Chapter Forty-Five
They were in his car, on the way to Cobb's office when Logan turned to look at Veronica out of the corner of his eye. He'd been thinking about it since the moment it had been said but he finally decided that he really needed to ask. "Veronica? Did your dad actually just call me 'son'?"
Veronica laughed and turned toward him, amused, as she nodded in the affirmative, "Yeah, Logan. He really just did."
"I could get used to that," he responded with a grin.
"Just as long as you know that you're not allowed to have a bigger crush on my dad than you have on me and that I WILL get jealous if you two start spending time together without me," Veronica returned smugly.
"Got it. No weekend fishing trips to Tahoe, no gambling trips to Vegas, no stripper trips to Cabo. Anything else?" Logan asked, his twinkling dark eyes saying he absolutely knew that any of those would be a trigger for her temper.
Resisting the bait, Veronica added smugly, "And no drug runs to TJ."
"I hardly think I could convince your dad to go on a drug run with me, Veronica," Logan stated blandly. He paused, the corners of his mouth twitching as he added, "That's more of a me and Dick trip, don't you think?"
Her eyes flashed as they shot to him and he knew he'd gotten her. Firmly, in a no nonsense, 'this is not even up for discussion' tone, she said, "No trips with Dick. Period."
"What?!" he exclaimed, glancing at her quickly to try to decipher exactly how serious she was, "Come on, Veronica!" he protested, "It's been a long time since I've done anything stupid with Dick. You're just gonna have to trust me on that one."
"Trust you, huh?" Veronica began to return the volley but then literally bit her tongue to stop herself. Trust was a delicate topic with them. It was definitely not something that she wanted to snark about and end up hurting each other with. Changing subjects, she asked, "So do we talk to father or son first when we get there?"
"Father," answered Logan, "He seemed to genuinely want to help. Somehow I don't think telling the son he should have tried harder to keep his dead girlfriend away from me is going to endear me to him anymore than I already am."
"Yeah...I won't be surprised if he takes a swing at you," Veronica agreed.
"Gee, thanks," Logan said dryly, "I'll be sure to take that into consideration before I go too far into pissing him off."
Chuckling, Veronica said, "You'll just needle him more. You've never been good at keeping yourself from rubbing salt in wounds."
Logan saw the office building coming up on their right. As he pulled into the parking lot, he said, "Maybe, but if he's reacting to me, it'll be harder for him to keep a false story straight."
"Ahhh, so planning to use yourself as bait, huh?" Veronica asked, admiration and a tiny bit of concern in her voice.
"Something like that," was all Logan said in response.
They parked and headed into the office hand in hand. When they arrived at the reception desk, Veronica asked for the senior Mr. Cobbler and was told they could take a seat as they waited.
Several minutes later, the elder Mr. Cobbler greeted them and took them back to his office. Once they were inside with the door closed, he asked, "What can I help you with? I'm a very busy man today but whatever it is, I'll see what I can do."
He seemed to be sincere but Veronica still wasn't convinced. She leaned forward toward him and asked, "Mr. Cobbler, what was your son's relationship with his client, Bonnie De Ville?"
"Lou and Bonnie?" Mr. Cobbler repeated thoughtfully before shaking his head, "Completely professional as far as I was aware. Why do you ask?"
Ignoring his question, Veronica went on. "Did you know that Bonnie De Ville was only her stage name? Or that her real name was Carrie Bishop?"
"I knew Bonnie was her stage name and I think I'd seen the name Carrie Bishop on some documents for us. Not sure I'd really given it enough thought or attention to put two and two together," the man replied.
Nodding, Veronica looked at Mr. Cobbler across the desk. Her hands were clasped in front of her and resting on the desk. Logan was just sitting back and listening for now. Regardless, she said, "We've received information indicating that your son has had romantic inclinations toward Ms. Bishop since sometime in high school. Were you aware of that?"
"Vaguely," Mr. Cobbler acknowledged before adding, "They were friends, I believe. What does this have to do with anything?" he asked.
"We're not sure," Veronica admitted, "but we were told recently that your son may have been one of the last people to see Carrie alive. We were hoping to establish what type of relationship they had."
"I don't understand," Mr. Cobbler said in confusion, "I thought that Carrie and Mr. Echolls here were dating. You make it sound as if you suspect my son was as well."
"It's possible," Veronica confirmed, but also added, "However, jealousy is also a frequent motive for murder."
Mr. Cobbler stood immediately, pushing back from his desk, his eyes flashing as he said, "This is outrageous! My son would never touch a hair on that girl's head! He adored her. Even when she used and manipulated him. She was his world. Don't you EVER accuse my son of murder again!"
Veronica stood next, calmly and self-assuredly. She leaned forward with her hands planted on the desk and said coldly and clearly, "Mr. Cobbler. Make no mistake. If I find reason to believe that your son is a murderer, I WILL accuse him of it. More than that, I'll take him down."
Flustered and flabbergasted, the elder Mr. Cobbler flushed with fury. "Get out. Get out now!" he ordered.
Logan stood and placed his right hand at the small of Veronica's back, softly urging, "Come on. We'll meet with Lou somewhere else."
When they were back out in the car, Veronica turned to Logan before he'd even put the key in the ignition and asked, "What did you think?"
A slow, crooked grin spread across his face and he quirked an eyebrow in amusement at her wording. "I thought you were incredibly hot when you were staring him down and making your stand."
"But seriously, folks," Veronica rolled her eyes at him but couldn't help but grin in response, "What did you really think?"
"Well, besides being reminded that there's never been another person in the world who could turn me on quite like you," Logan smirked, "I thought he was hiding something, or at least covering whether he knew what he was covering for or not."
"Same here," Veronica agreed. Then, seeing the mischief in his eyes, she stopped him and added, "The covering part. Not the turning you on part. That I wouldn't really know about."
"But you should," he said softly before changing the subject, "So, do we try to track Lou down now or do we go after Sean next?"
"Sean," Veronica said certainly, "Lou will come find us."