The hunt begins.

Disclaimer: Didn't create 'em. Don't own 'em.

X X X X X

I didn't bother correcting Logan; there were more important things to do.

"Do you know where your father kept his guns?"

"Yes."

"Go see if you can tell if anything else is missing. After you're done, call Duncan," I said. "Get him to call Meg, if she's not with him already. Then call Mac. I'll be calling Wallace and Weevil."

"What about your father?'

"I'm kind of saving that one for last."

Logan ran off towards the trophy room and I took out my cell phone.

"Weevil," came the greeting on the other end of the phone.

"Weevil, it's Veronica."

"What's up, V?"

"I need you to do something for me. If you can get the PCH'ers in on it, I'll pay them."

"What do you need?"

"I need you to find Trina Echolls." I described her car quickly. Weevil knew her by sight, so he could describe her to the PCH'ers if necessary.

"Why you so hot to find her?"

"Because I think she's the one who shot me," I said, and briefly explained why. "And –"

"I'll find the bitch and kill her myself," Weevil said.

"No," I said sharply. "Aaron Echolls and Beaver Casablancas have already gotten away with what they've done. This 'bitch' is going to pay publicly with everyone knowing what the hell she did, instead of having people debate it on the news like they're doing with Aaron and Beaver." Even if the Neptune Sheriff's office got off their collective hindquarters and finally came out with a statement saying they thought Aaron Echolls had indeed killed Lilly, that wouldn't be the end of it. It wouldn't matter if God himself descended from the clouds and proclaimed Aaron Echolls guilty to all the peoples of the world; if people could still debate whether Fatty Arbuckle had raped and murdered Virginia Rappe 85 years later, they'd certainly be debating this one long after everyone involved was dead.

A period of silence on the other end, then, "Okay, V. I'll play it your way for the moment. But I ain't guaranteeing she'll be in pristine condition."

"I'm not expecting miracles," I said. "Just leave enough of her left to stand trial. And tell your boys that it'll be three hundred bucks to whoever finds her."

I hung up. Logan was back, and looking at me. "Nothing seems to be missing from the gun cabinet," he said. "I'm not that familiar with it. Maybe a couple of boxes of ammunition, but wherever Trina got her weapons from it wasn't Dad. Also, Duncan and Meg dropped whatever they were doing and they're out there scouring the streets for Trina's car now."

"So're Weevil and his boys."

We nodded and I punched in Wallace's number. "Wallace. Hi."

"Why do I think this is a favor call?" he said in that tone of his that was equal parts mock and real aggravation.

"Please don't complain about that, this time. You can rim me out all you want to later but this is important."

"All ears." He instantly got serious. Then I explained what was going on.

"I'm carless at the moment," he said. "But I'll do whatever I can on foot."

"Thanks, BFF."

"And Veronica? This isn't a favor. I'm happy to be doing this. Believe me."

It took Logan a bit longer, but once he hung up he said, "Mac's looking."

"So's Wallace, but he's kind of on foot," I said. "Can you think of anyone else?"

We really couldn't. I thought maybe Cliff, but a quick call to his office revealed that he was in court today, which scratched that idea.

And now for the hard part.

"Dad?"

"Hi, sweetie."

"Are you busy right now?'

"Battling the evil of paperwork; otherwise, no. What's up?"

"Promise me that you'll yell at me later."

He said, suspiciously, "Veronica –"

"Promise me," I insisted. "This is too important for me to have to deal with what's going on and you being angry at me about it."

He sighed. "I promise."

"I know who shot me." I closed my eyes – a reflex action – and waited for the inevitable explosion.

When five seconds later, Dad still hadn't said anything, I said, "Dad? Are you still there?"

"Still here, Veronica," he said, clearly not happy. "And not yelling at you. But if you don't start explaining I'm not guaranteeing my future actions."

And so I spelled everything out. Wallace and Weevil had been content with the thirty-second explanation; Dad made me give every single one of my reasons, challenged me on certain points, made me clarify my thinking, and when we were done said, "You've convinced me."

"I have?" From the way he'd been questioning me I was operating on the assumption that he thought I'd lost my mind.

"Not that you'd convince a jury, yet. But I'm with you."

"Good." Bullet dodged. So to speak. "So, when Trina and Lynn left about a half hour ago, they said they were on their way to see a bodyguard agency you recommended . . .?"

"Lehane," he said. "I set up the appointment for her. I'll give them a call." He put me on hold.

"Logan, we should get going ourselves," I said. "Do you know anywhere around here Trina might go for privacy?"

"A couple of places," he said. "We're not exactly the best of friends, remember."

"We'll check there first."

"Veronica?" came Dad's voice from the other end of the phone. "Good instincts. Lynn was supposed to be there fifteen minutes ago."

Damn. "I guess we'd better eliminate the 'stuck in traffic' possibility. Do you have Lynn's cell number?"

"I'll make that call, too," he said. "I'll let you know and go from there. And Veronica –"

"Yes?"

"If you find Trina and Lynn and you have the slightest inkling that anything is wrong, call me. I understand why you're not calling Lamb right now – he probably wouldn't believe us if we brought him pictures of Osama bin Laden bedded down at the Neptune Grand – but call me. No grandstand plays."

"I'll do my best," I said.

"Veronica –" he said.

"Dad, that's the best you're going to get out of me right now. I will do my best. I have an injured shoulder and I'm not an action hero even in the best of health. But I'm not going to stand idly by."

He sighed. "Be careful. I love you."

"I love you too, Dad." After a second. "Hold it. Before I hang up. If you do need to call someone in the Sheriff's Department, try the newest deputy."

"Leo D'Amato?" Dad asked. "Veronica, he's practically raw."

"Yeah, but he actually seems to be one of the good guys – unlike Lamb or Sacks." I didn't think Sacks was evil by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone willing to take prostitute services as bribes wasn't exactly high on my list of "Most reliable people in Neptune." I continued, "In any event, he might actually listen to you if you can get word to him without Lamb knowing about it."

"It's worth a shot," he said. "I'll get back to you in a minute about Lynn."

I said goodbye and turned to Logan. "Let's go."

Dad called me back about thirty seconds after we'd gotten into the SUV. "No answer from Lynn's cell phone. I left a neutral message just asking her to call me back."

I had a thought. "Logan, do you know if Trina's car has Lojack?"

He shook his head. "No clue."

"Want to try that, Dad?"

"It's worth a shot. I'll let you know." He hung up again.

"I think we should try to call Trina," I said.

"What?"

"She can't possibly know we're looking for her," I said. "The only thing she might possibly know is that my father was trying to get in touch with Lynn for some reason. So I'll just call and ask whether she dropped Lynn off at Lehane."

"And it's going to have to be you," Logan said. "If I talk to her right now I'll start screaming."

"Don't you think I want to do the same thing?" I whispered.

"Of course you do," Logan said. "But you're better at hiding it than most people." He snorted. "Hell, Machiavelli, you're a better actor than my father ever was. If you wanted to make that you career, you probably could."

I smiled in acknowledgement of the compliment, and then dialed Trina's number.

After three rings, she picked up. "Trina Echolls," she said.

"Hello, Trina," I said.

"Veronica. Hi. What do you want?" She didn't betray a hint of concern or anxiety.

"Just checking up on Lynn," I said. "Logan and I wanted to be sure she made it to Lehane with no problems."

"I'm still here, aren't I?" She said. "I appreciate your concern, Veronica, really. And I know Lynn does too. I dropped her off about twenty minutes ago and I'm doing a little shopping in the area while I wait."

"Thanks, Trina," I said. "Tell Lynn to call me when you pick her up – I'd just like to see how it went."

"Certainly," she said. "Talk to you later."

I told Logan, "She just lied to me – said she'd dropped Lynn off 20 minutes ago. I think it's time we revised our opinion of her acting ability." After a second, "Now. Where might she want to go?"

"There's somewhere she likes to go when she jogs," he said. "A park not that far out of town, but not really a touristy place. And then there's the hunting cabin about an hour of town."

"Is the park on the way to the cabin?"

"Not that far out of it," Logan said.

"We'll try there first."

"Why wouldn't you think she'd take her to a hotel room somewhere?"

"Patterns," I said. "Trina's tried twice, with rifles both times."

"We don't know she doesn't have a handgun," he said.

"We have to hope she doesn't," I said. I didn't need to explain why. Nor, I suspect, would Logan have wanted to hear my reasoning why it wouldn't have been anything else -- because they mostly involved the disposal of the body. It's not like I was particularly fond of the idea myself.

We got to the park in about fifteen minutes, and drove around the outside.

There were a few other joggers and dogwalkers in the area -- not many, but enough to make it clear that this was a lousy place for a quiet execution.

My phone rang. It was Weevil. "V. About ten minutes ago one of my boys saw what looked like Trina Echolls' car going up County Road 17 northeast of town. He went past it and there was a woman in the driver's seat with short red hair. He stayed with her for a few minutes, but she looked like she was gettin' suspicious so he pulled into a gas station."

"Hold on a second." Then, to Logan: "Is the road to your father's hunting lodge somewhere up County Road 17."

"Yeah," Logan said. "I didn't go often but I remember that much."

"Weevil, who saw this?"

"Armando." Armando had seemed to be one of the nicer members of Weevil's gang -- I'd met him a couple of times. He was more in it for the motorcycles than the general thuggery.

"Armando just earned himself three hundred dollars. If there's any chance he can find them again, he can get himself another hundred."

"I'll let him know, V, but I ain't promising any miracles. They've been out of his sight now ten, twelve minutes."

"Just tell him to do the best he can."

Then I called Wallace and told him he could stop looking; that we knew where they were headed. He said he was sorry he couldn't have done more, and I told him not to worry about it.

I tried to reach Dad, but got his voice mail, so I left him a message "Dad: we think she's headed up to Aaron Echolls' hunting lodge off county road 17." I got the directions from Logan and relayed them. "We're going up there now. Don't worry; we're playing it safe."

Then, as Logan sped up, I called Meg and Duncan -- they were clear on the other side of Neptune -- and then Mac -- she was closest. I gave them all the directions that Logan had given me.

We drove in silence for the next 25 minutes or so. As we passed a gas station I saw Armando parked there, and I told Logan to pull over.

"Veronica," he said. "Ain't seen the woman since. I looked around but couldn't find her."

"Don't worry, Armando," I said. "You'll get the three hundred. I appreciate the effort. We know where we're going from here."

I thanked Armando once again and we took off.

Ten minutes later we were on a dirt road. "Okay, Logan," I said. "Stop here."

"We're still a half-mile away."

"So what, you want to warn her we're coming? Pull over." He did. "So," I said, "Here's what we're not going to do. We're not going to go charging in there at top speed screaming at the top of our lungs. Because I'm not interested in getting shot again. What we are going to do is walk quietly until we're within a few hundred feet of the lodge, and then we're going to try to creep through the woods to see what's going on." We were sufficiently far back in the woods that no one would have heard a stray rifle shot or two. "If we get the impression something's about to go horribly wrong, then all bets are off. Until then --"

"Until then," Logan said. We walked up the road a ways until we saw the "lodge" -- and if you're thinking it was a log cabin, you probably get most of your information about hunting from old Bugs Bunny cartoons. Not that I'm an expert. But someone like Aaron Echolls, no matter how much of a he-man mentality he liked to project, wasn't going to be roughing it in a log cabin. It was an a-frame that had a satellite dish attached to the outside, and the first floor looked to be as big as the entire Mars apartment. Trina's car was parked out front.

We made our way through the woods until we were at the edge of the clearing. The a-frame had a large front window; we could see Lynn sitting on a chair, maybe tied to it, I couldn't tell.

"Go around the edge," I told Logan. "See if you see Trina."

He nodded and wordlessly began circling the clearing.

I watched quietly for ten minutes, but no change. Logan didn't come back either.

I was reaching for my phone to check on Dad's progress when a voice behind me brought me up short.

"Veronica. Hi."