A/N: This is a nice long chapter. You should be happy. My apologizes to those of you who were looking forward to a great mystery. That part is a bit lame.
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Chapter 7: Chinks in the Armor
KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE NIGHTCLUB
Veronica walked up and down Sepulveda Blvd. taking pictures and looking for surveillance cameras. There were two banks on the street but it could be difficult to get the film from them; banks would happily give the footage to law enforcement and she'd been able to you use her dad's contacts to get the video from an ATM last year when she was chasing the Hearst rapist but Veronica didn't want to tap that source unless she had no other choices. She was in luck. There was a video camera on the front door of the Korean deli two doors down from the club. After she batted her eyes at the teenaged kid behind the counter, he willing gave her the tape but the volume of pedestrian traffic near the deli didn't necessarily correspond to patrons of the nightclub.
The Castle itself only had cameras pointed at the cash registers. There were none on the entrance, backstage or in the alley behind the building. Veronica shook her head. Who taught these people about security?
As promised Bruce, the client, met her at the manager's office. "Hi. Thanks for coming. This is Arthur Bouvier, owner of King Arthur's Castle."
A short, hairy, fat guy stuck out his stubby hand, "How ya doin'?" He smelled like stale cheap cigars.
Veronica forced her lips into a tight, closed mouth smile and took the proffered hand, "Veronica."
Artie appraised the little blonde. He was having a hard time believing this tiny girl was a private detective. "Bruce here tells me you're a P.I. and you're helping him with some stalker."
Flicking open her leather ID, Veronica flashed Artie her credentials. "I am a licensed private detective." The jaded bar owner's eyes lit up in shock. He thought he had seen everything in this business but this pint sized pixie packed a few surprises. Bruce was impressed too; he thought this was just something Veronica did on the side.
"So what do you need from me?" Artie asked.
"I need to see all your camera footage from the last month when Bruce was working," Veronica explained.
Artie hesitated. "All of it? How do I know you're not trying to rob me and this is some hi-tech way of casing the joint?"
Veronica was already exasperated with this character.
"She's here to help me, Artie, not hurt you," Bruce vouched for Veronica. "I'm really scared. You have to let her find whoever's doing this to me."
"I don't know." The club owner was not sure that letting anybody from law enforcement see his tapes was a good idea. While he ran a clean club, everybody knew in the nightclub business there were drugs and some other goings on. He was worried that if she saw something she didn't like, she'd report him. Her badge said her name was Mars so he wondered if she was any relation to the guy who used to be sheriff. The last thing he needed was a bunch of cops hanging around. It was bad for business.
"Please, Artie," Bruce begged. "We don't care about anything else."
"All we want to do is see if there were any suspicious people hanging around when Bruce got these notes," Veronica confirmed.
"Fine," Artie agreed, hoping to get them to leave sooner. He had a lot to do before the club opened for the evening.
Veronica and Bruce squeezed into sharing a single office chair to review the footage because there wasn't room for two chairs in the cramped office. Although the cameras were supposed to be pointed at the cash registers behind the bars, many of the angles had been moved and all had wider than expected views. After about two hours of reviewing video at high speed they finally found what they were looking for. A woman appeared in the corner of a few frames from different camera angles. Although they could tell it was a woman with shoulder length brown hair, she was wearing a hoodie and dark sunglasses which successfully covered her face. Inserting a flash drive into the system, Veronica saved all of the frames which showed the women. There appeared to be an envelope in her hands in the frames where she was coming in but not when she was leaving. "Gotcha," the P.I. enthused triumphantly.
"But we can't see her face," Bruce wailed.
"Ah young Jedi, maybe not yet, but you have no idea how good Mac is with video manipulation," Veronica comforted her client, crossing her fingers that Mac could actually do what she was promising.
He nodded solemnly. "I hope so."
Grabbing her messenger bag Veronica said, "C'mon. Let's go see if Mac found anything on the security tapes Weevil got her from your dorm."
INTERIOR MAC's DORM ROOM
THE NEXT DAY
As Veronica and Bruce entered Mac's room, Bond handed Q the flash drive. "This is what we got at the Castle. Did you find anything?"
"Actually, yeah. There's this woman walking in the hall about an hour before Bruce said he got the last note," Mac shared her findings with Veronica and her client. "She looks too old to be a student."
"Did she have brown hair?" Veronica inquired.
"Yeah," Mac confirmed. "How'd you know?"
"The woman on the tape at the Castle also had brown hair but we couldn't see her face," Bruce piped in.
As Mac was cueing up side-by-side views of the two tapes for better comparison, Veronica changed the subject. "Did you have any luck with the cell phone trace?"
"It was drop shipped to some podunk place called Paradise Mill, Oklahoma," Mac offered.
"Do you know anybody from there?" Veronica asked Bruce.
"Yeah, I grew up there." Bruce couldn't believe it was someone from back home. He thought he knew everyone. Plus, if somebody from Paradise Hill was here, he would have recognized them; the town just wasn't that big.
"It's a tiny place, with a population of less than 1,000," Mac regaled them with the census data she had researched earlier.
Bruce corrected her, "I doubt it that's big." Both women looked at him. The pieces were falling into place. "You think it's somebody I know from home?"
Veronica confirmed his suspicion, "It makes sense."
Mac spun her laptop around to show Bruce the side by side comparison of a still from each of the two videos. "Does she look familiar?"
Bruce's hand flew up to cover his mouth, "Oh my God! That's my aunt, Mary Faith."
"Your aunt?" Mac repeated somewhat astonished. "That's twisted."
"Do you have any idea why she'd do this to you?" Veronica probed.
Bruce studied his hands. "She's very religious – Church every Sunday, Bible study every night. She probably doesn't approve of my drag act."
"Do you think she'd actually hurt you?" Veronica pressed her embarrassed client. If there was a genuine danger she was going to have call Vinnie Van Lowe in on the matter. Scum bag or not, he was currently the Sherriff, at least for a little while longer.
Swallowing Bruce thought for a moment. "No, not really. She's probably more concerned that I'm going to burn in hell for fornicating with a man."
Mac was bewildered. "I thought you were straight. Weren't you dating Millie Dougherty last semester?"
"Yeah," Bruce replied. "From my Aunt's perspective that may be worse; Mille's Catholic." At least he managed a small, tight smile at his own bad joke.
Veronica rolled her eyes. Prejudice and intolerance never made sense to her. "Well if you don't think you are in danger from your aunt, I guess there's nothing more we can do. Mystery solved. What are you going to do next?"
"Get my father to talk to her I guess," Bruce answered slowly, weighing his options and trying to process the inescapable conclusion that his aunt was threatening him. "If that doesn't work, I suppose I'll go see Reverend Simmons when I go home for break."
"You should probably at least tell campus security and see if you can have her barred from Hearst," Veronica suggested as Bruce got up to leave.
"That's probably a good idea," Bruce agreed. "Thanks again. Let me know if I owe you any more money."
"I'll send you a bill," Veronica assured him.
When the door shut behind Bruce, Mac powered down her laptop and closed it. "Another mystery solved, Bond. Good job!" She held her hand out to Veronica for a high five.
"Couldn't have done it without you, Q." Veronica slapped her friend's open palm.
"So," Mac began. "I haven't seen much of you this semester. Piz keeping you busy?"
The reality was that they were two weeks into the new school year. Mac had been holed up at Max's apartment off campus where Veronica was reluctant to intrude. Between school, her dad's busier than ever business now that he was the only private detective in town and trying to decide what to do about the Castle, Veronica hadn't had much time for socializing.
"You've seen Piz?" Veronica asked, returning her focus to the conversation. Where could Mac have seen Piz?
"Come to think of it, I haven't. Where've you got him stashed?" joked Mac.
"New York," Veronica replied. "He transferred to some school in the City so he could continue to work for Pitchfork."
"Wow," Mac enthused, "A job. So, how's the long distance thing going?"
"It's not," Veronica conceded, looking at the floor not wanting to meet her friend's eyes. "Actually, we broke up in August."
Mac was concerned. "Why am I just hearing about this now?"
"I dunno," Veronica shrugged. "I guess I just didn't want to talk about it."
"So if you weren't with Piz all this time, where have you been, girlfriend?" Mac asked with a gleam in her eye. Smiling, she kidded, "Did you and Logan get back together?"
"No," Veronica insisted just a bit too quickly. "Things, . . . well let's just say I've had a lot on my plate."
"Veronica, how long have you known me?" Mac demanded.
"Since eleventh grade," Veronica responded, not knowing where this was going.
"And while I'm no you, I do have skills. You can't possibly think that I'm going to let you get away with such a vague answer, so spill," Mac commanded.
"Can we please just not talk about Logan?" Veronica begged.
"Sure," Mac replied giving Veronica short-lived hope that died as Mac finished her sentence. "When pigs fly and Dick Casablancas takes a vow of celibacy."
Veronica had to laugh but as Mac stared at her expectantly, she knew this topic of conversation wasn't closed. "Logan and I are not back together."
"But you want to be?" Mac asked hopefully. Since she worked with him on the ass rating website, Mac had come to realize that there was more to Logan Echolls than being a spoiled, entitled jackass even though he sometimes goes out of his way to cultivate that perception of himself.
Based on the way Logan had treated Veronica in high school Mac had never truly understood what they saw in each other or how deep their connection was but it was undeniable to anybody who saw them interact. Even when Mac told Veronica that Logan was the one who spread the rumors about Veronica's score on the so-called purity test in high school that information didn't faze the blonde. Instead she replied, "I assumed as much," but never spoke of it again. Both girls knew Veronica didn't even take the test.
Once when Mac asked Wallace to explain the whole Logan / Veronica dynamic all he said was something about banter, practical jokes, broken headlights and bongs being some sort of bizarre mating ritual practiced by adrenaline junkies from another planet. The explanation didn't make much sense to Mac.
Still Mac was fully aware that Veronica with Logan was so much better than either of them apart. She would also be forever grateful to them both for all the strength they gave her on grad night and during its aftermath.
Although Veronica didn't know exactly what was running through Mac's mind, you didn't have to be a private detective to recognize a friend's concern. She knew Mac had become more like her as their friendship had grown. Once Cindy MacKenzie resolved to know the truth, like her mentor, Veronica, she wouldn't stop until she achieved her objective.
Veronica resigned herself to filling her in because she couldn't think of a way to get out of it not because she really wanted to share. Then again, if she couldn't tell Mac, who could she tell? However, she didn't know where to begin. Just then there was a knock at the door. Veronica was thrilled to have someone save her from having to have this conversation. "Come in!" she yelled at the same time Mac barked "Go away!"
The door opened and Wallace popped his head in, "What are two of my favorite ladies doing sittin' in here rather than enjoying this fine fall afternoon?"
"Girl stuff," Mac answered figuring that would make him disappear.
Raising his hands in the air in mock surrender before he even came fully into the room, "I'm out," Wallace said maneuvering backwards out of the room.
Sighing, Veronica drew him back in. "Get in here. This concerns you too."
Both Wallace and Mac looked confused. "Girl stuff does not concern me," Wallace insisted. "I'm not gonna braid your hair or paint your toes." Having seen the look on Veronica's face knowing there was no arguing with her when she was in that mood, Wallace obediently stepped inside, despite his protests.
"Close the door," Veronica instructed as she fished around in her messenger bag and pulled out an electronic gadget with antennas and an LED display screen with blinking lights. Turning it on, she got up from Mac's bed and began to scan the room.
"What are you doing, Superfly?" Wallace wondered.
"I think she's scanning the room for bugs," Mac correctly postulated.
"Exactly Q," Veronica confirmed.
"They just exterminated over the summer," offered Wallace.
Mac looked at him like he was an idiot. How long had he been friends with Veronica? "Not the creepy crawly kind, electronic bugs – listening devices and hidden cameras."
"Oh," understanding finally dawned on Wallace. Despite the video tape last semester and everything else he'd been through with Veronica, he still didn't have a suspicious mind.
Finding nothing, Veronica turned off the device and sat back down.
Mac picked it up, turning it over slowly in her hands, with a sense of awe on her face. "This is pretty high tech for Radio Shack. You been holding out on me?"
"Souvenir from the summer," Veronica bragged. She was glad that Mac was impressed with her new toy. "The interns were allowed to shop at the Company store."
"Cool." Mac was imagining the possibilities.
"So what 'girl talk' do I have to be here for that requires you to perform a high tech security sweep?" Wallace wanted to get back to the business at hand.
"Do you remember the Castle?" Veronica began, as though any of them had forgot the ordeal of the end of last semester.
Both nodded but didn't say anything silently urging her to continue.
"They want me to get Nish to drop the law suit."
"Yeah, like that's ever gonna happen," Mac dismissed the suggestion outright.
"If I do, she and I can become members, you too Wallace."
Wallace frowned. He hated the Castle for taping Veronica. "Who said I still want to join?"
"It's a very powerful group. They could take you places," Veronica reminded him. "But there's more."
"Like what?" Mac was almost afraid to know.
"Well, they wiped out the video . . ."
Flipping open her laptop, Mac re-booted her system. "No they didn't. My copy is still here . . ." She clicked on the file name but nothing came up. She hit a few more keys and furrowed her brow. "Where'd it go?"
Veronica continued, "They wrote some sort of virus which deleted that file and then sent itself to all of your contacts through e-mail searching for more copies."
Now Mac was seeing red. "There's a virus on my computer and you are just telling me this now?" She was frantically running AntiMalWare to find this virus and searching her cache buffer, fat allocation table and mirror backup for any trace of the video or the virus.
"They assured me that it only attacks that video of me," Veronica tried to downplay the significance of the software.
Mac's voice was a few octaves higher than normal. "They assured you?! They assured you?! Seriously Veronica, have you forgotten who they are?"
"No," Veronica conceded, "But I trust Duncan."
"So?" Mac waited for more.
"What does Duncan have to do with this?" Wallace wanted to know. From Wallace's perspective, Duncan wasn't worthy of Veronica's trust or loyalty. For the first year Wallace knew her, Duncan treated Veronica like something you'd wipe off the bottom of your shoe or he just ignored her. Then he got another girl pregnant but dumped her and then he fled the country and was wanted for kidnapping. No, Wallace didn't see the knight in shining armor thing at all.
"Duncan is back. He's the one who came to me with this," Veronica divulged to her shocked companions. "And there's more."
Shaking her head in disbelief, Mac encouraged Veronica to continue, "What more?"
"If Nish drops the suit, they'll set up a recall election for my dad and the Sorkins will leave Logan alone." Veronica laid out the whole plan.
"Damn, girl," Wallace exclaimed. "How'r you supposed to turn down that?"
"Nish'll never go for it," Mac countered.
"Actually," Veronica confessed, "She's thinking about it."