[chrisy]

Meanwhile, back in room 203 of the Motel 7, Valerie had exhausted her supply of quarters for the magic fingers. Feeling very relaxed, and very tired - and still slightly bedraggled from the rainy adventures of the day, she decided a refreshing bath would be in order. Stepping into the bathroom, she was APPALLED to see that the advertised "jacuzz" was nothing but a small bathtub with a single jet! What a dump this place was.

Despite the strange phone call from Jim Rockhead, he had not met her in a few hours as planned and it was now nearly 5 o'clock. "Well, I'm not getting stood up by that lowlife PI", she fumed, and decided it would be a good time to go home for a real bath. Then she'd go back and return the car. She left the key in the room, coaxed Rockhead's old beater to life, and headed for her luxurious home with a real jacuzzi overlooking the bay.

Calling it "her" home was a slight exaggeration, she was actually renting her beach bungalow to Mrs. Ellingfish and was staying at one of the several houses owned by her friend Sharkey, the wealthy surf bum who had made his fortune selling skateboard wheels and speculating in real estate. He was known as a bottom-feeder, never having paid more than 50% of market price for a house, always just beating the realtor (whom he referred to as "land pimps") to the deal. She'd never known him to sell any of this properties, thus he had numerous homes available to let to friends at reasonable rents, in Valerie's case, free.

The rent from the Ellingfishes was all that was keeping Valerie going - having run through most of her cash trying to keep Danny one step ahead of the loan sharks. She shuddered as she remembered the TV picture above the bar at Mr. Chills.

Valerie arrived home and was greeted at the door by Ferrari, her long haired dachshund-labrador mix (so named because his hind legs were considerably longer than his front legs thereby giving him the jacked-up look of a racecar). Ferrari was a delightful companion, so well tempered and loving. Not at all like that pom, Pom Pom. She knew secrets about Pom Pom, for example, Pom Pom was not a purebred pomeranian, but was in fact a cross between a pom and a bichon-frisse. Valerie almost laughed out loud at how she had convinced the Ellingfish woman that mutt was AKC registered!

Dog breeding was Valerie's secret passion, and soon, she hoped, would make her a wealthy celebrity in her own right (not just another Santa Cruz socialite spending daddy's money). She would finally get the respect she so craved, and deserved once she introduced her new breed of dog - the pompador - to the world as the newest animal star in the next Harry Potter movie.

That was how she had become involved with Geoffrey...whoever he was...
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