Soon, my speeder was parked in front of the ol' Brew & Stew. My spirits wre raised now that I had hope Tex was still alive. But I was not content to leave it at that. I had to find some way to finish tracking him down. At least I had it limited down to one continent.
I took a seat at the counter and waited for Louie to come out from the kitchen. A few moments later, the big guy himself came out of the kitchen humming a little tun and carrying two large bowls of chili. I didn't even have to look at a menu before I knew what it was I wanted to order.
"Hey Chelsee. You got in here just in time. Another fifteen minutes and I was going to close shop."
I smiled. "Got any of that chili left?"
"You betcha." With that, Louie was in the kitchen and back out again before the door had time to finish swinging with a hearty helping of chili.
Louie let me indulge in silence while he tended to the other customers. I was scooping out the last drops of it with a biscuit when I looked up and realized I was the last person left in the restaurant. "I'm sorry, Louie. I'm keeping you from closing up."
"Don't worry about it. I wanted to hear how your investigation was going, anyway."
I hadn't thought of it as that--I was just trying to find my boyfriend. Of course, that included a visit to the police station, digging through trash, and interrogating an FBI agent. I guess calling it an investigation would be fair.
"It's had some intereting plot twists." I filled in Louie with nearly everything I knew so far. He was about the only guy I could trust now, and it felt good to share the exciting tidbits of my day with someone. Hearing that Tex was labeled deceased by the SFPD was almost too much for the loveable mutant to handle, so I rushed to the parts where I discovered that he's really alive and well. I was proud of what I had been able to figure out, particularly the point where I recognized that the two signatures of Dalton were different. I even pulled out the two pictures and showed it to him to prove it.
Seeing the pictures made Louie wrinkle his brow somewhat. After some deliberation, he turned the pictures over and stared.
"What's wrong, Louie?"
"That's my brother, there. And that's my nephew."
Whoa. "That's your nephew? With my brother?" It was too overwhelming.
"I guess so."
"I'm really sorry about Dalton...I didn't really hurt him, I mean, he just fell backwards. I hadn't even planned on that. I'm sure he's already found a way out of the duct tape...if you want, we can go over there and-"
"Hey, slow down. Don't worry about it, Chelsee. If you hadn't done what you did, you wouldn't have found out what you did. Alright?"
I sighed, feeling slightly less guilty. "Alright."
He paused for a second, and then said, "I have something to show you. Go on upstairs--it's unlocked. I'm going to clean up here and I'll be up shortly."
His room was unorganized, to put it nicely. I had some difficulty opening the door. It didn't matter to me. Any guy with as much love as Louie had didn't have to worry about such trivial things as keeping his home clean like the rest of us mere mortals.
Soon Louie was up in the apartment with a letter in his hand. "I think you'll be interested in this. I just got this in the mail today." He handed me the note and I read it to myself silently.
"Dear Uncle Louie,
I'm involved in my first big case. They've got me as an undercover agent; it's exciting. I'm learning a lot that will help me when I go back to school to earn my master's in the fall (Don't worry--the money you gave me for school won't go to waste!)
I have a favor to ask you. I have to travel to Australia to finish up my assignment, and I'm not allowed to tell anyone about it. So my dad doesn't know where I am. But I don't feel comfortable going undercover without any of my family knowing where I am, so I've enclosed my location. You won't ever have to use it, and I'll call you when I get back. Keep this in a safe place. I feel better knowing that at least you know how to find me should anything happen. If you suspect anything, call the number below and give her the address, and she'll handle it from there.
Thanks, Uncle!
Your loving nephew,
Eddie Dalton."
Below was an Australian address and the phone number of somone named Dakota Brown.
"Wow. This is incredible, Louie. Thank you so much."
"So, are you really going to go down there?"
"I have to."
Louie looked at me the way my mom used to when she really disapproved of a decision. "Chelsee, I don't know too much about this, but I don't know if that's a good idea. I think you might be in over your head. The FBI had got it handled, maybe you should leave it at that."
I considered.
(He's right. I'm going to let Dakota handle it. Go to 18.)
(I need to take care of this myself. Go to 19.)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26