Redeeming LoVe
Chapter 11: Strange Confessions
Veronica
I was finding it harder and harder to open my eyes. I mean it shouldn't be that hard of a task to open one's eyes. I stopped trying after what seemed like an eternity. I decided to just listen to my surroundings because the last thing I remembered was being at Logan's and then things go black for me.
"Mr. Mars," I heard Logan say close to me.
"Logan, how's your dad doing?" my dad questions.
"He's still alive," Logan mutters back. I felt for him knowing the kind of man his father was. "How is Veronica doing?" Logan continues as I can only imagine what my father's expression could be.
"The doctors say she should be fine. She was lucky it was only a shallow wound to her side, but still I didn't see her that close to Aaron when I came in," my dad was now half way muttering.
"She wasn't," Logan replies.
"What do you mean?" my dad almost snaps. I think back to where I was standing in relation to Aaron Echolls at the party. I was near him, but closer to the door than to him. Yes, Lynn had just called to Logan and me as we were heading out. No, someone bumped into me as I was turning to walk away with Logan. Damn it, who was it though.
"I don't remember who it was, but we were heading out as someone bumped into Veronica knocking her into the path," Logan says as I continue to think back. There was someone just on the other side of Logan but I couldn't remember who it was. Duncan had already stepped out, but was Troy with him. Could Troy really be capable of doing something like this? Of course he could, but how to prove it was him?
"I'm sorry she got hurt," I hear Logan say before I fall back to sleep.
XOXOXOXOXO
It has been a week since I was stabbed in the side by a deranged woman trying to get even with Aaron Echolls for lying to her. I have been home only a day or so and my dad hasn't let me out of his sight for much of it. Wallace has stayed with me, Logan has even visited a few times to bring me my favorite ice cream, but he hasn't said much about anything. He seems closed off to me.
I am sore on my left side where I was hurt. It is hard to get dressed at times, so I have resigned myself to wearing either loose fitting clothing or like today a dress.
"Good morning," I say as I enter the kitchen area where my dad is standing at the counter reading the newspaper. "Or not," I mutter when he doesn't look up at me. I can tell his is reading whatever is in the paper with rampant attention.
"You don't by any chance go to the bars around here or maybe where the college kids hang out, right?" he asks barely looking up. I could have some fun with this.
"Well could you define college bars or where they might hang out? I mean myself I prefer biker bars where more troubling people tend to prowl. I get more one on one attention in those types of settings," I muse as I can tell he clearly wasn't amused with my words. He actually was looking at me like he wanted to lock me up. "Seriously dad, lighten up. I was only kidding, why?" I respond as I see his head shake slightly.
"I'm going to have to seriously have a talk with your gentleman callers to let them know my expectations with my precious cargo from now on," he mutters as he hands me the paper. I can see the clear headline that had him rattled, "E-String Strangler Strikes Again".
"A co-ed washed up on the beach, it seems the strangled might be back," he mutters. I move closer to read the article.
"This is creepy, but I thought they had caught the guy. I mean wasn't this one of your cases a few years ago," I asked as I vaguely remembered the case and the guy was caught in Oakland or somewhere up North far from Neptune.
"Yeah it was. I mean I didn't believe it was the same guy, but the similarities made them want to correlate the two. It never quite fit for me, but it was a way to an end with the Mayor and the fine people of Neptune to believe the big bad guy was gone," he mumbles as I go to hug him only to groan as I feel a sharp pain in my side. I see the concerned glance from him as he pulls me close.
"Are you sure you want to head back so soon?" he questions as I give him a tight smile.
"Yeah, Wallace says he'll beat up anyone who tries to lunge for me and well Logan will do what he thinks is best," I mutter as I see him glance away this time.
"I'm sure he still thinks it was his fault," my dad finally says after a long minute. Logan has been different since he talked with my dad, but neither one will tell me why. Although my dad has been very adamant I am not allowed at Logan's house for anything as long as his dad is there. Logan was pretty clear about that very thought as well.
"Hey," Logan says as I open the apartment door to head out.
"Stanger," I mutter as he glances behind me. "My dad left already," I say as I see him move to take my bag from me. I don't want to argue with him so I let him.
"How are you doing?" he questions as he pulls away from the curb heading toward school.
"I feel like I have been stabbed," I mutter as I see a shake of his head in the corner of my eye. "Where have you been the last couple of days?" I question as he pulls into the school parking lot.
"I had to take care of a few things with Aaron," he mutters darkly as he pulls into his favorite spot. "Wallace is going to take you home," he says as he opens his door and pulls my bag out for me. Once I am around the SUV he hands it to me at the same moment as Wallace gets close.
"Is there something going on with you guys that I should be aware of?" I question as it seems too much of an out of normal thing for them to be in the same place about the same time like they were this morning.
"No, but neither of us are willing to take any chances with you," Wallace snaps as I see Troy looking up at me as I pass by. It didn't matter where I was I wasn't left alone for a moment as I was passed between Wallace, Logan and Meg who was the only one who made small talk with me. I wanted to yell at the guys for putting her in the middle, but it was nice to feel normal or well as normal as I could feel at the moment.
"I hate to think about this E-String Strangler, but it has everyone on edge. My mom is even scared to drive home alone. I might have made a comment that she wasn't the guys type, and she gave me this strange look," Wallace says as he puts the hotdogs on the table.
"Well after the incident at Logan's house my dad barely lets me out of the his eye sight, but this morning with this new worry I think he might have been thinking about locking me in," I say as he chuckles.
"Yeah, I got a phone call about you and biker bars," Wallace says as another student sits down opposite of us. Jackson Douglas a 09er, butts in just as I am about to reply.
"I hear that you do detective things for people," he says as he takes a fry off my plate.
"I look into things for friends, but you aren't a friend," I say as I swat his hand from grabbing another fry off of my plate.
"Veronica I can pay for whatever you dig up on my parents," he says looking over at Wallace who has moved over to talk to a girl.
"What can I do for you Jackson?" I question as I see Troy moving closer. Jackson asks for me to find anything and everything on his parents that he could leverage to get them off of his back. I hated lower myself to helping the rich get away with things, but I would need the money to pay for college later. I still had the money I found in the safety deposit box of my mom's but didn't feel right in using it.
"Apparently he's never spent time in a black woman's house. He should be thankful to be out still walking around," Wallace says as he sits back down next to me.
"He should have my dad and you guys following him around," I mutter as Wallace was about to reply when a string quartet playing "Happy Birthday" interrupts him. I look over to the noise to see that it was for Madison Sinclair who just arrived at a table of her 09er friends. She was gasping and carrying on like it was the only thing that mattered.
"Her parents must love her a lot," Wallace says as I watch her passing out her invites to the party of the year. I wold have gotten an invitation a year or so ago, but this year is another story.
"If they really loved her, they would have gotten her a better musical act," I snap as I feel the pulling in my side. I lower my arm slowly noticing that Logan had seen my reaction.
"You alright," he says once he takes my bag from me.
"I just moved the wrong way," I muttered as he looks at my side where you could see a small red circular spot. "I'll go check it out," I mutter as I head to the bathroom not realizing he had followed me until I felt his hand on my arm.
"Here," he says as I lift the dress over my head. I had on a pair of shorts and a tank top. He lifts the side of the tank top up. "You didn't pull the stitches, just pulled the scab," he says as I feel the cool towel as he wipes the area with a wet towel.
"I have a first aid kit in my bag," I say as he opens it up pulling the kit out. He cleans and reapplies a clean bandage as he pulls a sweater out of his bag.
"Here," he says as I pull the sweater on slowly zipping it up. "This should be a little better than walking around in a tank top and shorts," he says softly pushing a few strands of hair out of my eyes.
"Are you mad at me?" I blurt out as we walk out of the bathroom together.
"No, I'm pissed that you got hurt and I don't know if it was Troy who pushed you or not," he says honestly.
"I know," I finally say as he walks with me to journalism class. They rest of the school day flies by fast. Wallace drops me off at my dad's office on his way to work. I am looking up the dirt for Jackson when I hear my name.
"Veronica Mars," Lamb says snippily as I look up to see him and the Mayor in front of me. "Is your daddy in, or is he busy being a peeking Tom?" he questions as I think about a great way to tell him off.
"Well if you wouldn't dress up like Little Bo Peep, he wouldn't have to do any peeking," I remark as I see the man behind him move forward.
"Your father, Veronica," the Mayor says as he gives Lamb a look. I slowly rise from my chair as I stick my head into my dad's office wanting to take as much time as I could.
"The Mayor and Deputy Lamb are here to see you," I say as I peer into the office.
"Show them in," he says as he picks up papers stacking them into a pile as I turn back around to where Lamb and the Mayor were standing.
"Alrighty then," I mutter as I push the door all the way open. "The great detective has an opening. He'll see you two now," I smirk as I see the disapproving look the Mayor gave me before entering the small office.
"It's been a long time, Keith," I hear the Mayor say as I linger by the door.
"Okay, I'm going to head out to a bar or two before heading to the beach," I say as I get three glares from the men in the office. "Just kidding, I've got to get a ride home," I say as I step out closing the door and moving back to my desk chair. I sit down looking at the information I had found out about Jackson's parents printing it out and placing it in a folder to give to him tomorrow. I was looking through my emails as my dad's office door opened again.
"Keith I really appreciate this," the Mayor says as they exit the office. Lamb didn't look too happy at all.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Lamb," my dad says as I see Lamb look back at him with a glare.
"Joy, can't wait," Lamb says groaning before following the Mayor out of the door.
"I like seeing Lamb miserable, but what was that all about? What's happening tomorrow?" I ask a little exited.
"Nothing much, but the day I get to go back to work at the sheriff's department," He says smiling as he bounces from side to side excitedly. I can't help but grin. I tried to talk him into getting his hands on anything he might find out about Lilly, but he refused adamantly saying he was there only to work on the E-String Strangler case. I wish he would just admit to doing this as well, but I knew how he tried to separate things, but this was an important part of what we needed to solve the murder to find the actual killer.
I was slightly disappointed about him not wanting to help me, but knew that I was resourceful and could get my hands on the hotline tape if I thought hard about how to do it. We stopped off for dinner at Mama Leone's. I liked meals when I didn't have to cook.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXO
I had been able to avoid Troy all morning as I slipped into the girls bathroom where Jackson was waiting for me. I gave him the file with all the dirt I could find about his parents. He was overly excited as he leafed through it before handing me $150 dollars. Once I slipped out of the bathroom a few other people hit me up for dirt on their parents as well. I smiled as I found out that several students were willing to pay cash to get dirt on their parents. I think I have finally found a way to get rich off of the 09er kids I dislike so much.
I was closing up my laptop waiting for my dad to finish up a late night meeting at the Sheriff's department when I see Mac enter the office.
"Hey," she says carrying her own laptop.
"Hi there Mac, are you my ride home," I ask as she shakes her head.
"No, but I hope I'm not interrupting anything," she says as I see she has changed her blue streaks to a pale pink.
"Not at all, come on in," I say as I motion for her to have a seat across from me.
"I see you have a spiffy new Beetle you're driving around these days," I say smiling at her as she chuckles.
"Yeah, it was like taking candy from little babies; the purity test was probably my finest hour but that's nothing compared to what this could be. It's time to think global and act local," she says as she opens her laptop up to a pretty awesome site. I knew from her computer expertise that she had designed it.
"It's a pretty nice idea," I say looking at the top of the page, 'Get the Dirt'.
"Right, you are currently exposing parental secrets for varied prices. Why don't you set a price, create this site to do what you need it to do. We would have no overhead because I've already bought the domain name. I think with your sleuth skills and my mad programming skills this would be a great investment," she says as I have to give her a smile for her effort. I couldn't help it, she had done a pretty darn good job with the website as I looked through it while she talked.
"Mac, I would love to do this, but I can barely handle school what I do have right now in cases," I honestly say as I see her face fall slightly.
"Veronica, please just think about it. I mean this could be your retirement fund or even a good college start up," she says smiling.
"Don't worry about that. I am going to definitely think about it," I say as I wait for her to stand to leave but she doesn't.
She closes her laptop and sits in the chair as if she was waiting to ask me something.
"I actually was wondering if you could do me a favor. I mean you have access to search engines as a PI, and I have questions about my folks. I have cash," she says in a rush.
"Mac keep your money. I'll do it as a professional courtesy," I say giving her a big smile as I open my laptop up.
"I just don't get it. I have nothing against my parents, but sometimes I feel like I am living with the wrong family," she admits as I pull up the search engine I would need.
"Your last name's Mackenzie, right?" I ask as she rattles off her parent's first names and their address. I was looking at a lot of different information as she and I looked at my screen. I noticed she had a birthday a few days ago. I have gotten to a page where different things a listed like traffic tickets, IRS details, magazine subscriptions, and the odd event of a settlement a $1 million dollars awarded 05-12-1992 from Neptune Memorial Hospital.
"Well I wasn't expecting that," I say as Mac looks over at me.
"What? Did you find out that they are aliens or something?" she questions as I stifle a laugh.
"Aliens, really Mac. No according to this your parents won a million dollar lawsuit against Neptune Memorial Hospital in 1992," I say as I try to find anything else about it, but nothing is coming up.
"Seriously, no way that has got to be some sort of mistake," she whispers as she sits back down.
"Sleuth prowess," I muse as she gives me a raised eyebrow.
"That's hard to believe they hate lawyers, and they never go near the hospital. I had to force my mom once to go to the ER because she had a fever for several days. It was strange that she fought me about it, but it sort of makes since now," she muses more to herself than to me.
"Would you like me to look into it for you?" I ask before even thinking about it.
"I'd appreciate it," she says as she picks up her laptop and leaves.
"Can we stop by the Library before you take me home?" I ask Wallace as he picks me up. He gives me a questionable look, but heads in the direction of the Library. He heads to a table pulling his books out while I head to the microfiche.
'Neptune isn't short on millionaires considering all the famous people who live in our town, but I figure a judgment that big against the local hospital had to have made the papers. It's beginning to look like I'm wrong'. I think as I am scanning the different headlines from 1992.
I am about to give up when I see the headline I was looking for: Hospital Takes Hit on Baby-Swap Case. Judge orders hospital to pay $1 million in damages to each family. The story is written by the newspaper's staff writer, Charles Martin and has the following passages: "After five years of bitter legal battle ensnaring the lives of two Neptune families…appointed in our state's legal system for allowing this to proceed as far as my court,' Judge Pockett remarked. The court verdict also contained specific…lies to retain custody,' Sarah Epstein, the Plaintiff' lawyer, explained. 'Too much upheaval would have…"
I wasn't expecting this kind of information. I was looking more for something like, "Surgeon forgot to stitch up woman or man receives the wrong heart", but how do you tell someone the one thing they shouldn't have to learn. I have to tell Mac that she was switched at birth! Wallace drives me home as I ponder how I am going to ruin a friend's life. I don't want to, but I can't lie to her. Mac asked me to find out, and I did. When I open the apartment door up I notice my dad wasn't home. I was expecting him to be there, but this case has him pretty busy. I made a turkey sandwich and grabbed a bottle of water before heading to bed.
I was happy the next morning to see my car keys on the counter waiting for me with a note. "Don't go anywhere without your cell! I will take the car if I can't get a hold of you, Love Dad" I didn't doubt his words for one second, but this is going to help me out by driving myself around again. I knew I had to talk with Mac, so I headed to her house.
As I stand at Mac's front door contemplating on whether or not I should knock the door swings open.
"Hey, I saw you pull up," Mac says with a worried expression on her face.
"You got a minute?" I reply as I hold the folder closer to my chest dreading telling her the truth that could change everything for her. She waves her hand out as she pulls the door open more and moves out of my way. I enter and follow her toward the hallway. I see a Christmas tree in the living room near the window.
A ball shooting out of a room barely misses her. I follow her eyes as a little boy with a gun in his hands laughs as he snatches the ball up and runs off slamming his door behind him.
"Ryan, open that door again and you'll know pain like you've never known in your pathetic little life" Mac mutters as she hits a door when we pass it. She gives me a tight smile as she opens another door. It was her bedroom and it was pretty awesome. There were art posters covering walls as well as massive bookshelves filled to the brink with thick hardbound books.
"We better enjoy the peace because it will only last a few minutes maybe 7 at the most," she mutters as she sits down on her bed. I was still impressed with her room. I mean this room was so much older than the girl sitting on the bed. I mean it was something that someone would dream about.
"First off who's your curator?" I asked still looking around the room.
"You're the first other person besides family in here. I'm glad you like it. It's my very own little cave. Whenever I run out of space, my dad just builds me more shelves," she says smiling. I could tell she liked her room a lot. There was a knock at the door and what I believed was her mom entering with a tray of snacks.
"Hello, Veronica. I wasn't sure if you were a normal eater or a freak ball vegan, like Cindy," Mac's mom replies with curiosity to her voice or maybe it was amusement.
"Well, I have never heard of a freak ball vegan, but I am a normal eater I guess thanks," I say as I look toward Mac who has an annoyed expression on her face. I could tell her mom was ready to stay until Mac totally dismissed her. Her mom slowly moves toward the door as Mac stands up and shuts the door behind her.
"Your name is Cindy?" I question as I pick up a small sandwich and take a bite.
"Really, Veronica. Ugh! It won out over Barbie. So what did you find out? Has to be pretty big for you to come deliver it in person," she says as I laugh at her changing of the subject. She wasn't a person who beat around the bush. I liked her.
"Um…" I say sighing as I try to find the words to tell her.
"Okay suspense effectively built. Hit me. I mean how bad it could be," she muses as I give her a tight smile. I hated this part of the job, but as dad always says, this is the job. Telling people stuff they might not want to know or might be better off not knowing. I think as I pull the chair from her desk up next to her.
"Mac it is big, like, life-altering big, so you should really take a moment and think about if you want to hear it or if you'd rather just forget it and go on with your life. And may I suggest option B?" I say hoping she decides not to hear the information I had gathered, but my gut told me Mac was going to opt out.
"Only thing that could be serious and you not want me to know is that if I was adopted, right? Go ahead and tell me, it would explain a lot," she says in a rush of words yet again leaving me speechless for a moment as I think of what to say and how to start it.
"Actually that is a very nice guess; I mean it is sort of a yes or no to being adopted. Yet, the Mackenzie's aren't your actual biological parents," I say as I clutch the file tighter.
"How can it be yes or not, but I wasn't adopted. What are you skirting around?" Mac questions a little agitated by my response.
"The Mackenzie's brought you home from the hospital, but it was later brought out you went home with the wrong family," I say with a sigh as I try to be gentle with ripping her world apart piece by piece.
"Your pulling my leg," she mutters as she gets up to pace.
"No I am not, but there's more," I say as she glares in my direction.
"How can there be more than that?" she questions as she plops back down on her bed.
"There was another family that was awarded a million dollars from Neptune Memorial at the same time," I say as I open the file as I glance down at the information I found.
"Okay, I guess that would make sense if I was switched," she replies as she takes a sip of her water.
"Well there was another baby girl, born the very next day after you were, and your biological parents took her home instead of you," I reply as I see recognition cross her face.
"Seriously, I was switched at birth with Madison Sinclair?" she mutters as if everything seemed like it was finally fitting into the puzzle slots for her.
"Yeah," I say as she takes the file from my hands and starts looking through all the information I had gathered for her.
"I can't believe it. I should be living her life and vise versa," Mac says as I see the tears pooling in her eyes. I felt bad for her, but she wanted the dirt and now she had it. I hated that it made me feel horrible for destroying her family sense.
****LoVe****
I headed to the station after my talk with Mac. I wanted to see my dad since he was spending more time at the station than he was anywhere else. I stopped by his favorite sandwich shop and picked him up his usual. I tried not to think about everything bad that was happening, but of the good. I needed positive thoughts at the moment and tried to shut out all negative thinking out of my mind.
I saw my dad enter one of the interrogation rooms followed by Lamb as I walked into the station. My dad seemed angry when he turned to look at me, but quickly shut the door behind him. there was a new guy behind the counter, this could be very useful for me later.
"Are you looking for someone?" the guy questions as I set the bag of my dad's dinner on the counter.
"I'm Veronica, Keith Mars' daughter. You must be new," I say with a smile
"Yeah, Leo," the guy replies smiling widely.
"Is that your name or did you just tell me your sign?" I ask as I hope it is just his name.
"Yeah, my name, actually," he says as I give him a smile.
"Well I was just dropping off dinner for my dad since he spends more time here than at home," I say as I lift the bag.
"You could put it on his desk unless it will spoil, then I could put it in the fridge," he says as I hand the bag over. He takes the bag and disappears as I take my chance to snoop. I don't find anything useful behind the counter so I go back to where I was before Leo left.
"I probably should warn you not to trust me," he says as I look at him puzzled.
"Really, why not," I ask as he gives me a huge grin. He peeked in the bag.
"A pastrami sandwich could prove to be very tempting, to leave alone," he smirks as I look up. I play along as I place my hands on my hips giving him a small glare.
"You looked into my dad's bag," I snap as he laughs.
"I told you not to trust me, I'm a scoundrel," he whispers softly as I find myself getting giddy at his movements. No, I am not going there. I decide to end our conversation with a promise to visit again.
***LoVe***
"Hey where were you last night," Logan questions as I get out of my car.
"I was visiting my dad at the station," I say as he stops beside of me.
"Oh, I had wanted to talk with you about where we stood, but…" he was still talking when I saw Mac walking by.
"Sure maybe later, I'll talk with you later," I say as I walk away to catch up with Mac. Mac was holding a flyer in her hands.
"You didn't sleep last night did you," I accuse as Mac looks over at me. She had puffy bags under her eyes and they were slightly red. Of course she didn't sleep. I grab the flyer she was holding in her hand.
"Veronica, you wanna crash a party with me?" she ruefully says with a grin as she snatches the flyer back from me.
"Mac this is a bad idea," I mutter as I remember the last 09er party I crashed. The thought of something happening to me or someone I consider a friend didn't make it interesting for me.
"Please, it's my chance to see how the other half lives, especially since I should have been the other half," she says softly as Dick and Madison walks by. Mac is headed in the same direction as them. I stop for a moment to think, but decide to head back to her. I couldn't let her do this alone. I put my concern aside to be a good friend.
***LoVe***
I talked Logan into helping us get in with Wallace as well. I am walking behind Logan as I see the bewildered look on Wallace's face as we step up to a very huge house.
"Wow, so this is how the other half lives," Wallace's says as he whistles. Logan chuckles at his thought.
"You haven't seen my house or Duncan's. This house is just pennies or nickels compared to mine," he retorts chuckling as Wallace eyes him up again.
"Let's move on, quit stalling Veronica," Mac says as Logan laughs once more.
"I think that is our cue," he says softly as he knocks on Madison's front door. It was decorated with a big banner that said 'Happy Birthday'.
"Hey, happy birthday," we all say at the same time. She rakes her eyes over the four of us until they stop on Logan who mumbles to himself.
"What do you think you are doing here?" she mutters as she crosses her arms in front of her.
"I came to celebrate your birth, but these two just wanna hook up," Wallace says as he points to Logan and me avoiding Mac altogether.
"I mean, who invited you to my party?" she snaps as she glares at me.
"I did," Logan says as he steps in front of us. "I thought it was an open invitation, and I invited Mac and Veronica. I think he was invited by one of your friends," Logan says as he pushes past Madison opening up the door for us.
'The last time I crashed an 09er party, I got ridiculed, roofied and woke up missing my underwear. You can imagine how glad I am to be back.' I think as I am bumped into by another kid.
"I hear you're working some magic lately. Veronica uh, can you help me get my parents off my back?" Bud something asks me as I see Mac looking around.
"I'm gonna go find a bathroom," Mac says as she walks away.
"Bud the shop is closed right now," I say as I watch her weaving through the crowds. "Ugh, come see me at school on Monday," I mutter as I watch Logan chatting with a brunette girl.
"Sure, thanks," he says as he walks off. I was left alone yet again at another infamous 09er party.
"This area is off limits," I hear Madison snap as I race to where she is standing to find another girl who looked like Mac standing with her.
"There you are, Mac," I say as I pull her toward me.
"And you the trailer trash that no one wants, don't even get me started," Madison snaps as I see Logan rounding the corner. Troy is sitting on the stairs laughing as Madison lays into me.
"God, Madison, they're here for your party," the little girl says as she motions to Mac and me.
"Lauren, they're crashing my party. They are not here for me. You need to leave. You don't belong here. You both are not even worthy of my time," she smirks as she takes a cup of punch from Troy's hand and holds it in hers.
"Well actually," Mac starts but I pull her toward the door.
"We were just leaving, happy birthday, Madison. Thanks for being such a gracious host," I say as I turn to walk away but feel a arm grab me.
"Not so fast Veronica Mars," Madison says as she dumps the punch over my head as I am turning around.
"Madison," Logan snaps as he comes up beside me. I have punch dripping all down my shirt.
"Thank you," I snap as I turn and walk out the front door humiliated once again for going to a damn 09er party.
"V, you okay," Logan asks as I stop at my car.
"Not right now," I snap as Mac gets into my car. I get in and drive away holding the tears in that were threatening to fall.
I pull up outside of Mac's house to drop her off. I hated filling like I was helpless, but wanted Mac to know I understood if she wanted to lay into Madison when she saw her, but knew that wouldn't solve anything in the long run.
"I'm sorry about the punch," she mutters as she breaks the awkward silence.
"It's not the first party I crashed," I half joke.
"I have a blood sister that I've never even heard of," Mac retorts as I see the glistening of tears in her eyes.
"Yes, and Madison has a brother," I retort as she looks over at me.
"I don't understand why they didn't just trade us back," she says as I hear the sorrow in her voice.
"Maybe because they got attached to you during those first four years of your life," I say as she turned to look more closely at me.
"Did you ever find out what happened to that million dollars?" she questions with her hand on the door handle.
"Not yet, still looking into it, unless you want to forget about it," I say as I offer her away out.
"No. Keep digging. I've come this far," she says as she opens the door and gets out.
***LoVe***
I spent the majority of Saturday avoiding Logan's calls while cleaning the apartment and working on homework that I missed due to being out after my injury. I decided to make my way to the station to lure Leo away to get my hands on anything pertaining to Lilly's murder.
I pause at the counter looking over at the clock on the wall it said 9:07. I held a pizza in one hand as I stretched my other onto the counter to hit the bell.
"Hungry?" I ask as I motion to the pizza in my hand as Leo looks up from his desk. He had a grin plastered on his face. We ate the pizza, and I listened to him tell me why he decided to become a cop. I knew it was wrong of me to use him like this, but it was for the better good. I was actually fascinated by the story of him being a sort of stripper and falling into the cop business. It was amusing in a funny sort of way.
"Hello?" I hear Weevil calling out as he bangs on the bell at the counter. "Is anyone back there to help me?" he calls out louder than he needed to. Leo gets up to see what he needed. I waited until his back was to me and then I slipped into his desk drawer to retrieve the keys I would need to get into the evidence room. After finding them I give Weevil the thumbs up as I tip toe toward the room as quietly as I could. I can vaguely hear the conversation as I search through the boxes until I find the one for the Crime Stoppers Hotline. I grab the CD and close the door behind me as I make my way back to the desk returning the keys to their spot.
"I'm sorry about that, couldn't get rid of him," Leo says as he sits back down in his chair. I let out a breath that I had been holding since I came in. I got the one thing I had been looking for, but I knew this was going to end badly.
"No problem," I say as I make small talk with him learning everything that I could before I felt it was okay to leave. I learned he played in a band and told him I would join him sometime to listen to his band play. I decided to head out before I got in trouble with my dad.
My dad wasn't home once again when I slipped into the apartment, but Backup was waiting for me. I went right to my bedroom pulling out the CD and putting it into my laptop.
'The Crime Stoppers Hotline CD I snuck out of the evidence room should have a recording of every call on it. What I wanna know? Who gift wrapped Abel Koontz for Sheriff Lamb' I think as I listen to the varied voices becoming slightly annoyed that I wasn't finding anything helpful for me.
"I know who killed the Kane girl. His name is Abel Koontz. He lives in a houseboat on the marina," a deep electronically distorted voice says on the CD. Now I just needed to get the voice undistorted to know who really called in the tip. I took off the headphones and decided I needed something sweet. I headed into the kitchen only to find my dad watching footage of what looked like a bar somewhere. I wanted to interrupt him, but he seemed really focused on whatever was on the screen.
Veronica is at her desk, on the phone.
"Mac. It's Veronica, hey. I just emailed you a sound file. The voice on it has been digitally altered. Do you think you can strip it down?" I ask as I renter my bedroom with a bowl of ice-cream.
"Sure I'll give it a shot," she replies.
"Great, I also came up with what happened to the million dollars your parents were awarded. You know Funtime Motors? They sell jet skis and four wheelers?" I ask as I sense Mac was doing something that she shouldn't be doing. She told me that she would call me as soon as she got the file decoded and let me go. I hated being left out of things, but also understood this was her issue not mine. I could only be there when she would need me.
Sunday came too soon as I realized that Mac was probably feeling lost. I planned on giving Mac her the time in processing the information that I had gathered or collected for her. My dad told me he would be home earlier since they found the creep who was committing the crimes. I had stopped in to talk with him, but he was closing up the files, and Leo asked if I wanted to join him in listening to his band play. I agreed to follow him over.
It was interesting to watch Leo as he played the drums. I wasn't even aware of the commotion that was being made until I saw my dad step into the area holding his gun out in front of him.
"Dad, everyone. Everyone, Dad," I muttered in embarrassment.
"Veronica are you okay, honey?" he asks as he pulls me into his side. I was totally worried now.
"Sure, aside from never wanting to show my face in public ever again," I snap a little meaner than I meant as he gave me a tight smile.
"Keith, what's going on?" Leo asks as he comes around the drum set to where we were standing.
"Another girl is missing, her mother came into the station to file a missing report. The killer might still be on the loose and he's…he might be a guy who doesn't like me, and does like you," he says quickly as I give him a puzzled look. I didn't understand how a bar person would know me if I didn't hang out in them. "The two of you know each other," he asks as he points to Leo and then me.
"Um did I not mention that," I say sheepishly, but he is distracted by the walls of the unit.
"Did you do this yourself?" he asks pointing to the padding on the walls.
"We were getting a lot of complaints from neighbors," Leo says as I try to figure out where my dad was going with his questions. Then it looks as if something clicks in his head as he looks from me to Leo.
"Will you please follow my daughter back to the station," my dad asks as he points to one of the guys, then turns to Leo before asking him if he had his gun. The two of them leave in a hurry as I am left with the other guys. The guy he asked to follow me back does so. I am nervously waiting for my dad to come back as the minutes turned into hours. I see him coming into the station with a bruise forming on his cheek as Leo follows him in.
I leave my dad in his little office to see how Leo was doing only to find him packing up his desk. "You know, saving the life of my dad means a lot to me," I say as I sit down in the chair opposite of his.
"Hey," he says softly as I take note of his low response and that he was his cheerful self. I was more concern with the fact that he was packing up his desk.
"Are things alright?" I questioned as he looks up at me.
"Sheriff just came and told me I've been suspended for a week. The evidence room was left unlocked during one of my shifts. Would you know anything about that?" he questions as I look the other way. I knew this was bad to get involved with him.
"I can't really say I wasn't warned about you," he says chuckling lightly as he walks away. God it bothered me that I hurt him. 'Same old damn story; Girl uses boy, Girl falls for boy, Boy saves girl's dad's life, and finally Girl gets what she deserves'.
"Yeah?" I mutter as I answer my cell phone.
"It's me. Are you busy tomorrow?" Mac asks as I move toward the exit door.
"No, I'm free all of a sudden," I remark knowing it was my own fault Leo got in trouble. I should have made sure the door wasn't just closed, but locked as well.
"I decoded the message, I think, so do you wanna swing by hear it?" she asks softly.
"Yeah, what time works for you," I ask as I get into my car.
"You have to make it early like before 8, I'm going camping with my family," she retorts with an edge to her voice.
"Camping?" I asked amused.
"It's a bi-annual trip or rite of torture," she mutters as we end the call. I head home to ponder what I want to do about Leo. I mean he is a really nice guy, but do I want to have a nice guy or the bad boy. I liked the bad boy image as well. I would have to talk with Logan at some point. I decide to go to bed after the events of the night I had.
I didn't want to complain about having to be up so dang early since Mac was doing this as a favor for me. Her parents were running around the house loading things into a camper. Mac looked like she could kill someone. Mac played the recording at different speeds but we were coming up empty handed.
"So do you know where you guys are headed?" I ask as she tinkers with some more keys.
"Yosemite maybe. We usually don't know until we get there," she says as she starts the recording once more. It still wasn't it and she had to get going.
"Can you just try it one more time," I ask as she looks from the door to me. She clicks several more keys before it begins once again.
"His name is Abel Koontz. He lives in a houseboat on the marina," I hear an all too familiar voice this time.
"Mac, I know who it is," I say as I thank her for her time and head out the door. I go to my car noticing another car near Mac's house. It had a woman I knew from somewhere, but wasn't sure where.
I head to Kane Software and begin the stake out that will hopefully bring me closer to finding out what was being covered up. I put my telephoto lens on my camera. 'I suppose this isn't my smartest move. I don't care. I want him to know what it feels like'. I think as I begin taking pictures of the person who has caused me so much grief. 'You send target photos of me to my mom. You call in the Abel Koontz tip. Two words for you, Clarence Weidman: game on'. I think as I text Logan a message asking him to meet me later to talk. Yes, I needed to get all the dirt I could to finally figure out why my mom was ran out of town, and what really happened to Lilly.