Chapter 19: Apologies

Helga was dropped off by Sid at work at 9:30. Business was already under way when she went to her office and shut the door. She settled into her desk and began working. Her job bored her to death but at least she still had one, unlike some people. She spent the next few hours editing a book which didn't require too much of energy before lunch time. Her stomach growled around 11 but she was just going to make a sandwich in the community kitchen or something. She continued typing, determined to finish this project by 1. She was startled when a knock came upon her office door. She turned and almost screamed in annoyance when she saw who it was. Arnoldo. Ugh, she didn't want to see him at all.

"What are you doing here? You can't just show up to my job Arnold. I'm doing actual work here."

"You didn't come home last night. I was worried and plus I want to take you out to lunch."

Lunch? What were they high school girlfriends?

"My car got towed if you must know. I spent the night at Sid's. I'm not very hungry Arnold so if you could leave that'd be great."

"Not going to happen. Come on Helga. You need to eat, let's go to that burger joint we used to go to when we were kids. My treat."

"Slausen's?"

It was true Helga had a real soft spot for their onion rings. There was nothing like them in town. She did have an odd craving from some greasy food but that didn't mean her and Arnold would be cool again.

"Yes, let's go."

"Fine, I'll let my boss know I'm taking lunch."

~\\~

The salt in the water could be smelled in the air, which seemed to be thick and humid. The river that ran near the outskirts of Hillwood held many secrets. Some of which were needed to be discovered today by Detective Berman and Officer Sid. They had received an anonymous tip last night about two men carrying what looked like something roughly the size of a human body to the river side.

It seemed like an easy case. Get the dogs out there and a team and dig for bodies while the diver teams scanned the river. For Sid though it was the worst possible place for him to be. The mud and dirt near the riverbanks repulsed him more than the idea of dead bodies being underneath it. For lack of better words he was freaking out and his partner's patience seemed to be wearing thin. He wouldn't even get out of the police car.

"Jesus, Sid you cannot stay in the car every time we have to dig for a body! You'll be fine. You can take a shower at the station if the germs really bother you."

Sid frantically searched his glove compartment. "No way. I can feel them crawling on me right now. Where's my hand sanitizer?!"

"You are a grown man. A grown fucking man. Get out of the damn car before I drag you out. We have work to do. You can't check out."

"Easy for you to say when you can't start morning patrols without a Mr Fudgey Bar fat ass!"

"Oh I've had it!" Harold grabbed Sid by his collar and dragged him out of the car behind the yellow tape. There was at least a six foot by ten foot hole in the ground now. All the rest of the team was busy searching while Sid was having a panic attack on the ground. He wouldn't even let go of Harold's leg.

"Sid stop! This is embarrassing in front of all our colleagues. Get over the damn dirt and stop being a pussy!" Harold kicked the ground and some of the dust came and settled in Sid's face. Harold had to admit he sort of did that on purpose. He wasn't fat, at least not anymore.

Sid let out a shriek that would rival even a cat's and retreated back to the car in near tears. Harold only rubbed his temples in annoyance at his partner's behavior. At this moment everyone was looking strangely at him.

"I apologize, my partner isn't feeling like himself today."

At least when they searched areas like this one by themselves Harold could do the messy stuff and Sid could watch without anyone knowing. Everyone had just seen his partner's sudden panic attack and were bound to judge them both at the station.

"Detective Berman. We found a body!"

That was music to Harold's ears.

~/~

Helga and Arnold settled down into their booth and ordered. Two burgers, a basket of fries, and two extra chocolatey milkshakes with cherries on top. They obviously had no concept of a diet. If Rhonda were alive she'd probably scoff at Helga and toss her food on the floor. God was she annoying but she had her moments. She could imagine Rhonda right now, filing her nails and drinking her expensive Artesian water in a burger joint. She was never one to follow the crowd anyway.

Arnold gave Helga a soft smirk as she looked up. It was more than a little awkward between them. She wasn't ready to talk to him yet.

"How's work going Helga," Arnold asked breaking the silence. He wanted to make small talk. Helga hated small talk.

"Boring as ever. Can we cut the chit chat and get to the meat? What do you want?"

"I'm sorry Helga. I'm sorry for arguing with you. I hate it. I just want to move forward with you Helga." Arnold put his hand on Helga's, causing Helga to snatch her hand away.

"I don't know what con you're playing but I don't want to hear it, as long as Lila is around I don't trust you. She makes your brain turn to mush."

"Well lucky for you I don't trust her either. Something's weird with her and Eugene and I want to find out what."

"So you finally see the dark side of things. What are you going to do? Play spy? Will you be willingly sleeping with the enemy?"

"I don't trust her but that doesn't mean I still don't like her. I'm still dating her but I'm just interesting in figuring out what's going on between her and Eugene. I went to see him. Everything seems so forced then when I asked him about Lila it got odd."

"Jealous much?"

"Lila isn't his type."

"That's because Eugene is gay as a unicorn."

Arnold got flashbacks to Eugene constantly touching him.

"Helga, stop! We used to joke about that in high school but he's not. I know he had some tendencies but for Christ's sake he got Rhonda pregnant. He's straight."

"Then why was he trying to cover up that the baby wasn't his!"

"And how would you know that?"

"I have a source."

"A source? By source you mean Sid? If you don't mind me asking what's going on with you two anyway? I need to know if I'll be asked to spend the night somewhere else one night to give you guys privacy."

"Sid and I are whatever you and Lila are, Arnoldo." Silence set in for a moment. "Who's Frankie G. Arnold?"

"First of all, I was never doing anything with Rhonda. That night she came to bar hysterical. She said she needed help and that I was the only good guy she knew. I served her a couple drinks and she told me she needed help suing someone. I gave her Frankie G's number. He's a lawyer down at Pembroke's. You remember Frankie G. The cool guy who used to ride around on his bike all the time."

"He was a wannabe gangster. That's what he was. He grew up to be a lawyer. That's insane. Do you know if he ever met with Rhonda?"

"No, not at all. I never saw her after that night at the bar."

"Great, got to go Arnold." Helga rushed up and grabbed her bag.

"Where are you going? I thought we were having lunch!"

"I have to go see Phoebe at work. See you later Football Head."

Thank God she still remembered which train to catch downtown. She needed to get her car back soon otherwise she'd be walking everywhere. The law firm was extremely quiet. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of Phoebe typing at the front desk.

"Helga, what are you doing here?"

"I, um I'm having some legal trouble Pheebs. I need to talk to Frankie."

"Well, he's off on lunch and you need to make an appointment with him to be seen Helga. Sorry."

"Right, um I'll just call later and make an appointment. Bye Pheebs."

"Good bye Helga."

Helga headed for the door and was about to leave when someone ran into her and she fell right on the floor. The other person, who she now knew was a man, also fell on the floor.

"Watch where you're going! Criminy!"

"Yea, yea toots. Weren't you leaving? You should get to it."

Helga came to her feet and said, "Who do you think you are?"

"Who do you think YOU are little girl? The name is Frankie George, you know, the owner of this firm."

Well, this was embarassing. Not to mention was quick to help Frankie up, hand him his brief case, and dust off his suit. It was time for her to turn into the biggest ass kisser of the century.

"Frankie, I mean Mr. George, I'm so so sorry about this. I'm just a little on edge today. I'm having a rough name is Celine and I'm an aspiring lawyer, I just wanted some advice from you. I didn't even know it was you. So sorry."

"Get your hands off me. Aspiring lawyer or not you have been rude and need to leave."

"Listen, I just want a couple tips for when I pass the bar. Pleeeease."

"1. Study hard. 2. Read your law books and 3. Don't be rude to potential colleagues. Now good bye Celine. Have a nice day."

"Wait, wait! I have more-"

"Leave Little Girl! Grown ups have work to do."

Little girl? Who did he think he was?

"Would Rhonda like you acting like this Frankie?"

"What? Rhonda? Who sent you? Get out of my office. I'm calling the police."

"Do it then. I'm sure a man who's the murderer of his own child, a home wrecker, and a son of a bitch whose balls will be ripped off for killing Rhonda will be highly credible."

Helga hauled out of the office as soon as she could. She was not prepared to be arrested today. At least she knew Frankie knew Rhonda. He freaked out at the mention of her name.

"Who the hell was that Phoebe?"

Phoebe shrugged and said, "I don't know sir. She just walked in."

"Well make sure you keep the crazies out of here. I was JUST almost got killed not too long ago. We don't need another hostage situation."

"Yes sir," Phoebe smiled as her boss went into his office. Her smile dropped when she saw she was alone. "Oh Helga."

Author's Note: More Frankie news later!