Chapter 26
"How was your concert?" Logan asked when she opened the door.
"Very informative." Veronica told him, dropping onto the couch beside him and putting her head in his lap.
"Oh yeah? What did you learn?" he asked, stroking her hair softly.
"The chubby blonde girl who conned people out of there stuff, was actually incredibly attractive, at least to a 12 year old, and the smell of beer makes me nauseous."
"Both of those things are very important to know," Logan agreed, offering Veronica a sip of his Diet Coke. She waved him off, sitting back up and heading to the kitchen to get some water.
"Did Duncan leave any clothes here when he left?" Veronica asked suddenly, leaning against the counter.
"Ya... Why?" Logan asked, turning around to face her.
"Piz doesn't have any clothes. I thought I would be a nice person and give him some until I find his stuff. They look around the same size."
"Okay. They're might be some clothes left in his closet if you go and check."
"Thanks." Veronica smiled and walked over to the bedroom that she had been in numerous times before and felt a strange sense of nostalgia. It had been over a year since she had stepped foot in here, but she remembered her time spent in it well. Not that she missed it, she was in love with Logan. That being said, she still missed Duncan sometimes. He had been one of her best friends, and she had loved him. She just hadn't been in love with him. She went to the closet and grabbed the few shirts and jeans that he had left there, throwing them in a bag and pulling out her cellphone to text Piz and get him to meet her outside of her psychology class the next morning. Once that was done, she slumped back into the living room, threw the bag on the coffee table and kissed Logan.
"I'm going to bed." She explained, heading towards their bedroom, pulling the elastic out of her hair and tugging off her shirt.
"Goodnight!" Logan called, watching her go. She waved absently before sliding the door shut and falling onto the bed. When Logan came in a few hours later, he found her fast asleep on top of the comforter, still in her jeans and bra. Logan smiled to himself, wondering how in the hell he had wound up lucky enough to get this girl to fall in love with him, before pulling her jeans off and tucking her under the covers, brushing her hair out of her face.
Veronica walked out of class, heading to the bench where she had told Piz to meet her.
"Hey!" she smiled and sat down beside him, handing him the bag of clothes. "These are for you. Clothes. A friend of mine's , he can't use them anymore." She told him, leaving out the reason that he couldn't use them, seeing as Duncan was still a wanted kidnapper. "You look about the same size."
"Thanks." Piz looked into the bag, sifting through it's contents.
"Mm hmm. Oh, and I think I found your guitar. It popped up on Craigslist late last night and the seller's just off campus. Do you have a class, or do you want to come with me?"
"No, I can come with you." Piz said, jumping off the bench and offering her a hand. Veronica looked at it skeptically, then got up off the bench leading the way to her car.
"Here it is," she said a few minutes later, pulling into a driveway and turning off the car. She stepped onto the porch and knocked on the door, which was immediately answered by a shorter guy with short brown hair.
"You here about the guitar?" he asked.
"That's us." He moved aside to hold the door open, motioning them inside.
"I wasn't really looking for a guitar," he explained, leading them down a hallway. "But I went to the flea market yesterday and I found this. Girl was selling for $500. She had no idea what she had. You won't find one of these for under five grand. But I'd be willing to let it go for four," he offered, opening a guitar case to show them.
"That's it!" Piz cried. "That's my stolen guitar!"
"What?" the guy asked, looking between the two of them.
"Go ahead. Look in the pick tray, you'll find two millimetre picks from Guitar Town in Portland."
The guy did as he said, and did in fact find the picks.
"Yeah, so?" he asked.
"This girl who sold you the guitar," Veronica butted in, trying to draw his attention back to her. "Can you describe her?"
"Blonde. Thin. Pretty smokin' bod."
Piz slapped Veronica's arm, as if that would help make his point. She already knew that this was the right guitar, she didn't need Piz slapping her.
"Look, here's the deal. This guitar was stolen from Piz's car the other day at Hearst College. And I know that you bought it fair and square, but technically..." Veronica explained, leaving her last words hanging in the air. The guy stared at her for a few minutes, seemingly thinking about what she had just told him.
"Okay, I understand your point. I'll tell you what. You can buy it back for the $500 I got it for."
Piz looked like he was about to argue, but Veronica spoke before he could.
"That's so nice of you!" Veronica smiled sweetly, putting on a flirty act which made the guy blush.
"It's no trouble, really. I'm sorry about all this."
Veronica continued smiling at him. "Can you just make sure not to sell it to anybody for a couple days?" She asked. "We just have to get the money together."
"Sure, no problem. Just give me a call when you're ready to get it."
"Thanks. I'll talk to you soon!" Veronica called as she pulled Piz from the room and back out to the car.
"Wait, I thought I was buying back my guitar!" Piz asked, following her.
"I thought that maybe the thief could pay for it instead." Veronica told him, heading back to Campus.
"Wait, do you know who it is?" Piz asked, leaning forward to look at her face.
"No, but I do have a pretty good lead." Veronica promised, parking her car and pulling her camera out of the back seat. "I'll come find you in a little bit, I have someone to talk to."
"Alright," Piz shrugged, watching as she walked away towards the dormitories.
Veronica headed straight to Rose's room, the sophomore who got ripped off, she readied the camera and then knocked.
"Smile!" she cried when the door opened. She quickly snapped a picture and then walked away. "Thanks!"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Rose called after her, angrily. Veronica chose to ignore this and headed straight to Wallace and Piz's room, only to find a "Gone Bird Watching" sign taped to their door. Shaking her head in disdain, she headed towards the South quad where she found the boys pretending to play hacky sack.
"You guys are pathetic," she told them, taking her camera out of her bag.
"It's a white man's sport!" Wallace defended himself.
"Ya, because I was talking about the hacky sack. Piz, is this the Welcome Wagon girl?" She held her camera up for him, showing him the picture of Rose. Piz glanced down distractedly, trying to focus on the sunbathers as well as the photo.
"Hard to say. Maybe."
"Add a few extra pounds," she instructed, slightly annoyed.
"Yeah. I'm trying. I don't think it's her." Piz said, turning back to the grass.
"It's not often you get to see bikini babes in their natural habitat. Such gentle, yet elusive creatures." Veronica quipped, trying to get the boys attention back, unsuccessfully. "Okay, you two have fun being gross. I'll just keep trying to find your stuff, on my own, with no help."
"That's why you make the big money!" Piz called after her distractedly.
Veronica left the boys and headed back to Donald the guitar buyer's place.
"Hi again," she smiled sweetly when he came to the door.
"Hi, come on in!" He led her back into the living room.
"Is this the girl who sold you the guitar?" She asked, holding out her camera.
"Umm, ya. I'm 90% sure that's her. Eh, well. You know what, make it 80%"
Veronica sighed, putting her camera away, then noticed the book sitting on his coffee table.
"Hey, are you in Landry's Profiling class?" she asked, pointing at the book.
"Last year. Yeah, man's tough."
"I have him for Intro to Criminology. Did you do the mentoring thing? Cause I'm thinking about it."
"Best thing I ever did as an undergrad," he assured her. "You can read all about street crime in a text book, but mentoring takes everything out of the theoretical, really grounds it. You should sign up."
Veronica nodded, looking around the room. And then she saw it. The picture that solved her entire case.
"Oh my god! You can settle a debate for me!" she told him, walking over and picking up the picture. Is this the Empire State Building or the Chrysler Building?"
"Actually, that's the Space Needle in Seattle." Donald told her.
"I have to remember not to debate my boyfriend when it comes to architecture. It is his major after all." She lied, looking back at the picture. "Can I have a glass of water?"
"Sure," he smiled and walked to the kitchen. While he was gone, she quickly slipped the picture into her bag. "Thanks!" she smiled, taking the glass from him and drinking it quickly. "I have a class to get to. Thanks for your help!" she smiled, showing herself out the door before he noticed the missing picture. On her way to class she called Mac and asked her to come be her distraction after class.
"All you have to do is ask Tim to go back to the lecture hall."
"I'll be there!" Mac promised.
After class, Veronica approached Tim about the mentoring thing, and got herself into the office. When Mac showed up, she quickly ran to the filing cabinet to find her proof. Skimming the files, she found them. The three boys who had given them the tip about Piz's car, all of whom had been mentored by Donald. Veronica quickly put the files in her purse, returned everything to it's place and joined Mac in the hallway.
"Wanna get something to eat?" Mac asked as they left the hall.
"Can't. I'm meeting Logan for dinner before his class."
"Okay, but we need to do something soon."
"Definitely. We should have dinner. You, me, Wallace and Logan."
"Sure," Mac smiled. "I'll see you later!" She called as they split off at the student union.
"Hey!" she smiled and leaned down to kiss Logan, who had already picked up some food for the both of them.
"How's the case?" Logan asked as she sat down.
"I just solved it." Veronica beamed, eating a fry.
"That's my girl."
"So, Wallace says you're in his Sociology class." Veronica told him.
"Oh ya? I haven't seen him there."
"Maybe because you haven't showed up for class." Veronica suggested, raising an eyebrow.
"Well that's certainly one possibility." Logan admitted, taking her hand.
"I thought we discussed the whole going to class thing. You have to go this semester so that I don't have to go next semester." Veronica told him, taking a sip from her pop bottle.
"In my defence, that was the day I was trying to talk to Dick. I followed him to the beach to go surfing that day."
"I suppose that's a good excuse." Veronica admitted. "Look, it's your BFF the town drunk," Veronica pointed across the cafeteria to where Dick had just sat down across from a girl. Logan and Veronica stared as he talked to the girl for a minute, until her boyfriend came back and pulled threw him from his chair.
"Your bag," Logan says, turning to Veronica who quickly tosses it to him.
Veronica watched as Dick got the snot beaten out of him. She had to give it to him, though. He kept trying to get up. The girls very large boyfriend got three hits in before Logan came up behind him and tazed him, much to the surprise of the rest of the other students around them.
"What? Do you want a hug or something?" Dick demanded, staring at him as he climbed to his feet before stomping off.
Logan watched him walk away, sadly. Before turning back to see a guy standing beside Veronica.
Piz had shown up right as Logan tazed the guy.
"Does that sort of thing work on college girls?" Piz asked, coming up behind Veronica. "Cause I gotta tell ya up front, I'm a lover not a fighter."
Veronica looked up at him, unsure of how to take that comment, or how to respond for that matter. Luckily, Logan came back and she was saved.
"I'm gonna try to talk to him again," Logan told her as he handed her back her bag. He reached down to kiss her, watching Piz as he did. The guy was giving him a weird feeling, and he didn't like it.
"Nice shirt." Logan complimented, looking back at Piz, who seemed to be trying hard not to glare at him. "I'll see you at home." Logan promised, walking away.
"You asked me to meet you here." Piz said, sounding a lot sharper than usual.
"Um, yeah." She dug around in her bag for a minute, and then found the picture. "Is this the welcome wagon girl?" She showed him the picture from Donald's house.
"Ya, that's her." Piz confirmed.
"Great! Meet me at the Sheriff's department tomorrow morning. I'll have your stuff back before noon."
"Cool. I'll see you in the morning." Piz turned abruptly and left, leaving Veronica standing slightly shocked. When she got home, Logan was already waiting for her.
"Did Piz seem a little weird to you?" she asked, dropping onto the couch.
"He seemed a little upset, ya." Logan admitted, turning the TV off.
"I wonder why."
"Because he likes you, and apparently he didn't notice your wedding ring." Logan laughed at how clueless his genius wife could be sometimes.
"What do you mean he likes me?"
"I mean you're hot and smart, and every guy with half a brain likes you. It's burned into our neurological pathways."
"Hmm, I never even noticed."
"Well, you were on a case. You tend to blank out on these things."
Veronica studied his face carefully, trying to detect anything odd.
"You're not angry, or jealous or anything, are you?" Veronica asked him, moving over to sit beside him.
"Of course not. You're my wife, and I would never think that you would like someone else."
"That's not what I mean. You're not going to go put Piz in his place, are you?"
"No. I promise not to go beat him up." Logan sighed, kissing her on the nose.
"Okay, good. Come to bed." Veronica smiled, taking his hand and pulling him to his feet.
The next morning, Veronica showed Sacks the evidence that she had gathered, and gave him Donald's address. Once Piz had confirmed the identity of the girl, they had headed down to Donald's house, taking a seat on the driveway next door.
"Okay, so why would those kids at the club talk to us if they knew they'd stolen my stuff?" Piz asked as they waited for Sacks to show up.
"Um, so they could steer us in the wrong direction? Then they just repeated the story to their mentor so the stories would match." Veronica explained.
"So, you do realize there's not a lot of college freshman girls who do this sort of thing. You know, solve crimes." Piz whispered the last part, as if it were some big secret, instead of open knowledge to every person living in Neptune.
"There aren't!?" Veronica asked, pretending to be surprised.
"So why do you do it?" The question took Veronica by surprise, and she had to take a sip of her drink to take the time to compose herself.
"Cold hard cash," she said staring across the road at the garage.
"Seriously." Piz pressed, making Veronica incredibly uncomfortable. This wasn't the kind of stuff she talked about, especially not with people she had just met. This was the kind of stuff she told Logan when she was having a really hard time and he pushed and pushed to get her to talk.
"Wallace told me about your friend, who was murdered." Piz told her. Veronica looked away unhappily, making a note to tell Wallace to keep his mouth shut.
"I don't know. Because I'm good at it?" Veronica shrugged, taking a drink. "Wallace should stick to analyzing himself."
She looked back across the street in time to see Donald come into the backyard with officer Sacks, arguing.
"You wanna know why I do it?" she asked, leaning over to Piz. "Here it comes. This is the good part."
Donald chose this moment to look over at them, and Veronica raised her bottle in salute.
"I might actually get my stuff back," Piz mused, watching as Sacks fiddled with the garage door.
"I might actually get payed." Veronica countered.
The door opened, and Veronica saw the piles and piles of stuff stacked floor to ceiling, then clinked bottles with Piz.
"Boom goes the dynamite!" She smiled.
"So was that guy from last night your boyfriend?" Piz asked suddenly, looking down at the ground.
Veronica's smile immediately dropped.
"Husband, actually. I guess Wallace left that part of my story out." Veronica said, trying not to make a big deal out of it.
"Husband?" Piz asked incredulously. "How old are you guys?"
"18," Veronica told him, getting up and heading towards her car. "I have a class. I'll pick up my payment tomorrow. See you, Piz!" She waved and climbed into the driver's seat.
She didn't actually have any classes that day, instead she spent the day with Mac, as promised. A trip to the mall and lunch, catching up on what they had missed in the last month. After that, she headed home for a quiet night with Logan. Mac was going to a midnight movie with Wallace and Piz. Veronica was sitting on the couch, waiting for Logan to bring back enough Chinese food to feed all of China, plus some of Thailand, when there was a knock at the door. She opened it to reveal Dick- bruised and dishevelled, looking like he would break down any minute.
"I thought Logan would be here," he muttered, turning to leave.
"He'll be back in a couple minutes," Veronica said, grabbing Dick by the arm and stopping him. "Why?" He stared at her for a few seconds, breathing heavily.
"I have nowhere else to go. And I know you probably hate me, since my brother-" he stopped, looking at Veronica like he hoped she understood. She did, and she gave him a small smile.
"I don't hate you, Dick." She promised, seeing the elevator numbers starting to flash, indicating that someone- namely Logan- was on the way up.
"Come inside. Logan's bringing food." Veronica tugged on his arm, pulling him through the doorway, just as Logan stepped off the elevator.
"Is that-?" he asked, jogging up to her. Veronica nodded and stepped outside the doorway.
"He showed up a few minutes ago, says he has nowhere else to go." Veronica told him, peeking around her shoulder.
"He can stay here," Logan said, then looked down at Veronica for confirmation.
"Of course. At least until the baby's born." Veronica agreed, taking one of the bags Logan was carrying, then the other and heading for the kitchen while Logan went over to Dick.
"Hey man."
"Sorry for just showing up, but-" Logan cut him off, clapping him on the shoulder.
"Don't worry about it, man. You can stay here."
Dick nodded, staring blankly at Logan, and then he began to sob. "I messed up bad." He choked, and Logan pulled him into a hug.
"It's gonna be okay," he promised, looking to Veronica for some advice. All she could think, however, was that they had just taken on a very large practice run.