A/N: I am having fun with this story. Thank you for all your feedback, it's great and reassuring that you like the direction this is going. I think I will have the next chapter up by the end of the week. One thing, the email addresses in this part of the story would not copy and paste the way I wanted, so I had to change them which I think I changed them all, but if they're weird, I just missed them and I apologize.
Early evening was setting in by the time Mac and Dick were able to get to Mars Investigations. She hadn't accounted for how long all of their remaining errands would take them so that by the time everything was accomplished, it was already dinner time. They stopped at a burrito place, ordering enough food for Veronica, Wallace, plus themselves, and then headed straight to the office.
Wallace and Veronica had arrived ahead of them by about ten minutes, and Mac was glad to see them. She and Dick had left their serious conversation back at the beach house because the rest of the day had been busy with all of their errands. Dick's attitude had seemed to slowly return back to what she considered "normal" for him, with little shots made to the police officer who took his report and flirty comments to the girl behind the food counter at the restaurant. She had caught herself laughing a few times at his audacity, and he seemed to know it, because every once in a while he would catch her eye and wink, like she was in on some inside joke. Now, however, she was ready for some moral support because she was feeling that she may have enjoyed the day a little too much.
Entering the office, she saw Wallace sitting on the couch, lounging comfortably with his feet on the coffee table and Veronica sitting at Mac's desk, staring at some documents. Dick came in after her, shutting the door loud enough that both Veronica and Wallace jumped.
Dick immediately made his way to the couch, unceremoniously dumping Wallace's legs to the floor as pushed past him to sit on the unoccupied end of it. " S'cuse me."
Wallace harrumphed, sitting himself upright and glared at Dick, "Jeez man."
Dick shrugged, not saying anything, and looked around the office. Mac figured he was unimpressed by the expression on his face, which was not unexpected, considering his wealth. Keith Mars had not invested much time or energy to make the office ritzy by 09er standards, there was hardly a modern feel to the place. Mac made a mental note to ask Veronica about maybe updating a few things, to make it more inviting to the more upscale clients. It would probably be on the end of the list of the many To-Do items, which included leaking ceilings and dripping faucets. Maybe she wouldn't suggest redecorating quite yet.
"So how was your day?" Veronica asked, interrupting her thoughts. "Ours was semi-productive."
Mac walked over and sat in the chair across from her 'boss.' "As prolific as running around all day can be, I guess you could classify it as productive. What all did you find out?"
Pushing back from the desk, Veronica stood up, grabbing some photos off the desk and walked over to where Dick sat. "We got a few bites on who was there on Thursday. Apparently, there were some high school graduates celebrating that night from Pan High." She handed Dick the photos, "Do any of these people look familiar? They said they were there from about nine o'clock on."
Dick studied the photographs, going through them twice. "Nah, I don't recognize them."
Mac stood up and looked at them over Veronica's shoulder as Dick handed them back. She waited a moment and then said, "Dick remembered a little bit more about that night. He said he got there around sunset, and watched the sun go down sitting on the bench right by the parking lot," Dick looked at her, holding her gaze. "He said he remembers someone giving him a drink. I thought maybe if he gave us a description, which might help. Maybe the drink was doused with something."
"Well, maybe we should go through all the shots of the day then. While Wallace asked around, I took pictures, maybe I missed something." Veronica walked back to the desk and grabbed her camera and laptop. "Let's take this in to the other office. Mac, I left the information I need you to look into on your desk. Will you work on that while we go through these pics?"
A half an hour later, Mac had accessed Madison Sinclair's two email accounts. She had one that was for personal use and one that seemed to be strictly for work. As she scrolled down the list of emails in her personal account, there were three that caught her eye. They were all between her and random named email address, which she assumed was Mark Tennison, who, according to Veronica, was Madison's newest secret boy toy. She flagged them, continuing to scroll down. There didn't seem to be any activity showing that Madison had been in her email after she was reported missing, which was slightly concerning. She flagged two more, one from Mrs. Sinclair and one from her sister, Lauren. They both had responses back in the sent folder so she set to work opening and printing out the emails, choosing to not read them until she had the hard copies.
She could hear the others in the inner room, discussing something in great detail. Mac tuned them out and turned to the earliest email correspondences first, working her way to the most recent:
May 10
From: Elizabeth Sinclair
Maddie-
We're sorry we had to tell you about your adoption this way. We knew that when the time came, you would not be happy about it, but I don't understand why you're so upset. You've always known you were adopted. We love you! Please call us when you calm down and we can discuss this. It's not the end of the world! Nothing has changed for us!
Lauren's doctor told us that she won't need the organ donor anymore. And besides, you didn't want to donate, anyway. They're saying Lauren's one kidney is strong enough, so we don't need to look into the avenue we discussed, speaking to our biological daughter. You are our daughter! You come first, we don't want to destroy that! If you don't want us reaching out to your biological family, we will honor that. That's why we told you first before we approached the Mackenzies.
We love you! Please call.
Mom
Mac's hands began trembling as she read over the email again. Lauren was sick? They potentially needed a donor match and Madison refused to donate? Madison refused to let her family contact Mac? Quickly, she found the responding email sent from Madison back to her mother:
May 10
From: Madison Sinclair
Mom-
I'm just still so upset. How could you not tell me about the true nature of my "adoption!" And the Mackenzies? Do you have any what this news will do to me? I don't want anything to do with them!
I'm glad Lauren doesn't need a kidney now. It would have been so awful to have to go to Cindy Mackenzie for help. She and her psycho friends were the lowest of the low in high school. Total trailer trash! There is no way that Sinclair's would ever need to stoop so low as to ask help from those types of people.
I'm still too angry to talk to you. Wish Lauren well while she recovers, I'm not visiting anytime soon.
-Madison
That girl was unbelievable. Mac slammed the paper down, righteous anger coursing through her. What made a person so evil? So heartless? If it were Ryan sick, there would be no way that she could tell her parents to not do everything possible to save him. Even if it meant awkward family picnics for the rest of her life, she would never be such a bitch to stop what was necessary if it meant Ryan would live.
Mac found the next correspondence, which this time was from Lauren:
May 18
From: Lauren Sinclair
Madison-
They let me go home today, which is so nice. Mom and Dad have fixed my old room up and it feels great to be home, letting them dote on me. Mom even gave me a bell!
I miss you. Why won't you come see me? Mom said you were upset about the donor situation—because you can't help! I know you would have if you could have, but the fact you were adopted makes it impossible to be helpful, and I understand. Plus, once the doctors decided that my other kidney is completely healthy, a donor is out of the picture. What would be more helpful would be to see you!
Please call or come over!
Love you!
Lauren
Mac read it over twice. So Lauren was unaware, it seemed like, of the true story. She supposed the reason would be because the Sinclair's were keeping it quiet because of Madison. That meant that Lauren still wasn't aware of Mac. Only that Madison was adopted. Hmmm…interesting. She found the responding email:
May 18
From: Madison Sinclair
Lauren-
I miss you, too. I just have been so swamped at work. Tell Mom I will be there for dinner tonight.
Love you
Maddie
This email confused Mac a little. It seemed out of character for Madison to suddenly be so agreeable, but maybe Lauren just did that to her. Obviously it was not enough to get Madison to want to donate a kidney if she would have been a match. Whatever Madison's reason, Mac wasn't going to get the answer from anymore email between them, because there were no more.
The next three emails were between Madison and the email address she assumed was Mark Tennison's. Mac read these with interest, because Veronica had implied that it looked like the two love birds had run away together.
May 22
From: Madison Sinclair
Hey babe!
How's it all going? I think that June will be best for me, too. Will you be ready by then? I can pack that white suit, you know the one. Let me know the time and place, and I can get what you asked for and be there.
Maddie
This email actually seemed to be going somewhere. It was full of missing information, though, so she flipped to Mark's response:
May22
From: big10
Maddie-
Ooh, baby, your white suit. June can't come fast enough. Remember, third to the bottom. And don't forget the rest. All these business meetings and no play makes me lonesome for you. Working to the first. Will let you know ASAP.
M
But Mark's response (she assumed it was Mark because of the at the end of the email) was cryptic. He was instructing Madison to do something that they had obviously talked about before, but the information went over Mac's head. She had no idea what they were talking about.
She found the next two correspondences and read them eagerly, hoping for clarification.
May 26
From: big10
Maddie-
Next week, baby. Meet me like we discussed. You know where. Bring it all, especially your bag of goodies.
M
May 26
From: Madison Sinclair
M
Ooh, you get me so hot thinking about it all. I know exactly how to work candy. No problem.
Maddie
And then the final email correspondence:
June 1
From: big10
Maddie-
Be there at 2 sharp tomorrow. You know where. You know what to bring. Did you get it all?
M
June 2
From: Madison Sinclair
Hi, Baby-
This is perfect. Can't wait to see you! Got it all past candy.
Maddie
This all confused Mac. She highlighted what she thought was important and then stuck her head in the other office. "Hey, V, you got a minute?"
Veronica looked up from where she was leaned over the desk along with Wallace and Dick, neither of whom looked up. "You guys keep looking at these. Dick, when you're done, have Wallace write down your description of the kid who gave you the drink." Then she came around and followed Mac back out to the main office. Shutting the door behind her, Veronica asked, "What's up?"
Mac handed her the emails between Madison and Mark. "Read these and tell me what you think. It kind of verifies your assumption that she's with her boyfriend, but it seems…off. It's weird. "
As Veronica read them, Mac went back to her computer, scrolling down the list of emails, to be sure she had found all the important ones. There didn't seem to be anything else, so she glanced back at Veronica, who finished reading and sat down.
"Well?"
Scratching her head, Veronica nodded. "Yeah, that's weird, all right. She must have met Mark that day. But all this cryptic junk about the third to the bottom and knowing what to bring…they sound like they're up to something."
Mac agreed. "There's something else." She handed over the family emails. "Lauren's been sick I guess. Read those, it will make your love of Madison grow."
Veronica grew increasingly still as she read the email interactions between Madison and her family. Her eyes widened with shock. "She really is the devil incarnate." She set the emails back on the desk. "What a two-faced beast. Seriously, how could someone be so cruel?"
"I wondered the same thing." Mac reached out and grabbed the emails, tucking them back into a folder labeled Sinclair. "The classic question of nature versus nurture?"
"With that piece of work, I don't think either has anything to do with it. It's an insult to you to assume otherwise." Veronica stood up. "I think we've done enough for tonight. I don't want to think about this case until Monday. What do you say we go back to the apartment? We could watch a movie or something. Let's get our minds off this mess."
When they got back to the apartment, Veronica went straight into her room and booted her computer up. She had just received an email on her phone from Logan asking if she could talk at 9:30 via Skype. It was just about then, so she left the Mac with the two men in the living room, arguing about which movie they wanted to watch.
The evening at the office had been interesting. Dick seemed calmer than normal, which was probably due to the fact that he was the victim this time around. Usually he was the side-kick jack ass, but this time he was full front and center, which made him a tad bit more serious.
The computer pinged, and Veronica quickly accepted the call. Soon Logan was there, staring into the screen, seeking her face. He broke out in a warm smile, which meant the call had connected. "Hey."
Affectionately, she smiled back at him. "Hey. How are you?"
"Honestly? A little worried," was his answer.
"Yeah, I don't blame you." Veronica adjusted her screen. "I wish you were here. This is crazy."
"We're almost to a month, babe. We can make it. How's Dick?"
"Well, considering that he spent the full day in the hospital yesterday unconscious, really well. You would never know he'd been there."
Logan leaned forward into the screen, as if willing himself to pop out on the other side. "What exactly happened?"
Veronica felt herself beginning to fidget. She explained about Dick's injuries and how they were pretty sure that he had been mugged. Then she added, "We're wondering if he might have been drugged with something."
Logan's eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "You seriously think that?"
Veronica scowled at him. "It's not just women who get the date-rape drug, Logan. You should know that from experience."
He shook his head quickly, "That's not what I meant and you know it. It's just that Dick always has his own…refreshments on him. How would he have been given a laced drink?"
Veronica pondered that. "Well, I don't know, but he admitted to taking a drink from some guys at the beach. Maybe he just used poor judgment."
Logan sat still, his tall frame evident in his straight posture. He chewed lightly on his lip, thinking. "That just seems out of character for Dick. You need to ask him about that. Ever since high school, he's always been careful with where he gets his drinks." He brought a hand to his face, rubbing his lips and then he looked straight into the camera. "He's kind of let that night at…Shelley's…haunt him a bit, I think."
Veronica felt herself go still. They had yet to talk about this part of their past since they got back together. It had always been a sore subject, especially because Logan had always blamed himself for what had happened to her that night. He had supplied the drug that ended up Veronica's drink. But Dick had placed it in the cup, which had been intended for Madison but became Veronica's by default.
And then whatever had transpired in the bedroom before Beaver had….well, by his own admission, Dick had been there, egging his brother on. Veronica had never really forgiven Dick for his part, she knew. As much as she tolerated the guy, she still didn't trust him as far as she could throw him.
"Well," she said, coolly, "how about that? The third club this week that I'm president of."
"Veronica." Logan quietly said. "We were all idiots back then. None of us had any understanding of what that stuff meant. If I would have thought for one minute the damage…." He rubbed his forehead with both hands, "God, I've obsessed about that forever."
Veronica tried to look him in his eyes, but it was so infuriatingly impossible that she gave up. "You don't need to obsess, Logan. We're past that, you and me. It's over and we've moved on. But Dick, I don't know what to do about him."
He sighed. "So what about this help you mentioned Mac was looking for?"
"Well, she hasn't found help yet because it's the weekend. But on Monday, she's hoping to get some live-in nurses interviewed and hired."
"For how long?" Logan asked.
"Just two weeks. The doctor seemed worried that he would hit the bottle, so that's the main reason they don't want him alone. Unless you know of someone that could stay with him?" Veronica asked hopefully. "It would be nicer if it were someone he knows."
'Well." Logan's eyes turned beseeching, "Is there any way you or Wallace could stay with him? I mean, a live-in is great, but your point is valid. Someone he knows would be better."
"Logan." Veronica stared at his form on the screen. "I would be too tempted to lace his Coca-Cola just to shut him up. And Wallace has work—he has the semester grades to finish up and then he's headed to some kind of basketball boot camp thing up near San Fran starting the middle of next week."
Logan sighed. "Well, what about Mac? If he stayed with you both, certainly you wouldn't be as tempted to murder him in his sleep. Between you two and your dad….couldn't you? For me?"
Veronica silently counted to ten, thinking. Giving in, she asked "What will you do for me if I agree to babysit Dick?"
Logan's eyes quirked in victory. "I'm sure you'll think of something. We've done some sight-seeing along the way and I'll be coming to port bearing many gifts, all for you, baby." His voice deepened as he leaned in closer. "Name it and you got it."
"Not to worry, I'll name it for sure." Then she grinned, "I have some surprises for you, too. I've learned some new moves involving a stripper pole."
Evidently stunned, Logan sat back. "Come again?"
"I had some field work I had to do for Madison's case so I decided to take her Cardio Pole Class. For the case, of course," She clarified.
"Are you suggesting that I bring home a pole for the bedroom?" He grinned in delight, "I don't think that would be just for your enjoyment, but if you insist…"
"If I could reach through this screen…" she threatened, grinning. "You might be surprised how flexible I discovered I really am though."
"You be nice. I'm delicate, remember? You don't want me imploding on this carrier due to your lewd comments." His gaze was hot. "I wish that there was somewhere private on this fishbowl so I could show you just what your talk is doing to me."
She fanned herself, batting her lashes. "My, my, kind sir. I suppose our private dreams will have to do." She grinned, "But come July 8th, all bets are off. Bring plenty of drinking water. And get plenty of rest."
"I can't wait."
Veronica stared at him, suddenly missing him terribly. "Me neither."
They were quiet for a few minutes, both contemplating their own thoughts. Finally, Logan spoke up. "So the bad news is that I won't be able to talk to you for at least a week. We're going on a…..mission and you know how it is, they don't want us jeopardizing the thing. You can email me, though, and I want you to, so I know how Dick is. And how you are, of course. I want to hear all about this pole-cardio thing."
She felt her heart sink at the news. "So when should I plan to hear from you before I get worried?"
He smiled a lop-sided grin. "You don't know how good it is to know you worry."
"Always." Veronica straightened. "And the 'pole cardio thing' is The Vertical Limit at The Ten. It's a very serious course."
"Right…all work and no play for you, huh?" Logan smirked at her. "Just the way I like you." The he sobered his face serious. "As for when I can get back to you, probably at least not until Sunday, more like Monday, though. One week?"
Veronica grabbed her calendar that hung on the wall and circled the date. "So if I don't hear from you by the thirteenth, I'm calling in the droids to go find the carrier."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I'd love to see you do that. But you won't have to. I'll email you by next Monday night, I promise. And that will be another week down, and then we'll be less than a month. We'll be," he paused, mentally counting, "twenty-five days till breakfast in bed with you."
Too soon, it was time to disconnect and Veronica was alone again in her room. She lay down despondently, staring at the ceiling, clutching her pillow, wishing Logan were there with her. She had no energy to return to the living room and make nice with the group out there watching a movie. Instead, she stood up and changed into some sweats and a t-shirt, heading for bed.
A/N: It makes me a little sad thinking about LoVe being apart for so long. I have a brother-in-law that is in the Navy and he usually is gone for longer stints, so actually 180 days is nothing. I won't complain (too loudly). But I wish RT would have made Logan, I don't know, maybe just a pilot for an airline, then they would at least get to see each other. Distance makes the heart grow fonder and all of that. Soon, soon they will be together. yay! As always, reviews are welcome and encouraged. I like reading about whether you like this or not. Also, thank you for favs/follows. It's a great sign that people like it! I'm getting back on the Madison mystery...the next chapter is all MaDi and then chapter 9 should be about both M and V searching for the devil incarnate. Thank you for taking the time to read this story!