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Previously on The Year of Living Dangerously Part II [Spoilers for chapters 1-87] (for those of you who didn't take notes):

Veronica and Logan are maintaining a long-distance relationship (Veronica in Neptune at Hearst, Logan in LA at UCLA). Their relationship is going very well until they learn that Hannah Griffith has been killed by a notorious serial killer, the Saturday Night Slasher. The paparazzi learns that Logan has been interviewed by the FBI; the media spins the story so that it appears that Logan is under suspicion. While at a sorority party, almost two months after the initial media frenzy, Dick notices that Logan's old paparazzi nemesis, Carrie Murray, is still trying to gather information on Logan.

Logan is devastated by the guilt and remorse he feels about Hannah and by the insane media attention, and he makes a decision to leave town and disappear; he takes elaborate steps to hide his whereabouts from Veronica. Overwhelmed by sadness and anger, he torments himself with depressive thoughts. Logan realizes that some of his anger is due to Duncan's recent return and his unresolved issues with Veronica for breaking up with him before senior year. He settles in an unknown location near a beach and begins to work on his physical therapy, his writing, and his emotional health. He is finally beginning to make a substantial improvement when he sees Duncan Kane holding a press conference about his custody battle, with Veronica by his side. He attempts suicide but turns back at the last moment, prompted by what he perceives as Veronica's voice.

Veronica investigates Logan's disappearance and finally tracks him down in South Padre Island, Texas. She hesitates to go after him until her dad is arrested for arson, and she comes up with a desperate plan to get her dad released with Logan's help. She finds him in a bar, but he is not drinking; Veronica tells him what has happened since he left California, and Logan agrees to help her with her plan to help her father. After a tense night together, Veronica makes a move and manages to convince Logan that she loves him and wants to work on their relationship together. Logan agrees to return to California, and they have ridiculously hot make-up sex despite Logan's fears and tentativeness. Logan is still struggling with his feelings of anger and sadness, but he vows to try to find a way to be happy, not only for himself, but also for the sake of his relationship with Veronica. While in Los Angeles, Veronica and Logan find audio surveillance devices at Logan's beach house and a tracking device on Veronica's car.

Hannah's mother, Stephanie Denenberg, hires Mars Investigation to investigate the boarding school where Hannah was sent. Keith finds that the school is a tough-love school that features extreme discipline and is run by a man who was previously sued for running an abusive drug treatment program. The credentials of the school and its employees are very suspect, and it appears that payments are being made to government officials to encourage them to look the other direction at the school's excesses. While working another case, Veronica seizes an opportunity to interview an educational consultant with a connection to Briar Hill; alarmed by what she learns, she convinces Keith to let her in on the investigation. Veronica and Keith begin to assemble a disturbing picture of the abuses that were occurring at the school and make contact with the attorney who is suing Briar Hill. The attorney, James Epstein, explains the difficulties and weaknesses of a lawsuit against the tough-love school; impulsively, Veronica suggests that she should go undercover at the school. The attorney is highly enthusiastic; Keith reluctantly goes along, despite his concerns for Veronica's safety, with the proviso that another person will go undercover with her as a security guard.

Now that Logan has returned to California, he asks to be updated on the status of the Briar Hill investigation. Everything he learns upsets him; he imagines Hannah trying to survive in the school and, even worse, he worries about the danger to Veronica when she goes undercover. He learns that Veronica was kicked out of the FBI internship program. Logan and Veronica clash over the investigation; Veronica reluctantly offers to give Logan veto power over the operation in order to settle the dispute, and she admits to him that he is more important to her than her career at the FBI.

When Logan finds out that Veronica is even more frightened of the operation than she has told him, he arranges for her to speak with his therapist, Dr. Friedman. After a thought provoking session with the therapist, Veronica asks Logan to go undercover at the school as well, feeling that he will be able to protect her and will know if she's in trouble sooner than the other professional operative. Veronica disguises her appearance; for the duration of the operation. she will be known as Connie Morris, and Logan's assumed identity will be Roger Oakley. They meet with Logan's old professor, Dr. Kinny, who discusses twelve-step philosophies; realizing this is an ideal research opportunity, Kinny asks to observe the operation.

Keith goes ahead to Boston and arranges for 'Connie Morris' to be admitted to Briar Hill and transferred there via a transport service; Logan goes to Vermont and starts working at the school with Kavner, the other operative. Logan meets Tony, one of the other employees, who is a graduate of another program that Peter Klein ran in the past. Dr. Kinny and the attorney, Epstein, join Keith and assist in monitoring Veronica. Logan observes a school session at Briar Hills and notices that one girl, Tara, is struggling academically because of the school's education methods. While helping to restrain Veronica, Logan notices that Maria has a cigarette burn scar similar to his own. He also overhears that Maria will soon be transferred to something called, 'Serenity Bay'.

Veronica is picked up by the transport service and delivered to the school in handcuffs. She meets Peter Klein, the headmaster of the school, and her oldcomer, Maria, the student who will be in charge of Veronica while she is at the school. Maria, along with several other students, forcibly strip-search Veronica; Veronica resists to no avail, managing to injure Maria and to get herself placed in isolation, or 'Observation Placement', for the next 24 hours. Veronica, with Kavner's help, successfully brings an audio surveillance device into the school. One of the other students, Tara, appears to be reluctant to participate in the brutal intimidation techniques of the school and its students. In Observation Placement, Veronica mulls the possible involvement of Maria or Klein in Hannah's murder. Maria overhears Veronica, supposedly talking to herself, and Veronica worries that Maria knows she is a spy.

Veronica begins to work on her 'moral inventory', listing her past misdeeds, and has her first group therapy session. Exhausted by the transport and her anxious time in Observation Placement, Veronica falls asleep during group therapy and, as a consequence, is restrained by the others to force compliance. On a day-long hike, Veronica pretends to have a leg cramp and is forced to perform push-ups as punishment for being lazy. She realizes that Maria may very well be the key as to what actually happened during Hannah's time at Briar Hill. Veronica has a nightmare and appears to be affected by her situation, but the monitoring team makes contact with her, and she insists that she is able to continue. The monitoring team notes that Veronica has successfully documented most of the school's purported abuses, except for the use of long-term restraints as punishment and the extent of the 'attack therapy' used in group therapy; they decide to allow the operation to continue.

Logan breaks into Klein's office and copies the files for Hannah, Maria, Tara, and 'Connie'. Keith and Epstein tail Klein to Montpelier; they see him giving something to a construction company president and discover that Klein is probably surreptitiously paying off the Vermont Education Commissioner, Carl Behr. The files relate that Tara suffers from ADD and dyslexia and has been taken off her medication; she was committed to the school for drinking and breaking into a house with her boyfriend. Maria is the daughter of a California politician, Vincenzo Frazzino, who sponsored California's Parental Responsibility Act and has a lot to lose if his daughter's behavior and current whereabouts become public knowledge.

In group therapy, Tara is probed about her bad behavior; as the group attacks her for not being 'honest', Tara makes up increasingly ridiculous lies to try to satisfy her attackers. She breaks down, and Veronica impulsively hugs her. To punish Veronica for interfering, the school's teacher, Shari, assigns Veronica a lengthy make-work essay. Veronica uses the essay to force the situation: she writes 'fuck you Briar Hill' repeatedly and then tries to escape the school when confronted. Logan catches her just before she 'escapes'; he and Tony, another employer, take Veronica to a room to be put in restraints for punishment. She resists, and Logan is forced to hurt her in order to do his job. Logan uses the situation to ask Tony about previous escapes, and Tony reveals that Hannah was aided by a former teacher working at Briar Hill at the time. When Logan passes on this information to the monitoring team, he admits to Dr. Kinny that he is becoming affected by anger and remorse due to the situation at the school and is plagued by the similarities of Maria's history to his own.

While in restraints, Veronica agonizes over her past actions and fights with Logan. Logan meanwhile tries to bond with the other employees who have accused him of being an asskisser and weak when it comes to punishing the girls. Both Veronica and Logan begin to show signs that they are being severely affected psychologically by the operation. Keith takes the evidence of the school's payoffs to the FBI to try to build a more substantial criminal case against Briar Hill. Carrie Murray, the paparazzo journalist, shows up at Briar Hill, and Keith is forced to include her in the operation so that Carrie doesn't jeopardize Veronica's safety or the mission. Logan manages to get in to see Veronica and tells her that Carrie is now involved and can hear what happens over the wire; Logan doesn't respond when Veronica says she loves him.

One of the Briar Hill employees, Dave, punishes smart-ass Veronica further by forcing her to go to the bathroom in a bucket in front of Dave and Logan. She is roughed up and humiliated, but manages to get enough control to tell the monitoring team not to stop the operation. She is visited by Peter Klein, who savagely torments her with verbal abuse that instinctively targets Veronica's real-life issues very accurately.

While still in restraints, Veronica starts to imagine that Logan is the one responsible for her punishment. When she is released, she looks exhausted and stressed, but she still manages to say the code indicating she's okay. She tries to continue her undercover work, but decides to make a respite for herself by temporarily complying. The girls are taken through a sadistic psychological test known as the Lifeboat Exercise.

Logan continues to bond with the other employees at the school. He breaks down in front of the monitoring team and admits he is becoming confused as to his own identity and is reliving aspects of his own abuse. He begs to be allowed to continue the mission, even going so far as to ask for Carrie's forgiveness. There is dissent among the monitoring team as to whether the operation should be continued due to the stress being exhibited by Veronica and Logan. Meanwhile, the attorney Epstein manages to locate the woman who helped Hannah escape, Michelle Weisz, also known as the Guardian Angel to those she helps. Unbeknownst to the monitoring team, Veronica has another nightmare and wets the bed; she imagines that Logan is telling Klein details about her life. Logan has a nightmare with visions of Hannah and Veronica in restraints; Hannah begs him to continue, and Veronica tells him she loves him and needs him. When he wakes, he vows that he's not Roger and he's not Aaron.

Veronica wakes up with a headache and a fever. She asks for a doctor, but Maria refuses. Veronica vows to keep going. The monitoring team debates ending the operation, but they are told that a judge believes what they have documented is not yet proof of abuse, and they decide to continue for a short time. Keith, as Mr. Morris, calls the school, and Klein updates him on 'Connie's' progress. Klein, dissatisfied with Connie's compliance, has her taken down again, and Veronica's shoulder is injured; she is infuriated and refuses to quit. The girls are taken on another hike; it is terminated abruptly when Carrie, under the supervision of the monitoring team, calls in a tip to a local news station, who quickly arrive to investigate possible abuse at the school. Veronica gets a brief respite while the media is there.

Logan tries to get Veronica to stop the operation unsuccessfully. While being attacked in group therapy, Veronica begins to incorporate real-life details about Lilly. Logan is upset and angered, and Veronica sees it. Veronica is forced to write a 'guilt letter' to Celeste and to document the details of her moral flaws. Late at night, Veronica is prevented from sleeping. She is forced to do 200 jumping jacks, which are excruciating due to her shoulder injury, and she finally breaks down and calls for help. However, her bug has ceased functioning, and the monitoring team does not hear. Logan however has a feeling that something has gone wrong and tries to convince Lynley to stop the operation. Veronica is further stressed by the seemingly innocuous task of reshelving books; she is scared and confused because federal agents have not arrived.

In the morning, Keith and Epstein visit the Guardian Angel, Michelle Weisz, who tells them details of Hannah's time at and escape from Briar Hill. She tells them that she believes Hannah was living in Rio Linda, a small town near Sacramento (the capital of California). The interview with Weisz takes Keith and Epstein an hour and a half's drive from the school. Kavner is sent on an errand off campus. Lynley and Kinny are left to monitor Veronica; Kinny realizes there's no audio coming from her bug. Kinny and Lynley argue about stopping the operation.

The girls are herded into a special group therapy session. Klein takes charge and begins to attack Veronica. Veronica is completely stressed and exhausted, and Klein twists her arm, aggravating her dislocated shoulder beyond bearing. To stop the abuse, she admits she was roofied and raped and tells Klein some of the details that she can remember. For the first time, Veronica remembers Beaver molesting her, and she has a complete breakdown. Kinny *finally* convinces Lynley to stop the operation, and the feds are called in. In the meantime, Logan and Kavner storm the session; Logan punches out Klein when he discovers Veronica is made up like a whore with 'SLUT' written on her forehead. Veronica is taken to the hospital, and federal agents arrest Klein and the other employees and shut down the school.

At the hospital, Veronica is diagnosed with a kidney infection, a dislocated shoulder that will require surgery, and exhaustion. Logan and Keith sit in vigil; Logan shaves his beard. Veronica wakes up, extremely disoriented and still scared of Logan. She is unable to remember most of the events from the last therapy session at Briar Hill. Logan and Keith tell her that her bug had stopped functioning; Veronica realizes that is the reason why she wasn't rescued. Veronica is emotionally fragile and susceptible to crying jags. The doctors emphasize Veronica's need to avoid stress, and Logan and Keith decide not to tell Veronica about the MacKenzie bombing. Logan tells Keith some of the details of Veronica's rape. Veronica and Logan begin to talk about their perceptions of the time spent undercover, and Veronica slowly begins to trust Logan again. Agent Lynley questions Veronica about the period when the bug went out; Veronica is humiliated to admit that she broke down when she was ordered to perform the relatively innocuous task of jumping jacks. Logan is the only one who really understands how much she was affected by the mind control techniques at the school because of his own experience there. Veronica learns that while she was calling for help, Logan was unsuccessfully trying to convince them to shut down the operation.

At Briar Hill, the employees are taken into custody; after an emergency hearing, the students are placed in temporary foster homes. Klein is questioned by US Attorney Ruggerio about the school procedures and details of Veronica's time at the school. Klein is obviously skilled at avoiding self-incrimination and deflecting accusations of misconduct, but the prosecutor assures Keith that the evidence is sufficient for conviction. Keith tells Ruggerio about Veronica's theory of Hannah's murder, and the prosecutor presses Klein on Hannah's experience at the school and any subsequent contact. Klein refuses to answer any more questions when he realizes the direction of the questioning.

Trying to protect his daughter against Vinnie Van Lowe's threat to testify as to her involvement in the Manning babynapping, Keith reluctantly sets out to conceal evidence that Vinnie killed a man named Matt Dannon in a botched liquor store robbery twenty-five years ago. Keith unwittingly drops something when he commits arson to obliterate the evidence against Vinnie; Sheriff Leo D'Amato arrests Keith for the arson.

Veronica and Logan ask Keith to tell them about his investigation of the Lilly Kane/Aaron Echolls sex tapes from three years ago; after a lengthy discussion, they conclude that it's a strong likelihood that Leo stole the sex tapes to damage the case against Aaron Echolls. Veronica and Logan confront Leo and blackmail him into concealing the physical evidence that implicates Keith in the arson.

Wallace confronts his girlfriend, Candice, about the secrets she's been keeping from him; she tells him that she's trying to find her missing half-brother, Shawn Blake, who disappeared from Hearst College around Christmastime the year before. Wallace finds out that Shawn was nicknamed "The X-Man" because he was dealing a drug called Meth-X, a combination of methamphetamine and ecstasy. He finally locates Shawn, who was murdered in Glacier, Washington. Wallace suspects that the Fitzpatricks were involved in Shawn's murder and enlists the help of Weevil. Wallace and Weevil interview Emilio Vargas, the former leader of the PCHers, who is now incarcerated at Chino. Emilio suggests that the Fitzpatricks are connected with a dirty cop. Weevil and Wallace discuss their options, and they realize they can use Keith's bugs, still in place at St. Mary's, to try to identify the Fitzpatrick's dirty cop. Weevil finds out that Liam is expected to receive a delivery of stolen automobiles on Wednesday night; Wallace and Weevil stake out Paddy's Car Parts and Used Car Emporium and anonymously tip off the Neptune Sheriff's Department about Liam's activities. They use the St. Mary's bugs to find that Liam and Father Patrick call upon someone who uses the email address 'roastbeefman' at yahoo for help, but the information is another dead end. Worried about Wallace's safety, Candice convinces him to hold off on proving that Liam Fitzpatrick is responsible for her brother's death. Weevil mocks him and swears to continue his surveillance. Wallace starts working on an organizational chart of the Fitzpatrick crime family.

Mac meets with a member of The Cult of the Dead Cow hacking group, who tells her that the flirt-bot program infecting her website and the Pi Sig computers is probably the work of the Russian Mafia, which is moving into the field of computer identity theft. The hacker, Mordroc, whose real name is Rick Picket, helps Mac come up with a solution to the malware incursion; in return, she helps him to trace the remote server where the malware originated. Rick is murdered, and Mac and Veronica receive a suspicious package which is confirmed to be a bomb. A bomb is also sent to Max, who escapes with minor injuries. Mac and Veronica tell Sheriff D'Amato that Rick suspected that the Russian Mafia were behind the computer malware, and Mac is taken into protective custody by the FBI. Mac spends her time at the FBI trying to recreate the investigative work that Rick did on the flirt-bot program's origins. From an email message relayed through Dick Casablancas, Veronica realizes that Mac is at the FBI Regional Computer Forensics Lab in San Diego, and she can be contacted through Veronica's old boyfriend, Mike Fields. In her spare time, Mac has been compiling a list of all authorized and unauthorized people who have accessed the Saturday Night Slasher case files at the FBI. Veronica trades information about the Slasher to get Mike to agree to make contact with Mac; Mac passes Mike a flash drive with her research on it. Mac's attempt to reconstruct Rick's work on the flirt-bot program has not been successful as of yet, and she worries that she will have to be permanently relocated in the U.S. Marshalls' Witness Protection program. Finally, Mac has an idea how to proceed using one of the Cult of the Dead Cow's projects named 'Back Orifice', and she is able to identify the servers used in the theft-identity scheme, with federal warrants being issued to arrest the perpetrators. In retaliation, the Russian mafia blows up the MacKenzie family house, but luckily no one is hurt. The FBI plans to use the 'funeral' of Mac's family to try to trap the perpetrators, using a federal agent, Brenda, to take the place of Mac. Mac's family meets with US Marshals prior to entering Witness Protection. Mac learns of the operation at Briar Hill. She steals her handler's Blackberry to try to use the FBI files to help Veronica investigate.

Veronica is trying to help Duncan secure custody of his daughter Lilly (renamed Jane since going on the run) while making sure he doesn't jeopardize his amnesty agreement for the kidnapping. A paternity test reveals that Stewart Manning is Lilly's actual father, and Duncan resolves to spend his entire fortune if necessary to gain custody of Lilly. Duncan reveals to Veronica that he is still in love with her and wants to resume their relationship; she responds that she is in love with Logan and probably always was and rejects his advances. Duncan, in an emotional tailspin from Veronica's rejection, starts a highly sexual relationship with another resident of the Neptune Grand, Katerina Beversdorf. Duncan accepts the prosecution's amnesty deal in the Manning babynapping case and turns his daughter Lilly/Jane over to Child Protective Services.

Duncan asks Keith and Veronica to do a background check on his new lover, Katerina. There is a burglary at Mars Investigations; Veronica recognizes Katerina as the perpetrator caught on a hidden videocamera. The background check on her turns up nothing. Veronica and Logan surprise Katerina in Duncan's suite at the Neptune Grand; Logan recognizes her profile and identifies her as Kendall, who has had substantial plastic surgery. Keith joins them, and they interrogate Kendall, who is in town trying to recover her share of the money she and Liam scammed from Richard Casablancas, Sr. and the money she thinks Keith has from the painting abandoned in the desert. They also recover recordings Kendall made of her and Duncan having sex, presumably to blackmail Duncan. Upon threat of exposure to Liam, Kendall agrees to leave Duncan and the others alone. She also admits that she was having an affair with Logan on Liam's orders and was reporting back to Liam. Duncan sees Kendall meeting with a man who is not known to him; he takes pictures of the stranger and forwards them to Veronica. Rose Manning, in a last-ditch effort to gain custody of Lilly, subpoenas Veronica to testify in a hearing. While Veronica is not subject to prosecution for breaking into the Manning home, Duncan is, and Veronica is still liable to prosecution for her role in the Manning babynappying case, so the subpoena presents a problem for both Veronica and Duncan. The news breaks that Katerina's dead body has been discovered; Duncan hesitates to get involved by turning in the photo he has of Kendall's meeting in the park because of his ongoing custody battle. Duncan reads about a renewed investigation into Casablancas real estate swindle; most of the funds were not recovered. He finally deletes the photo of Kendall from his phone.

Sheriff Leo D'Amato identifies the body as being actually Kendall Casablancas / Priscilla Banks, and he questions Dick. He investigates her murder; he finds out that Kendall was staying at the Neptune Grand. Housekeeping reports that her room was searched thoroughly by an unknown person. An employee comes forward with a tip that three years Kendall was having an affair with Logan Echolls. Leo gets security footage and discovers a video of Logan and Veronica making out in the elevator.

Leo questions Dick about Logan's relationship with Kendall. He obtains Logan's financial information from the period when Logan hid from Veronica in Texas. Leo asks for a partial fingerprint from Kendall's hotel room to be compared with Logan's and Veronica's fingerprint records. He sets up interviews in Los Angeles with Logan's agent, Harvey Greenblatt, and Madison Sinclair.

Veronica learns that Hannah, who appeared to be a heroin user in the preliminary autopsy results, in fact was not a long-term drug user. She get more information on the serial killings from her old boyfriend in the FBI, Mike Fields. The information shows that Hannah was marked by a knife in a similar fashion to the other victims, and was also approximately 18, blonde, and not originally from Los Angeles. However, all the other victims besides Hannah have a police record, with numerous arrests for prostitution. In addition, Veronica discovers that all the victims except for Hannah were killed on a night with a full moon. She formulates a theory that Hannah was killed by a copycat killer, possibly to prevent Hannah from revealing the abuses that were occurring at the tough-love boarding school.

Back to the update, Chapter Eighty-Eight, Personally Motivated.