"Veronica. What the hell are you doing here?"

I bit back a smartassed response and said, "Why do you think? I certainly didn't come to see you."

"You're looking for Wallace," she said. "Well, he's not here."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No. And I wouldn't tell you if I did." She moved to shut the door. I stuck my foot in. "Don't think I won't cut that off," she said.

"Give me thirty seconds," I said, then kept going like she'd given them to me. "Did Wallace talk to you at all today?"

"About what?"

"About anything. You saw how he was. He was ripping people's heads off. And you've known him long enough that Wallace Fennel isn't a jerk and he isn't prone to yelling at people for no reason. And you're the only one he spent any time with today."

"Yeah. I was. What's the issue?"

"The issue is, he got some unsettling news yesterday. He was supposed to meet someone today – and he did – and it didn't go nearly as well as planned, and he stormed off and no one's heard from him since. He didn't go home, he didn't come here, and I haven't seen him anywhere else."

"When was this meeting?"

I checked. "Broke up a bit over an hour ago."

"And you want to know where he is? Holy shit, Veronica, does everyone have to report where they are to you at all times? Wallace is a grown man. He can take of himself."

"Four things. One, I'm not driving this, his mother and my Dad are. Two, if everything had gone well, I wouldn't care where he was. Three, if we find him and he's just shooting hoops or walking on the beach or something, then more power to him, I tell him to call his Mom, and walk away. No skin off mine. Four, screw you. I came here because I thought you might actually give a crap about Wallace when he was having trouble. Since you're not, I'll just go off and make sure he's okay myself. Just don't ever pretend you give a crap again."

I turned around and started walking back to my car.

"Veronica –" she said.

"Yes?"

"Look. I don't know where he is. I can't think of anywhere else he might go you didn't think of, unless he went back to the school. You've actually known him longer; who does he trust? If I see him, I'll tell him to call his mother. Good enough?"

Good enough? Hell no. But it was probably the best I was going to get out of her. So, to avoid completely burning the bridge, I said, "Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

She shut the door then without saying goodbye, and I got in the car and drove off.

I called around. Duncan was closest to the school and agreed to head back there to see if he was maybe playing some ball.

I headed to the convenience store Wallace had worked at when I first met him – nope, he wasn't there.

I checked out a couple of other places and was looking at a third when I got a call from Mac. She'd found him.

Where he was? Surprised me. Though maybe it shouldn't have.

"Who does he trust?" Jackie'd asked, and son of a bitch if she hadn't been right.

Mac was waiting for me across the street. "You didn't connect?" I asked.

"Where he is? I didn't think I was the right person. He came here looking for someone."

Where were we?

In his time of worst emotional crisis, when things were going to hell, Wallace Fennel . . .

Had come to see me.

I was across the street from my own apartment.

"Thanks," I said. "Drive away and give everyone else a call, okay?"

"Aye-aye," she said.

"And Mac? Good job."

"Of course," she said, grinning.

I pulled into our parking lot and got out. Behind me, Mac drove off.

Wallace came directly over and put his hand on my shoulder before I even got the LeBaron's door closed. "Can we talk?" he said.

"Seems like you need to," I said. "Come on in."

Backup trotted over when I walked in. I scritched him and quickly fed him, apologized for not being able to take him for the walk he so richly deserved for being the nicest and best dog on the planet, and sat down at the kitchen table across from Wallace.

"I need the truth," he said.

"You've got it," he said.

"Tell me everything you know. No holding back."

I'd made promises to Dad not to.

Those promises didn't hold up. My BFF needed me.

I told him everything dad, or I, had done. I skimmed over Megs' and the other's parts in it, and Wallace didn't really seem to care, and I finished off with my visit to Jackie. "Doesn't surprise me," he said. ""She'd have helped if I'd asked, but comforting isn't really one of her skill sets. Jackie's got a lot of good qualities but she's not warm and fuzzy." No kidding.

"I know, and I'm a marshmallow, which is why you're here and not there," I said, not wanting to get into a fight over Jackie at this point. "Anyway, not long after that I got a call, and then I came home and found you sitting on my front porch like a puppy."

"Hey, I'm no puppy. I'm the big dog around here."

"Now there's the Fennel sense of humor ," I said. "But? Look behind you."

Backup was staring at us.

A laugh, an actual laugh, came out of Wallace's mouth. It was short, and the good mood only lasted a few seconds, but by God, he laughed.

Then the sadness returned. "What do I do?" she asked.

"I wouldn't begin to try to tell you."

"You're not willing to tell someone what to do?"

"Not with something like this, no. And it really needs to be your decision. But if you want my advice –"

"I do," he said.

"Your Mom lied to you to protect you."

"She intercepted letters she sent," he said.

"I'm not saying I would have done what she did," I said. "But as long as you thought Hank Fennel was your dad she was kind of committed to the story. Letting him communicate with you would have changed everything."

"I don't think she ever would have told me," he said.

"Neither do I."

"You get why I'm so ticked at her?" he asked.

"I do. I think she did it with good intentions, but, 'In all of mankind's history, there has never been more damage done than by someone who thought they were doing the right thing.' You've got a right to be upset. But you asked for my advice and I'm giving it: Don't blame her forever. She wasn't trying to be mean, screw you over, or make money. She thought the man wasn't a good guy, and she knew Hank Fennel was."

"That might take some time."

"Not saying it shouldn't," I said.

"And Nathan Woods?"

"Well, the guy tried to have Dad hauled off, so I'm not inclined to like him all that much," I said.

"Does he get any credit for good intentions?"

I said, "Let me ask you: Did you want my Dad there?"

"Yeah. I invited him, didn't I?"

"So what were his good intentions?"

Wallace said, "He wanted to talk to me in private?"

I shook my head. "That's a reason, not a good intention. Good intentions would be if he though you didn't want Dad there. Maybe he thought he could speak more freely if Dad wasn't there, but that doesn't really count either. I know there was nothing you wouldn't have been willing to say."

"Pretty much," he said. "So are you saying you wouldn't trust the guy if you were me?"

"I'm saying I don't trust the guy because I'm me," I said. "If you want to give him a chance, it's your call."

"Hmmmm."

And right the front door opened and Dad walked in, followed immediately by Alicia Fennel.

"Wallace!" she yelled, and came over and hugged him.

Pulling clear after a few seconds – not a rebuff, but not full acceptance, either – he said, "What's all this for? It's not like I was gone for days or anything."

"Well, you did kind of storm off," Dad said.

"Can you blame me?" Wallace asked.

"No. Not at all," Dad said. "But when you didn't go anywhere -"

"I came here," Wallace said. "I needed to talk to someone who'd tell me the truth."

"And you came to Veronica?" Ms. Fennel asked.

"It's hard not to take that as an insult," I said.

"You know what I mean," she said. "It's not like you've always been completely truthful."

To deny that would have been a blatant lie, so I said, "Wallace trusted me not to BS him. I didn't. And I won't."

"And, Mom, it's not like you've been telling me the truth for the last 17 years," Wallace said. "Look. If you're worried I;m going to run off with the man, forget it. But I might like to get to know him. Maybe today was a fluke. Mr. Mars?"

"Yes?"

"Investigate Nathan Woods for me. Find out everything you can about him. I know what kind of man he was; I want to know the kind of man he's become. He's not off to a good start, but like I said, maybe today was a fluke. Do that?"

"Sure. He might object, though."

"Tell him if he puts any roadblocks in your way he's got no chance of ever seeing Wallace again," I said. "That should get him to go along with it."

Dad raised his eyebrows. "Good idea."

"Hey, I come up with one once in a while," I said.

"Are you coming home?" Ms. Fennel asked.

"Where else would I go?" Wallace said. "Just – let me deal with this my way, okay?"

She breathed a sigh of relief, but it was the sigh of relief of someone who knew that the immediate fighting might be over, but not the battle. "Okay. Sounds good.

Wallace came over and gave me a full-fledged hug. "Thanks for the truth."

"Always," I said.

They left.

"The truth?" Dad asked.

"The truth," I said. "He needed it."

Dad nodded. "Okay. What do you want for dinner?"