Out of Control
Chapter Three
Gatekeeper
Veronica was on a mission. Rarely did she not have some ulterior motive for talking to people, unless Wallace was involved. She almost never talked to the Echolls family except when a gun was directly pointed at her head. But she needed to suck it up and have a real time conversation with Aaron Echolls, no matter how much she hated the job.
Veronica took a deep breath and walked to the gate quietly. The gate was ominous looking, a shield that reminded Veronica of an incredibly upscale prison. Apparently, Lynn Echolls felt that way as well…no, Veronica had to start thinking of the death as a homicide, not a suicide. She half expected to find the words, "All who enter are without hope" or some other Dante-like saying. Veronica decided she was spending far too much time pondering a gate, so she finally reached for the buzzer. Unfortunately, all she could see was Lilly.
"You think the gate really keeps people out, Ronnie?"
Lilly asked while her blonde ponytail bounced in the wind. She had that look in her eyes, the one that sent fear to Veronica's heart. When she had that look, they always ended up doing something that got them in major trouble or at least Lilly. Veronica crossed her arms stubbornly, trying to show Lilly that no matter what she wanted to do, Veronica would not be helping her. But Lilly was persuasive and, in truth, there was absolutely no telling her no. There never had been.
"Yes, Lilly. That's why they install gates. To keep unwanted people out."
"Good thing you and I aren't unwanted. Who wouldn't want us around?"
Good question, Lilly, who wouldn't want you around?
"Come on, Lilly, just ring the bell. Logan and Duncan are waiting for us."
"Puppy dogs are what they are. Waiting for their masters to tell them what to do."
"Lilly!" Veronica's tone was exasperated. She tossed Lilly an annoyed glance, but Lilly smiled back charmingly to win her best friend over. Veronica moved to ring the bell, but Lilly stopped her from finding the button.
"Wanna have some fun before we meet up with our pets?"
She advanced towards Veronica, a spring in her step. Veronica began to shake her head emphatically.
"No, no, no. I don't. I hate your fun, Lilly. I hate it!"
"You need to loosen up, Ronnie. Seriously. Have some fun for once."
Before Veronica knew what was happening, Lilly was scaling the fence. She didn't even know Lilly was strong enough to climb a fence.
"Lilly, stop it. You're going to set off an alarm or something. Get down from there." While Veronica seemed serious, her tone showed her amusement at what Lilly was doing.
Lilly dropped down on the other side, almost falling backwards, but still able to keep her balance.
"Whatever you want, Veronica."
Veronica groaned as Lilly started giggling. "That's not what I meant, Lilly."
"Oh, I know what you meant, babe. Now come on. I can't wait on you all day. And you can't ring the buzzer, or else I'll get in trouble."
"This is stupid, Lilly. Logan would have just opened the gate for us."
"How boring would that be? Now get your ass over here."
Veronica let out a loud sigh before she hoisted herself up on the bars. She shimmied her way up and back down again, landing roughly on her feet, nearly knocking someone down.
"Lilly, I didn't – " Veronica found herself face-to-face with Lynn Echolls. Veronica's face fell in embarrassment. Lilly's laughter was raucous at that point. She'd known it was about to happen and had done nothing to stop it. Veronica opened her mouth to apologize, but nothing came out. Lynn's features spread into one of enjoyment and kindness.
"Veronica, I didn't know I'd be running into you today. If I'd known you would be dropping in, I would have had someone here to greet you."
Lilly's laughter spread to Lynn, who began laughing at her own jokes. Veronica lowered her eyes as her cheeks colored.
"Are you practicing your spy skills or is there something I can help you with?" Lynn continued with the jokes.
"What?"
"Is there something I can help you with, Miss?"
Veronica zoned back into reality and saw that a guard stood on the other side of the gate, staring at her through the bars. Lilly and Lynn were gone and all that was left was this bulky man in an ill-fitting suit. She was thrown a little off-kilter – a rare occurrence for Veronica. She cleared her throat and shifted her weight, trying to steady herself after her recollection of Lilly and Lynn.
"I'm here to see Aaron Echolls."
"Yeah, you and the rest of Mr. Echolls' groupies. You have more of a chance at seeing him in the city than waltzing into his protected home." The man rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "Psychotic fans."
Veronica's irritation showed on her face. Did she really look like a teeny-bopper fan of Aaron Echolls? Actually, she probably did. She used it to her advantage often enough, but at the moment, the fact was deterring her from her mission.
"Listen, buddy, I am not a psychotic Aaron Echolls fan. I've seen his movies, so that marks me off that list. I'm here on business for my father, Keith Mars. Mr. Echolls hired him to investigate several things for him and I'm the Mars Investigations assistant."
The guard still looked skeptical, which didn't serve to improve Veronica's mood any. She snapped her fingers in front of the guard's eyes, trying her best to make him focus on her, not her "teen-dream" appearance.
"Just call him and ask, Office Krupke, and he'll vouch for my identity." Veronica glared at the man and waited impatiently for the man to ask.
"I'll vouch for her identity, Jamieson. Veronica Mars, as I live and breathe, what are you doing here?"
Jamieson stepped back unapologetically and disappeared so Trina and Veronica could have a private conversation.
"I could ask you the same thing, Trina, dear. I heard you were off in Australia, or something like that."
"Had to come home and make sure my father and brother were surviving Lynn's death all right. I didn't want them to curl up in isolation here. This place could be damaging towards them if they hide out here, you know, where they have everything."
"You're familial concern is endearing, Trina."
"Well, death can bring certain things into light, like how important family truly is."
"And how to use clichés from greeting cards when referring to your family and their loss? "
Trina plastered on a fake smile as she moved to the edge of the gate to press the entry button. The two remained quiet as the gate slowly slid open and allowed Veronica inside the exclusive Echolls world. Veronica considered her words carefully. As much as she enjoyed trading barbs with Trina, she had to tread the ground gently. If she wanted Trina to open up, even for a few moments, she would have to keep things friendly. That way Trina would keep the shield down.
"So tell me, Veronica, what is it you want from us? I didn't think you were close with my little brother anymore. Not since that brat died."
"Leave Lilly out of this, Trina. Trust me, you don't want to bring her up."
"Or you'll do something horrible to me? That sounded like a threat…coming from you, that's quite entertaining."
"Honestly, Trina, I simply wanted to stop by and see how everyone was doing. I know Logan has taken his mother's death hard, and I imagine Mr. Echolls is the same. I don't really get a chance to talk with Logan at school with the way things are. I just thought I would stop by."
"How sweet. You're concern is touching." Trina threw Veronica's words back at her. Her red hair bobbed into movement as she turned on her heel and began to walk back to the house. Veronica knew that Trina was dismissing her, but she couldn't lose her chance to interview her. Not when the opportunity had presented itself.
"Logan will be home in a little bit, I'm sure, Veronica. You can wait in the pool house." Trina offered as she continued her walk up the driveway.
"Oh, but I was hoping that we could catch up, Trina. It's been so long since I've seen you. You weren't even home for Lilly's funeral." Veronica said, hoping to stop Trina from walking up to the house and slamming the door in her face.
"Well, I was hardly friends with her. Besides, I was busy shooting a movie."
"That's right. Logan mentioned that. That's why you missed Lynn's memorial service, too, wasn't it?"
"I was working. I could hardly leave my job to go to that woman's 'service'." Trina rolled her eyes and tried to remove the bitter look on her face. "Honestly, the woman killed herself when she had everything."
"Except your father's faithfulness."
"Like she needed that. She paraded herself in front of my boyfriends, Logan's friends, just so she'd know the effect she had on men. She was hardly faithful to my father."
"So you hated your stepmother?"
"That woman got everything she deserved."
And as soon as the bitterness rolled off of Trina's tongue, her smile was back in place. She pushed her hair behind her ears and shifted her weight, not nervously, simply confidently. Veronica studied her, trying to get a take on what Trina was really saying. She was being as honest as she could without even realizing it, but now Veronica had to judge whether Trina hated Lynn enough to kill her. She wondered if there was some merit to what Logan had come to her with. If what he had said was true, Trina could very possibly have done it.
"Veronica?"
Veronica started at the sound of her name being called. She hadn't even heard Duncan and Logan approaching from behind her, but she now understood why Trina's smile had reappeared so quickly. She had known that it was time for the happy sister front to return.
"Hey, Logan." Veronica added as an afterthought, "Duncan."
Duncan gave her one of those sweet smiles that caused her heart to constrict with pain, though that was never his intention to cause when he flashed it to her. Veronica glanced away from him quickly and allowed her eyes to focus on Logan. He seemed to be debating something in his head, probably whether he should be nice to her or not. It would be a change for him to treat her kindly in front of others, and that could raise suspicion. Then again, Duncan liked Veronica still and hated it when Logan tried to piss her off. And he always ran the chance of running Veronica off the case if he treated her too badly. So he settled on questioning her harshly.
'What are you doing here? It's not like you have a standing invitation to drop in whenever you like."
Veronica's eyes flashed with fire, a fire that Logan admired often enough, discreetly enough. She glanced back at Trina and turned her attention back on Logan.
"I thought I'd check on your family after your mother's untimely death and I ended up getting the chance to catch up with Trina. But I'll be on my way now. Lovely seeing you again, Trina. It's always fun."
Veronica shifted her bag to her other shoulder as she walked away from the front porch. She glanced back at Logan and tilted her head only slightly. He knew what she wanted though. He watched her walk away unabashedly, before he and Duncan entered the house. Trina muttered something smartly under her breath without acknowledging her little brother or his friend before she disappeared upstairs. Duncan wasn't sure what to say. The entire exchange had been completely awkward and he didn't quite know how he should respond.
"That was kind of weird. Veronica and Trina having a friendly chat isn't something I expected to ever see."
Logan nodded, as if agreeing, but he knew what they had been talking about. He knew what had been going on. He decided he should change the subject as soon as possible.
"Hey, man, go on out to the pool house and start up on the X-Box. I'll be there in a minute. I'm starving."
Duncan watched his friend before nodding. He decided not to press why Logan's mood was so weird. It wasn't really his place to bring it up right now. Logan would talk about what's wrong when he wanted to. Duncan walked on around the house and Logan waited on the porch. As soon as Duncan was out of sight, Logan jogged away.
Veronica felt so dirty hiding amongst the palm trees in Logan's yard. It was as if she were meeting with a secret lover, which would be exciting, if she wasn't Veronica Mars. Instead, it was all business as always. She just hoped that Logan had understood her look. It wasn't like they were on the level to have silent conversations, the way she and Lilly could, or she and Duncan, but she hoped he got this one.
"Make it quick, Mars. Duncan's waiting for me," Logan said as soon as he appeared in between palms.
"Oh, I'm sorry if this is an inconvenience. I can always leave. It won't bother me at all."
"I'm here, tell me what you think."
"You're lucky I just like to give my opinions. You know, you should be charming my pants off right now, Logan, not insulting me."
Logan raised his eyebrows and allowed a small smirk to show through.
"Interesting choice of words, Veronica."
Veronica rolled her eyes and thanked herself for not being a shy girl anymore. A year ago, she would have been blushing to the point of being even more embarrassing.
"You're such an ass, Logan."
"I love you, too. Now what do you think about Trina?"
"I think that she truly despised your mother. Some of that hate may have been deserved, but I don't know if she killed Lynn. But I'm beginning to wonder, Logan, if maybe, just maybe, there's some basis in your theory that your mother is alive."
"I thought you'd already decided that when you agreed to take on my case."
Veronica shrugged and moved on. "I'll keep an eye out on Trina. I already planted a few bugs around the outside and one on Trina. I would have liked to drop a few in your house, but I didn't get the chance to. I think I'm going to have to make an appointment with your father to be able to talk to him. You're guard dog, Jamieson, wouldn't let me in."
"Well, we try to keep trash off the premises."
The insult was out of Logan's mouth before he realized it. He was so used to saying things like that, they seemed to slip out without him being able to stop it. Veronica slapped him quickly before starting away. Logan's voice stopped her from walking, though, as did his grip on her arm.
'Veronica, wait. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry. I'm so used to trying to hurt you that I don't even realize I'm doing it anymore."
"Why is that, Logan? Why did you turn on me? Why do you want to hurt me?"
Logan looked down at his feet while he interlaced his fingers. He didn't want to talk to her about this. He didn't want to tell her that it was her fault that Lilly was dead, just like it was his fault. He couldn't tell her that, not yet.
"Please see about getting that appointment with my dad. Sorry about Jamieson. He's supposed to keep the Aaron fans at bay. He's new, so he didn't recognize you."
Veronica sighed loudly. She never would get a straight answer out of him. She should stop expecting to. Logan was a master at avoiding the truth. It seemed like he'd been doing it his whole life. He probably had. She didn't know whether she should still bother with him. But something inside her drove her to help him. She knew she had to. Lilly would want her to. She needed to. Logan needed her and there had been a time that she had genuinely adored him, as he had her. She just had to remember that when he treated her badly now.
"Whatever. I'll let you know once I talk to your father. I'll type up some notes about my talk with Trina and then I'll do the same after I talk to your father. Then we can get together and discuss what I've found before we take any other actions."
"All right."
The two stared at each other intensely, both unready to leave, but both aware that they had to. Finally, Logan took a step back.
"Well, Duncan's waiting. We don't want him to come looking for me and discover our little rendez-vous. He might get the wrong idea."
"That you and I just can't keep our hands off each other?"
"I am pretty irresistible, Veronica."
He gave Veronica a small smile, a smile that resembled one he used to give her, back when they were friends…back when they were happy. Veronica resisted the urge to return it. Instead she turned her back on him and disappeared into the trees. Logan headed back to the house, both unaware that Duncan had been watching the whole exchange, unable to hear, but very well able to wonder what was happening between his best friend and Veronica.