FIC: YLD2 (11-20/151) (NC17)
Feb. 1st, 2008 12:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanessagalorePreviously on Veronica Mars: The Year of Living Dangerously Part II [Spoilers for Chapters 1-10]
After the rigorous day-long hike, Veronica is too tired to eat. She looks at the other girls who are eating diligently, even though Veronica sees that they are as exhausted as she is. She picks up her sandwich and tries to force it down, watching as some of the other girls gnaw slowly at the crust, then take miniscule bites, chewing each portion thoroughly. Veronica realizes they are savoring the pathetic meal, languishing over each bite as if it is a religious experience.
For her part, she thinks of her old comfortable water bed in Neptune. She smiles, thinking of her dad finding it for her at the garage sale, and fantasizes about slipping into soft, clean sheets that smell of fabric softener. She imagines drifting off to sleep with her dad right next door, keeping her safe. How did she never see how wonderful that was? In her exhaustion, she closes her eyes and falls asleep momentarily–that dozing sleep where the world exists but you are dreaming.
Seven weeks earlier...
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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Tunnel Vision
Veronica pursues Logan with Dick's help;
Keith crosses a line.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Dick: Ryan Hansen
Mac: Tina Majorino. Keith: Enrico
Colantoni. Ming: Welly Yang.
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CHAPTER ELEVEN: "TUNNEL VISION"
Mon. 1/26/09: Neptune, CA
VERONICA
This is my normal. The world is fucked up, yet again. The man who loves me has run away to try to protect me. Reporters dog me at every turn, asking me if Logan has broken up with me. Is this what you thought you would accomplish by running away, Logan? Today I found a tracking device on my car. Oh, and speaking of tracking devices, Logan, did you smash your phone after you sent me that text? You figured I had turned on the tracking signal in your phone again. Maybe you threw it in the ocean. Yeah, that sounds about right.
I can't do any PI work with the reporters following me around. Luckily, the dean has banned all reporters from campus, so at least I can go to class. Of course, the dean can't keep my lovely classmates from gossiping about me. I heard one girl say I'm the Mrs. Lovett to Logan's Sweeney Todd. What can I say, even the slams are better in college.
I'm completely exhausted, but I haven't been able to sleep since I got his text; every time I close my eyes, I imagine Logan teetering on the edge of a bridge somewhere...or rotting in the drunk tank of a Mexican prison.
~ • ~
Dick is laughing with Chip Diller in his room at the frat house when Veronica and Mac burst into the room. Dick immediately stops laughing when he sees Veronica's face. He says to Chip, "Gotta run, see ya later," and stands up, intending to flee.
Veronica blocks his path, glaring at him.
"Don't hurt me, Ronnie," Dick begs, ostentatiously protecting his man-parts.
"Don't make me hurt you, Dick," she replies. She pretends to lift her knee toward Dick's groin, and he reflexively flinches. "Have you talked to Logan?"
"I swear, I haven't talked to him. I'm worried, too. Leave my ballsack out of this, Ronnie."
Mac says, "Veronica, I can check his phone if you don't believe him."
Dick looks at her, hurt. Mac holds out her hand expectantly, and Dick gives her his phone. She begins to scroll through the call history.
"Chip, I think you should leave us alone," Veronica says. Chip glares at her, but complies, muttering "bitch" under his breath as he pushes past her.
Veronica continues, "Sit down, Dick. Let's discuss the situation," Veronica says, pushing Dick back down into a chair. She pulls another chair over and leans against it with folded arms, doing her best 'bad cop'. "When did you last talk to Logan?"
"Did you ever think that maybe you should just do what Logan wants, and just leave him alone?"
Mac shakes her head at Dick's naïveté. "Dick, answer Veronica's question, or I'm not going to help the frat with your little porn problem."
"You wound me, baby," he replies to Mac. Mac rolls her eyes.
Veronica pokes Dick in the chest to get his attention. "Hello! Do you speak English? Parla usted Inglese? I'll say it again. When did you last talk to Logan?" Veronica repeats.
"Okay, okay! I talked to him on Friday, the day before the memorial service. He was really down; you know how emo the boy can get...especially since he can't go surfing with his bum leg."
"Do you think he's drinking again?" Veronica asks.
"I don't know. He hasn't had a drink around me since the accident."
"Where would Logan go to hide?"
"T.J.? Cancun or Cabo San Lucas, maybe."
"All right. You're coming with me. We're going to L.A. this afternoon after class. We'll check out Logan's house, and then if we don't find any clues there, we'll go down to T.J. and look in all the usual places. I think it's a long shot; Logan's too smart to go there."
"I don't understand why you won't just let Logan–"
"Dick!" Mac and Veronica say together.
"Oh man, I'm in trouble," he moans, shaking his head.
~ • ~
In Ranchita, California, near the Anza-Borrego Desert, Keith checks his map again, then rechecks the GPS coordinates on the navigation system of his rental Jeep Wrangler. He pulls out a copy of a title deed. The deed lists this property as belonging to Shamrock Inc., which Keith has discovered through patient research is a shell corporation, owned by yet another shell corporation which lists Liam Fitzpatrick as the sole shareholder. Keith nods to himself that he has located the correct address. He exits his car and surveys the property, which appears to border on state park lands. The title shows that Shamrock Inc. owns twenty-five acres of land, and the property appears completely undeveloped. If I wanted to stash a car somewhere, this is the perfect location.
There is a rough doubletrack road that leads into the desert. Keith gets back in the jeep and follows the road into the property. After about half a mile, he sees a ramshackle house with a nearby shed. Keith parks the jeep and takes out a small device from his briefcase. When Veronica saw the SCI-SH055DV Signal Detector in the SpyGear catalogue, she fussed at him mercilessly until he gave in and purchased it. For the first time, he's glad he made the purchase. He also puts on a pair of latex gloves, deciding to err on the side of caution.
He walks to the house. The front door is unlocked, and Keith walks in cautiously holding the signal detector at eye level, checking the LED display. No video cameras, no listening devices, and no cell phones within 100 feet. Keith pockets the signal detector and begins to search the house methodically.
The house is in disrepair and appears to have been deserted and unused for years. A thick layer of dust covers every surface. When Keith opens the door leading to a set of stairs that descend to a basement, he is assaulted by a foul odor. But, upon investigation, he only finds the putrid remains of an animal that was probably once a fox.
Having found nothing of interest in the house, he walks over to the shed. The door is secured with large padlock of recent vintage that contrasts sharply with the age of the shed. Keith tries to clear the dirt from a small window to look inside, but the interior is too dark to make out any details. He returns to the jeep and finds a boltcutter in his tool bag. He snaps off the padlock and opens the double swinging doors wide to find a car covered by a dusty tarp.
Keith checks the signal detector again to be certain there are no surveillance devices. He removes the tarp from the car and finds a 1973 Ford Torino sedan. He nods to himself in satisfaction. When he opens the rear door, he finds a massive blood stain on the seat. He pops the trunk and finds nothing of interest, other than several empty bottles that once contained premium Irish whiskey.
Returning to the jeep, Keith retrieves a spray bottle of bleach, several rags, a dropper bottle of hydrochloric acid, and several containers of gasoline. Keith is positive that this location is far enough from a fire station that the fire he intends will burn out of control long before firefighters can get there, but he wants to make certain that even if the fire is discovered there will be no fingerprint or vehicle identification evidence to point to Vincent Van Lowe's crime twenty-five years ago. He uses the acid the obliterate the VIN numbers on the engine block and every other location on the car. He removes the license plates, intending to dispose of them elsewhere. He then proceeds to methodically wipe every surface on the car with the bleach. Keith pours the gasoline all over the interior, making sure to soak the bloodstained area in the back. He reserves some of the gasoline to pour over the wood surfaces of the shed itself.
When he is certain that his preparations will turn the shed into a raging inferno, he steps away and lights a disposable lighter, throwing it at the shed. The wood building catches fire tentatively, then with a whoosh, the flames intensify. Keith throws his latex gloves into the fire, and takes the empty gas cans and license plates back to the jeep. He loads the cans into the rear compartment, but doesn't notice when a small item falls out of his pocket into the sandy dirt. Keith takes a last look around the property, and gets the hell out of there.
~ • ~
"All right, Dick, just drive past Logan's house slowly; I want to see if there are any reporters."
Dick obeys Veronica's orders. As he drives past the beach house, they see several cars parked. The paparazzi are gathered together, sharing coffee and tales from the trenches of celebrity stalking. Logan's house is completely dark, with all the curtains drawn on the street side. His car is in the driveway. Veronica is certain that several more photographers are stationed on the beach, waiting to take telephoto shots through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the ocean. From the back seat, Backup looks out the window with interest at all the reporters.
Veronica instructs Dick, "Keep going to the public beach; I want to check something there." She spots the taxi stand that she remembered; she makes a note of the company name, 'Checker Cab', and the phone number, 310-555-5555.
"Okay, go back towards Logan's house." As they near the house again, Veronica says, "Now turn here and go around the block. Make a right up here," she directs Dick. "D'you see the Chinese restaurant up there? 'Woo Too'. Park in front of it."
Dick pulls the car up to the restaurant. "Now what? How are we going to get past the reporters?"
"Just wait in the car with Backup."
"Hey, get me an egg roll," he says.
Veronica slams the car door shut a little harder than necessary.
In the restaurant, Veronica approaches the takeout window. "Hi, Ming. Get any more acting gigs?"
"Chinese gang member #3, CSI, New York." he says proudly. "Typecasting at its finest. I even had a line this time. What's up, Veronica? I saw all the reporters outside Logan's. He hasn't ordered from us since this started."
"How would you like to make a little extra money? A private acting job," Veronica says, sliding a fifty-dollar bill onto the counter.
Ming quickly makes the fifty disappear. "What d'ya have in mind?"
Veronica quickly goes over her plan. Ming suggests a couple refinements, and they set a time for one hour later. Veronica purchases dinner for herself and Dick, and returns to the car. They eat egg rolls and Hunan beef while Veronica explains her idea.
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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Pick and Roll
Mac researches; Veronica investigates
Logan's house; Wallace has a fan.
Mac: Tina Majorino. Veronica: Kristen
Bell. Dick: Ryan Hansen. Wallace: Percy
Daggs III. Mordroc: Gabriel Tigerman.
Ming: Welly Yang. Candice: Toy Connor.
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CHAPTER TWELVE: "PICK AND ROLL"
Tues. 1/27/09: early evening Neptune, CA
Mac walks into the Neptune Stardust Diner. She looks around the restaurant, trying to guess which patron is secretly a fellow computer hacker. As instructed, she takes a seat in a booth and turns to the retro jukebox mounted under the window sill. She looks at the song selections and, inserting a dollar in coins, selects B12. She smirks as "Undercover Angel" by Alan O'Day begins to play. A young man in his early twenties slides into the booth across from her.
"Mac?" he asks.
"Yes, you must be 'Mordroc'." Mac nervously wonders what the protocol is for shaking hands with a fellow hacker.
Mordroc notes her hesitation and grins, flashing her the Star Trek Vulcan symbol.
Mac laughs and returns the sign, saying, "Right, 'live long and prosper'. That song is totally teh suxor."
Mordroc grins and replies, "Couldn't help myself. I love seventies music. So Max said you're one of the best hackers he's ever worked with, and that's saying a lot. I like your site. What kind of hits were you getting before you had to shut it down?"
"About fifty hits a day, but the average number that signed up for the service was much less, maybe two per day, and not all of them had a valid credit card. We were just thinking about expanding and trying to improve our search engine placement rates when this started. We'd like to port it as a Facebook widget as well; we might include a game module to attract users," Mac explains.
"That's smart. But you have to remember that Facebook is definitely the new frontier for identity theft. Its popularity alone would make it desirable, but the new third-party apps are creating all sorts of security risks that people are just not aware of. If you're running a business there, you have to be prepared to upgrade your security protocols constantly," Mordroc comments.
"What can we do about the flirt-bot program now? Did you find out anything about it?" Mac asks.
Mordroc puts his laptop on the table and points questioningly at the seat next to Mac, and she nods 'okay'. He slides into the booth next to her and turns the laptop around so they can both see the screen. "I traced the program back through several anonymizing servers in remote locations. What I really don't like is that the programmers used the Cult of the Dead Cow's Tor encryption software to cover their tracks, and then they used our logo to try to shift the blame onto us. There's certainly some rogue hackers within the Cult, but our main emphasis has been hacktivism, especially the Goolag project."
He continues, "This is some seriously sophisticated code-writing; very experienced programmers were involved in this. It's not some kid experimenting with coding vulnerabilities. I'm pretty sure that this is the Russian mafia."
At Mac's look of disbelief, Mordroc says, "Russian investors have been investing in a lot of U.S. internet companies, including livejournal. Gravitonus received a grant from the U.S. Civilian Research & Development Foundation to develop a user interface for the disabled. Russian computer scientists developed CuneiForm, the optical character recognition software. Those are all legitimate businesses, but there was also a famous case in 2004 where Russian hackers targeted the bookmaking industry in the United Kingdom. It's only logical to assume that the Russian mafia has moved into identity theft over the internet. The risk is low, and the rewards are great."
"So what do we do?" Mac asks.
"I've alerted some of my fellow cult members, and we'll be working on coming up with a solution. We consider this a direct attack on us. In the meantime, I've found some vulnerabilities in their software you can exploit for now. But I think you can assume that you are going to have to be vigilant to protect your site," Mordroc says solemnly. "Here's what you're going to do." He begins tapping at the keyboard, and Mac looks on intently.
~ • ~
In Venice, Dick drives back to the public beach access point half a mile down the road. Veronica puts on her black wig that she used so successfully at Gameland. Dick reluctantly takes the baseball cap that Veronica hands him.
"This casual look doesn't just happen, you know," he protests. "There's product involved."
"Put. It. ON."
"Okay, okay. You're bitchy when Logan's not around."
"Taking a big chance with your life, Dick," she mutters.
He wisely decides to remain silent and puts on the baseball cap.
"Try to act like my boyfriend, all right? I know it's a stretch," she says as they get out of the car. Holding Backup by his leash, they walk down the beach hand in hand, joining the other couples enjoying the spectacular Venice Beach sunset.
As they approach Logan's house, Veronica checks her watch. "We're a little early. Stop and look out at the sunset. Put your arm around me, Dick." She leans into Dick's embrace, keeping one eye on her watch. Dick's hand drifts down below Veronica's waist, and she stiffens. "Dick!"
"My bad," he replies, returning his arm to Veronica's shoulder. "Can't help myself."
"Okay, pretend to hug me, and keep it strictly PG." She watches as several men with cameras head for the front of Logan's house. "That's our cue." Veronica and Dick, with Backup tagging along, quietly go up the steps to the deck in back of Logan's house.
At the front of Logan's house, Ming rings Logan's doorbell. He speaks using a thick put-on Chinese accent. "Mr. Rogan? It's Ming from Woo Too, with derivery ohr-der. Mr. Rogan??" The reporters stop congregating and swarm the front of Logan's house, hoping for a shot of a distraught Logan Echolls ordering in Chinese food.
In the rear, Veronica uses her key to let them into Logan's house then disables the security system. She tells Backup, "Guard," and Backup obediently sits. "Okay, Dick, we've got ten minutes. You know what to do."
Out front, Ming looks frustrated at the lack of response. He asks the reporters if they've seen 'Rogan'. When they shake their head, Ming begins to tell a long, gossipy story in a thick accent about seeing Logan in his unmentionables.
Dick goes to Logan's bedroom and looks around, trying to determine in the fading sunset light what's missing without turning a light on to alert the reporters outside. Meanwhile, Veronica goes to Logan's desk. She turns on his laptop, surprised that he didn't take his computer with him. Using a small flashlight, she checks in the desk and sees that Logan's passport and his stash of ready cash is missing. Logan's cell phone charger sits empty on the desk. Veronica uses Logan's login to check his email and browser history. His inbox shows a confirmation for a reservation at a hotel in Tijuana. She also finds a receipt for a rental car, a relatively sedate Volvo S80. She forwards both emails to her own account. In his browser history, she finds a search for Tijuana lodging, but as she scrolls down she realizes that Logan cleared his browser history recently. She tries typing the URLs of a few travel sites like Expedia, hoping the autocomplete function on Firefox will give her some clue where he's been surfing, but all personal data, including cookies and the browser cache, have been cleared and she has no success.
Veronica checks the documents file and is surprised to find all of Logan's fiction and schoolwork has been deleted. She opens Norton Utilities and sees to her dismay that Logan defragmented his hard drive on January 25, thus rendering useless any recoverable deleted files. Sighing and cursing that she taught him all her tricks, she decides to try to locate his most recent files, knowing it will probably be futile. She uses the 'find' function, asking the computer to find all documents created after January 22, 2009, and quickly copies all the resulting files to her flash drive. While she waits for the files to finish copying, she takes a quick look around the living room. Nothing seems out of the ordinary, but when she looks a little closer, she realizes that one of Logan's photos of her has been replaced by a generic photo of the beach. She checks her watch and calls out, "That's time, Dick; let's go."
Out front, Ming finishes his tale about Logan. He tells the reporters to hold on; he needs to check with his boss. Ming pulls out a cell phone and pretends to talk to his boss at Woo Too in Chinese. After an animated one-sided discussion, complete with hand gestures and dramatic facial expressions, Ming hangs up and tries ringing the doorbell again. "Mr. Rogan? My boss says you there. Don't worry, reporters all gone for sure." He winks at the paparazzi, who prepare their cameras for the money shot.
Veronica, Dick and Backup slip out the back entrance and resume walking on the beach, heading back for Dick's car.
Veronica grabs Dick's hand and looks up at him, pretending to smile. "So what did you find, honey?"
"He took one small bag, that brown backpack he uses for school. I think a couple pair of jeans, t-shirts, maybe one nice shirt, that green one you bought him. His swim trunks, the really ugly ones with the blue fish. Flip-flops and sunscreen, toothbrush, stuff like that," Dick says.
"Anything surprising missing?"
"Just that he didn't take very much. Maybe he was hurrying."
Veronica chances a look back and sees that the paparazzi have resumed their places observing the back entrance of Logan's house. "Mission accomplished. And no one's the wiser."
"You're gonna tell Mac that I did good, right?"
"Not only that, you did well."
"That's what I said," Dick says, a little confused.
~ • ~
When the Hearst College basketball team enters the gym, Wallace searches the stands for familiar faces. He sees Mac and nods as she waves at him. He sees a petite African-American woman making her way to an empty seat; when she sits and turns to face the court, Wallace sees that Candice has come to the game as she had promised him. All RIGHT! he thinks.
Wallace has an unbelievable game. The opponents, the Colorado State Rams, are a strong team this year, and they put up a worthy fight, but Fennel is on fire. After a particularly stellar lay-up, he sneaks a glance at Candice and sees her smiling and applauding. At the end of the game, Hearst wins, 72 to 69, and Wallace is named player of the game.
When Wallace exits the locker room, he is thrilled to see Candice waiting for him. "Mr. Fennel. I must say I've never seen the appeal of basketball before, but I had a lot of fun tonight. I wondered if you wanted to celebrate your victory," she says shyly.
[Put your cursor over the Spanish phrases for a translation]
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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Go Ahead, Fake My Day
Veronica and Dick go to TJ;
Logan on the run.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Dick: Ryan Hansen.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN: "GO AHEAD, FAKE MY DAY"
Tues. 1/27/09 late evening: Tijuana, Mexico
Later that night, Dick parks his car in a lot on the U.S. side of the border with Tijuana, Mexico. "I don't understand why we can't drive over."
"I'm not taking a chance that we're going to get stuck for hours at Customs on the way back. It's already eleven o'clock. We're going to walk in, take a taxi to the hotel I found on Logan's computer. I'm sure he's not there anyways; he left that reservation for me to find," Veronica says.
"If you're sure, why do we have to do this?"
"The Hertz agent told me that the car reservation was used. The hotel says that Logan Echolls checked in last night. Somebody drove that car here and checked in, and I want to talk to him." She thinks, When I find Logan, I'm going to...I don't know what I'm going to do to him, but I'm never going to tell him another story about how to disappear.
Dick looks at her sympathetically. "Veronica, I'm sure he's okay. He'll come back as soon as the paparazzi calm down."
They exit the car and walk toward the border. The crossing is uneventful, and they hail a taxi, asking it to take them to the Hacienda del Rio. Veronica asks, "Dick, is this a place you guys have stayed?"
"Once, I think. It's not great; the only selling point is it's close to Avenida Révolución. And it's cheap," Dick says.
When they get to the hotel, Veronica goes to the front desk and asks in Spanish for Mr. Echolls' room. The clerk clears his throat and replies, "Creo que Señor Echolls salió por la noche. Él pidió direcciones al 'Adelita Bar'." He raises his eyebrows, looking at Veronica.
Dicks pulls Veronica aside and whispers in her ear, "Um, Veronica? He's saying that Logan asked for directions to a whorehouse in La Coahuila."
"And you know this because..." she says. "Never mind. Would Logan go there?"
"We've been there, more than once." Seeing Veronica's look of disgust, he continues, "I didn't say we used their services, but, c'mon, it's Tijuana, what'dya think we did down here?"
"I don't know, tequila shots, maybe?" she says witheringly.
"Veronica, you can't go in there, you know. A beautiful girl like you–it would be open season," Dick says.
"You'll have to go in for me." She realizes something and asks Dick, "Would Logan need directions to Adelita?"
Dick replies, "Can't imagine, unless that hematoma thing knocked out all his sweet memories of Tijuana hookers."
Veronica turns back to the hotel desk and pulls out her PI license and shows it to the clerk. "Señor, we believe the real Mr. Echolls is the victim of identity theft...alguien ha robado su identidad." The clerk nods that he understands. "I'm sure you want to cooperate with us in this matter, uh, seguro que quieres ayudar. We are working with the FBI, who are very interested in locating this person in a related matter." She returns her PI license to her purse and takes out a picture of Logan. Stumbling a little in the Spanish, she says, "Es una foto de...uh, el verdadero Señor Echolls. Es el hombre que esta aqui en el hotel?"
The clerk studies the photo. "Well, he looks a little like this guy. Short hair, dark blond, good looking, about six feet tall. All the ladies were checking him out."
Veronica sighs, realizing she could have asked her questions in English. "Did he have a cane?"
"Yep. Hey, you guys need a room?"
Veronica shakes her head and says, "I don't think so. Thanks for the help."
"De nada, senorita." The clerk smiles at her. "Your friend is right, don't go in Adelita."
~ • ~
Tues. 1/27/09 late evening: Somewhere in the United StatesIn a cheap motel off a deserted highway, Logan locks the door behind him and tosses his backpack and laptop onto the bed. He uses the bathroom, splashing some water on his face. He sits on the bed and contemplates the television, finally deciding that he doesn't want to risk seeing his face on the screen. He pulls out the new laptop he purchased for cash on his last day in L.A. Logan opens a small disc case and peruses the DVDs he brought with him. All his favorite films are here. He rejects 'Reservoir Dogs' and 'Pulp Fiction', thinking too bloody, too violent. He considers 'American Beauty' and 'Cold Mountain', but the thought of impossible love that can never be attained hits too close to home. Finally, Logan selects 'Million-Dollar Baby', but stops the film after twenty minutes, realizing that he'll start to weep if he watches the whole movie. He slides the disc back into the case, and looks through some of his other movies: Alfred Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' and 'Rear Window'; the Coen brothers' 'Fargo'; and Polanski's 'Chinatown'. The twists and turns of the great masters feel too similar to his own past and remind him too much of Veronica and her investigations. He finally realizes that all the movies that he loves are too powerful for the way he feels right now.
He undresses and gets in bed, staring up at the watermarked ceiling. Tomorrow's going to be a long day. First up: new ID, then get rid of the car. I bet Veronica's already found the Tijuana reservations.
Tomorrow phase two starts. I hope that schmuck Harvey Greenblatt was right about Jessica Simpson's schedule. Am I doing the right thing? Veronica's probably furious. If she's furious, she can't be sad. And if I stay away, maybe she'll actually be all right. She'll never forgive me, but...at least she'll be all right. The paparazzi will forget about her eventually. God, I miss her; I wish she was here.
Logan's mind wanders to a bittersweet fantasy that sustained and tortured him for many months several years ago. He is lying on the couch in the suite at the Neptune Grand, wearing Duncan's borrowed argyle sweater with a magazine covering his face. Veronica comes in and lays on top of him. He stays perfectly still, hoping she will not realize that it's him and not Duncan. She caresses his chest, then to his delight she moves down, unzips him, and opens his pants. Pulling his shorts down, she puts her mouth on him; he groans involuntarily, but manages to keep his face concealed under the magazine. Veronica licks him teasingly for long minutes as he gives himself over to the rush of the sensations. He is frustrated and overwhelmed as she licks under and over him, and around the sensitive rim and tip; he can't decide if he wants the agony and ecstasy to stop or never to stop. She stops suddenly, and his cock jerks uncontrollably; she circles her hand around him and begins to stroke him as she takes him in her mouth. The exquisite friction of her grasp is unbearably exciting, and he inadvertently thrusts into her with a quiet gasp of pleasure. She moans in response and tightens her lips around him. Guiltily he throws the magazine aside, reaches for her, and pulls her up to him, saying "It's me, Veronica; stop, it's me."
She answers, "I knew it was you. Of course I knew it was you." She kisses him, and he tastes the saltiness of himself on her mouth. She sits up and tugs at the argyle sweater; he lifts his arms and allows her to remove it. She leans down to kiss him again. He battles her tongue with his own and reaches under her short skirt to caress the crotch of her soft underwear. She is damp with arousal and he moans, "Veronica...." He reaches up and slips his hand between her skin and her panties, and drags his middle finger, slowly, teasingly, across her nub. She spreads her legs and presses against his hand, begging him, "Logan, please..." but he keeps stroking her lightly, tormenting her with the gentleness of his caresses. He pulls his hand away, ignoring her cry of disappointment, then suddenly sits up and flips her under him on the couch.
Quickly discarding his jeans and shorts, he pulls off her panties and lays on top of her. He pushes her shirt up, and he grabs her wrists, holding them above her head with one hand. He kisses her breasts as she moans uncontrollably. He begins to gently lick and suck her right nipple as he strokes her left between his thumb and forefinger. She gasps and grinds her pelvis into him, but he rolls away, adjusting the weight of his legs to hold her down to the couch while preventing her from rubbing against his stiff cock. He bends down to her breast and sucks her nipple hard, teasing and nipping, forcing her to cry out. He pulls away and looks at her flushed face.
"Please..." she whispers.
"What do you want from me, Veronica? Why were you sucking me off?" he asks intensely.
"Please..." she repeats, flinching at his coarse words.
"What do you want?" he says angrily. He bends to her neck and bites her, marking her.
"Oh god...Logan, I want you to fuck me!" she finally cries in desperation.
Logan bites her neck again and she arches into him, struggling against his weight. He releases her wrists and forces himself between her legs. He pulls her calf up and over his shoulder, intending to give her the fucking she's asking for. He positions himself at her entrance; she's as wet and ready for him as she's ever been. He pulls back to look at her again as he pushes relentlessly into her tightness, thrusting as hard as he's ever fucked a woman. She gasps and closes her eyes. He stops mid-stroke and demands, "Open your eyes. Look at me, Veronica. Tell me it's me you want, and not Duncan."
Her eyes flutter open, and she whispers, "Don't stop, Logan. Love you..."
He resumes thrusting, and Veronica touches his face, drawing his lips to hers. She moans against his mouth, and he begins to pound into her, trying to punish her for her betrayal with each stroke, but she matches him willfully on each thrust, grabbing his ass, pulling him closer and urging him on. He pulls back for leverage and begins to fuck her with a vengeance, with Veronica saying, "Yes, yes, Logan, god don't stop" as he buries himself in her over and over.
In the cheap motel, Logan groans as he comes. He bitterly thinks about the implications of his mind going to such an angry fantasy about the woman he loves. He staggers to the bathroom to clean himself up. He examines his face in the flickering fluorescent light of the bathroom; he touches the fading bruise on his eye and scratches at his two-day growth of beard. Logan returns to the bed, trying not to think about traveling even farther away from her the next day. Before he lays down to sleep, he turns on the bedside light and pulls a photo of Veronica from his backpack. He runs his fingers over her face and sighs, certain that he's doing the right thing to protect her from his train wreck of a life. Logan doesn't sleep much that night; he adds the guilt of his angry fantasies to his long list of sins and berates himself late into the night.
~ • ~
Tues. 1/27/09 very late: Tijuana, MexicoVeronica waits in the taxi outside Adelita Bar while Dick goes in to try to find someone using a cane. Several times the taxi is approached by streetwalkers; the taxi driver looks back at Veronica for guidance, and Veronica shakes her head that she's not interested. The taxi driver finally says, "Señorita, que haces aquí? Es un sitio muy peligroso para una mujer como usted."
She thinks for a second and responds, "Estoy buscando a mi amigo...ah, boyfriend?"
"Tu novio? Ah, entiendo," the driver replies nodding.
Holding a cane in one hand, Dick pulls a young man out of the club and pushes him into the taxi. Dick gets in after him and shuts the door.
"Mr. Echolls, I presume?" Veronica asks.
"He wasn't even pretending to use the cane. I saw it laying on the floor, and I waited until someone sat down at that table," Dick explains.
"You must be Veronica," the man says, looking from Veronica to Dick and back to Veronica. "I have a note for you. Logan said you'd probably show up." He hands Veronica a slip of paper.
Veronica,
I asked you not to look for me. This is for the best. My friend Rob agreed to help me out, for a fee of course. He doesn't know anything about where I really am. Please, do as I ask, Veronica. If you ever loved me, you won't look for me.
Logan
Veronica crumples the note in anger. Game on, Logan, she thinks.
When Veronica sees how upset Tara is, she hugs her, even though she knows it's against the rules. Tara stares at her wide-eyed, shaking her head 'no'.
The group leader runs to Veronica, grabs her arm, and shakes her violently. "What are you doing? You're enabling her to stay in denial. You know the rules; you don't interfere with another girl's treatment." She pulls Veronica to her feet and drags her out of the room, handing her off to another counselor. After a hurried consultation with the group leader, the counselor escorts Veronica to a room with no windows and pushes her in. The counselor gives Veronica a spiral notebook and several pens and says, "Write an essay. 100,000 words."
"On what topic?" Veronica says belligerently. "This is bull."
"Okay. 150,000 words. Do you want to go for 200? You're a whiner and a complainer, Connie, and you think the rules don't apply to you. Each time you fight us we add another month to your treatment plan. When are you going to accept that you need this?" The counselor shuts the door, locking Veronica inside.
Seven weeks earlier...
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Things Better Left Buried
Keith tells Veronica to back off; an
incident at LAX; Hannah's mother
hires Mars Investigations.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Stephanie Denenberg: Stacy Edwards. Leo:
Max Greenfield. Sacks: Brandon Hillock.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: "THINGS BETTER LEFT BURIED"
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
At Mars Investigations the next day, Veronica is intently looking at the computer screen. First she checks Logan's dotmac account that she set up for him. As she suspected, it's been canceled; she supposes on some server, there's a trace of the 0's and 1's that represented the backup of Logan's documents, but for all intents and purposes the backups have disappeared into the void of cyberspace.
She runs a check on Logan's real estate holdings. When Aaron was killed, Logan inherited several properties that Veronica suspects were primarily used for Aaron's many assignations. It appears, as Logan had told her, that he sold all of Aaron's getaways to finance the charity called "The Bridge" that Logan created in the fall. The only property Logan held onto was a condo in Aspen that Veronica knows was an Echolls family retreat that Aaron probably did not use for his affairs. Veronica makes a note of the address in Aspen.
She sighs, then begins to work on setting up traces on all of Logan's credit cards. None appear to have been used in the last week. Veronica is so absorbed in her work that she doesn't hear her dad approach until he says, "Whatcha doin'?"
She jumps and turns to him guiltily.
He looks at the screen and says, "Veronica, honey. I'm not sure you should be doing this."
"Dad, I can't help it; I'm worried about him. He was so upset and depressed the last time we saw him."
"I know. But I think he's trying to be honorable. He genuinely feels that his presence here at this time might cause problems for you. And he's sad about Hannah. Imagine if Piz was killed, in some horrible way. It doesn't matter if you don't love him anymore; the fact that you had a connection at one time makes the tragedy more horrible. And in Logan's case, he made some decisions that affected Hannah's life, and you wouldn't care about him if he was oblivious to the pain he caused her. He's facing up to the consequences of his actions in high school."
Veronica thinks for a minute, then says, "He asked you to help, didn't he. You helped him disappear."
"No, Veronica, I didn't, and I wouldn't do that to you. But I'm pretty sure he did consider asking me for help, because he knew that I was worried about you too. Did you happen to notice that you didn't have to run a gauntlet of paparazzi this morning? Logan was right about one thing; trouble does seem to follow him."
"What if he starts drinking again?" Veronica asks.
Keith picks up the crumpled note that Veronica got in Tijuana from the desk. "Looks like Logan laid a false trail for you, and you followed it up. He's been smart enough not to use his credit cards, and he's managed to avoid reporters for several days now. My point is that he seems to be in complete control of his faculties and not sitting in a bar drinking. I know I can't stop you from pursuing him, but I wish you would trust him a little more. He'll come back when he's ready." Keith kisses the top of Veronica's head. "Veronica, what's going on with Duncan? I hope you've given up on the idea of testifying for him."
"We're going to try to convince Lizzie Manning to testify against her father. Duncan called this morning, and we're going to head over to San Diego State to talk to her." She adds in her head, Duncan thinks half a million should be enough to convince anyone to do the right thing.
"Do you have time to do some research for me today?" Keith asks.
"Maybe later when I get back from San Diego...what's up?"
"Just take a look at this file when you get a chance and run background checks on the principals." He hands her a thick file, and Veronica opens it and begins reading about a prominent local attorney. "There's some monkey business going on with this guy. The family of one of his clients asked us to investigate regarding possible fraud."
"Mr. Mars?"
Veronica and Keith turn toward the door. It's Stephanie Denenberg, Hannah's mother. She says, "Could I have a minute of your time, Mr. Mars?"
"Of course. We're...so sorry for your loss," Keith says, aware of the inadequacy of the sentiment.
Ms. Denenberg nods, keeping her gaze on Keith to avoid looking at Veronica. Keith motions toward the office, and she enters and sits down. Keith says quietly to Veronica, "Why don't you put on some coffee, honey?" and he follows Ms. Denenberg in, closing the door.
Veronica starts a pot of coffee then glances at the file Keith has given her. The attorney, Douglas Stern Jr., a partner at Simon and Stern, specializes in wills and trust and has served as the executor for several recently deceased '09'ers. She returns the file to her desk, making a mental note to work on it later. As Veronica leaves Mars Investigation, she stares at the inner office door, wondering what Hannah's mother is saying.
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: LAX, Los Angeles, CA
At Los Angeles International Airport, Jessica Simpson exits the arrivals area and waves at the waiting paparazzi. She poses prettily as the reporters take photos and ask fawning questions about her latest project. One reporter notices a familiar young man, wearing sunglasses, with a cane and a brown backpack walking toward the security check-in. He hustles toward the man and takes a photo; the man notices and begins to walk hurriedly toward the International Departures security area, leaning heavily on his cane. The young man hands his travel documents to the security personnel, and the reporter calls out, "Where are you headed, Logan?" The man ignores the reporter and passes through security. As he heads toward the gates, he looks over his shoulder, and the reporter snaps another photo.
The reporter hurries to the ticket counter and buys the cheapest ticket available; he hustles to the security area, waiting impatiently as his camera bag and shoes are x-rayed, then runs through the terminal, searching at each gate. At a KLM gate, he manages to photograph his quarry disappearing into the jetway for a flight to Amsterdam.
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: Sheriff's Dept., Neptune, CA
"Sheriff?" Deputy Sacks asks, poking his head into Leo D'Amato's office.
"What's up?" Leo answers.
"We got a report here from the San Diego Naval Base. A squadron of Hawkeye jets were running a routine training mission over Anza-Borrego Desert, and they noticed a large smoky fire yesterday. The local fire department in Ranchita said they didn't have any calls."
"Ranchita? That's an unincorporated area right?" Leo asks.
"Yes sir. That makes it under our jurisdiction," Sacks replies.
"Can you check it out tomorrow?"
"Sure thing. They noted the GPS coordinates of the sighting so it should easy to locate," Sacks says.
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
"Ms. Denenberg, tell me why you're here," Keith says gently.
"I'd like to hire you. I've recently...reconsidered...some of my actions three years ago. I was contacted by a fellow student of Hannah's who has told me some horrific stories about the Briar Hill school," Ms. Denenberg says slowly.
"Horrific?" Keith echoes.
"How much do you know about my daughter's history in Neptune?" she asks.
"My daughter Veronica has told me that Hannah was dating Logan Echolls just before she, uh, transferred to Briar Hill," Keith replies cryptically.
"And your daughter Veronica is...with Logan Echolls now, is that correct?"
"Yes. Ms. Denenberg, I'm close with Mr. Echolls as well at this time, although three years ago I was not. I think, before we go any further, I need to disclose that Logan has talked with me about his motivations regarding your daughter, but I'm not going to be able to reveal to you what he told me," Keith says.
Ms. Denenberg sighs. "Hannah herself told me that Logan originally pursued her in order to force my husband into withdrawing his testimony. At the time, I believed that my husband was telling the truth, that he had witnessed Logan on the bridge. Thomas and I had had our problems, but I did not believe at the time that he could commit perjury. Hannah was making wild accusations about her father. She said that she found cocaine in his house and had evidence that he was friends with known criminals. She found newspaper stories about the Fitzpatrick family and showed them to me, claiming that Thomas was partners with them in some crazy scheme to frame Logan. It was all too preposterous. Why would the Fitzpatricks target Logan Echolls? And why would my husband be involved?"
Keith sighs and leans back in his chair. "I'm not sure we'll ever really know the true story, Ms. Denenberg."
"Stephanie, please."
"Stephanie, at the time, I was quite convinced that Logan was guilty of killing Felix Toombs. He had a history of angry and impulsive behavior, and there was a well-known feud between him and the PCH gang. I was as surprised as anyone when the charges were dropped. Although it was not released publicly, I believe that the real witness that night on the bridge was later found, and he cleared Logan definitively," Keith explains. "I'm not excusing his behavior regarding your daughter. I think Logan would be all right with me telling you that he himself has expressed to me how much he regrets what he did."
Stephanie replies, "When my husband found out that Hannah was still seeing Logan despite having recanted his testimony, he called me and convinced me that we needed to take strong action if we wanted to preserve her future. Thomas said that we needed to get Hannah away from Logan, to a secure facility where we could make sure that someone with access to resources like Logan's could not get to her. I hated Logan on sight; he was every parent's nightmare boyfriend, and my daughter couldn't seem to get enough of him. Hannah and I had nightly screaming matches about him. We went from a very close mother-daughter relationship to a bitter feud almost overnight; I felt that I could barely recognize her, and I blamed Logan Echolls. I was worried that she would end up pregnant, or involved in some violent crime. My husband found a school in Vermont, Briar Hill Academy, that was about as far away as possible without leaving the country. He said that it had a good reputation for rehabilitating defiant children and had an excellent track record for security. I spoke to several parents who had children there, and they raved about the place. They said that Briar Hill was responsible for saving their children's lives."
Stephanie continues, "We used their transport service to take Hannah to the school. I was quite concerned when they placed handcuffs on her, but Hannah was screaming that she was going to run away, and we couldn't keep her from Logan. She said that she hated us, over and over again." Stephanie begins to shake with the effort of holding back tears. "I couldn't recognize my own daughter, and I thought the school was the best option we had. I allowed them to take her away in handcuffs, and that's the last time I saw her alive." She begins to weep, and Keith stands up from behind his desk and sits beside her on the couch, trying to comfort her.
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: Exterior of Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
Veronica gets in her Saturn parked outside of Mars Investigations. All of a sudden, the lack of sleep from her adventures in Tijuana the evening before combined with her distress about Logan's disappearance overwhelm her, and she leans her head back against the head rest, closing her eyes. The tears flow down her face unchecked.
Unnoticed by Veronica, a man in a nearby car takes a series of pictures with a telephoto lens.
Veronica mentally shakes herself, reminding herself of her dad's comment that Logan's evasive tactics implied he was doing all right. She searches for a tissue and blots her tears while the photographer continues to take photos. Despite her dad's reassurances, she decides to pursue the one angle she has left to track Logan and dials Mac on her cell phone.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
For the Sake of the Child
Ms. Denenberg speaks to Keith; Duncan asks
Lizzie to testify; Keith asks Wallace for help.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Duncan 2.0: Chris
Carmack. Lizzie Manning: Anastasia Baranova.
Stephanie Denenberg: Stacy Edwards.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: "FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD"
Wed. 1/28/09 morning: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
Keith returns to his office with a cup of coffee and a box of tissues for Ms. Denenberg. He sits beside her again on the couch; she takes a tissue and wipes her eyes. "Did you talk to Hannah after she arrived at the school?" Keith finally asks when Ms. Denenberg has calmed down.
"The school has a policy of restricting contact with the parents for the first several months. She was allowed to call us once every two weeks. When I spoke to her, she admitted that the school was helping her, and she agreed that she needed to be there," Stephanie replies. "The school diagnosed her with a sexual addiction secondary to a borderline personality disorder and drug addiction. They implied that we had gotten help for her just in time, that Hannah would certainly have run away and probably ended up in jail or worse. They claimed that she also was 'cutting' herself, and that she was exhibiting sociopathic tendencies that were manifesting as defiant behavior toward her parents. When she ran away from the school, it seemed just to prove what they were saying–that Hannah had severe emotional problems. We hired private detectives to try to track her down, including one who was recommended by the school. I regret now that I didn't come to you at that time, but by that time, the whole Cassidy Casablancas...incident...had occurred and it was rumored that your daughter was seeing Logan Echolls again...."
"Yes, I can see why you would have hesitated to hire me," Keith comments. "Did the private detectives find any leads to your daughter's whereabouts?"
"No. She completely disappeared. One of the detectives implied that she would have required a great deal of money to disappear so completely, and he investigated Mr. Echolls quite thoroughly. But he was unable to find a connection, financially or otherwise. I believe the FBI is currently looking into that as well."
"I don't think you would be here if you believed that were true. You know that my daughter is very close with Logan."
Stephanie sighs and says, "I was quite impressed with Mr. Echolls' charity in the fall. He does appear to have reformed, in quite a public way."
"Well, he intended to be an anonymous benefactor, but circumstances changed....What exactly is it that you would like me to do for you, Stephanie?"
"Mr. Mars, I was contacted a few days ago by another student from Briar Hill Academy. She had quite a tale; she claimed that the school abuses its students: locking them in isolation for days a time; forcing them to admit to imaginary crimes in group therapy; and encouraging a system of punishment administered by the long-term students against the most recent arrivals. She claimed that no student is ever cured; the school tells the parents that more intensive therapy is needed in order to prevent dire future problems, and the school continues to keep the students until the parents' resources are completely drained."
"Are you saying that it's a scam, that the school is not actually providing treatment?" Keith asks, shocked.
Stephanie nods. "The school contacted me after a few weeks and asked for permission to start more intensive, and by the way very expensive, treatments. When it was time to bring Hannah home for the summer, they convinced me that she was still at risk for self-destructive behavior. They said that Hannah still talked about running away with Logan in group therapy. I agreed to continue the residential treatment over the summer. When she ran away not long after that, it seemed to prove what they had been saying....Keith, I am convinced that the school made a bad situation far, far worse, and if this other student is correct, there are girls at the school suffering...like Hannah must have suffered." Her voice trails off, and Stephanie drops her eyes to her lap. She takes a deep breath and looks up at Keith. "Keith, I want to shut that school down. I spent a long time hating Logan Echolls, but I don't blame him anymore. I blame myself. I sent Hannah there; I ruined her life." She begins to weep again, and Keith pulls her into a hug, patting her back ineffectually.
"Stephanie, of course I'll look into the school if that's what you really want. But you can't blame yourself. It sounds like this school preys on the worries of parents. You were trying to do the right thing for your daughter. No one ever knows how to deal with a teenager."
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 afternoon: San Diego, CA
On campus at San Diego State University, Veronica, Wallace, and Duncan, carrying his daughter, walk toward the lecture hall where Lizzie is supposed to be taking a morning class.
"How do you know Lizzie's schedule?" Duncan asks.
"Miss Nosy-Pants here got Mac to break into the registrar's computer," Wallace says teasingly. He has been trying to distract Veronica all morning, but her responses have been very muted.
Veronica says matter-of-factly, "We had to get her schedule to talk to her last fall. Mac can do a hack like this in her sleep."
"Remind me not to piss you off," Duncan says to Veronica.
"You're just figuring that out now?" she replies halfheartedly.
Duncan and Wallace exchange a glance.
"Daddy, let me down!" Jane/Lilly cries.
"No, Jane. We'll be there in a minute."
"Aunt Lizzie?" Jane asks.
"Yes, Jane."
"All right, there's the building," Veronica says, pointing at the large lecture hall. "Dun–I mean, Daniel, you and Jane wait on the bench by the tree until I signal you. Wallace, you intercept Lizzie, then I will come from behind to make sure to make sure she doesn't run away."
The double doors at the entrance to the hall suddenly open and a multitude of students hurry out of the building. Wallace scans the faces until he recognizes Lizzie. He quickly walks to her and says, "Lizzie? Can you hold up a minute?"
"What? Wait a second, aren't you that friend of Veronica's that got taped to the flag pole?" Lizzie asks.
"That's what you remember from high school? You don't remember me playing varsity basketball, or tackling Lucky?" Wallace asks in disbelief.
"Get away from me. I don't have to talk to you," she replies. She turns and runs right into Veronica standing behind her.
"You're right; you don't have to talk to us, but I promise we'll make your life hell if you don't. I'm not in the mood for games today," Veronica says. "Lizzie, you know I told you the truth last fall."
Lizzie stares at her in silence.
"It wasn't me that was blackmailing your family, it was Sheriff Lamb," Veronica adds.
"Doesn't matter, Dad says you're the one that told Lamb..." Lizzie's voice trails off.
"Will you listen to yourself? It's my fault because I exposed your dad's abuse to a man who should have stopped it, but instead began to blackmail your family?"
Lizzie just glares. Veronica nods at Duncan, who walks over slowly, holding Jane/Lilly by the hand.
"What the hell is this?" Lizzie exclaims. "I'm out of here." She turns to leave, but Wallace grabs her arm, forcing her to stop.
"Lizzie, we thought you might like to meet your niece," Veronica explains.
Duncan says warily, "Uh, Lizzie, this is Jane. We, uh, changed her name because of the f-e-d-e-r-a-l a-g-e-n-t-s." He raises his eyebrows at Lizzie.
"Duncan?" Lizzie gasps. "I...never would have recognized you."
"Actually, I'm going by the name Daniel now," Duncan explains.
"Daddy! She knows your secret name! Is she playing the game too?" Jane whispers excitedly, looking up at Duncan and tugging on his hand.
Duncan says, "Yes, Jane. This is your Aunt Lizzie."
"Aunt Lizzie? You're my mommy's sister! Do you want to see my dolly?" Jane asks.
Despite herself, Lizzie kneels and looks at Jane. "She looks like..."
"She looks like Grace. It's remarkable," Veronica says.
"Guess how old I am?" Jane says, then cups her hand around Lizzie's ear and whispers, "I'm three now!" She grabs Lizzie's hand and says with glee, "Aunt Lizzie! Let's go to the playground. Daddy is always busy now and never has time to play."
"I'm sorry, Jane. I promise; we'll have lots of time to play soon," Duncan says apologetically. "Lizzie, I'm taking a big chance showing you my new face. Will you at least listen to me?"
Lizzie stands up, dropping Jane's hand. Jane tugs on Lizzie's pant leg and reaches again for Lizzie's hand. Lizzie reluctantly acquiesces to Jane's demands, saying to Veronica, "God, you're a manipulative bitch. Did you coach her to do that?"
Duncan interjects, "No, Lizzie. Jane is just a happy kid, who deserves more than a life on the run."
"I don't know what you want from me. My dad is determined to get custody. He's lining up experts on epileptic seizures and psychiatrists who will testify that your fleeing the country is a sign of a sociopathic mental illness," Lizzie protests.
Duncan says slowly, "Lizzie, I'm prepared to offer you a chance to have a life of your own, without having to follow your father's insane rules. I remember what he did to you when I was dating Meg. I know you wanted to go to college on the east coast, and Veronica told me that you were admitted to Georgetown. I bet they would take you as a transfer student, if only you had the financial resources to take advantage of it."
Lizzie remains silent as Duncan removes an envelope from his breast pocket. He pulls out a check and hands it her.
"$50,000?" Lizzie gasps.
"That's ten percent of what I'm prepared to offer you if you will testify against your father at the custody hearing. That's enough to pay for college and quite a few wild parties besides. Enough for a year abroad. Everything you want could be yours. All I'm asking for is the truth. I don't want you to lie," Duncan says somberly. "Lizzie, I gave up my life for Jane. Won't you please help me to keep her away from your parents?"
Lizzie looks from Duncan to Veronica to Wallace and hesitates.
Jane looks up at her and says, "What's 'bitch', Aunt Lizzie?"
Lizzie flushes and drops Jane's hand. "I'll think about it." She shoves the check back at Duncan, who holds up his hands.
"Lizzie, you can keep the check for talking to us today," he explains. "Call Veronica with your answer as soon as you can." He picks up Jane in his arms. Duncan, Veronica, and Wallace walk away, with Jane waving good-bye from Duncan's arms. Lizzie stares thoughtfully at the check in her hands.
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 afternoon: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
Keith remains lost in thought long after Stephanie Denenberg leaves the office. Her intense guilt was no less debilitating than Logan's. The serial killer's actions was having an intense effect on all the people who knew Hannah. Keith understands Ms. Denenberg's compulsion to shut down the Briar Hill school all too well; it reminds him of his single-minded, obsessed pursuit of Lilly Kane's murderer. He begins to make some notes on the case, deciding to begin by running background checks on the school's founder and employees and by investigating the licensing procedure for private schools in Vermont.
Keith decides that he also needs to get the perspective of Hannah's teachers. Stephanie seemed uncertain that her daughter actually had the mental problems that Briar Hill Academy reported; surely the Neptune school psychologist would have noticed the extreme symptoms relayed by the Vermont staff. He leaves a message for Rebecca James, asking for an appointment next week.
He has a sobering thought; Keith reluctantly concedes he might need Veronica's help on this case to talk with Hannah's school friends. He grimaces and decides to try to keep her out of this case as much as possible. There's no way in hell I'll allow her to investigate a serial killer. He has another thought, realizing that Logan would be an invaluable asset in this case. He sighs, knowing that Logan truly needs to be away from the media frenzy.
Wallace knocks on the door frame and Keith is jarred from his thoughts. "Yo. What's happening? Vee said Hannah's mother was here."
Keith hesitates, then says, "Yes. I'm going to be investigating the school where Hannah Griffith was sent. I'd like you and Veronica to stay away from this case, though. I don't want to have to worry about either of you accidentally stumbling on something that will draw the attention of this Slasher person."
Wallace shrugs and replies, "Of course. You're the boss. You tell Veronica, though."
Keith nods. "I do have something else for you to work on today. I need you to do some research on how to detect items hidden underground." Keith adds to himself, I can't let Wallace know too much about this. He can't be involved in a murder coverup.
"How about a metal detector?" Wallace asks.
"What I'm going to be looking for is unlikely to be metallic or radioactive, so a metal detector or a Geiger counter are useless. Is there anyone you could talk to in the engineering department who might have some ideas?" Keith replies.
I just happen to know a grad student who might have some expertise with this, Wallace thinks. Aloud, he says, "I'll check it out. Can you give me any more details? What depth are we talking? If it's not metallic, what is the composition?"
"Less than 10 feet, I'd say. Probably wood or plastic, something like that," Keith says evasively.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Guise Gone Wild
Logan hides his tracks; Wallace and Candice
on a date; Keith meets with Vinnie.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Vinnie Van Lowe:
Ken Marino. Wallace: Percy Daggs III.
Candice Pauling: Toy Connor.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: "GUISE GONE WILD"
Wed. 1/28/09 afternoon: Somewhere in the United States
Logan sits in his car outside a Walmart. He looks at the new ID he procured that morning in a rather sketchy part of town. Not as good as Veronica's ID's, but it'll do the job. He waits for a likely candidate for his next task to pass by. Finally, a young Mexican boy, around twelve years old, walks by. Logan steps out of the car and approaches him.
"Do you want to make some money?" Logan asks.
The boy looks at him suspiciously. Logan holds up two folded hundred dollar bills, and the boy reaches for them. "Not so fast," Logan says, pulling the money out of reach.
"What do I have to do?" the boy says, looking around.
"Go in the Walmart, buy me some clothes. Western style, OK? Here's a list, with all the sizes. And also two disposable cell phones." He hands the kid the money. "And don't just take off. If you come back with everything on the list, I'll give you five hundred dollars." The boy looks at Logan solemnly, then nods his agreement.
Thirty minutes later, the kid finds Logan waiting in the car and hands him the purchases. Logan tries on the cowboy hat he asked for and grimaces at his reflection in the rearview mirror. "Thanks," he says, handing the boy the agreed upon amount. The boy walks away, counting the bills.
Logan starts the car and parks near a post office. He opens the cell phone packages, cursing the hard plastic wrapping, and programs a number into each phone. He then goes into the post office, purchases an express mail envelope, and sends one of the cell phones. He hesitates over the return address on the mailing label, then writes, 'Thurs. 4:00pm'. He encloses a note that says, "Call speed-dial 2 when you get this."
He drives to a section of town which has numerous used car lots. Logan puts on one of the Western shirts, the cowboy hat, and the boots that the boy bought for him and packs the rest of his items in the backpack. He crumples the Kenny Chesney poster that the boy bought him, shoves into the backpack, and puts his cane in the poster's cardboard container to disguise it.
Logan checks to make sure he's taken everything, then carefully wipes anywhere he might touched in the last two days, including the rearview mirror and the seat shift lever. For once I'm glad Veronica made me watch all those CSI episodes while she nitpicked every detail. He leaves the key in the ignition and exits the car, leaving the door unlocked and carefully smearing the door handle. He dons his sunglasses and walks a short distance to the most run-down used car lot. He ignores the pain in his leg from walking without the assistance of the cane and willfully forces his body not to limp as he enters the sales office.
"I'm interested in purchasing that pickup truck," Logan says, sitting down and pointing with his thumb at a ten-year-old tan Ford F-150 outside the window. "And I'm hoping you can do me a little favor with the paperwork. I'm willing to pay extra if we can get this done quickly. Cash, of course."
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 evening: Neptune, CA
Wallace and Candice are having lattes at Java the Hut after seeing the movie, 'The Secret Life of Bees'. "Everyone raves about Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifah, but Sophie Okonedo was amazing," Wallace says.
"She was great in 'Hotel Rwanda', too," Candice says. "That movie was very powerful. I think it influenced my decision to go into the Peace Corps."
"Tell me more about your time in Mali. For my internship with the Invisible Children Project, I worked in Gulu as support staff for the Schools for Schools project. I helped to coordinate the Teacher Exchange program," Wallace comments. "I still volunteer at the San Diego offices of Invisible Children when I have a chance."
"I'd like to do that as well....Mali is such a beautiful country, but it's the third poorest country in the world. The culture shock when I returned home...." Candice shrugs expressively. "The droughts in Mali over the past ten years have wreaked havoc on the economy, and the Peace Corps mission focused on improving safe water supplies. I worked for a project that dug new wells in remote villages. Because of my engineering background, I was responsible for implementing a solar-powered battery system that operated the pumps in the wells. Other volunteers worked on literacy programs and training villagers to maintain our systems, so that the wells could continue to function long after we left. It was fantastic; I got to see so many remote areas of the country and met wonderful people."
Wallace presses her for details, truly interested in her experiences overseas. He tells her about his work in Uganda and his travels around the African continent after his internship ended. Candice also tells him about her award-winning senior project in hydraulics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
"It sounds like you could have gone to any graduate school in the country. Why did you pick Hearst? We're not exactly the caliber of M.I.T. or Stanford," Wallace asks curiously.
"The scholarship combined with a teaching assistantship put Hearst over the top for me," Candice says.
Wallace wonders; he's been looking at graduate schools recently, and he's pretty sure that summa cum laude at Georgia Tech would guarantee close to a free ride anywhere Candice wanted to go. Perhaps I've been working at Mars Investigations too long; I see a mystery everywhere. He remembers what Keith asked him to research, and he asks Candice, "What do you know about detecting objects underground? Is that something you have any experience in?"
"Why do you ask?" she replies.
Wallace explains about his job at Mars Investigations. He tells Candice the condensed version of Veronica's past mysteries, including a brief summary of his own investigation into the anonymous letters last fall.
"It was an old girlfriend of your boss? And she hated Veronica enough to frame her for murder?" Candice says incredulously.
"She was off her rocker. Veronica was definitely on her game that day though; she saved her dad and Logan Echolls from that whack job."
Candice regards Wallace for a minute, then says, "So the underground detection is for a case?"
"I guess. Keith didn't give me all the details." I know he's protecting me from something, as usual. "He said what he's looking for would be less than 10 feet underground and not metallic or radioactive. He won't tell me exactly what he's looking for, but he said maybe wood or plastic."
"Well, the easiest way to detect an object underground would be with ground-penetrating radar. You transmit electromagnetic radiation into the ground, and then the reflected signal is detected and interpreted. If you knew the exact composition of the item you're looking for, software could be written to analyze the data to pinpoint probable locations. GPR is used to detect utility lines by power companies and sewer installers, and by archaeologists to detect underground excavation sites. I bet there's a local company that does scans for contractors before they dig at a new construction site," Candice explains.
Wallace hears the word 'archaeologist' and instantly makes the connection that Keith is probably looking for a body buried somewhere; he barely hears the rest of Candice's explanation. He realizes she has stopped speaking and quickly comments, "That's great; that's exactly what he needs, I bet."
~ • ~
Wed. 1/28/09 evening: Hearst College, Neptune, CA
Veronica returns to her dorm room from a night of studying at the library. She finds a printout on her pillow with a note from Mac.
V-
Finally got the info you wanted. These are all the pickups made by Checker Cab at the beach near Logan's from Sunday 1/25 to Tuesday 1/27. Hope it helps.
Mac
Veronica begins to work her way through the list.
~ • ~
Thurs. 1/29/09 morning: Lompoc State Penitentiary, Lompoc, CA
In the interview room at Lompoc State Penitentiary, Keith presses Vinnie for the specific details he needs. "Vinnie, when Liam showed you the gun evidence, what did it look like? You said the gun was in a plastic bag? Was it a food storage bag? Gallon size?"
Vinnie looks at Keith incredulously. "How can this be important? We're not freezing a meat loaf here, you know."
"Vinnie, just answer the question. A regular plastic bag, or a freezer one? With the yellow and blue make green closure or a white zipper? Here, look at these pictures and tell me which one is closest." Keith shows Vinnie a contact sheet of photos. Each picture shows the gun that El Cajon Gun Exchange located for him in a different type of readily available plastic bag.
Vinnie frowns, then looks up at Keith. "I think I understand what you're doing now. That's Keith Mars, always thinking," he says, tapping the side of his head. "It looked like this one." He points at the photo of a Ziploc freezer bag. "But more crumpled, like it's been shoved under something, or jammed into a small space.
"Tell me again about the shooting. You're sure that the bullet did not go through the kid, there's definitely a bullet in the remains?"
"Yes, it lodged in his chest. I checked for an exit wound when I was trying to see if he was alive."
"What about the cartridge casing?"
Vinnie thinks a moment. "It was in the bag with the gun."
"You're positive?" Keith asks.
"Yes, I'm sure of it."
Keith puts the photo sheet back in his briefcase. "It's going to go down in a few days...the next time Cliff comes to see you to discuss your case. You said that the guard who's Liam's snitch is named Gallagher?" Vinnie nods. "All right, I'll have to get the work schedule and make sure he's on duty. Vinnie, I've set up an identity for you as well. I've prepared a package with your new ID, a plane ticket, and all the details. It'll be waiting for you in the vehicle, assuming the rest of the plan goes as scheduled."
"You're a standup guy, Keith. I always said that once Keith Mars was bought, he stayed bought," Vinnie jokes.
Keith grabs Vinnie's collar. "Listen, asshole. I'm not enjoying this, and I'm not doing this as a favor for you. When my daughter asked for your help with Duncan Kane, a decent man would have told her 'no' and come to me with your concerns for her safety. Instead you helped her with her naïve plan, and then you used what you knew to blackmail me into helping you get off on a murder charge. You dragged me into the scum where you live, Vinnie, and if I run into you again when this is all over, I might just take my own revenge on you."
The guard knocks on the window and says, "Hey! No touching!"
Keith releases Vinnie and says, "Sorry."
Vinnie stands up and leaves the room, saying, "We're done anyways." He looks back at Keith nervously.
Keith closes his briefcase and leaves the interview room with the guard. As he walks toward the exit, he feels someone staring at him–not an unusual feeling in a place like this. He turns around as casually as possible and sees a blond prisoner unknown to Keith looking at him intently. Keith asks the guard quietly, "Who's the guy?"
"Oh that's Ivan. Well, that's what we call him. Russian mob guy, in on a weapons charge. I think his name is Sorokin. Gorya or something like that. Guy's a real psycho," the guard comments.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
The Dream Is Man's
Duncan pursues custody; Wallace and Candice on
a study break; Keith reconsiders his actions;
The Instigator reports on Logan's whereabouts.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Wallace: Percy
Daggs III. Duncan 2.0: Chris Carmack.
Dick: Ryan Hansen. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Candice Pauling: Toy Connor.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: "THE DREAM IS MAN'S"
Thurs. 1/29/09 afternoon: San Diego, CA
Duncan shakes hands with his attorneys and takes a seat in their office. The senior partner shuts the door and sits down, offering Duncan a glass of water. Duncan refuses, impatient for the meeting to begin. "You talked to Lizzie? Did she agree to testify?" he asks.
"Yes. We set up the trust fund as you specified. There will be no paper trail to the Kane family. The fund goes into effect upon the date you receive custody of Faith Manning, also known as Lilly Kane." The lawyer pauses, then continues, "We have an appointment to go over her testimony later today; but she did summarize what she has witnessed, and I think we can safely say that Stewart and Rose will not be granted custody. Lizzie can testify as to the veracity of the videotaped evidence that we have. There's just a few other formalities to take care of. We'll sign the documents accepting the prosecutor's deal on child endangerment a week from Monday; you'll surrender yourself and Lilly, then we'll ask to proceed to the custody hearing as soon as possible. Hopefully, once Stewart Manning realizes that Lizzie is going to testify against him, he'll withdraw his petition for custody."
"That's great," Duncan replies.
~ • ~
Thurs. 1/29/09 evening: Neptune, CA
Wallace knocks on the door of Candice's off campus apartment. "Ready for your study break?" he asks.
She smiles and says, "Just give me a minute," and walks into the bathroom.
Wallace looks around the room and sees Candice's laptop. He calls out to her, "Hey, do you mind if I check some scores on your computer?"
"Sure, go ahead," she answers from the bathroom.
Wallace looks up the results of the UNLV game, then checks the stats on one of the players from that team. He hits the back button on the browser, intending to read about the Wyoming game, but accidentally triggers the drop down menu on the back button. He's surprised to see several stories about Mars Investigations from the local Neptune newspaper listed on the menu. Quickly checking to see if the bathroom door is still shut, he checks the browser history and sees that Candice has been reading stories about Keith Mars and his detective agency all evening. Wallace hears the water shut off in the bathroom, and he closes the history window and surfs back to the ESPN College Basketball page.
For the next hour, as Wallace and Candice eat pizza and chat about their classes, Wallace wonders why Candice was reading up on Mars Investigations.
~ • ~
Thurs. 1/29/09 evening: Hearst College, Neptune, CA
Mac's cell phone rings; she sighs when she reads 'Casablancas, R.' on the caller ID, but hits send. "I'm working on it, Dick. I should have your computers up and running by tomorrow or the next day. You guys will be ogling Jenna Jameson's boobs before you know it."
"Not why I'm calling. Is Veronica with you? There's a story in 'The Instigator'," Dick replies.
"Crap. Another story about Logan?" Mac says.
Veronica looks at her sharply. Mac says, "It's Dick. A story in 'The Instigator'," and hands the phone to Veronica.
"Dick?" she asks.
"Veronica, there's a photo and article about Logan. It's online too, Instigator.com."
Veronica hangs up the phone and looks up the site. There are two blurred pictures of Logan at Los Angeles International Airport, and the article states that he boarded a flight for Amsterdam. There is also a picture of Veronica crying in her car outside Mars Investigations, with the caption, 'Veronica Mars Detects A Problem in Her Relationship with Bad-Boy Logan'.
~ • ~
Thurs. 1/29/09 evening: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
Keith walks into his office at Mars Investigations and sits down heavily in his chair. He sighs and massages what's left of his hairline in a feeble attempt to release the tension of the day.
I suppose in the grand scheme of things helping Vincent Van Lowe get away with an accidental murder isn't so bad if it means Liam Fitzpatrick goes away for a very long time. But I feel dirty, discouraged. This is the second time I've had to tamper with evidence to keep my daughter safe from the consequences of her crusades. What has happened to my ideals? What happened to the man who allowed himself to be forced out of office rather than cave to the pressures of a corrupt town? But I can't lose her. I would not survive without her. He remembers the devastation from the fall, when Veronica was in custody, with an impossibly large amount set for bail. I would go to the prison for her; I would do what it takes to ensure her freedom. A crisis of conscience pales in comparison to the thought of her behind bars again. He thinks about the moment of Veronica's birth: when he became a father and everything changed for him; when he was filled with an all-consuming love for this tiny, difficult baby.
Keith reaches for his bottom desk drawer and removes the bottle of Scotch and a shot glass he keeps there. He pours a drink for himself, laughing a little at the private dick cliché, but needing the comfort tonight. He muses about the story Stephanie Denenberg told him about the Briar Hill Academy. If any part of her story is true, he wants to confront Tom Griffith and punish him for his failings as a father. How could a father ever think that sending his daughter away is the solution? He finishes the drink and pours another, allowing himself to wallow in his moral despair for a little while longer.
~ • ~
Thurs. 1/29/09 evening: Hearst College, Neptune, CA
After accomplishing almost nothing in three hours of working on her criminology project, Veronica finally pushes her work aside and goes to bed. She lies awake for hours, obsessing about the news story on The Instigator. Amsterdam? Why Amsterdam? Of all the places Logan could go, why Amsterdam? She thinks about Amsterdam's unsavory reputation. Drugs? Legal prostitution? She tries not to consider that Logan might be on some hedonistic pilgrimage, although a tiny voice inside her nags at her, Tijuana, Veronica...Amsterdam is just a prettier, more legal Tijuana. She shudders at the thought of Logan window-shopping for a suitable hooker on a street in Amsterdam.
Amsterdam...to her knowledge, he has no friends or relatives there. She racks her brains, trying to remember a conversation about Amsterdam, or Europe, anything that might give her a clue. She remembers Duncan talking about traveling around Italy the night they made love for the first time, but Logan has never expressed an interest in Europe. It's always surfing with Logan; there's something about the water for him. Finally she realizes that Amsterdam is a hub airport; of course the flight was to Amsterdam–from there he can go anywhere in Europe, to any beautiful Mediterranean beach. And if he rents a car or goes on a train, there'll be no way to track him, she thinks hopelessly. She laughs mirthlessly, I'm still thinking of tracking a man who's made it pretty clear he doesn't want to be around me.
She thinks about the conversation she had with Logan at the high school when Duncan ran away to Cuba junior year. All my boyfriends run away eventually–I don't know why I'm so surprised when they do it over and over again, she thinks sardonically. Logan found her at her locker that day and said, "Hey...so, uh, what do you think?"
She remembers gently snarking back, "Like...in general, or is there a specific arena in which you'd like my opinion?" She wanted to add, Are we ever going to talk about the kiss at the Camelot?
Logan replies, "Do you think maybe I should just cool off, maybe hole up in some hotel room, dye my hair, and file my fingerprints off?"
Veronica answers, "Honestly, I have no idea. Why do you want to run away, anyways? It was just a kiss." She looks in her locker and to her surprise sees a unicorn music box. When she opens it, she finds a note that says, 'Veronica, I have to leave for a while. I'll be back for you soon. Love always, Logan.' Shoving the music box back in her locker, she says aloud, "What the hell, Logan?" Veronica slams the door shut, intending to press him for his reasons for running away. The bell rings, but suddenly the halls are deserted. She walks toward her classroom. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the back of Logan's head as he walks around the corner just ahead, his overshirt flapping as he hurries to his own class.
"Logan? Stop, I want to talk to you," she calls out. She hurries after him, but when she turns the corner, he has disappeared. She runs down the hallway, trying to catch him. She pushes open the door of the girls' bathroom, searching the green-and-blue tiled room for him, flinging open each stall door in turn. Veronica runs frantically out of the bathroom, saying, "Logan? Where are you?"
She comes to a junction in the hallway. She turns right, then left, and sees a door closing at the end of the hallway. She hurries to the classroom and pushes open the door. It's the health classroom, and Kendall Casablancas is standing in front of the class. Kendall says, "Ms. Mars, you're late. Take your seat, please. Today's topic is mastering missionary." She points a ruler at a large graphic drawing of a man and woman copulating on the blackboard. Dick Casablancas pumps his fist in the air and whoops with delight. Madison Sinclair titters and says, "How do you spell chlamydia again, Veronica?" Veronica says shakily, "I'm not in this class..." and runs out of the room.
She frantically rushes down the hallway, peering in each class window by raising up on her tiptoes. There is no sign of Logan anywhere. Suddenly she hears a quiet voice behind her saying, "Veronica?"
Veronica spins around and sees Hannah Griffith standing the middle of the hallway. She's wearing a tan turtleneck, just slightly too large; the sleeves extend past her wrists. and the material bunches around her chin. Hannah says, "Help me, Veronica," as she pulls down the neck of her sweater to reveal a large bloody horizontal gash across her neck. Veronica gasps and runs toward Hannah, who flees down the hallway. Veronica pursues her, her heart beating, shouting, "Wait, Hannah, tell me what happened!"
The hallway begins to subtly change; the lockers and classroom doors disappear and turn into pockmarked concrete. As she follows Hannah, Veronica suddenly bursts into blazing sunlight, and she sees Logan ahead of her, standing on the edge of a concrete platform, empty space below, with his arms outstretched to his sides. Veronica screams, "Logan, no!" but Logan falls forward, soundlessly, unhesitating and purposeful. She runs to the edge and falls to her knees, sobbing. Hannah approaches behind her, silently, reproachfully, and Veronica turns to her. "Why, Hannah?" she says.
"I couldn't stay away," Hannah says solemnly. She walks to the edge of the platform and steps off, following Logan over the edge. Veronica screams...
and sits upright in bed. Mac is shaking her, saying, "Veronica, you're having a bad dream, wake up, wake up...."
What does the chapter title mean? (Highlight to read)
"The Dream Is Man's" is an anagram of "He's In Amsterdam".
Please don't hurt me, I've been watching 'Lost'!!
"I want to call my dad! If he knew what was going on here..." Veronica screams.
"Listen, princess, you don't deserve the right to make a phone call. Telephone privileges are earned. And you have resisted every step of the way. You received observation placement within the first twenty-four hours; I think that's a new record, Connie. You've given up your right to be with your family and to live free in society. Until you accept your treatment, you're going to find your behavior restricted."
"I know my rights! I want to call my dad. This is fucked up!" Veronica yells.
"That's it! Do you have some sort of auditory processing problem? You're expected to live by our rules here." The counselor turns to one of the guards and says, "I want her in restraints until she learns how to respect the program."
Veronica continues to struggle and call out obscenities as the guard takes her away.
Seven weeks earlier...
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Deep-Seated Dear Issues
Logan all emo; Keith investigates the school;
Mac tests a flirt-bot theory; Kristen Bell has
a day off and shoots a movie.
Logan: Jason Dohring. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Dr. Friedman: Lorraine Bracco. Mac: Tina
Majorino. Leo: Max Greenfield. Gracie Jane:
Jill Brennan. Sacks: Brandon Hillock.
Mordroc: Gabriel Tigerman.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: "DEEP-SEATED DEAR ISSUES"
Fri. 1/30/09 morning: Somewhere in the United States
Logan pulls off the road and into a gas station. His leg has been aching as he drives cross-country the last few days, but he decides he can't afford to use his cane, even in this backwater location. Carefully trying not to limp, he walks into the small store to prepay for his gas. He pushes four twenties across the counter to the attendant, who barely nods, keeping his attention on the small television screen.
As Logan starts to walk back outside, he hears the words, "Echolls Family Legacy" and reflexively turns his head without thinking. He sees a bold, lurid graphic, 'Statutory Rape, Hollywood Style' and the interviewer, Gracie Jane, with a guest. Logan feels frozen to the ground as he hears the guest say, "In California, of course, statutory rape is defined as an act of sexual intercourse with a person who is not the spouse of the perpetrator, if the person is a minor under the age of 18 years. In this case, with the three year age difference between Hannah Griffith and Logan Echolls, it is considered a misdemeanor."
Gracie Jane responds, "A misdemeanor? That seems awfully lenient. In this case, the immorality is clear. From what we've seen of Logan Echolls, this girl was easy prey. Of course, you have to keep in mind the Echolls family tradition of corrupting young girls. Apparently, anything goes in Hollywood. And now, Logan Echolls, following in the steps of Roman Polanski, is fleeing the country to avoid prosecution." On-screen, a picture of 'Logan' in LAX is substituted for the 'Statutory Rape' graphic.
Logan feels his stomach heave. Feeling the eyes of the attendant on him, he tries to walk calmly out the door. Trying not to limp as his leg begins to throb painfully, he goes to his truck and fills it with gas. He controls his trembling by bracing himself against the pickup; it seems to take hours to fill the tank as he deliberately avoids looking at the attendant. When he finally finishes pumping his gas, he gets in the truck cab and drives off, with his hands shaking and his vision clouded.
About a mile down the road, he sees a dirt road turnoff, and he stops the truck. Logan leans out of the cab and throws up his breakfast; he rests his forehead against the steering wheel, trying to control the nausea.
Not rape...not like Aaron...
But a nagging voice says, You were eighteen. She was fifteen. If her father hadn't come in, you would have–
Not rape!! NOT LIKE AARON!! He screams back in his head.
The voice continues relentlessly. You targeted her. She was a minor. The immorality is clear. The girl was easy prey. Following in the steps of Roman Polanski.
For a fleeting moment, he wishes Veronica were here to hold him; he closes his eyes and conjures up an image of her that is so strong he could swear that she is rocking him in her arms.
When he thinks he can control the shaking in his voice, he uses the disposable cell phone to call his attorney, who reassures him that no charges have been filed, and none will be filed, according to his source at the LAPD. But the attorney mentions that Carrie Murray called him, asking for a reaction to the story that Logan Echolls was possibly guilty of statutory rape and was fleeing the country to avoid prosecution. Upon hearing Carrie's name, he strikes the dashboard viciously with his fist. The rage subsumes his nausea, choking him with a bitter wrath for the woman who continues to target him so relentlessly.
~ • ~
Fri. 1/30/09 morning: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA
Keith stares at the brochure he has downloaded from the internet.
At first glance, the brochure seems innocuous enough. But Keith notes the phrases 'security staff' and 'payment plans available'. When he considers the symptoms of an at-risk teen, he thinks that just about every teenager he knows would have at least a few of the listed symptoms. The brochure seems designed to play into the fears of every concerned parent who worries about their teenager.
He runs the name of the CEO of Briar Hill Academy, Peter Klein, but finds little information about the man. When he digs a little deeper, he discovers that Klein changed his name in 1994 from Russell Meyers. He runs a search on Meyers and finds that he was a high-ranking employee of a program called STRAIT, that was forced to shut down in the early 90's. STRAIT, a 'Tough Love' program, was originally lauded by supporters as disparate as Nancy Reagan, prominent Democrats, and Time Magazine. It was finally closed down when former participants were finally able to win a successful lawsuit after years of legal battles trying to expose the excessive, abusive, and ineffective tactics of the anti-drug program. Keith surmises that Briar Hill is merely continuing the programs of STRAIT. When he computes the yearly cost and realizes that each student's family is being charged upwards of $50,000 yearly and many students are held for years, he realizes that the school is an incredibly lucrative enterprise. He finds a news story that implies that in the '80's STRAIT had been donating heavily to political campaigns in order to avoid government interference.
Keith checks the American Psychologist Association's complaint database and finds that the school's consulting psychologist has a record of complaints and alleged ethics violations a mile long. When he runs a credit report on the psychologist, he finds records of substantial payments from an entity listed as BHA; Keith researches BHA and finds that it has made large contributions to political campaigns as well as regular payments to the consulting psychologist.
Keith finds a listing of Briar Hill employees through the Workmen's Compensation database and is appalled to find that several employees have extensive criminal records. The employee who is listed as 'learning specialist' on the Briar Hill Academy web site does not have a college degree in education; the employee, Monique Cavalleri, was a business major at a community college who dropped out after one year.
Every bit of information that Keith obtains troubles him more and more; on the surface, the school appears squeaky-clean, with endorsements from local politicians, law-enforcement specialists, and grateful graduates and parents, but the truth appears to be that Briar Hill is a glorified detention camp that brutalizes its residents and systematically bankrupts their parents.
~ • ~
Fri. 1/30/09: Neptune, CA
At the Neptune Stardust Diner, Mac slides into the booth across from Mordroc. He smiles and says, "Hey, I've been waiting for you." Mordroc inserts a dollar into the mini jukebox at their table and 'Mack the Knife' begins to play.
"Really, 'Mack the Knife'?" Mac comments. "I much prefer 'Mack Daddy' by Sir Mix-a-lot."
"Touché. So I got your email. What's up?" Mordroc replies.
"Well, I've been nosing around a little, trying to get a handle on the flirt-bot program. I wanted to show you what I found; I thought it might be helpful." She puts her laptop on the table between them, opens it and swivels it around to show Mordroc.
He stares at it intently, then sighs. "That's good. You're good. I've been trying to track that server for two days now. How did you come up with that?"
"I worked with the Tor encryption software that you mentioned." She turns the laptop back and types a few keystrokes. Mordroc stands up and joins her on her side of the booth. Mac smiles and says, "So when I tried reverse decryption–"
"You got the server address. It's brilliant," Mordroc types a while and stares at the screen intently. "You just saved me several days of work."
"So...that means you might have time to have some dinner, maybe hang out a little?" Mac asks hopefully. "I wondered if you'd tell me where you got the name 'Mordroc'. I mean, I know it's the wizard in 'Dragon's Lair'..."
"My uncle had one of the original laserdisc machines. We used to play it all the time when I was a kid. Then when I was a little older, I wrote an emulation program. It's still posted at Daphne-Emu, the emulator site. That was my first big project. Then later I got into hacking and, well, I just kept using my old Dragon's Lair name." Mordroc looks at Mac and laughs. "You want to know what my real name is, don't you?"
"Well, you know my name. It's only fair," she replies.
"Rick Picket," he answers.
"Nice to meet you," she says, shaking his hand. "Now that I've helped you with the flirt-bot, I wonder if you can help me. I'm working on a project to remotely hack a Bluetooth wireless keyboard."
~ • ~
Fri. 1/30/09: Ranchita, CA
Deputy Sacks triggers the call button on his radio. "Sheriff? Sacks here. I've located the source of the fire. Looks like arson....Yeah, someone torched a car and the shed it was being stored in. The property looks deserted. There's no sign of any injuries, so there's no need for the coroner. I'll wait for the fire marshal. Here's the address so you can contact the marshal and the owner of the property." He reads the address to Leo from his notebook.
~ • ~
Fri. 1/30/09: Somewhere in the United States
Logan jumps nervously when the disposable cell phone rings. He pulls to the side of the road as soon as possible, stops the truck, and answers the phone.
"Hello? Dr. Friedman?"
Logan's therapist, Dr. Leah Friedman, says, "Logan, is that you?"
"Yes."
"Where are you? Are you all right? At first I didn't know what to think when I got your package today. But then I realized that Thurs. 4:00pm referred to your regular appointment time and knew you had sent the phone."
"I'm all right. I don't want to tell you where I am so you don't have to lie to reporters or to Veronica," Logan replies.
"Veronica doesn't know where you are? Oh, Logan...is that really what you want? I know you're worried about her–"
"She won't be safe if I'm around," he states flatly. "The asshole reporters hurt her at the funeral you know."
Dr. Friedman pauses, then says, "But you were worried about being around her even before that happened."
Logan doesn't answer.
"Logan, I heard that disgraceful Gracie Jane interview," the therapist tries.
Logan laughs bitterly. "Yeah, she's got me pegged." He grasps the phone tightly, his fingers aching with the tension.
"It's not true, you know. It's usually not considered statutory rape in this kind of a situation."
"Except I was taking advantage of Hannah."
"You yourself told me that she forgave you and still wanted to be with you."
He scoffs. "She was deluded. Blinded by the Echolls charm," Logan snaps back.
Dr. Friedman takes a breath. "Why did you send me the phone, Logan? Was there something you wanted to talk to me about?"
Logan sighs. "The other night I was thinking about Veronica...and...well...I had a terrible fantasy about her."
"A fantasy? You mean a sexual fantasy?"
"Is there any other kind?"
Dr. Friedman says cautiously, "What was so upsetting about the fantasy?"
"It was a fantasy I used to have, when we were broken up. I was around Veronica all the time then; she was dating my friend Duncan, and I was living with him, so I had to see them together pretty often. I was having an affair with an older woman; just an easy fuck, not someone I loved."
"So at the time you were angry with Veronica for breaking it off with you and going back to your friend Duncan?"
"And rubbing it in my face. It wasn't just that she was dating him again. She left me when I really needed her; my mother was dead, my father in prison, I was accused of murder. I felt abandoned by Veronica."
"What happens in the fantasy?"
"She comes on to me, and–" he hesitates. He plunges on, "I fuck her, really fuck her, as violently as I can, make her mine."
"In the fantasy you're punishing her for going back to Duncan?" Dr. Friedman asks.
"Ye-es," Logan replies. He suddenly thinks, going back to Duncan...she went back to Duncan...shit, Duncan's back, now. Aloud he says, "Duncan just came back home. When he left three years ago, he got Veronica to help him kidnap his baby. He used her to help him elude the FBI. Now he wants her to help him again, to get amnesty and permanent custody of his daughter."
"You say he used her. Did he put her in danger?"
"Yes, dammit. And she went along with it. And now she's helping him again, even though she could still be arrested for helping in the kidnapping. Putting herself in danger again, and he just lets her...encourages her."
"So you're worried she's going to go back to Duncan again?" Dr. Friedman asks.
"She did it before. As soon as Duncan was available, she dumped me and went to him. Now he's available again." Even Logan is surprised by the amount of bitterness in his tone.
"So why not fight for her? Why run away and make it easier for him?"
Logan just breathes. Finally he says, "I still think she's going to get hurt if I'm around." I'm going to hurt her. Everyone gets hurt, because of me. "Maybe it's better if she ends up with him."
"I don't believe you mean that. You love her desperately, Logan."
He stays silent, clenching the phone.
Finally Dr. Friedman says, "Logan, please come back to L.A. We can work on this. You can work on your relationship with Veronica."
"No. I can't come back. It's not just Veronica. I can't...deal with the reporters. I'm afraid of how they make me feel. It's hard enough, knowing that Hannah was killed" because of me "but the paparazzi are all over me, accusing me, blaming me. They're relentless. I can't take it."
"Logan, I'm sorry, we're going to have to stop; my next patient is here. I'll call you tomorrow. Please think about coming home."
Every minute, he thinks, hanging up the phone.
Is Logan Echolls guilty of statutory rape? An explanation.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Frankly, Madeira, I Don't Give a Damn
Wallace tries to distract Veronica with his
own questions; Logan settles in; Carrie
returns like a bad penny.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason
Dohring. Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Carrie:
Amber Heard. Wallace: Percy Daggs III.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER NINETEEN: "FRANKLY, MADEIRA, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN"
Fri. evening 1/30/09: Hearst College, Neptune, CA
Veronica is trying to study. After a sleepless night of dreams chasing Logan all over Europe, she vowed to put him out of her mind; but today she still found her thoughts wandering in class. Even her favorite seminar this semester on "Ethics in the Criminal Justice System" failed to hold her attention today. Finally she gives up and runs Logan's credit cards again. She is rewarded by new charges on the card: a meal at a restaurant in Amsterdam, and another charge to KLM Airlines. She is trying to think of a way to get the details on Logan's latest flight when she hears a knock at the door.
"Yo, Vee?" Wallace calls from outside the door.
Veronica puts her laptop aside and lets Wallace into the room. She resumes her crosslegged position on the bed and Wallace joins her. He puts his arm around her, and she leans her head on his shoulder. "Hey...I was worried about you today. I looked for you in the Food Court, but you weren't around."
"I just grabbed a sandwich. I'm not very good company today," she replies.
He sees the display of Logan's credit charges on the laptop screen and points to them. "Hey, at least he won't have seen that Gracie Jane interview in Amsterdam. That was pretty bad."
"Really bad...I hope he never has to see it. There's nothing more terrifying for Logan than the thought that he might be like his father."
"Has your dad talked to you?" Wallace asks.
"About what?" she replies, sitting up.
"Something's going on with him. He asked me for help on a project, but he wouldn't tell me what case it was for," Wallace explains. He tells Veronica about the information he gave Keith on ground penetrating radar. "I'm pretty sure he's looking for a corpse somewhere. And there's no active Mars Investigation case that I know of that's missing a body."
Veronica frowns and accesses her dad's files remotely with her own password. "Mac's helping him with something too, a program to hack into a computer using the wireless keyboard....Okay, there are files on Stephanie Denenberg and the trust attorney case he asked me to help with. Then it's just the usual insurance fraud cases and a couple skip-traces. Nothing else." She ponders the screen for a moment. "Has Dad said anything about Vinnie Van Lowe to you? I know he's been helping Cliff with Vinnie's defense, but there's no notes on the case in his files."
"He hasn't said a word except for telling me when he's going to Lompoc."
"You haven't helped at all? You haven't done any research for him?" Veronica queries. "That's unusual; he always says your research is very thorough, better than his own." She thinks a minute, then accesses the PryingEyez database with Keith's account information. She asks for a listing of all searches over the last thirty days and prints out the results. She and Wallace look over the list. They compare the names to those they find in Keith's open files and discover one name, Matt Dannon, that is not listed. When Veronica runs a search on that name, she discovers that Dannon is a suspect in a liquor store robbery from twenty-five years ago, and there are no records of his whereabouts or activities since that time. Wallace and Veronica look at each other in puzzlement.
Wallace thinks, At least I got her to think about something other than Logan. Aloud, he says, "Veronica, maybe we shouldn't mess with this. There might be a reason Keith doesn't want us involved."
Veronica sighs. "Yeah, I know." Reverting back to Keith's case files, she clicks on the Stephanie Denenberg icon. "Password protected and encrypted. Dad's serious about this one."
"He said he wants us to leave it alone; he doesn't want to take a chance we'll stumble on something that will draw the attention of the serial killer," Wallace comments.
Lots of secrets, Veronica thinks. What are you up to, Dad? She says to Wallace, "How's it going with Candice?"
"Oh, man. She is fine. I wouldn't kick her out of bed for eating crackers. In fact, I would go to the Sac-n-pac, buy her crackers, and serve them to her on a platter while bowing down before the goodness that is Candice." Wallace grins at Veronica.
"Wow, what's next, toe sucking?" Veronica teases back.
He makes a face and pinches her lightly, and she mock-flinches, saying, "So it's going well? All love notes and hand holding in the park?"
Wallace hesitates, then says, "Yeah, everything's great."
"What?" Veronica sits up on her knees and faces Wallace. "You paused. What's up?"
"I was looking up some basketball scores on her computer, and I accidentally saw that she's been looking up old Mars Investigations cases. The original Lilly Kane murder investigation, too."
Veronica sits back down and muses, "Maybe she's just curious about your job. A lot of people are interested in private investigators. Look at all the crappy shows on TV."
"So why not just ask?" he replies quietly.
"You're really worried about this," Veronica notes.
"I just...I really like her. I don't want to find out she has a criminal past or does drugs or something."
"I did a pretty thorough check on her. She's not a criminal, and I don't think a drug user would be able to graduate summa cum laude...especially from a tough school like Georgia Tech." She looks at Wallace's downcast face and adds, "Why don't you take her to the office and meet Dad? Maybe she'll say something. I'm sure it's nothing, Wallace. She's probably just a PI groupie."
~ • ~
Keith watches the priest's residence at St. Mary's Church. He sees Father Patrick hurriedly getting in his car and driving off into the darkness. Ten minutes earlier, Keith called pretending to be the administrator from a nursing home in a far corner of the county; the 'administrator' said that a resident at the home had taken a turn for the worse and had requested that Father Patrick administer the last rites. Even driving at a fast pace, the nursing home is an hour away, giving Keith a couple hours to carry out his plan.
Cautiously looking around the premises for witnesses, Keith unloads the ground penetrating radar equipment he rented for a stiff fee from a local sewer contractor. I'll add it to Vinnie's bill, he thinks sarcastically. Wallace mentioned that he needed to run several scans over each possible location, and then Wallace would average the data and try to identify the most likely spot using software the sewer contractor had recommended. The equipment is smaller than the average lawnmower, with a wheel about the size of a child's bicycle wheel attached to the front; this model runs off a battery pack and was completely silent when Keith tested it earlier that afternoon.
It takes Keith an hour to complete three scans each of the two graves he thinks are most likely to conceal the remains of Vinnie's victim, Cormac Fitzpatrick and Mary MacDonald, plus three scans of another grave that he intends to use as the control data Wallace suggested.
~ • ~
Logan selects his new temporary residence carefully. He scouts several medium-priced motels before he settles on one that is near the beach but seems to be somewhat unpopular with tourists. After he drops off his few bags, he decides to run one errand. He finds a sporting goods store and purchases free weights and weighted ankle cuffs. If nothing else, I can work on my physical therapy. At least I can control that. After he drops off his purchases, he parks the pickup a few blocks away. He doesn't intend to do much other than keep a low profile here, but realizes the truck might come in handy and decides to hang onto it; he's pretty sure that the steps he took will make it difficult for anyone to track him through this vehicle.
From inside his motel room, he can watch the ocean. It's not the same spectacular ocean view he's grown accustomed to in Venice Beach, but on days when the surf is up, he'll be able to watch the local surfers catching the waves and to imagine himself out there with them. Today he sees a solitary windsurfer negotiating the wind and the waves, and the longing to be out there as well is powerful.
He checks the duffel with his supply of cash. Logan calculates his daily expenses and figures he will have at least two months before he will need a cash infusion, assuming he is able to stay here undetected. He settles into a chair in front of the window and straps on the ankle weights; he does the exercises assigned to him by the physical therapist in L.A., rests a while, then repeats them. He's determined to get rid of the cane as soon as possible. While he does reps, he watches the windsurfer making long passes across the bay.
~ • ~
Veronica awakens on Sunday morning to a knock on her dorm room door. She glances across and sees that Mac has not woken, and she gets up to answer the door. She looks through the peephole and scowls, then throws open the door.
"What the hell do you want?" she snipes.
Carrie Murray smiles falsely. "Hello, Veronica. I'm so sorry we've never met before. I wondered if you wanted to give me a quote about your reaction to the video of Logan Echolls in Madeira. You know, the one that shows him partying with a pretty young thing late into the night. I guess he's not worried about the statutory rape charges after all."
Veronica is gutted by Carrie's words, then she begins to feel anger trickling into every cell of her body...anger at Logan for running away, and anger for this woman who is the physical manifestation of Logan's torment. "Quote this," she says, and Veronica punches Carrie in the face with the heel of her hand, just the way she was taught by the FBI. Carrie falls backward to the floor, and Veronica follows her down. Veronica grabs Carrie's arm and flips her facedown, pulling the arm painfully across Carrie's back. "How the hell did you get on campus? The dean prohibited all reporters, and you need a magnetic card to get in this building."
From behind her, Mac, awoken by the commotion, says, "I'll check her purse," and begins to search through Carrie's belongings.
"This is assault!" Carrie screams. "I know my first amendment rights!"
"You fell and hit your face. And here I am trying to be nice, trying to help you up," Veronica says sarcastically. "Your word against mine."
"And mine."
"And mine."
Veronica looks up and sees that a few girls in their bathrobes have gathered. One says, "Don't worry, Veronica, we'll say that she fell." Veronica recognizes her as Heather, one of YourCheatingHearts' first clients. The other girls nod their agreement.
Mac says, "She has a fake Hearst College ID. And a magnetic card. Should I call security?"
"No," Veronica says, letting Carrie go. "Get out of here, you bitch. Leave me and Logan alone. Why can't you go after Britney Spears like everyone else?"
As Carrie walks away quickly, she says venomously, "Because Logan was such a great fuck, and an even bigger fuckup." She turns and begins to run.
Mac restrains Veronica, who is beet red with anger. Veronica turns to Mac and says, "I want to find this video of Logan. What the hell is he doing in Madeira? He's never talked about wanting to go there."
Mac stares at Veronica compassionately, then shrugs 'all right'.
They turn on Mac's laptop and Mac googles 'Logan Echolls Madeira' with Veronica looking on. The SmokingGun.com site is listed first among the results, and Mac clicks on it.
The site prominently features a video of Logan Echolls at a casino in Madeira. His arm is around a young girl. The video shows the two of them entering the club, with Logan leaning on his cane, then crossfades to a later video that shows Logan drinking heavily, laughing and generally enjoying himself with other club patrons. The last segment of the video shows an obviously drunk Logan leaving the club with several girls around him.
Mac quickly shuts the laptop and stands up, grabbing Veronica in a hug. Veronica whispers, "It's not true, it can't be true...."
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Put the Hurt On
Veronica drowns her sorrows in work;
Logan throws himself into writing; Wallace
helps Keith; Duncan drops a bombshell.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Mac: Tina Majorino.
Logan: Jason Dohring. Keith: Enrico
Colantoni. Wallace: Percy Daggs III.
Duncan 2.0: Chris Carmack
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
CHAPTER TWENTY: "PUT THE HURT ON"
Sun 2/1/09: Hearst College, Neptune, CA
Veronica lies on the bed in her room, staring at the ceiling. Mac tries to get her to go to breakfast, then suggests taking a drive for a change of scenery, and finally gives up and begins working on a computer science project. Veronica, after an initial bout of tears, refuses to talk about the Madeira video, but Mac is reluctant to leave her alone and works quietly on her side of the room.
"You don't have to baby-sit me," Veronica says suddenly.
"Veronica...I don't know what to say. I know Logan was upset about Hannah. Maybe he couldn't help himself; he started drinking and didn't know what he was doing."
"Not helping," Veronica comments quietly.
"I'm sure he'll get over this and come back," Mac says quickly. "I know he loves you."
Veronica doesn't respond aloud. But she thinks to herself, Why did this have to happen now? We were finally trusting each other. I thought...I actually thought we had a chance of being happy. I thought our biggest problem was the long-distance relationship. What a crock of shit. I can't believe he ran away and went back to drinking and screwing around. I thought he was stronger than that. And the whole fake trail to Tijuana and all the bullshit about 'know that I'll always love you'....I guess he meant 'I'll always love you' until the next crisis starts, and then it's 'I'll do whatever the fuck I want in order to feel better'. She's suddenly flooded with anger and spite, and sits up on the bed.
Mac watches as Veronica gathers her toiletries and heads for the showers. "Veronica?" she asks.
"I'm not going to lay around moping about him," she replies. "My dad had some work for me to do. It's better if I keep busy."
~ • ~
Without the distraction of his various subterfuges to elude Veronica, Logan begins to obsess about Hannah. He writes about her compulsively: a lighthearted look at what her childhood must have been like before her dad turned to drugs and her parents divorced; then a soul-searching examination of their own relationship together; and finally, an imagination of a future life, where Hannah is happy and carefree. He writes pages on this alternate life of Hannah, a Hannah who never met him, a Hannah who was never exposed to the menace that is Logan Echolls. This Hannah becomes a school hero for her accomplishments on the track team; this Hannah runs for student council and champions the causes of deserving fellow students; this Hannah is elected homecoming queen, accompanied by a sweet boy who would never get in fights or fuck trophy wives for the mindless distraction. This Hannah goes to college and majors in English or history; this Hannah meets the man of her dreams in a chance circumstance and marries him in a fairy-tale wedding, complete with doves and strolling violinists. This Hannah never says "All I hear you saying is I want to have sex". He tortures himself with the what-could-have-beens, trying desperately not to picture a drug-addicted Hannah selling herself in an alleyway and being viciously slashed by an unspeakably insane killer.
Logan types furiously on his laptop, accumulating pages of stories. He pauses in his work only to do some physical therapy exercises; finally late in the afternoon he is forced to leave his motel room to find something to eat. When he returns, he has a few bites and begins to type again, trying to find some salvation on his computer screen.
~ • ~
On the way to Mars Investigations, Veronica finds a pay phone and calls 1-888-555-GUNZ, the tip line for the Smoking Gun web site, and claims she saw 'Veronica Mars' buying an airplane ticket at the San Diego Airport. Fricking gullible paparazzi, she thinks to herself as she observes the media that had been swarming the office pack up and move their search for fresh meat elsewhere.
She sits at the desk in the outer office and opens the file on the trust attorney, Douglas Stern Jr. A relative of one of Stern's clients has accused Stern of getting himself appointed executor and power-of-attorney, and then convincing an elderly, barely mentally-competent client to leave a large bequest to Stern. There are also allegations that necessary medical care was withheld. Keith has asked Veronica to come up with a list of Stern's clients and, in the case of deceased clients, to get copies of will and trust documents filed by the county courts. By searching the power-of-attorney filings for Balboa County, she is able to compile a list of clients. When she runs the names on the list, she is not surprised to discover that the clients are among the wealthiest residents of Neptune.
A significant portion of Stern's elderly clients are residents at the Neptune Garden Courts, an expensive assisted living facility that resembles a high-class hotel more than a nursing home. When she examines the power-of-attorney filings, she notes that almost all were deemed 'medically necessary' by a prominent local psychiatrist, Gordon Wilks. She makes a note 'investigate psychiatrist?' on a post-it and attaches it to the front of the file for Keith. Veronica runs another search on past lawsuits against Stern and finds that he has settled out of court on several suits that alleged 'fraud and undue influence', but the attorney has never acknowledged any wrongdoing. She prints out the details of the settlements for Keith.
Suddenly feeling exhausted after her long afternoon of research, Veronica sighs and puts her head down on her arms. She knows she should be upset that this attorney is committing fraud on elderly clients who are unable to protect themselves, but she is completely unable to work up a righteous anger about a man who victimizes wealthy '09'er's today. All she can think about is that she misses him.
She picks up the computer mouse and lethargically clicks on the Planet Zowie bookmark. She types in 'Logan Echolls' and despondently browses the top results. She watches the Madeira video twice, trying to catch a clear glimpse of the young woman with Logan. Despite her anger, she wishes the video would zoom in closer so she could really see if he was all right. She ruefully realizes that Logan is wearing the green shirt she bought him for Christmas. Another site has a report that mentions that Logan was also seen at a party held on Johnny Depp's private estate on the outskirts of Madeira's largest town, Funchal. Veronica frowns. She can easily believe that Logan was partying into the wee hours at a casino, but a glitzy party with starlets, 'Hollywood posers', and fawning entertainment reporters was always Logan's idea of hell. Another reporter on a different site also details Logan's presence at the star-studded event. Veronica goes back to the video and watches it over and over again, becoming certain that something is not quite right about the video.
Several hours later, Keith comes into the office and finds her fast asleep with her head on the desk and the video paused on the computer screen, showing Logan leaning on his cane outside the club in Madeira. He gently wakes her up, suggesting that she come home for a late dinner and spend the night at the Sunset Cliffs apartment. She sleepily agrees and allows him to walk her out to his car.
~ • ~
Wallace puts his book bag on the desk at Mars Investigations and sits down, prepared to put in a morning of research work for Keith.
"Hey, Wallace," Keith says, coming out into the waiting area. "I got some scans with the GPR over the weekend. Can you help me with the software?"
"F'diggity, Boss Hogg," Wallace replies, then, grinning at Keith's expression, continues, "Show me what you got."
Keith shows Wallace the scans he has already downloaded into the computer. He watches carefully as Wallace uses the software to translate the data into a fuzzy gray image. Wallace reviews the technology for Keith again. "The transmitter antenna sends short pulses of radio waves into the ground. Then the receiving antenna picks up any variations in the reflected return signal. The variations represent an object or a boundary of some sort that registers as a difference in the electromagnetic radiation." Wallace points out the hyperbolas within the graphic representation and explains that they represent reflection points where objects are most likely to be located. He uses the software to overlay a multicolored representation that looks similar to a PET scan to simplify and highlight the reflection points. "So as long as you have absolute coordinates to match with the coordinates on the scan, you have a pretty good representation of the topography underneath the surface." Keith nods his understanding. Wallace sends the scans to the printer and says, "So are you gonna tell what case this is for?"
"Nope," Keith replies, returning to his office and shutting the door.
~ • ~
Veronica knocks on the door of a familiar room at the Neptune Grand. Duncan opens the door, and Veronica is shocked at his appearance. His eyes are bloodshot, and Duncan, not known for his ability to hold his liquor, appears to be completely drunk although it is only late afternoon.
"Duncan, what happened? I got here as soon as I could," Veronica says anxiously. "Why are you here? Where's Lilly?"
"Astrid is baby-sitting for me. I had to get out of the house, and I don't want Lilly to see me so upset. My mother and I had the worst fight we've had since she found out about Meg's pregnancy." Duncan throws himself onto the couch. "Veronica, I got the results of the paternity test. I'm...I'm not the father."
"What? Meg said–" Veronica starts.
"Meg lied to us," Duncan replies. "And so did my mother. What a surprise."
"What do you mean, your mother lied?" Veronica asks, sitting down next to Duncan.
"Veronica, she told me that she always knew I couldn't possibly be the father, and that was the real reason why she refused to support my custody petition. Mother said," Duncan continues, his voice breaking, "that the medication for my seizures makes me infertile. Doctor Levine told her it was a probable side effect of the drugs. But Mother," he spits out, bitterly, "didn't think I needed to know that."
Veronica says, "But what does that mean? Can you still get custody?"
"I don't know. My attorneys said we'd have to determine the real father, and he would have to relinquish his parental rights. Veronica, I don't see that I have a choice. I have to leave the country again," Duncan says despondently. "I was just beginning to hope I would have a normal life again. I love Lilly; I can't give her up." He leans on Veronica for comfort and support, and instinctively she folds him into her arms. "I'm going to leave tomorrow, and I have to give up on the idea of coming back here ever again."
As Veronica hugs him, she thinks to herself, Why would Meg lie to us? Who is Lilly's real father? Poor Duncan....
Could Duncan Kane actually be infertile?
Continue reading...Chapters Twenty thru Thirty-One.