Wallace kept the Mars' spare key in his pocket but he pulled the door closed behind him when he saw the lurking shadow.

"Hey, you!" Wallace began to move toward Veronica's Saturn. "Don't move!" Wallace gripped Back-Up's leash in his left hand and her spare stun gun in his right.

Back-Up was barking in a frenzy and the form slipped and stumbled to the ground. "Don't!" He called out.

"Who are you?" Wallace demanded, trying to mentally compare this man to the killer he was hunting.

"I'm Vinnie! Vinnie Van Lowe! I'm looking for Veronica!"

Wallace let Back-Up get a few steps closer…

And Back-Up sniffed twice and licked Vinnie's hand.

"See!" Vinnie said finally. "He knows me."

"Lucky for you." Wallace shrugged. "Why are you looking for Veronica?"

"Same as you… She's missing…" Vinnie said sing-song style with accompanying annoying hand gestures as he rose off the ground.

"Her Dad called you." Wallace guessed.

"He didn't have to. Professional courtesy. I know he's out of town and I heard it on my scanner."

"I don't believe you." Wallace told him.

Vinnie shrugged. "Okay. My mom heard it on the scanner while I was in the can. But I'm here now and that's what's important."

"So what have you found?"

"Her purse is on the seat." He motioned toward the Saturn. "Keys are on the floor."

Wallace looked. The purses content was spilling and the keys in plain sight. "No way Veronica left it like this.

"Yeah. I'd say she was nabbed right here. I want to talk to the landlord." Vinnie looked around curiously.

"Come on." Wallace told him. "It's this way."

"What would you have done if I were the Strangler?" Vinnie asked.

Wallace let the stun gun crackle once in response. "I was gonna down you and let Back-Up eat you until you told me where Veronica was." He swallowed once. "And HOW she was would determine how much MORE got eaten." He shrugged.

Vinnie nodded almost seriously. "You're a little frightening."

Wallace agreed. "Yeah, maybe sometimes."

Weevil clicked his phone closed. "Hector's gonna round up the rest of the PCHers and head out looking for our guy."

Logan nodded as he sped through the traffic.

"She is going to be okay." Eli said confidently.

"What if she's not?" Logan asked without looking at him. "What then?"

"Then we finish him. No matter what it takes." Weevil said forcefully.

"Yeah? And what then?" Logan shot back.

But only silence followed.

"I'm just saying…" Aaron shrugged. "Maybe you went a little heavy on the anger in there."

Clarence shook his head and grunted in dismissal.

"Well, I do know a thing or two about staging a scene." Aaron added.

"I WAS NOT…" Clarence calmed himself. "I was not staging a scene. I was going to shoot them if they didn't tell me what I wanted to know."

"And I just think that if they were a little less scared they might be a little more forthcoming." Aaron trumped. "That's all."

"You…" Clarence shook his head. "I want to make sure we have this strait! If I save the Mars girl you will LEAVE, right?"

"Hey!" Aaron replied. "I've got another haunting across town! I'm in demand. You're the lucky one here…"

"And EXACTLY how is that?" Clarence asked. "Because I'm not sure the company is worth it."

Aaron met his eyes with a mournful understanding. "It counts for something when you save a life… Almost as much as when you take one…"

Aaron looked away out the windows.

"It's a good thing to have on your resume." Aaron added at last.

Suddenly both men seemed oddly content to endure the awkward silence between them and to simply leave it at that.