A/N: There is a page break in here that I know shouldn't be there but I can't get rid of it. Thanks again for reading this! Also, huge thank you to Bondopoulos for being my beta :D

Chapter 28

"What do you mean she's missing?" Mac asked, stunned.

Veronica took a calming breath. "I mean, she's gone. Her bags are gone, the bed is made like she never slept in it, and there is no sign of her anywhere in this suite."

Mac braced herself against the door while Dick fumbled with the button of his jeans. They had both looked relaxed when the door opened, but now both looked a bit on edge. Veronica motioned to them, trying to keep her voice light and her eyes above their necklines. "Finish getting dressed. We have to figure out where she went. And what we're telling the FBI."

"What is there to tell besides the truth?" Mac asked voice low. "We didn't help her leave."

"I know that, but they don't. They're going to think we helped her." She turned away from the door when Mac nodded and shut it with a soft click. Veronica went to the window, opened the drapes and stared down to the street. She thought back to what Madison had told her the night before.

Veronica's pulse began to race. 'Car stealing one-oh-one, Madison: take the plates off of one car, put those plates on a similar plated car, and take the second set of plates as your own. Then you at least have plates. If you were going anywhere for very long, you would have been caught within hours without doing that'. She'd basically told her how to leave. Ruh-roh. The Feds were not going to like this little turn of events. The question was how had Madison gotten past Paul? As far as she knew, Paul or his likeness had stood guard the whole night.

Veronica's line of thought was interrupted when Mac and Dick entered the room. She watched while they both sat down next to each other on the couch, their eyes both fixed on her. Veronica turned back to stare out the window and watched as cars entered and left the parking garage below. She drew the drapes closed and came to sit down across from them.

"Did either of you see Madison when you came in last night?" She was answered with blank stares. "Was anything weird or off last night at all to either of you?"

The two glanced at each other and Mac answered, "Paul wasn't at the door when we came up from dinner. The other agent ordered us not to leave the room. He said he would man the door until Paul came back." She shrugged. "We figured it was late enough that he needed a bathroom break or something."

"So you didn't realize that Madison might have been gone by then." Veronica took that news in. She sat back into the cushion of the chair. "Where did Paul go and how did Madison know exactly when he left his post? Unless…unless she bribed him somehow." Veronica stood up to head to the front door. She peeped through the peephole before she unlocked and opened it. Paul stood with his back to her. While she did this, Veronica pulled her phone out to swipe through the menus.

"Paul?" She asked, her voice honey sweet while her fingers still swiped through the various screens. When she found what she wanted, she tucked the phone back into her pocket. "Where did you go last night when you weren't at your post?"

He rotated on his heels as he turned to look at her. His expression was steely. He was quite tall and towered over her. It was nothing new to her, however, and Veronica stood her ground. "Are you going to answer me?"

"I needed a moment, is that your business?" The agent sighed when Veronica folded her arms suggesting she wasn't settling for that answer. "How do you even know about it?"

"Uh, maybe because my roommates here came back from dinner and know you were gone?" She tilted her head. "We know things. Just tell us where you were."

His eyes slid past her into the room where the others had come to stand behind her. "Where's Madison?" His voice was much too innocent. "Sleeping in?"

Veronica chewed her lip. "I'm thinking you know she's not here."

The agent's eyes widened in what Veronica considered being feigned surprise. "She's not here?"

"Why do I not buy that you're surprised? You really should learn your lines better, Paul. Have you been practicing this scene all night?"

Paul's expression turned skittish. Veronica hadn't taken much notice of him the night before, but now she really looked at him. He was older than them by maybe a few years. She could see flecks of gray in his dark black hair and lines etched around his wide-set eyes. She didn't like the nervous air he was giving off. For all the authority he was supposed to have over them, he seemed out of control. A light bead of sweat had formed across his brow.

She folded her arms. "Paul? We have ways of finding out exactly where you were last night, we do have experience in that, you know," she gestured behind her."The I in PI is for Investigator."

The guard looked both ways down the hall and then stepped into their room. He shut the door and turned to them. "It's not what you think."

"I doubt it. Why don't you just tell us about it and see if we were thinking it," she snarked. "I think a lot, Paul. Most of the time, I'm pretty close to the truth. So come on, why don't you just admit that Madison overtook you with her," she air-quoted, "'charms' and escaped your guarding abilities."

The look Paul gave them was desperate. "You can't tell my boss."

Her mouth opened in astonishment. "If we tell your boss nothing, he's going to think that we assisted her in leaving, which is nowhere near the truth."

"She was scared. She thinks there are people in the Bureau that are after her. Who want her silenced." He looked between them. "What can I say? I felt bad for her."

"So was that before, during, or after she went down on you? Because I've got to tell you, when a woman has a man in her mouth, he may think he's in control, but it's actually all her. So. Tell the truth. At what point did her sob story get to you? Mid-coitus?"

Paul rubbed his hands against his pants legs. She saw the bead of sweat across his brow was now forming into a river now. It was beginning to drip ever so slowly and soon it would be in his eyes. Paul's Adam's apple bobbed severely and his eyes searched their faces. He locked his gaze with Dick, evidently thinking he'd found an ally. "Man, I don't know how it happened."

Dick's eyes widened. He cast a wide glance at the women. "Aren't Feds supposed to be…professional or something? Seriously, I thought only Balboa County cops traded favors."

"What is it about Madison that every man on earth can't resist her?" Veronica asked in disgust. "Is she drugging you guys? Plying you with alcohol?"

"It was her doe-eyes." Paul told them in defense.

"I must be using that term wrong. Maybe she's more defined as 'dough-mouthed.' I could maybe see that." She lowered her voice, as if letting Paul in on a secret, "I hear men like that kind of thing."

Dick had come around to stand in front of the door to ward off any attempt Paul might make to escape back into the hallway. Paul, on the other hand, rocked back and forth on each foot as if trying to decide which direction to run. The sad truth for Paul was that either direction he chose to run would get him nowhere. He seemed to realize that and ceased with his teetering.

"How long have you been with the FBI, Paul? Don't they train you in persuasion tactics? Didn't you recognize her play as something to avoid?"

"I'm telling you, it wasn't like that." His eyes were shifty, not settling on any one thing. "She came out saying she needed to get something out of the car. She swore up and down that it would only be a moment. The only agent here last night besides me was down at the bar watching you two." He gestured towards Mac and Dick. "I didn't want to bother Bill with something that would take five minutes especially when she had the keys to your SUV. You all weren't going anywhere, so I escorted her to the parking garage."

"Do you have clearance to make that kind of decision on your own, Paul?"

Finally Paul's gaze came to rest on Veronica. "What do you know about clearance?"

"Paul, Paul. Paul. You really shouldn't question what I know. It seems to me like you yourself may have not spent much time in Quantico. I, on the other hand, made coffee for the best of them back East. You hear things sometimes. But enough about me. Madison was a flight risk. No one else in this room was. I'm interested in what item she claimed to have left in the vehicle that she needed? The only time she spent in that car was on the ride home from the cabin last night. None of her personal things could have possibly been in there. So what did she get when she got down there?"

Paul dropped his angry glare and stared at the carpet. Rather reluctantly, he replied, "We…uh, we didn't quite make it that far."

"What do you mean?" Veronica asked.

"We, uh, she realized halfway down the stairs that something was left in her original room and we headed there instead."

Dick humphed, Veronica eyed him. He looked disgusted. "She played you with that?" He asked Paul, eyes narrowed. "Let me guess, she went down on you the minute the door closed."

Looking abashed, Paul picked at invisible lint on his sleeve. His face had turned the color of a tomato. "You can't prove that." He swallowed and turned a hard stare on Veronica. "You three are the ones being detained here, not me. There would be no reason that the higher ups would believe you over me, so there. They'll be more inclined to believe me."

"So there?" She stole a glance at Mac, "Are we in third grade?" Veronica instantly turned serious once again as she hardened her features and glared back at Paul, whose glower was now insolent. "You must not know much about me, Paul-ee-nee. First of all, I know people. Second," she ticked her points off with her fingers, "I have a reputation for finding out the truth and not so much as settling for half-truths or feel-good lies. So if you think that the Feds, those 'higher ups' to which you referred, won't believe me over you, you're sorely mistaken. Third of all," she smiled, "and this is big one, so listen up, because here it is-I'm not known for having important conversations with suspects and/or victims without recording the information. Now, while I realize that your superiors may not be able to use this recording in a court of law, I still think they will be mighty interested to hear what we just discussed." She flashed her phone, which she pulled from her pocket, and grimaced innocently. "Sorry." Paul's face turned from red to putrid gray. Veronica could tell he was contemplating whether or not he could swipe her phone. She pocketed it before he could come to a decision. "And if you think that there is any way that you can get it from me, I'm betting against it. I'm quick, and you're…"she let her eyes steal down the length of him, "not."

Paul's mouth opened and Veronica could tell by the hard set of his chin he intended to disagree with her. Unfortunately for him, he was interrupted by a hard thump at their door. Dick was still standing nearby and the abrupt knock made him jump. He turned and looked out the peephole but looked back for approval from Veronica before he answered it. "It's a suit. A woman."

Veronica nodded, "Yeah, let her in. Make her show you her badge first. Dad text earlier, her name should be Deidre Krause."

Dick opened the door wide enough for Veronica to see a pretty woman in her mid-thirties who looked strikingly like herself. She had blue eyes and straight, blonde hair that was pulled back into a no-nonsense ponytail and a tailored black pantsuit with a teal-blue blouse beneath the jacket. She was taller than Veronica but next to Dick she looked miniature.

She flashed her badge without expression, keeping her stare on Dick. "Deidre Krause-D'Amato, FBI. Aren't you supposed to have a guard posted at your door?"

Widening the door, Dick stepped aside to allow her through. "He's in here."

"Wait." Veronica's heart stopped for a moment and she leaned forward in her chair to better see the woman. "D'Amato?"

Deidre's eyes connected with Veronica's, a half-smile at her lips. "Veronica Mars, I presume?" When Veronica nodded, Deidre then took in the whole room, honing in on Paul, who stood gaping at her. "Agent Phelps, you need to stay posted out in the hallway. We aren't paying you to fraternize with the witnesses. Agent Clinton told me that last night you were missing from your post as well. That is two violations in less than twelve hours." She gestured out in the hall, "I have two other agents out there waiting, but you need to step outside, please."

"Wait, though, are you related to Leo D'Amato from the Neptune/San Diego area?" Veronica asked, not willing to let the similar name go.

Deidre bit her lip. She nodded. "Yeah, yup, I am indeed." She bounced on the backs of her heels rather uncomfortably.

The nervous reaction of Deidre made Veronica wonder just exactly how she was related to Leo. Sister-in-law? Wife? A little whoosh of air went escaped her lungs thinking that. The last time she'd seen Leo, had he had a ring on his finger? She couldn't remember. It wasn't exactly like it had been a priority to notice. Hmmm. Interesting development.

A devious smile played on Veronica's lips. Her eyes connected with Paul's. "Ah, very good. See, Paul, wasn't I just saying thatI know everyone? Why don't you go man your post out there while I talk to Agent Krause-D'Amato for a bit."

The guard looked between the women and sighed. "Well, fuck it."

"Language, Paul," Veronica snarked when Deidre frowned in his direction. She could tell he wanted to jump in with a defense but wasn't completely sure how to play it. Paul took his leave—all but tucking tail and running out the door. As he exited the room, they could all see that there were in fact two other Feds in the hallway waiting. There would be no chance that Paul could sneak away. Satisfied, Veronica turned back to Deidre. "So how do you know my father?"

The light in Deidre's eyes turned soft. "Your dad helped out in a case a few years back. His information was pivotal and we wouldn't have solved a murder without it." She smiled. "He's a good man, Keith Mars. I heard about the incident at the first of this year. I'm so glad he survived. That deputy could have gotten them both killed. Did that drug ring the cop was involved in ever get caught?"

"Umm, no, the group that was involved is still at large. Can we move on with this case, though?" Veronica felt her blood pressure rising with mention of Deputy Sacks and the incorrect assumption that he had been involved with a drug cartel. "It's hard for me to talk that incident and I hope you understand. Maybe someday you and I can discuss the events leading up to that night. But right now, we've just discovered some…information that I think is pivotal to this case right now. And it has to do with Agent Phelps letting Madison Sinclair escape last night. We have proof."

When she stopped talking, Deidre cocked her head in what Veronica would call a familiar head tilt. It was almost like staring into a mirror. "Escape? And what do you mean, proof?"

"I really hate finding dirty cops, and I really hate finding lazy agents, but I'm afraid I found one here that meets one, if not both, of those descriptions." She pulled her phone from her the front pocket of her jeans. The recording app was still open and she pressed play before setting it on the coffee table in front of her.

Mac watched the FBI woman listen to the recording. As the play back went further on, Deidre's expression turned more serious and she leaned into the phone to catch every word. When it finally ended, she took up the phone and looked at the time stamp. "Can you forward this to me?" Her fingers were already swiping through Veronica's settings and into her messaging app. "This is really shitty news. Is Madison really gone?"

Veronica made a sweeping gesture around the suite. "We haven't seen her this morning. I have another sound bite that you will want to listen to as well. It is a recording of Madison, explaining a little of how she ended up in Utah. But before I give it to you, I really want to understand what three of us here are up against, legally."

Deidre was barely listening. She was speeding through menus on both Veronica's phone and her own. Finished with Veronica's, the agent dialed someone and put her phone to her ear. She stood and excused herself to the corner of the room.

They couldn't hear her side of the conversation, which Mac figured was deliberate. She looked at Veronica who was staring at the agent with an odd look on her face. Mac studied the agent as well. Agent Krause-D'Amato looked to be a little older than the three of them and was pretty in a California-blond kind of way. She was a lot like Veronica. She seemed sharp as a tack just like Veronica and she was built just like her. They could have been sisters for all their similarities.

Dick placed a hand on Mac's back and began rubbing up and down in comfort. She hadn't even realized that she needed soothing until she was receiving it. Oddly comforted by his affection, Mac leaned back against him and into the crook of his arm. Her stomach grumbled and he chuckled.

"Need some sustenance, huh?"

"It's looking like we might not get out of this hotel room for a while. Veronica, did you make any coffee?" Mac asked, as she craned her head to see if the coffee pot that sat on the counter behind her was filled. "At least it would help fill the void."

Veronica walked over to the coffee pot and poured each of the others a cup. She brought the cups over to them with little packets of sugar and cream between her fingers. They carefully took the steaming cups, real ceramic mugs, and doctored them up to their specifications. When they each took a sip, Veronica looked back to where Deidre was still leaned against a wall far behind them and closer to the door. She was deep in conversation, her head facing the wall.

"Look, you two need to know something about my conversation with Madison before we share it with the Feds." Veronica's voice was low. "According to Madison, Patrick Muldoon wanted your head, Dick . Apparently you slept with someone you shouldn't have and took some money that wasn't yours."

"Like, a sister? A wife? Who?" Mac asked as she whipped around to take in Dick's expression.

"Madison didn't seem to know, but yeah, according to her, Rick got obsessed after the reunion. Probably like we thought, he was reminded of you again. Now, forgive me. But I have to ask. Have you ever slept with a rich married woman or a …let's see, how do the boys refer to them these days? Uh, I believe they're called MILF's?"

Dick had just taken a sip of coffee. When she asked this question, he inhaled and Mac could almost feel the burn of the coffee that must have been shooting down into his chest. He coughed and hacked, quickly setting his cup on the edge of the table in front of them. His eyes watered as he tried to gain control. In her mind, Mac thought that maybe Dick was using his choking as a diversion off of the question. Or else to buy him time on how to answer.

Finally, he seemed able to answer. Dick shifted uncomfortably into the couch cushion. He was no longer touching Mac. His eyes wouldn't meet either of theirs. "Well. You know I've had my share of…lady friends. That's not news…to either of you. But married? A MILF? Not especially my style. I can't say off the top of my head I know of any that meet those requirements." He swallowed. "I suppose though there could have been a few that were and I didn't know it. Know they were married, I mean." He put a hand to his chin and rubbed it. "Wait, what exactly did Madison tell you? Did I hear you tell the suit that you recorded the convo?"

"I did." Veronica took her phone and again swiped through the screens to get to the recording.

The trio was quiet while the recording played out. They were about halfway through when Deidre returned and sat down quietly to listen to the rest of it:

"Well, all I know is it was Dick that started it. He slept with someone and swindled some money, and now they're pissed and want his head." Madison sounded annoyed.

"When did this supposedly take place?" Veronica asked insistently.

A sigh. "I don't know; it really was before my time. I met Rick in college but we didn't start dating until two years ago last October. I didn't know anything about his Dick addiction until after the reunion."

"Did you know about the Castle when you started dating him?"

Madison clicked her tongue in thought. "Mm…I knew that he was part of it. I had heard rumors, of course, about the Castle back in college. I mean, everyone wanted to know how the great and all-powerful Veronica Mars was humiliated so we all talked. I met the Muldoon's back then but didn't start dating Rick till later. We were at a lot of parties together."

Veronica cleared her throat and there was silence for a beat. A deep, calming breath was audible. "And the first time you heard him obsess over Dick was after the reunion?"

"I think you're the one obsessed. God, Veronica, what's the deal here?"

"Don't turn this back on me, Madison. You know for a fact that Dick was a target for these guys and you're wondering why I'm worried? He's Logan's best friend."

Madison guffawed. "Logan. How is Captain America anyway?"

"He's luckier than me, stuck on an air craft millions of miles away from you." Veronica pressed, "Now, answer the question. Was the first time that Rick targeted Dick after the reunion or before?"

There was a pause while Madison contemplated. "I don't know…we..we had the conversation, you know, about who you've dated, and Dick came up. I mean, I dated the guy for a significant amount of time. It's not like he wouldn't have come up at some point."

"Okay, so you had the previous relationship conversation. How did Rick react to the news that you were Dick's girl-toy?"

A snide laugh. "Actually, I would switch that around to Dick being my boy-toy. He basically will do anything for a quick roll in the hay. He looked good next to me and those were some fun years. You can tell my replacement the same thing. It might come in handy for her."

There was another pause from Veronica. "Madison, you are beyond compare. Tell me how Rick reacted to the news that you dated Dick."

"Look, he didn't like it, all right? He said something about…family ties. The way he said it stuck with me, let me think how he worded it…" Madison mimicked a man's voice, "'There is nothing deeper than the pain of what our parents have gone through and no other way to erase it.' Whatever that meant."

"The pain of what our parents have gone through?"

Dick bent forward and stopped the recording. The suit had ended her phone conversation and come to sit down with them. All the women were listening, but the last little bit had made Dick pause. Madison's recollection of Rick's little catchphrase sent a chill down his spine.

"Veronica, do you know for a fact it was me that screwed around with someone? Earlier in the recording she referred to Big Dick and Dick. Big Dick is only called Big Dick when I'm in the same room or when people are talking about us both at the same time. It could have been him." Emphatically he shook his head. "No, let me rephrase. It was him. The 'pain of what our parents have gone through?' Ten to none, these Muldoon's are pissed at Dad."

"I think so, too," Veronica leaned over to press play. "Keep listening."

"That's what he'd say. Then he'd go on and on about how lucky I was to be away from such a philandering, money sucking breed of men."

Veronica harrumphed. "The way I see it, Rick isn't much better."

"Oh, but , back in the beginning he was the best. He would take me places all the time, let me get all dolled up." Madison's voice became dreamy. "I loved how it was in the beginning. Rick was so much better than anyone else I'd dated. But then after the reunion…" Her voice hardened. "he was obsessed. Right away, he started looking into what Dick was doing, and he found out about some property Dick was trying to get. I think he did something to make it so Dick couldn't get it. Rick's in real estate, so it wasn't a hard thing to do. He came to dinner one night bragging about it and it was funny, for a while, that he was making Dick's life hell. I thought it was property to build a house or something, but then Rick told me that it was some nonprofit organization.

"I told Rick, 'Hey, isn't that proof that he's not Big Dick?' But no, Rick wasn't convinced. He didn't want Dick getting any recognition for being a nice guy because to Rick, Dick is the spawn of Satan."

"So Madison, if Rick thinks Dick is the Spawn of Satan, then did he really swindle the money and sleep with someone he shouldn't have? From what you're telling me Rick just didn't like him."

"Rick didn't like him because in college-Dick slept with someone important. I know that. Rick told me that much."

"What do you mean, important? Like Rick's girlfriend?"

"No, it was someone's wife. And he set her up. Took a shitload of money."

"Dick slept with a woman and gained access to her accounts, is that what you mean?" Veronica's voice sounded skeptical. "I never took Dick as that smart."

"Dick's brother was Cassidy. He was that smart, we all found out about that later, right? Who's to say that Dick didn't learn a few tricks from Beaver and Big Dick?"

The turn of the taped conversation had Mac's stomach increasingly twisting. Yeah, Cassidy was smart, but he also had asked Mac to help him with the computer stuff. Otherwise, he just knew how to blow things up. Cassidy had never pilfered money; Phoenix Land Trust had actually been a legitimate company. He'd made bank, too, until the day he'd died and the company was broken down. Mac knew because she had carefully followed it from its date of inception. She slid a look to Dick, who sat hunched with his elbows on his knees, hands on his face. He was shaking his head, a look of complete confusion on his face. She turned her attention back to the recording.

"Explain to me how Dick, a drugged-out surfer in college, would have had the brains to screw a MILF in more ways than one, and I don't just mean physically. I knew him in college, Madison, he was a total mess. There is no way you can get me to believe that even a few years after I left Dick could have pulled that off. And to what end? According to Dick, the Water Dog was a product of hard work and Casablanca's Old Money."

"I'm telling you the way I heard it, Veronica. I'm done talking to you. We can talk tomorrow in the company of Feds."

"I think you heard it wrong, Madison."

The recording was over.

Deidre pointed at the phone that sat idle on the table in front of them. "Forward that to me. I need all of your information and I don't want to find out that you are holding any of it back. I just got off the phone with Agent Bill Clinton who escorted those of you who went to dinner last night—"

"Wait, Bill Clinton? That didn't look like the forty-second president in our midst," Dick interjected.

The agent chose to ignore him, only quirking her eyebrows and allowing a small, ironic smile. "Agent Phelps is being taken in right now. We're going to gain access to the hotel's camera footage and hopefully we can get a handle where Madison thinks she's headed."

Veronica stopped working on her phone, which she had picked up when Deidre requested her to forward the recording. She slowly lifted her hand up to interrupt. "You didn't hear the first part of that recording, but she admitted that she had bought a car from someone here in the hotel. I think she's long gone."

"You think she has a car?"

"I'm sure she does. What she said last night was that someone had sold her one for cash…and I may have given her a tip on how to change out license plates."

"May have?" Deidre asked slowly. "What exactly does that mean?"

It was obvious to Mac that Veronica was reluctant to admit that she had given Madison pointers on how to switch plates. Veronica played the recording for them all again and paused it right after the portion when she and Madison were discussing how Madison had bought a car for cash. There wasn't much to dispute the fact that Madison had likely left the room to find that car. The next step was to figure out what type of ride it was and where she might have gone.

A knock at their door had Deidre up and leaving them. She was kind but firm when she told them not to try to leave and that she would be back as soon as she knew anything more.

The door clicked and Veronica turned to both Dick and Mac. They were finally without a chaperone. A little smirk played on her lips while she took in their state. "Have a nice night?"

Heat crept up Mac's neck. She hated her inability to look innocent.

"Slept like a rock," Dick told her deadpan. "How was yours?"

"Actually, it wasn't bad, minus all the banging on the wall. I must say, Dick, I always figured you for a nickname type of guy, but having her call out Tiny Dancer was something that even I didn't expect."

He narrowed his eyes in amusement. "Har-har. When we get home you'll find out a lot more about me that's a surprise. Get used to the noise. I'm loud and proud, Ronnie."

"Do I hear a challenge in your voice? Game on, Dickster. Logan and I can raise that ante with no poker-face needed."

Dick's grin was shameless. "Hear that, honey? The amateur thinks she can beat us at our own game. Hmmm. Well, we'll just see about that. We've got a lot more time to practice than she does before the big event."

"Practice?" Veronica looked at him pityingly. "If you call it practice then you are definitely not doing it right."

"Damn. Walked straight into that one," Dick said, snapping his fingers together in an 'aw shucks' kind of way. "It's more like Applied Sciences. We hone our skills."

Mac's elbow jabbed into Dick's ribcage. "If you don't stop talking about it then you just might have to hone your skills on your own." She frowned at his grin. "Alone. "

"Ah, Mac, now that I've had the good stuff, alone just doesn't work for me. I'm betting you'll be begging."

"You sure are sure of yourself."

"Well, baby, only when it's a sure thing." Their eyes connected and Mac felt the magnetic pull she'd only ever felt with Dick. His grin was what she referred to as his classic 'shit-eating grin.' It amazed her only a little to think that she was attracted to his cockiness. The look in his eye conveyed that he would gladly rip her clothes off right there and then if she gave the signal.

She cleared her throat. "Don't call me baby."

His lascivious laugh filled the whole room and Mac couldn't help but laugh along with him.

AN: I believe we have about 4-5 chapters of the mystery left. Thanks again!