Chapter Twenty-Nine

Veronica's mind was racing as they all sat back down around the table to discuss the results that Mac's search had come up with. Veronica was still stuck on that one little detail of her conversation with Logan, though. Without a broken condom or no condom at all, how did Carrie's corpse come to have his semen so conveniently available?

"So I found a few things that are interesting," Mac was saying when Veronica turned her attention to the results on the screen that Mac was showing them, "First, these businesses that are investors are also owned by these celebrities. That narrows our list a bit. Eliminating the businesses and focusing on their owners, we have the four celebrities I mentioned before." She flipped to a different window and brought those details up on screen. "Which means we should probably focus our efforts on them for now. Also did a preliminary check on this Cobb person. Turns out his full name is Lou Cobbler, 'Cobb' for short," she turned to Logan and asked, "Does that name sound familiar?"

His brow furrowed in thought and he slowly shook his head, asking, "Should it?"

"Well," Mac began, pulling up another screen with what amounted to a bio displayed on it. "Mr. Cobbler is an agent. He happened to represent Miss Bonnie De Ville."

"Cobb is Lou?" Logan asked in confusion before explaining, "Carrie had only ever talked about her manager as 'Lou'. I met him a few times but had no idea he went to Neptune, let alone that he graduated with our class."

"Guess we have a few things to discuss with him, then," Veronica said thoughtfully, "And he's an investor, too? I wonder if that's because of Carrie's connection to Dick," she turned and looked at Logan, "And you," then she shrugged and said, "Probably something to ask about since we'll be talking to him anyway."

Keith nodded in agreement and asked the group in general, "Do we know anything about the murder site yet?"

"Negative," Veronica shook her head, "Nothing in the report or autopsy about it other than a big question mark."

Cliff looked up, sipping his soda through a straw before saying casually, "When I was picking up the report, I heard a couple deputies talking about how they'd just finished clearing the victim's apartment. Apparently the bed was rumpled but no prints besides the victim and Echolls there. Sounded like they sent a few things to forensics. I'll see if I can't sweet talk Inga into getting us those results when they come in."

"Good thinking, Cliff," Keith nodded in approval. "Now, Mac," he said in a business-like manner, "Who are these celebrities and what connection do they have to each other or Carrie?"

"First we have James Franco," Mac began, "He's invested in the club, contributes heavily to the Casa, and I found pictures of him at a couple parties with Carrie. His connection with the other investors is a little more tenuous. He and two of the others are managed by Cobb's father, also an agent. Family business, I guess. The last is managed by Cobb himself. My guess is that Cobb told his father about Carrie and Logan dating and suggested that investing in Echolls' holdings might be a good plan. Carrie could have buzzed about the Casa herself, really."

"Ok, sounds innocent enough," Veronica commented while Keith looked upward, nodding his head as if he were thinking to himself and agreeing with whatever he was coming up with.

Logan, meanwhile, was content to listen and let Veronica take the lead. This was her arena, not his. He was just the accused.

Clearing his throat, Cliff took a sip of his drink and asked, "Who's next?" wanting to keep things moving.

"Right," Mac said, "Next up is Justin Long. Apparently he and Carrie dated for a while back at the beginning of her singing career. They kept up somewhat over the years and he apparently trusted her instincts on charities and investments. He's been putting his money heavily into the majority of the same things as Carrie for the last several years."

"Is he managed by Cobb or the old man?" Keith asked.

"Cobb's father," Mac replied, "The one managed by Cobb is Dax Shepherd. He - "

Before Mac could continue, Logan groaned, running his hands through his hair. Everyone stopped to look at him but only Veronica asked, "What is it?"

"Dax and I got into it awhile ago at a club. We'd both been drinking and apparently I hit on his girl. I'm definitely not his favorite person in the world," Logan explained, exhaling heavily as he continued to keep his hands at the back of his head.

"Sooo...Logan won't be the one interviewing Dax," Veronica stated, then asked Mac, "How are Dax and Carrie connected?"

"Through Dax's little sister," Mac replied, "They've been friends for awhile apparently. Dax adores his sister so I bet if she asked him to, he'd put money wherever she told him to. He's got a good bit in a number of things Carrie did, too."

"Right. That's three down. Who are we missing?" Cliff asked intently, swirling his straw around in his drink before taking another sip.

"That leaves us with Helen Slayton-Hughes," Mac reported, "And this one got tricky. The main connection I could find between her and Carrie was that she used to be friends with Carrie's mother. I couldn't really find anything recent between them. Not sure what that means."

"How do we want to work this, then?" Keith asked, trying to mentally strategize who should be doing what.

"Well, Kids, as fun as this is, I have other cases to work on as well," Cliff said, "Count me in for getting anything I can from Inga at the Sheriff's Department, but otherwise, I have to be out."

"Mac, did you want in on the interviews?" Keith asked intently.

"I'd love to but I can't. Now that we're through the first layer search, I've got to do some work for my clients, too. I'll be available by phone, though, if anyone needs some tech support," Mac offered.

"That leaves the three of us with five interviews," Veronica said, looking between her dad and Logan.

"Why don't you two go together to see Franco, Long, and Cobbler. I'll take Dax and Helen, maybe even hit up Cobb's old man," Keith remarked. "Check in by phone and meet back here tonight or in the morning?"

"Works for me," Logan mumbled with a shrug while Veronica nodded. She smiled at Mac and got up to give her a brief hug, saying sincerely, "Thanks, Mac. We couldn't have done this without you."

"No prob, Bob!" Mac grinned, "That's what friends are for, right?"

"Right!" Veronica agreed, reaching to take Logan's hand. Pulling him away from the table, she looked over her shoulder and called, "Bye guys! We're gonna go bust some balls!"