A/N: Most of this chapter takes place in the time frame of 'Kanes and Abel's'. Feel free to take 40 minutes or so and go watch that episode. All the Amelia DeLongpre stuff…doesn't exist here. Veronica isn't trying to get proof of the Koontz bribe by the Kanes; as far as she's concerned, she solved Lilly's murder and she isn't investigating that anymore. Maybe poor Amelia will get to live longer than another year since she was never touched by Veronica's search for the truth.
The Sabrina Fuller investigation happens pretty much exactly as it does in canon, so I haven't regurgitated the actions that remain the same here. Mostly we're covering REACTIONS that didn't occur in canon due to a variant fact pattern going into the scenes. Please be sure to imagine (or rewatch) the scenes with Vinnie Van Lowe in particular, not because they make much of a difference but because they are hilarious. "Private eyes…they're watching you…"
34 – Lessons Learned
Keith walked out of his bedroom Sunday morning to find Logan lying on the couch in sweats and a tee shirt, staring at the ceiling. A blanket was tangled around his legs and his arm was hanging over the side of the couch as he scratched absently behind the dog's ears. He glanced at Keith as he entered the room and tipped a two-fingered salute off his eyebrow.
"Mornin', Keith."
"Good morning, Logan. So, do you live here now?"
Logan chuckled and sat up. "No. Not on a permanent basis."
"My guess is that you're only keeping the guest title to get out of being assigned any chores," Keith said, his eyebrows raised skeptically.
"Assign away. Want me to make breakfast?" Logan stood up and crossed to the kitchen.
"I'm thinking you get to clean the bathroom." Keith was prepping the coffee maker but watching Logan's face out of the corner of his eye.
"I'm not sure I know how to do that," Logan said, looking dubious.
"All the more reason to be assigned that task," Keith said as he pulled a pound of bacon out of the fridge. "I'll cut you some slack today but next time you stay the whole weekend, you're scrubbing a toilet, boy."
"Thanks for the warning," Logan replied. "I'm going home tonight. Aaron's moving to the house in Los Angeles today so I shouldn't have any need to avoid my house anymore."
"Hang on. How did that happen?" Keith dropped the bacon onto the stovetop in surprise. He watched as Logan's face suddenly went blank and he turned back toward the living room.
"Oh, umm...well...we talked to him last night and he decided that he'd go ahead and move to L.A. Mom can come home if she wants and he won't bug us while she's trying to get better."
Keith watched the nervous fidgeting and knew there was more to the story. "That's very surprising. How'd you manage that? Your mom said he was pretty adamant that he wasn't going to move out of Neptune. Did you tell him about the records? I thought you didn't want to go that direction. And it concerns me that you and my daughter confronted him alone about that. That doesn't sound particularly safe to me."
Logan turned to look at him, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. "We didn't mention the records." He dropped back onto the couch with a heavy sigh.
"Curiouser and curiouser. Are you going to tell me this story or not? I really don't want to stand here and wring each pained sentence out of you but I'll do it."
"We weren't going to say anything to you but I'm not sure how we thought that would work once we told you Aaron was moving out. And I'm really not sure how I'm going to tell Mom that she can come home. I trust that you won't do anything with what we used to get his attention but I'm not as sure about her. She's outed his bad behavior to the press before. I'm not sure she wouldn't do it again, even if I ask her not to, and he left because we promised that we wouldn't tell his secret."
Keith sat down in the chair next to the couch and looked at Logan with concern. "Look, as long as neither you nor Veronica are in danger, I will keep your confidence. And I can probably help you figure out what to say to your mother. You can trust me."
"I do," Logan said emphatically. "That's not the issue. This secret...it's embarrassing. I mean, it's not like you don't already know that my dad's a dirtbag but..."
"I won't ever hold your dad's behavior against you, Logan, if that's what you're worrying about."
"That's not entirely it. Okay, here's the deal. Veronica found a hidden camera set-up in the pool house bedroom."
"The pool house has a bedroom?" Keith said abruptly. "What was Veronica doing in there?"
Logan choked out a pained, nervous laugh and covered his face with his hand. "Oh God, this is worse than I expected. Yes, there's a bedroom and I'm never going near it again and neither is Veronica and she was in there alone when she found the camera."
"Where were you?"
"I went to the house to get us dinner. I came back and she'd found the camera. Then she followed it over to the bookshelves and it turns out there was a recorder and a bunch of tapes of my dad and...a lot of different women...and some teenage girls. We cleared them out and have them hidden where he won't find them and that was our ace in the hole to get him to go back to L.A. and stay."
Keith leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. "And where did you and my daughter meet your father to blackmail him?"
"In a diner."
"I guess I should be grateful that you didn't meet him alone at your house." Keith sat forward and pinned the squirming boy with a hard glare. "Logan, do you have any idea how dangerous that was? Of course you do, you've been living with Aaron your whole life. What in the world made you think this was a good idea? I know what your dad is like. Why would you be embarrassed to bring this to me so we could work on him together? Didn't you think I would help you?"
"I knew that you would. I—I just..." Logan stammered to a halt, clearly in distress as he opened and closed his mouth like he was trying to form an answer.
"Dad, leave him alone. You must know this was me, not Logan." Veronica stood in the doorway coming from her room, looking back and forth between them.
"Veronica, I—" Logan began but she shook her head at him and moved to sit next to him on the couch.
"No, you tried to get me to talk to Dad several times and I kept pushing for us to do it on our own. So you aren't the one who should be getting the lecture. This one's mine." She looked at Keith directly. "So let's hear it."
"I think you got the gist of it from what I said to Logan. You know that Aaron can be dangerous. There was no reason to keep this from me." Keith stood and paced across the room. "I've been ready to help Logan deal with his dad for the last several weeks. The fact that the information that was used was different than what we'd expected doesn't change anything. You should have come to me."
"I'm sorry, Dad. I just thought—"
"That's the problem, Veronica, you didn't think. You endangered both of you because you're stubborn. There was no reason not to bring me into this. Now where are these tapes? Are you sure they're safe?"
"I'm sure. They're under the floorboards in Leticia Navarro's bedroom closet."
Keith put his hands to his head. "Seriously? That's your secure place? You're trusting Eli Navarro? The kid I arrested for the first time when he was twelve?"
"Yes," Veronica said in a frustrated voice. "I trust Weevil. And his grandma adores Mr. Logan here." She reached over and patted Logan's knee, giving him a fond smile. "She wouldn't betray him and she won't let Weevil either."
"I wasn't sure either," Logan added, "but after talking to both Mrs. Navarro and Weevil, I think we can trust them. And I don't see Aaron ever thinking of their house as a place we would hide anything. I think the tapes are safe there...probably for as long as Mrs. Navarro's okay with keeping them for us."
"Is that the plan? Leave them with the Navarros indefinitely?"
"Originally, no," Veronica said, "but I was thinking last night that maybe that is the way to go. Mrs. Navarro said they're fine for as long as we need the space. Now that they're secure, I like them staying put, ya know? The more we drag them around, the more risk of something going wrong. Just a fender-bender and who knows what happens."
"I agree," Keith responded. "That's clear thinking. Finally."
"See, I'm not just out doing crazy stuff to annoy you. I had a plan. You should trust me more." Veronica gave him a superior look that set Keith's teeth on edge. He glanced at Logan who was watching Veronica with speculative eyebrows.
"I think maybe I've trusted you too much," Keith said. "Just because I treat you like an adult most of the time doesn't mean that you shouldn't still ask for help. And you..." Keith turned to Logan with a stern look. "You need to learn to tell her no sometimes. If you don't, she's gonna run over you like a steamroller."
"He tells me no plenty," Veronica said in an irritated voice. Keith burst into laughter at her aggravated face, all pouting lip, furrowed brow, and wrinkled nose.
"Yeah, I can tell. So, Logan, if you want, I'll call your mom and tell her that Aaron is moving to Los Angeles and if she wants to move her and her program back to Neptune, she's able to do that now. I'll be as vague as possible about what got him to change his mind. She'll probably buy it without demanding a lot of detail. She's got a lot on her mind and she knows I've got your best interests at heart."
"That would be great, Keith, thanks. Hey, can you tell her we need to re-hire Mrs. Navarro too?" Logan asked. Keith laughed again.
"You're making hiring decisions now?"
"That's the only one. I need someone who can actually cook and Veronica's after me to learn how to make Mrs. Navarro's chocolate chip cookies." Logan leaned back against the couch cushions, looking more relaxed than he had at the beginning of the conversation. "And when the steamroller wants cookies..."
"Logan!" Veronica said loudly and Keith shook his head, snickering. He stood up and went to the front door, grabbing the leash and whistling for Backup as he went.
"I'm taking the dog out; you guys get to make breakfast. After breakfast, I'll call your mom and then later, we're all going over to your house to make sure Aaron hasn't left anything behind."
"What do you mean?" Logan asked as he stood up and pulled the still-pouting Veronica after him to the kitchen.
"Just a little bug sweep," Keith said. "In case he wants to keep tabs on you and your mother." He snapped the leash on and opened the door.
Veronica finally perked up. "That's a good idea, Dad. Thanks for thinking of that."
"See, Number One Daughter, I do bring some value to the situation. I hope you can remember that next time you're tempted to keep me in the dark."
Midterms started at Neptune High on Monday morning. Sunday had been spent with calls to Lynn and Mrs. Navarro by Keith and Logan respectively, then a sweep of the entire house with the anti-surveillance equipment, followed by a visit from a locksmith to change every outside lock in the house. A quick check of the pool house had revealed that the video player was gone although there had been no destruction of the set-up; it was simply disconnected from any hardware that could record or play anything.
As Keith had predicted, with the information coming from him, Lynn didn't question what had convinced Aaron to move out of Neptune; she seemed surprised but not too curious about details. She promised to talk to Dr. Vega about relocating her treatment program to their house. The anti-surveillance sweep revealed nothing and Mrs. Navarro agreed to give notice at her employment agency and return to the Echolls' estate as soon as possible.
At lunch, Logan settled in at the regular table with Wallace but Veronica didn't show up immediately. Logan was almost ready to give in and let Wallace have Veronica's portion of their Italian lunch when she finally showed up about ten minutes before the lunch break ended.
"Oh my God, thank you for not eating my lunch. I need brain food big time. Hanging around Caz Truman is seriously detrimental to my I.Q." She took a giant bite of manicotti and sopped up extra sauce with her garlic bread.
"Veronica? Why would you spend your lunch with Caz?"
"I can't send Wallace again," she teased. "He's sworn off investigatory missions at school."
"You sent me to dig through his gym bag, Veronica," Wallace said with a grimace. "I have reason to be suspicious of your assignments."
"Well, there was no digging this time. I threatened him, he denied wrong-doing, I threatened him again, he continued to deny. Swore his love even. Offered to jump off the building."
"What?" Logan exclaimed. "Swore his love?" He started to stand up. "Where is he? I'll help him off that building."
Veronica wrinkled her nose adorably and grinned at him. "Oh sorry, was I unclear? He was swearing his love to Sabrina Fuller." She laughed outright when Logan dropped back onto the bench beside her with a sigh. "Silly. Why would Caz be swearing his love to me? We've only talked a couple of times, when I was looking for Meg's secret admirer—" she paused and wrinkled her nose again, in disgust this time "—and then today when I did actually threaten him. I wasn't kidding about that part."
"Didn't your dad ask you to stop threatening people?" Logan asked and Wallace snickered.
"That's not really what I took away from that conversation. Bring him in more, possibly think a bit more before leaping, but stop threatening entirely? I don't think so." She wiped up the last of her sauce with the final bite of garlic bread and popped it in her mouth.
"The sad thing is," Wallace said, "she's probably right. I think he gets too much of a kick of out of his action figure daughter to want her to stop this kind of thing entirely." He turned to Logan and raised his eyebrows. "And don't you even try to sell me that you really want her to stop entirely either."
"Yeah," Veronica said in a jeering voice. "You like me like this. I'm interesting."
Both boys burst into laughter. "That you are, Sugarpuss," Logan said. "Never a dull moment with Veronica Mars."
"Well, maybe a few dull moments. I've got another test to take right after lunch so I'm heading to class. I'll meet you at the Giant Banana after school." She stood up. "I'm gonna need a ride to the office. I need a tracker and Caz's home address. Hey!" She made a face that suggested she'd just had a brilliant idea and she turned to Wallace but he cut her off before she could say another word.
"Nope, no Office Aide work this week because of mid-terms. I can't help you."
"Okay, fine. I'll just check online. Some sidekick you are." She recovered her bag from under the table and walked back toward the classrooms. "See you guys later."
Veronica Mars: 12:17 AM: OK, Warden, I'm home. CU in the morning.
Veronica was almost ready for bed when her phone rang. She shook her head as she flipped the phone open.
"Checking to make sure I'm really home? Do I need to put Backup on the phone to confirm?"
"No, of course not. I just wanted to see how things went and say goodnight."
"Well, I was out a lot later than I planned. I'm not happy about compromising my own mid-terms for Sabrina's."
"So, did you catch the bad guy?"
"Yes...and no. I did catch Caz, lurking around Sabrina's in the gardener's truck but he claims he was guarding the place and the unbelievable thing is that I think I believe him. He offered to jump off something again."
"If he does it and the trouble continues, then you know he wasn't the guy."
"Eliminating suspects by actually eliminating them isn't really recommended in the P.I. Handbook," Veronica said with a chuckle.
"Ah well, it was just a thought." Veronica heard rustling on his end of the phone.
"What are you doing?"
"Just trying to get comfy while we talk. So I hear you've gotten out of the Academic Excellence dinner at the Kanes' tomorrow."
"Yes and I'm so relieved that it was cancelled. I've been dreading this for weeks, even more so in the last week. Luckily, Duncan's eagerness to avoid us by vanishing into the mist gets me out of it."
"Speaking of...have you listened in on the security guy lately? Any news on DK's whereabouts?"
"Actually, yes, I got an update tonight. I haven't had time to listen to the bug lately but the recordings just stack up and I listened to a bunch while I was sitting in front of Sabrina's tonight. They caught him. He made it all the way to Cancun before they caught up with him. I don't know if he planned to jump across to Cuba and disappear or what but he has been collected and he is currently under the Celeste equivalent of house arrest in Aspen."
"Ooh, that's hard time he's doing in the ski lodge in Aspen. I've been there with him a couple of times. The only thing is, not much skiing to be done when your mom's locked you in the house."
"Yeah, I think you're right. My guess is that they've got him medicated up to the eyeballs." Veronica pulled her nightshirt over her head and then climbed into bed. "Well, I hate to break it to you but it's going on one in the morning. I need to go to sleep."
"Gonna tell me what you're wearing to bed first?" Logan's voice murmured in her ear.
"Do you want the flannel pajamas story or the tiny sleep shorts and tank top version?"
He laughed. "You're an academically excellent girl; you should be able to remember that I always want the version with the least amount of clothes."
"Oh, maybe the lacy negligée edition then?" He groaned into the phone and she laughed. "It's sheer lace, umm, what do you think, red or white?"
"Red," he choked out.
"Okay then, red. So, sweet dreams, Logan." She giggled when he groaned again.
"You're a cruel, cruel woman, Veronica. But just the same, I'd jump off a building for you. I will not be outdone by Caz Truman."
"I'd rather if you didn't though. I've still got more midterms so I don't have time to sit by your hospital bed."
"Will you wear the red negligée while you sit there?"
"Oh, you are gonna have the weirdest dreams. I'll see you in the morning, Logan. You're picking me up, right?"
"Yeah, and if you're lucky, I'll bring you a mocha. Since you won't let me jump off anything to prove my devotion, I'll have to stick with the tried and true way to your heart."
"Oh—my stomach—yes. Good call. Night, Logan."
"Night, Veronica."
Veronica watched the Chos drive away from the Kane estate with a heavy heart. Ethical behavior was a hard pill to swallow when it had results like these. For the first time since she'd started investigating for others, Veronica was sorry she'd solved a mystery. And that she'd had to reveal the truth to her client, because it meant that Hamilton had no chance to get Lilly's scholarship and go to Oxford.
"I'm sorry it worked out like this, Veronica," Mr. Clemmons said as he left the Kane house and walked toward her. "Hamilton's a fine young man with a great deal of promise. This is most unfortunate."
"She'll be working for him in twenty years," Veronica said, echoing Hamilton's earlier words to her. "The thing about having promise is that you don't need everything handed to you."
"But it's nice to catch a break once in a while," Jake interjected. He'd followed the vice-principal out of the house and stood beside them. "I can't consider him for the full scholarship but I will see if there's something else that the company can offer. I don't think he had anything to do with what his father did." He turned and offered his hand to Mr. Clemmons. "Thanks for letting us have the meeting here, Van. I've been working at home with Celeste out of town and it was a lot easier for me."
"Any time, Mr. Kane. Neptune High is extremely grateful for your generosity."
"Please, it's Jake. And I'm just glad we can do something to benefit the school and honor Lilly at the same time. Hopefully next year it won't be quite so complicated." He looked at Veronica and smiled. "I think there's a good chance we're looking at next year's winner right now."
Mr. Clemmons nodded. "I think there's a very good chance. Now, I'll say good night. Jake. Veronica." He turned and walked to his car.
"I should go too," Veronica said and started to turn away but Jake reached out and touched her arm.
"Can you hang on? Just for a moment, Veronica."
Veronica was immediately on alert, taking a step away. "Umm, I guess so. What is it that you need?"
"I just wanted to clear the air...apologize for what happened between you and Duncan last year. I'm sure you understand that Duncan didn't realize that you'd been drugged when...when he..."
"I get it. The problem there is that he did know that I might be his sister and he neglected to share that little detail. Now, if you don't mind, this conversation is making me very uncomfortable." She took another step away but Jake stepped toward her again.
"I'm really sorry about that misunderstanding. I didn't realize that Celeste had fed him that story back then. This whole thing could have been avoided and maybe you and Duncan...well...I'm just sorry that things turned out like they did."
Veronica gave him a hard look. "What are you trying to say?"
"You're not my daughter, Veronica. Do you think that I would have let Duncan date you in the first place if there was a chance of that?" Jake looked at her questioningly. "I've known for the last four years that you're not mine."
Veronica felt like the world was shifting under her. "How do you know that?"
"You practically lived at our house, Veronica. I got a sample of your hair from your hair brush and sent it in with a sample of my own and had us tested. You're not my daughter."
Veronica moved to her car so she had something to hold on to. "Did Celeste know that?"
Jake shook his head. "Admitting that I needed to do the test was admitting my infidelity. Unfortunately, she knows but she doesn't have proof and I haven't been inclined to enlighten her. I realize now that if I'd told her, she wouldn't have felt like she needed to warn Duncan away from you but obviously it was too late once she'd done that, so I didn't see a need to give her any more ammunition against me. I am sorry that our poor choices—your mother's and mine—had such a negative impact on your life. That wasn't my intent."
"Did my mom tell you that you were my father?" Veronica asked.
"No. When she got pregnant, she insisted that you were Keith's. And it was a lot easier to believe her than worry that she was wrong or just outright lying. But when you and Lilly started hanging around together, all I could see was how alike the two of you were. You were like sisters. And I started to think about how great it would be if you really were sisters. I started to hope that you were. And unfortunately, I didn't control that feeling very well around Celeste. She knew enough to be suspicious and she could sense what I hoped was true, so she resented you for it. Another unfair thing for you because of what your mother and I did. I really am sorry, Veronica." He seemed so sincere but he was still the man who'd help break up her parents' marriage. She needed to stay angry at him.
"So you never told Celeste about the paternity results? Did you tell my mother?"
"No, I didn't think there was any need. She'd always insisted that you were Keith's. I kinda thought maybe she'd done her own test."
"But...the day that Lilly died...my mom told me that she was with you at the Camelot." Jake was visibly startled.
"She told you that?"
"Yeah, but she said she was telling you to make Celeste back off on blackmailing her to try to get her out of town and that she told you that if you didn't get Celeste in line, she was going to have a paternity test done and take you for millions." Veronica watched Jake shaking his head as she spoke and her heart sank.
"She has never suggested that I was your father. She has always insisted the opposite. The timing made it possible though, which is why I finally did the test. I hoped that she'd been wrong. That terrible day, when Lilly died, I was with your mother at the Camelot, but it wasn't to talk about Celeste. It was kind of a standing date we had, Friday afternoons at the Camelot. Until I got home, it was like any other Friday."
Veronica whirled away from him and leaned her forearms against the hood of her car, resting her head on her hands. Lianne had lied about that afternoon to cover up the fact that she and Jake were still involved on a very regular basis. She leaped away when Jake laid his hand against her back. "Veronica? Are you okay?"
"So did this affair go on for my entire life?"
His face burned red. "Not when you were really little. Once she got pregnant with you, Lianne said she wanted to make her marriage work and I went along with her wishes. Then, about the time that you were in kindergarten, we ran into each other at a party and decided to have lunch. After that..."
"So for the next ten years, you had a regular date at the Camelot. Why the hell didn't you just get divorces and stop cheating? Your affair has lasted longer than most marriages. Why?" The tears of rage were threatening to fall but she didn't want to cry in front of him. How could she do this to Dad?
"You're not going to like the answer. Are you sure you want it?" He'd looked red and embarrassed a moment before but now he just looked resigned. She was pretty sure that he was right, and she didn't want the answer, but it was too late to stop now.
"Spit it out, Jake."
"I was building the business. Celeste...can be a little vindictive. Leanne and I agreed that it was better if we just left things like they were. No scandal to ruin anyone. And we agreed, no more children to make things more complicated again. I didn't want to see her pregnant with another child that wasn't mine and she felt that way about Celeste getting pregnant again. So we both made sure there would be no more children for either of us."
She no longer wanted to cry; now she thought she might vomit on his shoes. "Are you saying she had her tubes tied, or something like that?"
"Yes. You and Duncan were in second grade, Lilly was in third. Celeste had been talking about having more children and I didn't tell her I'd already...made sure that couldn't happen. She actually still doesn't know."
Veronica laughed bitterly, shaking her head in disgust. "You're pretty trusting right now. Why are you telling me all this?"
"I don't really know. I suppose you could spill all this to Celeste but you should remember that she's the reason that your mother ran away."
"No, my mother ran away because her indiscretions caught up with her. She can keep running as far as I'm concerned." She walked toward her car. "Thanks for the information, Jake. You've made a lot of things so much clearer for me." She could hear him following her and walked more quickly.
"Veronica, wait. Don't be angry at your mother."
She whirled back to him. "Are you serious? Don't be angry at my mother? After she's cheated on the best man in the world for the majority of my life? No. Angry is the least of the bad emotions I'll be feeling when I think about my mother from now on." She stopped and stared at him, another thought occurring to her. "So, my mother is your alibi for Lilly's murder but Celeste doesn't have one, does she? Maybe it isn't Duncan you're covering up for after all. Since your motive in staying married was to keep the scandal away, maybe you would cover up for Celeste killing your daughter. I assumed it was Duncan because I assumed you'd like a way to get rid of Celeste but now I know your priority has always been shareholder confidence so maybe I was wrong."
Jake stepped toward her again and Veronica was suddenly conscious of everything her dad had been warning her about the other day. "What are you talking about?"
"I'd already worked out that you guys bought off Abel Koontz to cover up for Duncan killing Lilly. I presumed it was accidental when he was having a fit so I decided not to report him. But now, I have to wonder if I got it right." She turned enough to unlock her door without letting Jake out of her sight. "Do you even know? Which of them did it?"
"Celeste and I got home at the same time. We found Duncan holding her by the pool. He was covered in her blood, rocking, completely out of it. He stayed like that for the next three days and when he did come back, he didn't remember anything. We haven't told him. We're afraid of how he will react if he knows." Jake leaned up against the side of the Le Baron, covering his face with his hands. "In a way, I lost both my children that day."
"And too bad for you...you can't make more." Veronica opened her door and threw her bag in, then slid in. "Don't worry about me, Jake. I decided a while ago that it doesn't bring my friend back to get her younger brother arrested for killing her accidentally, so I'm not planning to spill the beans on Duncan. I'm sure you paid Abel handsomely to take this fall so I don't feel sorry enough for him to disturb the status quo." She closed her door and turned the car on. Jake straightened up from his lean on her car and turned to watch her. She put the car in Drive and started to pull away, then stopped and rolled down her window. "And hey, Jake."
"Yes, Veronica," he replied in a tired voice.
"When you see my mother next, tell her she owes me fifty grand, and I never want to see her again." She rolled the window up again and drove away.