The driver's side door opened, and Bonnie jerked into startled awareness. She had dropped off to sleep in KITT. Now Michael grinned at her as he folded himself into the driver's seat. "Napping on the job, Bonnie?"

Like most people when caught sleeping, even if it was understandable given the hour, she felt a little guilty at her lapse. His teasing didn't help much. "Michael, it's…" She looked at her watch. "It's 1:30 a.m. Most of the respectable world is sleeping."

He waved a hand around the bar parking lot. "Plenty of people still here."

"I said the respectable world. Almost everybody here is automatically disqualified." She fought back a yawn. "Furthermore, I'm not technically working. You are, but I'm not."

"Devon would probably disagree with you, at least as far as I'm concerned."

"Did you accomplish anything in there?" she asked, wondering how his questioning of people had gone.

That annoying grin returned. "Definitely. You are looking at the new darts champion of this county; they had the finals for a monthly $500 jackpot tonight. It wasn't even close."

"Michael!" Bonnie shook her head, unable to believe now that she had been defending him to Devon a few hours ago.

"Never could resist a good game of darts. You ought to try it sometime, Bonnie; learning a game would do you good. You need to loosen up a little."

Bonnie scrambled for an appropriate comeback, and KITT broke into this conversation before she could frame it. "And yet, Michael, I don't detect that your wallet is any thicker than it was when you went in."

Michael rolled his eyes. "You know, KITT, you don't have to scan me all the time."

"Yes, I do," the car replied. "Your well-being is my highest priority according to my programming, and given the number of times you try to conceal injuries even from me, I have to resort to scanning to maintain an accurate assessment of your current needs."

Bonnie sighed. "So you spent half the evening playing darts, won $500, and then lost all of it? How do you blow $500 that quickly? Even for you, that would take talent."

Michael's smile vanished, and he started the car and pulled out. "You know who was a close second in the monthly darts jackpot three months ago? Rick Scott. He played all the time, and most of those guys tonight knew him well."

Her thoughts returned to the case in a rush. "So you were gathering information?"

"Yes. I was actually working." That was said totally seriously. "Bonnie, the best way to get information out of people at a bar is to lighten up and just slip into their crowd. Don't question, just let them talk and gently steer now and then."

All at once, their route registered. "We aren't going back to the motel?"

"No, I'm going to drive by Mary Scott's first. Just want to make sure everything is quiet."

"Michael, what did you spend the $500 on?" KITT asked.

He concentrated on the road intently for the next minute, then finally spoke. "I gave it to Ed. He owns Reliable Eddie's, the garage where the Jeep was towed. That ought to cover fixing the brake line, plus get at least a good used even if not new set of tires all around."

Bonnie felt slightly dizzy; this conversation had more twists and turns than their route through the sleeping town. "That was very thoughtful, Michael, but she's already worried that she can't pay you for looking into things. This will probably just make her feel more guilty."

"Nope, because she isn't going to know I did it. Ed's just going to tell her the guys down at the bar took up a collection. Which isn't technically a lie; he won't tell her how many people contributed to it. If she does eventually find out, things will be cleared up by then, and she should have the life insurance money, so she can make a nice nonprofit donation to the Foundation to pay us back. Tax deductible, even. It's a win-win situation for her."

Bonnie couldn't fault that logic, although the hour was so late she wasn't sure how clearly she was thinking. "How do you know Ed wasn't involved in Rick's death?"

Michael shook his head. "Not a chance. You wouldn't like him, and neither would Devon, but he's totally honest. As much as anybody is, anyway."

"And how can you be sure of that?"

"Bonnie, I've caught and arrested more criminals than you've ever read about in the papers. He isn't one." He turned onto Mary's street and slowed KITT down. "Scan the area, buddy."

"Everything is quiet, Michael. I also have, as you requested, been monitoring the police frequencies all night. There have been no disturbances in this side of town at all."

Michael brought KITT to nearly a crawl as he looked at the darkened house. "Are they asleep?" he asked.

"Both Mary and Candy are in their bedrooms asleep. Scanning all the neighboring houses show all occupants of them asleep as well. There are no suspicious occupied cars. Nothing is happening at the moment, Michael."

Michael let out a deep breath. All at once, like the air going out of a balloon, he looked absolutely exhausted, and his long body sagged into the car seat. "You need to rest," KITT prompted gently.

"Yeah. For the rest of tonight, anyway. We've got to crack this case tomorrow, though." He leaned back, releasing the wheel. "Take over, KITT. Let's go back to the motel."

KITT switched smoothly into auto cruise and turned at the next corner. Michael's eyes were already shut, but he spoke again. "Stay in surveillance mode tonight. Keep monitoring police frequencies. If there is anything, anything at all, from this neighborhood, call me. And of course, keep an eye out around our rooms at the motel."

"I will," KITT promised. Michael smiled and reached out a hand, eyes still closed, and gave KITT a pat on the dash. He was asleep within a minute after that, and Bonnie sat quietly in the passenger's seat, watching the silent roads go by out the window.