The Weak Link

An aire of intensity hung in the kitchen as Jebidiah and Meredith ate breakfast the next morning. Where Meredith's mind was clouded with questions of where Jebidiah disappeared to the night before, Jebidiah's could not stop buzzing with concerns over Mimi's reaction to what Tana had told him.

Everything remained silent until the two children awoke; a loud giggling at first from Bradley, always first to arise, and then an annoyed screech from Travis, unhappy about being cooped up in his crib for so long. Their parents knew it was about time to purchase some furniture for the empty room that was to be Travis's as soon as his Age Up day came, but since no one was talking... It was a matter for later.

As soon as Jebidiah was out the door to the gym, Meredith had to get busy with the children. As much as she delighted in the fact that she got to sit around all day playing with children's toys, a large part of her still wished that she could follow Jeb and tail him, to try and figure out if he was actually going where he said he was. But, with her arms full at home, she contented herself with Travis and Bradley, cringing when she overheard Travis mumbling about anything he overheard from his father.

At least she had plans for that evening that would hopefully keep her mind off things: first, a 'dinner date' with her sister, and then they'd finally finish setting up the boy's room, since Travis would be aging up any day now.

Jebidiah's day still had yet to begin. Yes, he went to the gym as he'd said -- it really is where he always goes -- and then he began to head over to the martial arts academy, where he taught lessons. Today was different, though. Instead of lessons, it was going to be a 'show' day; Jebidiah would spend a few hours displaying his incredible karate skills to the public, supposedly as advertisement for the school...

But in reality, it was just a cover for why several Company members would be looming around the Academy that day. The few associates that were working on the "Strummer Home Project" needed to sort out the kinks of the strange information and picture leaks popping up for the police, and the Leader made it quite clear that they were not to do it on the Company's time. So, Jebidiah, Mimi, Tana, and two more of their cronies -- Cody Chisholm and Tameka Polanco -- arrived at the Academy in order to discuss the matter. Cody even arrived in disguise. (Notice the horribly dressed woman in the picture above? That's Cody.)

But even before Jebidiah could finish up his "show", Mimi decided that it was time to confront Tana about her accusations.

Now, Mimi Brown was a rather prime suspect for where the leaks originated. She had not been outright accused, as of yet, but there had been rumors floating around the company that Mimi's heart was not in crime. Perhaps this was true; Mimi was not the best of criminals, and in fact, of all members of the Company, she had gotten caught the most... But she had always managed to get off the hook. Some referred to her as the Luckiest Crook, but others -- especially Tana -- had remained suspicious. Was she spilling the beans in order to stay out of jail?

Well, the obvious dislike between Tana and Mimi did not take long to surface; first, the public pointing of fingers, and then the all-out brawl... Lucky for them, there were few people around to see.

And, despite Mimi's "lucky" nature, Tana ended up kicking her butt, and slamming her dignity in the trash.

None too happy about this, Mimi waited until Jebidiah was finished with his block-breaking display, and then told him what happened. Sort of.

"She's a bloody rotten liar, Jeb! Saying that I'm a traitor, when she's the one working for the cops! She's got it in for me, I tell you... I don't know how much longer I can put up with your little friend telling me what to do, either. She's gotta go, Jeb. She's risking this whole operation!"

Well, naturally, Jebidiah wasn't going to give up his best source in the department, but the amount of suspicion and finger pointing was beginning to nag on the thief's mind. He agreed to talk to Tana, and try to resolve this so they could all sit down like decent human beings and solve this leak problem of theirs.

But unfortunately, confronting Tana was not the best idea. "I can't put up with this," she loudly exclaimed at her brother-in-law. "The meetings off. We're going to have to figure this all out on our own, because all this is going to result in is aimless finger pointing." It was already well through, anyways... Cody had already left due to boredom waiting, and Tameka had never bothered to show up. The list of people he felt he could trust was growing thinner and thinner... Who was the leak?

---

Later that evening, Meredith and Tana sat down to dinner at the neighborhood Bistro, but things were not noticeably more social than breakfast that morning. Tana's mind was still clogged with thoughts about those suspicious photographs that had given the police department too many ideas -- luckily they were too blurry to make too much of a difference... but the fact that they existed at all was worrisome. And now, Meredith was troubled. She'd asked her sister to dinner in order to lighten her own load, but neither seemed in the mood to chat.

Some saving grace appeared after silent meal: Simon Shallow. He'd been a Kane himself, once -- he was Farah's cousin -- but was still known affectionately as Jebidiah's "uncle". His appearance sparked Meredith, and she instantly latched onto him for some actual conversation.

"Travis's birthday is approaching," she told him eagerly. "And we've decided to hold him a party again... He's a bit too young to have friends, though, so we're just going to be inviting family again. I'd love it if you brought your husband, as well... I don't think I've met him, yet."

Suddenly, though, Tana froze -- she recognized Simon. He was no one, really, in particular; he'd been a great business tycoon, back in the day, but it wasn't actually him that worried her.

"Oh, yes, I'm sure Dallas would love to come."

Things finally got a bit less tense at that point -- Simon sure has a way to brighten anyone's day -- and eventually, as he walked away to begin heading home, Tana gave her sister a hug. "I'm sorry I was such a downer, today, I just had a really rough day at work... But I suppose I'll see you again soon at this party."

Tana counted on it.