An- Glad to see we made it this far, friends. But I have to warn you that this chapter is graphic and contains some disturbing material.

The rundown. Morning of December 22nd.

"The victim is approximately twenty years old, female, Caucasian."

A camera made wheezing sounds between the coroner's words, and Keith watched the scene unfolding before him, his hands on his hips, fingers moving in slow circles. Trying to keep himself calm and detached.

"She was found here, in her bed, at approximately ten o'clock PM…"

More wheezes and flashes, the bustle of crime scene investigators as they looked around the room.

"By her husband…"

The briefing continued and Keith finally moved to bend over the body, his face drawn with sadness as he studied her. Lifting his eyes to a spatter of blood on the wall above the bed. The man continued.

"She has been positively identified by Sheriff Mars as Tesla R. Echolls. Born in Santa Barbara. She's a student at Hearst University in Neptune California, and, according to Sheriff Mars, she was between eight to nine months pregnant at the time of her death."

And hearing it out loud rocked Keith's world all over again, he stood straight to take in the whole picture. The girl, his daughter's age, wearing a nightgown, would seem peacefully asleep, were the white cotton gown not soaked in her blood, pretty much from neck to ankle. The inside of the bedspread were crimson as well, and the top side of the comforter was almost clean, except for a couple small spots where blood had begun to seep through in the last hour.

The gown had been put on her post-mortem and was hiding the extent of her injuries for now but Keith had seen when they had lifted it and he almost gagged just remembering her, gutted like a fish for dinner. He tried to tune out his thoughts to listen to the Hawaiian cop.

"There was a placenta and umbilical cord found in the bathtub, both items have been collected for evidence. No sign of an infant anywhere in the room, or the rest of the house. An Amber alert has been issued, however, as of now, we do not know the gender of the baby that we are seeking."

Keith followed them in a vehicle of personnel once they transported the body to the morgue where an autopsy would be performed immediately to look for clues to help find Tesla Echoll's missing baby. It took about 45 minutes for them to be ready for him to join them in the examination room, where Tess' clothing had been removed and light shone down on her. She was ghostly white, drained of her blood in the time she had been laying in the bed before she had been discovered.

Keith was silent, watching her face, unharmed, and peaceful. Such a young girl, and, from what he had heard, such a nice one. The nice ones seemed to always be prey.

"The victim was hit on the left side of her head, her skull appears to be fractured and there are numerous bruises along her arms and ankles that suggest that prior to this blow, she had struggled."

"Judging from the shape of the blow and the markers in it, this was done with a blunt object, something very heavy."

"There is an incision along the under-side of the belly approximately two inches lower than the navel, about," The doctor moved to measure the cut, being held together, with a roll of measuring tape before noting the number on the diagram. "12 and a half inches wide. The uterus was opened, probably with a kitchen knife, and now a medical scalpel. There's a significant amount of tearing, it's likely that the infant was injured."

"Placenta was partially removed, with about a quarter of it left inside of the womb."

"Post botched c-section, another slice was made vertically from the first cut up to the navel."

"Cause of death is likely bloodloss." The boss said, sifting through Tess' skin. "I'd say she might have lived but someone would have had to have walked in right after it happened, with the amount of blood in the room and the amount not in her, I'd say she lay in that bed close to two hours, but no more than 2 ½."

Notes were taken and people filed off, some amniotic fluid salvaged from the placenta left over. They could hope to test it for the baby's gender, and aid in the search.

On his way out a young officer offered Keith his condolences and then asked, "Who could have done something like this?"

Keith, for once, had no answer. In all his years in law enforcement and as a PI, he had never seen anything as heinous as what had been done to Logan Echolls young wife. He only hoped there were a happier ending as far as the baby went.

December 23rd.

It was all too eerily familiar, to Veronica. Waking up in the wee morning hours because someone was knocking on the door, stumbling out with sleepy eyes and finding Logan Echolls outside. He was a mess, blood spattered on his clothes, his face red and tear-stained and just hysterical as he sobbed. The poor bastard had flown to California with the transport of Tess' body in the same clothes he had found her in.

Before she even got to say anything she had pulled him into her arms. Dragged him inside past his wobbly legs to sit on the couch. "Logan, what happened?"

"Oh God, oh GOD oh GOD." He cried and said that for a good ten minutes before he couldn't manage any more tears, his voice hiccupping as he told her. "Tess is. . .Tess. . .she's dead Veronica. DEAD VERONICA, Oh GOD!"

That hit Veronica like a metal shovel to the face and she was thrown back against the couch. Tess dead? That wasn't possible. Tess was nice. She was sweet and funny and she had become a friend to Veronica, there was no way that light had been. . .

Tess was dead? No, no, Tess was. . .

Oh God.

"Logan," Veronica put her hands on his arms. "Logan, shhh, Logan, sweetie, how? What happened and what about the baby?"

"Oh God," Logan wiped at his face with his sleeves, his voice high with his anxiety, cracking with grief. "Some sick fuck cut the baby out, they cut it out, Veronica, like she was a dog, they just cut the baby out and she's dead…"

Veronica winced at that, pausing to swallow back a wave of nausea. Logan continued. "Your dad went with the cops when they took her, but they don't know how they're going to find the baby…"

"They've probably issued an Amber alert, I'm sure…"

"We were gonna be surprised, Veronica. We. . .I didn't find out what the baby was. Tess snuck a glance but I told her not to tell me so we're looking for a baby we don't know the gender of."

Veronica watched him with tears in her eyes, having never seen Logan come unraveled…well, the last time, really, had been when he had realized Lynn was gone, for good. An idea sparked suddenly and she stood. "Logan, if she saw the sex on the sonogram her doctor knows what it is, what was their name?" She had already crossed to her phone.

"Um," Logan wiped at his cheeks again. "Goldstein, I think his first name was Adam."

She dialed and waited. "Hi, I'm calling on behalf of the Balboa county sheriff, he's investigating a murder/kidnapping that happened today, I need to know if there's an OBGYN there named Adam Goldstein." She paused, waiting for them to look him, up, and then her eyes widened with relief. "Is he working tonight? Great, may I be connected to him?"

A pause, Logan could hear the hold music, some machine-reproduced Latin music. Then the doctor's voice. "Hi, Dr. Goldstein my name's Veronica Mars, I'm a private investigator, I'm calling because, I'm sad to say, one of your patients, Tesla Echolls was killed earlier this evening for her baby. There's been an Amber alert issued but we need to know the gender to narrow it down, yes, I understand, take your time." Veronica tapped her hand on her thigh anxiously and Logan had stood up to get a glass of water, she watched to make sure he was just doing that.

He returned just as the doctor came back on the line. "Yes I'm still here. . . .uh huh, okay. Thanks so much, doctor. Yes, I'll do that, thank you." She hung up the phone, paused as she braced herself. Logan was watching her, and she got right to the chase. "Well, today, as somber of a day as it is, you are the father of a bouncing baby boy."

Keith sighed as he came from the office, smiled tiredly at his daughter. "I hear you worked a little phone magic before I got a chance last night," He pulled her into a tight hug. "Thanks honey. What's up?"

"I'm just here with Logan, I didn't want him to have to come in here himself, he was hysterical last night."

"I don't blame him." Keith said softly, parting from her embrace. He gave her should a pat before walking past her to go into the interrogation room where Logan was curled up in his chair, staring at his left hand, placed across the table in front of him. Keith swallowed softly. "Logan? Are you sure you're okay to talk?"

Logan shook his head, looking up at Keith, his eyes red from having not slept, his face drawn and ashen. "I'm not ready, but if I don't absolve myself of my wife's slaughter, God only knows what will happen to me."

Keith ignored that comment, sitting down across from him. "Okay, well, can you just tell me what happened last night."

Logan sighed, scratching at something on the surface of his ring before he blew at it. "I went out to a movie with Dick and Wallace. Tess didn't want to go because she was a week from her due date and she didn't want to go into labor there, so I left at 7 and I was back just after ten. I came into the room…" His voice wavered and he had to take a breath. "And it was dark, and I could see her shape in the bed so I figured she just wasn't feeling good. She had a lot of days being pregnant where she just felt like crap. So I didn't turn the light right on, I walked over and I asked her if she was okay."

He gestured as if he were walking ahead. "And I bent over and kissed her cheek and she was cold, and I didn't think.. I just thought the AC had given her like, a chill. So I picked the covers back to crawl in to lay with her and…and it was all wet and my first thought was that her water had broken or she'd like given birth in her sleep so I panicked and I hurried over to turn the light out and I. . .her back was to me but the sheets were white when I left and there was a giant . . .red blob around her. So I rolled her over and I felt her belly and it was all wobbly and empty and I could feel my fingers touching inside of her through her gown so I went out into the hall, blew my lunch, and called 911."

Keith finished writing shortly after he had finished talking, and he took a deep breath. "So, I only have a few questions, and they all pertain to the investigation to find your son. Do you have any idea why someone would want to steal your baby so they'd go so far as to. . ."

"Only every crazed fan of my parents who had a picture of my on their wall growing up," Logan told him. "Other than that, no, never been threatened like this by anyone."

Veronica, at that, had walked out. Her thoughts suddenly snapping to Shawn and his father and the investigation that they had thought they had had covered. Nothing else they said could have convinced her more to look into a few theories bubbling in her head.

Despite his recent loss, Shawn was quick to meet with Veronica at the coffee house on campus. He was pale, ashen even, with red eyes, and his hands shook whenever he went to move or use them, so Veronica ended up stirring his coffee and such for him to make sure he didn't dump it all over himself. "So, they've got a lot of people out looking for the baby. . ."

"Good, good."

"And he'll lead them to whoever….played doctor. So."

"We know who did this Veronica. We know, we just need to tell the cops."

"It's not that simple," Veronica took his hand gently. "Shawn, Parker moved out of Neptune over a week ago, and your nephew has only been missing for a day. I don't think…."

"Then she's faking it, Veronica, she didn't go anywhere, that crazy bitch killed my sister!" The outburst set Veronica back against her chair, her hand withdrawn and Shawn dropped his head into the scoops of his arms on the table.

Veronica wasn't sure what to believe. Parker's dorm was empty and she had definitely bought a ticket to Denver, and she had definitely boarded the plane according to airport security. But Shawn was hurting, and she understood that. "Okay, we'll figure it out, trust me. I won't let this go unpunished."

One of the baristas walked over to turn up the volume on the TV nearby and both Shawn and Veronica looked up as Keith Mars appeared, making a public statement in front of a series of microphones. "At approximately nine PM yesterday, Tesla Spencer-Echolls was killed in her home when an unidentified person let himself in and cut her 40 week infant from her womb. The child, Cody Spencer Echolls, is believed to be alive based on the forensic information we have available to us. If you know anything about the whereabouts of this little boy, or see anything suspicious involving a newborn infant, please call the sheriff's department."

Keith stepped down and Veronica nearly turned back to Shawn when Logan stepped up where Keith had been standing. Sniffling before he began speaking. "I am speaking to the. . ." A sharp glance from Keith halted Logan's words briefly. "Person, for lack of a better term. That has my son. Cody was loved and nurtured long before you ripped him from his mother's body. We've spent the past eight months preparing our little piece of the world for him and that world has been shattered since his mother isn't in it anymore," Logan's eyes had watered over and he had quickly dropped them to a piece of paper in his hands. "I've never been the most sentimental guy, but I'd hoped that I could give my kid a fresh start with his life. If he's not here with me where he belongs, I can't do that. I'm offering a cash reward of $25,000 for the safe return of my son, to be paid when a DNA test confirms he's mine and an additional $25,000 reward for the capture of my wife's killer. Dead or alive." Logan dropped out of the way before Keith could reprimand him for his statement and the sheriff quickly hopped in front of the microphone.

Veronica bit her lip and looked back over to Shawn, reached to pat his hand. "I'm gonna see what I can do."