A/N: I know this took FOREVER to get out. Last week was unfairly hectic in my personal life and on top of that, I'm at the last push in this story. We're not there yet, but it is coming! I am super super close.

Thank you to Bondopoulos for all the great input and positive feedback. Bewitching Redhead, sorry if I spoiled anything in my nervous doubting. And to all of you that have reviewed, liked, followed-it makes my day when I get the alert in my inbox that another of you have decided to follow or favorite this (or me, as an author)-and keeps me pushing on. All I can say is that to get those alerts, as every writer here knows, is icing on the cake that we are doing it right by you. So bravo to all of you! Thank you.

Since it has been a couple weeks since I posted, I added the last little bit of last chapter to this one to get us back on track...

"How was your flight?" Logan innocently asked, and Veronica realized that he had no inkling of the lengths she had gone to today.

Talking to Logan was always so therapeutic to her. But these Skype calls were hard at times. There was always a barrier of some sort; something that both were aware of but neither knew how to break down. She frowned. "How was yours?"

"Score one for Mars." Logan retorted drily. "That bad, huh?"

"The flight was fine. Ask your pal Dick how his flight was."

Logan's eyebrows rose. "Sounds like the work week ended on a high note at least."

"Yeah, maybe for Dick. My work week ends in about…oh…let's say, maybe, five more hours?"

Logan tilted his head. "What's happening in the next five hours?"

"Oh, just a little B and E."

Chapter 34 Watching

Logan didn't say anything for a moment. "Come again?"

"Breaking. And. Entering." Veronica enunciated slowly. Making a face, she told him, "You really should have your ears checked."

"Um…yeah, I heard you, but I was hoping maybe you actually said, 'just let it be.' I guess I'm not surprised to be wrong, as usual." He leaned forward to see her better. "This isn't a secure line, Veronica. Watch what you say."

"Relax, Nervous Nellie. We're not doing the break in. We're watching the break in."

"Veronica." Logan's sober tone cut through the line. "What's going on?"

Staring at Logan never got old. Maybe if she stared at him long enough he would forget his question. Veronica smiled, tilted her head slightly to the side and fluttered her eyes, stalling. His frown deepened. She frowned back and then sighed. "Well, damn, that really used to work."

Logan smirked insolently. "I'm not nineteen anymore, Veronica. Your Jedi mind tricks don't affect me like they used to. In fact?" He looked wistful. "Did they ever?"

"Haha, you wish." Veronica snarked. "Nothing too bad happened today." She lifted her arms, showcasing her fingers and limbs. "Every single one of my toes that you love and adore is still accounted for."

"My, my, that is reassuring. How I worry about all ten of your toes. Foot fetishes do that to a man." Logan answered warily, obviously weighing his words. Veronica watched as Logan's internal debate about whether or not to push her for more information washed over his face. He began chewing on the inside of his lip, his brow furrowing. Some things would just never change with Veronica. When she didn't want to talk about or explain something, she wouldn't. The men in her life didn't have any other option but to bide their time until she was ready to spill. Nine years of being apart had not made that any less true. Logan knew it. He hated it, but he knew it. Finally he told her, "You know, if you didn't want me to ask, you probably shouldn't have led with 'breaking and entering'." His eyes roamed the screen, trying to connect with hers. "Breaking and entering and Veronica Mars never mix well."

"I promise, it's gonna be fun."

Logan sighed, resigned. "Whether or not it'll be fun is not what I generally am concerned about where you are concerned. It's never boring with you, love."

The knock on the front door came less than an hour later. Mac rose to open it, leaving Dick on the couch watching Game of Thrones. Swinging the door wide, her eyes connected with Agent Krause-D'Amato.

The agent looked past her to where Dick sat on the couch and then back to Mac. "Evening, Ms. Mackenzie. Is Ms. Mars home? I need to speak with all three of you."

Blinking, Mac opened the door wider. "Come on in."

"Actually…I'm going to have to ask that all of you come with me. We have some more questions to ask you. I'm sorry."

"What seems to be the problem?" Dick asked as he approached the women and stood behind Mac. "Are we under arrest or something?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Agent Krause-D'Amato answered. "But…it would be in your best interest to come with me." She stared at both of them in turn.

"Dick, go get Veronica." Mac ordered, her eyes not leaving Deidre's. "Tell her to hurry."

Dick knocked softly on Veronica's door. After a moment, she answered it, looking harried. "I'm Skyping with Logan. What do you want?"

He looked past her to where he could almost see Logan on the screen. "How's my brah?"

Veronica motioned with her head for him to come in. "Come ask him yourself. " She lowered her voice. "Dee's here?"

Nodding marginally, Dick stepped past Veronica, his eyes honing in on the computer across the room. He walked over and leaned down so that Logan could see him through the computer's camera. "Logan, my man! Did your little lady tell ya what's going on tonight?" His friend's glower made Dick quake, but only just a little. He gave a cheeky smile. "We're headed out right now, brah. It's gonna be good."

"That's what she said."

"And who am I to disagree with the lady?"

"And when have you ever called me a lady?" Veronica asked, rummaging through a bag at the foot of her bed.

Dick shrugged. "If you want to down-grade yourself, go right ahead. I, for one, wouldn't complain," he retorted, turning to look back at to her. "What would you rather I call you?"

"Guys!" Logan interrupted. "Enough!"

"See, at least I don't call you a guy," Dick muttered under his breath. He turned back to the screen. "Sheesh, man, it's dude and dudette, at least."

Logan scowled. "Can we try to get back on track here? There seems to be a lot going on."

Veronica slung the bag over her shoulder. "Logan. It's all set and we've got a plan. We have to go."

Dick watched Logan's eyes soften. He could tell his friend was worried. "You'll be safe, though?"

Veronica wasn't even paying attention to notice Logan's look, Dick noted in disgust. Count on Veronica to be full-force case-mode.

"We won't even be here. I'll email you as soon as it's over. You don't need to be worry about anything at all." Finally, she looked up and then stepped closer to the computer. She stopped and stared hard at the screen. Logan looked back at her, his concern evident.

Glad that Veronica was finally acting like a girlfriend, Dick stood up from where he was crouched in front of the screen. He felt like he was intruding on their moment. He cleared his throat. "Maybe I'll go wait with Mac. Hurry along, though, Ronnie, can't keep little Dee-Dee waiting."

"No, wait, Dick, I want to talk to you." Logan's expression turned to him, his puppy-dog eyes pleading. "Veronica, can you give us a minute?"

She gave them both a pinched look. "We barely have five minutes. But I've got to talk to Dee." She crossed over and crouched down to the computer's screen and told Logan, "I promise, I'll email you as soon as this is over."

Dick dutifully turned his head away and inspected the cork board Veronica had hung on the wall. It was a curious mixture of pictures—from high school years and beyond—pictures of Lilly, Duncan, Logan, all with Veronica. Pictures of Veronica with her dad. There was a picture of Veronica and Mac in front of the Statue of Liberty, and one with just Mac and Wallace. From the border, a necklace hung from a pushpin.

Dick feigned interest with it all until Veronica stood straight. "Disconnect the call, Dick, but leave the computer on. It'll automatically lock. Thanks." With that, she swirled around and exited the room.

Logan didn't say anything until the door clicked shut. "Dude, she better as hell have told me the truth."

"Well, what all did she tell you?"

"That you're headed to a safe house and that the Castle is breaking in tonight."

"For once, her story is the same as mine, man. That's what's happening."

Logan was quiet. "You two rarely agree on things, even when it's the truth."

Fidgeting, Dick stared at his friend's form on the screen. "Listen, man. The Castle wants this list that Ronnie has. They're convinced she still has it, here, in the apartment. This whole thing is a set up with the Feebs. It's totally safe."

"Safe, huh? What other lines have they thrown you?"

"Just sit back on your cruise ship and work on your tan, Maverick. Leave it all to us." Dick grinned. "Navy life has made you a pussy. Seriously, dude, you have nothing to worry about. We're watching the whole thing prime-time. Magic-Mac set cameras up all over; they're not getting away with jack."

"Yeah, and what's the story on you and Mac anyway?"

A knock interrupted Dick's response. He looked to the door and then back to Logan. "Brah, I gotsta go, man. Your lady is chompin' at the bit."

"Hey, wait, Dick," Logan said urgently, "Do me a favor?"

Mac was in her element. She sat in front of three computers, deftly moving between each screen. Each of the screens showed multiple views from the inside of their apartment. She had hidden a camera in each room, placing them in covert spots where only someone familiar with the devices would know to look.

The three of them had been 'escorted' by Agent Krause-D'Amato to an 'undisclosed' temporary location downtown. They had been extremely public about it; Dick had taken great pains to appear to be a disgruntled witness, and more than one neighbor had watched the display. It looked as if they were not going with the agents very willingly. That had been precisely the plan.

Once inside the office, Mac had been overjoyed to see computers set up and at her disposal. Deidre reluctantly agreed to use Mac's expertise mostly because she was unsure of whom she could trust within the FBI. Based on the names on the Castle's list, it was clear that the group had far-reaching hands; to bring in more people on such short notice was something Deidre just couldn't risk. So, with only hours to work with, Mac and Veronica's cooperation and experience was vital.

Prior to the agent's arrival at the apartment, Mac's night had been frenzied. She'd spent her time rushing around setting up multiple cameras and ensuring they all worked and wouldn't cut out at an essential moment. She'd only just barely finished with the final touches when the agent arrived to retrieve them.

Deidre came up from behind her. "Agent Sanders just confirmed their arrival. There are two of them in the car outside of the apartment. Is everything set? Are the cameras ready to go?"

Nodding, Mac kept at her work. "I just sent the link to your headquarters. Everything should be ready. The sound is on and the cameras are recording everything starting," she clicked a few buttons, "right now."

"Good. Good." Deidre place a hand on Mac's shoulders. "Is the list easy to find?"

"I left an obvious copy of it on Veronica's computer and a jump drive with a second copy on it in my night stand drawer. There is one more in my bathroom that he might find. There's no way they'll miss the other two since their goal is to find them. The only way it could be more obvious is if I left a neon yellow sign flashing 'look here!' above it. I didn't want to help them out that much."

"No…it would make them suspicious. Clinton thinks that we ordered you all to leave unexpectedly. He would be more suspicious if everything was packed up." Deidre motioned out the window. "He watched us come in. Now we just wait."

Tampering was his specialty. He'd been doing it for years. Whenever a Castle member was questioned by the feds, Clinton was always the one called in to tidy the situation up and sweep it under the rug. He was the best at what he did. He thought of Jake Kane, sitting across town with Aidan Muldoon, waiting for his orders. Involving the computer mogul was Clinton's only hope at guaranteeing that everything would be wiped out of all computers in the apartment. Entrusting both Kane and Muldoon was the only way Clinton could get everything he needed done by morning. Keeping the two other men busy meant that Veronica Mars wouldn't be able to talk anyone into checking the suite at the Neptune Grand and finding Kane and Muldoon there. Before leaving the suite, Clinton cleaned up what he could and left it looking as innocuous as possible. He'd left it in better shape than how he'd found it.

His alibi for the night was set. Clinton called his contact at the airline to arrange a 'mechanical malfunction' to reroute the flight he was scheduled to be on to land in Phoenix. The flight's roster still showed him as a passenger and also showed that he'd boarded the plane in Salt Lake. As far as the FBI and Agent Krause-D'Amato were concerned, Agent Clinton was stuck in Arizona awaiting a new plane to arrive that would take him the rest of the way to California.

When he'd gotten a hold of Agent Krause-D'Amato, Clinton had apologized profusely, telling her that there would be no way for him to arrive in Neptune until early the next morning. That gave him more than enough time to get into the Mars Investigations office and to have his accomplices gain access into Veronica Mars' apartment. All that was left was to find the list and plant evidence that would be the ruination of the Mars' team. Once the list was safe in their hands, he knew everything else would fall naturally into place.

Clinton was confident that the other agent was becoming mistrustful of what Veronica Mars was saying and doing. The agent told him that before she parted ways with Veronica late that afternoon, the young PI was quite belligerent and unhelpful. The agent told Clinton she'd had no choice but to let the three of them go for the time being until she could return with a warrant and that she hadn't made contact with any of them the rest of the day.

Over the phone, Clinton ordered the Agent Krause-D'Amato to immediately find Veronica Mars and her stooges and take them in for further questioning. The agent only balked for only a few moments until Clinton had informed her that without the complete cooperation of the three, the FBI would have no case against the group in Salt Lake. She must have sensed the urgency of the situation because she told him she planned to go to the apartment directly.

Now, in a rental car, Clinton watched from across the street when Agent Krause-D'Amato ushered Veronica Mars and the other two into a temporary office. He'd followed them from the apartment to ensure that they were being properly handled. So far so good, he noted. It was now or never to take care of this problem.

Clinton tapped his fingers against the steering wheel before he reached for the burner cell he always carried. He tapped in a number, placed the phone to his ear and waited.

He heard a click as the call connected, and Jake Kane answered, demanding, "Tell me good news."

"They're where they're supposed to be. Get a move on."

Clinton could practically hear Kane's nervous energy through the phone. Clearly agitated, Jake replied, "I've never really done this before. I always have Clarence do it for me."

"Who the hell is Clarence?" Clinton asked, realizing his other cell was ringing. "We can't bring in more people." He took the other phone out and looked at the display. It was Agent Krause-D'Amato.

"No, no." Jake said hurriedly. "I don't want him involved either. He didn't do it right all those years ago. I can't trust him with this now. It's because of him she still even has that list. This is between me and Veronica now. I'm fixing this. Me."

"Look, Jake, all you and Muldoon need to do is get in and get out. Just make sure there isn't any physical evidence that points back to the Castle. That is paramount." Clinton looked up through the window across the street where he could see lights flickering on the fourth floor, "Muldoon will plant what he needs to. But for you and I, Muldoon and his problem comes last tonight."

"His problems are the least of my worries," Jake said, speaking low into the phone, "Did you see that bag of sex in his room? He needs to go to prison. We can't protect him."

"I already took care of Muldoon's bag. No one will find it. We have a code, Jake. No one goes down. The bag's gone. After tonight we need to have a little chat with him about keeping souvenirs."

"He's been drugging people."

"We've known that for years, Jake. We've erased the evidence before." Clinton started the car and put it into drive. "Just remember to upload the information on the jump drive I gave you onto every computer you find in that apartment. There has to be at least two of them but there could be others. I'm headed to the Mars Investigations office. We'll meet up in two hours at the agreed upon location." He disconnected the call and answered the other cell. "Clinton here."

"We've got her." Agent Krause-D'Amato's voice cut through. "But she's not happy."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Clinton replied. "Is she ready to turn over all of her information?"

"She's actually agreed to give over all the information we want without a warrant if we wait until five o'clock tomorrow evening."

"She's trying to bargain with us?"

"Actually…is there any harm in waiting? If you can't get here until the morning, what are a few more hours? One more day?"

The other agent's flippant tone sliced through him. She really had no idea what Veronica Mars was sitting on. Clinton clenched his teeth. "Look—you tell that little PI that if she doesn't agree to hand everything over right now, we won't grant her immunity. She will be charged, and her friends will be charged with accessory. The FBI can only do so much."

Agent Krause-D'Amato sighed. "There's only so long I can hold them, you know that as much as I do. You're better at the bad cop stuff, Agent Clinton. She thinks I'm on her side. I'm the good cop in this equation."

"Even good cops get tough sometimes. She'll learn." He disconnected the call and stared at the phone is hand. "She'll learn not to mess with me."

Jake drove around the whole apartment complex twice before concluding that the best way to enter the apartment was through the front door. Clinton had told him that the front door was most likely the only option, but it was disheartening to see it for himself. Clinton had stressed that none of the neighbors would be suspicious of any official-looking person going in through that door because there had been so many suits there that day. Jake assumed Clinton's experience trumped his own discomfort with the situation.

How had he gotten himself into this situation in the first place? The phone call from Clinton this afternoon had filled Jake with dread, but he'd had no idea that he would be breaking and entering by the end of the night. He wasn't exactly what anyone would call a burglar. But he had little choice in the matter because the Castle had to get that list before Veronica Mars put it into the wrong hands. Jake, in a panic, was tempted to call in Clarence, but had thought better of it because Weidman was not a Castle protégée. Clinton would not allow another player in this debacle and they couldn't afford the time it would take to get Clarence up to speed. For once, Jake would have to get his own hands dirty.

Jake looked over at Muldoon, who was still silently staring out the window. The man had hardly uttered a word since regaining consciousness except to confirm that he'd had at least one woman in his suite earlier that night. He'd denied memory of much else, but insisted that he was well enough to help and had experience with break-ins. Muldoon also was in possession of the information that they would use to incriminate Veronica. That alone was enough to convince Jake to take him along. But he also needed Muldoon to help him find everything inside of the apartment and double-check that Veronica didn't have any other information that could destroy them.

Jake pulled the car into a shadowed parking spot. He looked out the window and across the street at Veronica Mars' apartment. He took a calming breath and then looked to Muldoon. "We're here."

Muldoon's expression turned deadly. "So this is where the little bitch lives, huh?"

The door to the apartment was easy enough to get through. Jake felt inadequate and just stood by her door, staring at the doorknob. Muldoon had taken charge by brushing him aside and opening the lock in less than two minutes. Once inside, Muldoon crossed straight to a window and drew the curtains closed. He then motioned for Jake repeat the action to a nearby window. Jake obeyed and pulled the blind's string hard, causing it to drop it down with a loud clang.

"SHHH!" Muldoon hushed. "Just because we made it in doesn't mean we get to be loud."

Jake glared. What right did this moron have to tell him how to be?

The two of them continued through the apartment, Muldoon starting down the hallway ahead of Jake. He stopped at the first door. "I'll check in here," Muldoon told him, "You go to the next room. Don't forget. Find every computer."

Nodding, Jake passed him in the hall and headed to the back room. Before he turned the knob, Jake turned back in time to watch Muldoon step into the other room. The sudden soberness of his unexpected partner confused Jake. Muldoon had been barely lucid during the past hour, but Jake supposed that maybe the drug-induced effect was wearing off. Or maybe the seriousness of the job had put Muldoon in mission-mode. Perhaps the man was on a high or something, running on adrenaline, and would crash later.

As Jake entered the dark room, he shook his head in an effort to focus himself back on the task at hand. The first thing he did was hurry over to the open window and draw in the curtains. He then switched on the lamp on the nightstand looked around. A computer sat not far from where he stood. Time to get to work.

"They're in." Mac told them while she moved between screens. "Looks like Clinton isn't with them though. Is that Muldoon?"

Deidre and Veronica sat in chairs beside Mac, watching the screens on which she worked. Surprised, Veronica murmured, "I can't believe the guy can even stand up."

Dick stood against the wall not far from the others, fiddling with the zipper of his hoodie restlessly. "What are they doing? Have they said anything yet?"

"Nothing of real importance." Deidre said while Mac enlarged a shot of Muldoon standing in her room. "I don't think it's going to be words that sink them."

"Hmmm….you might be surprised." Dick scoffed softly, pushing off the wall and joining them. "What are they doing?"

"It looks like…" Mac trailed off, squinting at the screen. "Yup . Muldoon's trying to get onto my computer. Which he will…right about…now."

Dick was quiet for a moment while they watched Muldoon. "Surely you protect your computer better than that?" He asked when Muldoon easily bypassed the computer's security.

"It's not a matter of protection when you want them to gain access, right?" Mac asked.

"What's Kane up to?" Veronica interrupted, pointing to the other screen.

The security on Veronica's computer was rather archaic, Jake thought. It had only taken him four attempts before he was in—why the woman hadn't made a better password, he'd never know. It didn't matter to him anyhow—he was in. The desktop was filled with case files, but instead of going through them, he immediately opened the computer's Recent Places. It would list everything she'd been working on of late. He sat back for a moment while the computer loaded. His eyes roamed about the room but stopped still when he saw a bulletin board on the wall above him.

It was filled with Veronica's memories. Pictures and mementos of days gone by. Things he himself remembered clearly—his children. His children with the children that ruined them. Logan Echolls smiled down at him. He was the image of his damn father with that movie-star grin. There was Veronica, her own grin just an innocence façade. He could almost see the sneer in her youthful eyes, how she was counting down the days until she could tear down the Kane name.

Turning back to the computer, Jake kept his eyes straight on the screen and clicked through the menus. In his determined mindset, he didn't even notice the pale blinking icon at the bottom of the desktop's screen.

While everyone else watched Jake Kane, Veronica's attention became riveted on the other monitor, where Aidan Muldoon moved away from Mac's computer and walked towards the bathroom door. Before entering the tiny washroom, however, Muldoon stopped to rummage through a jewelry box on top of a chest of drawers. He then opened the top drawer and rifled through it. Veronica watched him pull something from out of his pocket, drop it into the drawer and then push it slowly shut. He rapped his knuckles on the wood and then shuffled through the door to the bathroom.

"Muldoon just planted something," Veronica informed the room, not realizing that all of their attention was completely focused on what was going on in her room. "That should be enough, shouldn't it?" She glanced over to the other monitor and forgot what she was saying.

Jake recoiled back in shock. The screen had blinked black and then flickered, but he could have sworn he had just seen Logan Echolls' face staring out at him through the monitor. Standing abruptly, Jake stepped backwards. He bumped into the side of the bed and stumbled over a bag that caught at his foot. His eyes were still locked on the screen. He was unable to tear his gaze away.

Blinking, Jake shook his head to clear it and then he leaned in to take a closer look. He saw nothing on the screen besides the case file he had just opened moments ago. Feeling rather foolish, Jake decided that the snapshot of Logan on the screen had to be just that: a picture. It had flickered on the screen so suddenly and off again that Jake had mistakenly believed it was really Logan, looking out at him through cyber-space. He was just jumpy, that was all.

The room felt eerie with the little lamp illuminating the walls in an ethereal glow. Veronica's presence in the stairwell had spooked him, and being in this quiet room with pictures of the past was making him even more paranoid. He chuckled at his own jumpiness. This room felt like it was full of ghosts, both real and imagined, but he had a job to do.

Hearing Muldoon in the other room, Jake forced himself to calm down and focus. He needed to get the jump drive files transferred over to Veronica's computer and change the history on the computer to make it look as if they had been there the whole time. If he didn't get that part just right, Veronica would be able to prove that someone had tampered with her device. And that wasn't an option.

He sat back down and began once again.

"What was that?" Veronica had seen the creepy image flicker on the screen of her computer and then off again, but couldn't quite decipher what exactly it was a picture of. The camera Mac had installed was too far away from the computer screen to tell. It looked familiar though. Mac and Deidre murmured their joint confusion, but Dick stared unblinking at the screen. A wave of realization washed over Veronica. "Dick." He didn't move. "Dick. What have you and Logan done?"

"Relax, Ronnie," Dick answered evasively when the other two glanced over at him. "We're just having a little fun."

"What did you do?" She demanded through clenched teeth, her eyes riveted to the screen.

His fingers were flying over the keyboard now. The picture of Logan had yet to resurface, thank God, but Jake was ready for it now. He knew it was there lurking, waiting to pop up and he was not going to allow it to startle him again. He'd easily found the copy of the Castle's roster on Veronica's hard drive and removed it. The next step was to plant the file that Clinton gave them that would incriminate Veronica. It would prove that she had knowingly held back information that the FBI had requested. It would be her undoing.

He pulled the jump drive that held the file from his jacket pocket. Without hesitating, Jake jammed it into the port on the computer and began the tedious process of loading it and changing the history on the computer.

The expected screen popped up asking what he'd like to do with the detected jump drive. Moving the mouse to 'install', he paused when he noticed an icon at the bottom of the screen pulsating. Curiosity got the better of him and Jake clicked it.

The picture of Logan popped up again. Jake blinked and moved the mouse to exit from the screen, but froze when he heard his name.

"Mr. Kane?"

He looked wildly around the room, unsure from where the voice had come from, his heartbeat quickening. It was silent once again, and, choosing to ignore what he supposed was his own jumpy imagination, Jake continued on with his hacking.

"Mr. Kane, what are you doing?"

There was a collective gasp when all four of them heard the distinctive voice ask, "Mr. Kane?"

Veronica glared at Dick. "Tell me this isn't happening."

Dick still wouldn't look at her. "Logan's bored on that big ol' cruiser, Ronnie. He had a little extra time, so he requested a front row seat." He shrugged. "Who am I to not throw a bone when he's begging?"

"Dick," Veronica started to say, warningly, "Having Logan watch and having him talk to the intruder are two completely different things—"

Deidre held her hand up. "Wait, wait. This…this might turn out all right." She leaned in closer. "He looks freaked out."

Dick stared at the screen. "The dude thinks he's hearing voices, cause he's cray-cray." He said the last in a sing-song voice.

"I think I'm hearing things." Veronica moaned, placing a hand to her head. "How did you ever think this would be a good idea?" She watched as Jake stood and began inching his way backward toward the door, his face drawn in fear. "Will this hurt our investigation?"

"The FBI's investigation, Ms. Mars." Deidre corrected. She pointed to the other screen, where Muldoon had emerged from Mac's bathroom. "I wonder just how clear-headed Mr. Feely-hands actually is." She paused. "Mac, are there speakers on your cameras? Is there any way that we can talk to Muldoon?"

"Talk to Muldoon?" Mac echoed. Her fingers hesitated briefly and then they were off, typing in code. "Of course that's an option. If Logan can do it, absolutely we can. It's through the computer, though, not the cameras."

Deidre smiled. "Well, that works too."

Muldoon stepped out of the bathroom and back into the bedroom. His mind felt fuzzy, but it was getting clearer by the moment. It irked him that he'd been duped into drinking his own drugged-concoction, but it was a good thing that he'd conditioned his body to it. The aftereffects generally lasted six or more hours on the average person, but for him, he could be back in commission in less than two. Tonight was no exception, and for that, he was grateful. Although he hardly remembered how he had come to be in this state, Clinton had shown him a picture of the now famous Veronica Mars and he knew, knew, it was her and her little friend that had come up to the suite with him. The greatest shame was that he hadn't been able to tie her up to the post—and whip that little bitch into submission. And her little friend could have watched. All he could remember of the little friend was her short, dark hair and wide smile—which was enough for Clinton to confirm it had to have been Veronica Mars' roommate.

And then to find out that Dick Fucking Casablancas had been in on it the whole time that truly boiled Aidan's blood. Not only were these women setting Muldoon up, but a Casablancas was involved. The Casablancas name had haunted the Muldoon's for years, even before he and Rick were born. Letting a Casablancas get the better of him was inconceivable. It couldn't happen. There was no way in hell that Aidan would let that son of a bitch get the last laugh. Aidan and his brother had been looking for the stupid surfer for the past week. It infuriated him to find out that the damn blonde had been fucking the two women Muldoon had tried to fuck tonight. And having those cunts humiliate him—he couldn't wait to set all three of them up. Dick Casablancas for his family, and the other two for Rick and himself. He'd feel better if he could be the one to bash their brains in, like they'd done to his brother. Retribution.

Muldoon crossed over to the bed after he pocketing the jump drive he'd found under the bathroom sink. People thought they were so smart, but when Muldoon wanted something, he searched everywhere—carefully.

He crouched down and looked under the bed, to double-check one last time that there wasn't a stray laptop or some techie device underneath. Satisfied, he opened the nightstand drawer and began poking through it.

"I really hope you don't have, like, a vibrator in that drawer," Dick commented drily, watching Muldoon shuffle through the nightstand. "You'll have to boil and bleach it, and then it might not work as well. But, hey, you got me now, right?"

All three of the women said at the same time, "Shut up, Dick."

"Huh. That's like an anthem for you three. Women unite!"

"Get ready, Dick. As soon as he stands up, start talking."

Rubbing his hands in anticipation, Dick said, "You girls are so jealous, you just can't stand it."

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this! Thanks again!

I think next chapter should be it for the mystery/suspense (if I can't fit it, it may become 2 chapters) and then a chapter of epilogue.