Redeeming Love
Chapter 15: Truths that Bind
Veronica
It has been a few days since Logan accompanied me to see Knootz. I wasn't in the best shape when he brought me home which got my dad to give him a small little peep talk. I tried to reassure my dad that it wasn't his fault I was upset, but it didn't matter to him. Logan had been the key player in my fallout at school and as hard as I thought I hid it form my dad he knew.
"I thought you forgot about me," I hear Logan say as he comes up beside me when I get out of my class before lunch.
"I have tried, but you're like this pimple that even if I squeeze you out, you never go away," I mutter as I hear him chuckle beside me.
"Nice visual," he says as I turn to look at him. He had on his usual kakis and orange long sleeve shirt.
"What's the damage this time?" I mutter as I see him flinch away from me.
"Don't worry about it! It wasn't anything you did," he says as he stops walking once we get to the quad.
"Logan I don't worry because I pity you, it pisses me off those things happen to you for no reason," I half snap as he jerks his head up to look evenly at me. "Your mom had fourteen credit cards in her name at the time of her disappearance," I say as I show him the sheet I printed out with all the details on her credit cards. "This is the only one that's been active. It's a no-limit platinum card," I say as he raises an eye brow at me with a smirk.
"Be my mom's weapon of choice," he half mutters as he looks around.
"I don't want to give you anymore false hope, but the card is the only one that is registered in her maiden name as well, it's under Lynn Lester, it could just be a coincidence," I say as he shakes his head a little.
"I don't know it could be, but maybe she's trying to hide, huh," he says as he looks over at me. I can't do anything but just nod my head because none of this stuff made any sense to me. He slowly lets out his breath before handing me the papers once again.
"It's hard to know for sure," I mumble as I look over another sheet over her records. "I mean I can't believe it would be since there has only been one purchase so far for a rental car since she disappeared, but who knows," I continue. There are pages of things Lynn has bought or purchased, but nothing to help with the here and now. I went over the facts that I knew about her rental car, and how there was no surveillance cameras where she got the car, but I wasn't going to stop looking into it for him. I knew the defeated look in his eyes because the same look haunted me at times when I thought about why my own mother would bolt on me. I just hoped Logan found the closure I haven't gotten just yet. I pick up my bag and turn to leave as he follows me closely until he gets to his class then he leaves me. I felt odd walking away.
I was coming out of another class when Logan joins me as we walks by the room where the student council was setting up the dance area. I am about to turn away but he reaches for my arm stopping me from leaving.
"I wanted to thank you, honestly for helping me out. I mean you could have told be to let it go, but you have stood by. It means a lot to me," he says as I can't find the words to tell him how much this has meant to me.
"I know what it's like to wonder where someone is. I hate the feeling of not knowing," I finally say as he stares at me oddly before giving me a small smile. This was all new for me. He fake tipped his hat and walked off whistling leaving me staring off after him. I was spooked when I turned around to see Duncan.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd swear I just saw my best friend…" he says slowly as he points toward Logan's retreating form, "…ask you…" he then motions to me, "to the dance this weekend…" he says with a huge grin plastered on his face.
"No, no one's asked. I mean with all the rumors and whatnot flying around about me. I'm still waiting by the phone for that right boy to call that'll make my pa proud of me," I say in the sweetest most girlie voice I could.
"Veronica, you never know. That boy might be closer than you think," he says as he walks back into the room making comments as he goes to the students decorating. I watch his retreating form until I sober up. I mean how can he be so nonchanelty about what he did to me. I think back to when Duncan and I were a couple. He had won my heart over long ago, but then he shattered it into a million pieces.
"Veronica!" I hear someone say my name from behind me. I turn to see Meg Manning standing behind me.
"Hey, how are you doing?" I ask as she looks from me to where Duncan had been standing moments ago.
"I was wondering if you could help me with something. I mean it could be nothing, but you're the only person I actually trust here, so," she says quickly as I turn away from the open doorway and look at her.
Meg tells me she thinks that she has a secret admirer, but wasn't sure who it was. Duh, they are a secret. I want to laugh at it, but I listen to all the details she is able to tell me, which is hardly any because she was one a crowded bus when she got the texts messages.
"You know Meg it could be some maladjusted freshman who likes to lurk outside your bedroom window with binoculars, and a bag of pork rinds just staring at you," I say as she nods her head before shaking it as she giggles.
"Right, seriously come on, Veronica. You gotta help me find out who it is. This could turn out to be my soul mate. I mean we all know what happened with Cole, but this could be my prince charming," she says cheerfully as I just give her a skeptical smile.
After what seemed like the longest day of my life I was finally entering Mars Investigations office. I was looking forward to having this time to really put time in to study. I was trying not to think about Meg and soul-mates because EI thought I had found mine for it to turn into maybe my brother. Ugh! I drop my bag in my chair as I look into my dad's office. He has someone in there with him, but he gets up anyway.
"Here's my assistant now," he says as he comes out to join me. "Hi there daughter of mine. I'm swamped with this insurance fraud thing but we could use this fee. Can you take her information, charge her a straight 75? Shouldn't take more than a half hour online," he whispers to me as he pulls me closer before moving closer to the door.
"Of course," I half mutter before he totally exits the room leaving me alone with the woman. I head to my bag and pull out a pen and paper to jot down the information I would need for the case. Nothing soothes the nausea, headache and occasional dizziness of a romance overdose like a glimpse of the aftermath. The custody battles, the affairs and… I go into the office and round the table to see a beautiful woman. She seemed like she could be a trophy wife of sorts.
"How can I help you… Miss…" I start as I sense the woman moving slightly in the chair.
"I'm Katarina Lenova. I made a mistake, that involved falling in love with a man who was good, but then he took off. I lost him and I know he's my soul-mate," she says sadly with a very heavy Russian accent. Great I couldn't get away from this love-soul mate stuff. We spent the next hour as she gave me the details of Tom Cruz, not to be mistaken by the actual Tom Cruise. I wanted to laugh at the irony of him coming out from Chicago to become and actor. The photo she gave me was of a man with a dog. I couldn't place the type but it was different. She explained that she came from Russia to Chicago as a bride for Tom.
She had meet Tom online through messaging and they fall for each other. She decided to move there to be with him. I thought it was strange to leave her home to be with some strange man she had never met, but she said it was all about love. She said that he didn't seem like he was ready to be married so she left him, but now she was regretting that decision and wanted to find him. I asked how she knew he was in the area and she provided a postcard with the Neptune postmark. The message read, "Catherine, Thank you for the good days, but I need to move on. I won't be in touch again."
"Okay the Neptune, California postmark. Well I don't see how this should be really hard. I will leave the details to Mr. Mars, and the cost will be $75, he should have something for you in a couple days," I say as she nods her head before handing me the money.
Wallace and I decided to hang out at my house since his mom wasn't too fond about me. "Darn it," I mutter as I flip through the search I had going for an actor named Tom Cruz? "I mean how many Tom Cruz's are there," I snap looking over to Wallace who had a puzzled expression.
"Tom Cruise? Not as good a private eye as I thought," he smirks at me as I realize he was thinking of the other one.
"No. C-R-U-… never mind. Wallace," I finally say disgusted as I lower the cover on my laptop. "We are here to hang out, not over think about some random guy named Tom Cruz," I say cheerfully as he tosses the small basketball my way. We discuss the basketball team and I ask him to see if he could look around the guys to see if one of them were texting Meg. At first he was more than worried by my request until I told him the whole story behind why I needed his help. He smiled and told me he would look into it for Meg. He told me he'd see if any of the guys had texted Meg, but that the next time I said we were going to hang out we needed to do that.
I was thankful that my day had been going rather smoothly with no mention of love or soul mates, but that was all short lived when I rounded the corner to find Meg in her cheerleader outfit standing in front of her locker. She had a huge bouquet of flowers in hand.
"Wow, I see the Secret admirer strikes again and the plot thickens," I say giving her a smile as she hands me a card from the flowers. It said, 'Go!' with a smiley face.
"I think he wants me to go to the dance with him," she says smiling. I take the card from her looking it over, "I'm dying to know who it is from," she says softly as she looks carefully at the flowers once more.
"Purple faced monkey orchid," I say knowing from the card they were from Australia.
"Uh-huh. They are just so pretty. Cole never gave me flowers at all," she exclaims as she laughs at the thought of something else.
"Can you tell me who shops…" I say as I hold up the card to see the name, "at Manny's Flower Hut," I ask as I pull out my cell phone to take a picture of the flowers.
"Veronica, what are you doing?" Meg questions as I slip the card into my pocket.
"Well first lesson in the detective business, we call this a clue," I say motioning to the flowers.
"Okay, but what about the text messages?" she asks as she puts the flowers in her locker.
"Don't worry I've got my best man on it," I say as I walk off to class. After school I head over to work some at the office. I needed to see if anything more has been located about this Tom Cruz or not. Of course when I get there Katerina is waiting for me outside the office. I was a little concerned with the fact that his person was so needy.
She followed me into the office as I set all of my things down at my desk. I didn't want to think much about what I was going to say, but I decided to just rip off the band aid. I explained to her how Mr. Mars was unable to find anything on the man she was looking for. She was heartbroken about the news. I found it very comforting that she was willing to hire my dad full time at our current rate of $250 a day along with any expenses incurred while on her case. She handed me a check that would cover a week's worth of investigating. I then went in for the details. She went on to explain that he wasn't rich or anything, but she had really cared for him. He was sweet, and someone who was easy to be with. He liked hockey, and played the guitar.
Once Katerina was gone then I got to work calling in casting notices to all the different places that might hire someone like him. I asked for all the head shots to look over the men to check them against the photo that Katerina had left with me. I left a fax number to get all the info sent to me.
I don't know how long I have been working on this case, but it was now dark outside. I was waiting with a handful of head shots of different men sent over from the different casting offices, but none of them were the man I was looking for. I hear a knock at the office door just as Wallace comes into the room. He wasn't too friendly as he dropped his bag in the chair opposite form my desk.
"V, the mission you sent me on, sucked big time," he blurts out once I have turned fully to look at him.
"What'cha got for me papa bear?" I asked as I gave him a smile.
"Well for starters a new reputation as a jock-sniffer. You can be your own FF from now on. I'm retired," he says with a huff as I try hard not to laugh at his tactics. He looks over all the photos that I had lying over the desk. It wasn't until he picked up the photo of Tom Cruz and his dog did we find anything worthwhile. I hadn't really noticed it until he mentioned it, but the dog was a freaky thing.
We were talking about what kind of dog it could be when my phone rang. It was the bank calling with all the current purchases to Lynn's no-limit credit card, god the life of the rich. I am pulling up the info that was sent to me on my laptop; amongst other payments made in December, Lynn paid Elite Catering $5600 I knew this would have been for the Christmas party, and Epiphany Jewelry $12,450.33 probably for something she really didn't need but it sparkled. The only other entry for January was for gas on the 5th. Then nothing, like she had disappeared until 14th of February, when a car is rented, and 18th of February for the Sunset Regent in West Hollywood. I quickly highlight the last entry to look at later, and let Logan know what I had found out. It irked me that the room she was charging was $1200 a night.
In my haste I called Logan only to get his voice mail; "This is Logan with today's inspirational greeting: the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dream. - Eleanor Roosevelt. Leave a message" he says as I wonder if I was going to or not.
"Logan, call me when you get this. There's been another charge on your mom's credit card at the Sunset Regent," I say as I end the call. I finally got through to Logan hours later after I spent a long time creating a photo album to try to use to get into the suite.
****LoVe****
Logan
Veronica asked me to wait for her in the lobby, and not to try to talk with the manager until she showed up. I was having a hard time just standing around waiting for her I was about to say the hell with it she comes running up to me acting all girlie and all. I was totally taken by surprise by this.
"I'm sorry for running late, honey," she says very loudly as I look at her strangely. She stretches on her tippy toes to plant a kiss on my check. I am totally taken back by the gesture. "I talked to this guy on the phone. Let me handle it, he's a bit prickly," she whispers to me softly as she grabs my arm turning me around to follow her to the counter.
Veronica grabs Logan's arm and marches him up to the hotel
I could tell right away that the receptionist was grating on Veronica's nerves with his pompous accent and his way he looked at her. She was trying to get more out of him, but he was shutting her out at every corner. I was surprised to hear he say she was looking for a room more for a honeymoon that a one night stand. The air left my throat at the thought of her all dressed in white. I flashed back to Shelly's party the year before when she had a very pretty white dress on.
It wasn't until she pulled a huge white album out of her handy bag did I see the huge rock on her finger. I knew just by who she was the thing wasn't something she would ever want; no she was using it for this situation. I couldn't believe all the stuff she had in the album. It was packed with clippings of various wedding things. She flicked through it looking for something as I am stunned and impressed by the amount of work that went into creating the material for this album.
"Sugarpuss, you've certainly been a busy little bee, honey," I say as we give a small giggle. "God she's a keeper," I say as I rub the ring on her finger feeling bad that it wasn't a real one from me. I noticed how the receptionist began to stand straighter and pulled out another book of suites.
Having noted the ring, the receptionist is taking much more interest now.
Veronica flicks through them as well. I knew she had a certain one she was looking for so I decided to listen to her and let her handle it. The one she just so happened to be looking for was the Princess Suite, but when we tried to get a peek he declined it. His words were due to the fact that someone was already staying in the room. I just knew it was my mother, but the jerk behind the counter wouldn't budge. Veronica collected her book as I moved around in the lobby to the sofas. She told me she was going to go talk to the maintenance guys to see if she could get us up to the suite, but I had it.
"No, I think I can handle it from here," I finally say as she lingers looking from me to the desk.
"Logan I can get them to unlock the service elevator and we can just-"she starts but I hold my hand up to end the conversation.
"Seriously Veronica I'll just sit right here, and wait for her to come out of the elevator," I finally say as I see her look to her phone before silencing it. I turn on the couch to make sure I had a full view of the lobby elevators.
"I don't think," she starts as her phone rings once more. She gives me a sympathic look before I wave her on.
***LoVe***
Veronica
First thing I did after leaving Logan was head to Manny's Flower Hut to see if I could get more details on the mystery secret admirer in Meg's life. I mean if my love life was close to non existing it didn't mean she shouldn't have one. The man in the shop remembered the teen who bought the flowers but he was not very helpful since he pretty much described half the guys at the high school. I thought this would limit the number of guys I had to look into, but no this opened the field even more.
He closes and returns the phone to Veronica.
Although it was such an unusual order the guy paid in cash for the flowers and that was that. I liked the idea though that the flower guy said this kid thought outside the box which meant he wasn't some slacker, but someone who had a brain. After talking with this guy I was none the wiser of who I was looking for at all.
Wallace decided to come over to help me find out what type of dog we were looking at in the Tom Cruz case. I was busy juggling the different cases before me while I had Wallace searching for the dog in an Encyclopedia. I wasn't having much luck on the internet so I thought if I had to work he should as well.
"Mars investigation," I say as I answer the phone with pen and paper in front of me for the next potential case.
"I was hoping to catch you before you left to go play SPY. Could you tell me why I just got this voice message from a Russian woman asking how her case was going? I thought you handled it," my dad asks as I look over to Wallace who was still comparing dog pictures.
"Yeah," I mutter half listening as I flip through photos on my laptop.
"Honey, I hate to say this but right now I have a full plate with the case I am working on. I can't take on anymore or handle her case," he continues as I look at a picture more closely.
"Right dad, I'm still dealing with some of it," I say as I finished uploading the photo of Tom and his dog. "It turned out to be a little more complicated than what I first thought," I say as I hear him groan on the other end of the phone.
"Veronica. Don't waste your time on this. If the simple computer search didn't give you anything then just tell her you're too busy," he says as I continue to enhance the photo looking more closely at the collar on the dog.
"Dad, she agreed to the daily rate, and we sure could use the money. I would love to have food to eat," I say as I hear Wallace chuckle next to me.
"Honey, forget about the money. I have a bad feeling about her," he says as I share glances with Wallace while rolling my eyes.
"Dad, I just thought it would be nice if, instead of breaking people up, we brought them together for once," I say honesty as I think about how things had gone south with Duncan and me as well as my own parents. I notice that Tom was playing with the dog's collar in the photo. I moved my mouse over the tag and enlarged it even more.
"Veronica. I need you to remember we are not the freaking 'Love Boat' we are PI's," he half mutters as I shake my head.
"I understand your thoughts dad, but I'm almost there. I just need to find Steve," I say as I read the name tag.
"Okay, simple so Steve? That's our guy?" he says sighing slightly.
"Actually no, Steve's a dog," I say as I have a book pushed into my face by Wallace who I am trying to swat away.
"Steve is a Catahoula Leopard dog," Wallace grimaces.
"Really, who the hell names there dog Steve?" my dad mutters.
"Tom Cruz?" I joke as I can just imagine him muttering more under his breath while shaking his head at me.
"Okay Veronica wrap it up. Try not to forget you're in high school do things teens your age does. Do some high school girl things now and then?" he says softly as if it bothered him what I was doing.
"Take a chill pill. I'm currently cutting pictures out of magazines right now of Ashton as we speak," I say as girlie as I could muster while Wallace was cracking up next to me. I had to shove him to make him stop.
"You better be. Gotta run sweetie, love you," he says quickly as the line goes dead.
I spend the next 20 minutes calling different Animal Hospitals and clinics to see if Steve was one of their dogs. I knew since he was a special dog he would need certain things done due to how exotic he was.
I was going to let it go if this next hospital was a bust, but I lucked out when the lady told me Steve came in last week. I tried to play the card that I wanted to breed a dog to get the address of his owner, but it was a no go. While I was waiting for a return call I called Meg to see if she would like to go to the party early since I needed to do something before we headed over there. She was fine with it. The lady told me the owner didn't want to breed his dog. I didn't like that news, but there was nothing I could do about it.
We made a pit stop at the Sheriff's department so that I could get Leo to run a check for me. I didn't want to do it this way, but I wanted to close this case. Meg didn't believe me when I said it was business after my time with Leo. I couldn't believe how sweet Leo was even after the whole thing with him getting busted for me.
It wasn't until I got close to where he was standing that I saw this photo of what looked like me on the wanted bulletin board. The only thing that was different was that in the photo I had horns on the top of my head. I would have been upset if it was a pretty good sketch of me. It was then that I got the idea of sending Karl over to the florist to get a sketch done. I handed the page over with the name of the business and what I needed him to do. He told me he would text me the details as soon as he got them.
Meg and I showed up at Caz's party. I hated being there because the last time I went to an 09er party I was drugged and raped. I felt strange when I walked into the house, but who would blame me the majority of these kids have made my life a living hell for a year now. I had one goal at the moment and that was helping Meg find her special admirer. I was awestruck how the rich were able to get away with things, since I just learned that the house we were currently in was a model home, not even his real house.
Caz went to offer me a drink, but I learned my lesson the last time I was at a party with these kids. I wanted a soda, but right they didn't bring any just the good old booze I hang back and watch as the people move around to the music and drink. Caz seems into Meg, but he doesn't strike me as someone who would think outside the box with flowers, nor did he seem very romantic.
I watched as Caz seemed very interested in telling Meg something as she gave me looks like she wanted out of here. I was horrified as I watched Caz slip and spill his drink all over Meg's dress. She heads to the kitchen where another student named Martin hangs out with here. I asked him to borrow his phone, but it was ready to die so that was a dead end. I am ready to walk away when someone bumps into me.
"Hey," Duncan says as I turn around to look who hit me. "Do you know what's going on with Logan?" he questions as I walk around him.
"Um, what do you mean?" I question as I think it's really none of his business and let him talk to see what Logan told him.
"Well, he's camped out in some hotel lobby in LA waiting for someone to come down," he says snapping his fingers.
"How do you actually know that?" I asked halfway out the door.
"I called him to see where he was. It's not like him to miss a party," he says motioning to where we were.
"God, I can't believe he's still there? Uh, I'll take care of it," I mutter as I look for Martin to give him back his phone and for Meg.
"Have you found anything out?" Meg questions me once I see her.
"No, but I haven't given up just yet. I'm so sorry Meg, I have to run. Can you find a ride home?" I ask as I turn toward the door once more.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Thanks Veronica," she calls out as I exit the house heading back to my car to travel once more to LA. God, Logan better think twice before being an ass to me again.
***LoVe***
Logan
I watched the elevator nonstop even though I was bored out of my freaking mind. I couldn't imagine why she wouldn't come down. I mean surely she needed things. It bothered me how all the families seemed so prefect coming and going. I wondered if any of them had hidden secrets just waiting to be exposed. I was about to doze off as I saw someone approach me.
"I'm sorry. But the lobby's reserved for hotel guests only," the man says as I have no time for his crap pulling my credit card out and pooping it up in the air.
"So book me a room, Jeeves," I snap as he takes the card from me. Bring me a menu as well," I call out as he walks back to the front desk. I watch out of the corner of my eye Veronica coming toward me. I can tell she isn't too happy. I just don't have time for her right now as she sighs when she sits on the coffee table in front of me.
"Logan I hope you know you can't sit here forever," she says softly as she pulls her phone out. "Okay how about we try something else. I think it's time to smoke her out," she says as she gives me a small smile. I sit a little straighter on the couch. "Hi, my names Lynn Lester and my card has been stolen," she says as I give her a side way glance. She moves to sit next to me as I play with the strings on my shirt. All of a sudden she nudges me pointing to the private elevator that was opening up.
A woman is getting out of it. Her back is to us, but I can clearly see the black coat, hat and sunglasses look just like my mom's. Even more the lady was going right to the front desk.
"That's her," I say as I jump up from the couch moving quickly toward the woman, "Mom," I ask hoping, but as she turns around I can see it isn't my mom, but Trina.
"Oh, hey there little brother," she says as if nothing has happened. I can sense Veronica close by, but she seems to be keeping her space.
"Logan, hey did you just call me mom. I hate to break it to you but she's long gone," Trina states.
"Oh my God," I snap half pissed off. "Wow. You're supposed to be in Australia," I sneer as I remember why she couldn't come back for my mom's funeral.
"That didn't work out for me," she mutters looking behind me. "I almost didn't see you there Veronica," she perks up.
"Trina," I hear her reply.
"So, little brother are the two of you…" she begins but I cut her off.
"Stop! You shut up. You're wearing Mom's clothes, you're wearing Mom's hat," I snap as I feel so ticked off with how easy she is being about all of this. I mean didn't she even think about the hell I have been living in. Did she care about anyone other than herself?
"Actually she was your mom, my step-mom," she snaps halfway back to me. "Oh, you," she says moving closer to me as she tries to swat at me, but I block her hand.
"Dad could've used you here," I snarled at her.
"Really you're worried about Dad's welfare. Isn't he the big bad wolf?" she snaps as I pray she stops with her words. I wasn't in the mood to have her throw anymore fire at me. I shake my head pleading with her to stop, but she ignores me. "I mean come on Logan, cigarette burns and broken noses. Oh, the stories you used to tell," she says as I feel like the wind had been smacked right out of me. I felt a hand on my shoulder turning slightly to Veronica.
"Yeah, we should get together and do this more often," I mutter defeatly casting my eyes down.
"Well you're in luck. I'm heading home now. I guess some accountant finally cancelled Mom's cards," she says as I have to face the final reality that my mom was really gone.
"Well if you're coming home who will play the dead slut on CSI this week? How will you ever get your attention fix?" I throw at her as I felt Veronica squeeze my arm tighter.
"Who knows maybe I can join you in your little things like being the ring girl at one of your bum fights," she sneers back at me. I almost forgot how much hatred there was between us. I despised her because all she did was care about herself. The world around her could be on the fringe of burning up and she'd only think about herself. Veronica must have had it because she finally steps in front of me reaching for my arm to pull me away.
"Logan, we should get going," she says trying to talk me down from the ledge I was on. Yet, all I could see was Trina and the world around me falling apart. I hear Trina vaguely say something to Veronica, but my mind is on the fact that my mother was really gone. She wasn't going to come back for me. I was stuck in this heel hole with Aaron till I turn 18. I was out of fighting energy as I let Veronica pull me away. We move like two steps before I lose it.
I lean forward bracing myself on my knees as I let the reality of the whole situation encase me. I lean back into Veronica as she just pulls me closer to her. I let all the angry and hatred I was just feeling wash over me. Vaguely I hear Veronica say something to someone, before she moves to get up. I don't know what she's doing but she leads me to the elevators. I hold her hand tightly in mine as she walks out pulling me with her. We stop at a door and she slips the keycard in the slot. I follow her into the room as she closes the door.
"Come on," Veronica says pulling me to the bed. I lie down next to her as I lean into her once more.
"She…" I start but stop as the tears begin once more. I rest my head on her chest clutching her to me. She wraps an arm around me as she rubs soothing circles on my back. "She's gone, she's really gone," I cry as I hear her trying to sooth me, but I didn't want her pity so I started to get up. Yet, when I looked into her eyes I didn't see pity no I saw shock and sympathy. She wasn't doing this to gain anything, so I laid my head back down.
***LoVe***
Veronica
"Well if it isn't my local policeman," I say softly as I try not to wake Logan up. He cried most of the night, but I could understand it after what he learned. I was really hoping it was his mom. He deserved a little bit of happiness.
"You got a pen handy?" Leo asks as I move slightly causing Logan to stir.
"Always. What do ya got?" I ask as I jot down the names he got for me. I would check them out later. I looked down at Logan who was looking up at me.
"I'm sorry for keeping you. I'm sure you have things to do," he mutters removing himself from me.
"I do, but this was more important," I honestly say. "Logan I was hoping it would be true for you. I'm sorry it wasn't," I say as he nods his head.
"I guess I should be heading back," he mutters as I give him a look.
"Well, actually," I say as he turns to give me a puzzled look. "I want sure what kind of mood you'd be in so I asked a friend to drive your X-Terra to your house," I say as he opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself.
"Yeah, thanks," he says quietly. He puts his shoes on as I use the bathroom before we head out. I knew I would make it back to Neptune in an hour or so with my driving. I was right as I dropped Logan off at his house. I headed to check the addresses of the people Leo sent to me. I could hopefully find my Tom Cruz. So it seems that saying about people resembling their pets is true. Fred Ellis was as old and droopy as his Basset Hound and single mother, Carla Stern was a dead ringer for her Pomeranian. Two strikes. So it all comes down to John Frampton bearing a slight resemblance to his… I think as I look carefully at the photo of Tom. I see the dog exiting the house first and it was a match. I take a few pictures of the man. I smile as I think about the paycheck.
"Katerina, It's Veronica in Mr. Mars' office. Good news. He found Tom," I say as I hear her thanking me. "You have a pen?" I ask as I wait for her to confirm it. "So the address is-" I start as my dad takes the phone out of my hand ending the call.
"Veronica," he mutters.
"Dad, what are you doing?" I snap as he holds up a picture of Katerina. "This isn't Katerina Lenova. It's Yelena Sukarenko," he says as he shows me two more photos. "Yevgeni and Sergei Sukarenko, Russian mob from Chicago. Anthony Thomas Cruz worked for their father. Turned State's evidence and put him away. He's not a long lost love, Veronica. He's in the witness protection program," he mutters finally letting out what seemed like a long breath. Crap I was helping a mobster try to kill someone! I couldn't believe it. My dad goes over what I am supposed to do when Katerina calls back. He motions for me to do as he told me to. I gave her the address and he sits down beside me.
After the debacle with Katerina and not having any luck finding Meg's secret admirer I head home. I was exhausted from driving to and from LA. I hear someone knock on the front door as I was just about to get comfy ion the couch to watch a movie. I find Meg on the other side dress as Molly Ringwald's character in the prom scene in "Pretty In Pink." She is had a bag in her hand along with a wrist corsage in the other.
"Hey!" she says smiling at me.
"I feel bad Meg, I am so sorry," I stutter around as she shakes her head setting the bag on the counter.
"Don't," she says softly as she begins to open the bag up.
"I do because I told you I was gonna find your secret admirer before the dance and I haven't come through," I say as she holds up her hand to quiet me.
"Forget it, forget it. I don't even care anymore," she says and I know honestly she doesn't. We spend the next half hour getting me dressed for the dance. When Meg was done I looked like an early Madonna. Meg has dressed me in all black. My hair was teased beyond fried and I had so much hairspray that I needed to stay away from fire. I thought though I looked like Manila Whore Barbie. As we were ready to head out the fax machine began printing a picture. I took it out to find Duncan Kane. He was Meg's secret admirer. It stung a little that he broke up with me. But I wouldn't ruin Meg's night.
The dance is in full swing by the time we get there. People are all dresses tawdry, in eighties gear.
"Don't spaz Meg. Aren't you totally stoked to go to this thing?" I ask as she looks over at me amused.
"Oh, for sure," she says not really sounding like she was.
"What happened to all the girl power? The we-don't-need-dates resolve?" I question as I see her decision falter slightly.
"Reality has finally set in. Forgive me, gal pal. I'm weak," Meg says softly as I take the corsage out of her bag and slip it onto Meg's wrist. Then I turned her around where I see Duncan waiting. Duncan is dressed as Duckie from "Pretty In Pink" and smiles at her. Meg looks back at me. It is a questioning look.
Between getting fooled by the Russian bride and finding out that Duncan has the hots for Meg, I've had my fill of surprises tonight. I think as I watch the two of them dancing. I was going to head home. I wanted to just relax. As I near my car I am on the verge of falling apart.
I am barely holding myself together. J Geils was right. Love stinks. You can dress it up with sequins and shoulder pads but one way or another you're just gonna end up alone at the spring dance strapped into uncomfortable underwear. Once I am in my car I let go of the sobs I had been holding back. I hear a knock on my door as Leo stand in front of me.
"What's wrong, Veronica?" he asks as he passes me a corsage. I give him a small smile as I realize this had Meg written all over it.
"Are you ready for a…a total eclipse of the heart?" he questions as we head back into the school for the dance. I look up from where I had my head on Leo's chest to find Logan, drunk and trouser less in his guise as who else but Tom Cruise character in "Risky Business". He's also wearing sunglasses. Damn it I can't escape Tom Freaking Cruz.
"I love the eighties," he slurs as I see Leo motioning for me.
Logan takes the short jump off the small stage and tries to rally support. "Come on everyone. Let's wang chung tonight," he shouts out barely keeping his junk covered. I watch Duncan go to touch Logan, "Don't touch me, dude," he snaps as I move to follow after him.
"I just really escape Tom Cruise tonight," I mutter as I go to find Logan. "Come on Logan, just give me your keys. Leo, can you follow us in your car?" I say once I have him cornered. Leo just looks on.
"No. No! No. No." he snaps as he points then begins to giggle.
"Hey, who's this dude?" he mutters as if he finally see Leo.
"As I have told you now three times, this is the friendly officer of the law…" I say trying to stay as calm as possible.
"who is going to overlook your underage public drunkenness," I say even more softly.
"Logan, when did you stop wearing pants?" I hear the resounding voice of Trina. We all turn to see her standing at eh end of the hallway. She and Logan comment back and forth until he relents to go with her. I had to laugh when he asked if he could puke in her car. That would be something Logan would totally say.
"A very promising young man," Leo says with a smile. We were talking as my phone rang. It was the same jerk who seemed to be calling me but just breathing in the phone. Leo called the number back to learn it was a payphone in Sagebrush Cantina, Barstow. The description of the woman the man gave matched my mom. I asked Logan for a rain check as I headed right for home to change and make reservations to head out. I got a red eye there and was in the rental car headed to the middle of nowhere.
I enter the bar as I look around I see a few drunks playing pool. The lady looks me up and down before she moves back to her game.
I look down the bar to where I see Lianne sitting. She looks like a total mess. She was drunk and not clean. "Mom!" I cry out as I see the recognition hit her as she begins to mumble.
"Veronica. Oh, my god, no. No, please," she mutters not happy to see me. My mom seems distressed. Veronica tries to take her mother's hands to lead her out. Lianne resists and knocks over some glasses.
"I'm gonna get you out of here," I say as I begin to clean up after once again. I disliked having to clean up her messes when she got drunk, but this was different. She really needed the help this time.
"Veronica, No! No. You can't be here, I can't be seen with you. They are gonna hurt you," she is muttering as I reach for her hand.
"Mom. I found the pictures I know who's doing it. You don't have to worry about that now, I know who was blackmailing you with me. You're safe now," I say softly as she just looks at me in disbelief. She is fighting to get away from me and I let her loose for a moment. I look up into the mirror only to be horrified to see Clarence Wiedman's reflection. I see him just as he exits the bar. I quickly gather her stuff up helping her out of the bar.
"Veronica," she says as the streaming bright light hits her. I take her to her dingy run down apartment with promises of coming back the next day. I check into a motel near where the bar was, knowing she'd probably be there the next day. I don't want to be alone so I call the one person who would listen to me.
"Veronica," he says as I open my mouth to speak but close it.
"Logan, I found my mom," I cry into thone phone.
"Is she better," he questions. "No," I say honestly. "I'm sorry for bothering you," I say as he asks me where I was. I tell him as we talk a little before he hangs up making me feel a little better. I drift off to a restless night when I have the feeling that someone was watching me. I gather the covers closer sitting up to see a shadow near the door looking out the window.
"I didn't mean to wake you," Logan says softly moving toward the bed.
"Why are you here?" I question as he sits down next to me.
"You sounded like you could use someone. You were there for me, so I'll be here for you," he says as I move closer to him.
"How did you get in," I asked as he finally began to relax by lying down next to me. He went into detail how he charmed the clerk by saying he was my husband and he got locked out. I laughed as he pulled me closer to his chest holding me tightly to him. He began to rub circles on my back like I had for him the other night. I drifted slowly listening to his heart beat playing music to my ears. I wasn't sure about what tommorow held, but I knew I had a friend by my side. Somehow I knew even though the last year was rough we were both hurting. He had issued just like I did, but if we stuck together maybe we would find a way to overcome them.