A/N: Hey Everyone, I once again want to apologize for taking SO very long to update my story. School's got me running in circles. And now that I have a job, it's going to be double difficult to get my stories in like I was over the summer. sorry, However, since I took so very long to update this story, I made sure to make it EXTRA long for you guys. I hope you all enjoy it.

Hey Vicki and Teazer! Would you post your e-mail address in my reviews please? I must ask you if my grammar, punctuation, Spelling and all the "tiny" problems are getting better in my stories. I hope to hear from you soon!!!

Chapter 21

"Another Lead?"

"Tehama!" Commissioner Vallejo calls racing up to her desk. She was going through another batch of folders. She puts a small pile of folders on top of her desk. Whipping her brow, she turns to Vallejo.

She picked up a cup of cocoa and took a long drink out of it before responding, "What is it chief?"

Vallejo notices how Tehama's voice didn't have its cheery ring to it. Her eyelids look heavy and she's looking exhausted at the moment.

"Is there a reason your drinking from Fillmore's mug?" Vallejo asks.

Tehama looks down and realizes that she had grabbed Fillmore's bunny mug instead of her own. She wonders how she had done that. She walks over to the sink, dumps it out, and then starts cleaning it.

She figures that she must really be out of it since she had grabbed the wrong mug. This was another one of the million crazy things she had done today.

"Tehama! I must converse with you about the party," Vallejo says, quickly changing the subject. He thought it was a little funny that she had grabbed the wrong mug, but he didn't want her to feel bad or embarrassed about it.

She nods, dries Fillmore's mug off, puts it back on his desk and then grabs her mug. She head straight for the cocoa machine and gets herself some cocoa. "What about the party, Vallejo?" She takes a long sip.

"Well, what has everyone accomplished so far and what else do we need to do?" He asks.

She takes another long sip before replying, "We're nearly done. We have one gigantic obstacle though,"

Vallejo looks stunned. "A complication? What is it?"

"We're having a little difficulty transporting the birthday present to here,"

Vallejo sighs. "Does it involve money?"

Tehama nods. "Yes, since we're kind of on a budget and all,"

Vallejo nods. He's aware that the principal had put them on a budget for this party, but they still had to accomplish the task of transporting the birthday surprise here. They might have to do things like fund-raisers in order to get the money.

"Let me take care of this issue! Now, all the guests have been notified?"

"Yes,"

"What about the food and decorations?"

"All taken care of,"

"And the other guests,"

"Yes, they've been informed too. Everything else is finished! The only thing we need is the gift!" Tehama says sipping her cocoa and sitting back down at her desk.

"Tehama! Commissioner Vallejo!" Anza interrupts as he leaps across the Safety Patrol Head Quarters. He's out of breath by the time he gets over to the both of them.

"Anza! Can't you see that Tehama and I are in the middle of an important conversation?" Vallejo asks in an annoyed tone of voice.

Anza tries to catch his breath. "I'm sorry! But I had to tell you that Fillmore and Roberts are headed back this way!" He says.

Their eyes widened. Fillmore couldn't discover anything about the party or it would all be ruined. All their plans and the guests wouldn't be a complete surprise any longer.

"Everyone Fillmore's coming!"

Immediately everyone scrambles to put things out-of-sight. Could they hide this from Fillmore or would today be the day when he found out about everything. No one had said a word about Fillmore's birthday this year.

"Hurry," Vallejo shouted assisting everyone.

Tehama takes the invitations to the party and shoves them inside one of her desk drawers. She knew that Fillmore never went snooping around or on her desk, so they were safe from his eyes.

"Roberts! Is something the matter?" Fillmore asks as he and Roberts enter the Safety Patrol Head Quarters?

"Yes, Fillmore! There's something very important that I need to tell you. I discovered a clue to the case! An efficient clue!"

"What sort of clue?" He asks as they walk over to his desk.

"Well, I'm really getting ahead of myself. I should explain everything to you first,"

Fillmore holds his hand up to stop him. "Look, Please give me the short version of the story! We don't have all day!"

"After we departed last night I was walking home and I over heard a conversation going on between Penny and this girl. The girl was saying how the director was annoyed because all of the cheerleading uniforms weren't in yet.

"Uh-huh" Fillmore says getting himself some cocoa.

"Anyway, Penny answers by saying "I haven't been able to steal them away from the rest of the cheerleaders yet,"

Fillmore pours himself some cocoa takes a sip and spits it out. "Why does this taste like soap?" He turns around to the rest of the group. "Did someone do something to my cup?"

Tehama steps up, "Sorry, I guess I didn't wash it out well enough," She says blushing. She had hoped that Fillmore wouldn't find out but it had happened anyway.

Fillmore turns back to Roberts, "Hmm. That does sound suspicious and it might be important,"

"Fillmore! Don't you think we need to investigate Stacey Stevens?" Tehama asks.

He nods. "We're going to Tehama. However will just have to do them one at a time," There were two suspects out on the table right now. He and Roberts could only do one at a time. It was because Roberts was too new to go off on his own and needed to stay with Fillmore.

Tehama shakes her head. "What if you question one, something comes up and you never get to the other one?"

"I think what she's trying to say is that you and Roberts probably could use some assistance," Anza says.

Fillmore nods. "Sure. We could use all the help we can get,"

"Okay, why don't I investigate Stacey, while you two converse with Penny and the rest of the Drama Club, again,"

Fillmore and Roberts nod and then head towards the door.

"Hold on," Tehama holds up the talky for them to see. "I'll call you when I'm finished and explain what I discovered. You can do the same thing,"

"Okay. We'll keep in touch and solve this case together," Roberts says.

Roberts, Fillmore and Tehama head for the door. Tehama feels a hand on her shoulder and stops, turns around to find Anza standing behind her.

"Anza? What is it?"

He takes a deep breath. This was the perfect opportunity to spend some time with her. "I can't allow you to do this alone! I want to come along and assist you!"

"That's fine," She finally says.

When Tehama and Anza turn back towards the door, they discover Fillmore and Roberts already were gone. They realize that they had better get going if they wanted to get things done.

They vanish out the door leaving Vallejo behind. Tehama and Anza sure would make the cuties couple. He thinks.

The moment everyone leaves the Safety Patroller with blond hair, large black sunglasses walks in with O' Farrell and his gang in custody.

"O' Farrell?" Vallejo asks. He's quite astonished to see him here for the fifth time this week.

O' Farrell glares at Vallejo. "Look, it's the guy that vertically challenged!" The rest of the gang chuckles to themselves. "Good one!" They say.

"What did they do?"

"They were selling illegal parking tickets and elevator passes!"

Vallejo sighs and shakes his head. "O' Farrell I can't believe you got involved in a group like this! We bust you and your little popular group for something every week!"

O' Farrell rolls his eyes. He didn't need a stupid lecture.

"You use to be a terrific Safety Patrol Officer and a great, funny guy, what happened?"

O' Farrell spit out his toothpick and stared Vallejo straight in the eyes. "I grew up and change, realizing that how much of a sissy I was,"

"Unfortunately your change wasn't for the better and you made the wrong choice," He turns back to his Safety Patrol Officers. "Okay go ahead and book 'em" He says. He watches O' Farrell and his gang goes by and disappears. He's still shaking his head after their gone.

Meanwhile Tehama and Anza have located Stacey Stevens Club. They walk up to the door, knock and then open the door. They discover that the members were sitting down in a circle, holding hands and discussing issues.

At first none of them seemed to notice. They were right in the middle of their little conversation. They exchange glances. They would need to do something in order to get the clubs attention. Anza clears his throat loudly, making the entire club turn around.

A girl in a kilt stands up and asks in a Scottish accent, "Yes, may we assist you?" She puts her hands together in front of her as she just stands there.

He clears his throat again. "Yes, we're from the Safety Patrol and we're searching for Stacey Steven's,"

A tiny girl looking only about 5' tall stood up. She had short brown hair that only went to her shoulders. The girl's complexion wasn't good or bad. Her eyes were blue/green and she just stared at them.

Unlike most teenagers at school, she wore no jewelry, only a blue expensive watch on her left arm. She wore and average black coca cola shirt and baggy bell-bottom jeans. The jeans had a small hole in the left pant leg.

"Stacey, we need to you to come with us,"

Stacey's expression turns concerned.

"What's going on? Stacey's not in trouble is she?" someone asks.

Not yet, but she might be, Tehama thinks.

"We need to ask you a few questions," Anza says opening the door for Stacey.

"Okay. . ." she hesitantly says as she walks out the door. Tehama and Anza immediately meet her outside the door.

"What's this all about officers? I didn't do anything!"

"Do you have an acquaintance named Penny Madrid?" Tehama asks.

Stacey hesitates. "Penny Madrid? Penny Madrid . . .." Her voice trails off. It sounds as though Stacey didn't recognize the name. Had they hit another dead end? Another lead might just have gone dry.

"I use to!"

Anza and Tehama looked surprised. "Use to? How long ago did you know her?"

"Couple years ago. She just stared to call me again,"

"What's she been calling you about?" Anza asks in a very interested voice.

"She's been talking to me about some sort of cheerleading uniforms. Something about being desperate to get the Drama club cheerleading uniforms immediately,"

Tehama and Anza exchange glances. That sounds suspicious to the both of them and they figure that they'd better get more information while they are here.

"Can you tell us more?"

"She once had us on three-way-calling. She was talking about mooching money off people. She also was explaining the special technique she was going to use in order to obtain the uniforms,"

Now it seems as though they are getting somewhere. It seems as though they'd gotten past the useless information and right to what counts.

"What's the plan?" Tehama asks as both of them lean forward with interest. This was the bit of information they had been searching for.

"The plan? Uh. ." Once again Stacey's voice trails off.

"I swore I wouldn't disclose that information to anyone other than her and her other friend," Stacey replies.

This was another large hurdle that Anza and Tehama had to get past. Maybe they could persuade her to tell them the plan. There had to be a way to ease her into telling them.

"Stacey, we swear that you'll stay anonymous and we will protect you!" Anza says.

Stacey now looks uneasy. She might be too intimidated to tell them anything. That's exactly what they were afraid of.

"Listen, you don't understand what she's like when she's agitated.

"We will keep everything anonymous! We're required to do that for every case," Tehama explains.

Stacey still looks unsure. "Are you absolutely positive?" Tehama and Anza nod.

"Okay, but not out in the open,"

Tehama and Anza nod. This wouldn't be the best place for everything to be told. Some people could be listening in on their conversation.

"Okay. We have just the place to do an interview," Tehama calls leading both Anza and Stacey down the hall.

On the other side of school Fillmore and Roberts make it back to the Drama Club and walk in. It was crowded as usual. The place was loud and busy, just like before. There really wasn't anything that had changed since last time.

"There she is," Robert's, says pointing straight through the crowd and to a small crowd of people across the room. Penny was in the middle and everyone else stood in a circle around her. They head straight for the crowd and stop right next to her.

They wait until she finishes her sentence. It would be rude if they didn't. "Penny? May we speak with you?"

Penny spins around to come face-to-face with Fillmore once again. Why were they here? "Yes," Penny asks in an annoying voice. Although she didn't mind seeing Fillmore this much lately, she still had feelings for him.

She bats her eye -lashes at Fillmore and stares deep into his eyes. "Why are you here again?" She asks in an innocent voice.

"We need to speak to you again privately," Fillmore says.

Penny rolls her eyes but nods. "Excuse me! I'll catch up with you later!" She calls as she walks off with Roberts and Fillmore.

They walk over to where none of the other people could hear their conversation. "Yes Officers?" She asks folding her arms. She doesn't seem very delighted to have to speak with them once again.

It probably was because their play was only a few days away and the Drama Club was so busy preparing for their play. Everything had to be perfect before the play could open and the public could come.

"What's this all about? Why do you need to question me again?"

"Penny, some new evidence came up, so we need to converse with you once again," Fillmore says taking her arm.

Penny scoffs. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something important? Why do you Safety Patrollers always have to come at the wrong time?"

Robert's sighs. He was really getting impatient with Penny but he had to keep his cool. He didn't enjoy having to question a person with her kind of attitude. Why did the suspects always have a bad attitude when they came to question them?

I mean, you could politely say that I'm busy, or could you hold on for a few minutes while I finish what I'm doing. It's totally disrespectful to roll your eyes back into your head and then say something like "What?"

When he and Fillmore pick up a few of the suspects, they would scoff, stomp their foot and fold their arms. He wonders why so many of the suspects take pleasure in making a commotion in front of everyone around them.

"Come with us quietly Penny, we don't want a scene," Fillmore says. He was asking Penny politely and he didn't want to have to take her back to the Safety Patrol forcefully. Luckily he had not had to do that in a very long time.

"Oh, okay. You had better make it quick though," She says as she heads straight for the door. Fillmore and Roberts follow close behind. The two of them could tell that this was going to be a very long day!

Meanwhile Tehama and Anza lead Stacey to the interrogation room to sit her down. Stacey sits down in the chair quietly, and then begins looking around the room. She had never been in this room before, but the Safety Patrol before had questioned her.

"Stacey, will you tell Tehama and I everything you know?".

"Well, Penny said to the director, that she was going to get those cheerleading uniforms one way or another. The director says fine and waves her off. That night on the phone she informs me she'll have the uniforms by tomorrow. However she has no money and she can't sew, so I ask her how she's going to accomplish the task. Penny tells me no to concern myself about it, jus to tell the director she'll have as many uniforms as possibly tomorrow. The next day she brought in 20 uniforms. Later that day, I hear that 20 of the cheerleading uniforms have gone missing. I thought it was strange,"

Tehama and Anza exchange glances. "On the very same day," they both mutter. Yes, that was very strange. Could this situation just be coincidence or was this case involving Penny? Was she behind this?

"Um, afterwards Penny was acting pretty unusual. She seemed withdrawn from everyone for a few days. However after a week, she was back to her old-self again,"

"Yes, very suspicious indeed," Anza says sipping his coca.

She was a little quiet and sometimes soft spoken. However Penny had never been known to be withdrawn from people. It just wasn't her nature at all. Now Anza and Tehama had more than a hunch that something eerie and unusual was occurring with Penny.

Was she involved in this crime? They hope that their questions would be answered soon.

"Now," Tehama says setting her cup of coca down and leaning towards Stacey. "Is there any other information that you feel is important enough to inform us about?"

Stacey hesitates. It seems as if she doesn't have much information for them. The information had finally run dry.

"Well, thanks Stacey, I think you've been a terrific assistant. He wishes that they might gather some more, but it looks as thought that's all they're going to get for now.

Stacey happily jumps up. "So, I can leave now?" She seems very enthusiastic about departing right away.

Anza looks at his watch. They kept her here for thirty minutes and it was a good 20 minutes until their class changes.

"Yes, but we'll still keep in touch with you, okay?"

Stacey nods before disappearing out the door, leaving Tehama and Anza exchanging glances again. This was definitely getting difficult.

"Tehama! Anza! We now have some evidence against Penny. I think that the both of you will find it very interesting." Roberts calls over the talky.

Anza picks up his talky from his belt and puts it near his mouth. "Yes, we located some information on her too,"

"We have the suspect in custody and we're bringing her back to Safety Patrol Head Quarters. I think that we might have finally solved this case," Roberts calls over the talky in an ecstatic tone.

Has Fillmore and Roberts really been able to solve this case? Or was this lead going to go dry too?

To Be Continued

A/N: Hopefully this chapter wasn't as boring as chapter "20". I only hope that everyone likes this story, so I can continue with it. Thanks for reading my story? Please come back for Chapter 22