It's been said above (I meant to reply to this several days ago, but such is life), but things are not looking good. Oy. I like Veronica's internal freak out and the fact that she realized she screwed up--it feels a bit more like the very first chapter and less like the last few chapters, which she at least had plans to keep focused on.
And yeah, running away to the UK would not work, they always give me the third degree when I try and get in there. Maybe Italy? No one cared about me at all when I went there.