Chapter Forty-Four

As soon as Luke was gone, the four that were left looked around the desk at each other until finally Veronica asked her dad, "What do you think?"

"I think that Luke just gave us the break that we needed," Keith answered honestly. "Cliff," he began as he turned to his friend, "Think you could head over to the courthouse and make sure this new information gets to the appropriate parties?"

"On it," Cliff responded, hopping off the desk to head for the door. He turned before he left to provide one last piece of advice, "If you find anything between now and when I see you all next, just make sure you don't do anything about it that could get you re-charged." As he left, they all thought they heard him muttering something about working hard enough to get things taken care of this time and didn't need to start over from scratch.

"From here on, we need to proceed with extreme caution," Keith warned.

Veronica nodded, squeezing Logan's hand that was still in hers before saying, "I think we should take a look at the security footage from the club now. It may not have anything that shows what happened to Carrie but it may give us a clue as to what she was up to."

Keith agreed with a nod before adding, "And then we'll need to talk to Cobbler and this Sean character. Do either of you know anything about him?"

Logan answered first, shrugging as he said, "We used to hang out some. Poker games mostly." The memory of the last poker game he'd ever played with Sean Freidrich came to mind and he couldn't help but grin at Veronica. His dark eyes twinkled with amusement and admiration as he said, "Ms. Card Shark here busted him at my parents' Christmas party one year. He'd stolen the take and thought he'd get away with it."

With a smirk of her own at the memory, Veronica told her dad, "He had a penchant for lying and nabbing things. He definitely wouldn't pass up an opportunity to make a few bucks or try to bump up his reputation a few notches."

"Cobb could be violent," Logan offered, turning to Veronica again, "Remember how he got when we were talking to him and his dad at their office? I could tell he hated me. Just didn't know why."

"So many possible reasons," Veronica teased affectionately.

"Oh, and nobody's ever had a reason to hate you," Logan scoffed back with a grin.

Who? Me?" Veronica asked with her best, most innocent look, "See this face? Angelic. Wasn't it you who was saying not that long ago that I have a halo?"

"And it was you saying it was held up by horns," Logan laughed.

Shaking his head with a tolerant smile, Keith had to admit they were good for each other. He'd never thought so before but he could see it now. He cleared his throat and interrupted them by asking, "Do we want to watch the footage here or at home?"

"Here," Veronica answered immediately, going right back to business. "Let's pull it up."

For the next two and a half hours, they watched one boring stairwell after another. Finally, they saw something: a beautiful brunette was seen pulling the fire alarm.

"The fire alarm triggers the sprinklers," Logan explained, "So I guess that was about the time we all started getting soaked."

Looking at the timestamp, Veronica glared and pursed her lips, "That was right after you came over to me at the bar. Apparently Carrie thought a childish prank could keep us apart."

"But that doesn't explain the gunshot we heard," Logan replied, still looking puzzled.

"Gunshot?" Keith interjected with concern. "I think I'd remember hearing about that before," he added with annoyance directed at Veronica.

"Oops," she smiled sheepishly, "Did I forget to mention that?"

"Hmm," was his only response. Granted, it was combined with pursed lips and a glare so she knew her father was not happy.

"Relax, Dad. It was aimed at the ceiling and Logan shielded me with his body anyway," Veronica told him with a roll of her eyes.

"Every time I hear something new about you, Logan, I'm liking you more," Keith couldn't help but remark dryly.

For his part, Logan quirked a half-grin and said, "Thanks. I'm glad I'm finally gaining your approval."

"I wouldn't push it THAT far," Keith returned jokingly.

Logan snickered and Veronica gave her father a warning glare as she said haughtily, "Hey now, Dad. Just remember that he's the one and only reason that your baby girl came home. And I'm planning to stay for good so you might just want to thank him."

With false contriteness and humility, Keith Mars said something he had never thought in a million years he would be saying to Logan Echolls, "Thank you."

Unable to determine if her father was being serious or not, Veronica was about to prod him with another mini lecture but then she caught something out of the corner of her eye. "Wait, go back. I think I saw something."

Rewinding the feed and watching together, Veronica pointed to a shadow in a corner of the northwest stairwell, "There. What is that?"

The trio studied it for the next several minutes. Veronica tried to enhance and enlarge the area but they still weren't able to make anything out. They would definitely have to get Mac with her superior technology skills on it if they were going to make heads or tails of it.

"Maybe it's nothing," Logan suggested.

"Or maybe it's exactly what we're looking for," Veronica returned darkly.

"So what do we do now?" Logan asked, again looking to her for guidance.

She looked to her dad. "Think you can get this over to Mac? I'd like to have a few words with Mr. Lou Cobb Jr. and see if we can't track down Mr. Freidreich. See what the butler's son has to say."

"Yeah, Honey. I'll catch up with Mac," Keith replied, "You be careful, though, ok?"

"Of course!" Veronica answered cheerily and with glee, "That's what Logan's here for, to make sure I stay safe."

"You do your job, Son," Keith said seriously, putting a hand on Logan's shoulder, "And maybe someday I'll get you a pony."