Logan still hadn't replied to her text messages, or her voicemail so she decided it was time to do something productive to stop herself from going crazy. Perhaps he was off someplace with Dick Casablanca's blowing off some steam? She hoped so… she drove over the Coronado Bridge on her way back to town just to be sure. David Curly Moran… dead guy found washed up on the beach.. last seen by the Road Hog, a biker bar over on the upper east side of Neptune where the water met the edge of Neptune, only it wasn't as residentially affluent as the other side of Neptune, it didn't catch the view of the sunshine coming over into the bay in quite the same way, so it had been left mostly underdeveloped and inhabited by some of the more unsavoury Element in Neptune. It was a popular bikers stop near the Mermaid Inn Motel and Poseidon's Nose, a local casino notorious for illicit card games and back alley deals. The Who's Who of the biggest and the baddest tended to frequent this area. Which was exactly why she should probably have been avoiding it too… someone had to know this Curly guy, and maybe one of them had a clue as to why her name was written on his hand.
She used her fake ID to get past the surly Hispanic guy at the door, yep, she stood out like a sore thumb in here, she thought as she looked around the pool tables and looked at the guys with the leather jackets and tattoos eyeing her up like she was a fresh piece of meat. Girls like her went missing from places like this all the time.. wrong side of the tracks Mars, she scolded herself. This was a bad idea. A portly woman in her 50s wearing a flannel shirt and who smelled of cigarettes and furniture polish brush past her carrying a tray of glasses. She tutted and stared at Veronica disapprovingly.
"What is a cub like you doing in here?" Mage said, raising an eye brow.
"Hi, my names Kara, I'm looking for my mother?" Veronica told her, doing her best impression of a lost little girl.
"She run off?" Mage asked, as she walked in behind the bar and shooed away the other younger male bar tender who was very interested in looking Veronica up and down.
"Yeah… she left my dad" Veronica told her… which was true, her mother had run out on them, about 10 months ago and she hadn't been seen since, truthfully, Veronica had no desire to find the woman, but it was the kind of story that melted hearts in woman like the lady behind the bar. Women who wished that life had given them a kind stranger to nudge them in the right direction when it might have made a difference in where they ended up.
"And you think she ended up here?" Mage queried, looking at Veronica pityingly.
"She likes to drink… she took off with this guy… and I thought you might be able to tell me something about him?" Veronica said, as she flicked onto the picture she had taken of David Curly Moran while Lamb hadn't been looking. She showed it to Mage, who frowned.
"That's Curly… he's one of my regulars.. least he was" she told Veronica.
"Do you think they might have left together? Is there anyone he knew here who you think could help me?" Veronica pleaded… "I need to find my mom, my dad isn't doing so good these days…"
"That might be hard… you better pray she didn't end up where he did.. maybe you are just best taking yourself off home and looking after your dad?" Mage advised, handing back the phone. Seems she wasn't going to tell the bleeding heart teenager her mother might have ended up over the edge of the cliff behind the bar.
"You are probably right" Veronica told her, brushing away crocodile tears. "Can I use your rest room?"
"Second door on the right" the woman replied, handing over a large metal rod with a key on it.
"Thanks" Veronica said sweetly.
Damn.. she wasn't going to get anywhere at this rate, she was just about ready to leave when Mage waved her over to the bar again. There was a petite raven haired girl sitting by the bar eating the cherries out of a rum cocktail.
"Kara.. sweetie, this is Daisy. She works the weekend shifts here, you got a picture of your mother you want to show her?" Mage suggested, as the goth girl rolled her eyes and gave Veronica a once over. What was she a babysitter?
"Uh.. yeah.." Veronica flipped through her phone and showed them a picture of her a blond woman who could very well have been Veronica's mother, except she wasn't. Veronica had barbequed all her mother's photos on the charcoal stove outside in her apartment complex a few nights after it was discovered Lianne Mars had run off with the £50 grand that Kane Industries had paid her dad for tracking down Duncan Kane. But they didn't need to know that.
"I haven't ever seen her with Curly.. he didn't really date, if she wasn't a fine European Automobile, he wouldn't have been interested." Daisy replied exiting the picture and flicking sideways along the pictures, suddenly the screen was filled with images of Logan and Kendall naked. She blinked in surprise. "Ok blondie?" she said looking at her with renewed interest, handing Veronica back the phone. "I don't usually give a rat's ass about getting involved with shit that isn't my business, but I am going to give you some solid advice here, if your mother was messed up with any of those people, she's a lost cause and you should steer clear. Move on" she warned firmly her green eyes glared at Veronica fiercely. "Priscilla Banks is bad news.."
"Priscilla?" Mage repeated.
"Different hair, but definitely her… she worked at the Rusty Knot a few months last summer" Daisy frowned, sipping her drink. Skank.
"Sorry… whose Priscilla banks?" Veronica asked shyly. Had she really screwed up with that blond woman's picture.
"She's not your mother… just some skank bitch, look, I don't know what her stage name is these days, but that Fitzpatrick loving tramp is bad news" Daisy repeated, pointing at the picture of Kendall in the photograph. "Now get out of here, this place isn't a day care!" she scolded as Veronica put the phone back into her pocket. She nodded and wandered off towards her car… now she had even more questions. Who was Priscilla Banks?