Fic: The Year of Living Dangerously (Veronica/Logan, Ensemble) (21-30/50)

[vanessagalore]

Previous chapters can be found here.




*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Sister Act
Mac helps her bio-sis; Keith discovers a
connection between an old case and the
Fitzpatricks; Veronica coaches Weevil.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Lauren Sinclair: Carlie Westermann.
Madison: Amanda Noret. Ellen Sinclair:
Bridget Hoffman. Weevil: Francis Capra.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Cliff: Daran Norris.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: "SISTER ACT"

Madison Sinclair flings open the front door of the Sinclair home. "Who the hell invited you?" she snarls at Mac.

"Good to see you too, how's USC? Still haven't figured out laundry, huh?" Mac snipes back, thinking, Payback, bitch.

"Huh? You and your white trash friend Veronica still don't make any sense," Madison sneers.

Ellen Sinclair hurries to the foyer. "Madison! Where are your manners? Cindy is here to help me with my computer virus."

Mac says, sweetly, "Oh, Madison and I were just teasing. It's great to catch up with you, Maddie, maybe I'll see you in Aspen one of these days," she adds, just sarcastically enough that Madison gets it.

"Ri-ight," Madison says. "See ya later, Mom." She leaves the house and gets in her red Mercedes. She starts the car and takes off, tires screeching.

"Oh, that girl will be the death of me," Ellen says wearily. "I really do have a computer virus, do you think you can fix it for me?"

"It's no problem, Ellen," Mac smiles. "I'm happy to help. When will Lauren be home?"

"In about fifteen minutes."

"Perfect."

Mac settles in at Ellen's computer, and proceeds to take care of Mrs. Sinclair's virus problem, sighing at Ellen's lack of expertise. She walks into the hallway, saying, "Ellen, I've loaded a new anti-virus program, but you really can't rely on it completely; you have to update it every so often." She stops, shocked, when she sees Lauren. Lauren is very thin, about one hundred pounds, and looks lifeless. "It's Lauren, right? Do you remember me? From a long time ago? We met during Madison's birthday party, you were reading 'The Westing Game'. My name's Mac."

"Hey, Mac, I remember you. What are you doing here? Madison's not here," Lauren says, quietly.

Mac quickly explains, "I ran into your mother; she remembered I do some computer consulting work and she asked me to look at her computer virus problem. Is your machine okay?"

Lauren shrugs. "I haven't really used it much lately, I think it's okay."

Mac is a little surprised; from what Mrs. Sinclair has said in the past, Mac knows that Lauren used to play online role-playing games and enjoyed posting in some online communities. Mac lets the subject drop and turns to Ellen. "Well, Mrs. Sinclair, I think you're all set. I'm going to be going now."

"Actually, Cindy, I mean, Mac, can you do me another huge favor?" Mrs. Sinclair glances at Lauren, who is oblivious to her mom's slip-up. "I have so much work to catch up on now that my computer's fixed; could you possibly drop off Lauren at the library?"

"Sure, Mrs. Sinclair. Are you ready to go now, Lauren?"

Lauren says, "Whatever." She grabs her book bag and heads for the front door.

Mac follows her. She waves goodbye at Ellen, and mouths "Don't worry" behind Lauren.

----------

Keith looks over Wallace's suspect list again.

"Neptune Undercover"____Keyword(s)______________________Real life________
Max Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . domestic abuse/pre-nup. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Daniel Etheridge

Michael Guerin . . . . . . . . . . .adultery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kevin Bray

Maria de Luca . . . . . . . . . . . shoplifting/credit card theft. . . . . . . . . . . . Cathy Belben


Alex Whitman. . . . . . . . . . . . solicitation/male prostitute. . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Rosenthal


Tess Harding. . . . . . . . . . . . adultery/juvenile record-solicitation. . . . .DeeDee Bradley

Kyle Valenti. . . . . . . . . . . . . .paternity test. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jonathan Moskin

Jesse Ramirez. . . . . . . . . . . personal injury fraud/PCH gang. . . . . . . Nick Gomez



Over the years as the sheriff and as a private investigator, Keith has investigated hundreds of cases. The majority are a blur of background checks, late-night stakeouts, and methodical data searches. But one name from Wallace's list sticks out: Kevin Bray. Keith is fairly certain that he remembers a connection to the Fitzpatricks from his days on the force.

He pulls Bray's file from the dead case filing cabinet. Mrs. Bray, nee Colleen McDonough, hired him to provide evidence that Kevin was cheating; it was a straightforward case--Kevin Bray was caught in flagrante at Neptune's infamous Camelot Motel, and Keith was able to provide Colleen with photos and credit card receipts for champagne and lingerie purchased by Bray for his assignation. Classy. Keith shakes his head. On the PryingEyez database, he runs a check on Colleen McDonough Bray, and as he thought he remembered, she turns out to be Liam Fitzpatrick's wife's first cousin. He frowns when he sees that Colleen and Kevin are still married. Running Kevin Bray's record, he reads that Bray is on permanent disability for a knee injury; he checks Bray's criminal record and discovers that ten years earlier, he arrested Bray for receiving stolen goods. The charge was dismissed, and Cliff McCormack is listed as attorney-of-record.

Keith calls Cliff to see if he remembers Bray. Cliff says heartily, "Why, Mr. Bray is one of Neptune's finest citizens. It was a pleasure to defend someone who had such an extensive array of friends willing to testify that he was anywhere except the location in question."

"The Fitzpatrick type of friends?" Keith asks.

"Certainly. Indubitably the finest type of friends, when you are seeking an alibi."

"Yes, I see. What do you know about Mr. Bray's disability?"

Cliff clears his throat. "Off the record, I presume?"

"Yes, Cliff, we're actually not even speaking right now."

"I believe that Mrs. Bray's cousin's husband Liam may have broken Kevin's knee with a baseball bat. However, the official story was an automobile accident; Kevin sued the other driver and won a substantial settlement, since he is permanently disabled," Cliff relates. "As the attorney-of-record for Mr. Bray's lawsuit, I was able to persuade myself that Kevin's injuries could have been sustained in the accident, and I was therefore able to represent him in his cause of action, for which, by the way, I received a not insubstantial percentage."

"I suppose Liam also received a substantial percentage?" Keith asks.

"I have no knowledge of my client's finances subsequent to our lawsuit."

Keith says, "I hope you'll always be on my legal team, Cliff."

Cliff replies, "That's my preference as well, Keith."

Keith hangs up and thinks about Bray's expertise vis-à-vis alibis.

----------

Veronica hands Weevil a T9 audio surveillance bug. "This itty-bitty thing?" Weevil say scornfully.

"Yes, Weevil, you'd be surprised what I've been able to accomplish with such a itty-bitty thing. You can put it anywhere you think it won't be noticed. I'm assuming I can trust you to be smart about it?"

Weevil nods.

Veronica opens a folder containing the plans for the Kane mansion. "Here's an entrance that should be perfect. Jake's office is right here," she points on the map, "so you can get in and out quickly."

"What if someone sees me?" he asks.

"The Kanes are supposed to be in San Jose at a technology conference. Jake Kane is the keynote speaker and Celeste is hosting a cocktail party, so you shouldn't run into anyone except staff. Do you remember the cover story?" Veronica asks.

"Yeah, if anyone asks what I'm doing, use my best beaner accent, and say I'm looking for a first-aid kit, one of the guys on the crew got a bad cut. It's a little weak, Veronica."

"Remember, I'm going to create a diversion at 10:45 a.m.; no one's going to be paying any attention when Veronica Mars is throwing a hissy fit at the security booth....Eli, I appreciate you doing this." Veronica hands Weevil five crisp hundreds.

He tucks the bills away, saying, "I ought to get extra for shaving."

"I always wanted to see what you were hiding under that 'stache," Veronica coos.

Weevil strokes his upper lip, thinking I already regret this.

----------

On the way to the library with her bio-sister, Mac tries to get Lauren to open up, "So, freshman year? Do you have Mr. Pinkman for English? He's pretty cool."

"Yeah, I guess," Lauren answers dispiritedly.

"Do you have a MySpace page? I'd like to check it out, if you don't mind." Mac is getting desperate, What the hell is going on with this kid?

All of a sudden, Lauren breaks into tears, sobbing her eyes out. Mac pulls the car over, and rubs Lauren's back, saying, "Hey, hey, it's alright. What's wrong?"

Between hiccuping sobs, Lauren tells Mac that several of her classmates have posted a fake MySpace page for her, and have created a webpage that purports to be Lauren blogging about her sexual encounters with older men. The ringleader of the cyberbullies, Holly Merriman, has sent threatening emails to Lauren that if she tells anyone, she'll send faked pictures of Lauren performing blowjobs to Mrs. Sinclair and everyone at school.

"Oh my god, that's awful. Lauren, honey, how long has this been going on?"

Lauren admits that the cyberbullying started about six months ago, and has only gotten worse. "Everyone at school has seen the website. Do you know what slut-sneezing is?"

Mac admits that she does.

Lauren continues, "I have no friends anymore, the girls who weren't involved don't want to be seen talking to me in case they get targeted." She tries to swallow her tears, looks at Mac and says, "You're the only one I've told. I don't know what to do. I've decided to ask my mother about transferring to another school."

Mac is furious. "That's ridiculous, you shouldn't have to run away." She thinks a minute. "Do you know where Holly lives?"

Lauren starts to cry again. "Of course...she was my best friend before this started, I don't why she did this to me."

"Probably just because she could," Mac says grimly. "Let's go pay her a visit."

"I don't want to see her!! Mac, no!"

"Don't worry, Lauren, we're not going to actually see her, I just want to see if I can hack into her computer."

Following Lauren's directions, Mac drives to the Merriman house and parks one house down. She opens her laptop, seeking a Wi-Fi signal. "Lauren, you're not going to believe this. The Merriman's wireless network isn't even password-protected. In this day and age of unscrupulous hackers, too!" She glances at Lauren, and is relieved to see a small smile. "Lauren, you better scooch down on the seat, in case Holly walks by. Don't worry...this is going to be too easy."

In a matter of minutes, Mac has accessed Holly's computer and obtained evidence that Holly set up the fake MySpace account and webpage. She sends copies of the evidence to Holly's parents and to Lauren, saying, "You never know, you might need to have this evidence." She checks out Holly's browser history, finding that Holly has been frequenting a lot of hardcore sites; she emails a copy of the browser history too. Then she closes out the MySpace account, and uploads a Trojan Horse virus to the vile blogging webpage. She then creates an email, purporting to be from Holly, and sends it to everyone in Holly's address book: "I apologize for every mean thing I ever said about Lauren Sinclair. She was my best friend and I was jealous of her and everything I said about her was a lie. I hope that she can forgive me someday." As a final touch, she changes the desktop photo on Holly's computer to a graphic saying 'Cyberbullies suck! Mess with me again and you'll be sorry.'

"Okay, I think that will do it. Now, I want you to promise me that if it doesn't get better at school right away that you'll call me for help. I can do a lot worse to Holly, but let's see if what I did helps first. And now I think we should celebrate...let's get some ice cream." Mac smiles at Lauren, who looks relieved and hopeful.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
V for Vendetta
Weevil plants a bug; Keith talks to Bray;
Wallace makes weekend plans with an old
friend; and (uh-oh) Veronica and Logan spar.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Weevil: Francis Capra.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Piz: Chris Lowell.
Bray: Mark Sheppard. Logan: Jason Dohring.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: "V FOR VENDETTA"

Veronica waits in her Saturn just outside Pemberton Estates. She smooths her newly blonde-again hair, checking her reflections. Today, she wants to be completely recognizable. At 10:30 a.m., she drives up to the security booth. Former Deputy Gills smirks at her. "Ms. Mars, do you have legitimate business in Pemberton Estates?"

"I'd like to see Mr. Kane, please. And I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

"And I'm not going to bother the Kanes. Move along, or do I have to call your daddy?" Gills says, meanly.

"My daddy?" Veronica jumps out of the car, slamming the door. "You've got a lot of balls, Gills. Do the fine residents of Pemberton Estates know that you were fired for failing to confiscate fake ids at the college bars? Or that you were sued for negligence by the parents of Jimmy Wilson?" Cupping her hands like a megaphone, she continues, screaming toward the houses within the enclave. "Hey, everybody, do you know what a putz this guy is?" Addressing Gills, she says, "Now, if you want me to shut up, you're going to let me in to talk to Jake Kane. I know he's involved in Clarence Wiedman's murder, and I'm going to prove it."

"The Marses, on a crazy crusade yet again! How many times does your dad have to get kicked out of office before you psychos learn to--hey, what the hell are you doing?"

Veronica reaches in to the guard shack and grabs the master list of phone numbers. "I'm going to call each house and tell them the sordid details of your dismissal from the Sheriff's department." She pulls out her iPhone and dials the first number on the list.

Gills, seeing that the situation has spiraled out of his control, calls for help. "Yo, Frank, can you send some guys down here? That bitch Veronica Mars is out here again, can you help me get rid of her?"

Veronica hears guys laughing on the other end of the walkie-talkie. "We'll be right there, I can't believe you can't handle a little girl, you pussy."

Veronica continues to raise a fuss. Gills tries to wrestle her iPhone out of her hands. Two men pull up in a security van, screeching to a halt. One is the same man who taunted her a few days ago.

"Let go of my phone! You have no right to take my phone!" Veronica is screaming at the top of her lungs, tussling with Gills.

After about ten minutes of dramatics, Veronica allows the guards to "force" her back into her car and then escort her from the premises. As she leaves, she blows a kiss to Gills, saying, "I'll be seeing you, darling."

"In hell, bitch." Gills and the two guards from the Kane estate watch to make sure she leaves. Veronica smiles as she drives back to Hearst College.

----------

On the Kane property, Weevil, newly clean-shaven and wearing a bandana over his bald pate, cautiously enters the house through the back door Veronica showed him. No one seems to be around; two of the security guards have just left for the main gate, just as Veronica had predicted, and the other two cover the entrance to the house. He quietly shuts the door and glances around. So far, so good. I may let Veronica live after all. He finds the office door, right where Veronica said it would be, and goes in. He looks around for a suitable place to hide the bug; he rejects a few locations Veronica suggested and settles on tucking it behind the frame of a particular ugly oil portrait of Lilly Kane. Rich people, can't just take a snapshot, he muses. Weevil can't resist thinking, Let's just take a second to see if there's any cash stashed in the desk.

He pulls out some drawers, cautiously rifling around in the desk, making sure to replace everything exactly as he finds it. He doesn't find any cash, but he finds a checkbook; curious, he looks at the checks and sees that they are marked "Conothan Enterprises". He inspects the previous check stubs, which list running balances in the hundreds of thousands. I bet my girl Veronica will want to know about that. He decides he better get out while I can, and closes the desk drawer.

He exits the office, shutting the door quietly behind him.

"Can I help you?" says a calm voice to his rear.

Weevil keeps calm; Veronica told him to try to sound like a beaner, but Weevil thinks, Fuck that. He says, "I'm looking for a first aid kit, one of the guys got a pretty bad cut, and the guards are not around. Do you know where the Kanes keep their Band-Aids?" He looks at the blond man, who stares at him impassively.

Weevil is positive he's never seen this guy before, but he sure doesn't look like the help. He looks like he should be out surfing with Logan and the other '09er rich kids, or on a television show with beautiful babes hanging off him.

"There's some sort of problem at the main gate. If you'll follow me, I'm pretty sure Mrs. Kane has some Band-Aids and other supplies in the kitchen," the blond man says.

Weevil plays it up a little. "Please don't tell the boss I came in the house, I just started on the job and I can't get fired." He doesn't see the blond man roll his eyes. They enter the kitchen, Weevil gets his Band-Aids and returns outside to the landscaping crew.

The blond man picks up a phone and calls the main gate. "Gills, what's all the commotion out there?...Really....Thanks for taking care of it....No, that's okay, I'll let the Kanes know when they come back to town."

----------

Keith pounds on the screen door of a shabby house in the run-down section of town. "Open up, Bray, I want to talk to you."

An unshaven man, potbellied, wearing a wife-beater shirt, limps to the door. "Keith Mars, I don't know how to tell you this, but you're not the sheriff anymore. So fuck off." He turns back inside.

Keith pulls open the screen door and follows him in. "Hope you don't mind if I invite myself in. You don't seem to be too glad to see me, Bray."

"You're trespassing, Mars. Get out, or I'll call the new sheriff. Gee, that has a nice ring to it," he sneers.

"Just want to talk a bit. Wondering how life's treating you these days." Keith holds his palms up, indicating he's not there to hurt Bray.

"How do you think, you prick? When Liam saw those photos you gave my wife, he did this." He points to his knee. "Said 'you'll never run around on Colleen again' and laughed that crazy laugh of his."

"Yet somehow you hooked up a nice insurance settlement," Keith comments.

"Liam got it all put in Colleen's name, said if I ever messed up again, he'd do the other knee, and then cut my dick off."

"Little bit of a temper problem, huh?" Keith says.

"What the hell do you want, Mars?" Bray spits out.

"I'm just wondering if someone hates me enough to set up my daughter for murder. You wouldn't happen to remember where you were the night Clarence Wiedman was shot?"

Bray replies, "Who the hell knows."

"It was a Saturday night, October 4th. Early evening, sometime between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m." Keith presses.

"Well, that's easy. Saturdays I play pool and get drunk off my ass at the River Stix. Probably fifty people saw me. I won't even need to make up an alibi this time," he snorts. "'Sides, I wouldn't bother with your cute little daughter, I'd just shoot your butt-ugly face. Then maybe I'd mess with your daughter," he leers.

"Don't forget what Liam said. I'll just reinforce it a little, keep the hell away from my daughter." Keith leaves, allowing the screen door to bang hard on the way out. He almost bumps into Father Patrick Fitzpatrick, who's stepping onto the dilapidated porch.

"Why, former Sheriff Mars, what brings you to our part of town?" the priest says.

"Just renewing an old acquaintance. How's salvation these days, Father? Have you managed to keep any of your brothers out of the slammer?" Keith says, slightly sarcastically.

"Well, you know, Keith, it's hard when there's so much temptation around. The wicked run the world, you know."

"Actually, I don't know."

"Keith, you're not a religious man, are you? I read in the papers about the troubles your daughter's been having. Have you considered perhaps renewing your relationship with God?" Father Patrick says. "The doors of St. Mary's are open to you and yours anytime you feel a spiritual need."

"Do you have a Saturday evening mass, by any chance, Father?" Keith asks.

"Well, we have a five p.m.; you might not believe it, but it's a very popular mass around here. I'm afraid some of the local gentlemen come to mass and then raise a bit of hell afterward in the local bars," the priest answers.

"I'll bet," Keith comments, thinking that Patrick Fitzpatrick could easily get to the motel where Wiedman was found by 7:15 at the latest after the 5:00 mass. "I might check out your mass this Sunday; what's the sermon by the way?"

"Oh, that's wonderful to hear, Keith. We don't get many '09ers down this way. Your struggles with your career and your daughter can be an inspiration to others. Forgive and forget, as they say, and the Lord shall redeem you. The sermon this week is on the sacrificial lamb, by the way, one of my favorite topics."

"I look forward to hearing you speak on Sunday." As Keith walks away, he wonders if that was another threat. He thinks again about how many of Patrick's brothers he's sent to prison, and how Cormac died in the desert that day. And that Liam still thinks that Keith has his money. I should have told Kendall to go screw.

----------

The blond man goes in Jake Kane's office. He searches the entire office and finally finds the small audio transmitter behind the picture frame. Nothing else seems to have been disturbed. He tosses the bug up and down a few times, thinking.

----------

Wallace's phone vibrates. "Yo," he says.

"It's Piz, what's happening?" says the familiar voice of Wallace's ex-roommate, Stosh Piznarski.

"You know, the usual, school, work, b-ball, and the finest booty available in Neptune. Not necessarily in that order, of course. How's UCLA?"

"School's great. The radio show has really started to take off. And you know that I started surfing last year? It's totally awesome, I go to the Venice Breakwater almost every afternoon now," Piz says.

"Every afternoon? I thought you were working three days a week." Wallace asks.

Piz has a part-time job working at a medical clinic. He answers, "I go on my lunch hour, we're right at the beach. You know, at first, they didn't like me changing into my trunks at the office. But then, all of a sudden, my boss was cool about it. They're all really nice; Naomi and Violet always make a point of saying goodbye to me every afternoon when I head out."

"Huh. That's funny. Doesn't sound like any boss I ever had." Wallace comments.

"I know, it's the best job I ever had. Naomi's so beautiful," Piz adds, dreamily. "And, they hired a new lady gynecologist who is really hot--red hair, legs that don't quit. Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to come up for a visit, one of the docs had some extra tickets for a Laker exhibition game."

"You know I'm gonna hit that!" Wallace and Piz agree to meet up that weekend.

----------

On her cell, Veronica says, "Hey it's me."

At his Venice beach house, Logan sits sprawled on the couch, enjoying the view, with his course books and laptop opened. "Hey, Veronica."

"What's going on?"

"Well, believe it or not, I'm working on my assignment for Screenwriting Fundamentals," he says.

"Screenwriting? You're really doing this, aren't you?"

"Don't sound so surprised, Veronica. I'm working on being less frivolous."

She remembers the bitter conversation with Piz and Logan and resists the temptation to snap back, you're the one who said you were frivolous, not me. "Are you writing a script?"

"This semester it's short writing assignments; next semester I'll have to write a complete script," he explains. "It's kicking my butt, I wish I'd paid more attention in high school."

"Will you let me read what you write?"

Logan smiles. "Maybe. I might have to edit some of the porno out, it's definitely rated X. You know about my tendencies."

"I think you should leave the smut in, it's my favorite." She giggles. They left on okay terms after the kegger the other night, and it feels good.

"What about you, have you caught up on your school work?"

"Ye-es, mostly. Wallace and I had a case at Neptune High that took some time, but it was so fun." She tells Logan about the case, and about the legend of Veronica Mars and Wallace's reaction.

"Well, Veronica, it's true that you were the caped crusader during our formative years....Are you being careful, Veronica? I'm worried about the real murderer still being free. I don't like thinking about someone framing you."

"Logan, please don't worry."

"You didn't really answer my question."

"You know I'm not going to sit around wondering when Vinnie's going to rearrest me. And I can protect myself."

Logan snorts, "Like hell you can."

"Logan, I'm taking jujitsu classes and I have a gun. And at Dad's insistence, Weevil and his crew are keeping an eye on me."

"A gun?" Logan's really upset. "Jesus Christ, that's the last thing I want to hear. Does your Dad know about that?"

"Yes, he checked me out on the firing range himself. It's all legit, I have a concealed weapons permit, and I was certified in firearms training over the summer at my FBI internship."

Logan has started pacing around the room. "I don't like it. I can't believe your Dad was okay with it. And you're running around asking questions again."

Veronica is silent, then says, "I can't do this, Logan. We have to find a way for you to be okay with it if we're going to be friends; this is the life I've chosen. I promise you, I'm taking self-defense and firearms seriously."

"Are you being completely honest with your Dad about your investigation?"

Veronica doesn't answer.

"Goddamnit, I knew it. I can't go through this again, worrying about you. Don't you understand what it's like for the people who care about you?" Logan says harshly.

"Would you rather I went back to prison, Logan?" she replies quietly.

"Veronica, I want you to tell your Dad about everything you're doing."

Veronica stays silent.

"The fact that you haven't told him means that you know what you're doing is dangerous. Veronica, I'm begging you. I can't do this again. You said I was allowed to worry about you. Well, here I am, worrying."

"Logan, I can't tell my dad everything, he'll freak."

"With good reason. I know I won't get you to stop. Please tell your dad what you're doing. Or tell me," he begs her.

"Logan, don't be such a drama queen. I'll tell Dad what I'm doing," she half-promises, leaving out the key word 'everything'.

"You know, Veronica, I just can't trust you to do that. I'm not built that way," Logan spits out.

Veronica is struck dumb by Logan throwing her words back in her face yet again. She recovers and says, "Forget what I said about you being allowed to worry about me." She closes the phone.

Logan throws the phone onto the table in frustration. For the first time in months, he proceeds to get completely drunk. He spends the evening worrying and finally, before going to bed, he sends an email to Keith. He doesn't get much sleep that night.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Klute
Surprising results from the bug; Veronica is
chastised for her recklessness; Mac and Dick
make weekend plans; Logan circles the drain.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Logan: Jason Dohring.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: "KLUTE"

Knowing that Jake Kane is expected back from his Silicon Valley conference today, Veronica opens the Sonic Snoop Audio Surveillance program on her laptop. She frowns at the graphic equalizer on the screen. There should at least be ambient room noise, why is it showing zero db? She turns up the gain to maximum; still there is no input level. She calls Weevil. "Is there anything you want to tell me about the bug?...There's no signal....Are you sure you turned it on the way I showed you?... Okay, okay, I believe you...What's that, Conothan Enterprises? I'll have to check it out...Thanks again." She hangs up, frowning. She sets the Sonic Snoop program to automatically record any room noise in the hopes that it's a momentary glitch, and reminds herself to check on it later. I wonder what Dad wants to see me about. She packs up her laptop and heads over to Mars Investigations.

She wiggles her fingers 'hi' at Wallace; when she opens the door to Keith's office, he looks up but doesn't say a word. My god, he's really pissed. She shuts the door behind her and tries to lighten the mood a little. "Whatsa matter, did Wallace eat the last donut?" She sits down across the desk.

"Veronica, last night I discovered that you've ordered the court transcript from your mother's trial. Today, my day started with a phone call from Jake Kane, telling me to keep my daughter away from his house. Then, when I opened up my email, I found an email from Logan, telling me he's worried about you," Keith says. He's so angry that there's a slight quiver in his voice.

Veronica feels Logan's betrayal like a punch to the gut. She sucks in air but doesn't say anything.

"'Dear Keith'," Keith reads from his screen, "'I hate to write to you about this. I'm worried that Veronica is pursuing some leads in her investigation that are putting her in danger. She refuses to tell me what she's doing and she admitted to me that she hasn't told you everything either. I hope you can get her to tell you what's she's up to.'" He looks sternly at Veronica. "I want to know everything you're doing, and you're not leaving this office until I'm satisfied that you're being truthful. What the hell were you doing at the Kane estate? 'Raising a ruckus' is what Jake said, but I would have thought the stealth approach would have been your choice from past experience."

"It was a diversion. Weevil planted a bug in Jake's office," she says quietly. "It doesn't matter, something's wrong with the bug, it's not transmitting."

"Doesn't matter?...Veronica, I'm surprised you would ask Weevil to take such a risk for you," Keith replies, his voice rising in anger.

"Well, would you have helped me with it?" She thinks, I can't tell Dad everything but I'll tell him some of it. Aloud, Veronica says, "I'm assuming you read the court transcript?" When Keith nods, she continues, "So then you know that mom has been in contact with Jake. Either she wanted to start up their affair again and he didn't, and he had Wiedman kill her, or more likely, Celeste found out and had my mom killed for once and for all, then covered her tracks by killing Wiedman and setting me up."

"Veronica, do you trust Leo?"

She nods.

"He's pursuing these angles himself, and he has access to the Kanes that we'll never have. If what you're thinking is true, they won't hesitate to hurt you or kill you."

"Dad, I swear I'm being careful; I had a great cover for Weevil and the diversion worked like a charm....Weevil saw something while he was there, he found a checkbook in the name of Conothan Enterprises. I think that's Celeste's maiden name. I don't think I've ever heard of Conothan Enterprises. I'd like to check it out."

Keith slams his fist on the desk. "Veronica, you are going to stay away from the Kanes. Let Leo work on this! I don't want you anywhere near them!" he shouts.

"I can't just sit around and wait for Vinnie to arrest me again!" she cries back. "You've got to let me do something!"

There's a tentative knock on the door, and Wallace pokes his head in. "Everything's okay in here?" he asks. "There's mad flava, and then there's mad flava. You're not going to go gangsta on each other are you? A beat-down at Mars Investigations...it's just not gonna look good to the clients."

Keith and Veronica still stare angrily at each other, then Keith relents and starts to chuckle. "A beat-down?"

Channeling her favorite Sam Spade movie, Veronica says, "'Sorry I got up on my hind legs, boys, but you fellas tryin' to rope me made me nervous.'"

Picking up on it right away, Keith replies, "'I've no earthly reason to think I can trust you, and, if I do this and get away with it, you'll have something on me that you can use whenever you want to.'"

"'Well, sir, if I told you half, you'd call me a liar,'" Veronica adds, giggling.

Relieved, Wallace says, "You guys need to get a life. Or at least some new DVDs. Keith, I've got the backgrounds checks on my list of suspects like you asked. Is it okay if Veronica takes a look at it?" Wallace was eavesdropping; he's known Veronica for four years now, and he thinks the best way to keep her from taking crazy chances is to give her something else to do, something that's routine but necessary, like eliminating suspects.

Keith nods, and the three of them pore over the information that Wallace has gleaned.

Wallace says, "I've been able to establish alibis on two of them. Jonathan Moskin was at a conference in Washington, D.C. that weekend, and I found a picture of him on the society pages of the Washington Post. Cathy Belben was in Switzerland at a 'spa'." Wallace does air quotes around the word spa.

"Plastic surgery?" Veronica says knowingly.

"Yeah, the mountain air did wonders for her cheekbones," Wallace replies.

Keith says, "I've talked to Bray. He claims he was at that Irish bar, The River Stix, and I think he's telling the truth; I got him purchasing gas on the other side of town at 4:30; he used an ATM near The River Stix around 5:30 and he has a credit card charge there too around 8:00. So he's probably in the clear too."

Veronica points to another one of the names. "What about this one, DeeDee Bradley?"

"There's not much information on her. She has a couple arrests on her record: DeeDee Bradley, nee Deirdre Jordan, aka Desiree Jones, was arrested for solicitation, but she was never convicted. Apparently the charges were dropped. Maybe somebody was paid off. It looks like she straightened up after the second arrest, and she went to Southern Methodist University. She married Reverend Neil Bradley right after graduation."

Veronica says, "A hooker with a heart of gold?"

"Maybe," Wallace says. "The reverend had a parish in Texas and then Maryland for a while; then they moved here about twelve years ago. No kids. DeeDee doesn't even have much of a credit report, apparently the reverend keeps everything in his own name. Reverends really don't make much money, do they?"

They nod, and Wallace continues. "There's nothing recent about DeeDee Bradley in any public records. But we also know that she hired Keith to follow her husband five years ago when she suspected he was having an affair."

Keith says, "I never found any evidence of an affair. She came in and told me it was a mistake, please forget that she was ever here."

"And her husband's church is First Presbyterian Evangelical of Neptune?" Veronica asks.

"Yes...what are you thinking?" Keith replies.

"Well, you know the language in the notes is...biblical. What if I went to church this Sunday and struck up a conversation with Mrs. Reverend Bradley?"

Keith looks at her. "With other people around, right?"

"Of course, totally in public, the whole time," she promises. "Wallace, you want to come with?"

"Uh, no, actually I'm visiting friends in L.A. this weekend," Wallace says, thinking, No need to tell her I'm seeing Piz.

"All right, Veronica, I think you'll be okay on your own for this, just be careful," Keith says, thinking, Maybe she'll leave the Kanes alone. It's a pretty safe thing for her to do while I'm checking on Father Patrick.

"Yes, Dad," she says, thinking, First Presbyterian Evangelical is the Mannings' church, I can kill two birds with one stone.

----------

Mac is eating in the Food Court. Vegan surprise, yummy. She picks at the random vegetables covered with an unfortunately indescribable sauce.

"Hey baby." Dick sits down with her, sliding his tray next to hers. He has two burgers and fries, with not a single green vegetable to contaminate his lunch.

Mac tries not to look at his meal. "Dick, how come you're not eating at the frat house?"

"I thought I better go to class once before midterms, and I'm too lazy to walk all the way back. 'Sides, I have to check out the babes in the Food Court," Dick says.

"Well, don't let me stop you," she says, a little defensively.

"I was talking about you," he replies, taking a bite of his burger. "Haven't seen you around much."

"Yeah, I go to classes pretty much every day."

"I don't know how you do that," he says.

"It's kinda why we're here, Dick. Anyways, I've also been working hard on a little project Veronica and I have going, it does background checks for people going on blind dates," she tells him. "It's actually really taking off, we have a lot of orders. People are sick of getting burned with Internet dating."

"Does that mean you're too busy to go to Vegas anymore?" Dick asks.

"No, actually, I kind of miss Vegas. I'm going again this weekend," Mac informs him.

"For real? Can I come with you? I promise I won't get in the way. I'll do whatever you say," he pleads.

Mac thinks a bit, taking a couple bites of Vegan Surprise. What am I doing?

"C'mon Mac, it'll be totally awesome," Dick wheedles.

"All right. You can come."

"Sweet!" he exclaims.

"I usually take the 11:30 a.m. flight from San Diego on Friday, let's leave Hearst at 10:00," Mac says.

Dick overrules her. "No way. I just got a new Infiniti G37 coupe. We're driving."

"Dick, it's a five hour drive to Vegas."

"Not the way I drive. The Infiniti has a six-speed manual transmission, it's gnarly on the curves," Dick says reverently.

"Manual transmission? I always wanted to learn how to drive a stick," Mac says wistfully.

"This is your opportunity, babe. I can already picture you with your hand wrapped around my gear shift." He wiggles his eyebrows and she laughs, blushing. "I'll pick you up Friday at noon. Are you wearing the blonde wig again?"

"No...it's too soon for her to make an appearance again. I have something else in mind for this weekend....You know, we can use the drive to go over some of the basics of gambling theory. This is gonna be great," she smiles.

----------

"Hello, you've reached Logan Echolls with today's inspirational message. 'Me seemes the world is runne quite out of square, From the first point of his appointed sourse, And being once amisse growes daily wourse and wourse.' Edmund Spenser."

Veronica stabs at the 'end' button, much harder than necessary, to terminate the call.

----------

In Los Angeles, Logan stares at the phone, ringing, then going silent, and pours another scotch.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Postcards from the Edge
Leo announces for the Sheriff race; Logan
reveals a nightmare; there is a development
in the investigation of the Kanes.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Logan: Jason Dohring.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: "POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE"

On the steps of Town Hall, Deputy Chief Leo D'Amato holds up a hand, signaling that the press conference was beginning. He speaks clearly and confidently, making eye contact with the video cameras.

"Fellow citizens of Neptune, I am hereby entering the race for Sheriff. Our town has great beauty and resources, but has recently seen an upsurge in violent crime. Neptune suffers from a lack of leadership and perspective in the Sheriff's Department. I am making my pledge to you, that if I am elected, there will be justice for all in Neptune. I will now be taking your questions."

The reporters shout questions at Leo: "Are you referring to the dismissal of charges in the Wiedman case?" "Are you accusing Sheriff Van Lowe of improper actions?" "Why were you suspended from the Sheriff's department four years ago?"

Through the noise and hubbub, Leo sees Vinnie at the back of the crowd, staring at him coldly. Vinnie pretends to make a gun with his pointer finger, and play-shoots at Leo. Vinnie walks away, and Leo turns his attention to the reporters.

----------

Veronica checks her post office box on campus. Mixed in with flyers, credit card applications, and advertising circulars is a plain envelope with no return address. Sitting on a bench, she opens the envelope and begins to read.

Dear Veronica,

You haven't returned my calls or emails for quite a while now, and I know that you must have discovered that I'm married. I wanted you to know that I was sure when we met that my marriage was over. I would never have started seeing you if I intended to get back together with her. I swear to you that if necessary I would have sacrificed my marriage to keep you out of prison.

I really miss you, Veronica, but I know that it's not right to keep doing this to my wife. If you ever need anything, I'm here for you.

All my love,
Mike

Veronica crumples the letter and throws it into a nearby trash can.

----------

At Dr. Friedman's office, Logan shows up for his weekly appointment. He missed last week's appointment doing last minute paperwork and making phone calls for the Bridge project. Dr. Friedman notices that his eyes are bloodshot and wonders if he's hungover.

"I've been having bad dreams," he says abruptly.

Dr. Friedman realizes that he's not only hungover, he's already had a drink today. "Did something happen? You seem upset."

"I've been having bad dreams," he repeats. "They started a couple years ago but I haven't had one for a while, and now they've started again."

"Logan, what happened?"

"Well, uh, Carrie blew me off."

"What do you mean she blew you off?

"She stopped returning my calls, I don’t know why."

Dr. Friedman presses. "What else happened?"

Logan sighs. "I went down to visit Dick and he sprang a little surprise on me, he arranged for me and Veronica to 'accidentally' meet up at a party," he says sarcastically.

"So Dick thinks you and Veronica belong together?"

"I don’t know what Dick thinks, but he’s not exactly a deep thinker."

"What happened at the party?"

"We talked...she told me she broke up with her douchebag boyfriend. I asked her if she ever figured out why he wouldn’t give her an alibi; she stared at me, she knew, but she didn’t want to admit it.

"Admit what?"

"My lawyers told me the guy is married."

"Is it possible that Veronica didn’t know that?"

"I suppose; maybe that’s why they broke up, because she found out."

Dr. Friedman asks, "So you fought?"

Logan replies, "We argued about her boyfriend and I almost called her a bitch, but I stopped myself."

"What made you want to call her a bitch?"

Logan says angrily, "I just don’t understand it; when she was with me she was tracking me with my cell phone, she was keeping tabs on me everywhere. Are you telling me that she didn’t even investigate this guy enough to find out that he was married?"

Dr. Friedman says, shrugging, "Well, maybe he didn’t mean that much to her. So you argued at the party."

"Actually...we talked, and she said it was okay for me to worry about her."

"And...?"

"The other night she called; she admitted she's been investigating and she's carrying a gun now. It's like she wants to killed or arrested or...I don't know. We argued about it, and then we pretty much hung up on each other."

Dr. Friedman points out, "Veronica must feel pretty helpless right now; from what you've told me, she doesn't like feeling out of control....Logan, have you been drinking lately?"

"Yes," he admits quietly.

After a minute, Dr. Friedman asks, "Can you tell me about the dreams you’ve been having? Did they start again after you and Veronica argued on the phone?"

"Yes...I haven’t had the dream for a while; it stopped for a while, while I was seeing Carrie."

"So Carrie made you feel safer?"

Logan nods.

"Tell me about the dream, Logan."

His voice is hoarse and so quiet that Dr. Friedman leans in to hear better. "In the dream I wake up face down on the bed, there’s blood all around me. I push myself off the bed and try to find out where the blood is coming from. I feel my head and I find a bullet hole. There’s no pain, it just feels...too quiet. I turn around and see a man with a gun. Then I wake up...scared to death."

"Logan, why do you think you're dreaming about dying like that?"

Logan just stares down at his hands folded in his lap. He reaches up and fusses at his hair.

Finally, he continues, hesitantly. "I told you that before I started coming here that I was seeing a married woman and it ended very badly. She was older, about forty-five, really hot-looking; she was into it, she couldn’t get enough of me, she’d call me every time her husband left...booty calls. One time, we were together and we fell asleep. I could never stay over because of her husband, but this one time, it was in the afternoon and we fell asleep. When I woke up, the husband had a gun pressed against my temple."

"So what did you do?"

Logan says, the words spilling out quickly now, "I asked him what he wanted me to do. He said get up and get dressed and don't ever come back again. He held the gun on me the whole time. His wife was over in the corner sobbing; he’d hit her, her mouth was bleeding. Every once in a while while I was getting dressed, she'd whimper and he’d turn to her and say, 'shut up, whore'."

"So the dream is?"

"Yep, I’m on her bed, and he’s done it, he’s killed me...." He doesn't tell her, it used to be Gory who killed me in the dream.

----------

In the Hearst College library, after a long night of studying, Veronica accesses the Sonic Snoop Audio Surveillance program again. She doesn't dare hope that the bug is working again. In the program's buffer, she is surprised to find a short burst of audio; she opens the file, puts on her headphones, and listens to it.

An unfamiliar male voice says, "Veronica Mars. I know you're listening to this. If you want your bug back, I want you to meet me in Waterside Park, in the parking lot, near the fountains, at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Come alone; if you bring anyone, I won't identify myself. I'll answer any of your questions about the Kanes at that time."

She listens to the file several more time. Waterside Park, that's a good choice; public, but not crowded. The water noise from the fountains will prevent me from wearing a wire. She considers the situation. On a Saturday morning, there will be families and rollerbladers around...it seems safe enough...still, I better bring Backup. She guiltily thinks about her promise to Logan and her dad, but finally decides she has to take this chance and go alone.

She leaves the library and heads back to her dorm room, lost in thought about the meeting on Saturday. Suddenly she realizes that she is in a very dark section of campus, and no one else is around. All of a sudden, she hears footsteps approaching. She calls out, "Hey Weevil, is that you?" The footsteps stop, but no one answers.

Veronica opens her handbag and reaches for her handgun. All her instincts tell her to run, but she forces herself to walk calmly down the dark path. She hears the footsteps behind her again; she whirls and draws the weapon, saying loudly in what she hopes is a confident voice, "I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!" The footsteps stop, then run away in the opposite direction. Veronica quickly half-runs, half-walks to the nearest building, and uses her student ID in the cardreader to unlock the door. She slams the door behind her and calls Weevil to come get her.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Freaky Friday
Veronica, shockingly, asks for help; Mac and
Dick head for Vegas; Wallace meets Piz's
new work mates.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Piz: Chris Lowell. Naomi:
Audra McDonald. Violet: Amy Brenneman.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: "FREAKY FRIDAY"

"Hey, sleepyhead, better get up, you're going to miss your class again!" Mac teases Veronica.

Veronica yawns; she didn't get very much sleep last night. She laid awake thinking about what happened after she left the library. "You're packing--are you going to Vegas again?"

"Yep."

"I thought you were going to cut back on your trips now that YourCheatingHeart is doing so well," Veronica comments.

Mac smiles. "Turns out I really like gambling. Don't judge me...I'm taking Dick along for company this weekend."

Veronica gasps dramatically. "Talk about cover! No one will believe you're a math whiz cheating at blackjack when they see you with Dick Casablancas."

"I know!" Mac continues packing her suitcase. "He's going to drive us in his new Infiniti."

"Ooh, this sounds serious. Five hours alone in a car with Dick?"

"If he doesn't do anything to piss me off in that time, then you'll know you really have to worry about me," Mac laughs.

"I'm not sure I understand why you put up with him."

"Actually, he's sort of like a pet, very uncomplicated. As long as you give him food and drink, he'll entertain you for hours. It's really very relaxing."

"Mac, before you leave, could you do me a huge favor?" Veronica tells her about the incident the night before. "Do you think you could hack into the university security system and see if any of the campus video cameras captured an image of whoever was following me?"

"I'll try. Those servers aren't that hard to crack. Let me call Dick, we can leave a little later."

Veronica heads to class and Mac works on getting the security footage for her. She is able to download all the night's video feeds and she leaves them on a DVD for Veronica.

When Veronica gets back from class, she pores over the footage, but she is unable to see anyone following her in the shadows.

Weevil calls, asking how she's doing today. He tells Veronica that maintenance found a brick near the scene of the almost-attack.

----------

Dick shows up at Mac's dorm right at 1:00. He leans out the car window and smiles at her. "Hey Mac, you ready to cruise? Didya get all of Ronnie's hacking done?"

Mac smiles back. "It was cake. So this is the new vehicle?" She admires the Infiniti G37 coupe, thinking, This is the sexiest car I've ever seen.

Dick gets out, puts Mac's bag in the trunk and shows off his baby. "The engineers at Infiniti code-named this car 'The Seductress'. Like I could resist a car named that! 3.7 liter V6, 330 horsepower, six-speed manual transmission, four wheel active steering...Wait 'til you check out the seats, they cup your ass like a Tijuana hooker!"

Mac laughs. "I'm not sure I can relate to that. What about the mileage?"

"25 miles per gallon highway, but who the hell cares about that?"

"Well, I think it's a fair bet that not too many vegans own this car."

"Whatever. C'mon, I'll fix your seat for you." Dick solicitously helps Mac adjust the numerous seating adjustments for a perfect fit. Of course, he manages to cop a quick feel at one point, but Mac lets it slide. He gets in, opens the moonroof and pops in a CD. "Let's hit it."

----------

Veronica walks into Mars Investigations. Keith is finishing up his monthly insurance company report on personal injury scammers. He leans back and says, "Hi, honey, I wasn't expecting you this afternoon. What's up?"

She opens her laptop on Keith's desk, saying, "The bug worked after all. You need to listen to this." She plays him the recording.

"Veronica Mars. I know you're listening to this. If you want your bug back, I want you to meet me in Waterside Park, in the parking lot, near the fountains, at 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Come alone; if you bring anyone, I won't identify myself. I'll answer any of your questions about the Kanes at that time."

Keith looks at her. "So I'm assuming you want to go?"

Veronica says, "Yes, but that's not everything." She tells him about the incident on campus the night before. "Dad, I'm worried this is a set-up. If I do this, I want to take Backup and I want you there."

"How are you thinking to work it?" Keith says, worried, but relieved that for once his daughter came to him for assistance.

"With the fountain noise, you're not going to be able to hear me, but I can wear one of the mini-video cameras and you can at least see what I'm seeing and be nearby in case I need help. I can wear a mic and maybe you'll be able to hear a little of the conversation."

"It still seems dangerous."

"Dad, Waterside Park will be full of joggers and rollerbladers on a Saturday morning. It sounds like this guy is just as afraid of me as I am of him, and he wants to meet in a public place to avoid a confrontation."

"I'm not sure afraid is the right word, he sounds determined to me." Keith plays the recording again. "Are you sure you don't recognize the voice? It sounds like a young man to me, maybe it's someone you've met at the Kanes from when you were seeing Duncan. He sounds like he knows you."

"I'm positive I've never heard that voice before."

----------

Wallace walks into Oceanside Wellness Clinic in Los Angeles. It's very high class; he thinks that all the '09ers from Neptune would feel right at home. He spots Piz seated behind the reception desk and walks over. "Piz, give me some skin, bro."

Piz says, "Hey, Wallace."

An elegant African-American woman walks over to the desk, saying, "Dell, were you able to get in touch with Mrs. Gillespie?"

Wallace thinks, Dell?

Piz replies, "Yes, Naomi, I put her on the schedule for Monday. This is my friend, Wallace; we used to be roommates back at Hearst College before I transferred. Wallace, this is Naomi, she's my boss."

Naomi says, "Nice to meet you, Wallace." She eyeballs Wallace's physique. "Are you another surfer like Dell?"

A little confused, Wallace replies, "No, I play basketball."

"Hmm, shirts and skins, sounds good." She walks into an office.

"What's that about?" Wallace asks. "And what's this Dell stuff?"

Piz looks a little embarrassed. "When I started working here, they asked what I liked to be called and I told them Piz or Stosh. They looked at my resume and saw that my full name is Stanley Adalbert Piznarski and asked if they could call me Dell, you know, short for Adalbert, instead. I think they thought Piz wasn't upscale enough."

"Stanley Adalbert Piznarski...S.A.P.? Dude, your parents wanted you to get your ass kicked in school."

Another woman joins them at the desk; she is brunette, in her early forties, slightly scattered. "Dell, can you cancel my 5:30? I have a dinner date and I don't think I'll make it with traffic."

"Of course, Violet. I'll take care of it. This is my friend Wallace from Neptune."

Violet shakes Wallace's hand, "You're the old roommate, right? You and your friend Veronica are the detectives?"

Wallace glances at Piz/Dell, who shrugs. "Yes, although I'm really more like the sidekick."

"Not from what Dell says. He told me about a few of your cases."

"I think he might have exaggerated a little," Wallace says politely.

"I was wondering if you were also a surfer, like Dell is."

What the hell is up with surfing around here? Wallace thinks. "No, I'm on the varsity basketball team at Hearst College."

She looks at him appraisingly, "It's really nice to meet you, Wallace. I hope to see more of you while you're visiting."

She leaves, and Piz/Dell cancels Violet's appointment for her. He looks at his watch and says, "Let's get out of here."

As they leave, Wallace says, "Are these people mental about surfing?"

Piz/Dell says, "Just the women; the men could care less. But I gotta tell you, they're all a little nuts."

----------

On the I-15, Mac slips the transmission into sixth gear and negotiates a curve in the highway like a pro.

"You got it baby!" Dick yells as the speedometer inches toward 90 mph.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Fun with Dick, Jane and Piz
Veronica meets with an old friend; Wallace
and Piz are recruited to find a missing doctor;
Mac tutors Dick in the ways of Vegas; Dick
tutors Mac in the ways of Dick.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Blond Stranger: Chris
Carmack. Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Wallace:
Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Piz: Chris Lowell.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: "FUN WITH DICK, JANE AND PIZ"

In Waterside Park, Veronica calls her dad on her iPhone. "Audio and video working?"

From his car, Keith says, "Check and check. Got your gun?"

"Of course." Veronica tugs on Backup's leash. The dog looks up at her adoringly and they begin to walk toward the fountain that borders the parking area. 10:55, right on schedule. She stands in front of the rushing water and says, "Backup, guard!" Backup sits, but remains alert, protecting his mistress.

At 11:00, the blond stranger Veronica followed from Pemberton Estates walks up. "Hello, Veronica," he says.

"Have we met?" she asks.

"Well, if you call tailing someone a meeting, then yes, we are acquainted. You can call me Daniel," he says. "Of course, the Kanes have made me familiar with your past exploits. Here's your bug, as promised." He hands her the listening device.

There's an awkward pause. In the car, Keith peers at the laptop screen, wondering who this is. He's a little reassured by the stranger's body language; the young man seems to be comfortable talking to Veronica. He wishes he could hear what they're saying, but other than an occasional syllable, he can only hear the rush of water. Then Keith is shocked: he watches as Backup barks, then licks the hand of the stranger.

Veronica is dumbfounded. "He usually hates strangers. Backup, sit!"

"It's okay, dogs always like me." Daniel pats Backup's head; the dog whines happily. "Veronica, you have to leave the Kanes alone. They are not involved in your mother's murder."

"How can you be so sure? The Kanes have a lot of money, they could have arranged for Wiedman to murder my mother and then had him killed."

"Veronica...I know for a fact that they were otherwise engaged that weekend, I was with them the entire time. I also was with them when they heard that Lianne Mars had been killed; there's no way that they could have faked their reaction, they were truly shocked."

"Otherwise engaged? What does that mean?" Veronica asks.

Just then, a young girl, just a toddler, walks up to Daniel. "Daddy, I'm hungry." She rubs her eyes, and then grabs the man's hand.

Listening in the car, Keith watches Veronica's videocamera turn downward; he realizes she is looking at the child; he hears her say, "..uh...n, is...you? Oh my g..., it is...." He is shocked to see the camera's focus zoom toward the stranger's chest, and he realizes Veronica is hugging the stranger.

----------

Piz and Wallace are throwing a Nerf basketball around in Piz's apartment when the phone rings.

"'Lo?" Piz drawls.

Violet, the therapist from Oceanside Wellness Center, says frantically, "Dell, it's me, Violet. I know it's your day off, but is there any way you could drive over to Cooper's house and check on him for me? He's two hours late, patients are screaming, he's not answering either one of his phones. I can't go, I have a patient in crisis here."

Piz says, "I suppose...what if he's not there? What do you want me to do?"

Violet gives him the address and says, "There's a spare key hidden under the green flowerpot; take your detective friend along, maybe he can help. Let me know what happens. I gotta go, thanks a million, Dell."

Piz hangs up and looks at Wallace. "That was Violet, the doctor with the brown hair you met yesterday?"

Wallace nods.

"Cooper is the pediatrician at Oceanside and he's always hooking up with these really questionable women he meets online. Violet's had to bail him out a bunch of times. She said he's two hours late and she can't go, she wants us to go see if he's alright."

"By questionable you mean hot, right?"

"Uh-huh. Plus, you know, Cooper's the guy that scored the tickets for us, we probably should see if he needs help," Piz adds.

"All right, I'm in."

----------

Mac and Dick are in their hotel room in Vegas. The night before they had a nice dinner, and Mac gambled a bit; Dick mostly watched, trying to remember what Mac had told him during the ride. Mac goes over it again.

"Okay, so we're going to use the KO counting system...it's one of the easiest systems, so it's the best way for you to get started." She shuffles a deck of cards and taps the cards' edges against the table. "We use this system so we don't have go back and forth between the running count and the true count, do you remember, I explained the math to you."

Dick's eyes are a little glazed, but he nods his head.

"All the cards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 count as 'plus one', 8 and 9 are 'zero' and ten and up are 'minus one'. When the dealer starts a new full shoe of cards, you start at 'zero' and add or subtract as cards are dealt. Then you use the strategy chart," she points at the small laminated card in Dick's hand "to make your decision. At any point, the card count tells you whether to hit, stand, double or split. It's basic probability theory."

"Okay, I think I got it," Dick mumbles.

They practice keeping count until Dick can manage it.

"Now let's see if you remember what I taught you about dealer tells," Mac instructs.

Dick is more confident about this topic. "All right, if the dealer's hole card is a paint card, that means a face card, he'll be able to see it easily, so he'll just look at it, super-quick. Now, if he's got a stiff card--I gotta tell ya, I love that, STIFF card--that means a low card, he'll have to look carefully to make sure it's not an ace. I got my own little trick for remembering; QUICKIE, STIFFY. Two of my most favorite words."

Mac rolls her eyes.

Dick punches her lightly in the arm, "Don't sweat it so much. I'm just here to hang with you. The red hair is killin' me."

Mac's persona for the weekend is Maggie Murphy; the wig is vivid red, cut in layers and spiky. "What you really love is the trashy outfit."

Dick pulls her onto his lap, nuzzling her neck and grabbing her ass. "You say trashy, I say bootylicious."

----------

Veronica looks at the little girl walking up to the stranger and feels a chill, realizing who the little girl reminds her of.

FLASHBACK: Veronica pushes back the clothes and reveals a sliding door in the back of the closet. She opens the door and sees Grace Manning sitting in the small space. She turns to Duncan, upset at their discovery.

Veronica turns to the stranger and says, shakily, "Duncan...is that you? Oh my god, it is you." She throws her arms around Duncan's neck.

"Not so loud, Veronica," he whispers in her ear.

"Duncan, she looks...she looks just like Grace Manning. She's beautiful."

Duncan says, "Sometimes she reminds me of my sister when she was little too. She's definitely got Lilly's free spirit. Since we've been on the run, I've been calling her Jane." He smiles down at his daughter. "Jane, you were supposed to stay in the car."

Keith watches the video screen. The camera lens moves out from the stranger's chest and then downward, with the blond man out of view; he realizes they are sitting next to each other on the park bench, and he wonders what the hell is going on. He decides to take a chance and dials Veronica's cell phone.

Veronica answers her iPhone. "Hey, Dad." She glances over at Duncan.

Keith says, "Veronica, if you're in trouble, tap the videocamera."

"Nope...Everything's fine, you don't need to worry. I'll see you later, okay?"

"I'm going to keep watching, honey." They hang up.

Veronica asks, "How many plastic surgeries did you have?"

Duncan says, a little bitterly, "Nose, cheekbones, chin implant, eyebrows, you name it, I did it. Colored contact lenses, and dyed hair. You know, dark roots are a bitch." Lilly lays her head down in her father's lap and closes her eyes.

"But I don't get it, even your voice is different."

Stroking his daughter's hair, Duncan explains, "I found a doctor in Sao Paulo who does a surgery on your voice box that alters your speaking voice. When I first left the country, the Mannings' private investigators were completely ruthless. I barely got out of Hong Kong ahead of them. I spent some time in Capetown and Sydney, then I moved to Cyprus for a while. It was easy for my parents to send me money there because of the banking laws."

"Conothan Enterprises, right?" Veronica asks.

"How did you--." He shakes his head. "The last few months, I've been in Vancouver. Mom and Dad are getting close to working out an amnesty deal. They have their own private investigators looking at the Mannings to prove that they are unfit parents. Lately, the Mannings seem to have given up trying to find me, and it seems a little bit safer, so I've come into town a few times to talk with the lawyers. It's risky, but I would do anything to keep Lilly. You don't know what it's like, Veronica. When you become a parent, everything changes; you would do anything for them." He leans down and kisses Lilly on the head.

"Does that go for Jake and Celeste too?"

"Veronica, doesn't October third mean anything to you?" Duncan asks.

She remembers, and flushes in embarrassment.

"I came to town on the second. We spent the whole weekend together, just family, marking the fifth anniversary of Lilly's death. We watched home movies, we reminisced; we cried, a lot. We showed my Lilly pictures of her aunt. On Sunday evening, we watched the news and learned that Wiedman had been shot. There's no way that my parents faked their reaction to the news. My dad hasn't thought about your mom in a long time; all they ever think or talk about is getting me amnesty and reuniting the family."

"What about your mom, she always hated--" Veronica starts.

"Veronica, she's not involved. When they found out about...." Duncan stops.

"What?"

"My parents fired Clarence Wiedman when they found out I hired him to execute Aaron Echolls."

"You...hired Clarence Wiedman?" Veronica is aghast at the revelation of Duncan's involvement.

"Yes...it came up about six months ago when the attorneys were scrutinizing some of my expenses overseas. When my dad questioned me about it, I admitted that I was the one who avenged Lilly's murder. My parents were furious with me and with Clarence. It's one thing to manipulate the evidence in a murder investigation, but to them it's another level entirely to assassinate a child-raping, murdering scum like Aaron." Duncan says, vituperatively. He repeats, "You don't know what it's like to be a parent, Veronica. I couldn't live with the possibility that Aaron might rape another teen-aged girl like my daughter. When my parents found out what I had done, they fired Clarence on the spot, and they reamed me a new one, saying I had put all their amnesty efforts in jeopardy with my actions."

"Wait...did you say that Wiedman did manipulate the evidence in Lilly's case? I never understood what happened, what did he do to make the time of death appear to be earlier?" Veronica says.

Duncan tells her what happened.

FLASHBACK: At the Kanes' old Neptune estate, Jake and Celeste return home. Jake calls out for Lilly and finds her, murdered, in her brother's arms by the pool. Jake and Celeste drag Duncan away from his sister, and Jake places a call to Clarence Wiedman. "I don't know what happened; all I know is we need to make sure that my son and Celeste and I have an alibi for this," Jake says frantically.

Celeste confronts Jake,"I don't understand...where were you this afternoon?" Jake admits he was with Lianne, and Celeste slaps him across the face. Wiedman comes to the estate, bringing bags of ice. He packs Lilly's body in the ice to lower her body temperature, making it appear that her body has been cooling for several hours and therefore changing the time of death to hours earlier. Wiedman makes sure that Duncan is cleaned up and then re-stages the murder scene. He delegates washing Duncan's soccer uniform to Celeste, who forgets to turn off the buzzer on the dryer, which later alerts Keith Mars that the Kanes are doing laundry.

"Did you know that your dad paid my mother's fine when she was arrested for dealing drugs? And then he paid for her rehab?" Veronica asks, her voice rising in agitation. She remembers something else. "Did you know that five years ago Wiedman stalked me and took photos, sending them to my mother so she wouldn't reveal my supposed paternity?"

"That's not the real reason for the photos." Duncan looks at Veronica's shocked face. "You thought it was to keep Lianne quiet about you possibly being my sister, but there was never a real possibility that you could make a substantial claim on the Kane estate. The entire Kane fortune was locked up in trusts from day one."

Veronica is silent, trying to absorb the new information.

FLASHBACK CONTINUES: At the Kane estate, Celeste and Clarence are arguing. Celeste, pacing uncontrollably, says,"Keith Mars is sure Jake had something to do with the murder. If he discovers that we moved Lilly's body and" choking on the words "made her...froze her...changed the time of death..." she finally finishes.

Wiedman responds, "We did what we had to do to protect your son."

Celeste sobs, "If Keith finds out that Jake and I weren't at the Neptune Grand...Keith will never stop investigating and Duncan might be arrested."

"The only one who can break your alibi is Lianne Mars. Celeste, Lianne has to be silenced."

"Silenced--" Celeste says, panicking.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure that she'll stay quiet. I can show her what will happen if she doesn't," Wiedman says, menacingly.

Duncan explains, "Clarence tried to force her to remain silent by sending her the threatening photos, but your mom just ran away. My dad was furious when he found out what my mom and Clarence had done--he thought it would only make your dad more suspicious."

And make me suspicious, too, Veronica thinks. "And what about the fine, and rehab last year?"

"To my knowledge, that was the last contact my dad had with your mom. They argued about Lianne a little after we saw the news of Wiedman's death. My dad swore that he washed his hands of Lianne after he admitted her to the rehab center. And I believe him...I'm sorry, Veronica, but your mom only brought pain and trouble to my family; by the time of your mother's arrest in Texas, my dad had begun to reunite with my mother. All they ever talk about or think about is getting me amnesty and custody of Lilly."

"Aunt Lilly?" says the little girl sleepily, who has fallen asleep in Duncan's lap while they rehashed the past.

"Yes, Jane, Aunt Lilly," Duncan says.

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Eyes Wide Shut
Wallace and Piz help a not-so-innocent
sucker with the long-distance help of Mac;
Dick just wants to play; Duncan helps
Veronica make sense of things.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. New Duncan: Chris
Carmack. Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Wallace:
Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Piz: Chris Lowell.
Lisa: Lindsay Lohan. Cooper: Paul Adelstein.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: "EYES WIDE SHUT"

Wallace and Piz pull up outside Cooper's house in the hills. "Everything looks okay," Piz says.

They ring the doorbell, but there's no answer. "Let's look around a little before we go in," Wallace suggests. They walk around the outside of the house, looking in the windows. When they go around the back, Piz looks in the window and says, "Uh, oh."

Wallace joins him, and starts to laugh when he sees a man, naked, tied spread-eagle to his bed with duct tape over his mouth. "Somebody had a really good time last night."

They rush around to the front, find the key under the flower pot and let themselves in. Piz calls out, "Dr. Cooper, it's me, Dell. Violet was worried when you didn't come in today."

Piz and Wallace make their way into Cooper's bedroom and release him from his bonds. Cooper ruefully removes the duct tape from his mouth.

"Dr. Cooper, are you okay?" Piz asks.

Cooper eyes Wallace. "Who's he?"

Piz says, "He's my old roommate, Wallace; he's visiting me this weekend. What happened?"

Cooper, throwing on some clothes, tells them the sordid story. He met up with a woman whose screen name was LusciousLisa747 at a bar; they hit it off and returned to his place. She suggested the bondage sex play, but as soon as she had Cooper secured, she duct taped his mouth, then rifled through his belongings and stole his cash and a few small items.

"I don't care about the cash. And I don't even care that she tied me up and left me. Actually, that was kind of hot," he muses. "But she stole my grandfather's watch; he wore it all through World War II, and claimed it was his lucky watch that saved his life. It means a lot to me. I can't believe she took that, it's not very valuable, except to me," Cooper moans. "I would pay a lot to get that watch back."

Wallace and Piz glance at each other. Wallace says, "You know, Dr. Cooper, I work for a private investigator in Neptune. I might be able to help you."

----------

In Vegas, Mac and Dick have entered the casino floor and have selected a blackjack table. Dick tries hard to stick to the counting system Mac taught him, but he keeps losing count when he looks at her. After the hand, Mac grabs his knee and whispers in his ear, "You should have stuck there!"

He whispers back, "I can't think when you touch my leg, baby."

Mac smiles at him. Her cell phone vibrates and she checks the text message. It's Wallace. "CALL ME I NEED HELP ON INTERNET CASE 911". She says to Dick, "Let's take a little break, and have lunch by the pool."

At the pool, she dials Wallace's cell. "Whassup, my brother."

Wallace explains that he's trying to get the real IP address of Cooper's date. Mac coaches him through the steps, but it's a dead end, and Wallace says he'll have to try something else.

Dick has changed into his swim trunks, and he does a cannonball off the diving board. Mac screams as he soaks her.

"Where the hell are you anyways?" Wallace asks.

"Uh, I'm in Vegas."

Dick says loudly, "C'mon, get off the phone, the pool is bitchin'."

Wallace says, "Is that Dick? What is wrong with you, girlfriend?"

"I'm just seeing how the other one percent lives." Pointing at her head, she mouths at Dick, "Wig, remember?"

"Just make sure you wear a raincoat with the Mack Daddy," Wallace retorts.

----------

Duncan puts his arm around Veronica. "It's great to see you, Veronica. I mean, I've seen you around a few times when I've been in town, but it's been really hard not to speak to you."

"I've missed you, too. Duncan, did you know that someone faked forensic evidence that pointed to me?" Veronica says seriously. "And my dad has been receiving threatening letters. They say things like 'Repent, the time of Reckoning is upon you' and 'Whosoever shall lay with the sinner shall be struck by the hand of god's messenger'. Does that sound like it could be the Mannings to you? Do you think they hate me that much for helping you run away?"

Duncan considers for a moment. "I remember that Grace's journal had the phrase 'The path to God is paved with righteousness' written over and over again. The Mannings did write some letters to my parents that were pretty nasty; they accused my dad of orchestrating my flight out of the country. They even ranted a bit about suing you as well for aiding and abetting."

"They filed suit against the school board and the Casablancas but they never sued me," Veronica says thoughtfully.

"Probably their lawyers told them it was an impossible case. Are you sure the letters are connected to you? Your dad's made a lot of enemies over the years."

"One of the letters said, 'The sins of the Father shall be visited upon the lamb'. You could interpret that as meaning that I will be punished for your sins, Duncan. And we got the last letter right after my indictment was dismissed: 'Judge not; for only the lord can forgive a sin'. Do you think the Mannings are crazy enough to murder my mother in order to punish me?"

"They're definitely crazy, but as a motive that seems pretty far-fetched. And I think they hate me a lot more than they hate you."

"But you're not around, as far as they know. Maybe they're lashing out," Veronica ponders.

"Doesn't track for me....Veronica, please believe me, my parents aren't involved in this. I know my dad hates you, but he wouldn't do this, especially when it might jeopardize my amnesty," Duncan swears. "Veronica, I need to get going. I've been here too long, I can't take the chance that someone might recognize me..."

Veronica thinks, if I didn't recognize you, no one would.

"I'm heading back to Vancouver tonight. Please...don't try to bug my Dad again. I'm going to give you a secure email address. Don't use it unless you have to." Duncan kisses Veronica on the cheek and hugs her.

"Bye Daniel, bye Jane." Veronica waves goodbye, thinking about what might have been.

----------

Wallace asks Cooper to tell them about the date with Luscious Lisa.

"Well, there's not much to tell. We chatted online; I said we should meet and she agreed. She suggested Gallery Bar, but we settled on Glow because I had to work late and I didn't want to fight traffic on the Santa Monica Freeway."

"Hmmm." Wallace thinks. "You're sure Gallery Bar was the bar she suggested?"

"Positive."

"My boss has taught me that most criminals are creatures of habit; once they find a scam that works, they do it over and over again. Can you print out her picture? Piz and I will go over to the Gallery Bar and see if she makes an appearance tonight."

----------

After Duncan leaves, Veronica sits, just thinking. Her dad walks up and sits down beside her.

Keith says, "You know, I didn't get it at first. But I'm thinking that was your old friend who's been out of the country for a while. And he's had quite a bit of plastic surgery, I might add."

"Yes," she says. "He's going by 'Daniel' now and his parents are trying to get him amnesty."

"Did you learn anything from him?"

"He says that he was with Jake and Celeste all weekend. They were observing the fifth anniversary of Lilly's death. Dad, I'm so embarrassed, I didn't even make that connection," Veronica says soberly. "He said that Jake and Celeste were as surprised as he was when they heard Mom had been killed."

"And we know they're not great actors. Do you believe him?" Keith asks.

Veronica sighs. "I believe that he believes they're not involved."

----------

At Gallery Bar, Wallace and Piz take seats at the bar, and prepare to observe the clientele. Piz starts to order a beer, but Wallace nudges him, saying, "We don't want to get wasted tonight."

They sip at their Cokes, checking out all the ladies who come in the bar. Around 7:30, Wallace says, "Target acquired." When Piz instinctively turns to look, Wallace grabs his arm and says, "Be cool, Adalbert."

Piz glares at Wallace.

Wallace, thinking, says, "Piz, you should go get the car. I'll stay here and I'll send you a text when they're getting ready to leave. That way we can make sure to follow them. And...get two pizzas from that California Pizza Kitchen across the street."

After several drinks, Luscious Lisa and her escort get up to leave the bar; Wallace texts Piz "START YR ENGINES".

As they follow the couple through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, Piz remarks, "Ewww, she's practically in his lap." Then her head disappears from view, and Piz says, "We better drop back a little, it might be dangerous to tailgate." Wallace makes a face.

Finally, Lisa and her new friend pull up to a modest home. They walk inside, arm and arm; Lisa starts to undress her companion even before he unlocks the door.

"Now what?" Piz says.

"We eat one of the pizzas while we wait," Wallace says. "What kind did you get?"

"Barbecue Chicken and The Works," Piz answers.

After a brief discussion of the relative merits, they begin to chow down on The Works. About twenty minutes later, a taxi pulls up to the house and honks. Lisa leaves the house and walks toward the cab.

"Do you think they're done already?" Piz whispers.

"No, Piz, even you weren't that quick," Wallace says, avoiding Piz's finger flick. "She probably tied him up just like Cooper, cleaned him out and called a cab."

"So what do we do?"

"We follow the cab. I'll call the cops and report a disturbance at this address," Wallace replies. After he hangs up with 911, Wallace coaches Piz on his plan.

The taxi pulls up to a one-story house in the Valley. Piz parks the car. Wallace goes over the plan one last time, making Piz practice his lines. After waiting about fifteen minutes, Wallace sneaks up to the house unobtrusively. He scouts around the house, carefully checking to make sure Lisa is alone. He gives a thumbs-up to Piz waiting in the car. Then Piz puts on the baseball cap that Wallace found in the back seat and walks up to the house whistling and carrying the second pizza box. Piz rings the doorbell as Wallace crouches out of sight next to the door.

"California Pizza Kitchen!!" Piz calls out.

Lisa replies, "I didn't order a pizza. Go away."

"It's a special promotion, ma'am. We just opened a new restaurant in your neighborhood and we're giving everyone a free pizza to introduce them to California Pizza Kitchens. It's Barbecue Chicken, our signature pizza."

Silence from the house.

"C'mon, ma'am," Piz continues in his best Beaverton doofus voice. "My boss pays me based on how many pizzas I give away. Have a heart, willya?"

They hear the chain-lock sliding, and as Lisa opens the door, Wallace springs up and pushes into the house.

"Hey Lisa," he says. "We're here to get back Cooper's watch that you stole last night."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about," she says, nervously.

"If we don't get back the watch, we're going to tell the cops about what you did last night and tonight. We followed you from the Gallery Bar. I bet the bartender would probably remember you, too," Wallace says, quite a bit more authoritatively than he feels. "Cooper doesn't care about the money, he just wants the watch."

Lisa looks from Wallace to Piz and back. Finally, she says, "Fine, take the watch; I tried to pawn it today and it's not even worth anything." She finds the watch on her desk and hands it to Wallace. "Now get the hell out of here."

"You can keep the pizza with our compliments, ma'am," Piz says mock-seriously, touching the brim of his baseball cap.

As they quickly leave and head back to the car, Wallace says, "You are the definition of dweeb, okay? If we ever work together again, you are not allowed to improvise."

Piz just smiles goofily as they drive off.

They meet up with Cooper a short while later. Cooper's so happy to get his watch back that he gives them a five-hundred dollar reward and tells them to have fun at the game tomorrow. Wallace gives him a card from Veronica and Mac's new website, YourCheatingHeart.com, saying, "You really need this, dude."

*****************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Something's Gotta Give
A new case for Mars Investigations; Logan
seeks out trouble and finds it.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Piz: Chris Lowell. Logan:
Jason Dohring. Angel: Hector Atreyu Ruiz.
*****************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: "SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE"

Logan tips the bottle upside down. "Fuck." It's empty.

He considers his options. He could stop drinking. He could go buy more booze, although at this point he's not sure about driving; in fact he's not even sure where he parked the car. Of course, there's always the bars.

He picked the neighborhood where he lives for three reasons: close to surfing, reasonably close to UCLA, and plenty of neighborhood bars, filled with accommodating women and generous bartenders. He can put up with the tourists and the slightly crazy residents hanging out at Muscle Beach, so long as he also gets to appreciate the slightly funky ambience they thrive in.

He decides on the Venice Whaler bar, thinking that it'll be a short walk home, if he gets as drunk as he plans to. When he gets there, the bar is filled with energy; young people buzzing around, drinking and socializing, hoping that tonight's hookup will be the one that lasts. The noise level is comforting and stimulating all at once. He selects a seat at the bar and the bartender sets him up with a double. Logan says, "Keep 'em coming."

He is moderately buzzed. He confounded himself today by returning to work on his screenplay; somehow the characters are spinning slightly out of his control and he can't seem to make them behave, but the work is still surprisingly satisfying.

Logan notices a brunette woman sitting several tables over: not quite beautiful, but very attractive, with long legs and generous breasts, dressed in a tight mini-skirt and clinging top. He sees that she has a male companion hanging on her and looks away. He turns forward and realizes that he can see her in the mirror behind the bar.

She lights a cigarette, drags in a long intake of smoke, and crosses those long legs. Logan stops breathing for a second as she languorously drapes one long leg over the other, exhibiting herself in her short skirt, dangling one backless high heel from her manicured toes. He takes another sip. Her male companion answers his cell phone, and Logan realizes that she is now looking directly at him in the mirror. She holds his gaze for several seconds longer than coincidence, then turns back to her friend as he shuts his cell phone.

He continues to watch her for another ten minutes, finishing his drink and receiving another. Only once does she meet his eyes, and it's so brief that he's not sure it's intentional. Then, as her boyfriend turns to place an order for another round with the waiter, she looks at his reflection with obvious invitation. She stands up and heads for the ladies' restroom at the rear of the bar. Logan follows her with his eyes via the mirror. Several minutes later, almost as if someone else is controlling him, he throws a twenty on the bar, stands up and follows her.

----------

Piz and Wallace are having an argument over who has better breasts, Jennifer Love Hewitt or Jessica Simpson. Wallace finally trumps Piz by saying, "You know, it's not just size, it's also the angle of declination, the relative vertical movement compared to the movement of the body in general, and of course, nipple prominence." He motions descriptively as he speaks.

Piz concedes, "I didn't realize you've done such scholarly work on the topic."

Wallace says, "It's been one of my particular interests for quite a while now." They both grin.

They decide to have a drink, and park Piz's car near his apartment in Mar Vista. They walk toward the beach area, with Piz telling Wallace about the crazy people that hang out in this area, "Tomorrow, we have to check out the rollerblading babes." Piz points to Venice Whaler, a bar that he's hung out in several times, mentioning that the local talent hangs out there, and that it's an excellent bar to research Wallace's mammary theories.

----------

Veronica is studying diligently in her dorm room when she is interrupted by a knock on the door. It's Weevil, with an older Hispanic man.

"Hey, V, you remember my uncle, Angel, right?"

Veronica nods. "You fixed my LeBaron a couple times...and sold a car to my old boyfriend, Duncan." She tilts her head, saying, "How is the 'used' car business these days, anyways?" making air quotes around the word 'used'.

"It sucks," Angel says bitterly. "Okay, Eli says you're cool...so I'm just gonna tell ya. Sometimes our cars don't have a...legitimate...title or bill of sale. And some of my employees, they're not quite legal either. Last week, we get a call, saying that the sheriff's department is going to be visiting us the next day. The guy doesn't say who he is, just says Sheriff Van Lowe is going to be stopping by around 2:00, then hangs up. So, we're not stupid. Anyone without a green card stayed home that day, and we fixed up all the paperwork or got rid of the cars that we couldn't account for. Took us all night. Van Lowe shows up at 2:00, says it's just a routine immigration check, looks at our I-9 forms, then goes through our inventory and paperwork, making sure they all check out."

"So what's the problem?" Veronica asks.

"That night I got another call. Same guy. He says five grand a week, to make sure we don't have any more surprise raids from the sheriff's department."

"Protection money?"

Weevil says, "A quarter mil a year is not protection money. They're trying to drive Angel out of business."

Veronica says quizzically, "They?"

"The Fitzpatricks. A block down the street is Paddy's Car Parts and Used Car Emporium. Lately, Paddy's business seems to be a little slow and Angel's been cleaning up," Weevil explains.

"So they're making the cost of business too high for you, Angel?" Veronica questions.

"It's not just that. They killed our guard dogs a while ago. Someone shot out the windows in the office last night," Angel replies. "They're not taking no for an answer."

"I don't know, Weevil. The Fitzpatricks are dangerous. This is a big deal, more than I can handle," Veronica worries.

Eli replies, "I was hoping you would talk to your dad about it. Maybe you could..." he shrugs. "Maybe you could convince him that Angel's chop shop is the lesser evil in this case."

----------

In the Venice Whaler, Logan heads for the rear section of the bar. Looking for the woman he's been eying, he turns the corner and sees the restrooms, thinking, Now what? What the hell do you think you're doing here, Logan? He is just about to sensibly turn around and go back to the bar when she emerges from the ladies' room and turns to check herself in the mirror beside the door. She adjusts her skirt, tugging it to make sure it's exposing exactly what it intends to in perfectly symmetrical proportions.

Logan walks up behind her and quietly says, "I'd be happy to help with that." He places his right hand on her right hip. She is tall, especially on her high heels, and his mouth falls near to her ear. She draws in a breath, arches her back and subtly presses her ass back against Logan. He is instantly aroused, and lets his hand lightly move up her side, caressing her, feeling the smooth curve of her breast. When she doesn't protest and leans back against him even harder, he whispers urgently, "Let's get out of here...there's the back exit." Logan motions with his head.

A hand grabs his shoulder and pulls him away, whirling him around. Logan sees the fist like an oncoming freight train just before it smashes into his nose. "Motherfucker!" the man snarls. He takes advantage of Logan's surprise and hits him again, once in the abdomen and then again on Logan's face. Logan tries to recover and manages to hit his attacker several times with little force. The man smacks Logan on the chin, viciously, and Logan goes down. The man kicks at him and Logan tries to roll away.

Wallace and Piz come around the corner, looking for the men's' room. Wallace cries, "Shit, it's Logan!" Without thinking, he rushes over. As the man raises his leg to kick Logan again, Wallace gets his foot underneath and manages to push him off-balance. "Break it up, dude! He's down, you need to stop!" Wallace exclaims. A bartender rushes over as well, and with Wallace's help, gets the man to stop pummeling Logan. The girl who caused the commotion is watching intently, not saying anything. Piz stands frozen, remembering Logan's fury eighteen months before.

Wallace kneels down and speaks to Logan. "Logan, are you all right? Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Logan shakes his head no.

"All right, I'll call you a cab to take you home."

"No, I live a couple blocks from here. Can you...can you help me get home?" Logan manages to get on his feet with Wallace's help. "Shit," he says. He looks over and sees Piz and says, again, "Shit....karma really sucks."

----------

In Vegas, Dick is lying with his head on Mac's stomach. He looks up at her and says, "You know, I can't believe I never noticed how blue your eyes are. The red wig is cute, but Mac au naturel is my favorite. Especially this part right here." He starts nuzzling on Mac's stomach and begins to head down to the promised land.

Mac's cell phone rings. It's Wallace. "What's up?"

Wallace explains that he and Piz have rescued Logan from a bar fight and asks if Dick is still with Mac. Mac hands the phone down to Dick.

Wallace says quietly, "I don't know exactly what happened. There was a pretty skanky woman involved..."

Dick replies, "There's always a woman when Logan fights."

Wallace finishes, "...And her boyfriend beat the shit out of Logan. I think the woman kinda set him up for it, she just had a little smile on her face."

"And Logan went for it," Dick finishes. "Is he okay?"

"Well, he's drunk, and he's hurting. He says he doesn't need to see a doctor, and I think he'll be okay in a day or two, just bruises. But I called because he's really depressed, and I don't think he should be alone. Is there any way you can come here?"

"We're in Vegas....we could drive back to Neptune in the morning, and after I drop off Mac, I can head up there. Will he be alright tonight?"

Wallace considers. "If we stay until he falls asleep, I think he'll be okay until you get here. Piz is here too."

"Piz is there? Oh, bitchin', that'll perk Logan right up," Dick says sarcastically.

"Yeah, I know."

----------

After Weevil leaves, Veronica accesses PryingEyez, hoping to learn a little more about the Mannings before attending their church tomorrow. She runs a credit report, and is surprised to see that the Mannings have recently taken out a second mortgage on their home. She thinks, The Mannings won two lawsuits, one against the school board and another against the Casablancas family. The suit against the Casablancas was settled for a small amount, but they were awarded half a million dollars in their suit against the school board. Even if they've spent a lot of money pursuing Duncan and their granddaughter, they shouldn't need to take out a second mortgage. She peruses the report. The Mannings are significantly strapped for funds; Lizzie is attending San Diego State as a commuter and is receiving financial aid. Grace has withdrawn from Convent of the Sacred Heart Girls School and is registered in the Neptune public school system. I would never think that they would allow her to mix with the Satanic public school students after what happened to Meg.

Her cell rings. "Hey Dad."

Keith suggests that they should go to the shooting range again tomorrow after church. "Veronica, with what happened last night, I think both of us could use the extra practice. They're open until 8:00 on Sundays, how about I pick you up at 4:00?"

She agrees, thinking that a little target practice might help her sleep better at night.

----------

Logan is in the bathroom trying to apply a large Band-Aid to the worst of his cuts. His hands are bruised and shaking, and he's making a mess of it.

Piz, sitting in the living room, watches for a minute, then comes into the bathroom. "Let me help, I remember what it's like." Their eyes meet, then they avoid looking at each other. Piz throws out the Band-Aid, reapplies ointment and carefully places a new one over the cut. "Do you have any Tylenol?"

"Percocet."

"I'm thinking just plain Tylenol would be better right now. You're pretty hammered, I don't want to read about you dying in your sleep tonight." Piz searches through the medicine cabinet and finds an almost empty bottle of Tylenol and gives two to Logan with a glass of water. "What happened tonight anyway?"

"There was a woman who was totally bad news and I went after her anyway. And her boyfriend sucker-punched me. Cold-cocked, you might say," he says ironically.

"Uh-huh, that blows," Piz agrees, remembering.

"I was a moron to mess with her....D'you ever talk to Veronica anymore?" Logan can't help asking.

"No, not in a while. Wallace and I call her 'the one of whom we do not speak'. When I got the opportunity to move the radio show up here to L.A., we were sort of on-again, off-again. She could never really take the next step; it was really like friends-with-benefits for her, but I wanted more. So when I got the job, I took it. Los Angeles is a better city for me to be in for what I want to do, and I'm looking for more of a relationship than she could ever give me."

"How can you be so calm about it?" Logan asks. "You're just so...matter-of-fact."

"She was never very into it with me, it was always a rebound thing for her. She was still in love with you the whole time," Piz answers, a little bitter.

Logan looks at him, not really believing him. "You know, I can't be with her, and I can't be without her either, and I don't know what that leaves."

Piz shrugs. "Have you ever told her?"

"I wouldn't have any idea what to tell her."

"I don't think getting in a bar fight is the way to let her know," Piz says as he leaves the bathroom.

*********************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Sunday Bloody Sunday
Leo's campaign hits a snag; Veronica works it
at church; Keith attends mass.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Leo: Max Greenfield. Martina Vasquez: Luciana
Carro. Father Patrick: James Joseph O'Neill.
DeeDee Bradley: Jill Eikenberry. Eli: Francis
Capra. Logan: Jason Dohring.
*********************************************************

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: "SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY"

Leo straightens his tie and checks his reflection. This morning's Channel Nine television interview is crucial in the race for sheriff, and he knows his natural good looks and charm are two of his best assets. The television station's makeup person knocks on his door. "Deputy D'Amato, can we get started on your makeup and hair?"

Leo responds, "Okay, just make sure it's very natural looking. I'm not trying to look like a movie star."

"Yes, Deputy, that's not a problem."

While Leo is getting made up, an assistant comes in and conducts the pre-interview. "Okay, Deputy, we're going to start with your career highlights, and then we'll speak about the changes you would make in the department. Do you have a slogan we can mention?"

"Yes, 'Justice for All in Neptune'."

"Got it," the assistant says, writing on her clipboard. "Good luck out there, don't forget to smile."

----------

Veronica gets out of her car and straightens her skirt. After much internal debate, she decided that the look she needed was 'slutty, but trying to hide it'. Her skirt is just a little too short for church; her low-cut top is definitely too revealing, but she's wearing a slightly too small cardigan over it, so that you can't easily see her cleavage, but it's there for the discerning eye. She's wearing tinted glasses, long dangling earrings, and her black curly wig, styled with barrettes. She checks her purse to make sure she has all the accessories she needs.

She walks into the First Presbyterian Evangelical Church of Neptune, taking a program from a stack at the door. The Mars were not religious; she smiles a little, thinking of how her dad uses Christmas as an excuse to decorate a pine tree with baseball memorabilia. Her grandparents took her to church a few times, but it never 'stuck'. Veronica picks a pew near the rear of the church. She looks around and is surprised at how many familiar faces she sees: Mrs. Applebaum, her second-grade teacher; Woody Goodman's campaign worker/paramour, Jennifer Stansfield; Mrs. Sansone, who foolishly gave Landry a fake alibi; Mr. and Mrs. Dohanic; even a few Neptune High classmates: Kevin Carney, Gabrielle Pollard, and Howard Grigsby. And oh my god, Harmony Chase. Then the Mannings come in; Stewart, Rose, Lizzie and Grace ostentatiously head for a pew at the very front of the church. Veronica considers the fact that many of the pious attendees actually have sordid histories.

Reverend Bradley stands behind a lectern. Veronica's mind drifts; these familiar faces have her worrying again about all the people in Neptune who have reasons to hate her. She mentally shakes her head, thinking that as far as the Mannings go, she doesn't have any regrets; Duncan's daughter looked happy, even living on the run. As she tries to pay attention to the service, a woman takes the reverend's place at the lectern to give a reading. Veronica looks at her program and realizes that this is DeeDee Bradley. She has a very conservative look, with hair shellacked into place, subtle makeup, and a below-the-knee dress in an understated print. Veronica is sure that she's never seen her before.

----------

At St. Mary's, Keith thinks about the last time he went to church. Lianne's parents were devout Catholics, and they always disapproved of Keith's agnostic stance on religion. Whenever he and Lianne went to visit, he was compelled to attend services with them. The last mass he attended was shortly before Lianne's mother died. That death was one of the triggers for Lianne's worsening battle with alcoholism.

Even though it's been years, he remembers to check the missalette for the symbols that tell him when to sit, stand and kneel. He's surprised to find the service oddly comforting, and realizes that it's the ordinariness of the service that is appealing, and the simple decency of many of the elderly Hispanic and Irish women around him. Keith isn't surprised at the gender imbalance; from his days as sheriff, he recalls that not a few men from this neighborhood spent Saturday night in the drunk tank. He sees a few people he remembers from the old days as Sheriff; most seem to harbor no ill feelings or are even glad to see him at the church. Before communion, when Father Patrick urges the congregation to greet each other with the sign of peace, Keith's neighbor shake his hand and welcome him to the church with no reluctance.

Father Patrick is a good speaker: his voice is compelling and strong, and his message is clear and well-considered. The sermon on the sacrificial lamb is interesting. Father Patrick begins by speaking of the Old Testament meaning, referring to Abraham as 'the father of all who believe'. He discusses Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac to demonstrate his faith in God, saying that God tests us all, every day, to prove our faith. Father Patrick speaks of the everyday sacrifices that are made for the common good, without possibility of personal gain, and refers to the anonymous benefactor who donated the funds for 'The Bridge', the battered wives shelter. He continues by discussing the sacrifice of innocent people in order to serve God's incomprehensible plan and the necessity of faith to survive in the face of such tragedy. Father Patrick stops speaking for a brief moment, and looks directly at Keith. He brings the sermon to a close thematically by referring to the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died to atone for the sins of man.

After the service, Keith waits in line to shake Father Patrick's hand. As Father Patrick grasps his hand in a firm handshake, Keith says, "You're right, the sermon was very interesting."

Father Patrick replies, "The loss of a family member is one of the most difficult tests that God gives us."

Keith says, "I'm not sure that God was responsible for my particular sacrifice."

"Make no mistake, Keith; the Lord is ultimately responsible for all of life's trials and victories. You would do well to remember that," Father Patrick intones.

----------

Leo's interview begins on a positive note. The interviewer, Martina Vasquez, welcomes Leo to her show, and asks Leo to discuss his positive vision for Neptune. Leo talks about increasing patrols in areas that are currently under served and instituting traffic enforcement reviews to ensure that parking and speeding tickets are written fairly, without regard to wealth, status or ethnicity.

"Well, Deputy D'Amato, it seems that you are quite interested in protecting all of Neptune's residents, not just the wealthy. Yet it was your negligence that directly led to the theft of the videotapes of Aaron Echolls and Lilly Kane, which was one of the primary reasons for the acquittal of Mr. Echolls, who was certainly one of our more...shall we say?...prominent Neptune residents," Martina says, indelicately.

Leo clears his throat. It's obvious now that this interview is intended to be a hatchet job. "Well, Martina, actually the official statement implicated the general lax security at the sheriff's depart-"

Martina interrupts, reading from a sheet of paper. "The official statement is crystal clear. 'Although no single cause can directly account for the theft, the primary factor appears to be insufficient oversight by the designated caretakers. Most notably, Deputy Leo D'Amato.' How can the town of Neptune be satisfied that there will 'sufficient oversight' in the future?"

Leo takes a breath, and plunges in. "Martina, I was dismissed from the Sheriff's office for the mistake you're referring to. After a year of working in private security, I was recruited by then-Sheriff Mars to rejoin the force. Sheriff Mars led the investigation into the security breach, and if he can be confident that I deserved a second chance in the Neptune Sheriff's Department, so can the town of Neptune. Since my reinstatement, my record has been above reproach. I have received five commendations from the Mayor's office and a special letter of recognition from the FBI. The theft of the tapes was a direct result of my inexperience at that time. I have since completed specialized training in investigative techniques, sensitivity issues, computer crime and civil rights law. I have personally solved three murder cases, including one that was left over from the tenure of Don Lamb."

"Speaking of Keith Mars, what is your relationship with the Mars family? The gossip is that at one point you were dating Mr. Mars' daughter, Veronica, who as we all know was a star witness in Mr. Echolls' trial," Martina says smarmily.

"Veronica and I remain friendly, after a brief relationship that concluded more than three and a half years ago. Mr. Mars is a mentor and colleague, with whom I have an excellent professional relationship," Leo replies staunchly.

"It's quite an intricate connection to the Mars family, is it not?" Martina smiles.

----------

Veronica waits until the church has mostly cleared out. She then seeks out Mrs. Bradley. "Mrs. Bradley? I was wondering if I could speak to you. You sounded so...kind...when you spoke today. I really need someone to talk to." Veronica dabs at her eyes with her handkerchief. Using an old actor's trick, she has pre-applied Vicks VapoRub to the handkerchief; her eyes immediately well up with tears.

"Oh, dear. Wouldn't you rather speak to my husband? He's much better at counseling..." DeeDee says nervously.

"No, no...I can't bear to speak to a man. You see, I was abused by...a teacher, when I was very young," Veronica improvises, thinking that sexual abuse fits right into her cover story.

"All right. Just wait in my office for a minute, I have to say goodbye to the parishioners. I'll be right with you." DeeDee motions to an office down the hall.

She's letting me go in her office alone? Obviously she hasn't recognized me as Veronica Mars, Veronica thinks gleefully. She goes in the office; she sees that the computer is booted up. She quickly pulls out a flash drive, and copies DeeDee's email and a file labeled "Personal Correspondence" onto it. She pokes her head out into the hallway; still not sign of DeeDee, so Veronica rushes back to the computer and copies her browser history and a Quicken personal finance file. She ejects the flash drive and arranges herself in the chair across from the desk. She uses the adulterated handkerchief to bring on the tears again and is weeping by the time DeeDee enters the room.

"There, there," DeeDee says ineffectively. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's...it's my boyfriend. He wants me to...I can't even say it."

"Go on," DeeDee urges.

"It was bad enough before. He made me get an abortion. I know it's murder. But I'm all alone, I left home and came here with him when I was sixteen. My parents never believed me when I told them that my teacher abused me. They called me a whore and kicked me out." Veronica realizes she's enjoying the drama a little too much, and she'd better cool it. "Now, my boyfriend says we need money, and he wants to sleep with his friends, for money. I told him I'm not a hooker, and he just laughed and said if I want him to support me anymore, I'd better do it, or I'll be out on the streets."

"Oh my God, that's awful. What's your name, honey?"

Veronica says, "Lisa. Lisa McNeil. What am I going to do? I never graduated from high school, I can't support myself."

DeeDee sighs. "Lisa, you can do anything you put your mind to." Conspiratorially, she leans forward toward Veronica. "Honey, can you keep a secret? When I was your age, I was a prostitute. My boyfriend was as bad as yours sounds. He used to beat me if I didn't bring home enough money. I was lucky, a public defender helped me to find a battered women's shelter and with their help I got my GED. I went to college and I met my husband. We're not rich, but we spend our lives helping people and ministering to the lost souls of the world. You can do anything you want with your life, Lisa."

She rifles through her desk. "Can you get to San Diego? There's a new women's shelter that's being planned in Neptune, but it won't be open for a while. The closest shelter is in San Diego. I know the woman who runs it." She pulls out a business card and a brochure. "Here's the information and my card. I want you to go home, pack, and go straight there. Do you need bus fare?"

Veronica shakes her head, thinking, I think this woman's for real. "No, I have a car."

"Lisa, I want you to call me in a couple days. Will you give me permission to talk to my husband about you? He's an excellent counselor. I know you don't have a lot of faith in men right now, but I'm sure he would be happy to help you."

Veronica mumbles, "Okay. I'll go tonight."

"No, this afternoon....take it from me, you want to get out of there now." DeeDee hugs Veronica and escorts her out of the church.

Veronica walks to her car, keeping up her upset demeanor in case DeeDee is watching. As she pulls out of the parking lot, she thinks, DeeDee is the nicest woman I've met in quite a while.

----------

Logan wakes up with a terrific hangover. His whole body hurts. Apparently, one of the boyfriend's kicks connected with his rib. From past experience, he decides it's only a bruise, but it hurts like a mother. He finds a note on the kitchen counter. It's from Wallace.

Logan-

Your refrigerator seemed a little empty, so Piz and I bought you some food. We talked to Dick last night and he said he's coming up to visit you. He'll be here around dinnertime Sunday night. I'm still here visiting Piz for the weekend if you need anything. My cell number is 619-555-1225.

*******************************************************
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM TFX ch: 92 60min 2008 TV-MA
Disclosure
Keith investigates Father Patrick; Veronica
and Keith go to the shooting range and share;
Dick visits Logan after the bar fight.
Veronica: Kristin Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Father Patrick: James Joseph O'Neill. Logan:
Jason Dohring. Dick: Ryan Hansen.
*******************************************************

CHAPTER THIRTY: DISCLOSURE

Veronica decides that the information on DeeDee Bradley that she has copied onto her flash drive can wait. She makes a slight detour on her way home and drives past the Manning house. She is shocked to see the state of the house. It was never the grandest house in a neighborhood of large mansions, but it was always kept in perfect repair. Now, the white picket fence is missing a section, and is dire need of repainting. The lawn is unkempt, and the plantings are overgrown or dying. There are no potted plants on the porch anymore. The whole house needs painting as well. The Mannings' car looks to be about a five-year old Ford Taurus, which has also seen better days. What happened here? she wonders.

----------

After leaving the mass, Keith decides he has enough time before meeting Veronica to do some discreet investigating of Father Patrick. He pulls into a parking spot across the street from the church and begins to watch the priest's residence through a telephoto lens. He sees Father Patrick get into his car, and drive off, and Keith follows him several cars back.

Keith manages to maintain several cars between him and Father Patrick for a few miles, then as they approach the outskirts of town, they become the only cars on the road. At a diner just outside the city limits, Father Patrick pulls in and Keith has no choice but to continue on. He circles the block at the first opportunity and returns to the diner, once again parking across the street and observing with his telephoto lens.

After a half an hour, Keith is rewarded for his patience when he sees Patrick emerge from the diner with Vinnie Van Lowe. He rapidly takes a series of photos. As they get in their cars and leave the parking lot, Keith pretends to be searching in his glove compartment as they drive by. He sits up and wonders what business Vinnie has with Father Patrick.

----------

Keith meets Veronica at the apartment and as they drive to El Cajon Shooting Range, they compare notes on their mornings. Veronica has accessed the files on her flash drive and has only confirmed that reverends don't make a lot of money, and that DeeDee seems to be a kindhearted woman. Keith agrees with Veronica that DeeDee doesn't appear to merit further investigation. When Keith tells Veronica about Father Patrick meeting Vinnie, she pretends to gasp. "Sounds like a clue, Dad," she says ironically. "What reason would they have to meet clandestinely?"

"I don't know, but what I do know is that when it comes to the Fitzpatricks, you're going to let me take the lead."

Once they get to the shooting range, Veronica shoots well using traditional targets. Keith suggests they try a more challenging practice, and asks Billy, the manager at El Cajon, to set up the urban tactical simulation. As Veronica moves through a movie-like set that looks like a city, with grimy 'buildings', fake sidewalks and plantings, she has to discern whether the targets that pop up are friend or foe and to quickly make a snap judgment whether to shoot or hold her fire. She does well enough for her first time, clearing the course with a passing score, but she realizes she needs much more practice, and vows to return soon.

Driving back to Neptune that evening, Keith notices a set of headlights behind them. He doesn't think anything of it at first, but as the miles goes by, he begins to worry.

Veronica notices him looking in the rear view mirror more often than usual and asks, "Is someone behind us?"

"I'm sure it's nothing. It's just that they've been behind us for ten miles, since we left El Cajon, and there's not much on this road."

Just then, they both hear an engine revving. Veronica turns around and looks back; Keith speeds up and asks her if she can see anything. She says, "I think they turned their headlights off."

Keith takes a curve a little too fast, and Veronica has to grab the dashboard to avoid slamming into her father. He orders, "Veronica, get my gun from the glove compartment and then get down. No arguing!" Veronica does as he asks, and keeps quiet.

Keith sees that they are approaching a long straight-away; he guns the accelerator, and Veronica, hunched over, involuntarily gives a little shriek. "Hold on, Veronica!" He suddenly switches off the headlights as he stands on the brake, the tires squealing in protest; he quickly turns into a dirt road, spins the steering wheel and turns back onto the highway in the opposite direction, turning on his high beams.

He narrowly misses the car, which speeds off; he is able to see a partial California license plate GYK something. "Veronica, it's okay, I think they're gone. Can you help me remember the license? GYK, California plates. A dark sedan, maybe a Taurus."

Veronica slides back up onto the seat, shaking. "Dad, if I had been alone, I couldn't have done that."

"Well, maybe it's time to learn. We'll have some driving lessons--we'll go out to the desert and practice," Keith replies. "Honey, I think there's a restaurant up ahead. Let's get some dinner before we head back. I'm still a little shook up. And, Veronica...I haven't been completely honest with you. It's high time I told you why I was late to meet you in New York City two years ago, and what happened to Kendall Casablancas. I'm worried we're paying the price now."

----------

At the diner, sitting in a booth in the back, Veronica is still aghast that her father gave all of Kendall's money to the Neptune food bank. "You did what?? Let me get this straight, Kendall hired you to provide her with a new identity, then you helped her to hook up with the convict Cormac. Then Vinnie followed you, leading Liam to his brother. Liam killed Kendall and Cormac, but didn't realize that the money had been used to buy a painting; then you sold the painting and DONATED the money to a charity, instead of sending me to the Ivy League??"

"Well, when you put it like that...I didn't know what was going to happen," Keith finished lamely.

"I don't ever want to hear another lecture about unintended consequences....Oh my god, that's what Liam was talking about in the River Stix," Veronica realizes.

"When were you in the River Stix?" Keith asks, puzzled.

Veronica explains.

FLASHBACK: Veronica and Meryl are hunting for Meryl's errant boyfriend, Sully. They've tracked his cell phone to the River Stix. Liam Fitzpatrick comes up behind Veronica, unseen, and, somewhat menacingly, grabs her in a bear hug, swinging her around the bar. She cries out, "Let me down!"

Liam retorts, "Are you here to lecture us on stealing now?" While Veronica struggles, Liam dances around, holding her fast in his grip. "It's not enough your dad put half my family in jail. Not that I hold a grudge. No! Fair play, Sheriff." He spins her around, singing with the juke box, "And a-roving, a-roving, a-roving I'll go for a pair of brown eyes....You see, now I got a real problem, 'cause private investigator Mars sticks his nose into my business, and he helps that Casablancas bitch check out of Neptune with millions in my cash."

As Veronica relates the story, Keith become more and more livid. "He said that? 'Fair play, Sheriff.' I'll kill him. How the hell did you get out of there?"

"Vinnie was there. He pretended to send you a picture message of what was going on with his cell phone, and got Liam to let me go," Veronica admits. "Vinnie warned me to stay out of the River Stix."

"Amazing, Vinnie Van Lowe gave you good advice. I hope you took it. Dammit, Veronica!"

"Yes, Dad, that's the last time I was in there. And I didn't even want to go in, Meryl rushed in even though I told her to wait until we called for help. You still haven't 'splained giving that money away to charity, Dad," she says teasingly, trying to distract her father.

"Veronica, how could I have explained that money in the first place? In the second place, the Fitzpatricks would have come after us immediately to try to take it away."

"But you said that Liam still thinks you do have it. And we both know that Vinnie was working for him. Liam supported Vinnie against you in the sheriff's race. Do you think Vinnie knows about the Casablancas money?"

"He does, they hired him to try and find it, telling him that they thought I had it stashed away. He tried to get me to go halves on the retainer; said if I turned in the money, he'd split the Fitzpatrick's fee with me. Typical Vinnie ploy."

"Dad, I can't believe you never told me about this."

----------

"Logan, what the hell happened?" Dick says as he walks into Logan's beach house.

"It's not a big deal." Logan is laying on the couch, flipping through channels on the flat screen TV. "You didn't have to come."

Dick flops onto a chair. "Wallace said you were pretty messed up. I was worried."

"You didn't have to cut short your weekend. How it's go with Mac? I still can't believe you're hanging out with her."

"She's totally hyphy at the blackjack table. This card-counting shit that she does, it's muy loco."

"So all you did was gamble?"

"Unh-uh, I did manage to slip her the hot beef injection."

Logan laughs, then grimaces in pain. "Shit, don't make me laugh."

"Seriously, Logan, what's with the emocidal shit?"

"I just fucked up, hit on the wrong girl at a bar," Logan replies. "Could you make a beer run?"

Dick hesitates.

Logan wheedles, "C'mon, dude, just some beer. I'm not gonna get wasted."

Dick finally agrees. They spend a relatively quiet night playing 'Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball'. Dick surreptitiously watches Logan all night, worrying about his friend.

----------

Keith and Veronica are wolfing down two pieces of apple pie a la mode at the diner. "You know, Veronica, it's not possible to have a bad piece of apple pie."

"Mmm-hmmm," she replies, her mouth full.

"So when are you going to tell me about the Mannings? I don't think you volunteered to check out DeeDee Bradley in church today because she seemed so suspicious."

"You noticed the connection?" she says warily.

"It's been a long while since I fell off the turnip truck, honey," he says. "It came out at the Echolls trial that you broke into the Mannings' house; do you want to tell me why you broke in?"

"Well, in the spirit of full disclosure and amnesty, do you promise not to get mad?" she asks.

He takes another bite, and just raises his eyebrows.

"When Meg was in the coma, Duncan had her laptop, and he found out that Meg was speaking to Child Protective Services about an abused child she was baby-sitting. You found the letters in my room when Duncan kidnapped his daughter, remember? But when we first found the letters, we didn't know that Meg was speaking about her own sister; we thought it was one of the kids she was baby-sitting. So Duncan and I investigated all of Meg's regular baby-sitting clients, who were all total freak shows, by the way, but none seemed like actual abusers. In desperation," she sneaks a look at her dad to see how he's taking the new information, "we broke into Meg's house to find more information."

"And? What did you find?"

"The abused child was Grace Manning, Meg's little sister. We found her journal, filled with one sentence, written over and over, 'The path to God is paved with righteousness'. Then we discovered Grace locked in a closet. Grace said something about 'being tested'. Mr. Manning came home and found us; he called Sheriff Lamb, who arrested us."

"What? You got arrested??"

"Actually, I don't think he really did arrest us. He stopped a block away from the Mannings and let us go. I think Lamb believed our story, but he pretended to arrest us so it would look to Stewart Manning like he was doing his job. Nothing was ever said about it again until the trial, and you know that Lamb didn't miss many opportunities to hold something over me."

Rubbing his chin, Keith thinks about Veronica's story. "You truly were convinced that Manning was abusing his daughter? And that's why you helped Duncan get out of the country?"

"Meg made me swear not to let the Mannings keep her baby. She was worried they would arrange an adoption with an ultra-religious family even worse than her own," Veronica explains.

"And you think the Mannings might be punishing you with these letters and the frame job? That journal does sound a little like the letters. But what's the connection to Lianne and Wiedman?"

"I don't know, it doesn't make sense. Duncan said yesterday that it didn't make sense to him either. He thought they were more likely to sue me, as they did the Casablancas and the school board."

"I agree. The Mannings just don't seem like murderers to me. But I think someone today got scared, I don't know if it was someone who saw me or you, but the car following us was a reaction. We're making somebody nervous," Keith says.

"Dad, what about going home tonight? What's to say that that car won't be following us again when we leave?" Veronica worries.

"It's under control, honey."

Just then a policeman walks in to the diner and looks around. He spies Keith and walks over to their table. "Hey, Keith, long time no see."

"Would you like a little pie before we get going?" Keith asks. "Veronica, this is an old friend of mine, Patrolman Lundell. He's going to tail us back to the Neptune city limits, where Leo's going to meet us."

Veronica smiles, relieved. Then she has a thought. "Dad, Leo can't follow us around forever. I think we should get different cars for a while."

"Veronica, we can't afford to buy new cars, or even rent cars."

"That's not what I had in mind."

----------

Under Leo's escort, Keith and Veronica drive to Eli's uncle's chop shop. Eli and Angel are waiting for them, with a grey Honda Accord for Keith and a black Nissan Maxima for Veronica. Eli says, "They're both V6's, so you have a little power to get out of trouble if you need it. Full air bags, and not the bullshit remanufactured ones that might or might not work."

Keith shakes Eli's and Angel's hands. "Thanks, Eli, Angel. Veronica told me about what's been going on. I can't condone auto theft, but I'll stop by tomorrow to see if I have any ideas how to help you that I can live with."

Chapter 31

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YOLD

[(Anonymous)]

I watched Private Practice for a while, I've just been watching tv for two hours and I'm not ready to go to bed and too lazy to do anything else type of thing. I swear, when I read this I thought it was cute but random. Mind you, I remembered Del's storylines, but I didn't recognize the actor. Damn,he gets the job done and is likely a nice guy, but the charisma of a hand towel. I am so not team Piz. I had to look the show up and check the picture to make sure. (I hadn't seen Veronica Mars when I was watching Private Practice, so there is that, still).

Karma is a bitch!

--summergoose