"Tell me what's happening," I said as I sprinted for the car.

"I'm over here on Breaker by the Croissant Creations Café," Meg said. Not a place a lot of students tended to congregate; Breaker was the main adult '09er shopping avenue in Neptune. It was about five minutes away. "By the time I parked, Wallace was already sitting down with Keith. A few minutes later a guy got out of a car maybe a few down from me – I don't think he saw me – and walked over to where your Dad and Wallace were sitting. He and Wallace awkwardly shook hands and everyone sat back down. He started talking and gesturing, pointing at your Dad; at one point he gave the "get out" gesture to your Dad, who didn't go anywhere. Wallace then said something that calmed everyone down, and they talked for a few minutes – until our beloved Sheriff pulled up in his car down the block and walked straight for the café. I waited to see if maybe he was just there to get a ham and Swiss, but he started talking to your Dad and also telling him to go; Wallace got upset, the guy I don't know got upset, and that's when I called you."

I was already halfway there. "Any open parking spots?"

"Only close to Lamb," she said. "There's a gourmet grocery around the block with their own lot, though. Your father still hasn't gone anywhere."

And they'd probably have a sign saying "parking for customers only," but it was a risk I was going to have to take. I had enough to buy something from in there on me if I needed to, though most of that stuff? Not really my style.

Dad's still being there – instead of getting hustled off - meant that Lamb wasn't trying to arrest him, just trying to get him to move along . If there was anyone in Neptune less likely to get Dad to move along than Don Lamb, with the possible exception of Vinnie Van Lowe, I didn't know who they were.

I drove around the block – didn't want Wallace, Dad, or Deputy Lamb to see my car – and left my car at the back end of The Natural Marketplace parking lot. Then I walked around the corner to see what was going on.

Meg gestured me into her car, and I hustled over and jumped into the back seat. Meg handed me a pair of binoculars while she took pictures – "In case something happens," she said, and God bless her for thinking about it.

The argument was still going on. Nathan Woods was sitting back with a smirk on his face, Dad looked exasperated, and Lamb actually looked like he was coming to realize he'd stepped in it. For him? An expression he was used to.

A server came out to talk to everyone, but Lamb showed his badge and the man backed away.

Thirty seconds after that, Wallace stood up, whistled so loudly I could hear it half a block away, and said something, then stormed off.

Nathan Woods grabbed his arm, but Wallace jerked free and kept going. Nathan then turned around and yelled at Dad, who said something, and then he walked away also.

Lamb followed Dad and said something to him; Dad listened, nodded, and headed for his car. Lamb went back to talk to Woods.

I had to go; the flow of traffic on the block was toward me and Meg.

"Stay down," Meg said, and pulled around the corner into the Natural Market lot; she and I then quickly walked inside.

"Hey!" The clerk said. "That your LeBaron out there? I was just about to call the cops!"

Meg answered, "Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry, I just saw Ronniekins pull around and I just had to talk to her and I called her over, and she told me she had to go but I just couldn't let her go, so this is all my fault, and do you guys have any organic grapes?" I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Meg in full blown airhead mode was a sight to behold.

"Um," the clerk said. "Yeah. "Produce is aisle 4."

"Thanks! Come on, Ronniekins!"

Bemused, I followed her.

XXXXXXX

Meg ended up getting about a pound of grapes, and I ended up with a 6-pack of Blue Sky ginger ale for the low low price of $3.79.

We peered around the corner, but none of the four participants in the conversation were anywhere nearby.

"This is getting fun again," she said when she got into her car. "I'll follow you back just in case." Then we returned to the office.

Dad had beaten me there, and he wasn't happy, at me or anything. "Where were you?" he asked. "I told you to stay here/"

Meg said, "Sorry, Mr. Mars. That was my fault. A lizard got into my car and I needed someone to help me get it out."

"A lizard?" he asked. "what kind?"

"How should I know?" I asked. "I'm not a naturalist. It was maybe 8 inches long, brown and it had stripes." I'm not a nature kind of girl. I don't dislike creatures, and I'm not afraid of anything that can't eat me or poison me, but once you get beyond the basics like "snake," "lizard," etc I don't really know a whole heck of a lot.

"You're afraid of lizards?"

"Weird, huh?" Meg said. "I don't mind snakes, spiders, or scorpions, but lizards creep me right out."

He took a breath. "Okay. Next time I tell you to be here and you have to leave, call, okay, sweetie?"

The 'sweetie' meant I was off the hook. "I will."

"I was going to keep you company but I see you've got that covered," Meg said. "So I'll just go home. Thanks, Veronica."

"Anytime."

As she walked out I could hear her muttering to herself, "Only for good. Only for good. Only for good . . ."

Meg had just fooled Dad. Off the top of her head. Without breaking a sweat.

She was already so pretty and sweet and innocent she'd get away with murder if the Pope and the Dalai Lama were hostile witnesses. Add that to this? If she weren't so nice a person, she could be very dangerous. She might have been the best natural liar I'd ever met.

"So," I asked Dad as I sat down at the receptionist's desk. "How was your day?"

"I'm not in the mood," he said, though he wasn't snapping at me.

"Yeah, I could tell things hadn't exactly gone according to plan. What happened?"

And he told me a story like Meg's, only with some dialogue. Woods hadn't been happy he was there, but didn't say anything till Lamb showed up; before that the conversation was awkward, but it went well. Woods had told Wallace that he'd sent him letters – letters that Wallace never got.

And that's when Lamb showed up. Woods had used the fact that they were both cops and convinced him that Dad had kind of muscled his way in and that his interference wasn't wanted. Lamb had jumped at the chance, showed up and tried to browbeat Dad into leaving, and only realized Dad was wanted there when Wallace told him as much.

Woods was unhappy apparently that Lamb didn't simply drag Dad off, but Lamb apparently was smart enough to realize that browbeating was one thing, but a physical altercation with his rival, even in Neptune where a lot of the media was on his side, was something else entirely. At this point he realized he'd been sold a bill of goods and started getting angry with Woods, and that's when Wallace stormed off.

Lamb had tried to apologize as Dad was leaving, but Dad wasn't having any of it.

"Wow," I said when he was done. "That was pretty much the opposite of a roaring success."

"I don't know who to be more pissed at, Lamb or Woods," Dad said. "But right now I need to find Wallace. He didn't go straight home. Alicia left work early to go look."

"Do you want help?" I said, seriously. "I can round up a posse like that." I snapped my fingers.

"Yeah. Good idea. I'll go back and talk to Alicia while you do that."

In short order I called Mac, Meg, Duncan, Logan, and Weevil, all of whom said they'd help as much as they could. "And if you see the man Clemmons confronted," I said, "Stay back. He wasn't happy, last Dad heard."

This was Weevil I was talking to, who said, "Don't worry, V; I try to stay out of cops' ways even when they're from a couple thousand miles from their home turf. Want me to ring in my boys?"

"How many of them can you trust?" I asked.

"Not damn enough. I'll call a few and let 'em know."

"Thanks."

Dad came back out. "Alicia mentioned a few places – but I'm going to start at Nathan Woods' hotel room and go from there."

"I got my posse out," I said. "I've got an idea myself. I'll let you know if I'm wrong. And don't let Woods goad you into anything. You don't want to give him an actual excuse to call Lamb."

"Don was so annoyed when he left I don't think he'd response to one of Woods' calls if the man said he was being murdered," Dad said, "Still, I get your point."

"Good. I'll let you know if I find anything."

We left. Dad went one way, I went the other.

Straight to a place I wasn't particularly happy about going, but which only made sense.

I parked my car, walked up and knocked on the front door.

It opened. The look on the face of the resident quickly turned into a deep scowl.

"Hi, Jackie," I said.