Veronica POV
"Where can we find him?" I thought for sure that Logan would just get up and leave, insisting he could handle it on his own, so it's gratifying to hear him turn us into partners again. It may not be the partnership I was hoping for, but it means a little more time with him while we figure this whole thing out. From his mini-panic attack (being subject to more than a few of those myself over the years) I can tell that his mind made the same logical conclusions that I did. There was no point to sending me these photos and warning me unless there was a deeper message. If Gorya Sorokin wanted to kill Logan, he didn't need to tell me. In fact, that would seem juvenile and sloppy since it would leave behind an apparent motive and suspect for Logan's death.
Also, if he found me and knows anything, then he should have known that Logan and I aren't in each other's lives any longer. He would have had no reason to think I would care. He didn't know who Logan was all those years ago, though asking just about anyone in the cafeteria that day would have yielded a short bio of Logan Echolls, son of a homicidal, pedofile movie star.
No, the only reason to tell me, was to let me know that I'm next. It wasn't a warning about Logan; it's a threat towards me. He is toying with me.
I left behind sleuthing when I left Neptune behind, and while my mind has been trying to figure out a way to fix all of this, I have to admit my skills are rusty. I haven't even started to find Gorya or figure out what he's been up to all this time. That's step number one for any good investigator.
I got so distracted by the fear overwhelming me I clearly wasn't thinking straight. It took Logan asking the question to even get me considering how I used to handle these things.
Logan is still looking at me expectantly, waiting for me to do that voodoo that I used to do so well. His faith in my abilities, even after all this time, is disconcerting. As if I didn't feel enough pressure already, now I feel like I have to live up to some unrealistic expectations.
That thought gives me pause. All my pseudo-therapy with Mike has turned me into the kind of person who actually considered my emotions when they happen rather than just shoving them all into a box never to be opened except maybe in the shower on occasion. So now, I'm wondering if that's how I made Logan feel all those years ago? The only difference is that I still don't believe my expectations of him were too high. He has clearly proven me right that he could rise above his past and do something amazing with his life rather than living off his trust fund. He is the kind of scary smart that couldn't be wasted because the world would be a lesser place if it was. Now, though, I wonder if I couldn't have gone about it in a better way, more sensitive to his trauma-induced damage instead of letting come across like he was a disappointment to me.
"I don't really do that anymore." His eyes narrow and he looks at me like he's trying to figure something out.
"You don't, but you can." His voice is firm, brooking no argument. I can't help the smile from tugging at my lips, loving him all the more for the way he knows me.
"I can. I will. I just have to figure out how to get a hold of some resources that will make this easier."
"I take it Google won't cut it?" Mike is joking, but honestly, it's worth a shot. I wasn't exactly forthcoming with my dad when I saw him earlier, just letting him think it was something to do with Piz. So asking to use his PI search software was out of the question. It was better to let him draw his own conclusions. I let him give me the whole "Stosh is a nice guy" speech, nodding along like I always do.
Piz is a nice guy, but he's not the guy for me. That's the only conclusion I came to during my time hiding at Mike's. Stosh Piznarski is nice, but he will never be the kind of love that I would describe as epic. I have spent so long trying to live up to other people's expectations of me, what I should want, who I should want to date, that I've lost who I truly am. The only time I've really felt like myself has been when I'm thinking about Logan. Even with him in danger, I am happier than I have been in years, tempered, of course, by the utterly demoralizing realization that I can't have him the way I want.
"It's worth a shot" I pull myself back from my silent contemplation, aware of the silence that has stretched while both Mike and Logan waited for me to work through the problem. Not wanting to waste anymore time, I grab my laptop from where I left it in the kitchen earlier.
I type in Gorya Sorokin and wait for the search results. Oh shit, the very first hit is an article about the Sorokin family and an FBI bust several years ago that saw several members killed and many more doing 30 to life for a human trafficking ring.
I turn the laptop towards Logan, watching as his eyes skim the article, quickly coming to the same conclusion I did.
"It can't be him." His jaw tightens as he considers this bit of information.
Gorya Sorokin is currently in MCC San Diego serving a life sentence for drug and human trafficking charges and murder in the first degree. According to the article, Sorokin has no chance for parole despite numerous appeals since the initial trial. Highly unlikely that he would orchestrate the death of some guy who beat him and embarrassed him nine years ago. I'm sure he has other things to occupy his time like ensuring he doesn't get bottom bunk with Fisty McRapes-a-lot.
"It's not him." My body goes numb and voice breaks with the full ramifications of this information. I have no idea where to go from here. The threat, the wording of the note all pointed to Gorya. If it's not him, then who the fuck is trying to hurt Logan, and why did they send that specific warning to me?
"There is a connection." My words trail off, unsure how to explain the connection popping into the forefront of my mind. The pictures were like the ones that chased my mother off all those years ago. Clarence Weidman knew Gorya, knew about my run-in with the castle. But I handled that. Before I left Neptune, I returned the hard drive to Jake Kane. I made him promise to not let anything happen to Logan after I outlined Gorya's threat.
Why would Jake Kane or Clarence Weidman be coming after us after all this time? If it even is them. Unfortunately, that little stunt in the cafeteria was witnessed by about sixty people, any one of whom could have heard the interchange between Logan and Gorya. The only thing tying this back to the Kanes are the photos. While I may despise Jake Kane, he has always had a fondness for Logan, thinking of him as a second son in a way. Or a son-in-law, my treacherous mind supplies. That was why he agreed to make sure nothing would happen to him when I told him of the threat. It wasn't for me it was for Logan that Jake did it.
"Pixie-chick, while I respect the process, would you mind cluing in the rest of us on what has you looking like you are eating broken glass?" Mike pokes me in the arm, snapping my attention back to the two men staring intently at me.
"I'd say it's more her 'I'd rather be strapped to ant hill' look." I glance into those beautiful brown eyes and then see that classic Logan smirk with a slight raising of eyebrows. Is he just trying to make me smile, or is this some sort of one-upmanship with Mike? Logan seems to have relaxed since Mike mentioned that we aren't anything more than friends, but I can still smell the testosterone flavoring the air.
"Both of you are wrong. It's my 'I'd rather be spelunking' look." I send Logan a wink, letting him know that I remember too. "When my mom left, there were photos like these of me in her safe deposit box. The head of Jake Kane's security, Clarence Weidman, sent them to her as a threat so she wouldn't screw up the Kane's alibi. It's possible Jake Kane might be involved. Or maybe Weidman is acting alone?" I shrug my shoulders, not really sure why either of them would want Logan or I harmed now.
"So, what do we do next?" Mike has heard stories of my activities as a PI, but I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't do that anymore. All he's known are the stories and his excitement is palpable at being part of what he's deemed the Scooby gang. "Oooh, can we get a whiteboard? I always wanted to map out a crime on a whiteboard." At both Logan's and my incredulous looks, he gives us a confused look. "What, is that not a thing?"
I can't help the laugh that escapes at his antics. Even Logan cracks a half-smile though I can tell it pains him to acknowledge that he finds Mike amusing in the least bit. It's gone almost as quickly as it appeared, replaced by a pained expression. I know that look, it's the look he used to get when he knew he had to tell me something that I wouldn't like. The muscles in my body coil in anticipation of what new secret he'll reveal. Last time I saw that face, he was telling me about some supposedly random girl he had hooked up with over winter break. That didn't end well for us, so my defensive posture is understandable.
"It's not Jake or CW." His tone is firm.
"How can you be so sure, Logan?" I can't believe he still believes in the goodness of the Kanes.
"I'm not sure. I just don't think it is." His entire body goes taut like he's expecting a blow any second. "I get what you're saying about the similarities to things they've done in the past. I do. But Jake left the country years ago to be with Duncan and his daughter. No one has seen him stateside in years."
"That doesn't mean it couldn't be him or Weidman." He stubbornly shakes his head at me, refusing to even consider it.
"Look, I saw them. I wasn't looking for them, but I saw them a few years ago." He explodes with energy, pushing back from the table and pacing. "I was in Australia on a surf trip and I saw Duncan."
I sit there dazed, a mix of emotions flooding through me. Logan keeps his eyes fixed on me as he continues to pace, watching intently.
"How was he?" My voice comes out in a squeak. Logan pauses in his pacing and rubs a hand through his hair.
"Happy. They were happy. I didn't spend a lot of time with them. Just enough to know that they aren't targeting us."
"I still think-" A frustrated growl emerges from his throat cutting me off.
"Veronica, they are done with us. We serve no purpose for them anymore. We mean nothing to them." His anger surprises me, but I quickly attribute it to the loss of his best friend as well as the loss of Lilly. His chocolate brown eyes implore me to let it go, but I'm not ready to let go of this potential lead just yet.
"So whiteboard?" Mike tries to alleviate the tension between Logan and I, and we both turn to glare at him briefly before returning to stare at one another. "Okay, no whiteboard, geez. Then what do we do? Do we just wait until someone makes good on the threat to Logan?"
Any answer is interrupted by the doorbell ringing. Logan and I are still locked in a battle of wills, neither of us giving an inch.
"Don't kill or fuck each other while I'm gone." Mike quips as he goes to answer the door.
His voice drifts into the dining room, laden with sarcasm. "Oh, it's you. So glad you could join us."
Logan POV
Why does she always make it hard for me to protect her? If I didn't know any better, I would think she enjoys being put into positions to have all her illusions shattered. I didn't want to be as harsh as I was about the connection to the Kanes, but I couldn't help the anger that rose in me. She had a point. There was a valid connection there with the pictures of her mom and the pictures of me.
I certainly wasn't mad that she was willing to consider her precious Duncan as a possible suspect. Something that she never did in the past. No, all that suspicion was leveled solely at me. Duncan Kane was the golden boy, the perfect prince. He would never stoop to the levels of Logan Echolls. Nevermind the fact that he cheated on her, lied to her, betrayed her, abandoned her, and oh yeah, there was the matter of him sleeping with her while he thought he was her brother and she was DRUGGED!
Calm the fuck down, Echolls, water under the bridge. I give myself a pep talk.
No, it's just that I know for a fact that they don't care about us. Duncan made that perfectly clear to me when I ran into him. It wasn't even hatred, just pure indifference. Veronica and I belonged to another time, and he wanted nothing to do with that. He wasn't mean when he told me he and his family wanted nothing to do with us or Neptune ever again; he was just stating a fact.
I'll admit it hurt being told by my supposed ex-friend that I meant nothing, that all those years of friendship were simply a matter of convenience. The Kane siblings were only friends with me because of my name and who my parents were. I was a means to an end to gain access to the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle. Veronica was just a way to pay back their parents for being shitty parents. We were playthings that they outgrew. Neither of us had anything to offer the Kanes anymore, and so they just wrote us off as if we never existed.
I wish she would just let this go. I'm trying to spare her the pain of knowing that she meant nothing to the girl she thought was her best friend or the boy who was supposed to be her first love. To them she was a toy to play with until it broke or they didn't like it anymore. Besides, I doubt she would believe me.
She's still as stubborn as she ever was. Standing toe to toe with me despite the nearly twelve inches in height difference, blue eyes sparking with fire. But I won't back down on this, it will just be a waste of our time and I don't want to waste time when someone could be coming after her.
The tension between us doesn't go unnoticed, and I'm already fighting to keep from pulling her into my arms, threading my fingers into her soft hair and pressing my lips down to hers. Never let it be said that Logan Echolls was completely sane. I can't help it, fighting with Veronica still turns me on. She's always beautiful, but when she's angry like this, she's positively radiant and I want to have all that passion turned on me. I was reaching breaking point when the doorbell rang, interrupting our silent battle momentarily.
"Don't kill or fuck each other while I'm gone." Mike quips as he goes to answer the door. Man must be prophetic or just superb at reading body language because I could definitely see myself giving in and fucking her, consequences be damned.
My focus is still on Veronica as he leads in the latest guest to our little party. I glance out of the corner of my eye and see Piz standing there. It's like a baseball bat to the gut, the physical reminder of why this fight with Veronica won't be ending with us sweaty and satisfied.
Taking a step back from Veronica, I shove my hands in my pockets, resisting the urge to stake a claim. I may be a lot of things, but I won't interfere with her relationship with another man, even if I did just want to punch him in the face. The tiny flame of hope I had regained in finding out that Mike wasn't her lover sparked into a fire when we locked eyes, arguing over the Kanes. Now, faced with her boyfriend of nine years, the guy she moved on from me to, the guy who was just supposed to be a rebound like Parker was for me, the fire feels like it's doused and covered up in ashes.
I watch Veronica turn from me to greet Piz with a smile. The smile seems genuine, and I feel like my hope has started burrowing its way to China. The only thing I can be glad of is that I'm subjected to witnessing another kiss between them as Veronica moves towards Piz. I still have nightmares of that night, the elevator door opening and the two of them kissing. Sometimes to switch things up and really torture myself, my subconscious transposes that fucking sex video and I get to watch them writhing in ecstasy as the doors open.
Now that he's here, I should probably just go and let them talk or whatever. We can pick all this up tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep. Maybe we'll be able to figure things out when everything isn't so raw and bleeding.
Reluctantly, I move to the door, hoping to leave unobserved since I can't trust my voice or my face to not betray the despair I'm feeling. Veronica is talking quietly to Piz, but Mike follows me to the door.
"Hey man, don't give up." He glances back towards the couple in the other room, his voice quiet. "Things aren't always what they seem. You look shattered. I'll let her know that you went back to the hotel to get some sleep. In the morning I can pick you up and we can get some breakfast before we work on this whole mystery again. It was probably a bit too much all at once."
My eyes widen and I can feel that hope reversing direction once again. I nod, agreeing to breakfast. Weariness from the emotional day and my lack of sleep makes me feel like I'm moving through pudding. My thoughts are slow and ponderous. One of Veronica's friends making an effort to befriend me? This is certainly new, but my exhaustion is keeping me from really processing it right now.
He told me not to give up. Does that mean he knows something that would give me a reason to fight?