vanessagalore

Previously on The Year of Living Dangerously Part II [Spoilers for chapters 1-66] (for those of you who didn't take notes)

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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Night Terrors
Veronica manifests ill effects due to
the operation; Mac's discovery has
unexpected consequences.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Klein: Clancy Brown. Tony: Romany Malco.
Maria: Gina Mantegna. Kavner: Eric Bana.
Dr. Kinny: Dan Castellaneta. Epstein: Scott
Grimes. Leo: Max Greenfield. Mac: Tina
Majorino. Alan: Ned Vaughan.
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CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN: "NIGHT TERRORS"

Mon. 3/9/09 late night: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica wakens to find a hand over her mouth. Panicked, she looks around to see Logan holding a finger to his lips. She nods, and he takes his hand away. He motions with his head toward the door and helps her to climb down quietly from the top bunk to avoid waking the other girls sleeping around them. He takes her hand and leads her out of the room silently.

She wonders, How did he turn off the motion detectors that keep the girls in their beds at night? Already, Veronica has been awakened in the middle of the night several times when a girl inadvertently set off the alarm by her bed, causing a loud blaring siren to sound and turning on all the lights in the room. On her first night, she heard one of the younger girls sobbing because she had wet the bed after not being allowed to get up to use the bathroom.

Veronica looks at Logan questioningly, but he just puts his fingers to his lips again, cautioning her to keep quiet. He pulls her along down the hallway to Klein's office and takes out a card key, unlocking the door and escorting her inside. Once inside, he turns her to him and kisses her, taking her breath away.

She pulls away and whispers, "What..."

He shakes his head, saying, "Shhh...." and begins to kiss her again, stroking her hair. Logan guides her backward to the desk and lifts her up, positioning himself between her legs and insinuating his hand underneath her sweatshirt. He trails his hand lightly across her torso, and she closes her eyes, just enjoying the simple familiarity of his touch. She wraps her legs around his waist and gives in to his demanding kiss, opening her mouth to his tongue. He strokes her spine with his fingernails, making her shiver, and he unclasps the hated bra with its listening device. Logan pushes the bra up and takes her breasts in his hands, flicking her nipples with his thumbs.

She moans a little, and he breathes in her ear, "We have to be quiet...shhh." She nods and just breathes hard as he caresses her and begins to suck passionately at the junction of her neck and shoulder. He bites her gently, and she throws her head back, feeling her arousal taking charge of her whole body. Veronica starts to unbutton Logan's shirt, desperate for the feel of his skin. She tugs his shirttail free from his pants and runs her fingers across his chest. Logan presses against her, making clear his own arousal. She tries to pull down her sweatpants, but he takes over, lifting her slightly off the desk and hurriedly drawing down her pants and underwear. He touches her gently, and she hitches a little, trying to grant him easier access. Veronica presses her mouth into his chest, holding back a groan as he runs his fingers across her opening, slicking her wetness and finally plunging in.

She opens her eyes to look at Logan and sees a movement out of the corner of her eye. Klein is sitting in a chair, sipping a drink and watching them with interest. Veronica gasps; she tries to get Logan's attention, pointing at Klein and pulling away from Logan. Logan shakes his head and finds her mouth again, kissing her and stroking her relentlessly. She struggles against him, whispering, "We have to get out of here!"

The door opens behind them, and several male employees enter and grab Logan. They begin to take him down to floor as Logan struggles against them. Veronica tries to pull up her sweats quickly and goes to Logan. She manages to punch one of the men holding Logan before Klein comes up behind her and puts her in a hold. One of the men puts a pair of handcuffs on her as she struggles against Klein. When she feels Klein ease up on his grasp, she whips around and strikes him forcefully in the face with her bound hands. Klein is knocked off-balance by the unexpected attack, and Veronica wrestles free. She gets past the other men and runs into the hallway, screaming at the top of her lungs, "California! Help us!" She turns the corner and runs smack into the guard named Tony, who tackles her, forcing her to the ground. She struggles under him, still screaming, "Help us!"

One of the men comes to help Tony, and together the two men manhandle Veronica back to Klein's office. Logan has disappeared, and Klein has taken a seat behind his desk, pressing a tissue to his bleeding nose.

"What are you doing to Logan?!" Veronica yells.

Klein regards her impassively. He motions with his hand, and the men pull her down to the floor and brutally search her. They find the bug, removing it from her bra and handing it to Klein. Klein takes the bug and puts it on his desk; he smashes it with a paperweight, then leans back in his chair to look at her again. One of the men drags a chair over and forces her to sit in it.

She repeats, "What are you doing to him?! People know we're here; you can't get away with this! Let us go now, before they send in the cops."

"I don't think so," Klein says calmly. "We did a routine bug sweep this afternoon and found a few new items. 'Repeaters', I think they're called. Did you really think we wouldn't check for bugs? And then of course we realized that Kavner had to have been the one to put them in. He's been terminated, of course."

Veronica stares at him. Terminated?

Klein continues, "We're assuming you have people listening on the bugs. I promise you, if you tell us who's listening and where they are, we won't kill your friend– what did you call him...Logan? We won't hurt your friend Logan if you tell us who's monitoring you. We know you're not the cops or federal agents."

Veronica quickly backpedals, "There's no one monitoring us. It just goes to a recorder."

"I don't believe you. I heard you calling for help. And you just said 'People know we're here,' and I don't think you were making that up." Klein looks at her, allowing his words to sink in. "And Connie, or whatever your name is, don't think we haven't noticed that you've been intentionally provoking us. Getting evidence, I presume."

Tony adds, "And we also noticed your friend Roger, I mean Logan, was going easy on you. Do you think we're stupid?"

Veronica looks from Klein to Tony and back again. "I don't think you're stupid," she lies. "Just evil."

Klein picks up the phone and says quietly, "Bring him in."

The door to the office opens, and two men bring in Logan, whose face has been beaten. One eye is swollen shut, and his lip is split and bleeding.

A siren begins to sound, and Klein says, "The whole school's on lock-down because of you. Now tell us who's monitoring you and where they are, or we're going to keep hurting Logan."

"NO!!" she yells. Got to protect Dad, got to help Logan.... The siren continues to blare, and one of the men begins to punch Logan in the gut. Logan sags, held up only by the two men who grip his arms tightly. He lets out a moan as the man continues to hit him.

Veronica wakens to find Maria shaking her viciously. Maria shouts above the sound of the alarm, "Connie, shut the fuck up, you woke everyone up with your yelling, and now someone's set off the motion detectors!"

Veronica's heart is pounding; she's still in the dream in her head, still sees the men beating Logan and Klein's furious face demanding answers. "I'm sorry," she says, trying to will the dream away. "I'm sorry, I just had a really bad dream."

She sees Kavner at the doorway to the sleeping quarters. He shuts down the alarm and looks at her. In the sudden silence, Kavner says, "Everything okay here? Someone said there was a commotion in here." Veronica realizes he's checking on her. Dad probably heard me on the bug and told him to check on me.

Maria replies, "Just my fucking newcomer having a bad dream." She turns back to Veronica and asks, "Who's Logan? You were screaming his name." She sneers, "Probably your druggie boyfriend."

Veronica thinks, If you only knew, thinking about Logan's drunken exploits and over-the-top antics in high school. Then she panics, realizing someone might recognize him now after hearing his name. She feels the terror spreading through her body, an actual physical sensation of heat and pain. She says merely, "I'm sorry. Please, I'm really sorry," hoping to gloss over the incident and keep his identity safe.

"Don't let it happen again," Maria warns. "If you keep doing this, we can arrange to have you sleep in Observation Placement."

Kavner nods and leaves. Maria glares at Veronica one more time before getting back into her bunk below Veronica's.

~ • ~

Mon. 3/9/09 late night: Rented house, Manchester Center, VT

It was Epstein's shift when Veronica was heard on the bug yelling, "What are you doing to Logan?" and then an alarm began to sound, obscuring all the voices. Epstein quickly woke up the other two men and texted Kavner that something was going on. The three men listen carefully to the bug; they can't make out any of Veronica's words over the loud blaring of the siren. Suddenly the alarm stops, and they can hear the conversation again.

MARIA: JUST MY FUCKING NEWCOMER HAVING A BAD DREAM. WHO'S LOGAN? YOU WERE SCREAMING HIS NAME...PROBABLY YOUR DRUGGIE BOYFRIEND.

VERONICA: I'M SORRY. PLEASE, I'M REALLY SORRY.

MARIA: DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. IF YOU KEEP DOING THIS, WE CAN ARRANGE TO HAVE YOU SLEEP IN OBSERVATION PLACEMENT.

For a moment after the voices stop, the three men just stand in silence, waiting to hear if anything is going on. Keith thinks despondently, We should have put video in the sleeping quarters too.

Epstein breaks the silence. "It sounds like Veronica was having a nightmare. It's...unfortunate...that she screamed out Logan's name."

Keith turns to Dr. Kinny. "What do you think? I'm getting worried about her. I really can't stay objective about this; should we pull the plug?"

Kinny purses his lips. "I really don't know. It's obvious she's under stress and worried about the operation."

Epstein interrupts, "We're so close. The only thing we absolutely need to document is the use of restraints. The school has always maintained that they don't use stress positions or restraints as punishments. They have said repeatedly that restraints are only used to defuse a violent situation even though my clients have witnessed their use as a long-term punishment. And you know that we could use some more evidence of the psychological abuse in the group therapy. It's really the most egregious violation by the school, the attack therapy that they practice. And it's the hardest charge to prove without documentary evidence. The school maintains that it only uses traditional therapeutic techniques with the girls."

Keith closes his eyes and thinks a moment.

Epstein adds, "She didn't use any of the code words. I think she's okay."

Kinny contradicts, "But she was shaken up. It sounded to me as if she wasn't fully in control there. She's being affected."

Epstein fires back, "Of course she's being affected. We expected that. It's why we're here trying to document the school's abuses. We're not just doing this for a court case; we're trying to shut down all these schools. If there's real, verifiable evidence, maybe we could finally get effective legislation."

"Jim, I'm afraid you don't understand the psychological factors at work here. Even if Veronica knows that she can be extracted at any time, she will still begin to unconsciously become stressed by the situational forces at the school. She may not be able to communicate her desire to terminate the operation."

"It's only been three days! She's an experienced professional, used to stressful situations and aware of the psychological effects," Epstein retorts.

Keith holds up his hand. "Let's see if Kavner can make contact with her, assess her condition, before we make up our mind. I don't think there's an immediate danger. We'll decide in the morning." He picks up the cell phone and sends a text to Kavner.

NEED TO ASSESS V'S CONDITION. PLEASE MAKE CONTACT & ADVISE ASAP.

~ • ~

Mon. 3/9/09 late night: Neptune, CA

On a quiet residential street in Neptune, the neighborhood is rocked by an explosion and subsequent fire. Two cars are parked in the driveway, and the neighbors gathered around assume that all the residents of the house have been killed. The fire chief thumbs the switch on the radio attached to the shoulder of his jacket and informs Chief D'Amato that Samuel, Natalie, and Ryan MacKenzie are presumed dead. The fire continues to rage out of control as the firefighters pump water onto the blaze.

Chief D'Amato sighs and puts the radio down on his nightstand. He thinks for a moment, then picks up the phone to dial the ADIC of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is put on hold for a few minutes, then is directed to proceed immediately to Mercy Hospital and speak to the agent there.

~ • ~

Mon. 3/9/09 late night: Hotel, San Diego, CA

Mac is awakened by loud and persistent knocking on her hotel room door. She checks the bedside clock, thinking, Jeez, four a.m., and goes to answer the door.

Her handler, Alan Sheffield, rushes into the room. He obviously dressed in a hurry; his shirt is buttoned wrong and he's not wearing a tie. Mac thinks, I kind of thought he slept in that FBI dark suit and tie.

"Mac...." he starts hesitantly.

Mac realizes that something is very, very wrong. She sits down on the bed and looks at Alan.

"There's been an incident at your parents' house." At Mac's expression, Alan rushes to say, "Everyone's okay. Everything is going to be fine. Apparently, they were all at the hospital. Your brother Ryan had a ruptured appendix, and your parents went with him in the ambulance to the hospital. They performed emergency surgery, and he's doing all right. But, Mac, someone blew up your parents' house. Whoever triggered the explosion must have thought everyone was at home because both cars were in the driveway."

Mac sits stunned on the bed.

"We've had an agent assigned to your family. When they went to the hospital, he followed the ambulance. Luckily, the Neptune Sheriff contacted us right away, and we made contact with our agent in the hospital. Your family has been apprised of the situation, and we're making sure that no one in the hospital leaks the fact that your family survived. Mac, this changes everything. Apparently this is retaliation for the arrests we made this morning."

Mac blurts out, "I want to call my mom." After all is said and done, Mom is "Mom", and Mrs. Sinclair is...Mrs. Sinclair.

"We're going to set that up, as soon as possible, I promise. But, Mac, this is an opportunity. We're going to take your whole family into witness protection and let the whole world think that your family was killed. We'll have an agent dress up like you and attend the funeral pretending to be you. Hopefully, they'll make an attempt to kill you as well."

"You mean...you're setting a trap?" Mac says shakily.

"Right. But that means we can't tell anybody what really happened. Anybody, Mac. Not your friend Veronica or that guy who keeps sending emails–"

"Dick sent more emails?" she asks. "You didn't say anything."

"Mac, it's for his own protection," Alan answers. "You can't tell anybody."

"What about after...after the funeral? I thought you said I might be able to leave Witness Protection if they were able to make the arrests."

"Everything's changed. Apparently, this is a much bigger deal than we thought. It looks like the Russian mafia was running a lot more than an identity theft scam from those servers. We've identified a plot to hack into the FBI's computers and sell various secrets to terrorist groups. You and your family are in grave danger. The Russian Mafia believes in revenge, and right now it looks like they've put out a contract on your whole family. I don't see any way around it; you're all going to have to be placed in WITSEC. For everyone's safety, you're going to be on your own and the rest of your family will be together. You'll be able to say goodbye to them before they are placed."

Mac protests, "What about my friends? Will I be able to see them?"

Alan replies, "It's not safe for you or for them." He sighs. "Mac, I know this is hard. Try to get a little sleep. The next few days will be difficult...a lot of meetings and discussions. But you need to remember that everyone just wants you to be safe." He starts to walk to the door, then turns around and says, "You did a brave thing by helping us. You probably saved a lot of lives identifying those servers for us."

Alan leaves, and Mac crawls back under the covers to lie awake for the rest of the night.

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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Pathological Reaction
Veronica gets a new punishment during
group therapy; Wallace has some bad
news for Keith.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Kavner: Eric Bana. Maria: Gina Mantegna.
Tara: Kirsten Prout. Megan: Anna Lynn
McCord. Alyssa: Christina Hendricks. Shari:
Jessalyn Gilsig. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III.
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CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT: "PATHOLOGICAL REACTION"

Tues. 3/10/09 afternoon: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica sits in group therapy trying to pay attention as Alyssa gives another long lecture on working the steps. Her mind wanders to earlier that day; at breakfast, she observed that Kavner seemed to be watching her more than usual. Finally, during chores, when she and Maria were scrubbing the floor in the group therapy room, Kavner managed to get her alone by telling Maria that 'Connie' had done a bad job on one section. He untied Veronica's tether and grabbed her arm, dragging her over to the opposite end of the room that was supposedly already cleaned. Kavner pointed to a section of the floor and berated 'Connie' for doing such a lousy job. Veronica apologized and said she would try harder. Kavner then pretended to watch her re-do the floor, making sure to position his back to Maria. Under his breath, he asked if she was really okay. Veronica whispered, "Yes" while still continuing to mop. Kavner explained that Keith was worried and considering shutting down the operation. Veronica whispered emphatically that she was fine and there's no way she was going to stop now. She turned a little so that Kavner could see her eyes and said defiantly under her breath, "Don't you dare stop now. I want to shut these bastards down." Kavner nodded and said aloud, "That's better, Connie. I want to see you cooperating more." Veronica nodded, and Kavner motioned that she should go back to work with Maria.

Throughout the rest of the morning and through lunch, Veronica fretted that her dad was going to pull the plug on the operation just as she was beginning to really document what was happening at the school. I keep saying the code words; why is he so worried? When Logan comes on shift at two o'clock, she catches him looking at her with concern. She tries to shake her head unobtrusively to make him stop; he looks away, but does seem to get the message and resumes his poker face. Dammit...is Logan telling Dad that he's worried? He knew what it was going to be like, and he promised me that he was going to be able to keep it together. After checking in with the previous shift, Logan disappears; once again, Veronica feels frustrated that she can't communicate with him whenever she wants.

Alyssa wraps up her talk on working the steps. She pauses for a moment and then asks Tara to come up front. Tara stands up reluctantly. Veronica watches closely, not only worried for her, but also curious as to what's going to happen. Alyssa sits down, saying, "Tara, turn around and tell everyone who you are and why you're here at Briar Hill."

Tara turns around to face the other girls. She swallows, obviously reluctant to begin. She glances at Alyssa, who says, "C'mon, Tara. Let's go."

Tara speaks in a quiet voice, barely audible to the other girls. "I'm Tara. I'm..." she pauses, looking again at Alyssa, "I'm an alcoholic and I'm here because I let my boyfriend talk me into doing something stupid" her voice begins to rush and get louder "and the judge said I had to come here if I didn't want to go to juvenile detention."

Alyssa sighs. "Come on, Tara. You know that's not all."

"We broke into somebody's home and drank all their booze," Tara continues dully. "I was a really bad girl. I was stupid. I let my boyfriend make all my decisions. We had sex in the people's bedroom and raided their medicine cabinet for prescription drugs."

Megan begins to pump her fists in the air. Alyssa points to her, and Megan jumps to her feet. "Tara, you're not being honest. You're blaming your bad behavior on your boyfriend. You know you're responsible."

Tears begin to stream down Tara's face. Tara protests, "I never did anything wrong before. I just did one stupid thing! Why can't you believe me?"

Now all the girls begin to pump their arms in the air, asking to be called on. Alyssa recognizes one girl, who stands up and says accusingly, "I think you went out with a bad boy because you wanted to be bad. You wanted to have sex and get high. Just because you never got caught before doesn't mean you never did anything wrong. I think you have a denial problem."

Maria is called on. She stands and adds, "I agree. You're a drunk and you're in denial, Tara. You can't get better until you tell us what's really going on."

"I am telling you!" Tara says, crying openly. "Why won't you believe me? I don't want to drink anymore, I just want to go back home as soon as possible."

Alyssa says, "I don't think that's going to be possible, Tara. You haven't made any progress here in group."

"I know that I shouldn't have gone out with him! He was really exciting, and I wasn't thinking straight. Please, I'm telling you the truth! I won't even date anymore. I promise," Tara says futilely.

"I'm very concerned about you, Tara," Alyssa says. "The whole incident was just a cry for help. I think there's a lot you haven't told us. Tell us about your drinking, Tara."

Tara looks around wildly. She takes a deep breath and says hesitantly, "I've been drinking my parents' liquor for years. I used to pour a little in another bottle and put water in to replace what I took. And then I would go out with my friends and get drunk." She stops talking, with a 'so-there' expression on her face.

"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Alyssa comments. "What else?"

Tara thinks for a minute, then adds, "I used to pay one of my neighbors to buy booze for me."

Alyssa asks, "What did you do to thank him?"

"I had sex with him. Yeah, I had sex with him, so he'd buy booze for me and my friends to party with," Tara says hurriedly.

Alyssa stands up and goes over to Tara. "Tell us about the sex."

"There's nothing to tell, it was just sex."

"Did he force you, or did you offer it?" Alyssa queries.

"No, I offered, because I really wanted to get drunk." Sensing Alyssa's impatience, Tara continues, "Yeah, I...uh, I gave him blowjobs because that's what he wanted. And, uh, I really enjoyed doing that for him."

Alyssa stares at Tara.

Tara says compulsively, "I swear, I'm telling you the truth." She begins to cry again and says in a quivering voice, "Why won't you believe me? I'm telling you the truth. I admit it, I'm a drunk, and I had sex with guys to get booze."

Alyssa shakes her head. "Tara, I feel so sorry for you. You can't make progress here in therapy until you dig deeper."

"What do you want me to say? I'll say whatever you want, just please, let me go home in ninety days," Tara says impulsively.

Veronica thinks, Uh-oh, bad move. She waits for the explosion.

Alyssa replies sternly, "You can't just make up stories. You have to tell us everything. You have to look at your flaws. Your moral inventory is a joke, Tara. There's no way you can get better until you adjust your thinking. You're in your head. You need to get right."

Tara stares at her, completely confused. "I'm in my head?"

"Sit back down. I'm afraid I'm going to have to let your parents know that you're still resisting treatment. We're going to have to add another month to your treatment plan."

"NO!!" Tara screams, sobbing. "I'm doing everything you're asking me to do. Please, don't do this!"

Several oldcomers stand up, ready to take Tara down if necessary. Tara sees them and says quickly, "I'm sorry. You're right...I still have a long way to go. The program is always right." She turns to Alyssa and says, "I'm sorry. I'm trying. I know I'm not doing it right, but I'm trying. Please, don't...." She looks at the other girls.

Alyssa sighs. "Sit down, Tara. We'll try again tomorrow."

Tara walks back to her seat next to Veronica, sobbing and shaking. For a moment, Veronica forgets where she is and what her mission is, and she impulsively hugs Tara, who is completely distraught. Tara shakes her head, 'no, don't', but Veronica ignores her and holds her tightly, patting her back.

Maria is furious. She yanks on Veronica's tether, pulling her out of her seat and away from Tara. "What the hell are you doing?"

Alyssa runs over and starts screaming at Veronica. "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 yells at Maria, "Untie her now." Maria complies, and Alyssa drags Veronica out of the room.

Alyssa manhandles Veronica, shaking her violently as she maneuvers her down a hallway to the office of the school's teacher, Shari. Alyssa explains the situation as Shari stares at Veronica. Veronica glares back belligerently.

Shari says, "She actually hugged the other girl? Christ. You really think you're someone special, don't you?"

"What was so wrong about that?" Veronica replies defensively. "She was crying. Tara was upset! How the hell is she supposed to get better if you just yell at her all the time?"

Shari looks enraged. "You know the rules, Connie. You don't talk to anyone except your oldcomer. You especially don't talk to another newcomer."

"I didn't say anything!" Veronica protests. "You guys are fucking morons."

"It looks like you're going to be with us for quite a long time. You just earned an extra two months on your treatment plan," Shari says with a controlled fury.

Alyssa interrupts, "What about now? I don't want to let her get away with this. I think she's being intentionally disruptive. I heard she woke up all the girls last night; she pretended to have a nightmare."

Veronica starts to laugh bitterly. "Pretended to have a nightmare? Oh my god, you guys are insane. I had a nightmare, because this IS a nightmare. This school is a total fucking nightmare!"

Shari says angrily to Alyssa, "This one is unbelievable. I'll take care of it." She grabs Veronica's arm and drags her across the hall to a small room with a single desk and chair. She pushes Veronica down into the chair and puts a blank notebook and a few pens on the desk. "Write an essay. 100,000 words."

"On what topic?" Veronica replies combatively. "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'll add another month to your treatment plan. When are you going to accept that you need this?" Shari shuts the door, locking Veronica inside the windowless room.

Shit. Veronica writes a few sentences.

'This is total bullshit. How is anyone supposed to get better here? I hate this school.'

She stops writing and counts the words. Fuck!! Sixteen words. At this rate, I'll be here for days. This is what happens when you don't follow the plan, Veronica. She taps the pen against her lips, thinking. Of course, maybe I could.... She smiles. That'll work. She starts sloppily writing one sentence over and over again and waits for someone to check on her progress.

Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill. Fuck you Briar Hill.

~ • ~

Tues. 3/10/09 afternoon: Mars Investigations, Neptune, CA

Wallace peruses the mail that has accumulated since he checked the office on Saturday. One envelope is marked registered mail, and he opens it first. He reads through it two times, not believing what his eyes are seeing, then he picks up the phone and calls Keith in Vermont.

"Hey, it's Wallace."

Keith says, "Hey, what's up?"

"It's been an interesting day so far." Understatement of the year, he thinks. He sighs and plunges in. "Mac's house–her family's house–was blown up last night. Her whole family is presumed dead. They're not disclosing any more information than that, but we know she was working on the Russian mob identity theft thing and...." his voice trails off.

After a moment of shocked silence, Keith replies, "Oh my god. And we can't even talk to her. Poor Mac."

"Right. I thought you should know. You probably don't want to tell Veronica while she's undercover, right?"

"Right. She can't be distracted right now," Keith agrees.

"Uh, see, that's the other thing. There's a letter here. Rose Manning is suing Duncan Kane, and she's subpoenaed Veronica to testify in a hearing next week."

"Testify about what?" Keith asks brusquely.

"I'm assuming she's going to bring up the time that Duncan and Veronica broke into the Manning house."

Keith sighs. "And the statute of limitations hasn't run out for Duncan on that. He can still be prosecuted for burglary. It sounds like a legal maneuver to try to force Duncan to drop his custody battle. I have to say, this sounds more like Stewart Manning than Rose Manning."

"Yeah, I agree. Guy's a real lowlife."

Keith thinks a moment. "I'll call Cliff, see what he has to say. And Duncan." He sighs again. "Damn!"

"Exactly," Wallace says. "So, uh, how's Veronica doing? Weevil was asking about her too. Can you get her a message that everyone's thinking about her?"

"I don't think so. Wallace, I'm not gonna lie. This is a bad situation at the school. Veronica's doing great, but...I can't say I'm not worried about her every minute of the day. We just heard over her bug that she got assigned an essay as punishment. 150,000 words."

Wallace tries to suppress a snort, but finally gives up and laughs. "Go, Veronica! Way to be a bad girl!"

Keith laughs too. "It's a side of her I haven't really seen."

"But you know she's just a teenaged rebel," Wallace adds. "You only know the half of it. Now, don't be tellin' her I said that."

"Of course....Thanks for calling, Wallace, and watching the shop for me."

"Anytime, Keith." Wallace hangs up the phone. He notices a CD on the desk labeled 'Mac's Bluetooth finder'. Wallace vaguely remembers that Veronica had said 'Mac's helping Keith with something too, a program to hack into a computer using the wireless keyboard'. He pops the CD into the desktop computer and clicks on its icon. One file is labeled 'READ ME'.

Mr. Mars,

The program will automatically seek out any Bluetooth devices in range. It will compute the PIN number and make a secure connection. All entries on the target computer will be mirrored to your computer. I suggest you test it on one of your own devices first.

Mac

Wallace looks at the date modified information on the 'READ ME' file, February 1, 2009. He scans Keith's appointment book for that date; on January 29, Keith was in Lompoc with Vinnie. There are various appointments having to do with the trust attorney case Keith was working on at that time. He turns a few pages and looks at February 3. That was the day that Keith was completely unreachable, the day after he had me look at the ground penetrating radar scans. The page has a large 'X' drawn on it with no details listed. I think that's the day he pulled off something with the Fitzpatricks.

Wallace decides to try to run the Bluetooth discovery program. He clicks on the button labeled 'SEEK ALL DEVICES' and a box opens listing four devices: Wallace's cell phone, his laptop in the other room, Keith's laptop, and the office printer. Wallace highlights the entry for his laptop. He gets his own computer and opens a new text file, typing a couple short phrases. On the office computer, he reads:

[command] N
This is a test of the Bluetooth discovery program. Mac is a mo def computer genius. [return]

Cool! He laughs a little and types again.

Gonna bitch-slap those Fitzpatricks. [return]

Wallace ejects the disk and loads the program onto his own laptop. He shuts up the office and takes a drive to St. Mary's to test the program.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
I'll Destroy You Worse
Veronica's solution to her situation;
and boy oh boy is Logan pissed; Logan
confers with the monitoring team.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Klein: Clancy Brown.
Tony: Romany Malco. Epstein: Scott Grimes.
Shari: Jessalyn Gilsig. Dr. Kinny: Dan
Castellaneta.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE: "I'LL DESTROY YOU WORSE"

Tues. 3/10/09 evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica has filled pages of the notebook with 'Fuck you Briar Hill' in the past few hours. Her hand is cramping, but she shakes it out and keeps going. She stopped once to count the words on a page. 534 words. 150,000 divided by 500 is...300 pages. I've filled...let's see...40 pages. She smiles grimly and continues writing.

Finally, the door is unlocked and opened, and Shari, accompanied by Logan, enters the room. "Hello, Connie. Let's see what you've gotten done."

Veronica hands over the notebook, smiling sweetly. "I think I'm learning a lot from this exercise," she comments. She ignores Logan, though she wonders where he was during group therapy that afternoon.

Shari turns pages in the notebook, growing more and more infuriated as Veronica just smiles. "What the hell is this?" she demands.

"I asked you what topic, and you didn't reply, so I thought it might be appropriate to express my feelings," Veronica says smugly.

"Your feelings? Listen up, Connie; you seem to be intent on making your life difficult here at the school. Do you not understand that you're here to change your behavior?"

"I'm not changing anything! There's nothing wrong with me, I'm sick of hearing you guys tell me and everyone else that we're fucked up. All I did was hug another girl."

"Again with the attitude! Most of the girls see Briar Hill as an opportunity to change their lives for the better," Shari replies. "Connie, the sooner you start cooperating the easier it will be for you." Shari takes the notebook and rips out the pages that Veronica has filled with 'Fuck you Briar Hill.'

"What are you doing?!" Veronica screams.

"You're starting over. Since you obviously need more guidance, I want the essay to be on what you want to get out of your time here at the school. And I'll be checking on your content. If it's not on topic, you'll start over again. It's up to you...if you keep this up, you can write essays for the next month. Or the next year. And we'll restrict your food rations until we see you cooperating with us," Shari says.

"This is bullshit! You can't restrict my food! That's illegal! It's child-abuse!" Veronica fumes. She seems to make a decision, meeting Logan's eyes for a milli-second. She grabs the card key around Shari's neck, shoves her aside, and tries to make a run for it past Logan. Shari is caught off-balance and stumbles to the floor.

Even knowing she was planning something, Logan is caught by surprise. Shit...I'm going to have to chase her! He's shocked to realize that he's furious with her for acting this way. He recovers quickly and follows her, running to the best of his ability on his still-uncertain leg. Veronica has sprinted down the hallway to the front door. She is fumbling with the card key in its reader as he catches up to her. He grabs her upper arms and restrains her as she struggles against him. He says angrily, "What the hell are you doing, Connie?"

"I'm getting the fuck out of here, asshole!" she spits at him, shoving him hard.

"You know, we have been pretty tolerant of your wiseass remarks, but you are pushing it! You're going to get hurt if you keep this up!" Logan tightens his grip on her arms, and she yelps in pain. I've got to do this; fuck! why is she making me do this to her? Why can't she just behave?

"You call this tolerant, you fucking nazi? God damn you! Let me out of here!" she cries. Twisting her body, she elbows Logan in the stomach and manages to get one arm free. She somehow manages to get the magnetic card in its slot, and the door lock clicks open.

Veronica has one foot out the door, with Logan holding on to her. Tony rushes up to help Logan. Tony gets Veronica's arm twisted behind her and pushes her down to the ground. Tony physically sits on her back, keeping her arm painfully twisted. Veronica begins to sob. "No...please...let me go!" Logan helps Tony to hold her in place by pressing his body's weight against her kicking legs. He grabs her legs tightly, forcing her to stop kicking. Veronica finally begins to quiet down with the two men holding her completely immobile.

Shari has joined them. She says to Tony, "Turn her head so she can see me." Tony forces Veronica's head around so she can see Shari.

Shari kneels down and says, "Connie, your behavior is completely unacceptable."

"Fuck you!" she replies tearfully.

Shari sighs and stands up. Klein has joined them, alerted by the commotion. Shari consults with the headmaster quietly.

Veronica screams, "I want to call my dad! If he knew what was going on here..."

Shari turns back to Veronica, kneeling down and getting right in her face. She yells, "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." Shari turns to Tony and says, "I want her in restraints until she learns how to respect the program." Tony nods that he understands.

Klein watches, not saying a word, as Tony and Logan haul Veronica up and take her away. She continues to struggle and scream obscenities at the school, at the guards, even at a fellow student they pass in the hallway. At one point, when Veronica is sure that Logan is looking at her and Tony can't possibly see her face, Veronica clearly winks at Logan, who stares at her angrily. She is stunned by his reaction and quickly looks away.

They lead her to the end of hallway to a locked room. Tony unlocks the door, and he and Logan push Veronica inside. When she sees the single chair, fitted with restraining straps for wrists and ankles, Veronica begins to struggle again.

"She's really a devil, isn't she?" Tony remarks.

"Yeah, I know, she sure is," Logan replies.

"Fuck you," Veronica spits at him.

Tony says, "Grab her hand." Logan takes Veronica's right hand and holds it while Tony cinches the strap around her wrist. Veronica manages to land a few good kicks on Tony while he works to attach the other restraints. One of her kicks lands on Logan, and he responds by holding her leg painfully hard, bruising her. She gasps and stares at him. He meets her eyes and looks away.

Tony points a finger in her face. "You better learn to behave, or you'll sit in your own filth. Remember that I don't have to take you to the bathroom if you act up." He grabs her chin. "You understand?"

Veronica stares back, quiet but defiant.

As Tony and Logan leave the room, Logan says quietly, "How long will you keep her here?"

"Well, that depends on her. At least twenty-four hours, based on the way she was behaving back there. We take escape attempts very seriously here," Tony explains.

As Tony shuts the door, Logan meets Veronica's eyes for a second. She still looks determined and completely pissed. Dammit, Veronica, stop pushing them! Dammit to hell. He clenches his fists in frustration as they walk down the hall.

When Logan has calmed down a little, he asks Tony, "Dammit, why do they have to do that? I mean, make us hurt them. Why can't they just behave?"

"Roger, they're not here because they're good girls. You'd better get used to it," Tony responds.

Logan exhales loudly, trying to release his tension. Knowing that this is a perfect opportunity that may never come again, he tries to calm himself. He cautiously asks, "Has anybody ever actually escaped?"

"Just twice that I know of–well, really only once. About three years, a girl disappeared. We think she convinced a new teacher to help her escape. The stupid teacher didn't get it, thought we were mistreating the girls or something; she was always running to Klein with her concerns and suggestions. So, with the teacher's help, the girl got away, and we were never able to track her down. We think she hid in the trunk of the teacher's car, and the teacher drove her off-campus. The teacher quit about a month later, but we didn't make a connection between them at first. The only way we found out about it was through another student, who admitted in group that the teacher had approached her about helping her to escape. By this time, it was six months later, and the teacher had disappeared–changed her name and dropped off the face of the earth."

Logan thinks angrily, Why weren't Hannah's parents told about this? For that matter, why wasn't the FBI told this? Aloud, he says, "And you never found the student?"

"No. We sent detectives to all her back-doors, but she was too smart–she didn't go to anyone she had named to us. I think I heard a rumor that she turned up dead a while ago. She'd been hooking on the streets in Los Angeles. It didn't surprise me; most of the girls who drop out of the program start using again and end up dead or in prison. After Hannah–that was her name, Hannah–after Hannah escaped, we revamped our whole security. We got the guard dogs, beefed up the fence on the perimeter, and added more guards to our staff."

Tony continues, "I told you that Maria let a girl escape about a year ago." Logan nods, and Tony adds, "It was her first time supervising a newcomer, and Maria let the girl get the drop on her. The newcomer hit Maria over the head with a chair and knocked Maria out. That was before we had the card key system on all the doors. The girl got into the woods. We sent the dogs after her, and we finally caught her after a few hours. Both she and Maria were assigned to Observation Placement for forty days and had six months added to their program."

"Maria had the same punishment as the girl that ran?" Logan asks incredulously.

"Look, Roger, it might seem rough, but life is tough on the outside too," Tony says defensively. "I don't know, man, sometimes you really don't seem to get it. If you're a druggie, you'll do anything for a fix. You have to follow the rules if you want to get better."

Logan replies quickly, "No, I totally get it. This is the last resort for most of these girls. I understand what you're talking about. Just, you know, I hate the way we have to come down hard on them. It really pisses me off that they make us do this."

"Don't forget that these girls are dangerous for a second. These are not your average teenagers; they're girls in serious trouble that need serious help. That girl Connie could have really hurt you tonight."

"I know," Logan answers, rubbing his ribs where she nailed him with her elbow.

"You've got to trust me; the program works if you work the program. I'm proof of that. Do you know how many times I had to be taken down before I started to behave myself? I lost count at twenty. I thought I was really smart at that age, but really I was just dumb. Listen, Roger, you're doing really well. Just keep paying attention. You're off shift now, right?" Tony waves goodbye as Logan heads for the employee's quarters.

As Logan walks the path to the employee's quarters, he takes deep breaths, trying to relieve his stress and anger. He tries to focus on the operation, but keeps coming back to the tense confrontation with Veronica. The physicality of his reaction to her 'misbehavior' shocks him. Finally, he is calm enough to review what he learned from Tony. He thinks, I think we know a little bit more about Hannah's escape now. We need to find out who the teacher was. Ruefully, he realizes that another break-in to Klein's office will probably be necessary. As soon as he enters his room, he pulls out his cell phone and texts Keith:

WE NEED TO MEET. I'M ON MY WAY.

~ • ~

Tues. 3/10/09 late evening: Rented house, Manchester Center, VT

Keith, Epstein, and Dr. Kinny are reviewing the transcript of the school committing Veronica into restraints when Logan shows up at the house.

"Hey Keith," he mumbles when Keith opens the door. Logan walks into the living room where the three men are gathered around the computer screen.

Epstein is ecstatic; he keeps pointing at various sections on the transcript and reading them out loud. "This is incredible. Shari says, 'We'll restrict your food rations until we see you cooperating with us;' then a little while later, she says, 'I want her in restraints until she learns how to respect the program.' and we have that guy Tony threatening to make Veronica 'sit in her own filth'. Keith, your daughter is unbelievable. It's almost like she hands them a script to read with everything we need them to say to win our case."

"That's one way to put it," Logan says. "You might also say reckless and foolhardy. She had the two of us, me and Tony, physically restraining her."

Dr. Kinny interrupts, "How does she seem? Is she all right?"

Logan grimaces. "Yeah, she's all right. She's better than I would be. But sometimes it seems like she's determined to get hurt. She's not cooperating at all."

Kinny watches Logan closely as he speaks, focusing on his non-verbal cues.

Logan continues, "She works in the code words all right. And she even winked at me once when Tony couldn't see her." He sighs deeply. "She tried to give me a heads up before she bolted, but she still caught me by surprise. She definitely could have made it out the front door before I got there, but I think she pretended to fumble with the card key and let me catch her." Logan fusses with his hair, and paces a little around the room. Kinny notes his stressed demeanor and tone and glances at Keith to see if he is paying attention.

Logan blurts out, "Listen, the reason I'm here...Tony told me a little about Hannah's escape from the school." Logan relates Tony's story: that Hannah was possibly helped by a teacher. "Do you think it's worth breaking into Klein's office again to get the name of the teacher?"

Keith thinks for a moment. "It's not really our prime objective," he finally says. "Maybe I could try to get some information from the Worker's Compensation database–try to match up the date the teacher left with the date we know Hannah escaped. I don't want you taking the chance of going into Klein's office again unless we know he's going to be off-campus."

"Right," Logan agrees.

"So we can hold off on that for a while. I've learned a lot since the last time we met. It turns out Maria's father is Vincenzo Frazzino, the speaker of the California Assembly. He's got a lot to lose politically if the world finds out he has a juvenile delinquent for a daughter."

"Do you think he was abusing her?" Logan asks hesitantly. "You know, the cigarette burns. Maybe she was," he drops his head, "you know, acting out, to pay him back for hurting her...maybe she was trying to ruin his career."

Kinny frowns at these words. He taps his chin thoughtfully, processing Logan's remarks.

Keith sighs, avoiding looking at Logan directly. "We can't know for sure, but it makes sense. Frazzino's put out the story that his daughter's studying abroad."

"If you sue the school, it's going to come out," Logan realizes. "It's going to be a political shitstorm."

"That's not all. In Montpelier, we saw Klein meeting with someone; we think it might be evidence that Klein is making payoffs to the Vermont Education Commissioner. Mike Fields' colleague, the FBI agent from Boston, is going to review our evidence tomorrow and see if there's enough evidence to open a federal probe."

"That's great, that means we can end this earlier," Logan says hopefully.

"Exactly. What's the situation with Veronica now? Can you get in to talk to her?"

"Maybe. I don't know. I have to be careful about volunteering too much. Kavner said the guys have been calling me an ass-kisser. That's why I wasn't at group today. What did Veronica do that she got assigned an essay? No one was talking about it," Logan wonders.

"It looked like Tara got very upset when Alyssa was prodding her, and Veronica hugged Tara when Tara sat back down. Alyssa accused Veronica of interfering with Tara's program."

"Jeez. She got in trouble for hugging another girl?" Shit, I was manhandling her because she hugged Tara.

Keith says, "For hugging another newcomer. It's insanity, I know."

Epstein pipes up, "It was genius on Veronica's part. If we show that video to a jury, our case is won."

"What was in Tara's file by the way?" Logan asks distractedly.

"You were right. She has dyslexia and ADD, and the school has taken her off her meds. Logan, you know, you've really contributed a lot to this operation. I'm glad Veronica suggested you help out."

Logan nods and stands up to leave. Kinny follows and pulls Logan aside. Logan looks at him questioningly.

"How are you doing?" Dr. Kinny asks.

"What do you mean? I told you, I helped them put Veronica in restraints; you know, I'm just trying to act like the other guards. She's doing a great job. It's going well; now maybe we can wrap this up."

"I mean, how are you feeling? Did you have to hurt her while you were pretending to be a guard?"

Defensively, Logan says, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just trying to act like the other guards." He flushes and looks downward, avoiding Kinny's eyes.

"You know, I bet it's pretty intense to be in that situation...stressful."

Logan repeats, "I don't know what you're talking about. I have the easy job; Veronica's the one you should be worried about. She's the one suffering in restraints right now."

Kinny nods. "Yeah, that's true. But you know, she actually has some control over this situation."

Logan looks at him, puzzled.

Kinny continues, "She can provoke them however she wants. If she's feeling confident, she can act out and move the operation forward; but if she's feeling a little frightened, she can try to cooperate a little more and get a little respite. She's got code words to use to bring in the cavalry." He pauses, looking at Logan sympathetically. "Logan, you don't have any code words. You're on high alert at all times. You have to react in pretty horrible ways when Veronica screams at you or acts like a juvenile delinquent. You have to be a brute to do this job."

Logan stares back. He finds a chair and sits down heavily. He mumbles, "I was so angry at her when she tried to escape. I knew I'd have to hurt her to get her under control, and that the other guys would hurt her worse if I didn't control her. I don't understand why she has this death wish." He looks up at Kinny and adds, "She thinks she's doing this for me, trying to solve Hannah's murder. I don't want her to do this."

"What do you think about the school itself? About the tough-love discipline?"

"It's fucking horrible, all right? And I know, it's a good thing we're doing here." Logan lapses into silence again.

"You'd do anything for her, right?" Kinny prompts.

Logan nods. Kinny finds a chair, brings it over, and sits next to Logan.

"I don't think she's just doing it for you, Logan. I think she's the type of person who identifies with a victim and makes their cause her own. And she's strong and well-prepared. She's going to be all right. And you're doing a great job too."

Logan blurts out, "Keith told you...about my dad, didn't he? What he did."

"No, he didn't. But even an academic in their ivory tower is sometimes exposed to the wild rumors on 'The Tinseltown Diaries'. Don't you think I was curious about the boy who streaked through my classroom? Who also managed to get himself arrested a month later for taking a baseball bat to a police car? I followed your father's trial in the media, and I can read between the lines....Are you going to be all right? It's okay to be angry about the situation, you know."

"Is it all right to be furious with the woman I love?" Logan says spitefully, then sighs heavily, running his hand through his hair.

"It's all right to say that you can't do this anymore."

Logan turns to him furiously. "No! It's not all right. You don't know her! She never gives up. She'll stay in there for years if necessary, and if I'm not there, she'll get hurt even worse. I have to do this. And..." he glances over at Keith in the adjacent room, who has looked over at this angry outburst. In a quieter voice, he continues, "I could never disappoint Keith. He trusts me to keep her safe." Almost to himself, with a tone of disbelief, he repeats, "He trusts me."

"Listen to me. You won't do Veronica or Keith any good if you fall apart. And don't underestimate how difficult your job is. I want you to promise me that you'll let us know if the pressure becomes too intense."

"What are you, friends with my shrink or something?" Logan snipes.

"Don't deflect. I'd like you to promise me," Kinny repeats.

"Okay. I promise," Logan lies. There's no way I'd quit if Veronica's still undercover.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
You Mess With the Bull
Veronica in restraints; Logan tries to
bond with his fellow employees.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Maria: Gina Mantegna. Tony: Romany Malco.
Larry: Ed Quinn. Jim: Adrian Quinones.
Dave: Jason Wiles.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY: "YOU MESS WITH THE BULL"

Tues. 3/10/09 late evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

For the first two hours of her confinement, Veronica is elated by her successful ruse to document the egregious punishment. As the adrenaline from the excitement begins to wear off, she realizes that she's becoming very stiff from the forced positioning of the restraints. She stretches her neck and hears a sharp crack as she rotates her head.

I can't imagine how scary it would be to be forced into this punishment without knowing about it ahead of time. Her preparation for the operation was thorough; they talked to as many former students as they could find who were willing to discuss their experiences. Veronica recalls one girl who was plagued by a facial tic. The girl reluctantly admitted that she had attempted suicide three times since leaving the school and her drug addiction was worse than it had ever been before she was committed to Briar Hill. How could a parent possibly think that removing a child from the family home would be a positive solution to a teen in crisis? she wonders over and over again. Some of the girls they talked to were still estranged from their parents, who continued to insist that the school was the best thing that had happened to their daughters.

The girls who claimed that the school had rehabilitated them frightened Veronica far more than the girls who admitted they had been damaged by their experience. One girl spoke glowingly about the hikes, waxing rhapsodic about the joys of marching with a heavy backpack and claiming that the school's withdrawal of her antidepressants and restriction of her food intake was the best thing that had happened to her. Veronica noted the poor grammar of the girl's email as well as the incorrect use of capitalization and was not surprised to learn that the girl had never received her high school diploma. Veronica emailed back, asking what the girl's education plans were, but received no response.

In an even more terrifying incident, another girl had even testified on behalf of the school when her parents tried to sue. The parents' lawsuit claimed a breach of contract on Briar Hill's part when the parents discovered that the credits from the school were not recognized by any college or even transferrable to a high school in their home state. The parents dropped their suit when Briar Hill countersued, claiming that the parents had violated the confidentiality agreement they had signed when admitting their daughter. When contacted by Keith, the parents regretfully declined to participate in any class action suit against the school and said they hadn't had any contact with their daughter in six years, but they had heard that she was now incarcerated in federal prison for dealing drugs.

With all the stories that have been made public, it's hard to believe anyone would find the school's rehabilitation claims to be credible. One of Epstein's constant themes was that the therapeutic boarding school industry had actually expanded, while the government regulations that might have curbed the worst abuses had been simultaneously relaxed. He noted that statistics were very clear that the boarding schools had less of a success rate than family counseling and that previous lawsuits had been largely unsuccessful due to the chilling effect of countersuits and, in at least one instance, a threat that the school would reveal potentially incriminating information admitted by a girl during group therapy. Ruefully straining against the leather restraints on her wrists and ankles, Veronica thinks again, I'm not feeling all that rehabilitated right now.

She sighs. Without any kind of physical stimuli, the time distortion that plagued her in Observation Placement begins to affect her once again. Veronica is certain that only a few hours or less have passed, but she could easily be convinced that it was actually early the next day. Her stomach rumbles from missing dinner, and she wishes hopelessly that someone would take her to the bathroom and fidgets against the restraints.

Dammit! Don't think about the bathroom! She tries to think about something else, anything else. Logan is a pretty good actor. He really seemed mad at me for trying to escape. Wait...was he...could he have been actually mad at me? Veronica reviews the scene in her head. She had screamed at him, "I'm getting the fuck out of here, asshole!", and then she had shoved him hard. He was caught off-balance by her for the second time that night and had stumbled. He grabbed her tightly; she remembered thinking, Too tight, Logan, come on–ease up a little. Then he had looked at her, and for a moment she barely recognized the young man scowling at her.

Logan had yelled back, "You know, we have been pretty tolerant of your wiseass remarks, but you are pushing it! You're going to get hurt if you keep this up!" Was he trying to send me a message? He's worried; I'm pushing them too hard, and he thinks I'm going to get hurt. She shakes her head in disbelief. I just told them this morning that I was okay and wanted to keep going. But then...when they were trying to put on the restraints, he...he really did hurt me. I know, I kicked him, but....No! I must have hurt him. I must have hurt him more than I thought. Maybe that's why he's mad. Maybe he's mad because...because I'm not listening to him...again. She goes over the memory again, trying to reassure herself that he was just acting. But the little voice inside keeps nagging at her. He's really pissed. He's...He's never going to forgive me if I get hurt...if...if I make him really hurt me.

She thinks back to their last big fight, when Logan told Keith that Veronica was planning to use the operation to investigate Hannah's murder. She remembers telling him spitefully, "You're such an ass. You think you can just touch me, and I'll melt and forgive you. It's not going to work....You're a bastard." You're a bastard...you're a bastard...dammit, how could I have said that to him when all he did was worry about me? And then he had said, "Look, Veronica, I don't care if you hate me. All I care about is that you're okay," and she knows: he wasn't exaggerating. He would truly sacrifice her love to make sure she was okay. Is he...has he decided...that it's the only way to get me out of here safely?

He had said, "If you survive, I survive. Even if I have to give you up, or do something that makes you hate me forever. It's crazy, I know. But that's never going to change....You're killing me, Veronica. I can't live like this, worried about you all the time, and then I'm always apologizing for caring about you too much!....You're not going to ruin us. You're going to keep your promise to me. You're. Going. To. Be. Careful." She remembers him fucking her angrily, trying to get through to her, to make it clear that she had to stop doing this to him and to them. And here I am, doing it again. She closes her eyes, hearing his despairing words echoing over and over in her head.

If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to make it up to him...for all the times I took his love for granted. Dammit! How could I have called him a bastard for worrying about me? And then I made him do this; I made him go undercover with me...made him HURT me for god's sake. She begins to cry, for the moment completely unable to focus on the operation and what she's supposed to be doing.

The door opens, and Maria and Tony come in to the room. Maria flips on the light switch and smiles as she sees the tears running down Veronica's face. "Feeling sad?" she comments as she helps the guard undo Veronica's restraints. "You're going to behave, right, so you get to use the bathroom?"

Veronica stay silent, vowing not to let Maria get to her this time. She pushes aside her emotional thoughts and stares back at Maria, nodding her acquiescence.

Maria and Tony each take an arm and force Veronica to stand up. Her legs are asleep, and they give her a moment to recover before they walk Veronica toward the door. "You know, nobody gets out of here unless they accept the program. Nobody, Connie. If you're feeling sad, you have only yourself to blame," Maria says. "And it's completely up to you how long you stay here at Briar Hill."

If you only knew, you bitch, Veronica thinks as they take her to the bathroom. I'll be out of here long before you are.

~ • ~

Tues. 3/10/09 very late: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

After leaving the rented house, Logan sits in his car in the employee parking lot at the school, thinking about control. I've been out of control for most of my life...my dad, my drinking, my...my love for Veronica when she wouldn't....But I've never felt like this. I've never felt so out of control. The desire to punch someone has never been as strong as it is this moment, and Dr. Kinny's sympathy and understanding almost made it worse. I don't think I like him understanding me that well. During the drive back to the school, he felt worse and worse, and when he actually reentered the campus, the oppressive atmosphere of the school itself seemed too much to bear.

He pulls out his cell phone, quickly calculating that if it's midnight here in Vermont, it's nine o'clock in California. Logan begins to dial Dr. Friedman's home number, closing his eyes and praying that she's home.

Suddenly someone raps on the window of his car and Logan starts in surprise. He opens his eyes and sees Tony waving at him. He turns the key in the ignition and lowers the window.

Tony asks, "Everything okay, Roger? You jumped a mile high."

"Ah, yeah. I was just going to call someone I haven't talked to in a while," Logan replies. "Nothing important," he lies. It's all lies, he thinks.

"Some of us from the afternoon shift are heading over to the rec room in the 'C' building–we're going to play some darts," Tony explains, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder. "Do you want to join us?"

It's the absolute last thing Logan wants to do, but he realizes this is another opportunity to bond with the other employees. And, he reflects, maybe I could work on that reputation I have for being a kiss-ass. I can't take the chance that I won't be on the scene when she needs me. He closes his eyes for a minute, trying to dredge up the courage to do this. "I'd like to," he finally says. "I'm just kind of...I don't know, I'm in a bad mood tonight." He steps out of the car and locks the door.

Logan falls in beside Tony as they walk toward the farthest building of the employee's quarters. Tony says shrewdly, "You're still upset about Connie."

Logan nods. "I guess so. I really need this job, but I'm finding it harder than I thought." On the plane ride from San Diego to Boston, Keith stressed several times that Logan should try to stick with the truth whenever possible, just to minimize the number of lies he had to keep straight, and Logan decides that this particular truth is pretty safe.

"Is there something about her in particular?" Tony asks.

Logan almost laughs out loud at Tony's unwitting perception. "I can't really figure it out," he mumbles.

"Maybe there's something about her story that reminds you of yourself. You said you don't drink anymore, right?"

Logan nods.

"Like most of us here," Tony comments. "Did you ever go to AA?"

Careful. "No...I had a medical crisis. It was pretty important that I stop drinking...and I decided that I wanted to live." Only a slight exaggeration, he thinks.

"You just quit without help?" Tony shakes his head in dismay. "You have to come to a meeting. There's one in Manchester Center on Saturday mornings. It'll change your life. I'll go with you."

I hope to hell we're out of here by Saturday. "Thanks. That sounds...well, okay," Logan replies. "Maybe there is something about Connie that reminds me of me. You know, the way she keeps resisting our help. I was a real asshole."

"Well, you know what the guys are calling her, right?"

Logan shakes his head 'no'.

"Connie McConArtist."

Logan is seized by panic. Do they know? He shoots a glance at Tony.

Tony continues, "Typical user...uses drugs, uses the people around her, and uses her anger as a crutch. She's a real manipulator; you can't trust a word she says. We'll have to watch her like crazy. She's not done making trouble."

You have no idea, Logan thinks.

They enter the rec room where three other employees are warming up their dart throws. "Hey Tony," one of them calls. He nudges one of the other men, motioning towards Logan. Logan assumes that this is the guy who's been saying he's a kiss-ass.

"Hey, Jim. You remember Roger right? Roger, you remember Jim...Larry...Dave."

Logan strides over and clasps each hand in turn. Jim grips his hand a little too strongly, making a contest out of it. Logan smiles and allows Jim to try his macho posturing, but all his obsessive workouts while he was hiding in South Padre have left him with the best upper body strength of his life, and Jim fails to intimidate him. Larry barely grasps Logan's hand and seems intent on the imminent game. Dave smiles a little; he's been relatively friendly to Logan since his arrival five days ago.

Larry pulls the darts out of the board and steps back to the throwing line. He throws the three darts in quick succession, achieving a bullseye and two near misses.

"Pretty impressive," Logan comments.

"You played before?" Larry replies.

"A little. Back in my drinking days. I thought I was pretty good, but I actually can't remember much from that time," Logan cracks.

Larry hands the darts to Logan, who sets up and throws the darts carefully. Logan gets close to the bull on his first throw and then makes sure to throw the next two poorly, with one not even scoring a number.

"Ooh, off the island," Dave jeers. "We got a granny in the house."

"I'm just warming up," Logan says good-naturedly. "I got to get my throw back. How d'you guys play?"

"Cricket," Jim replies. "You know, you have to score three each of numbers 15 to 20 and three bulls. Doubles count for two, triples for three."

"Yeah, I've played that way," Logan says.

They throw for a while. At first, Logan makes sure to play no better than Jim, who is the worst player. At one point, he compliments Larry on a successful triple bull, and Larry offers some technique advice on Logan's next turn. Logan considers the advice and pretends to implement it, achieving slightly more success on his next round. He turns to Larry and high-fives him. As the game progresses, Logan begins to resume his natural form and ends up solidly in the middle at the end of match, won, naturally, by Larry, who preens slightly.

They start another round. At one point, when Logan is shooting, Jim asks, "So, how are liking the job?"

"It's okay. I really needed the work. But I'm still struggling," he replies, throwing an 18, a 5, and a double 20.

"Nice shot," Jim comments. "What do you mean, you're struggling?"

"Just, you know, I was raised not to hit girls ever. It's hard to be tough with them," Logan says carefully.

"Yeah, we heard," Larry comments, taking his place on the line.

"You heard?" Logan asks.

"Yeah, we heard that Connie almost got away from you," Dave pipes up.

Logan sighs. "Yeah, she's crazy. Tony said you called her Connie McConArtist."

The other men laugh. Larry says, "Yeah, Connie's a real piece of work. Just remember, she's an addict, and she'll do anything to get out of here and get back to using."

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about," Logan comments.

Larry assesses Logan. "Yeah. I do know. I used to do blow and a little heroin in the eighties. I was in a rehab with Tony. When he needed another guy here, he called me up and asked if I was interested."

Tony agrees, "Yeah, I knew Larry could do the work, no problem. We really went through the shit together at STRAIT. We went from whiny little fuckheads to graduates helping with the newcomers. That's was when Klein was first starting out helping addicts, before he moved here to Briar Hill."

"See, the reason we're asking how you're doing...." Jim says. "We're all depending on you. If you fuck up, one of us could get hurt."

Logan realizes that all four men are looking at him.

"And what we see is that you're not too eager to jump in when you should be," Jim adds. "And that's fucking wrong." Dave looks on, not disputing the others, but not joining in on the attack.

"You need to get over yourself about that fucking redhead Connie. Or we'll tell Klein that you're out of here," Larry says roughly. "You've been a real pussy, trying to get the easy work, saying you have a bad knee, and you can't do this, you can't do that. Getting your buddy Kavner to fight your battles for you."

"Listen," Logan says nervously, "If I screwed up, it's just 'cause I don't really understand how things work here. I'm happy to do whatever is needed, however you guys tell me to do it. I don't have a problem with that redheaded bitch. I really need this job."

Tony adds, "Listen, he did all right with Connie. Bitch kicked him hard, and Roger stepped up and helped me get her under control. Connie's a cunt and a half. I thought Roger handled the situation okay."

"Glad to hear it," Larry says. He turns back toward the dart board and fires off three shots, including a bull.

Logan realizes that he's sweating profusely. He excuses himself and hits the men's room. He dashes cold water on his face and looks at himself in the mirror, thinking, I really didn't need this.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Catalyst
The FBI gets involved; a surprise visitor
to Briar Hill.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Kavner: Eric Bana.
Tony: Romany Malco. Dave: Jason Wiles.
Agent Lynley: James Badge Dale. Maria:
Gina Mantegna. Guest star: ???
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE: "CATALYST"

Wed. 3/11/09 morning: Rented House, Manchester Center, VT

As soon as the clock reads 9:00, Keith puts in a call to the Boston District Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "This is Keith Mars, calling for Agent Lynley. I was referred by Mike Fields." He drums his fingers on the table while he waits several minutes on hold; finally Lynley picks up the extension, saying, "Agent Lynley."

"Mike Fields gave me your name. My name's Keith Mars; I'm a private detective working out of Neptune, California. I wondered if I could speak to you on a matter of some urgency, Agent Lynley."

"A little far afield, aren't you, Mr. Mars? Mike's one of my oldest friends. Call me Tom. What can I do for you?" Lynley responds.

"Thank you, Tom; you can call me Keith. I'm investigating a private school in Manchester Center, Vermont for an attorney gathering evidence for a civil class action suit. I've uncovered some evidence that the head of the school is making payoffs to the Vermont State Education Commissioner, and I'm hoping the FBI would be interesting in initiating a federal probe."

"A class action suit? What's the cause of action?" Lynley asks.

"Misrepresentation of the school's accreditation; medical neglect of the students; false advertising; and possibly physical and food-restriction punishments that rise to the level of child abuse, so violations of mandated child abuse reporting statutes. My daughter Veronica, who is also a licensed private investigator in California, is currently undercover at the school," Keith summarizes.

"Veronica?" Lynley asks. "As in the Veronica from the internship program that Mike fell in love with last summer?"

Keith pauses a moment before replying, "I believe that is correct. But they're no longer seeing each other."

"Mike mentioned that she had extensive experience in the private sector, an unusual amount for someone her age."

"She's been working cases with me for about five years now. She got her license two years ago," Keith says.

"What's this about payoffs?" Lynley asks.

Keith summarizes the information he has gathered: Klein is probably financing the construction on Commissioner Carl Behr's home in return for lax oversight of the school and early warnings for 'surprise' inspections. "I have some photographs and other supporting evidence that I can email you."

"Can you send that to TLynley@boston.fbi.gov so I can look at it while we're talking?"

Keith sends his documentation to Lynley; they discuss what Keith witnessed in Montpelier for several minutes before Keith changes the subject. "It's not the only thing we've discovered at the school. There's some evidence that a California State Assemblyman is using the school to conceal his own abuse of his daughter. Assemblyman Frazzino is the sponsor of a Parental Responsibility Act in California and is planning to run for senate."

"Are you implying that Frazzino is paying off the school to protect his reputation?" Lynley queries.

"That's what appears to be happening."

"That's a pretty serious accusation. What's your proof?"

"We have two men on the inside. One was able to access the files of the headmaster, Peter Klein, and photographed the files of several students. Of course, any of the evidence we've gathered so far within the school might have admissibility problems in a criminal prosecution."

"You have three people undercover?" Lynley asks.

"My daughter is portraying a student, and two men are working as employees. We have an audio bug on my daughter, video surveillance in the group therapy room, and an additional audio bug in Klein's office....In addition to possible RICO violations, many of the students are from out of state and are transferred against their will..."

"...So there might even be Mann Act violations." Lynley is silent, thinking about the situation. "Would you be willing to meet me in Montpelier? I'd like to present this to the Vermont Attorney General and a federal district judge."

"Absolutely. We're eager to assist in a federal probe because it will strengthen any civil case we can bring against Klein and the school," Keith says.

"I'm very interested, Keith. You've managed to procure solid evidence so far. I'll give you a call back when I've set up something with the Attorney General." Lynley disconnects and calls his assistant into his office. "Can you find some information for me on a Keith Mars out of Neptune, California? And get Mike Fields in the Los Angeles office on the phone for me."

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 morning: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

At breakfast in the employee cafeteria, Dave makes a point of sitting down next to Logan. He jokes, "Recovered from getting your ass handed to you last night?"

"Does the Pope shit in the woods?" Logan replies. He had made a point of coming in dead last in the final tally and had hit up Larry for more advice on his game, and after a couple of hours of play, the four employees seemed to be generally more accepting of him.

Dave chuckles under his breath. "Listen, I told Tony you and I would take care of Connie later. I'll show you the ropes. There's a few tricks to handling the girls when they're in restraints."

"Hey, I appreciate that," Logan replies. "To tell you the truth, she does scare me a little. You never know what crap she's going to pull on you. I don't want to let you guys down."

Dave nods and focuses on his scrambled eggs. Logan looks out the window toward the parking lot and notices a blonde woman walking with Tony. Dave follows his gaze and says, "Ten points if you can nail the hot chick."

Logan starts to laugh but loses his breath when the young woman turns around. FUCK!! It's Carrie. Shit fuck damn! He recovers and mumbles, "Yeah, she's a babe. What's she doing here?"

"Think she's some kind of a reporter. She's doing an interview with Klein," Dave replies, completely disinterested.

Logan watches as Carrie, accompanied by Tony, disappears into the main building. He finishes his breakfast and stands up to bus his tray. Dave says, "What's your hurry?"

"I have some PT exercises to do, you know, for my knee," Logan explains weakly. "Like you guys said last night...I don't want to let you down. I got to focus on my rehab a little more when I'm not on shift. I've been slacking off since I started working here, and maybe it's making me a little tentative."

Dave scoffs. "Ah, come on. Don't take Larry and Jim so seriously. You're doing okay. Just, you know, keep it in mind that we all need to be tough with the girls."

"Yeah. All the same...." Logan comments, slightly distracted. "I'll catch you later."

When he leaves the building, he catches sight of Kavner. Logan hurries over and tries to act carefree, smiling and extending his fist for Kavner to bump. He makes sure to keep his back to Carrie. In a soft voice, he says to Kavner, "That blonde woman with Tony? That's a fucking paparazzo who's been targeting Veronica and me for months. She knows something."

Kavner glances quickly at the woman, who's walking around the grounds, escorted by Tony. Carrie appears to be looking around inquisitively and asking animated questions of Tony. "Are you sure? There's been a bunch of reporters interviewing Klein; there's been a lot of interest in the school since the story of Hannah Griffith's murder broke. And Klein talks to them all, stressing the tragedy that Hannah escaped before he could put her on the straight and narrow...it's a lot of free publicity for the school. Klein always get a fucking tear in his eye, saying how sad he is that he couldn't save Hannah from herself."

"Her name's Carrie Murray, and there's no way it's a coincidence. I'm going to call Keith, but if you could...." Logan nods toward the reporter across the way.

"Yeah, I'll try to stick close, see what I can find out. At least Veronica is locked away in restraints; there's no way Klein would show her to a reporter so that's one thing we don't have to worry about," Kavner replies. Logan begins to walk off, and Kavner changes his mind and stops him. "Actually...tell Keith...I'll follow her when she leaves the school. There's an errand I need to run for Tony. I can use it as an excuse and follow her. Keith can pick her up and decide what to do about her."

"Okay," Logan agrees. He heads for his room quickly. Once in the room, he turns on the taps on the bathroom to make sure he's not overheard and dials Keith to fill him in on the situation.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 morning: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica has realized that she can keep track of time by noting her bathroom breaks; it appears that they are taking her every six hours. So it must be the middle of the morning, Wednesday. Several hours ago, Maria and Kavner took her to the bathroom; they also gave her some food to eat before they locked her back up in the restraints. When Maria turned away, Kavner looked at Veronica questioningly. She said quietly, as if reassuring herself, "I'm okay, I'm okay."

Maria turned back around; Kavner replies, in character, "Shut up, Connie, this is punishment. If you don't straighten up, you're going to be doing this a lot." Maria stares at Connie for a long moment before turning again to leave. Veronica nods slightly at Kavner, who follows Maria out the door. They turn out the light, shut and lock the door, and Veronica is left alone again with her aching muscles and her thoughts. She assumes that Kavner was wearing a video recorder, and it has now been documented that the school uses restraints as a punishment. She should be rejoicing over yet another successful documentation of the school's abuses, but somehow it doesn't seem to matter.

She wasn't able to sleep much overnight; she was just too uncomfortable, and she kept thinking about Logan. Her only contact with him in the last two and a half days was her 'escape attempt' last night; somehow, she had imagined that she would have him around all the time and be able to communicate with him while she was undercover. But the reality of the situation means that he has only limited contact with her, and, when he does, he is usually unable to speak freely.

The more she thinks about his behavior last night, the more she is convinced that he is truly upset with her. She is hoping desperately that he somehow will find a way to get in to see her this afternoon when he comes on shift. Can't he understand? If I don't provoke them, this will have to go on for a month. I'll go crazy if I don't get out of here soon.

She despondently thinks again about poor Hannah, who spent three months here before somehow managing to escape. How the hell did she get through this? Tara reminds me of Hannah in a way: a girl who got in trouble because of her boyfriend and now is being told that she is flawed and addicted for hours on end. Veronica shivers, imagining the tales that Hannah must have made up to satisfy her inquisitors in group therapy. I suppose she told them stories about drinking and drugging with Logan...maybe even wild sex stories, although from what Logan said, she was a virgin when she came here. Maybe Hannah even told them about Logan's arrest for Felix's murder. Veronica suddenly grins, realizing that Logan's bad behavior in high school is a perfect source for tales of debauchery. You gotta love a bad boy.

She remembers that Dr. Kinny told her to focus on good memories when she needed mental courage, and Veronica thinks back to the day she met Logan. She was muddy, bruised and bloody from a skirmish on the soccer field, with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Lilly dragged her over to meet her brother's new friend, declaring that he was really interesting.

Even at thirteen, Lilly was very precocious; she had just barely escaped getting into serious trouble with an older man who had convinced Lilly to join him in his motel room at the Camelot. Lilly pointed him out to Veronica several weeks later, and Veronica frowned at the man, in his late thirties with a beard and mustache and attractive in a low-class, dangerous way, who worked at the garage where the Kane vehicles were maintained.

"How could you go off with him? He's so old!" Veronica had asked.

"He was fun. He told me I was beautiful; we started drinking together in his car, and he invited me up to his room." Lilly was just barely virginal at that point, having done almost everything with her current boyfriend except actual intercourse. Veronica knew that Lilly was flattered by the man's attentions and chafing under Celeste's attempted restrictions.

A few weeks the man was arrested for statutory rape, and Lilly under pressure from Veronica admitted that she had run and locked herself in the bathroom when the man suddenly shoved his hand down her pants and tried to force her down onto the bed. The man managed to calm her down, and Lilly let him into the bathroom. He apologized and tried to kiss her again; she flinched and hit her head on the towel rack. Crying, she ran out of the motel room and got the man behind the front desk of the motel to call her a cab. Veronica saw the tears in Lilly's eyes, but she also saw that her best friend was excited by her narrow escape. "Lilly, you can't do that. Promise me you won't do that again!"

Lilly smiled and said, "Of course not."

But when Lilly met Logan that day on the soccer field, Veronica noted that same excitement in Lilly's eyes and recognized that here was the danger Lilly had been looking for–just safe enough, but thrilling in a way that Lilly seemed to crave. Veronica had stolen a glance at the new interesting boy, good-looking and tall for his age, and wished for a moment that she had Lilly's courage.

Lilly had flirted shamelessly with Logan that day on the soccer field. A few days later, the four of them were hanging out on the beach, drinking booze that Logan had stolen from his father, and Logan had admitted that he had 'gone all the way' more than once; he had even hinted that he had been taught how to pleasure a woman orally by an older actress friend of his father's. Lilly never looked back; but Veronica never noticed that when Lilly wasn't watching, she was the one that Logan was eyeing.

Years later, he admitted that he had found her irresistible at the time, but he had finally given up on her when she appeared uninterested. He had settled for Lilly, who threw herself at him, making it clear that she wanted Logan, the exciting new boy in town, who was experienced and almost as rebellious as she was, to be the one to take her v-card. Somehow, Veronica and Duncan ended up together as the odd pair in the foursome; it seemed natural when Lilly and Logan were off screwing each other behind a sand dune that the two quieter kids would shyly experiment with soft kisses and fumbling caresses beneath their clothes. Once high school started, it was apparent that Veronica was the envy of every other freshman girl because of her relationship with Duncan. Sometimes she imagined that Logan was looking at her in a way that wasn't appropriate for the boyfriend of her best friend; when she realized junior year that it wasn't her imagination after all, her entire world view shifted, and those innocent memories became twisted, uncertain, and confused. She knew during the entirety of Lilly's and Logan's relationship that neither was capable of being faithful to the other; Lilly always wanted more–more excitement and more danger–and Logan wanted...at the time, she never could understand what it was that he wanted.

What if...what if Lilly hadn't been there that day when I met Logan?

Veronica suddenly realizes: she's just as much under the spell of Logan's dangerous and exciting side as Lilly was. She admits to herself that she can completely relate to Lilly's addiction to danger, despite their outward differences; she has merely managed to subsume her addiction into detective work. But Logan–Logan satisfies some unacknowledged need for her as well. She's completely enthralled by Logan's emotionality and unpredictability...and his dangerously thrilling passion for her and her alone. And if she is completely honest, she's felt that way since she met him.

She sighs, wishing he could somehow come in to see her. She wants him to reassure her that they're okay...because she's quite certain that they're not. She wriggles her fingers and toes, trying to prevent them from falling asleep. She moves her head in a circle, attempting to stretch her neck and to keep as relaxed as possible. The stress of her situation is overwhelming, and, even worse, she keeps obsessing over her worries about her relationship with Logan.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 midmorning: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

When Carrie Murray drives off the campus, Kavner follows her. He hits 'send' on his cell phone; when Keith picks up, Kavner says brusquely into his headset, "She's on the move. She's turning right on Route 30, heading for the center of town."

"Okay," Keith replies tersely. "Get in front of her as soon as you can. I'll pick her up when she passes Fox Lane."

Kavner guns it and passes Carrie's rental car as soon as possible. Once he's a mile ahead of her, he slows to her approximate speed.

Keith says, "Okay, I got her. I'm on her tail."

Kavner begins to slow down; in a heavily wooded area with no buildings, he stops the car and turns in the other direction. When he sees Carrie's vehicle, he aggressively drives toward her, forcing her to swerve to the side of the road. He pulls off the road directly in front of her as Keith stops behind her, effectively blocking her from driving off. Keith exits his car with his gun drawn and approaches Carrie's car. "Get out of the car with your hands up," he yells, pounding on the car window. "I'm not fucking around." He tries to open the locked car door.

"You're not a cop. And you definitely don't have jurisdiction in Vermont," Carrie screams back, trying to hide her nervousness.

"You're interfering with a federal investigation, Ms. Murray," Keith says, hoping that he's not exaggerating. "And as a former peace officer, I'm making a citizen's arrest."

"Bullshit. I'll say you forced me off the road and kidnapped me–it's your word against mine," she says sarcastically. "There's still freedom of the press in this country, you know."

"It's two against one; and I think the local police are going to listen to me when I refer them to the FBI. Get out of the car now." Keith waits while Carrie fidgets in the car. He sees that she's getting a cell phone out of her purse and adds, "Get out of the car, and I'll make sure you have an exclusive story on this. That's what you're looking for, right, a story?"

Carrie bites her lip, thinking. She puts the phone down and unlocks the car door. Keith opens the door, and Carrie steps out cautiously. Keith grabs her arm and escorts her to his car. With Kavner standing by to help if Carrie tries to run for it, Keith pushes her in the back seat and gets in the driver's seat; he engages the child-protective locks on the car as Carrie fumes. Keith holsters his gun and turns in the seat to stare at her. "What are you doing here, Carrie?" Outside the car, Kavner nods at Keith and gets in his own car, driving off.

"I've been watching your office. I think there's something going on with Logan Echolls; I think you're helping him cover up his involvement in Hannah Griffith's murder. I haven't seen anybody at Mars Investigations except that kid Wallace for a week. So I had a friend of mine at American Express run your latest charges. Seventeen hundred and fifty dollars charged to Continental Airlines and seven hundred dollars at Avis in Boston. Then some charges in Manchester Center, gas and groceries it looked like. I realized Manchester Center was the location of the school where Hannah Griffith was, and I decided to check it out," Carrie explains.

Keith stays silent, wondering what to do with her. Finally, he comments, "Pretty good detective work for a civilian."

"I'm an investigative reporter, and I'm good at my job," she shoots back.

"Funny, I thought you were just another paparazzo, digging up mud on my daughter's boyfriend."

"Where is Logan Echolls, anyways? I don't think he's in Madeira or Paris. That seemed like a set-up for the media's benefit. Did you and your daughter help him with that?" Carrie snipes.

"You know, you're in some trouble here. You're not a licensed investigator, and I don't think you obtained my credit information legally," Keith replies.

Carrie snorts. "You can't prove it."

Keith stares at her, wondering why the hell she's being so persistent. He comes to a conclusion and nods. "It's killing you that Logan got back together with my daughter, isn't it?"

"That has nothing to do with it," she denies. "But I don't like seeing a creepy guy like him get away with murder."

Keith sighs. "Logan's leg was in a cast when Hannah was murdered. He's been completely cleared of all charges. This vendetta has to stop. Each time you put out a ridiculous story to hurt him, you end up losing more of your credibility."

"I have a ten thousand dollar advance from 'The Instigator'," Carrie states flatly. "People want to know what Logan's connection is to the serial murders."

She's not going to give this up. She's going to do something...something that could expose Veronica and put her in danger. Maybe I should just cancel this whole operation; maybe what we've got is enough...but that means–no criminal prosecution. Klein will just change his name again and start a new program, and he'll probably sue me and Veronica...goddammit. He taps his fingers on the dash, trying to think of a solution to this new mess. I want to get this bastard–put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

Keith comes to a decision. "I'm prepared to offer you an exclusive interview with my daughter, and I will guarantee you a story on a prominent politician that will make the Larry Craig sex-in-a-bathroom scandal (14) look like a walk in the park in comparison. There's no real story on Logan. But there is a big story here, and you can have it, if you agree to drop it until I give you the go-ahead. And my daughter's going to be big news as well when the story breaks, and you and only you will have access to her and her story." He looks at Carrie seriously. "Take it or leave it. But if you leave it, I am going to call the federal agent I'm working with and ask him to pick you up on suspicion of bribing an employee at American Express for confidential credit records." A total bluff, but I need to use the carrot and the stick here. And if she doesn't go for it...I'm not going to let her put Veronica in danger.

"I want more information on the politician," Carrie says impulsively.

"No way," Keith says. "Do we have a deal? This is a career-making opportunity for you, Carrie. You can get past the humiliation of being fired from Dateline. You'll be bigger than Geraldo."

Carrie flushes at the word 'Dateline'. She sputters, "I have a lawsuit against Dateline for wrongful termination."

"Yeah, how's that going for you?" Keith asks.

She stares at him then blurts out, "I want more. I want to document your investigation as it happens. Exclusive access, on the scene."

Keith sighs and passes a hand over his forehead. She'll be underfoot, but at least I don't have to worry she's nosing around somewhere putting Veronica in jeopardy. "You'll still have to do what I say. There will be times you can't be on the scene because of your own personal safety. You will do as I say at all times," he repeats sternly.

"Absolutely," Carrie agrees. She smiles. "I always knew you were a reasonable man, Mr. Mars."

"There's two more things. We're working in conjunction with a civil lawsuit and a federal investigation. You will have to clear any story with the lead attorney on the civil case and the federal agent in charge, and I'm going to have to make sure that our deal is acceptable to them."

"I'm sure you can work out the details," Carrie replies. "What's the other thing?"

"My daughter's identity will be completely obscured in your reports. You will not use her name or her image. This is nonnegotiable."

Carrie hesitates, then reaches a hand forward, and Keith shakes it.

I've made a deal with the devil, Keith thinks. He unlocks the child locks on the car doors and tells Carrie to follow him back to the rented house and the monitoring team. As he drives, he calls Kavner and apprises him of the situation. "You're going to have to let Veronica what's going on. She needs to know that we might have to extend the operation for a few days to let the feds gather what they need for their prosecution, and she should know everything we've learned about Klein and Maria. You or Logan need to go over all the details with her. Including this new development...she has to know that Carrie's involved now. Make sure she knows...we didn't have a choice, and I'm sorry."

__________
(14) Larry Craig is a U.S. Senator who was arrested for 'lewd conduct' in a public bathroom (basically, solicitation).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Craig

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
L.O.V.E.: Letting Go of Virtually Everything
Logan gets Veronica up to speed
on the operation; Dave shows Logan
the ropes.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Dave: Jason Wiles.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO: "L.O.V.E.: LETTING GO OF VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING"

Wed. 3/11/09 early afternoon: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

It is just an hour after her last bathroom break by Veronica's estimation when she hears the locks on the door being opened. She catches a glimpse of Kavner keeping watch outside the door, and then Logan enters the room, quickly shutting the door behind him.

He doesn't turn on the light; she breathes, "Logan."

He turns on a small maglite flashlight, holding it in his teeth, while he works quickly to remove her restraints from her wrists. She massages her arms as he moves to her ankles. Once he releases her, he turns off the flashlight and sits on the floor. He begins to massage her feet and speaks quietly. "Veronica...we're taking a big chance to talk to you. We have about ten minutes. Neither Kavner nor I are supposed to be here, so...just let me tell you everything that's going on."

"Okay," she whispers back. She can't help adding, "I'm glad you're here."

"Right," he replies. "I got into Kavner's office and got photos of Maria's, Tara's, Hannah's, and your files. And I put an audio bug in there."

"That's great."

"Maria's father is Assemblyman Frazzino from California, the one who sponsored the Parental Responsibility Act. It looks like her father was abusing her and sent her here to prevent anyone from finding out about it. She probably was getting into trouble, trying to embarrass him."

Veronica knows what Logan is leaving out, 'just like me', and she frowns, worrying about him dredging up old vile memories of Aaron's abuse.

Logan continues, "Frazzino's using a secret account to fund Maria's fees here, and apparently she's going to be transferred to an offshore school, Serenity something, that's even worse than this one, to keep her locked up after she turns eighteen."

"Serenity Bay?" Veronica gasps. "That place makes this one look like a country club....Poor Maria." No wonder she's such a bitch.

"Your dad followed Klein the other day. He's making payoffs to the Vermont Department of Education Commissioner, and Keith was able to photograph the transfer through a third party. He's asked the FBI to initiate a federal probe into the school."

Veronica is stunned into silence.

Logan adds, "He talked with Mike's FBI friend in Boston. Apparently, Keith's evidence is strong enough that Mike's friend thinks a judge will sign a warrant to authorize a phone tap..."

"And they'll use our surveillance devices as well. But they might not be able to use any evidence we've already collected," Veronica finishes for him.

Veronica feels Logan nod rather than sees him in the darkness. "It means we're going to try to keep the operation going for at least a day or two longer. Epstein said you've done great so far."

Veronica reaches for his hand massaging her foot and grabs it. "What about you? How do you think I'm doing?"

"Yeah, you're doing great," he replies briefly.

"Logan, are you okay? Are we okay? I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to–"

"Veronica, I get it. You have to provoke them. Epstein is ecstatic," he says, not answering her question.

"Logan, I should never have asked you to do this," she tries.

"No. Come on; it's good that I'm here to help," he answers brusquely.

"Logan, I love you so much. You've been right all along–"

"Veronica, will you listen? That's not everything."

She is shocked into silence by his harsh tone.

"Carrie Murray somehow found out that your dad was here in Manchester Center, and she figured out it was something to do with the school. I recognized her this morning; she was interviewing Klein, sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong as usual." He pauses. "Carrie didn't see me, and of course she didn't see you, because Klein would never show off a student being held in restraints. Your dad intercepted her. He got her to agree to leave it alone in exchange for an exclusive interview with you and first dibs on the Frazzino angle. She asked for complete access. Carrie's documenting the whole investigation from this point forward."

"So she's..." Veronica whispers.

"She's listening to us right now," Logan concludes.

"Shit," Veronica can't help commenting.

"Are you going to be okay to keep going for a couple more days?" Reluctantly, Logan adds, "Your dad said he hated to ask you to do it, but it would be rock-solid evidence if you could be forced to stay in restraints for at least another day, and then, you know, get some more evidence of the attack therapy in group. The federal warrants won't be signed until tomorrow morning at the earliest, and apparently there's a real concern that some of the evidence we've collected might not be admissible in a criminal case." (15)

Veronica stands up, a little shaky, and pulls him into her arms. She feels him tense against her. "I can do it. Of course I'm not happy about it, but I'm all right. And I'm pissed as hell about all the girls who had to suffer through this. The real question is, do you think you can do it? I see how upset you are with me."

"I'm not upset with you," he lies, resting his head against hers.

She strokes his cheek gently. "Liar," she whispers in his ear. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to do this. I shouldn't be doing this." He starts to protest again, and she places a finger against his lips to silence him. "Please forgive me," she breathes into his ear. "I want us to be okay."

She feels him nodding, but his reticence is disturbing. Finally he whispers back, "You're right. It's awful what they do to the students here. You were brave to want to do this for them and for Hannah." More loudly, he says, "Please be careful, Veronica. I can't always get assigned to be with you. Some of the guys were pissed at me; I have to try to go with the flow a little more, or they're going to get me tossed out of here. If that happens, I won't be able to protect you at all."

He starts to pull away, but she holds on tightly and whispers in his ear, "I love you."

Logan pulls away. "You better get back in the chair." She sits down. He clicks on his flashlight again and begins to strap her into place. He carefully tightens the restraints to exactly the way they were when he came in. Veronica closes her eyes, trying to send him a message of love and gratitude. She feels his lips on hers, pressing clumsily in the dark, and then he leaves, as quietly and quickly as he entered.

Veronica thinks morosely, Since when am I the one saying 'I love you' without a response?

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 early evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Logan and Dave are in the cafeteria, watching the girls eat their dinner. Logan jokes, "You know, half of the girls would probably be on a diet anyways if they weren't here at the school."

Dave laughs. "Yeah, I know. And there's always some fucking liberal do-gooder hassling us that we're being too tough on the girls. Did you hear what Blondie said in group today?"

"No," Logan replies. Blondie's what the guys call Tara.

"She finally admitted she's been stealing from her parents for years, sneaking out and getting high with some older guy who turned her on to ecstasy. And she said she was lying about the guy who got arrested with her; it was all her idea to break into the house–said she wanted to get high and have sex in the jacuzzi. Man, that girl is fucked up," Dave says, laughing. "She got here just in time."

Every story she tells sounds less like the truth than the last one. He thinks about the tales that Hannah must have made up to try to satisfy her inquisitors. Then he morosely thinks that a boyfriend accused of murder, wearing an ankle monitor and prone to fighting with gang members, would have been deliciously interesting to these fucks. A boyfriend with a statutory rapist slash accused murderer father...they probably criticized her endlessly for pursuing a bad boy like Logan Echolls. Logan tries to say offhandedly, "What's the craziest story you've ever heard here?"

"Oh, you should have heard the bullshit Maria used to spin when she got here. She used to claim that her father was a big deal politician who used to rape her and beat her when she threatened to tell about it. Can you believe it, she even said her father forced her to have an abortion when she got pregnant. Maria showed us some scar on her arm and claimed that he put out a cigarette on her when she tried to meet with a reporter to expose her father."

"Her dad's a politician?" Logan repeats.

"Yeah, that's what she said in the beginning, but after a few months in and out of Observation Placement, she finally admitted that her father wasn't a politician and she was making up the whole thing for attention. Maria confessed that the burn scar was just an accident with a hot crackpipe when she was high."

Yeah, I bet. "So you've been working here a long time? Maria's an oldcomer, that means..." Logan says leadingly.

"Yeah, I've been here about five years."

I have to try to get him to talk about Hannah somehow. "Don't you get burned out on this? I don't know, discouraged, because all these girls are so screwed up?"

"No, come on man, it's great when someone as fucked up as Maria was turns it around and begins to help a new girl like Connie McConArtist. Maria's totally taken responsibility for her life; she's going to graduate soon, and I think she's going to make it. She's embraced the program. ...Hey, speaking of our little con artist, we got to go let her out. Remember what I told you. Follow the procedure to the letter, and don't engage her verbally. Ignore her, and she'll shut her yap eventually." Dave walks out of the cafeteria with Logan close behind.

Logan begins to hyperventilate; I'm really not ready for this.

Dave unlocks the door, and Veronica starts awake, obviously half-dozing although Logan sees that she looks very uncomfortable. "Hello, Connie," Dave says. "I'm expecting you to behave yourself. I know you want to get out of those restraints as soon as possible."

"I see you brought your pet nazi," Veronica replies. She smirks, "Going to try to cop a feel again, you pervert?"

Dave notices Logan's distress and warningly shakes his head 'no'. He says, "Okay, Roger, remember, we start with the feet."

"Oh my god, I get it now, you're the new guy. Is that why you roughed me up last night, you fucker?" Veronica spits. "You're twice my size, asshole. You didn't have to be such a douchebag."

"Connie. Keep your mouth shut, or we'll shut it for you," Dave says menacingly. "And don't forget, I have some input on how long you're in these restraints."

So much for not engaging her verbally, Dave. Logan huffs out a breath and thinks, It's just a role I'm playing. This is just like back at UCLA in acting class, and this is just a role. And Veronica's playing a role too: she's just making sure she stays in restraints until the court order is in effect. It's got to be hard–it's got to be fucking impossible–to continually lash out at them knowing that.... But she must be okay, or she would have stopped this before when I talked to her.

Dave points at Veronica's legs, and Logan unties one restraint; keeping his body weight pressed against the free leg, he unties the other and then holds it firmly in place as well. Dave checks that Logan is ready, then he unties her left arm. Logan takes the free arm, still maintaining his body weight on Veronica's legs.

"You're hurting me, you fucker," Veronica protests, struggling a little against Logan's weight on her legs. Dave stares at her; he suddenly puts his hand on Veronica's chest and pushes her viciously backward against the chair. Logan almost loses his grip on her arm by the violence of it.

Veronica is surprised by the maneuver, and the wind is knocked out of her. She starts to cry; Dave moves his grip to her neck and tightens his hand enough that Veronica feels some pressure on her windpipe. "Shut the fuck up, you little con artist. We know all your tricks here. We've seen 'em before, and we know how to handle them....Gonna control yourself, cunt?"

Logan flinches a little at the word, but keeps concentrating on 'it's just a role, it's just a role' as he holds her in place during Dave's speech. Veronica, her eyes squeezed shut, nods her head slightly in response to Dave.

Dave keeps his hand on her neck and unties her remaining wrist one-handed. He nods to Logan, and Logan cautiously releases Veronica's legs. "Roger, the closet outside. Get the bucket." Dave holds Veronica tightly by her neck and wrist.

Fuck! What's he doing now? Logan gets the bucket from the closet and returns to the room. He looks at Veronica, whose eyes are still closed tightly; she appears to be breathing shallowly against the pressure on her neck from Dave's hand. Dave points at the floor with his chin, and Logan puts the bucket in front of Veronica. Dave lifts Veronica out of the chair; she stumbles on her numb limbs and falls. Dave catches her under her armpit and pulls her up to a standing position. Veronica is sobbing loudly.

"You act like an animal, you get treated like an animal." Dave releases Veronica's neck but maintains his intimidating stance. He points at the bucket, and Veronica shakes her head 'no'. "Let's go!" He roughly pushes her again, and Veronica stumbles to the floor.

Dave reaches for her neck again, but Veronica cowers, putting up her hands to try to protect herself. In a small voice, she whispers, "Please. I'll behave." She slowly gets up and looks from Dave to Logan and back. With the bleakest look Logan's ever seen on her face, she pulls down her sweatpants and squats over the bucket. Dave keeps his eyes trained on her; Veronica catches his glance and whispers, "Please...don't look." Her voice drops even lower, repeating, "Please."

Dave laughs. "You stupid cunt. Like I want to look at your snatch! You're filth, a fucking animal. You're not even worth looking at."

Veronica has desperately needed to pee for hours but is finding it difficult to release her bladder with the two of them staring at her. She can't even look at Logan. I feel so ashamed. Why do I feel so ashamed? Finally, she manages to empty her bladder; she knows her face is blazing red with humiliation, and the sound of her pee hitting the bottom of the plastic bucket seems loud in the tensely silent room. After she finishes, she stays squatting for a moment, keeping her face lowered away from Dave's stare. She stands up slowly, trying futilely to pull up her sweats to cover herself as soon as possible. She looks at Dave's face and, without saying a word, goes back to the chair and puts her arms and legs in position for the restraints.

Logan is completely unable to look at her face. Dave's powerful control of the situation is palpable; the room reeks of testerone and fear. He desperately wishes that Dave will be the one to retie the restraints, but Dave just motions with his chin, and Logan moves to the chair and begins to tighten the straps around Veroinca's limbs. Dave checks the tension on the wrist straps and shakes his head disapprovingly; Logan reluctantly tightens the straps more than they had been before. Veronica's head droops, her eyes still tightly shut with tears streaming down her cheeks. Logan finishes tying her ankles and straightens up; he moves to take the bucket, but Dave shakes his head and mutters, "Leave it for her to smell all night long...so she remembers."

The two men shut off the light and leave the room. Dave doublechecks that the door is locked behind them. He says, "I see why she was getting to you. It's always the smart ones who are the toughest; they think they can manipulate us, but they just make it harder on themselves. You got to remember; the girls like Connie need the program the most. They're never going to accept that they're addicts without our help. What we did, what she made us do to her...it's really the ultimate gift to help someone understand their flaws. When she accepts our love, she'll finally get on track." He claps Logan on the back. "You did great. The next time it'll be easier."

That's what I'm afraid of, Logan thinks.

When the door shuts, Veronica allows herself to react emotionally. She cries, sobbing and shaking. She tries not to let the smell of her urine bother her but fails completely.

Then she remembers that Carrie was listening to the whole scene, and in fact is listening right now to her mental breakdown. She takes several deep breaths; she remembers that she has an escape if it gets to be too much, and even more importantly, she remembers that another girl in this situation wouldn't have her escape options. Veronica knows that her dad is probably discussing her mental state with Dr. Kinny at this very moment, and her old nemesis is probably gloating at Veronica's humiliation and distress. She takes one more deep breath, shaking a little as she tries to calm her adrenaline-ravaged body, and then begins to perform the breathing exercises that have gotten her through this so far. With each long controlled breath in, she thinks, I'm going to put every one of these fuckers in prison, and with each breath out, she thinks, No girl will ever go through this again.

With each repetition of the breathing exercise, she regains a measure of control. Finally, when she knows her voice will be completely steady and unwavering, she announces, "I'm all right. I'm all right. Don't you dare stop this now. I'm going to nail these fuckers. Dad, I'm fine. There's not going to be a jury in the country who won't be able to see how fucked-up this is. They are messing with the wrong bitch this time."

I'm only lying a little, she thinks.

__________
(15) More legal stuff for the picky reader about the admissibility of evidence collected by Veronica and the rest of the team at Briar Hill.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
The Black Hole
Weevil and Wallace on a stakeout; Veronica
gets special attention; Duncan stands idly by.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Keith: Enrico Colantoni.
Carrie: Amber Heard. Eli: Francis Capra.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Duncan 2.0: Chris
Carmack. Klein: Clancy Brown. Epstein: Scott
Grimes. Dr. Kinny: Dan Castellaneta. Agent
Lynley: James Badge Dale. Dave: Jason Wiles.
Father Patrick: James Joseph O'Neill.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE: "THE BLACK HOLE"

Wed. 3/11/09 early evening: Rented house, Manchester Center, VT

When the silence is broken by Veronica's speech declaring her intention to keep going, the entire room breathes a sigh of relief. Keith notes that Carrie, who originally chattered incessantly when she first joined them in the house, appears to be completely shocked by the audio drama that they are listening to.

Epstein for once has not been pushing Keith to continue the operation. It is the newest arrival, Agent Lynley, having arrived just in time from Boston to hear the sick scene, who is encouraging Keith to keep it going. "Keith, this is serious stuff. This is institutionalized child abuse. Some of these schools are being recommended by state juvenile authorities as alternatives to incarceration. Your daughter is doing an incredible job. The Bureau really screwed up, letting her get away."

You got that right, Keith thinks, but if I have anything to say about it, she's not going to have the FBI in her future. He's incredibly proud of Veronica despite his concerns for her safety, and every distressing scene that plays out on their audio or video monitors makes him even more committed to gathering the evidence to put Klein and his employees behind bars.

Carrie watches the exchanges between the four men; she takes out a notebook and begins scribbling notes, documenting the emotional conflicts between the team. Lynley gave his conditional approval to her involvement when Keith explained the deal he had made with her. The agent called his assistant in Boston and asked for a legal agreement to be drafted between Carrie and the FBI, ensuring her cooperation and preventing her from publishing until arrests are made. It's obvious to everyone in the room that Carrie is completely convinced that this will be a career-making story; Keith hopes it's enough to keep her from causing more problems for Logan and his daughter.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 early evening: Paddy's Car Parts and Used Car Emporium, Neptune, CA

Weevil and Wallace sit in a nondescript vehicle borrowed from Weevil's Uncle Angel down the street. Wallace watches through binoculars while Weevil cracks open a forty.

"Amateur," Wallace comments.

"What?" Weevil says crossly.

"Any professional detective will tell you you don't want to drink a beer on a stakeout. It just means another bathroom break when you might miss something."

Weevil scoffs. "So I'll fill the bottle right back up if necessary."

Wallace makes a disgusted face, and Weevil continues, "How did you ever get a girlfriend anyways? Veronica's got you completely pussy-whipped, and you're not even sleeping together. I suppose you had to get Veronica's permission to even go out on a date."

Wallace flushes, remembering that he did get Veronica to check out Candice before he asked her out, and of course, Veronica had assisted him with a bump-and-dump to simulate a chance meeting. "I'm not ashamed of my friendship with Veronica. She's got my back, just like she's got yours. I seem to remember you running to her for help when you got accused of making forged campus ID cards."

Weevil wisely remains silent, not wanting to explore the topic and inadvertently reveal that he still has one of the card encryption devices. "Hey, uh, good job in the game last night. Nice dunk at the top of the half...pretty good for a hobbit like yourself."

"You know, the girls appreciate a guy who tries a little harder. You might keep that in mind, next time you wonder why the girls aren't coming back for more."

"There's nothing a 'little' hard about me, motherfucker, and if they don't come back for more, it's 'cause I wore it out." Weevil laughs and mimics a pelvic thrust.

Wallace chuckles and puts the binoculars up again to surveil the scene. "Tell me again what you heard."

"My uncle heard that Liam was taking delivery on three cherry Beemers...all totally tricked out and ready for 'repurposing'," Weevil says sarcastically.

"And your uncle heard this..." Wallace says leadingly.

"Okay, you got me; my bad, Wally. My uncle tried to get 'em, and Liam outbid him. It's not like you don't know that we got this from a chopshop," Weevil retorts, motioning to indicate their current ride. "I wish I could get Veronica to take one of his cars, something with a little more cojones than that vanilla Saturn."

Wallace snorts. "I think Logan's taking care of the cojones department."

"He likes to think so, but we all know who wears the pantalones in that relationship," Weevil replies, laughing.

Still chuckling, Wallace looks through the binoculars again and interrupts Weevil's mirth. "Hey, shut up. It's going down."

"What's happening? Give me the specs." Wallace passes over the binoculars. "Shit, I hate that fucking mick. I just want to pound him into the ground every time I see him. He's got that cock-sucking, shit-eating grin on his face like usual. I'm really looking forward to sending him to Chino, where Emilio and la Eme can give him the big picture. ¡Rifamos!"

Wallace isn't quite sure what 'rifamos' means, but the context is clear: revenge. He steals a look at Weevil's determined face and wonders just what the hell he's gotten himself into. How did I get from finding Shawn's murderer to a Latino beatdown?

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica hears the door being unlocked. She is a lot calmer now, having spent the last few hours doing mental arithmetic exercises and relaxation techniques. I don't think six hours have gone by...Logan? she hopes.

Peter Klein walks into the room and flips on the light switch. He pulls in a chair from the hallway and, placing it squarely in front of Veronica, sits down and looks at her without speaking.

Veronica stares back. She knows that Klein probably heard about what happened during her last bathroom 'break' and assumes he will expect her to be upset. She thinks about how frustrated she is, how furious she is at Klein and the school, how sad and worried she is about Logan, and she lets her face exhibit her raging emotions. She thinks about poor Hannah, killed viciously after suffering through this nightmare, and Maria, probably warped for life by her experience here, and Veronica begins to cry.

"Feeling a little out of control, Connie?" Klein says abruptly.

Veronica drops her eyes, trying to appear upset. Her voice quivering, she spits out, "You decided to send in the big guns?"

Klein continues to stare at her without speaking. "It's probably the first time in your life you couldn't exploit the situation to your advantage. Right, Connie? How do like the smell of your urine? If you want, we can eliminate the bathroom breaks all together."

Careful, Veronica! Then she thinks, Fuck it! and she says calmly and spitefully, "Fuck you....When my dad hears about this, he's going to have you arrested."

"Now that's funny, Connie. I just called your dad. I told him your problems were more serious than we thought, and we're recommending no contact with family or friends for at least six months. He was pretty upset when I told him you've been physically assaulting the guards here and using foul language non-stop."

"You FUCKER! Six months!! SIX FUCKING MONTHS!!" she screams.

"You just proved my point about the foul language. Of course, if you'd like, you can spend the whole six months in that chair," Klein says calmly.

Veronica swallows. He means it.

Klein watches her for five minutes, seemingly daring her to speak again. Finally, he says, "I'd like you to tell me what you're thinking, Connie."

Under her breath, she can't help but say, "I'm thinking this is fucked-up."

"Couldn't hear that, Connie. But I bet it was more bullshit," Klein replies. "Try again."

Veronica ponders her next move. I need to stay in restraints for another twenty-four hours. But no longer...and I don't want...I can't do something that will make him...eliminate my breaks. The thought of sitting in her own feces is too much for her, and she decides to take the chance that acting out before was enough to continue the restraints.

"I don't know," she says.

"First honest thing I've heard out of your mouth, Connie."

"Can you tell me," she says hesitantly, "How is this supposed to help me?" She flinches at Klein's angry expression and rushes to add, "Please don't!...I mean...I want to know how to do better. How is," she swallows again, "how is this going to help me?" Come on, say it for the wire, fucker.

Klein leans toward her. "You're an addict, Connie. You're addicted to everything about using: the thrill of planning how you're going to get high, the excitement of shoplifting to get the money to buy your drugs, the orgasm you feel when you get away with it again. Every time you use someone, every time you lie to get high, it almost, but not quite, fills up the black hole inside of you...that gaping hole where most people have a conscience. But you don't have a conscience, do you? You just do whatever the fuck you want, whenever you want, and you expect everyone to just tolerate it. And it feels like something. You know it's not right, but it's the best you can do, so you hang onto it. You use again and you hurt everyone around you, because their hatred and disgust at your behavior feels better than that big hole inside of you. The hole gets a little bigger every time you get high, so it's even harder to fill it up. So you work harder to fuck up your world, so that the hole feels filled, just for a moment, before you have to start working again to find your next fix. And then you realize that no one loves you anymore, and you've made it worse. So you start all over again."

"My dad loves me," Veronica says tremulously. "I know my dad loves me."

"Not any more," Klein replies, shaking his head.

"What? I know my dad loves me."

"No. He told me he can't love you anymore. All he can do is try to keep you from hurting other people. He's given up on stopping you from hurting yourself; he just doesn't want to see it. So he's locked you up here, sort of a last ditch effort, hoping maybe, just maybe, he's wrong about you...that there might be something worth saving after all."

Klein stands up and paces around the room. Even knowing he's lying, lying through his motherfucking teeth, Veronica begins to cry profusely at the thought of her dad giving up on her, the thought of anyone's dad giving up on their daughter. 'You played ME, Veronica....I don't know how I'm ever going to trust you again.' She tries desperately to focus on Klein again.

"You need to accept that we're the only people who love you anymore, and we're the only people who have any answers for you, because we've been through it. I know about your black hole, because of my black hole. It's what every addict's soul is like. There's no hope for you unless you accept the program. Think about it, Connie."

Klein picks up the chair, shuts off the light, and leaves the room. Veronica hears the door lock behind him and closes her eyes, allowing the tears to stream freely down her face. It takes an hour for her thinking to clear enough to realize that she's succeeded in being restrained for yet another day.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 evening: Paddy's Car Parts and Used Car Emporium, Neptune, CA

After an hour of tense waiting, Weevil and Wallace see a large semi truck approaching. The truck stops in the parking lot of Paddy's, and several men begin to unload a vehicle. Watching through the binoculars, Weevil confirms that it's a BMW. He nods at Wallace, and Wallace hits the speed dial on his disposable cell phone that he preprogrammed with the number of the Neptune Sheriff's Department. He puts on a thick Jamaican accent and says, "Ya, mon, I'd like to report a crime. The used car dealership on Third Avenue, Paddy's. I tink dey might be stealin' de cars or dealin' de drugs. I know I saw guns. Better be gettin' here quick, mon, look like dey be arguin' now." Wallace terminates the call before Deputy Sacks can ask for details.

Weevil rolls his eyes. "Jamaican?"

"Shut the fuck up, will you? Let's get over to St. Mary's," Wallace replies crossly. He starts the car and drives off. When they cross over the Coronado Bridge, Wallace opens the window and tosses the cell phone into the water. Weevil waves 'bye-bye' as Wallace guns the car's accelerator.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 late evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Several hours later, Dave and Logan come into the room again where Veronica is being held. Without incident, they release her restraints and take her to the bathroom.

Veronica is overwhelmingly relieved that she will be allowed to use a proper bathroom again. She makes no attempt to look at Logan directly. Dave watches her closely, expecting an outburst or physical resistance; at one point he nudges Logan when she pulls down her sweats without even trying to hide herself.

Logan doesn't even notice her immodesty; all he cares about is that Connie doesn't fight him and she keeps her mouth shut. He's completely exhausted by the stress of the day; Dave had kept him on duty several extra hours to take Logan through the procedure of the restraints again, and all Logan can think about is getting some sleep and some distance from the situation.

Veronica is returned to the chair for another long night, grateful for the solitude and darkness of the room.

~ • ~

Wed. 3/11/09 late evening: St. Mary's Church, Neptune, CA

Wallace opens up the Sonic Snoop program on one of Mars Investigations' laptops and accesses all the bugs he had located when he visited here the day before. Weevil watches in amazement as video feeds showing Father Patrick's office, the confessional booth, and the main altar of the church open up. "Shit, Keith wasn't fucking around. He's got the whole church covered."

"And the rectory," Wallace adds. "There are plenty of audio bugs too." On his own laptop, he doubleclicks on the icon for Mac's Bluetooth program.

"What's that?" Weevil asks.

"It's a program Mac wrote. It clones a computer using a Bluetooth keyboard to the screen here," Wallace explains.

"You mean, we can see whatever he's typing? Damn, that's good."

They settle in for what they hope won't be a long wait. Wallace calculates in his head; they called the Sheriff's department half an hour ago; it would have taken at least ten or fifteen minutes for a cruiser to respond. Assuming an arrest was made, the booking process might take as long as two hours. Wallace is betting that Liam won't want to spend the night in jail, and he'll contact his brother as soon as he's given the opportunity.

Weevil turns on the radio at one point, yawning in boredom. At Wallace's expression, he turns off the radio and begins to play with the Sonic Snoop interface, switching from one camera view to the next. "I bet we could get some pretty interesting video in the confession booth."

"Not exactly our priority," Wallace mumbles.

"Good porn is always a priority," Weevil retorts. "Especially if you know the girl."

"You're sick, okay?"

"You ain't seen nothing if you haven't watched a horny Catholic schoolgirl coming on to a priest," Weevil laughs. "And I'll bet Father Patrick loves to take confession from the Mexican girls. 'Ay, mami, chúpame, chúpame. Now say ten Hail Marys; all is forgiven.'"

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Not any more," Weevil replies shortly. Wallace looks over, realizing he has hit an unintended nerve.

They hear a phone ring from the speakers on the laptop. Wallace turns up the gain, and they listen. On the video, they see Patrick enter his office, clad in pajamas. Patrick picks up the phone and listens.

'Patrick...I've been arrested. I'm the guest of the fine gentlemen of the Neptune Sheriff's Department. Call that shyster lawyer and you-know-who. It's a bullshit charge, receiving stolen goods. I need to get out of here by morning. You got it?'

Wallace and Weevil exchange a glance.

Father Patrick hangs up and makes another call. They listen to a short conversation between Patrick and Stephen Tramser, a local attorney well known to Mars Investigations as one of Neptune's most competent but completely immoral criminal defense attorneys.

"Do you think it's this guy?" Wallace asks doubtfully.

"No, Emilio said it was a cop for sure," Weevil says.

They wait, watching as Father Patrick hangs up and boots up his computer. Wallace turns his attention to the other laptop running Mac's program.

[ctrl] N

roastbeefman@yahoo.com [tab] [tab] Re: LF [tab] [tab] L arrested tonight by NSD, receiving stolen goods. Need you to intercede if possible. [return] [alt] [S]

Wallace looks at Weevil. "Roastbeefman? Any clue who that would be?"

"Hell no....If you were Mac, what would you do to find out who roastbeefman is?"

Wallace ponders. "If we were the cops, we could try to get the internet service provider to tell us what address that was sent to. Of course, it's a yahoo address. It could be accessed from any computer. There's no identity verification required to set up an account like that."

"We could watch the Sheriff's Department...see if anybody shows up," Weevil suggests.

"I think they're smarter than that. Hell, they got Liam off for racketeering before. That's some serious pull."

"Still, what else do we got? Let's set up near the Sheriff's Department. We can follow Liam when he gets released."

Wallace nods in agreement, not knowing what else to do.

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 early morning: Duncan Kane residence, outskirts of Neptune, CA

Duncan wakes up before the alarm again. He glances at the clock and rolls over, trying to get some more sleep. He gives up twenty minutes later. Today's meeting with his attorneys to prepare for the hearing next week is too important for him to sleep.

The new house doesn't feel like home yet. When Duncan isn't working on his custody case, he tries to keep himself busy by doing little projects around the house. Yesterday, he spent the entire day painting a pink-flowered border around the walls of his daughter's room. At least, I hope.... He resolutely pushes the thought aside. I'm going to get custody. No judge could think that Rose Manning is a suitable mother, and...they're going to see that I didn't have a choice. I had to run with Lilly! He walks around his daughter's bedroom, trying to imagine her sleeping in the bed and himself coming in every morning to wake her up for school, maybe even getting mad at her for acting like her Aunt Lilly and running around with bad boys like Uncle Logan.

He takes a shower and dresses carefully for the meeting. His attorneys have suggested that he do an interview with the local paper, trying for some sympathetic publicity before the hearing, but Duncan is leery of exposing himself and his daughter that way and extremely nervous that the tactic will somehow backfire. He pours some cereal and gets the morning paper from the front door.

He unfolds the paper to scan the headlines. The lead story, in the largest point size ever used by the Neptune Register, reads, "Woman found murdered in Waterside Park." Next to the article is a large photo, obviously taken from a passport, of a beautiful blonde woman. The caption reads, 'Katerina Beversdorf'.

Kendall...why the fuck didn't you get out of town when you could?

Duncan reads the article. Sheriff D'Amato is quoted as saying that the woman was using apparently an alias, and that the department was expecting confirmation of the woman's true identity from the FBI.

Duncan thinks about the photo still on his cell phone of Kendall meeting with someone in the playground. He gets his phone intending to delete the photo immediately–'fuck her'–but hesitates. I never talked to Veronica. He dials Veronica's home and cell phone again with no answer.

Duncan drums his fingertips on the table, trying to decide what to do. His thumb hovers over the 'delete' option on his cell phone. He snaps the phone shut, then reopens it, debating what he should do. I don't want to get involved with this with the hearing coming up next week. The last thing I want is to explain how I know 'Katerina'. Fuck, I don't even want to explain how I know 'Kendall'.

A/N: Please click here if you are not from the U.S. or Canada so you'll understand a joke that's coming up. Most global voracious TV watchers won't have a problem.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Cognitive Dissonance
Veronica in restraints; Candice confronts
Wallace; Logan bonds with the other
employees and is given more responsibility;
some dissent among the monitoring team.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Carrie: Amber Heard.
Wallace: Percy Daggs III. Candice Pauling:
Toy Connor. Maria: Gina Mantegna. Kavner:
Eric Bana. Tony: Romany Malco. Epstein:
Scott Grimes. Dr. Kinny: Dan Castellaneta.
Dave: Jason Wiles. Larry: Ed Quinn. Alyssa:
Christina Hendricks. Jim: Adrian Quinones.
Agent Lynley: James Badge Dale.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR: "COGNITIVE DISSONANCE"

Thurs. 3/12/09 morning: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Must be about nine o'clock...Dad must be meeting with a judge now...I'd love to send these fuckers to jail. Bored...so tired. Wish I could fall asleep....

Try the relaxation exercises again–they worked yesterday. My feet are asleep again. Okay, relaxing my toes, even my pinky toes. Now I'm stretching them again, now I'm relaxing them completely, there's no pain, I don't feel pain, flex my feet, stretch them out, damn I'm hitting against the restraint. Feet. Fuck. ...remembering Logan grabbing my foot hard, hurting me, hurt me a lot...stop. stop. stop!

Deep breaths. In...one two three four five six seven eight nine ten...out...one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. Again....

Have to do this. Have to keep going. I can do this. I know I can do this. Have to do this. Now the FBI is watching me too...maybe even some of the people from the internship program. Got to do a good job, got to keep going. There's no way I can get hurt with all these people watching me. Have to do this. It's only for...a few more days. For...a few more days. Fuck! Breathe, Veronica.

Think.... Think of a good time. Logan doing a strip dance for me. "Pretty good for a gimp." He puts his hands behind his head and thrusts his pelvis at me. I close my eyes and smile, thinking about making love with him, the way he feels inside me. He's doing this for me, he's dancing for me...because he loves me. He always tells me how much he loves me. Love you, Logan, love the way you feel. I keep my eyes closed, picturing him doing a silly dance for me....

"Open your eyes, Veronica. I'll fuck you until you're black and blue if I have to. You're not going to ruin us. You're going to keep your promise to me. You're. Going. To. Be. Careful."

What?? I am being careful. Why are you yelling at me? I am being careful! I haven't said a word since...since the bucket. You know I have to do this. I have to do this. All these people are watching me. I'm being as careful as I can. You're not being fair!

"Look, I don't give a rat's ass if it's fair. I don't care if you're angry. I care that you're safe."

Logan, it's not like this is all some new facet of my personality. You know who I am! You know what I do. And you know I'm doing this for you too.

Logan's staring at me, refusing to answer. He turns to leave, and Dave points at the bucket and says, "Leave it for her to smell all night long...so she remembers."

Logan, don't do it...I'm not...I'm not an animal, or a user, or whatever they're calling me now. You're supposed to...you're supposed to protect me. I try to make him understand with my eyes when he looks at me. Damn, wish I could scratch my cheek, show him how much...fuck! Please, Logan...try to understand....

Logan says, "You stupid cunt. You're filth, a fucking animal. You're not even worth looking at." Dave high-fives him, and they laugh as they leave the room.

I can't look at him anymore, and I close my eyes again. It's not true...not true not true not true true true truuuuue

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 late morning: Hearst College dormitory, Neptune, CA

Wallace starts awake, realizing that someone is knocking on his door. He throws on a t-shirt over his shorts and answers the door. Candice is bearing two cups of coffee and a croissant.

She sits on the bed and says hesitantly, "What happened last night?"

Wallace shrugs. He takes one of the cups from her and joins her on the bed. "Nothing. We got Liam arrested. And we found out that the Fitzpatricks make contact with someone through a Yahoo account. But I don't know how that helps. We watched the Sheriff's department until nine a.m. this morning when Father Patrick must have finally put up the bail for Liam. Liam was cursing him out for taking so long to make bail."

Candice looks down.

"What?" Wallace asks.

She shakes her head 'no', and he touches her shoulder. Finally she looks up and says, "I want you to stop this. In the beginning, I just wanted to know if there was any chance Shawn was alive...if he maybe was hurt somewhere and needed help or...I don't know. Now, what you're doing with your friend Eli...." She begins to cry. "I don't want you or Eli to get hurt. I want you to stop this. I don't care if Shawn's killer is ever caught. Shawn was mixed up with bad people and was dealing drugs. He wasn't a blameless victim."

"But–"

"No. I want you to stop. Look at you...you're exhausted. You have another playoff game tomorrow night. You have practice in an hour, and you're a mess. Wallace...I'm not like your friend Veronica. I don't need to see Shawn's killer punished, especially if it means that you might get hurt."

"We actually found out a lot–"

Candice says firmly, "Then you can show it to Mr. Mars when he returns to Neptune. See what he says. You told me you trusted him."

Wallace nods.

"Will you promise me?" she asks. Candice strokes his face. "I believe in forgiveness. I don't believe in vengeance. Promise me, Wallace."

"All right, I'll talk to Keith when he comes back, and I'll leave it alone until then," Wallace replies, taking her in a hug.

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 early afternnon: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Some of the second-shift employees are sitting around a table in the employee dining room, waiting to go on shift. Dave asks, "So what's the difference between a drunk and an alcoholic?"

Larry nods and says, "The drunk doesn't have to go to a meeting."

Dave and Jim laugh uproariously. Logan smiles, trying to get the humor. Dave nudges him. "C'mon, man."

"Yeah, that's funny. The drunk doesn't have to go to a meeting." Logan thinks a minute and says, "I got one for you. A Highway Patrolman is waiting outside a bar, hoping for an easy bust. At closing time everyone starts coming out, and the cop spots his potential quarry. This guy is so smashed that he can barely walk. He stumbles around the parking lot for a few minutes, looking for his car."

Logan continues, "After trying his keys on five other cars, he finally finds his own vehicle. He sits in the car for a good ten minutes, as the other patrons leave. He turns his headlights on, then off, then the wipers on, then off. He starts to pull forward into the grass, then stops.

"Finally, when he's the last car in the parking lot, he pulls out onto the road and starts to drive away.

"The patrolman, waiting for this, turns on his flashers and pulls the man over. He administers the breathalyzer test, and to his great surprise, the man blows a 0.00.

"The patrolman is dumbfounded. He says, 'This equipment must be broken!'.

"The man replies, 'I doubt it. Tonight I am the designated decoy!'" Logan smiles as the others laugh uproariously.

"Designated decoy, yeah, that's good, Roger," Jim repeats. "Been there, man. You know what they say, you might be an alcoholic if you lose your car at least once a week."

"Yeah, or if the toilet seat keeps hitting you on the back of the head," Larry adds.

Logan snorts in response.

Dave stands up and stretches. "C'mon, we gotta get going here. Hey, Roger, did you hear? They're letting out your girlfriend."

"What?" Logan says without thinking.

"Yeah, you know, Connie McConArtist, your special girl. I guess Klein had a little talk with her last night. Sounds like he's making her his personal project. I know you're a little in love with her...heard you like 'em feisty," Dave says knowingly, punching Logan lightly in the shoulder. The other two laugh loudly.

"Yeah, right. Sorry, the tattoos are a turnoff," Logan replies, trying to recover.

When they meet up with Tony, he assesses Logan for a moment, then says to Dave, "If you think he's ready...I'd like Roger to find Maria and get Connie out of the restraints. We're going to try to put her back on the regular schedule, see what the restraints did for her."

Dave says, "Yeah, absolutely he's ready. I think he knows how to handle her now. Besides, Connie's really calmed down. The restraints were good for her."

Tony looks at Logan carefully, who nods that he's ready for the responsibility. "Okay. Go get Maria. She's doing chores in the common room."

When Logan and Maria enter the room where Veronica is being held, Logan is shocked at Veronica's appearance. Connie looks exhausted and scared. Veronica carefully avoids looking at Logan.

Despite Veronica's haggard appearance, Maria says, "Connie, looks like you've had a productive time here in restraints. Love you, Connie."

Logan glances at Maria, wondering why she thinks Connie had a 'productive' time. He walks over to Connie and releases the restraints. She sits looking from Maria to Logan and back, waiting for a direction.

"Good girl, Connie," Maria says approvingly. "We're going to try to let you be off the tether. Just remember, you have to stay within six feet of me at all times. No talking and no physical contact with any of the other girls, especially the newcomers. Do you got it?"

Veronica nods slowly without saying a word.

"Stand up," Maria instructs. When Veronica pushes herself out of the chair, she is unsteady and obviously stiff, and she hangs onto the chair arm for a minute until she regains her balance. Maria walks over and hugs her. "You know, it's an act of love to prod someone in their emotional sore spot. I love you, Connie."

Veronica replies dutifully, "Love you too, Maria. I really want to do better." She looks at Logan and adds impulsively, "I'm...I'm sorry I hurt you the other night. I was wrong to do that. I'm sorry." She turns back to Maria suddenly and blurts out hurriedly, "I'm sorry, I should have asked permission, I just thought...I wanted him to know I was sorry. Please, Maria, I'm trying to do better."

Maria frowns and says, "Don't do it again." She puts her arm around Veronica's waist and escorts her out of the room. Logan follows closely, watching for any sign that Connie's going to try another escape.

On their way to join the other girls already in group therapy, they pass Kavner, just going off his own shift. Kavner nods at Logan. After he passes them, he slows down and turns around to observe surreptitiously. Logan turns back and meets his eyes briefly, then turns forward again.

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 afternoon: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Keith is watching the monitor when Maria escorts a redheaded girl into group therapy. It takes a split-second before he realizes that it's Veronica, looking more exhausted than he's ever seen her. Logan enters the room shortly thereafter and moves off camera. The cell phone rings, and he picks it up absently, thumbing the send button. "Keith Mars."

"Keith, it's me," Kavner replies.

"Yeah, we're just watching Veronica go into group. Is she as bad as she looks? I'm pretty concerned right now." Keith tries to hold his voice steady. Carrie, observing from the corner, takes a few notes. Agent Lynley looks up, noting the stress in Keith's voice.

"I don't know. For sure, she's exhausted. I doubt she got any sleep the last two nights. And I heard that Klein himself is taking an interest in her. Apparently, he visited her last night," Kavner says.

"We heard it all over the wire. It was completely brutal. Told her she had a black hole in her soul that she was trying to fill up with her using...told her that I said I didn't love her any more and wanted to lock her up so she couldn't hurt anybody else," Keith replies briefly. "Of course that's a complete lie. I haven't talked to anyone at the school since she was transported. I was told to check in after a week, which would be tomorrow."

"There's no way they'll tell you about the restraints when you call," Epstein adds.

"What's that?" Kavner asks on the phone.

"Epstein is just saying that they won't tell me about her punishments," Keith explains.

"Ask how Logan is doing," Dr. Kinny interjects. He walks over to listen in on the cell conversation.

"Dr. Kinny is asking about Logan," Keith repeats.

"Well...he was having a problem in the beginning fitting in with the other employees. Then he started hanging out with a few of them. The one guy, Dave...he seems really nice, a real clown who jokes around. He's buddies with everyone and always seems to be in a great mood."

"But?" Keith prompts.

"He's no better than the guys who act tough. If the girls act out, Dave's just as brutal as any of them...maybe even worse. And he's totally indoctrinated into the program, really believes in what he's doing like most of the other guys. Logan's...well, he's been hanging with Dave. It's good and bad. Logan's trying to fit in. He's doing a good job on the operation, but he seems a little off to me. I don't know him that well though; he's probably fine."

"Ask him to come by after his shift," Dr. Kinny suggests. "We can ask him directly about Veronica too. We just saw him escort her into group therapy."

"Did you get that, Kavner?" Keith asks. He is still keeping one eye on the video screen, watching his daughter being seated with the other girls. At one point, Maria turns around to speak to Veronica, who flinches in response.

Kinny sees it too. "She's physically scared of Maria."

"Or she's acting scared," Agent Lynley suggests.

"And she's tired," Keith comments. He turns his attention back to the cell phone. "Can you ask Logan to come meet with us after his shift?" Keith turns his back to the others in the room and speaks softly. "And...Ryan," he says, switching to Kavner's first name. "I'd like you to be ready...in case we need to get her out of there quickly."

"Will do, Keith. Don't worry, she's going to be fine."

Hope so. Keith terminates the call with a sigh and begins watching the group therapy session.

Epstein explains what's happening to Agent Lynley. "The girls have to sit in the chairs with their hands on their knees. When the counselor asks the girls to participate, they have to signal by pumping their arms in their air. No one can talk unless they're called upon. If someone wants to comment, they signal to the leader. If the girls don't participate enough, they'll be accused of choosing out, of choosing not to participate in their program. If it's deemed a serious violation, they'll get time added to their program."

Kinny adds, "And it's not just the quantity of participation. The girls are expected to regurgitate the slogans and philosophies of the program."

"What about the attack therapy you mentioned?" Lynley asks.

"We've seen a few instances where the leader and the other girls attacked the girl who was testifying for not being honest," Keith states.

"No story is sordid enough. There's a lot of talk about personal responsibility, but the truth is that the girls aren't allowed to progress unless they admit to tremendous moral failings: addiction, alcoholism, criminal behavior, prostitution, even acts of violence. They're rewarded when they falsify their life story by exaggerating their faults. They have to admit that they need to work a program like the school for the rest of their lives," Epstein explains.

"What about your daughter? What's her cover story?" Lynley inquires.

"I told them she was drinking and maybe taking drugs. She was arrested but not convicted of shoplifting, and her grades have dropped. I mentioned a bad boyfriend that I wanted to get her away from," Keith replies.

"Okay, but what about the stuff she's going to make up if they attack her for not being honest? Does she have a lot of stories worked out?" Lynley presses.

"We talked about it. She seemed confident she'd be able to judge the situation and admit to progressively worse sins," Keith answers hesitantly.

"You didn't coach her on this?"

"You don't know my daughter. I've watched her take on the persona of a secretary, a Hollywood casting agent, and even a dumped pregnant girl at the drop of a hat," Keith says defensively.

"This is a lot more serious than some P.I. shenanigans intended to nail an insurance cheat. How will you know if she's diverging from the plan?"

Keith is fuming. Like I'm some cheap gumshoe, and Veronica's just a bimbo... He takes a breath and says, "I've explained the code words to you. And I have confidence in my daughter's abilities."

Epstein interjects, "I think Keith is right. We've been watching her. She knows the goals of the operation, and she's been able to think on her feet. Any kind of script that we would have made up would have had to have been thrown out the moment we saw what was really going on at the school. No one that we interviewed truly prepared us for what was actually going on. And Veronica has managed to document everything for us. I'm completely impressed with her abilities."

Kinny says quietly, "She and I did some additional work after you left Neptune, Keith. We did some role playing, and we ran some scenarios similar to the attack therapy. I got to know her style of improvising, and I feel confident I'll be able to interpret what we're seeing. I've been working in this field for twenty years."

The room is silent except for a low, droning voice from the speakers of the computer monitoring the group therapy session, where the counselor, Alyssa, is discussing a quotation written on the blackboard:

"All you really need is a truly open mind. Just resign from the debating society and quit bothering yourself with such deep questions as whether it was the hen or the egg that came first. Again I say, all you need is the open mind." (16)

Kinny continues, "I'm not saying we shouldn't be worried about Veronica's mental condition, and for that matter, we also need to be assessing Logan and even your other undercover operative. She does look tired and stressed to me, but it's what I would expect after being confined for forty-eight hours. I think we should just calm down a little and really examine what we're observing. Veronica was quite clear that she wanted the operation to continue."

Carrie pipes up from the corner. "Can I ask a question? What's the government's interest, specifically, in this case? Besides the obvious, of course: the payoffs to the Education Commissioner, and Frazzino possibly paying off the school to conceal his abuse of his daughter."

"Those are our primary goals," Lynley says shortly.

"So...why have Veronica continue to be undercover? What can she add to that case?" Carrie asks shrewdly.

"Well, if there are violations of child-abuse reporting or documented physical abuse, we can file charges," Lynley replies.

"But those aren't federal crimes. What's the FBI's interest in Veronica being undercover?" she presses.

"If evidence is uncovered of other crimes during the federal government's corruption probe, the evidence can be used to file other charges. And those crimes can also be used as leverage to compel Klein's testimony against Behr and Frazzino," Lynley explains. "And if Veronica is extracted suddenly, the school might be warned that they are being investigated."

"So she's the sacrificial lamb? Her safety's being compromised to bring down a couple sleazy politicians?"

"Every bit of evidence we gather and every criminal conviction that we can muster makes it more likely we can get a substantial verdict in a civil case that will shut down the school forever," Epstein adds.

"Until they reorganize and change their name and open up somewhere else. Like Klein's done before," Carrie states, scribbling notes as she talks. "Yes, I've been doing some research."

"He's never had a criminal conviction before, only civil judgments. There's never been evidence like this," Keith replies. "That's why Veronica wanted to go undercover. When she found out about the investigation, she insisted on being allowed to participate. She was horrified about the conditions at the school."

"What's the connection to Hannah Griffith?" Carrie says insistently.

Lynley stares at Keith. "I'd like an answer to that as well. Mike Fields said Veronica had a hare-brained idea about the murder."

"Is that Veronica's primary mission?" Carrie asks excitedly. "Is there a connection between the school and Hannah's murder?"

"What makes you think the school was involved in Hannah's murder? I explained it to you: we're here at the request of Hannah's mother, who regrets sending her daughter to a tough-love school," Keith replies.

"Bull. I never really believed it was the Saturday Night Slasher who killed Hannah Griffith."

"Yeah, you thought it was Logan Echolls, stumping along in a full leg-cast, somehow managing to kill a girl and plant evidence pointing to a notorious serial-killer," Keith mocks.

Carrie ignores him. "That's why Logan's involved, isn't it? He's trying to clear his name, and Veronica's helping him. This is great stuff."

"That is NOT Veronica's primary mission," Keith responds forcefully. "And surely you can see that she is unable to do anything other than play her part as a student."

"A bitchy student if you ask me," Carrie says snidely.

"Carrie, please don't make me regret allowing you to be a part of this," Keith warns. "If we uncover evidence about the school or any of its employees being involved with Hannah's murder, of course we'll turn it over to the serial murder task force." He notices Epstein is about to add something, and Keith subtly shakes his head 'no'.

Lynley clears his throat. "And Ms. Murray, don't forget about the agreements you signed with the Bureau prohibiting you from publishing without clearing your stories."

Carrie sighs. "I haven't forgotten."

Dr. Kinny says in a loud voice, "Veronica is speaking."

They turn as one to the computer monitor. Veronica is standing up and appears nervous, shifting back and forth between her feet. She speaks in a dull monotone. "I don't know. I'm really trying to understand. You're saying that we shouldn't question the program, that we should just accept that it works without proof?"

"I'm saying that by demanding proof you're not open to what the program can give you. And you might consider that I and every other successful graduate of this school are proof that the program works. Once I stopped fighting and started asking what I could do to make my life better, I did get better. You have to admit that you need our help and tell us everything you've ever done that got you here. I like the improvement in your attitude, Connie, but you're still questioning too much. You need to accept that we know how to help you."

"I...I'm trying. I really want to earn a phone call to my dad," Veronica says hesitantly. "I know you guys want to help me." She rubs her eyes, obviously fatigued.

Keith thinks proudly, That's my girl. He looks around triumphantly at Lynley, who shrugs. Keith says, "You see what she did there? She's definitely okay. She might be tired, and she's pretending to go along to get a little break for herself, but she still managed to tell us that she doesn't want to quit."

They continue to watch the video feed as Veronica sits back down, and other girls stand up to give their take on the topic of the day. At one point, Carrie leaves the room, and Epstein pulls Keith aside.

Epstein asks, "I've been thinking about the teacher who helped Hannah Griffith escape. Were you able to get a name from the Workers' Compensation database?"

Keith replies, "I did get a name. Michelle Weisz. It's the only one that fits the facts; the dates of her employment match with the story Logan got from Tony. And I ran a preliminary check on that name; she's completely disappeared. There's been no trace of her in any of the major databases since several months after Hannah's escape."

Epstein says, "There's a rumor on the Internet. I've run across it a few times while I've been investigating the schools. There's a woman who has helped a couple dozen kids escape from the schools. On the boards, they call her the Guardian Angel. They say that she tries to get the kids out who shouldn't be in the schools at all–the kids who are most at risk. They say she changes her name and moves every few weeks so the tough-love schools can't find her and stop her. The rumors make her sound like a superhero or a crusader."

"Are you thinking that the Guardian Angel is Michelle Weisz?"

"I don't know. But I don't think she's been around for longer than three years, so...."

Keith says, "So it might be her. I suppose she could have been radicalized by her experience at Briar Hill and decided to try to help other kids after getting Hannah out. How are you proposing to find her?"

"I do have some contacts with kids who've escaped from the schools. Most are too scared to come out publicly about their experiences, but I think they trust me. They know I'm working on a big lawsuit that might impact the whole industry." Epstein looks at Keith seriously. "I think we'd get a response if I put out the word on the tough-love survivor boards that I'm looking to talk with the woman who helped Hannah Griffith escape."

"Do it." Keith sees Carrie come back into the room. "Don't tell Carrie, okay?"

"Right."

"And Jim...I also think we shouldn't tell Ms. Denenberg these theories about Hannah's death. I don't want to unnecessarily torture her with possibilities unless we find evidence to support them."

Epstein nods.

__________
(16) Wilson, William G. Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions. USA: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1952. p. 26.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Survivor Guilt
Dick is questioned about Kendall's murder;
Veronica back in the daily 'routine'.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Leo: Max Greenfield. Dick: Ryan Hansen.
Klein: Clancy Brown. Maria: Gina Mantegna.
Tara: Kirsten Prout. Megan: Anna Lynn McCord.
Dave: Jason Wiles. Shari: Jessalyn Gilsig.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE: "SURVIVOR GUILT"

Thurs. 3/12/09 afternoon: Pi Sig Fraternity, Hearst College, Neptune, CA

Chip Diller opens the door of the frat house to Sheriff Leo D'Amato. With mock politeness, he says, "Sheriff. How can we help you today? As you can see, not a keg or an underaged girl in sight."

"Today," the sheriff says wryly. "I'm looking for Richard Casablancas, Jr. Is he around?"

"Well, he's certainly not in class. Try upstairs, second door on the right," Chip motions toward the stairs and walks away.

Leo goes upstairs and knocks on Dick's door. There are signs all over the door reading 'Choose Pi Sig. Your girlfriend already has.', 'DaKine Gear', 'I Always Take Life With a Grain of Salt and a Slice of Lime and a Shot of Tequila', 'Pi Sigs: Cocky Since 1908', and 'Pi Sigma Sigma: Sorority Tested, Mother Approved.'

Dick opens the door, and Leo comments, nodding to the door, "Classy."

"You should have seen the ones we rejected," Dick replies. "Sheriff D'Amato, how can we do you today?"

"Can I come in?"

"Uh, this is not some random frat party investigation, is it?" Dick suddenly looks troubled. "Did something happen with Mac?"

"Mac?" Leo repeats.

"Cindy Mackenzie. The girl whose family was killed. Is she all right?"

"I'm not here about Ms. Mackenzie, but...you're friends with her?" Leo asks.

"Yeah. Friends. Exes, I guess. Can you get in touch with her for me?" Dick asks hopefully. "I'm worried about her. I heard...I heard through the grapevine she's in witness protection."

"I assume by the grapevine you mean Veronica Mars."

Dick shrugs. "Ronnie's got connections. I'm worried about Mac; she's all alone now, and nobody can get in touch with her."

"I'm not here about Ms. Mackenzie, Dick. Have you been in touch with your stepmother recently?"

"My stepmother? Oh, you mean Kendall. I know my dad started divorce proceedings in absentia something," Dick says vaguely. "I haven't heard from her in a couple years. Since...well, she didn't show for Cassidy's funeral. I know I haven't seen her since then."

Leo pulls out a picture of 'Katerina Beversdorf'. "How about this woman?"

"Hot! I wouldn't kick her out of the sack," Dick comments.

"That's your stepmother, at least that was your stepmother. She had changed her appearance," Leo says.

"Wait...had changed?"

Leo sighs. "You don't read the papers, do you?"

"Just the personal ads."

"This woman was found murdered late last night. Her ID identified her as Katerina Beversdorf. But the fingerprints told a different story. Apparently, her birth name is Priscilla Banks, and she was using the name Kendall Shiflet prior to marrying your father," Leo explains slowly.

"Wait...what?"

"She also served some time on a fraud charge."

Dick sits down on his unmade bed. "Kendall was...."

"It looks your daddy's wife was a con artist. Where is your father, by the way? No one seems to know. Your mother pretty much hung up on me when I asked her."

"He's in the Caymans. You know, loose banking regulations and all."

"Wow, that's family loyalty," Leo comments sarcastically.

"He doesn't really make a secret of it. After he served his time, he started making an effort to be completely 'transparent' and 'above board', or so he says," Dick comments. "You know, he doesn't want to go back to the big house? But I'm sure he's still raking it in somehow. Just...slightly more within the law this time."

"Right. Do you have an address or a phone number?"

Dick points to a postcard thumbtacked to the wall above his computer.

Leo scribbles the information down. "So you didn't have any contact with Kendall recently?"

"Uh...I think I would have remembered someone who looked like that. I always wondered what Kendall would look like as a blonde..." Dick says dreamily.

"You know, the SEC mentioned that there's still a significant amount of money that's unaccounted for from your father's business dealings in 2005. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"

"You obviously don't know much about me. My little brother was the one who inherited Big Dick's financial, ah, ecumenical," Dick says, slightly nervous.

"Right. The Phoenix Land Trust; your brother bet against incorporation. And of course you remember who was CEO?"

Dick's eyes meet Leo's. "Yeah, Kendall. I thought for sure I'd never hear from her again after she made the big score. My dad was the only one who didn't seem to get it that Kendall was only after his money."

"So where were you last night between, say, nine p.m. and midnight, Dick?"

"Wait...you think I killed her? Wow, that's twisted. Is that what you call Oedipal? Offing your stepmommy?"

"I think you might want to get the Cliffs Notes on that one, Dick–that's not quite how the story goes. Where were you last night?"

"I hit the Delta Tau cocktail hour and hooked up with Jennie Budosh. I think she might remember me. You know, I have a few signature moves," Dick says lightly.

"Her number?"

"Uh, hang on." Dick digs in his jeans pocket and triumphantly extracts a matchbook. He opens the cover and presents it to Leo with a flourish, who glances at it quickly.

"Yeah, that's the number for Mama Mia Pizza. 555-7437, 555-PIES."

"Shit, you're right. Damn, I thought she had a good time," Dick muses, shaking his head. "I'm sure she's in the book. You know, maybe the registrar would know...."

"Hope you're not yanking my chain, Dick," Leo replies. "You sure this girl's gonna vouch for you?"

"Well, I don't know about 'vouch' if she gave me a fake phone number. But, you know, other people at Delta Tau saw us together too. She was all over me. You know, a little needy?" Dick confides. "You have to be a lot gentler with girls like her–but it's worth it. Mmm," he says, remembering.

"I wouldn't know. I'll be in touch, Dick."

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 evening: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica moves through the day in a slight daze. It seems as though everyone is watching her; she sees Klein several times, interacting more than usual with the student population, and she feels his eyes upon her as she tries to blend in with the other girls. She keeps telling herself that he can't possibly know she is a plant; but every time she catches him looking at her, his expression is inscrutable and vaguely unnerving. Maria seems pleased by her compliance; it makes Maria look good and of course lightens her responsibilities to have Veronica appear to be reformed.

When she enters the dining room for dinner, another girl bumps into her, and Veronica shies away compulsively, fearing that she will be blamed for something. Maria crossly orders her to keep going, and Veronica obediently moves ahead, joining the line of girls waiting for their insubstantial meals. She watches the other girls' movements and tries to copy them. I just have to get it right, she thinks; then she remembers that she actually has to get it wrong for her observers, and her fright overwhelms her. She tries to summon the courage to provoke Maria again and fails. Veronica keeps her head down and concentrates on her dinner. I'm sorry, Dad.

After dinner, the girls are herded into the classroom and handed worksheets. Veronica finds the relative sanity of algebra to be oddly comforting; the numbers and letters behave the way they're supposed to. She works through several sheets of exercises on factoring polynomials. Then she is given worksheets on American history. The dates and facts of the American revolution help to settle her nerves even further. For a moment, she is able to pretend she is back at Neptune High, with Dick Casablancas trying to hit her with a spitball and Casey Gant not-so-subtly walking past her desk and looking down her shirt.

She looks over at Tara struggling with her own worksheets, and Veronica feels deeply ashamed. The girl's distress is palpable; her frustration and depressive affect increase daily. Here I am–I'm supposed to be a professional, I'm supposed to be here to save girls like Tara, and I can't even muster up the courage to do my job. I'm letting them get inside my head and scare me. Fuck! Got to keep going, Veronica. For several minutes, she watches Tara and thinks about how she can document Tara's difficulties. She looks up to find Shari standing next to her desk, and Veronica bends her head over her worksheet again, her anxiety over punishment preventing her from making a smart remark. Shari moves off, and Veronica sighs in relief.

She keeps reviewing the last conversation with Logan in her head; now Veronica wishes that she had asked for more information as to what she should be trying to document for the federal observers. Without any information to the contrary, she assumes the goals of the operation haven't changed. Attack therapy, brutal punishments, food restrictions, and no access to medical treatment. She knows that she's going to have to act out again, but she realizes that she is shying away from every opportunity that presents itself. Finally, she decides to just go along for the rest of the evening; if she is honest with herself, she admits that she is feeling very traumatized by the experience of the restraints. Her thoughts still feel disconnected and unreal, and she still catches herself mixing up conversations and events in her memories. And her uncertainty, no, her fear, is real and oppressive.

Tomorrow; I know I can do this tomorrow.

After the class period is over, Veronica expects to be led to the sleeping room. All the girls look tired, but Veronica is completely exhausted after not sleeping for two days in restraints, and she longs for some real rest. But Klein is waiting outside the classroom, and he leads the girls to the group therapy room, where Logan and Dave take over for two other guards. What the hell is Klein up to now? Why the extra therapy session? Veronica finds herself trembling, and she forces herself to stay calm. I'm not going to let this fucking bastard beat me, she thinks.

She tries not look at Klein as she sits down next to Maria. Got to look like I'm going along. She puts her palms flat on her legs like every other girl and forces herself to stay alert. Veronica knows she should feel more relaxed with Logan there, but she irrationally feels more tense knowing he's watching. She vows not to look at him at all. Then she remembers that her dad, Epstein, and the others are watching too. Veronica feels deeply ashamed and embarrassed to have her dad see her unnerved like this. She tries to appear alert and in control of herself.

Klein starts by asking if anyone wants to share. Veronica knows what she's supposed to do: she watches Maria and copies her frenzied pumping arms. Thankfully, Klein calls on Megan, who talks about how safe she feels away from the pressure of boys and drugs. Megan adds that she's grateful her parents loved her enough to send her to Briar Hill. Klein praises her for her honesty, but tells Megan that she needs to dig deeper to really get at the root of her problems; she can't truly get better until she admits that she would seek out drugs and sex no matter where she was and who was around her. Megan flops in her chair again, frustrated. Klein notices her angry posture and calls her on it.

Megan stands up again. "I've done everything you've asked! I wrote the 'guilt letters'. I admitted my flaws to everyone in the group."

Guilt letters? Veronica thinks. What the hell is that?

"And you're still whining about it," Klein retorts. "The process isn't ever going to end for you. You think you're done. You can't get done if you're an addict. There's always more to admit, there's always more to learn." He gets right in her face and yells at the top of his lungs. "There's no cure! When are you going to learn that? You're an addict, Megan. And now you think a couple sob stories in group mean you're cured for life. Don't you get it? The group is your life now. When you became an addict, you signed up for a lifetime of work in the program. It's either the program, prison, or death. Stop. Your. Whining. Quit your stinkin' thinkin'! You disgust me, Megan." Megan sinks into her chair, devastated by the abuse.

Dave nudges Logan and comments in a whisper, "Megan can't be honest for more than two words in a row." Logan nods, trying to make sense of Klein's rhetoric. The phrase 'Program, prison, or death' rings in his ears. The headmaster's powerful stage presence and convincing mannerisms are mesmerizing, and Logan keeps thinking about his own blackouts last fall. Who am I kidding? Stop your whining and quit your stinkin' thinkin', that should be my motto. He tries to focus on the scene.

Sarcastically, Klein asks for more volunteers. Veronica can't imagine anyone will be willing to take more of Klein's abuse, but everyone pumps their fists in the air and pounds their feet on the floor, hoping to called on. Her fatigue threatens to overwhelm her, but she manages to imitate the other girls as best she is able. How does anyone survive this? For months or years on end?

Klein calls on Tara, who looks frightened to death. Tara says slowly, "I'm glad to be able to face my learning problems for the first time in my life. I'm not relying on some drug to help me; I'm doing it myself."

No, Tara! Veronica withers at Tara's acquiescence.

"This is really an awesome opportunity. I never knew how much the drugs held me back. And I'm learning about myself–why I do the bad things I do. I have to accept that I'm not very smart, and I do dumb things. I need something like the program to help me stay straight. I know I was on the wrong path before. I'll never take any kind of drugs again, and with the help of the program, I think I'll survive if I work really hard." Tara waits, expecting to be verbally assaulted. But Klein merely nods and indicates that she should sit again. Tara's relief is obvious.

Veronica realizes that the irrational alternation of support and abuse is more disconcerting than a steady stream of harsh invective. How can you modify your behavior if you don't understand what the right thing to do is? Today, you get praise; tomorrow, you're insulted and vilified. Veronica's certain that the unpredictable nature of the 'therapy' at Briar Hill is designed to break the students faster and has nothing at all to do with treatment. She feels a surge of anger at Klein and his sick methods.

Klein announces that they are going to do a new exercise. He directs the girls to circle their chairs. Veronica's heart begins to pound, but she is careful to do exactly as she is told. As she moves her chair into place, she accidentally catches Klein's eyes and is terrified to see that he's staring at her. She sits quietly with her hands on her thighs, trying to avoid looking at him, but feeling his gaze upon her. Logan and Dave move slightly, and now Logan is in Veronica's peripheral vision as well. Afraid to look at him, she tries to narrow her focus and stares straight ahead, wishing this night would finally be over.

In his deep voice, Klein explains, "This is called the 'Lifeboat Exercise'. (17) Our ship has been wrecked at sea, and there are only a limited number of lifeboats. There are ten of you here, but there are only seven seats in the lifeboat. Each of you in turn will go around the circle. You will tell each of the girls, 'You live' or 'You die'. You can save yourself, or you can choose to give up your seat to someone more worthy. You know the exercise, Maria, we'll start with you."

Maria walks around the circle a few times, looking each girl in the face with cold, dark eyes; Veronica realizes she's deciding who merits survival. She passes by Veronica a third time, then spins around and screams in Veronica's face, "You die! You die!" The spittle flies into Veronica's face, and she flinches; Veronica is screaming on the inside but she keeps silent, shaking with the effort. Maria smiles chillingly and moves on to the next girl, Tara, shouting, "You live!"

Veronica cannot imagine the supposed therapeutic value of the exercise. How is this supposed to help someone? Are you saying that some people deserve life more than others? Is Maria rewarding people who are further along in their program? She listens to Maria's decisions and decides that there is no logic to them. She is not just too tired to understand this exercise; it is completely insane. Except, of course, that I am definitely not worthy. Maria sits down and smiles at Veronica. Veronica stares back, wondering if there's anything human left in Maria after years here at Briar Hill.

Logan listens to the exercise; he knows that the process is hurtful to the participants, but something about it also seems completely spiritual, almost wise in its acceptance of the vicissitudes of life. He is jolted out of his musings by Maria's vicious 'You die!' aimed at one of the newcomers; he realizes that he's being relentlessly sucked in by Klein's diatribes and the constant indoctrination about addiction. He vows to resist; just because I might be an addict doesn't mean.... He glances at Dave, who is completely oblivious to the sick drama playing out in front of them.

The next girl to go is Megan, and she too chooses to start by telling Veronica, "You die!" Even expecting it, Veronica shakes with the emotional blow delivered so callously by someone who doesn't know her at all. Megan of course tells Maria that she will live, and, not surprisingly, nominates herself to live as well. Veronica expects Klein to attack Megan for her selfishness, but he remains silent, merely observing the progress of the exercise.

When Tara stands up, she immediately goes to Veronica and says, "You die" in a quiet voice and moves quickly to the next girl. She tells Maria and her own oldcomer, "You live", and picks five other girls to live; Veronica suspects that the choices are completely random.

It is finally Veronica's turn; she stands up and starts by telling Maria and Tara, "You live". She tells Megan and two other girls that "they die"; she selects four more girls to 'live' and finally ends by saying, "I choose to give myself the last seat," refusing to give Klein the satisfaction of saying "I live." She sits down and waits, expecting an explosion.

He walks over to her. "You think you deserve a seat on the lifeboat?"

She swallows her fear. This is it. Go for it, Veronica. See if you can get him to react for the video. She looks him right in the eye and says, "Yes. I deserve to live."

He regards her a moment before saying, "I feel sorry for you, Connie." He looks around the room. "Tara, you win. You had the most votes to live. But...you didn't vote for yourself, so–I'm sorry, Tara. You still die. ...It's time to go to bed. I'd like you all to think about what you learned here tonight."

What the fuck? What we learned?! Veronica practically screams at him. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Logan pushing himself off the wall; he has seen her seething reaction. She flinches compulsively; I can't, not tonight, I can't have him holding me down. She looks away and tries to control her breathing. Klein looks at her, and she suspects that the entire exercise was bait, and he was hoping for another opportunity to tear her down again, this time in front of everyone. Not yet...I need...I need a little time. She glances quickly at Logan again; he's muttering to Dave, seemingly disinterested. She knows he can't appear overtly protective of her, but still...it fucking hurts.

She tears her eyes off Logan and returns her gaze to Klein. I WILL take you down. Just...not tonight. It occurs to her that maybe Klein is thinking the same thing.

__________
(17) Szalavitz, Maia. Help At Any Cost. New York: Riverhead Books, 2006. p. 171.

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
The Meaning of Heroic
Logan reports to the monitoring team;
Logan and Veronia have a bad night.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason Dohring.
Keith: Enrico Colantoni. Klein: Clancy Brown.
Carrie: Amber Heard. Dr. Kinny: Dan
Castellaneta. Epstein: Scott Grimes.
Dave: Jason Wiles. Agent Lynley: James
Badge Dale. Special guest: ???
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX: "THE MEANING OF HEROIC"

Thurs. 3/12/09 late evening: Rented house, Manchester Center, VT

Carrie answers the door; Logan stares at her with disgust, realizing this is the first time they have been face-to-face since Carrie suddenly disappeared from his life last fall.

Finally she says, "So are you coming in?"

He brushes past her without speaking.

"Yeah, I've missed you too," she calls after him as she shuts the door.

Apparently, Logan thinks bitterly. He enters the living room where the four men are discussing the evidence. Keith quickly introduces Agent Lynley, and Logan shakes his hand. Logan listens as the men catalogue the list of Veronica's successes; for him, these events are reality, not some theatrical production, and he keeps getting confused when they call her Veronica instead of Connie. Finally, Keith turns to him and asks about Veronica's condition.

"Yeah, uh, Connie, I mean Veronica, yeah, she's all right," he replies, stumbling.

Kinny frowns at him.

"Veronica is really trying to behave since they let her out of the restraints," he adds.

"But...how is she doing? Do you think she can keep going? She used the code words during group therapy, we noticed. She sent a clear signal to us that she's all right, but...Logan, I have to admit I'm worried about her. That last evening session was particularly brutal," Keith presses.

"Well, she seems tired. She's certainly acting more compliant," he answers briefly.

Kinny speaks up. "Do you feel that she is competent to assess her own ability to continue?"

"What?" Logan says, turning to him.

"She could be losing her perspective on the operation," Kinny explains.

"There's a lot riding on this," Lynley comments.

Logan stares at him. Fuck you, 'a lot riding on this'. "I think she's all right. Veronica's tough." He struggles for a minute, trying to organize his thoughts about her. "She's...well, she's killing me with this shit," he finally manages bitterly. "She's too fucking good at this."

The room is silent, processing Logan's anger.

He tries to explain. "I just...I hate this, okay? She never realizes how scary it is for the people around her." Logan looks around and realizes that everyone is shocked. Kinny starts to speak, and Logan cuts him off angrily. "I'm all right. I need to be there for her. And she's all right too. I just want this to be over. ...I just want this to be over."

Epstein says weakly, "You guys have done a great job. It's...heroic really."

"Yeah," Logan comments. "Heroic." Pinning a girl with your body, that's heroic.

"Logan, I think we should consider–" Dr. Kinny starts.

"No. I'm fine. She's fine. She wants to keep going. She's just tired. It's like you said, she has some control over the operation. She's just behaving for a little while. Connie's–I mean Veronica's–going to get the rest of the evidence as soon as she can. She's stronger than me. That fucker Klein scares the shit out of me. He makes just enough sense that...." Logan sees Keith opening his mouth to speak, and he adds quickly, "Don't you dare stop this now. We didn't go through this to get nothing. You said you need more to make sure that Klein gets convicted, right? I personally want to see him fry in the electric chair."

Kinny stands up and sits down next to Logan, putting his hand on Logan's arm. "Are you sure? You don't seem okay to me."

"It's not going to help to stop now," he replies. "Everything's already fucked up."

"What's fucked up?" Kinny asks.

"Me and Veronica, okay? She'll never forgive me if I pull the plug," he spits.

"Logan, that's not true. Tell me. Tell me what you're seeing with Veronica," Keith says. "What happened with you and Dave...in the restraints room?"

Logan sighs. "She fought back against him. She was making comments." Damn you, Connie.

"We know. We heard her over the wire," Keith encourages.

"Then he grabbed her around the neck and forced her back against the chair." Logan remembers Dave threatening Connie, 'Shut the fuck up, you little con artist. We know all your tricks here. We've seen 'em before, and we know how to handle them....Gonna control yourself, cunt?' Logan continues, "He had me get a bucket and forced her to...go in the bucket in front of us. He fucking humiliated her."

Keith is appalled. He knew something had happened, and Veronica's impassioned speech scared him as much as it had inspired him, but until this moment he didn't realize just how courageous she had been. He is about to speak, but Logan interrupts him again.

"What scared me the most was the way she sat back down and let herself be restrained afterwards. God fucking damn it," he comments morosely. Logan drops his head into his hands.

"Did Klein know about this?" Lynley asks.

"What? ...Yeah, he had to have known. We left the bucket there, with...with her pee in it. Dave told me that Klein went in the room and talked to her later last night," Logan relates.

"Yes, we heard him over the wire. It was pretty scary just to listen to. What he said to her...." Keith says.

"What did he say?" Logan asks.

Keith stays silent, considering what to tell him.

Angrily, Logan repeats, "What did he say? Goddammit, what was that fucker saying to her?"

"He told her no one loves her, that I don't love her anymore and that she hurts everyone around her."

Fuck. That's exactly what I just said: she never realizes how scary it is for the people around her. Logan looks at Keith, who nods slowly. "I want to nail him," Logan says. Fucking Klein, scares the shit out of me....

"We all do," Keith says. "But Logan, I think we're all pretty concerned about you as well as Veronica."

"No...I'm fine," he lies. "She's the one who's suffering."

"Logan, I've never seen you like this–"

"I'm fine! It's just..." he stops himself just in time.

"What?" Kinny asks. "Logan, you've got to tell us what you're feeling, or we'll have to stop this immediately."

Logan swallows, staring at Kinny. Finally he says in a quiet voice, "I just keep thinking, 'why do you make me do this to you?'"

Kinny nods shrewdly. "It's what he said to you. What your father used to say."

Out of the corner of his eye, Logan sees Carrie taking notes. He stands up and hurtles himself across the room; he rips the notebook from her hands and throws it aside violently. "You are not fucking allowed to use that, you fucking bitch!"

"Full access, darling," she says angrily.

"NO! You are not fucking allowed to use that!" Logan grabs Carrie by the arms and makes her stand up. He shakes her, screaming, "What the fuck is your problem?"

Lynley and Keith hustle over and stop Logan. Keith wraps Logan in a hug, and Logan continues to tremble with anger. Keith looks at Carrie, who is holding herself tightly, shaken up by Logan's violent reaction. "Carrie...let it go. You have enough of a story here without that detail." Addressing Logan, Keith begins, "Logan, I want to pull you off–"

"No." Logan pulls himself out of Keith's arms. "I want to go on. You are not going to leave her with only one other person in there. And...I want to nail this fucker." He turns to Carrie. This is fucking hard. I fucking want to kill Carrie, but.... "I'm sorry. Carrie, please. Please don't use that. You know I cared about you when we were together. It hurt like hell when you just left me without a word last fall." Carrie's eyes widen at this admission.

Logan continues, "Please...this is important. These fucks aren't just hurting Veronica. They...hurt Hannah too, and all these other girls and...we don't even know how many people they've hurt. I'm hating this, but...I'm begging you, Carrie." He looks at her, and he makes a decision. "Do I have to get on my knees and beg you? I don't know why you hate me and Veronica so much. You left me, remember? You didn't have to do that Dateline story. You and I...we were pretty happy. Maybe if you hadn't left...we could have had something. But you did, you left, and you fucking tore me and Veronica to pieces on national television. I can't believe I was with someone who could hate me this much."

Carrie swallows and finally says, "I hate you because you always loved her. When she was in trouble, you ran to her immediately. You never really...."

Logan nods. "That's just the way it is with her. I can't help the way I feel about her."

Dr. Kinny takes Logan's arm and says gently, "I want to talk to you alone. Away from her, away from Keith." Keith looks up at this, but merely nods. Kinny escorts Logan to one of the bedrooms and shuts the door.

"Tell me about Connie," Kinny prompts, purposely exploiting Logan's disconnect.

Logan hesitates. "She's...she's so tough. When every other girl would be backing down, she throws their words back in their faces."

"Do you think she's being courageous or foolish?"

"Connie's...I mean, Veronica's both. She's always thought she was invincible. But, yeah, she's courageous. I believe you when you say she managed to get the code words in again."

"How do you feel when she smart-mouths you, when you're acting the role of the guard?" Kinny carefully stresses 'acting'.

"It's hard to...remember...that's it's actually Veronica, and she's not really Connie," Logan tries to explain. "I mean, I know it's Veronica, and I know I can call Keith and tell him that we have to stop the operation, but when I'm there, it's like I'm really 'Roger', and she's really 'Connie', and there's no way to stop this. And I...I'm one of the guys now; they're trying to help me do a good job, and you know, this is fucking unbelievable, but I'm grateful to them for helping me. I'm fucking happy they're treating me like one of the guys. I have to be a good employee in order to do this, so I have to laugh with their fucking AA jokes and make fun of the girls. You know, they call Veronica 'Connie McConArtist'. And you know, it's funny, the shit they say about her; the jokes are funny. And...." his voice trails off.

"What?"

"They tease me, they say that she's my girlfriend." He turns to Kinny, his entire demeanor incredibly stressed. "What if I'm doing something, something that's going to give her away? She's going to get hurt because of me."

"Tell me why they say that."

"I guess because of the fight when she tried to escape. And then...I think they made sure I was the one to go with Dave for her bathroom visits, because...well, they're making sure I can do the job, that I can be the fucking brutal prison guard."

"So you're having to be a little rougher with her because they're teasing you?"

Logan nods. Helplessly, he says, "Please...don't let them stop this. Don't let them pull me out. I'm afraid of being there, but I'm so much more afraid of not being there. It's only for a couple more days, right? She just has to get attacked in therapy, right? Maybe taken down again? If I'm there, I can try to make it look worse than it is, so she doesn't get hurt. I know how to do that now. And, Dr. Kinny...I think Klein's going to really go after her. He's watching her all the time now. I don't know if he thinks he needs to make an example out of her, or maybe he really thinks she needs more help. I mean, the guy is a fucking psycho, he believes this shit is helping them. He's so damn...good at this. He practically had me believing him. And the way Connie's acting...I mean, Veronica...according to the way they think, she really does need extra help. ...I'm fucking scared for her, okay? Please...make them let me stay on this. I know, I'm getting fucked up too. I can't believe I attacked Carrie like that." He almost babbles at the end, trying to make Kinny believe him.

"Logan, you're on high alert. We talked about this."

"I can handle it," Logan swears. "I have to be able to handle it. I apologized to Carrie, right? That's gotta count for something."

"It counts for a lot, Logan. I know how much anguish the paparazzi have caused you."

"You're going to get a great book out of this," Logan comments wryly. "You'll be able to retire from Hearst."

"I'm not thinking about a book. I'm thinking about doing something for the greater good. Even as a professional studying these situations, I never really had a complete perspective. I've told Epstein that I want to assist with the civil case and work with him on getting legislation passed to regulate private schools better." He notices Logan's surprised look. "Yes, academics in their ivory towers can be surprised by the real world. This isn't just a weekend experiment. This is tragic and frightening. ...I think you can do this. I think if we pull you off, Veronica will be in more danger. You need to be monitoring yourself better, though. I want you to be constantly reminding yourself of the reality of the situation. You are Logan and she is Veronica, not Roger and Connie. You are not like the other guards, and you are not like your father. Your father would never have volunteered to do something like this, would he?"

"Not unless it was for the cameras," Logan says drily.

"Right. And you don't want any publicity for yourself. That's not how your father behaved."

Logan nods, realizing the truth of this.

"You didn't seek this out. Your intention is to help these girls. You need to be reminding yourself of that constantly, Logan."

"Okay. I'm here for Veronica...and for all the other girls. And I'm not Roger, and she's not Connie." Easier said than done, he thinks.

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 very late: Briar Hill Academy, Manchester Center, VT

Veronica wakes up in a cold sweat. She realizes that she was dreaming that she was still in restraints. Her muscles actually ache with the vivid memory. Mindful of the motion control sensor located above her bed, she cautiously rolls over to stretch her body without triggering the alarm.

Oh my god. The bed is soaked; her bladder let go in her dream. She tries to roll back away from the wetness. Veronica knows from watching other girls who had nighttime accidents that she has to lay there for the rest of the night. So fucking humiliating. When she closes her eyes, she is right back in the restraints again, with Dave and Logan laughing at her because she couldn't control herself. Then Klein comes in and begins to point out her faults. He finishes up by telling her that her dad doesn't love her anymore; she can't even be trusted to control herself. 'He's locked you up here, sort of a last ditch effort, hoping maybe, just maybe, he's wrong about you...that there might be something worth saving after all.'

Veronica takes a breath, then screams back at him, what she should have said the first time, "You don't know a fucking thing about me! I'm here to help people. There's nothing wrong with me. You're the one who doesn't have a soul. You're the one with a black hole inside!"

From across the room, Logan, leaning on the wall, chuckles quietly. "That's my girl, spreading sunshine wherever she goes."

Klein looks over at Logan. "Your girl? Do you know Connie?"

"Hell yeah. We used to go out."

Used to go out? she thinks.

Logan pushes himself off the wall. "Yeah, she's always accusing the people around her of one crime or another. You can usually find her out digging through someone's trash, or beating out a confession. She's a private detective. She accused me of killing my girlfriend." He directs his comments to Veronica, who struggles against the restraints, furious that he is turning on her. "You know, Veronica, if you dig deep enough, you're gonna find that everyone's a sinner. Judge not, Veronica. Can't you see that these people are trying to help you? All you ever do is use the people around you, then you turn on them when it's convenient. I'm sick of it, Veronica."

Veronica whispers, "How could you tell him...how could you tell him I'm a detective?"

"How could you think I killed Lilly? And then you told Weevil!...fucking Weevil, who already hated me...you told him I killed Lilly so that the fucking PCHers would come after me. Yeah, Veronica...I know you did that. I let you slide all this time. But I know you sicced him on me, so that he came after me and found me on the bridge. You know, just one little slip of the foot that night, and I would have been out of your life forever. How much easier would your life be if you didn't have to see me anymore?"

"Logan, that's not true. I love you," she protests, shaking her head.

"Come on. That's not how you really feel. You blame me for Hannah's death, too. You can barely stand to look at me."

Veronica, horrified, looks from Logan to Klein, who looks interested at this new revelation. "Logan, no!"

Logan says to Klein, "You know what? She's all yours." He gives a little wave and walks out of the room.

Veronica wails, "No...."

Klein pulls up a chair and sits facing her. "Tell me who else is undercover with you." His eyes narrow, and he stares at her. "You're wearing a wire, aren't you?" He pulls up her sweatshirt as she struggles against him. He pulls viciously on her bra and sees the bug. "Fuck!" Klein takes the bug, exposing Veronica's breast as he examines the bra more closely. He drops the bug to the floor and grinds it underneath his shoe. He grabs her neck and throws her back against the chair roughly. "You are going to regret this."

Veronica starts awake, her heart thumping, sweating and shaking in the wet bed sheets. She doesn't dare close her eyes for the rest of the night.

~ • ~

Thurs. 3/12/09 very late: Briar Hill Employees Quarters, Manchester Center, VT

Logan lies awake rehashing the angry meeting over and over again in his mind. He berates himself for letting Carrie see his fears about turning into Aaron. Damn! There's no way she won't use that. I can see the tabloids now: 'Logan Echolls gives the performance of a lifetime; says abuser is a role that comes naturally.' Fuck!

He finally falls into a restless sleep, only to be faced with a vision of Hannah, seated across from him in restraints. He stands up and goes to her immediately, intending to release her.

"No, Logan. You can't. You have to finish this."

"I can't," he replies. He brushes a tear from his eye. "I can't stand it, first you, now Veronica; how can you stand to look at me? It's all my fault. Hannah, I'm so sorry."

Hannah says somberly, "No, it's not your fault, Logan."

"Yeah, it is. Your mom was right. I am evil. You're a sweet girl and..."

"Did you ever consider that you're not as notorious as you think you are? Logan, I want you to listen to me. I need you to be strong. Veronica needs you to be strong. You need to tell the world what's going on at the school. Veronica's being so brave; I can see why you love her so much. Don't be so mad at her. She's...she thinks you don't love her anymore."

"Hannah...did Klein kill you? What happened here that you had to run away?"

"Logan, you have to finish this. My mother needs this. She needs to punish someone. I'm worried about her; she blames herself," Hannah replies.

Logan closes his eyes and says, "But who killed you, Hannah? You've got to tell me!" He opens his eyes, and Veronica has replaced Hannah in the chair. "Veronica, where'd she go? Do you know what happened to Hannah?"

"Logan, I need you," Veronica answers. "Listen to me. I'm not Connie. I'm Veronica. Tell me that you love me again."

"Of course I love you..."

"No, really tell me. Like you used to, when I was a fool...when I took you for granted," she pleads, her voice breaking.

"I love you, Veronica. You know I'm always here, if you need anything."

"I need you, Logan."

"Veronica..." Logan says desperately. "You have to be all right. I'm going to make sure; I'm not going to let them...we're going to be all right." She melts away, disappearing from view.

He gets up and splashes cold water on his face. He looks at himself in the mirror, the beard and the mustache and the dark hair shocking him as always. He plays with his hair a little, worrying that the lighter roots will give him away before deciding that he's being ridiculous. Logan tilts his head and realizes that, in this light, he resembles a photo of his dad from several years earlier that used to be prominently displayed on the grand piano. He thinks it was from some television summer junket when Aaron actually promoted his mother's career for once; he searches his memories and recalls several incredibly hot sessions with Lilly in the pool house while his parents were in L.A. that summer. Of course, there was hell to pay when Aaron discovered how much of his liquor had mysteriously disappeared during his absence. Logan fusses with his hair, wishing he could forget about fucking Aaron for just one day in his life.

He thinks about redheaded and tattooed Veronica just a few buildings away, and he wonders if she at least is able to sleep.

I am not Roger...I am not Aaron.

Chapter Seventy-Seven

That's noir, baby...

FIC: YLD2 (67-76/151) (NC-17)

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