FIC: The Year of Living Dangerously, Part II (Veronica/Logan, Ensemble) (41/?) (WIP) (NC-17)

[vanessagalore]

Previous chapters: 1-3 | 4-7 | 8-10 | 11-13 | 14-17
18-20 | 21-24 | 25-27 | 28-31 | 32-35 | 36-38



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VERONICA MARS
10:00PM SHO ch: 340 60min 2009 TV-MA
Shades of Noir
Duncan is suspicious of Katya; Wallace
and Candice at her brother's funeral;
Logan and Veronica confront Leo.
Veronica: Kristen Bell. Logan: Jason
Dohring. Leo: Max Greenfield. Wallace:
Percy Daggs III. Duncan 2.0: Chris
Carmack. Candice Pauling: Toy
Connor. Katya: Katherine Heigl.
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CHAPTER FORTY-ONE: "SHADES OF NOIR"

Thurs. 2/26/09 morning: Neptune Grand Hotel, Neptune, CA

When Duncan wakes up, the bed is empty beside him. He walks sleepily out to the living room to find Katya drinking coffee and reading the paper. He sits down next to her and kisses her on the cheek. "You're up early," he comments.

"I woke up, and I couldn't get back to sleep," she explains.

Duncan looks at the paper and sees that Katya is reading a news item about Keith Mars' preliminary hearing on arson charges. He asks, "Do you know Keith Mars? That was his daughter with me after my press conference. I'm...I was very close to her in the past," he finishes lamely.

"I don't know him personally," Katya says smoothly. "Of course I remember the news coverage of your sister's murder and the trial of Aaron Echolls. Neptune has had more than its share of scandals....You must have loved Lilly very much; you named your daughter after her."

Duncan closes his eyes for a moment. "Lilly was...so full of life. She was an intense person; to call her a free spirit doesn't even do her justice. When I found out that I was going to be a father," he glances at Katya, "When I thought I was the father of Meg's baby, I wanted to do something so that my sister could live on."

Katya replies, "She's still your daughter, Duncan. Biology is only part of it; you've raised her."

Duncan nods and changes the topic. "Any more of that coffee?"

Katya says, "There's still half a pot. I'm going to jump in the shower." She caresses Duncan's cheek and goes in the bathroom.

Duncan watches her leave the room. When he hears the shower start, he goes to Katya's purse and begins to dig through it. The lawyers said that I needed to run a background check on Katerina; I can't take the chance that she's got something in her past that Mrs. Manning could bring up to oppose my custody petition. The senior partner said that all of my associates would need to be vetted to prevent any surprises later on. He finds Katerina's driver's license and passport and copies down all the information, intending to ask Veronica to run a background check. Duncan picks up the paper, looks at the story on Keith Mars' preliminary hearing the next day, and sighs. It doesn't look good for Keith. I hope he has something up his sleeve to exonerate himself. Poor Veronica, she must be worried sick.

~ • ~

Thurs. 2/26/09 morning: First Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA

Wallace tries to listen as the friends and family of Shawn Blake eulogize him at his memorial service, but his mind keeps wandering. He thinks about the trip he and Candice made to the small town east of Seattle where Shawn's body was discovered. After Candice officially identified the body from a photo, they arranged for the remains to be shipped back to Atlanta. Wallace queried the detective in charge of the case as to the progress of the investigation. The detective told Wallace that in recent years the national forest just outside of Glacier had become a popular route for methamphetamine smuggling from Canada, and he thought it was possible that Shawn was involved in moving drugs. Wallace asked if any drugs were found on Shawn; the detective shook his head 'no'. Candice was given a bag containing Shawn's effects: a wallet emptied of cash and credit cards; a watch; and a Blackberry device. The detective said they were unable to unlock the Blackberry without a password. Wallace had the distinct impression that the detective was happy to dispose of the case and would not spend any more time on it.

Candice stands up to speak; Wallace squeezes her hand in support, and she looks at him gratefully before walking to the front of the church. Candice tells several stories about Shawn's childhood. Her voice is for the most part strong and steady; however, at times she pauses and gathers herself to continue. Over the past two weeks, as Wallace has helped her with her difficult tasks, she has broken down into tears more than once.

Candice sits back down next to Wallace, and the pastor begins to speak from the lectern. Wallace wishes desperately that he could do more for her; the password-protected Blackberry is the best lead he has to try identify Shawn's murderers. He's already done some research online and found out that three wrong guesses for the password will automatically trigger a complete deletion of the information on the device; Wallace assumes the detective has tried at least once. Two tries left. I wish Mac was around; she'd know how to hack into the Blackberry. Wallace decides to ask his faculty advisor, Professor Winkler, if he knew how to get in touch with his old grad student, Leon, the cryptography expert that Veronica busted in the Magneta-corp student ID scam. Wallace had heard that all the kids involved had gotten off easy, with substantial fines going a long way towards keeping their permanent records clean.

Not for the first time, Wallace wishes Keith could help him with the investigation into Shawn's murder. Since Keith's arrest, Wallace has been reluctant to bother him with anything else. He went with Veronica to bail Keith out; Keith refused to talk with them about the charges and told them not to interfere. Wallace discussed Keith's secretive activities with Veronica, but they were unable to determine exactly why Keith would have burned a car and a shed in Ranchita, and Keith sternly insisted that they needed to leave it alone. Tomorrow's the preliminary hearing; Veronica said she had a plan, but I don't know...it doesn't look good. I don't know what Veronica will do if Keith is convicted. He makes a mental note to call her tonight to wish them good luck at the hearing.

The entire congregation stands, and Wallace joins them, trying to sing along with the hymn. Candice looks at him, and he puts his arm around her waist, whispering in her ear, "We're going to get through this." She leans against him, and he hugs her tightly.

~ • ~

Thurs. 2/26/09: Neptune Sheriff's Department, Neptune, CA

Sheriff Leo D'Amato escorts Logan and Veronica into his office and sits behind his desk.

Without preamble, Logan says, "We know you were hired by my dad to steal the Lilly Kane videotapes."

"What? What are you talking about? I thought you were here to talk about Keith Mars' bail arrangements," Leo says strongly, although a quiver in his voice betrays him. He leans back a little in his chair, affecting a calm demeanor.

"We know you were hired by my dad to steal the Lilly Kane videotapes."

Leo purses his lips and says, "Now, look here, Echolls, you might be able to prove that I sold you the tapes, but you're completely off-base, saying that I stole them for your father. The guy's a murderer; why would I want to help get him off?"

"Money. It's always money," Logan answers. "And you knew Lamb would be too stupid to figure out who took them. But then...when Woody Goodman hired Keith, you panicked. You knew Keith would be able to trace the money, and he would be relentless, after what Aaron did to him and Veronica."

Veronica adds, "So you suggested to my dad that the tapes were stolen to be sold to a tabloid, and he fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. He thought you were a good detective, and he let that blind him to the truth."

Leo laughs hollowly. "Veronica, you know I always liked you, but this theory's ridiculous. I stole the tapes in order to sell them to 'The Instigator'. Your bad boy here is talking nonsense."

Logan explains, "There's no reason to steal both copies of the tapes if you just wanted to sell them to a tabloid. One tape would have been worth the same as two. In fact, why even steal them? Just make a copy, return the tape to the evidence room; no one would know they were ever gone. Nope, the only reason to steal all the copies was to destroy the evidence against Aaron.

Trying to deflect, Leo says, "I'm betting this arson had something to do with Vinnie Van Lowe and the Fitzpatricks. Since when is your dad mixed up with the micks, Veronica?"

Veronica says heatedly, "Dad's not mixed up with anybody, and we're talking about you, what you did, and I'm betting the residents of Neptune would be interested to hear our theory."

Leo says, "You don't really know what your dad is capable of, do you, Veronica? In fact, you don't really have any idea what anybody's capable of."

Veronica replies curtly, "I'm pretty sure I'm not capable of setting a murderer free."

"So what are we talking about here?" Leo asks, resigned.

Veronica says, "Most of the evidence against my dad is circumstantial. The only solid evidence is the bug detector that you found at the scene. Maybe Harmony Chase stole the signal detector in the break-in last fall, and you didn't notice it on the police report until just now. Or maybe it gets lost in the evidence room, since we all know that's already happened a couple times when you've been in charge." Leo glares at Veronica as she continues, "Or you'll just discover that other people in Balboa County also own signal detectors. If the device isn't part of the evidence against my dad, it would be mighty hard to prove that he committed arson. And what's the motive? What possible reason could Keith Mars have to burn a car on a property all the way across the county? I think the district attorney could be persuaded to drop the charges. You made a mistake, Leo. And you're going to tell the DA that you're certain that Keith Mars is innocent."

Leo says sarcastically, "Let me tell you something, Veronica. I really dig your work here. Playing one side against the other, in bed with everybody, just fabulous stuff. What else do I have to do for you and Mr. Risky Business?"

"Nobody forced you to take Aaron Echolls' money to steal the tapes, Leo. And you have my word that it ends here," Veronica replies.

After a pause, Leo says, "I'll change the reports from the break-in last fall." He makes airquotes with his fingers and continues, "I can't believe I didn't notice before now that the bug detector was listed as stolen on the evidence report. I'm sure the district attorney will be relieved to hear that the venerable Keith Mars couldn't possibly be the owner of the evidence we found at the scene, and the charges will be dropped immediately."

Logan states flatly, "Make sure that they are. I'm pretty sure a pretty boy-law enforcement type such as yourself wouldn't thrive in prison if you were convicted of evidence tampering. I bet you'd make a beautiful bride for a white supremacist; you just need to let those curly locks grow a bit."

Leo flushes and retorts, "You'd know, Echolls. You're not exactly lily-pure, are you? You've got some things to answer for. Lilly Kane, Hannah Griffith, not to mention the bum-fights and the riots over swimming pool fires. Oh yeah, don't forget about bashing a cop car with a baseball bat."

At the word 'lily', Logan jumps up, glaring at Leo. Veronica grabs his arm, saying, "No, Logan! We got what we came for. Let's go."

As they leave the sheriff's office, Logan angrily shakes Veronica's hand off his arm. She says, "Logan, we knew. We knew he pulled the wool over everyone's eyes." Especially mine. Dammit, how could I have been so blind?

"Christ, does everyone have to be corrupt in this town? What is it, something in the water?" Logan replies bitterly.


Chapter Forty-Two

Comments

[marmar627.livejournal.com]

Can I just say that I loved the Homecoming/Risky Business reference?

EVERYBODY WANG CHUNG OR I WILL KICK YOUR ASS!

(And of course I love the rest of the fic, but I'll leave longer comments on newer chapters!)

[vanessagalore.livejournal.com]

**wink** That's not the only reference in that section.

Thanks for commenting!