![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanessagalorePreviously on The Year of Living Dangerously Part II [Spoilers for chapters 1-53]:
Veronica and Logan are maintaining a long-distance relationship (Veronica in Neptune at Hearst, Logan in LA at UCLA). Their relationship is going very well until they learn that Hannah Griffith has been killed by a notorious serial killer, the Saturday Night Slasher. The paparazzi learns that Logan has been interviewed by the FBI; the media spins the story so that it appears that Logan is under suspicion.
Logan is devastated by the guilt and remorse he feels about Hannah and by the insane media attention, and he makes a decision to leave town and disappear; he takes elaborate steps to hide his whereabouts from Veronica. Overwhelmed by sadness and anger, he torments himself with depressive thoughts. Logan realizes that some of his anger is due to Duncan's recent return and his unresolved issues with Veronica for breaking up with him before senior year. He settles in an unknown location near a beach and begins to work on his physical therapy, his writing, and his emotional health. He is finally beginning to make a substantial improvement when he sees Duncan Kane holding a press conference about his custody battle, with Veronica by his side. He attempts suicide but turns back at the last moment, prompted by what he perceives as Veronica's voice.
Veronica investigates Logan's disappearance and finally tracks him down in South Padre Island, Texas. She hesitates to go after him until her dad is arrested for arson, and she comes up with a desperate plan to get her dad released with Logan's help. She finds him in a bar, but he is not drinking; Veronica tells him what has happened since he left California, and Logan agrees to help her with her plan to help her father. After a tense night together, Veronica makes a move and manages to convince Logan that she loves him and wants to work on their relationship together. Logan agrees to return to California, and they have ridiculously hot make-up sex despite Logan's fears and tentativeness. Logan is still struggling with his feelings of anger and sadness, but he vows to try to find a way to be happy, not only for himself, but also for the sake of his relationship with Veronica.
Hannah's mother, Stephanie Denenberg, hires Mars Investigation to investigate the boarding school where Hannah was sent. Keith finds that the school is a tough-love school that features extreme discipline and is run by a man who was previously sued for running an abusive drug treatment program. The credentials of the school and its employees are very suspect, and it appears that payments are being made to government officials to encourage them to look the other direction at the school's excesses. While working another case, Veronica seizes an opportunity to interview an educational consultant with a connection to Briar Hill; alarmed by what she learns, she convinces Keith to let her in on the investigation. Veronica and Keith begin to assemble a disturbing picture of the abuses that were occurring at the school and make contact with the attorney who is suing Briar Hill. The attorney, James Epstein, explains the difficulties and weaknesses of a lawsuit against the tough-love school; impulsively, Veronica suggests that she should go undercover at the school. The attorney is highly enthusiastic; Keith reluctantly goes along, despite his concerns for Veronica's safety, with the proviso that another person will go undercover with her as a security guard.
Now that Logan has returned to California, he asks to be updated on the status of the Briar Hill investigation. Everything he learns upsets him; he imagines Hannah trying to survive in the school and, even worse, he worries about the danger to Veronica when she goes undercover. He learns that Veronica was kicked out of the FBI internship program. Logan and Veronica clash over the investigation; Veronica reluctantly offers to give Logan veto power over the operation in order to settle the dispute, and she admits to him that he is more important to her than her career at the FBI.
Logan sits in on the planning sessions for the undercover operation; he insists that Veronica needs to be disguised and suggests that they consult his sociology profession, Dr. Kinny, who ran the prison experiment in Logan's freshman year at Hearst. Veronica and Logan clash when Logan finds out that Veronica has not told her dad that she suspects Hannah was murdered by a copycat killer and is planning to investigate that murder at Briar Hill. Veronica reluctantly fills in Keith with all the information, and Keith insists that Veronica tell her old boyfriend in the FBI and that she must focus exclusively on the primary objective of documenting abuses at the school while undercover.
Logan finds out that Veronica is even more frightened of the operation than she has told him and has been suffering from vivid nightmares. He arranges for her to speak with his therapist, Dr. Friedman. After a thought provoking session with the therapist, Veronica asks Logan to go undercover at the school as well, feeling that he will be able to protect her and will know if she's in trouble sooner than the other professional operative.
Trying to protect his daughter against Vinnie Van Lowe's threat to testify as to her involvement in the Manning babynapping, Keith reluctantly sets out to conceal evidence that Vinnie killed someone in a botched liquor store robbery twenty-five years ago. The Fitzpatricks have used this evidence to control Vinnie and continue to threaten him with exposure. Keith manages to locate the evidence against Vinnie Van Lowe, and Vinnie accepts the prosecution's deal to testify against the Fitzpatricks. As part of his deal with Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith finds and sets fire to a car on a desert property owned by Liam Fitzpatrick. As he leaves, he unwittingly drops something at the crime scene; Sheriff Leo D'Amato finds the item and determines that is a bug detector. Leo discovers that Mars Investigations purchased a bug detector and arrests Keith for the arson.
Veronica and Logan ask Keith to tell them about his investigation of the Lilly Kane/Aaron Echolls sex tapes from three years ago; after a lengthy discussion, they conclude that it's a strong likelihood that Leo stole the sex tapes to damage the case against Aaron Echolls. Veronica and Logan confront Leo and blackmail him into concealing the physical evidence that implicates Keith in the arson.
Wallace confronts his girlfriend, Candice, about the secrets she's been keeping from him; she tells him that she's trying to find her missing half-brother, Shawn Blake, who disappeared from Hearst College around Christmastime the year before. Wallace finds out that Shawn was nicknamed "The X-Man" because he was dealing a drug called Meth-X, a combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy. He finally locates Shawn, who was murdered in Glacier, Washington. The Glacier police department gives Candice Shawn's effects, which include a password-protected Blackberry device. Wallace recruits an old nemesis of Veronica's, Leon, to help him get the information off the Blackberry. The Blackberry reveals that Shawn was meeting weekly with someone with the initials "CF"; Logan tells Wallace that Weevil claimed that Ciaran and Padraig Fitzpatrick killed Weevil's predecessor as leader of the PCHer's, Gustavio "The Reaper" Toombs. Because of the Fitzpatrick connection, Wallace decides to proceed cautiously. Keith offers to get Wallace copies of police files on Ciaran and Padraig and suggests that Wallace get Eli Navarro to help him investigate.
Mac meets with a member of The Cult of the Dead Cow hacking group, who tells her that the flirt-bot program infecting her website and the Pi Sig computers is probably the work of the Russian Mafia, which is moving into the field of computer identity theft. The hacker, Mordroc, whose real name is Rick Picket, helps Mac come up with a solution to the malware incursion; in return, she helps him to trace the remote server where the malware originated. Rick is murdered, and Mac and Veronica receive a suspicious package which is confirmed to be a bomb. A bomb is also sent to Max, who escapes with minor injuries. Mac and Veronica tell Sheriff D'Amato that Rick suspected that the Russian Mafia were behind the computer malware, and Mac is taken into protective custody by the FBI. Mac spends her time at the FBI trying to recreate the investigative work that Rick did on the flirt-bot program's origins. She has contacted Veronica (who still has a security clearance from her internship) and has received an email from Dick. Her handler, Alan Sheffield, allows her to reply; Mac's response to Dick seems unusually friendly and cryptic. Dick consults Veronica about the email: Veronica realizes Mac is telling them she's at the FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab in San Diego, and she can be contacted through Veronica's old boyfriend, Mike Fields. Mac has been compiling a list of all authorized and unauthorized people who have accessed the Saturday Night Slasher case files at the FBI.
Veronica is trying to help Duncan secure custody of his daughter Lilly (renamed Jane since going on the run) while making sure he doesn't jeopardize his amnesty agreement for the kidnapping. A paternity test reveals that Stewart Manning is Lilly's actual father, and Duncan resolves to spend his entire fortune if necessary to gain custody of Lilly. Duncan reveals to Veronica that he is still in love with her and wants to resume their relationship; she responds that she is in love with Logan and probably always was and rejects his advances. Duncan, in an emotional tailspin from Veronica's rejection, starts a highly sexual relationship with another resident of the Neptune Grand, Katerina Beversdorf. Duncan accepts the prosecution's amnesty deal in the Manning babynapping case and turns his daughter Lilly/Jane over to Child Protective Services. Duncan asks Keith and Veronica to do a background check on his lover, Katerina. There is a burglary at Mars Investigations; Veronica recognizes Katerina as the perpetrator caught on a hidden videocamera. The background check on her turns up nothing. Veronica and Logan surprise Katerina in Duncan's suite at the Neptune Grand; Logan recognizes her profile and identifies her as Kendall, who has had substantial plastic surgery. Keith joins them, and they interrogate Kendall, who is in town trying to recover her share of the money she and Liam scammed from Richard Casablancas, Sr. and the money she thinks Keith has from the painting abandoned in the desert. They also recover recordings Kendall made of her and Duncan having sex, presumably to blackmail Duncan. Upon threat of exposure to Liam, Kendall agrees to leave Duncan and the others alone. She also admits that she was having an affair with Logan on Liam's orders and was reporting back to Liam. However, Logan does not allow himself to wallow for once and has a fun, snarky evening with Veronica.
Veronica learns that Hannah, who appeared to be a heroin user in the preliminary autopsy results, in fact was not a long-term drug user. She get more information on the serial killings from her old boyfriend in the FBI, Mike Fields. The information shows that Hannah was marked by a knife in a similar fashion to the other victims, and was also approximately 18, blonde, and not originally from Los Angeles. However, all the other victims besides Hannah have a police record, with numerous arrests for prostitution. In addition, Veronica discovers that all the victims except for Hannah were killed on a night with a full moon. She formulates a theory that Hannah was killed by a copycat killer, possibly to prevent Hannah from revealing the abuses that were occurring at the tough-love boarding school.
Back to the update, Chapter Fifty-Four, Illegitimi Non Carborundum.
Veronica and Logan are maintaining a long-distance relationship (Veronica in Neptune at Hearst, Logan in LA at UCLA). Their relationship is going very well until they learn that Hannah Griffith has been killed by a notorious serial killer, the Saturday Night Slasher. The paparazzi learns that Logan has been interviewed by the FBI; the media spins the story so that it appears that Logan is under suspicion.
Logan is devastated by the guilt and remorse he feels about Hannah and by the insane media attention, and he makes a decision to leave town and disappear; he takes elaborate steps to hide his whereabouts from Veronica. Overwhelmed by sadness and anger, he torments himself with depressive thoughts. Logan realizes that some of his anger is due to Duncan's recent return and his unresolved issues with Veronica for breaking up with him before senior year. He settles in an unknown location near a beach and begins to work on his physical therapy, his writing, and his emotional health. He is finally beginning to make a substantial improvement when he sees Duncan Kane holding a press conference about his custody battle, with Veronica by his side. He attempts suicide but turns back at the last moment, prompted by what he perceives as Veronica's voice.
Veronica investigates Logan's disappearance and finally tracks him down in South Padre Island, Texas. She hesitates to go after him until her dad is arrested for arson, and she comes up with a desperate plan to get her dad released with Logan's help. She finds him in a bar, but he is not drinking; Veronica tells him what has happened since he left California, and Logan agrees to help her with her plan to help her father. After a tense night together, Veronica makes a move and manages to convince Logan that she loves him and wants to work on their relationship together. Logan agrees to return to California, and they have ridiculously hot make-up sex despite Logan's fears and tentativeness. Logan is still struggling with his feelings of anger and sadness, but he vows to try to find a way to be happy, not only for himself, but also for the sake of his relationship with Veronica.
Hannah's mother, Stephanie Denenberg, hires Mars Investigation to investigate the boarding school where Hannah was sent. Keith finds that the school is a tough-love school that features extreme discipline and is run by a man who was previously sued for running an abusive drug treatment program. The credentials of the school and its employees are very suspect, and it appears that payments are being made to government officials to encourage them to look the other direction at the school's excesses. While working another case, Veronica seizes an opportunity to interview an educational consultant with a connection to Briar Hill; alarmed by what she learns, she convinces Keith to let her in on the investigation. Veronica and Keith begin to assemble a disturbing picture of the abuses that were occurring at the school and make contact with the attorney who is suing Briar Hill. The attorney, James Epstein, explains the difficulties and weaknesses of a lawsuit against the tough-love school; impulsively, Veronica suggests that she should go undercover at the school. The attorney is highly enthusiastic; Keith reluctantly goes along, despite his concerns for Veronica's safety, with the proviso that another person will go undercover with her as a security guard.
Now that Logan has returned to California, he asks to be updated on the status of the Briar Hill investigation. Everything he learns upsets him; he imagines Hannah trying to survive in the school and, even worse, he worries about the danger to Veronica when she goes undercover. He learns that Veronica was kicked out of the FBI internship program. Logan and Veronica clash over the investigation; Veronica reluctantly offers to give Logan veto power over the operation in order to settle the dispute, and she admits to him that he is more important to her than her career at the FBI.
Logan sits in on the planning sessions for the undercover operation; he insists that Veronica needs to be disguised and suggests that they consult his sociology profession, Dr. Kinny, who ran the prison experiment in Logan's freshman year at Hearst. Veronica and Logan clash when Logan finds out that Veronica has not told her dad that she suspects Hannah was murdered by a copycat killer and is planning to investigate that murder at Briar Hill. Veronica reluctantly fills in Keith with all the information, and Keith insists that Veronica tell her old boyfriend in the FBI and that she must focus exclusively on the primary objective of documenting abuses at the school while undercover.
Logan finds out that Veronica is even more frightened of the operation than she has told him and has been suffering from vivid nightmares. He arranges for her to speak with his therapist, Dr. Friedman. After a thought provoking session with the therapist, Veronica asks Logan to go undercover at the school as well, feeling that he will be able to protect her and will know if she's in trouble sooner than the other professional operative.
Trying to protect his daughter against Vinnie Van Lowe's threat to testify as to her involvement in the Manning babynapping, Keith reluctantly sets out to conceal evidence that Vinnie killed someone in a botched liquor store robbery twenty-five years ago. The Fitzpatricks have used this evidence to control Vinnie and continue to threaten him with exposure. Keith manages to locate the evidence against Vinnie Van Lowe, and Vinnie accepts the prosecution's deal to testify against the Fitzpatricks. As part of his deal with Vinnie Van Lowe, Keith finds and sets fire to a car on a desert property owned by Liam Fitzpatrick. As he leaves, he unwittingly drops something at the crime scene; Sheriff Leo D'Amato finds the item and determines that is a bug detector. Leo discovers that Mars Investigations purchased a bug detector and arrests Keith for the arson.
Veronica and Logan ask Keith to tell them about his investigation of the Lilly Kane/Aaron Echolls sex tapes from three years ago; after a lengthy discussion, they conclude that it's a strong likelihood that Leo stole the sex tapes to damage the case against Aaron Echolls. Veronica and Logan confront Leo and blackmail him into concealing the physical evidence that implicates Keith in the arson.
Wallace confronts his girlfriend, Candice, about the secrets she's been keeping from him; she tells him that she's trying to find her missing half-brother, Shawn Blake, who disappeared from Hearst College around Christmastime the year before. Wallace finds out that Shawn was nicknamed "The X-Man" because he was dealing a drug called Meth-X, a combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy. He finally locates Shawn, who was murdered in Glacier, Washington. The Glacier police department gives Candice Shawn's effects, which include a password-protected Blackberry device. Wallace recruits an old nemesis of Veronica's, Leon, to help him get the information off the Blackberry. The Blackberry reveals that Shawn was meeting weekly with someone with the initials "CF"; Logan tells Wallace that Weevil claimed that Ciaran and Padraig Fitzpatrick killed Weevil's predecessor as leader of the PCHer's, Gustavio "The Reaper" Toombs. Because of the Fitzpatrick connection, Wallace decides to proceed cautiously. Keith offers to get Wallace copies of police files on Ciaran and Padraig and suggests that Wallace get Eli Navarro to help him investigate.
Mac meets with a member of The Cult of the Dead Cow hacking group, who tells her that the flirt-bot program infecting her website and the Pi Sig computers is probably the work of the Russian Mafia, which is moving into the field of computer identity theft. The hacker, Mordroc, whose real name is Rick Picket, helps Mac come up with a solution to the malware incursion; in return, she helps him to trace the remote server where the malware originated. Rick is murdered, and Mac and Veronica receive a suspicious package which is confirmed to be a bomb. A bomb is also sent to Max, who escapes with minor injuries. Mac and Veronica tell Sheriff D'Amato that Rick suspected that the Russian Mafia were behind the computer malware, and Mac is taken into protective custody by the FBI. Mac spends her time at the FBI trying to recreate the investigative work that Rick did on the flirt-bot program's origins. She has contacted Veronica (who still has a security clearance from her internship) and has received an email from Dick. Her handler, Alan Sheffield, allows her to reply; Mac's response to Dick seems unusually friendly and cryptic. Dick consults Veronica about the email: Veronica realizes Mac is telling them she's at the FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab in San Diego, and she can be contacted through Veronica's old boyfriend, Mike Fields. Mac has been compiling a list of all authorized and unauthorized people who have accessed the Saturday Night Slasher case files at the FBI.
Veronica is trying to help Duncan secure custody of his daughter Lilly (renamed Jane since going on the run) while making sure he doesn't jeopardize his amnesty agreement for the kidnapping. A paternity test reveals that Stewart Manning is Lilly's actual father, and Duncan resolves to spend his entire fortune if necessary to gain custody of Lilly. Duncan reveals to Veronica that he is still in love with her and wants to resume their relationship; she responds that she is in love with Logan and probably always was and rejects his advances. Duncan, in an emotional tailspin from Veronica's rejection, starts a highly sexual relationship with another resident of the Neptune Grand, Katerina Beversdorf. Duncan accepts the prosecution's amnesty deal in the Manning babynapping case and turns his daughter Lilly/Jane over to Child Protective Services. Duncan asks Keith and Veronica to do a background check on his lover, Katerina. There is a burglary at Mars Investigations; Veronica recognizes Katerina as the perpetrator caught on a hidden videocamera. The background check on her turns up nothing. Veronica and Logan surprise Katerina in Duncan's suite at the Neptune Grand; Logan recognizes her profile and identifies her as Kendall, who has had substantial plastic surgery. Keith joins them, and they interrogate Kendall, who is in town trying to recover her share of the money she and Liam scammed from Richard Casablancas, Sr. and the money she thinks Keith has from the painting abandoned in the desert. They also recover recordings Kendall made of her and Duncan having sex, presumably to blackmail Duncan. Upon threat of exposure to Liam, Kendall agrees to leave Duncan and the others alone. She also admits that she was having an affair with Logan on Liam's orders and was reporting back to Liam. However, Logan does not allow himself to wallow for once and has a fun, snarky evening with Veronica.
Veronica learns that Hannah, who appeared to be a heroin user in the preliminary autopsy results, in fact was not a long-term drug user. She get more information on the serial killings from her old boyfriend in the FBI, Mike Fields. The information shows that Hannah was marked by a knife in a similar fashion to the other victims, and was also approximately 18, blonde, and not originally from Los Angeles. However, all the other victims besides Hannah have a police record, with numerous arrests for prostitution. In addition, Veronica discovers that all the victims except for Hannah were killed on a night with a full moon. She formulates a theory that Hannah was killed by a copycat killer, possibly to prevent Hannah from revealing the abuses that were occurring at the tough-love boarding school.
Back to the update, Chapter Fifty-Four, Illegitimi Non Carborundum.