Frustrated after a dust up with Elena, Enzo resorts to giving Elijah the third degree this morning while they wait for the lady to return. Enzo pours himself another cup of coffee then takes a seat and after taking a long sip, he sets his mug down. Looking Elijah squarely in the eyes, he snarls rather loudly, "What exactly went down last night?"

"I'm not sure," Elijah finishes off his own coffee, raising an eyebrow at Enzo's theatrics. He's a patient man but his friend is pushing the envelope this morning.

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Cut the melodrama, Enzo. I've already told you, he asked her to dance and they did, two or three songs. Then he took off, leaving her standing on the dance floor. Elena wasn't exactly talkative on the way home."

"I think he must have said something to her... She was different this morning," Enzo insists.

"Different how?"

"I don't know how to describe it, it's like she was contemplative, she said good morning to me and that was about it."

"I hope you didn't badger her about it."

"You know me, Elijah, of course I did... Let's just say I'm not her favorite person right now. She rushed out of here, saying she'd be back when I stopped acting like her father."

"You don't say," Elijah comments dryly. "I happen to agree with her, you're making too much fuss about everything. And besides that, shouldn't you be worrying about your own girlfriend instead? What is she doing with that cop?"

Enzo stiffens and a dour look washes over his face. "You just had to bring that up didn't you? I don't know what's going on with Bonnie, she doesn't tell me anything anymore. God knows what she sees in the kid. Somehow he weaseled his way into spending time with her. He's a cop, Elijah!"

Although he keeps it to himself, Elijah believes that the strange game Elena's playing with Detective Salvatore is a lot more worrisome than the perplexing one currently underway between Bonnie, Enzo and Salvatore's young protege.

Even the smartest one in the room isn't right all of the time.

By the time she finishes her lunch Elena's ready to go back to her office. After taking the time to cool off, she comes to the realization that Enzo's concern, although rather annoying at times, is a sweet gesture, his way of showing that he cares. He's so much more than just an asset, most importantly, he's her friend. His loyalty means everything to her.

Once she reaches it, one of Kol's men holds the door open for her and she greets him nodding her chin in his direction. She would never admit to it and she's tried hard not to make it obvious but she's been avoiding Damon Salvatore since early this morning. She isn't sure how she would even look at him and not feel the intensity of his stare.

How on earth does she pretend that his heated words had no effect on her?

Last night when she got home she tried her level best to make sense of all these new, maddening and yet exciting feelings bubbling up inside of her. Pouring herself a drink, she plopped down on the couch, put her feet up and laid her head back. As vexing as he is, she can't deny how it felt to be in his arms. Idyllic, spellbinding, mind-boggling...

Frustrated with herself, she eventually gave up, taking a lavender infused bath before crawling into bed, hoping that she'd be able to sleep after her rather bizarre evening. Somehow she did, waking only when the annoying beeps of her alarm clock dragged her out of her slumber. Still, she's almost certain that he starred in her dreams as well...

She walks into the office and gives Enzo a small smile. When she notices Bonnie watching her intently, she gives her a terse one too as an afterthought. He's still troubled because of Bonnie? Maybe she should talk to her?

"Enzo? Do you think you can do some digging for me? I want to look over the details of the cellar reconstruction we had done last year? I have a feeling the cops won't quit digging until they know my bra size and medical history too."

Enzo nods, eager to clear up any awkwardness that may have occurred between them earlier. "Of course, you'll have it on your desk in no time. And Elijah's inside."

She sighs mentally, trying to hide anything from him is ten times harder than with anyone else. Curiously enough, Elijah doesn't touch the subject of her dalliance with Detective Salvatore at all.

"Okay, 'Lijah, please tell me you have a plan to handle this insufferable invasion by the Reno's finest?" she jokes but it's more of a seething frustration.

"I think you're doing just fine," Elijah chuckles. "Besides, if we give them any warnings, one cop in particular would likely ignore it anyway. So my best advice to you is to let them do what they must and then we can move on... alright?"

When their eyes meet, he adds, "Call me at any sign of trouble." As soon as she nods, he gets up and embraces her in a hug. With a tip of his head, he takes his leave, pulling her door closed behind him.

Get through it and move on. Hah, like that will ever happen...

After an edgy night, one where he couldn't get her beautiful face and soft curves out of his mind, Damon is a bit short tempered today but he's trying his best not to blow up. If he's to be honest with himself, he's not especially eager to run into Elena either... so he keeps himself busy in the heretofore hidden crawlspace. It's tedious work to say the least but he knew this would be part of the job when he decided to go to the police academy. Painstakingly he watches the slow progress his team's making.

Given his shitty mood, he'd rather be almost anywhere else. Although he's gotten a few disgruntled looks, no one would dare say anything about his overbearing presence. Still he's sure they must be thinking it, wishing he was elsewhere too.

Taking advantage of these idle moments, he tries to sort out all pieces that are swirling in his head. It's frustrating as hell that he's not been able to have any success or come to any kind of a conclusion yet. Last night... last night he must have gone mad. What was he thinking talking to Elena like that? When it comes to her, his head and his mouth become discombobulated from each other, he loses his filter, she's a cunning little minx and knows exactly which buttons to push. Every time he lets his guard down, she's there, nudging at his subconscious, letting his imagination run wild without restraint.

The way she felt in his arms, swaying to a rhythm that in no way came from the music, more likely it came from somewhere inside of him...

He shakes his head and deliberately gets up to have a few words with the guys. So far, they haven't found anything except for the fact that the wall separating the club and the house has been doubled and there was the crawl space in connecting the two.

"The building, at least the original foundations are very old," Ron, the man in charge tells him. "Twenties, thirties somewhere in there. And the tunnel, the space between both buildings has been there a long time too."

"Hm...," Damon tries to remedy the fact with one of his theories but he isn't having much success, none to be exact.

"If you're thinking they built this room specifically as a burial plot for the body, you're wrong."

Damon nods, thanks Ron and heads upstairs to the office that's been bestowed on them by the management of the club. Damon pulls a bottle of water out of the fridge and takes a swallow.

"This case is hell, huh?" Ric steps into the room several moments later.

"Tell me about it," Damon rolls his eyes. "Nothing's going right with this case, nothing. Now I'm going to have to tell Miss Gilbert that we won't be leaving her place any time soon, not until we uncover every inch of that secret passage anyway. She's not going to be happy with me."

"No problem, I can go upstairs and tell her myself, maybe if we try a different approach..."

For some unknown reason Damon needs a second to suppress the negative reaction that forms in his gut. "I don't think so. I owe her a chat about what we're doing here and what we've found so far anyway. I'll go."

Ric eyes him suspiciously but decides to let it pass. "Okay then, where's the kid?"

"Luka? He's been going through some of the old reports again. There's always the possibility that he may catch something important?"

Ric nods and gets up again. "Alright, I'll check on him. And you're right, buddy, we need all the luck we can scrounge up with this case."

That was close, Salvatore. You need to stop doing this.

She's not yours, she's a suspect.

Agitated and feeling like she's on tenterhooks, Elena finds herself unable to concentrate on anything. She hasn't gotten a damn thing done this afternoon. In her state of unease, she rubs her temples, feeling a monstrous headache coming on.

In a somewhat unusual occurrence, Enzo hasn't made his presence known for sometime. It's then that she remembers that she had a chore for him to do. She wanted him to find those specific documents.

In desperate need of a distraction, she drops her head into her hands, threads her fingers through her tresses and tugs. She's just about to bite down on her lower lip when a knock on the door interrupts her mundanity.

Not him, not now! She rolls her eyes mentally because she's certain he's here for yet another verbal sparring match. It's not that she doesn't enjoy them... in fact, she quite enjoys it, taking considerable satisfaction when she bests him... still there's a time and place for everything and it's not right now... she feels uncharacteristically vulnerable. And he's not exactly known for his tact when it comes to pointing out her rare slip ups.

"Come in, Kai," she greets him with a nod. "Is everything alright?"

"If you consider our building crawling with Reno's finest a normal occurrence then yes... everything's perfect."

He sits on the couch not waiting for an invitation and makes himself comfortable. Elena's not sure whether she wants to throw something heavy at him or just vacate the premises herself? Preferably someplace nice and tropical like Hawaii, Turks and Caicos or the Virgin Islands maybe... What she wouldn't do to be laying on a beach right now sipping a Mai Tai...

Kai raises his arms in surrender. "Don't shoot the messenger, I only stopped by to touch base. Are you alright?"

"How can I possibly be alright? You all make such a damn fuss about me like I'm an incompetent child. The cops are biding their time till they can handcuff and frog march me out of the building, Detective Salvatore thinks I'm a cold-blooded killer. On top of all that bullshit, Enzo is fighting with Bonnie... But the cherry on top is that I'm frustrated beyond words," she rattles off in a second. Kai's shit-eating expression lights her fuse. Tightening her lips, she grabs a tissue box and throws it at him.

"You know what you need..." he asserts, quirking his brows at her suggestively.

"You're an ass, we're so not going there and nothing about this is funny!"

"Does it sound like I'm laughing? I'm here to help!" he feigns hurt, trying to hold it in. "How exactly are Bonnie and Enzo your problem? They're doing better, they talk."

"They talk? Really? Now I can sleep at night. Thank you, Kai."

He chuckles. "Well, that's a little in the way of progress, right?"

"I wasn't aware that they weren't talking to each other."

"Ehm.., of course they talk to each other so there's no reason for you to be concerned about them."

"Yay." Elena's voice is dripping with sarcasm which is even more fun for him. "Listen, if you're just here..."

"Sorry to interrupt," Enzo peeps inside, "you probably didn't hear me knocking. Detective Salvatore is here... wants to know if you're free?" As he awaits her answer, all he can do is hope she'll turn the cop down. He'd be the first to suggest it if the guy wasn't hovering right behind him.

Elena's too stunned to respond anyway. She was counting on his avoidance and now she's not ready to go toe to toe with him. She catches a hint of movement in the corner of her eye and knows Kai is getting ready to do battle for her. He's not going to let her talk to him. The decision is made for her.

"Alright, let him in. Kai, if you'll excuse us...?" She remarks, her eyes meeting the blue eyed stallion's when he appears in her doorway.

After much back and forth in his head, Damon decides it's better to get it over and done with so he runs up the stairs, stopping only when he reaches her office. He knocks and once again he's greeted with St. John's rather disgruntled look.

"Sorry, but I need to speak to her. Is she inside?"

Enzo jumps in front of him so fast that Damon actually has to take a step back. "Yeah but she's not alone. I'll tell her you're here."

He walks to her office's door and knocks. When he gets no response he tries again and after a third rap and still nothing, he twists the knob and opens it far enough to slip his head in. Damon rolls his eyes and counts silently to ten knowing that Enzo is stalling as long as he can. Finally, Parker walks out without bothering to look at him. Damon nods when Enzo reluctantly gestures for him to go inside.

His first thought probably shouldn't be that she's beautiful in her flowy black skirt, gray scoop neck top and pearl necklace. She has her hair in a high pony tail and from what he can tell, the only makeup she's wearing is lip gloss and mascara. Still she's exquisite. Silently he scolds himself, he should be more concerned with how tired she looks, possibly guilt-ridden, maybe from plotting and scheming with her loyal mostly male entourage? How can he possibly get her to spill her guts?

"Come in, detective." Her tone is ice cold. It puts him on alert immediately.

"Ms. Gilbert."

So this is how it's going to be. Their share a dance and what a dance it was. Now it seems that incredible moment in time they experienced is meaningless? Elena straightens her spine and gives him her most indifferent stare. "Have you found anything life changing... or are you here to read me my rights?"

What is this weird game of tit for tat they always find themselves in?

Deciding to take Ric's advice, Damon tries a different approach. "No, I just came to have a few words with you and whether you believe it or not, I need your help. A connecting tunnel has been found between your club and Mr. Shane's home. The crawl space where the body was found is somewhere in the middle. The remains could have been placed there from either side, that's why we're here, we need to know which is the correct one."

"But I thought Jeremy's body was found in the Shanes' basement or crawl space?"

"I didn't exacly specify the place?"

"Oh I see, so you led me to believe one thing... in hopes that one of us would slip up and inadvertently reveal something damning... I'm right aren't I?"

Damon watches as all the wheels in her head click into place. "It's routine MO, Miss Gilbert."

"So you're telling me there's a network of secret tunnels in the basement?

"I don't know if there's a network but there is one for sure."

"Hold on... Do you mean that old decrepit tunnel that dates back to Prohibition? They used that passage to smuggle alcohol among other things back in the day."

Now it's Damon's turn to be dumbfounded. "You knew about it?"

"Of course," Elena responds smugly. "You mean you haven't been doing your homework? It's all right there in the work orders. My grandfather was a bit of a scoundrel, made his money selling bootlegged alcohol. When he died, my father ordered the place walled up during one of the remodels the club went through over the years. Parts of this building are very old, Detective Salvatore."

Yes, it was walled up... and entombed with Jeremy's body. Is she making fun of him or what?

"And you didn't think to mention this tunnel till now?"

"No." She's innocence embodied.

"No?"

"Why should I mention anything to you when you want nothing more than to snap your handcuffs on me? Besides, it's not something I think about everyday and furthermore, you didn't ask," she points out.

"Really? Maybe not but that's only one of a million other questions... I'm sure I've asked for your cooperation before today..."

"What do you expect, detective? You come here with your hordes of police officers all in hopes of finding evidence linking me to Jeremy's murder or any number of other crimes you may conjure up. Whether you'll admit it to yourself or not, you already know the truth so why should I help you?"

"So you purposefully kept information from me?"

"I'm not that stupid," she shakes her head back and forth. "You weren't truthful either, obfuscating about where my brother's body was found. How could I have known what kind of information you were digging for? Benjamin Franklin had a saying, perhaps you've heard of it, honesty is the best policy?"

Damon sighs mentally, he has to admit that she's much too clever for him to best. She's good, she's very good. "Alright, how about we make a deal? I'll be as honest with you as much as I'm allowed and you'll tell me everything that you believe may be of use to us. Elena?"

She stiffens her posture, she's not about to let him see how shocked she is that he called her by name. "I have yet to see if you're forthright... I mean about being frank with me." She pushes the call button.

"Enzo, can you bring me the papers I asked you to find?" Her assistant steps inside before Damon can even suck in a breath.

"Here." With her eyes on his, she passes Damon a folder. "These are the documents concerning any and all renovations done on this building since the time of its original construction. There's not much detail but perhaps you can make something of them?"

Damon takes the folder and opens his mouth to respond but before he can utter a syllable, she interrupts his train of thought.

"You're welcome, Damon."

Eva and I want to thank you all, there's really no words to say it. You keep us excited and motivated, without all of you, we wouldn't be here. You're all the very best of the Damon and Elena fandom.

Thank you Eva. I love you dearly.

Chapter title: 'Trick or Treat' by Fastway.

I did post 'Renegade' the other day. It's set during the infamous annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Since 1938, the small town of Sturgis, South Dakota, has been home to one of the largest biker rallies in American History. Riders from all across the globe make their way to the small town to partake in a multiple events. At my hospital, we can never take time off during rally week because we always admit broken bikers.

'Ripples of Fear' is coming in June. And if you like sharks as I do...

Be safe and have a fantastic day. Thank you again so much for all you do for Eva and me. We'll see you next time.