"Alright everyone. Let's get to business"
It had been nearly two weeks since the whole den had gathered. Two weeks being the time it took for them to all get back to business as usual. Lou and Bella where back on their own two feet, Marco thinking with his own brain and all misunderstandings cleared up. And now they could focus on the matter at hand… Catching the Traitor as well as the murderer.
"As you all know, our first and most important order of business is catching the traitor, only after we catch him, or her will we be able to move forward", Marco said
Louella smiled proudly, watching Marco in his element organizing them all into various units and subunits. She smiled and stifled a grin when she thought of what her mom would have said if she could see her now.
"Lou and Bella. Could you two checkout the damage to the den and salvage anything and everything Salvageable?", he asked
They both nodded as the brief meeting was concluded, everybody getting to work immediately on the tasks set to them.
"I wonder if all the fire proof things in my room are still good", Bella wondered out loud as she walked with Louella.
Fireproof.
The word triggered something in Lou's subconscious, she just wasn't sure what. "Be careful going up stairs, the fire could have weakened the structure", she warned quickly.
The two of them got to the den and split up, searching through the debris for thing worthwhile occasionally needing the assistance of each other to lift something, or throw aside something heavy. Within moments they had begun to visit their last moments here.
"Remember, Lou? We wanted to watch some more movies before the guys came home, right? But then everything happened at once and all those lovey CDs are uselessly burnt up now", Bella said, shoving aside what might have been the toaster.
Lou laughed, "Yea, it would have been nice to watch our craziness on the big screen sometime later though. I wish everything wasn't burnt"
No sooner had the words left her mouth than it occurred to Lou that everything was not burnt to a crisp. She gasped and jumped up, running out on Bella, who was so confused it didn't occur to her to stop her.
Lou returned not long later with three extremely blackened but easily recognizable cameras in her hands, and a broad grin on her face. Bella let out a low whistle.
"Of course! You sprung for the extra expense cameras with night vision, water proof and- "
"Fire proof", Lou said her eyes glinting with pure glee.
"Do you think we should watch them first? Or report to Marco?", Bella whispered
Lou considered for a moment before shacking her head, "No we can't leave with these without knowing the truth. I told all the girls the camera where accident proof. For all we know the traitor knows as well. Let's watch them first"
Her reasoning was impossible to argue with and the two located a fairly clean patch of floor and sat to watch carefully the events unknowingly recorded on video.
What they saw was not comforting in anyway.
Looking at each other grimly they decided on a course of action.
Marco was working with Carl. The two of them were taking care of all possibilities, going over who it could have been and who it can't be and why.
"Let's begin from where it all started", Marco said dragging up a file.
Carl nodded, "Right. The Murderer"
"We have established that the murderer is Louella's father. David"
"Right, David. We also know the traitor is a woman, because what your dad said. And they have all the other traitors working under them."
"The traitor also wants the murderer for reasons unknown to us"
"And the traitor has struck out against us. This means it war", Marco sad stiffly
Carl sent him a cautious look as he said, "We can rule out Lou and Bella"
"Definitely"
"And probably Poppy too. She was hurt nearly as bad as those two", Carl added thoughtfully
Marco nodded, "That just leaves Jane, Rita and Jessi"
Carl blew out a deep breath, "This is gonna be a tough one"
"Yea… I think- I think we should get the girls we can trust and go see my dad. He can probably fill in some blanks", Marco said standing up.
Carl stood too, "Great. I'll go get Poppy, you find Bella and Lou"
"Sure"
The got outside before they spotted them. Running across the lawn with Bella's arm waving expressively and Lou holding onto something black for dear life. They stopped in their tracks.
"What? What happened?", Marco said immediately.
"Don't freak out Marco", Bella pleaded.
"Yes, please don't", Lou added
Marco frowned, "I can't freak out or not freak out if you don't tell me what's going on!", he nearly yelled.
"Yes, well", Lou glanced at Bella before continuing, "We think we- no, we KNOW we know who the traitor is. Video evidence and all", she finished a little breathlessly.
Marco nodded grimly, "That's terrific"
"Terrific?", Lou repeated
Bella sighed, "He lost his mind"
"No, I'm sane. Carl, hurry up and find Poppy"
"Why though?", Bella asked impatiently, "Where are we going?"
Marco regarded her silently, "We, are going to see dad"