The investigation begins

Their arrival in Amebergeldar is rushed, but Logan had time to grab a camera, a ball point pen and a notebook. He can write with a quill as needed, but it's so much easier to not have to bother. The camera...well. It's always handy to have a way to document evidence, as he learned from Veronica Mars. Even if he isn't nearly as good a photographer as she is, it can't hurt.

Amy leaves them in the Queen's Parlor with the ransom note and places a guard at the door. Logan snaps a shot of the ransom note, just in case it should come to an untimely end (stolen, burned, etc.) and studies it.

She's also left them a list of palace staff on a very, very long scroll, which Logan spreads out on a table and begins to read, taking notes as he goes through it. As he does so, he briefs Meg on what he knows about Ambergeldar.

The pair looks up as Amy returns, having shown the rescue party to the stables and sent them on their way.

"Everybody get off all right?" Logan asks.

Interviewing the palace

Logan and Meg made a list prioritizing the servants they need to talk to. It was easy enough to leave out the bulk of the cleaning staff, the kitchen staff and the stablehands. From there, things got a little complicated.

They've talked to the palace guards (who offered helpful details on the kidnapping, though very little of use about who might be responsible), the chambermaids (only one of whom admitted to noticing anything odd, though the relevance of noises in the corridor was negligible), and Perry and Amy's personal secretaries (who were helpful in determining who knew the King and Queen's schedule). Perry's secretary Alfred is particularly helpful, as he's been keeping Perry's calendar for 18 years, though he could offer no insight into who (besides the evil uncle, obviously) would want the King and Queen out of the way.

Logan and Meg switch gears when a new list arrived with the names of the courtiers who live at the palace. They talk to a few minor nobles (who were silly, scared and worse than useless). They planned to interview Amy's ladies-in-waiting, but tackled the pages first. The young noblemen training for the knighthood were legion and Logan wants through their ranks as quickly as possible.

"There are just way too many people here," Logan says, scratching the name off the latest interview subject. "And too few with any reason to get involved in this kind of harebrained scheme."

Perry and Amy are clearly beloved, as are the Princess Royal and the young heir to the throne. So far, no one's protestations of shock and horror have rung at all false.

Back to work

Logan sees Annie, looking all kinds of cute in her waitress uniform, before she sees him, and greets her cheerfully, hoping they can pretend that last night never happened.

She ignores him.

He sighs, but doesn't give up, keeps trying to chat with her during her shift. She cuts him dead, and he finally stops.

The next day is much the same, except that they're leaving at the same time and Logan refuses to let her go before he can apologize.

"I'm an idiot, okay? I screwed up and I'm sorry. Can we just forget it ever happened and be friends again?"

She pauses, uncertain, then nods. "I don't want to talk about it."

He nods too. "Me either. Just remember, I'm an idiot."

She grins. "That you are, boyo."

The days that follow prove that tension and stupidity can be ignored, as she and he have a grand old time and ignore any weirdness between them.

Time to move on

By the end of the week, the car is fixed and Logan's ready to move on down the road.

It's harder to leave than he'd expected. Not because he had any deep love for Ohio, or for the diner, but because he's made a connection with Annie.

It's not anything he can name - it's not a crush, not really. But he feels at ease around her in ways he's never felt around anyone else in this world. In Milliways, perhaps, but not here. She's not interested in his Hollywood tragedy, as E!Entertainment Television likes to call it, but she likes his jokes and his teasing.

He almost wishes he could stay longer, to see if he can tease some of the sadness out of her eyes, or at least get her to tell him enough about her life so he'll know what her 'responsibilities' are.

She never opens up. He doesn't push. It's not like he's going to be a permanent part of her life, and now that his car's fixed, he shouldn't even care.

But on his last day at the diner, he finds every excuse he can to talk to her, tease a laugh out of her. He takes special note of the way her eyes crinkle up when she laughs and how the sunlight plays in her hair when she pours coffee.

And when the day is over, they grab a beer at the roadhouse, talk like normal, and part early, as she's got an early shift the next day.

He never tells her he's leaving.

And when the next day dawns, he's already on the road, determined to get to the city and forget he was ever in a that small town outside Dayton, Ohio.