Chapter 11: The Plot Thickens
Aaron walked out of the hospital, whistling to himself. The information he'd gotten out of that room wasn't particularly useful, as he'd known almost all of it. The only things he could actually use were the fact that Lilly Kane wasn't entirely sure he was the father, and the fact that Veronica Mars would be watching him. Closely. Aaron knew Veronica was a major threat. She was smart, cunning, and Logan was crazy about her. It was a triple threat. Lilly Kane had been none of the three, and therefore an easy target for his lust.
If he was going to be 100% honest, Veronica scared him. Aaron Echolls had plenty of skeletons in his closet, and the last thing he needed was Veronica Mars snooping around. She obviously thought he was the primary suspect in the attempted murder of that damn baby, and it would be difficult to make her think he was innocent. It wouldn't matter to her if he was or not, unless he could provide her with the name of the real threat.
Aaron supposed that was his answer. He was going to have to start looking into the matter himself, and find someone who had both the motive and the resources to pull off something like this. After that, he would lead Veronica onto that trail, and she would be off his scent. After that, Aaron could return to his seedier dealings in peace. Aaron smiled to himself at the thought of fooling a girl as clever as Veronica, and missed the group of fans that was following him, holding out Sharpies and spiral notebooks, eager grins on their faces, as they were faced with their favorite movie star.
Lilly was sleeping quietly in her hospital bed when the door creaked open. Beside her, on a chair, Weevil was also sleeping, his mouth opened wide. Duncan had left, having called a taxi to take him home after being brutally turned down by Veronica. (Well, as far as Logan and Veronica knew, it had taken him home).
Someone creeped quietly into Lilly's room, and surveyed the scene. Weevil and Lilly were holding hands in their sleep, although they seemed completely unaware of it. Both of their arms were bent at awkward angles, but they seemed determined to stay connected in spite of it. Watching them, the intruder shook their head, and slipped past Lilly's bed towards Weevil.
They reached towards the unattached hand on the other side of Weevil, and slipped a piece of paper into it. Weevil stirred slightly, and they froze. After a few seconds though, Weevil began to snore again, and the person breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The tiptoed over to Lilly, and shifted her golden hair silently. After that, they slipped a second note under her pillow. Smiling at their handiwork, the intruder slipped quietly out of the room, and into the hospital hallway. On their way out, they were careless and slammed the door, and Weevil jumped awake. The note left by the strange visitor floated gently to the floor, and Weevil took no notice of it.
"Lilly…Lilly, wake up." Weevil gently shook Lilly awake.
"Eli? What…what is it? What time is it?" Lilly asked groggily.
"It's about 7:00. We both fell asleep. I heard the door slam, and it woke me up." Weevil explained. Lilly shifted into a sitting position. Her hand brushed the underside of the pillow, and she felt stiff paper underneath.
"What the hell…?" Lilly grabbed the note and unfolded it. As she read, her eyes grew wider and wider.
"Lilly? What is it? Are you alright?" Weevil demanded. Lilly could only manage a shake of her head.
"You…you need to call Veronica. And Duncan. I want them here." Lilly murmured, her eyes still roaming the note.
"Why? What does it say?" Weevil snatched the note out of her hand, and Lilly helplessly watched him read it. His eyebrows drew closer and closer together, and when he finished, his face was aglow with anger.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and angrily punched in Veronica's number.
"Veronica? Yeah, it's Weevil. No, Lilly's…well, she's fine for now. You and Richie Rich need to get your asses down here. Pick up Duncan on the way. Yeah, it's bad. Alright, I'll see you." Weevil hung up, still fuming.
"It'll be okay, Eli. Veronica will fix it, you'll see." Lilly promised, grasping onto his hand.
"Do you think we'll ever manage to have a normal date?" Logan wondered aloud as he drove the Xterra towards the Kane mansion.
"I sure hope so. I was so enjoying mini-golf until this." Veronica smiled at him. Logan laughed.
"I would've won, Veronica, no doubt about it. I just needed to warm up." Logan defended. Now it was Veronica's turn to laugh.
"Ok, sure. Hey, do you want to go up and get him?" Veronica asked.
"Yes. He may try man-handling you again if you go." Logan said seriously. Veronica rolled her eyes, and Logan hopped out of the car. He strode up to the door and rang the doorbell. Jake Kane answered.
"Logan? We really don't want to hear your apologies right now." Jake crossed his arms, denying Logan entrance to the house. Logan sighed.
"Well, sir, I don't have an apology for you, seeing as I'm not the father of your grandkid. Or didn't Lilly mention that?" Logan smiled. Jake's face turned ashen, and he took a step backward, almost as though Logan had actually hit him.
"What…what do you want then?" Jake managed to ask.
"Duncan. Veronica and I need him. We were on our way to see Lilly, and she requested his presence." Logan explained vaguely. Jake nodded, and called for his son. Duncan jogged into the front hallway, and abruptly stopped when he was Logan.
"What do you want?" Duncan asked coldly. Jake looked from his son to Logan curiously.
"Lilly wants you." Logan replied tersely. He'd seen how Duncan had peeked around him, to find Veronica sitting in the front seat. After that, Duncan had stopped focusing on Logan, and was staring at Logan's car.
"Oh, alright. Let's roll." Duncan waved goodbye to his father and walked out the front door. After the door was closed, Logan grabbed Duncan's shoulder and held him back.
"Hey man. I can tell you're still hung up on Veronica. I just wanted to let you know I'm not letting her get away too easily. I won't give up without a fight." Logan warned. Duncan rolled his eyes.
"Neither will I, old friend. She may have picked you for now, but after being around the good old Echolls family for a few days, who knows? She may decide she enjoys normalcy and decency. And after what happened to the last girl you had around your father, well, let's just say Veronica isn't the type to make many stupid mistakes." Duncan started to laugh, but Logan tackled him. The two struggled with each other, wrestling on the stone driveway.
Veronica had leaped out of the car and over to the two fighting boys.
"Duncan! Logan! Stop!" She yelled. When neither listened to her, she decided she was going to have to get her hands dirty. Veronica walked over to the rolling pair, and grabbed someone's ass, as it was what she thought would make them stop the fastest. As a matter of fact, the person she grabbed rolled off of the other bleeding boy, and pulled her down to lie on top of him.
"One way to end a fight…" Logan laughed, as Veronica struggled to get up.
"Very funny, Logan. Let me go." Veronica pleaded. Logan only laughed again, while Duncan watched, wiping blood from his mouth.
"Hey, I'm not the one who was grabbing butts. That was all you." Logan chuckled, and Veronica scowled. He gently pulled her up with him, and then proceeded to kiss her deeply, directly in front of his adversary. Duncan pretended to look at the sky, while Veronica slowly relaxed into Logan's hold. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Logan pulled away and smiled brightly at Duncan.
"Let's get going all." Duncan brushed some dirt off himself as Logan and Veronica led the way to the car. Veronica was brushing the dirt off Logan, and he grabbed her hand when she reached towards his shorts.
"We're in polite company, Ronnie dearest." Logan reminded her. Veronica rolled her eyes.
"Please Logan. Just because you can't hold in your sexual desires, doesn't mean everyone can't." Veronica scolded. Logan laughed.
"What did Weevil want anyways?" Duncan asked, after being filled in in the car. Veronica shrugged.
"I guess we'll find out." Veronica said, as Logan sped off towards the hospital, and all three were filled with thoughts of death threats and miscarriages.