Roy gets back to me at my work later.  It seems the car with the VIN is not only stolen but it's also involved in a murder.  Oh yeah, the car was also involved in the matter of a burglary, separate from the murder.  As for the license, it's off another stolen, although not a local stolen.

I tell Roy, “The car in question, Roland Seymour and Alice will all be together on Friday in the parking lot of the downtown bar they call The Castle, where some big wheel from Alice’s work is having his retirement party.”  I also give them the scheduled start time of the party.

Roy tells me, “Well, it just so happens that the fuzz will join that party Friday.”

Friday, ol' Jack gets himself involved with some people doing a charity march for the two headed orphans or whatever.  I'm in public, where I have a lot of reliable witnesses and I'm nowhere near the downtown bar.

After both Roland Seymour and Alice get arrested at the downtown bar, I join the good deed doers, at a local pizza place, after the march.  The pizza place is long on cheap and short on almost everything else.  Despite the lack of ambiance, I just happen to meet a hot looking girl named Pam there and also manage to get a date for the next Friday back at my local stomping grounds.  Pam is the only girl in town who is somehow not yet aware of my social leprosy.  Of course, ol' Jack, in addition to being a social leper, is way too dumb to realize that Pam is undoubtedly a police spy.

Monday, I get back in contact with Roy from yet another pay phone.

Roy tells me, “Somebody talked to Big Vito.  Everything went the way you said, except that Big Vito's boys didn't find any heavy cash in Roland Seymour's apartment.”

I quickly tell Roy, “With a guy like Roland Seymour, there has to be cash.  I just have to figure out where it is.  I may need you guys to help me get it once I figure out where the cash is.”

Roy says, “As long as you remember help comes at a price!”

“It seems that everything does.”

On Friday, Pam and I are socializing at the Big Dog Saloon.  Hot looking Pam is helping a bit to cure my social leprosy.  My former friends are slowly beginning to thaw from the deep freeze.

Suddenly, in rushes Frank.

Frank is a fringe player in the local scene.  He isn't too handsome and not too popular.  However, if it happens in the city, Frank knows before anyone else not directly involved.

It seems that, according to Frank, Alice blames me for her getting arrested last Friday.

I act like I'm really shocked (I don't need to do much acting here.)  “I got Alice arrested?  How am I supposed to have gotten her arrested?”

Frank says, “The new guy Alice is dating claims to be some sort of secret government agent.  But now he's in big trouble with the police over a stolen car, dealing marijuana and maybe murder.  When he got arrested, Alice also got arrested.  Alice is now out on bail.  The new guy gave Alice a 'big rock of a ring.'  Alice will hock the ring, get a lawyer and 'fry you good,' or so she says.”

“Fry me for what?  I had nothing to do with her getting arrested.  I was marching with the two headed orphans people that evening.  Hell, I got witnesses.”

Frank says, “I dunno'.  However, the ring is supposedly worth a whole bunch and she just might get a clever lawyer and rack you up good.”

“Did she get the ring from the new guy that she's dating?”

Frank says, “Most likely.  She aint got that kind of money and neither does her family.”  (I'm hoping that Pam is making mental notes here.  Most likely the ring is stolen and Alice is digging herself into deeper, nastier trouble.)

“Let's see, ol' Roland Seymour, got himself thrown in jail for stealing a car, dealing dope and maybe murder.  You don't suppose that it's possible that a guy with such a sterling record would maybe do something nasty like steal a diamond ring, do you?”

Frank begins to think.  He doesn't know if ol' Roland Seymour stole the ring, but there's information to trade and information is Frank's life!  Once he figures out who he needs to talk to, Frank will be in action!

The crowd also digests the info.  They quickly re-evaluate my loss of Alice.  It now appears that Alice is playing nasty games with people they don't want to know at all.

I notice that my social leprosy is magically healed!  Best of all, I'm obviously not involved in any of the evil Alice and her new boyfriend are caught up in, because I was marching for the two headed orphans last Friday and I'm now here with my once again friends and my hot looking new girlfriend.

I ask myself, (Who would know about the ring?  A girl gets a ring that size, she gotta’ talk to her friends about it.)  I then think, (Who in the hell introduced you to Alice, dummy?  I say to myself, Peggy Jones down at work!  Come Monday ol’ Peggy and I gonna’ have a little conversation.  I don’t need a fancy lawyer down my throat for something I got nothing to do with, at least nothing anyone can prove.  How in the hell did I get myself into this mess?)

Suddenly Pam has to go to the ladies room.  She walks off to the sound of castanets.  (Check that last, it's the sound of my knees knocking together out of fear.)

Okay, there's a phone back there and I'm hoping that Pam talks to police headquarters.  My clever little plan has now gotten me in the middle of a big time mess.  Some times I'm so clever I make myself sick.

I do notice that all at once, my former friends are now my friends once again.  Not only are they my friends again, but they're guilty as hell because of excluding me when Alice and the mysterious stranger laid me low.  I'm suddenly the center of attention.  Since it's part of the process of my recovery, I bask a little in the glow.  The memory of Alice fades into everyone’s past.

Perhaps to hide the general embarrassment, the focus of the group quickly shifts to other things.

My date, Pam returns from the ladies room and keeps up interaction with the group.  My once again friends all want to meet the new girl and, in the process, continue to welcome me back.

Since my mind isn't required for the party, I use it to try to think my way out of the mess in which I find myself.

Okay, Frank thinks that Alice may use the expensive ring she got to hire a fancy lawyer.  Frank can't think, thus the idea comes from someone else, possibly someone who actually knows what the situation is.

It seems that Roland Seymour has managed to somehow convince Alice that I'm a really bad guy.  He undoubtedly got Alice to help him with his supposed government work by having her dump on me.  He would have told her that he was on my trail for some evil thing I have supposedly done.  Thus, Alice will now use the ring to hire a fancy lawyer to punish me.  This leaves the question of why the mysterious stranger gave Alice the ring in the first place.

I work as a systems analyst.  I'm good at it and I can examine a system and see how and why the pieces operate as they do.  I use my professional skills to analyze the problems in front of me.