A/N – Thank you FanFicFairy514 for being the first to give me feeback on every chapter so far. Thank also to everyone else who has reviewed every chapter, especially Madison (LoganLuver13). Your reviews have been very encouraging. All your feedback as kept me wanting to write all the time. Enjoy!
IV.
"I'm looking for a Charlie King. He should be checked in here."
"I think you're mistaken, sir. There's no one here by that name."
"What?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but..."
"Yes, yes I know. He's not here. I got it." Keith Mars walked away from the check-in counter of the Royal Hotel in Las Vegas confused. He had touched down in Vegas three hours ago and hadn't heard from his source Charlie at all.
He tried Charlie's cell phone again, but it just kept ringing out. He felt like a fool. After hearing the message from Charlie on his phone this morning, he had booked a flight to Vegas and left straight away. The $15,000 was too important to him and Veronica to pass up. He thought that he must have heard the hotel name wrong in the message, but in his hurry to leave he had deleted the message without double checking it.
He headed back to his rental car and sat in the driver's seat. Maybe he could ring Buddy Nelson. He and Charlie King still hung out. Just as he decided to get in touch with Buddy, his phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, he saw that it was Charlie. With a sigh of relief he answered the phone.
"Hey Charlie. Thank god you finally got back to me. I'm sure I got the hotel name wrong for where your keeping Jeff Stintson."
"Hi Keith. Jeff Stintson? The credit card guy? I haven't seen him. I saw the bounty on the net but I went through the usual channels and found nothing." Keith straightened up.
"Wait. I got a message from your cell phone telling me that you had Stintson here."
"I haven't had my cell phone all day. I just found it at the restaurant I had breakfast at today. The first thing I did was check the sent messages and calls out to make sure nobody had used it and it was all clear."
"I don't get it."
"It sounds like you're having a bad day, man. Sorry I can't help." With that they hung up the phone. Keith dropped the cell phone onto the passenger seat and sat thinking.
ooooooooooooooo
Logan and Veronica entered her apartment and found Wallace eating a sandwich.
"Making yourself at home." Logan stated as he leaned on the kitchen bar. Veronica threw a 'don't start' glance at him and he shrugged his shoulders. Wallace looked at him in amusement.
"So what have you got for me, Wallace my man?" Veronica asked as she grabbed two cookies from Wallace's pile. She handed one to Logan and bit into her own. Logan gave a little smile as he did the same.
"Well, I got quite intrigued in the guys locker room today." Logan smirked at Wallace's words.
"Yes I'm sure you did. They do come in other sizes other than small you know." Wallace smiled at Logan's obvious jab.
"Actually it's more of what I heard. A certain Jake Thompson and an unknown shadowy figure."
"Oohh, it sounds all Watergate-y. Continue." Veronica said as she grabbed another cookie.
"Well, I never heard what they were actually talking about, but it involved $3,000 and you were mentioned a couple of times." Logan straightened up at the sound of that.
"My reputation precedes me. Was there any mention of the $3,000 being given to me? 'Cause I mean a girl needs things."
"No, it sounds like Jake was afraid that you would find out what he was doing with the money. Smart man."
"Did they mention anything at all about what they were going to do with the money?" Logan asked in interest.
"Well the shadowy guy said that Jake would see results by next Tuesday. And that he knew where to leave the money." Wallace took another bite of his sandwich as Logan looked ready to leave.
"Simple then. We go talk to Jake and find out what's going on." Veronica touched him on the arm.
"Not so fast. We already know that Jake is wary of me, and we probably wouldn't learn very much if we talked to him anyway." Logan looked annoyed at the answer.
"Then what do you suggest we do." Wallace looked up from his sandwich and answered.
"Tail him of course." Veronica nodded at Wallace and looked back at Logan.
"Right. We have no idea what this has to do with. My intuition is telling me the photo scandal, but I could be way off. Obviously Jake has to drop the money off sometime before Tuesday." Logan caught on with the plan and followed it.
"So you're saying if we track Jake, he's eventually going to lead us to this shadow man." Veronica nodded. "Well, what do we have to do first."
"Wallace, I need you to do your voodoo magic in Admin and find out what Jake has for fifth period tomorrow."
"Got it. Sorry I've got to love you and leave you, but mom asked me to pick up a couple of things for her and I should probably get going. Good to see you, Logan." Logan nodded at him as Wallace picked up his bag and walked out. He looked over at Veronica who had picked up the phone.
"Hi, Mrs. Thompson. It's Erica," Veronica said in an overly peppy voice. "I'm looking for Jake, we have an assignment together and I needed to compare something with him." She listened for a little while.
"Okay, thank you very much Mrs. Thompson. I'll just catch up with him later." She hung up the phone and turned back to Logan with a triumphant smile on her face.
"He's at work for the next two hours at Dave's Copy Shop. Which means if we go now, it's going to be pretty simple to put a tracker on his car. I can handle it myself." Logan got the feeling that it was probably time for him to go. He didn't want to push their newfound friendship too far.
"Well then, if you just drop me off at my car, that would be great." Veronica felt that she had offended Logan in some way.
"Hey, you can come along too, if you want." Logan gave her a smirk.
"No, it's all right. You go and be all Nancy Drew. My friends are having a little get together anyway." Veronica smiled at him.
"A little drunken get-together. Well, you were in search of debauchery. I guess you'll find it. Come on, I'll drop you off on the way to the Copy Shop."
ooooooooooooooo
The halls of Neptune High were silent as evening settled in. A cleaner backed his mop into the hallway and came to a sudden stop. He looked up and down the hallway and couldn't believe his eyes. Seven cars were parked neatly lengthways all the way to the front door.
ooooooooooooooo
The ride to Logan's car had been in a friendly silence. Veronica reached the school parking lot and parked beside Logan's car.
"Well, thanks for all your help today," Veronica started.
"I don't really think I did a lot, but thanks anyway. I'll catch up with you tomorrow." He hopped out of the car and gave her a little wave. Veronica smiled and waved back.
Logan watched as she pulled out the parking lot and drove away. He stared a little longer then cleared his throat, hopped into his car and headed for the Camelot motel.
ooooooooooooooo
