Chapter Six: Phone Numbers

Arnold had gotten home at 10pm that night. He staggered into her room when Helga was getting out of the shower.

"Helga! I'm home." Arnold called to Helga who was in her towel. "And we need to talk."

Helga was more than irate with Arnold. It took him four hours to get back home and he didn't even check on her. She had only been dragged and thrown on hard, cold pavement hours before.

"You can't put on a dead girl's clothes and go through other people's things and act like that's okay!" Arnold yelled at Helga as she explained why Eugene dragged her out of his house. "And you lied to me. Sid didn't just flirt with you. He pulled you over!"

"So maybe I got pulled over or something!" she spat, "What do you care?"

"I'm your roommate, and friend Helga of course I care! I worry when you almost-"

"Ugh stay out of it Arnold! I don't need you to mother me," Helga turned to her dresser, to pick out some more comfortable clothes, "I can take care of myself, thank you very much. Now if you would please leave my room, I'd like to change!"

Arnold crossed his arms but made no sign of leaving her room.

"Why did you get pulled over Helga? Oh let me guess! You were speeding again, weren't you Helga? How many times do I have to remind you how dangerous it is when you drive like a maniac?"

Helga wished she could throw something at his annoying know-it-all football head.

"I was only speeding to find out about what really happened to Rhonda. Didn't you hear me when I said Rhonda had a secret she was hiding from everyone including Eugene!"

"So what if she did Helga? It doesn't matter now. I can't believe you would be so disrespectful to Eugene by going through her things like that. Whatever secret you want to find out about Rhonda isn't worth losing your friends over."

Helga was shocked. She had never seen him this angry before. Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe she really fucked up... But she would never willingly admit that to Arnold.

"What do you care? The only thing you care about is making out with Lila!"

"I can date who I want Helga. Don't make this about Lila. This is about you violating our friends' trust."

"Oh yeah well will Lila go pay the light bill and cook dinner for you and wash your dirty socks? Eugene's pain of an assistant, Lila threatened to call the police on me! The bitch wanted to get me arrested for assault! "

"Lila has nothing to do with how you've been acting! You have been lying to me, being secretive and you haven't even thought about how anything makes me feel, about how any of this effects me. I know you went to see Eugene alone two days ago. You conveniently left that part out." he looked like he wanted to punch the wall, "You went to Eugene's. Alone! Without telling me! You have got to be kidding me Helga."

Helga balled her fists, "I needed to get some answers!"

"Rhonda was just murdered, Eugene is a suspect and you thought it was a good idea to go over to his house alone?! What were you thinking?!"

"I don't need to explain myself to you Arnoldo."

He narrowed his blue eyes at her, "I'm just worried about you Helga. I know Rhonda's death has taken it's toll on you and you're grieving, but you can't just go around barging into the people's houses -"

"JUST GET OUT OF MY ROOM ARNOLD! RIGHT NOW!" She couldn't stand to have Arnold play therapist with her when he didn't understand the first thing about her.

"Fine just don't call me when you get arrested!" Arnold stormed out of the room.

-/-

Helga sat on the edge of her bed; she didn't know whether to yell or cry. She was so frustrated. Why was Arnold being such a jerk? Couldn't he see that she was just trying to find some answers about Rhonda's murder? Couldn't he see that Lila was a phony two-face bitch? But Arnold acted like she, Helga Pataki, was the one being a bitch. Then they had the nerve to throw her out of the party, as if she'd done something wrong! Meanwhile Arnold, Lila and everyone else thought it was okay to make-out after her funeral and screw around while drunk. Did anyone care that Rhonda's murderer was still out there or had they just gone to her funeral for the free booze? It was complete B.S.

Helga held the piece of paper she found in Rhonda's shoe.

Perhaps this whole crazy evening was worth it if this note about Frankie held some clues to her murder. Though who on earth was Frankie and why would Rhonda want to hide his contact information in a shoe?

Helga couldn't remember Rhonda ever speaking of someone called Frankie ...then again Rhonda knew so many people, nearly half of Hillwood, that Helga couldn't possibly know all the people that Rhonda knew.

Helga exhaled loudly. If only Arnold wasn't being such a jerk, she could talk to him about it. Usually Arnold had a good brain on his shoulders for solving stuff...except when his brain turned to a Lila-obsessed pile of mush. Considering that Eugene was a prime suspect and Lila was his personal assistant, there was no way she could trust Arnold right now. If she tried to tell him about Frankie, he might tell Lila and then she would know what Helga knew. No, as long as Arnold was close to Lila, she couldn't trust him.

Helga fiddled with her phone.

She needed to talk to someone about it. But who?

She didn't have that many friends she could trust with something so important. Phoebe was out of town and had been acting strange lately...

Suddenly Helga remembered the business card Sid had given her.

Of course he could help her! He's Officer Sid now, and it didn't hurt that Sid wasn't obsessed with Lila...but seemed to like her, Helga Pataki, right now...though she'd rather not think of that.

She digged through her purse to find his card then dialed the personal cell number he had scribbled onto the back.

As the phone rang in her ear, Helga bit nervously at her lip. C'mon Sid, pick up your phone...

He finally picked up and Helga felt incredibly awkward speaking.

"Ummm hi...Sid?"

She could practically hear Sid smile on the other side of the line, "So you did call me!"

Helga frowned, "Don't get too happy, bucko. I'm just calling to ask about Rhonda's murder investigation."

"Yeah, I seem to recall you were thrown out of her funeral party just for that reason. Apparently, you were snooping around."

"Yeah so what? Why weren't you, isn't that your job?"

Sid's voice seemed to sober up, "Helga, I appreciate you care about Rhonda, but next time, leave the snooping to us, okay? You're not the police and you need a warrant for that...So did you find anything?"

"Yeah, I did. It's why I'm calling you, believe me I didn't call you for your conversation!"

"Ouch, Helga. Seriously, ouch," Sid mocked, "You know how to hurt a man in his heart but there's no need to be so rude...I am a professional-"

She snorted, "Sure." He was really damn professional when he flirted with her two days ago instead of giving her a ticket. Not that she was complaining.

"So what was it you found?" Sid sighed.

"It's this note, about some guy named Frankie, that I found in Rhonda's shoe. It has his name and phone number. It seemed like she desperately wanted to hide this information."

"Hmm, that is interesting," Sid's voice sounded scratchy, "Listen Helga, don't try to contact Frankie or anything. He could be dangerous...For all we know he might be the killer...How about we meet tomorrow, say around lunch and discuss it?"

"That kinda sounds like a date Sid...uhh Officer Sid."

Sid laughed, "Trust me Helga, it's not..though if you want to call it a d-."

"NO!" she spat.

"Fine, fine. Just bring the piece of evidence with you tomorrow and meet me at Dingo's Diner during your lunch break, okay?"

"Okay. Thanks Sid."

"See you tomorrow Helga."

She clicked her phone off and sank back on her bed.

Perhaps it was good that Sid-officer Sid-was around...although he was still creepy and weird as he'd always been. Helga just hoped that he was as professional as he said he was...and not trying to hit on her again...Though now that she thought of it, Sid wasn't that bad looking anymore...Yuck, who am I kidding? Helga buried her face into her pillow with embarrassment.