it doesn't cause me to act irrationally most of the time." He looked up to the ceiling, lost in thought. "Thursday was the first in a long time that I had allowed myself to drink and then drive. I only had one at the house, I swear. And then one or two at the bar at the Grand…the water that dude gave me; I drank probably half, trying to sober up. It alarmed me when he came out complaining that I was acting drunk, because I really didn't think I was drunk. I've been stone-ass drunk before, you know, back in college. Mornings when I was so sick…those are times I know I was being a public nuisance, but Thursday? I was keeping to myself; I wasn't trying to be loud or obnoxious. Then to be told that the police might be called in…well, I couldn't have that, because of the panel. If they thought I was being a nuisance, I wouldn't be considered. They would refuse me flat. So I left as fast as I could. When I got to my car…I opened that water….I swear, I thought it was sealed. I mean, I don't take opened drinks from anyone unless I watch it being poured. I wouldn't have taken it otherwise. I must have been so distracted that I didn't look at it closely. That's all I can come up with as to why I drank it."
"So you knew that the doctor was wrong, though, when he said you couldn't be trusted for the next two weeks?" Mac looked intently at him. "Why would you do that?"
"Friday scared me. I ended up in the hospital because of reckless behavior. It wasn't as if I knew at that point that I was drugged….I honestly thought that I had indulged myself in too much and lost control. When you wake up finding yourself hooked to countless machines and find out that your stomach's been pumped…I don't know, I wasn't arguing too loudly." He shrugged. "I figured it was a wake up call. Especially since it was…you that found me." His eyes softened as they searched hers. "You of all people, finding me at the hospital the day after that…I didn't want to make it more difficult for myself."
"Difficult how?"
Clearing his throat, Dick scratched his jawline. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but drew his lips inwardly instead. Taking a moment, he looked up and out of the window behind Mac's head, collecting his thoughts. Finally, he just said, "I could have refused your help…but what good would that have done me? It's been nine years of you probably thinking that I'm nothing but a screwed up drunk, and it was confirmed when you found me in that hospital bed. It would have looked like I was just the same unchanged jackass from before." He took a pen out of the pen holder sitting on her desk and began clicking the end back and forth. "If word got out that I refused the advice of the doctor…it would have completely screwed up my plans with my facility." He set the pen firmly back in the holder. "I need to go see that doctor again, to get these," he pointed to the stitches above his eye, "lovely things out."
She appreciated the change of direction. Listening to how vulnerable he sounded was causing some serious softening in her determination to stay away from him. Anymore talk from him about regarding the past and she knew she would be putty in his hands. She hoped that he wasn't able to tell.
"Do you need to make an appointment with him? He told us you could see your regular doctor if you didn't want to see him."
"I think I would rather keep this little escapade contained to just the responding doctor, actually. He told me he's in the ER from noon on every day this week. Dr. Morris said he would take a few minutes out to see me if and when I came in."
"Okay, well it's just now noon." She looked up at the clock. "He should be there then. I have some questions for him anyway." Mac turned back to her computer, emailing herself the link to the county board's information page. She had just found a page that highlighted each member of the board with a photo and bio when Dick had interrupted her. Hoping that one of the members was their suited man, she wanted to go through each picture carefully. She reckoned they could exam the pictures on her phone while they waited for the doctor. That always seemed to take time. Feeling as if she was getting somewhere with Dick's case made her realized she had gotten nowhere with Madison's case, however, and she wondered how Veronica and Keith were faring on their end with Ms. McDougal.
A/N: I'm hoping all of this is enjoyable! Thanks for the follows, favorites, and reviews. I am working hard at getting more chapters up...I will say, it makes my day when you write me a note of encouragement /review-if you have the time, I would love to hear from you. I hope to get the next chapter up asap. Thanks for reading. Really, thank you.
A/N: Some of you may recall (if you have read my other LoVe fic: Musings from Then and Now, Mac telling Logan that same line about "letting a person rule a life they do not own." I firmly believe someone in Mac's situation would sway back and forth fighting this...and therefore, I believe even nine years prior to this story, Mac would still firmly believe this, even if she wasn't able to live by that mantra everyday. So there you go, that's why I included it here.
