44 – Leave It To Weevil

Veronica reveled in her grouchy mood as she sat at her desk at Mars investigations. Too many things had not gone her way in the last week. First, that rat bastard Tad had outed Carmen's popcicle video and she still refused to push play on the retaliatory website that Mac had built. The only bright spot in that situation was arriving at school that morning to find Tad taped to the flagpole.

Working with Carmen and seeing that video had made her think about Shelly's party too, and that was certainly not a good thing. The reminder of Duncan and the extra time she'd had in the last few days had her pulling up the audio files from the bug in Clarence Wiedman's office. From that, she'd learned that the Kanes—Duncan and Celeste at least—had relocated to the Napa house where Duncan was going to school. His—hopefully—permanent relocation was another small bright spot in her week.

So, two creeps seemingly resolved, but the main creep in her life remained an aggravating issue. Aaron had managed to talk Lynn out of sending him to L.A. He had answered Lynn's request for space with the idea that he simply move out to the pool house for a while. He 'couldn't bear to be that far away from her'. Predictably, Lynn had vacillated and then caved. Aaron had been ensconced in the pool house for a week, probably with his home video studio already re-established.

The last aggravating issue was that Veronica had been on her own for a couple of days. Keith got an out-of-town job and he shipped Logan off to the Fennels while he was away. No amount of rationalization would convince him that they would be fine alone in the apartment. As much as she missed having Logan always within easy reach, she knew her dad had made the right call. She grinned to herself as her mind drifted back to the prior afternoon when Logan had dropped her off at the apartment after school.

It was easy to bribe Wallace into the apartment with snickerdoodles. He and Logan both slid up to the island for cookies but as soon as Wallace wasn't looking, she discretely tugged Logan back from the counter and dragged him to her bedroom. She pushed him inside and turned to close the door and flip the lock. She turned back toward him and he pulled her in close to kiss her while spinning them across the room, then falling back onto the bed with her straddling his lap. They continued to kiss as they both started working on the buttons of the other's shirts.

"Oh my God, I've missed you," Logan murmured against her mouth.

She laughed but didn't stop kissing him. "Logan, you've been at the Fennels' for one whole night."

"That's like a month," he said and leaned back enough to nuzzle into the crook of her neck. She sighed with pleasure and her head fell back, then they jerked apart when pounding started on her door.

"Come on, girl, I got instructions. I'm not supposed to leave you guys alone."

She looked at Logan and shook her head, then gave him a long kiss. "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back." She scooted off his lap and went to the door, yanking it open so Wallace could see her gaping shirt front. She had another shirt on underneath it but, as expected, he groaned and threw his hands up in front of his face like he'd been burned. She burst into laughter. She could have had a suit of armor on underneath; it wouldn't matter to Wallace. It was the implication of the partially unbuttoned shirt that Wallace couldn't take.

"Ugh, no, don't do that to me," he whined from behind his hands.

"Well then, leave us alone for a little while. Take Backup to the beach. There's nothing going on here that is going to be a problem for anyone. Just let us have a little time to ourselves."

Wallace backed up a step. "You won't tell my mother, right?"

"Why in the world would I tell your mother? Just go. Give us at least half an hour." She started to push the door shut but he raised his hand to stop it.

"Hold up. I want cookies tomorrow too." She raised her eyebrows and grinned.

"Cookies tomorrow and you go see a movie. A long one." She heard Logan laugh behind her.

"I can't leave you alone that long." He frowned thoughtfully, then nodded. "I'll give you an hour."

"Ninety minutes."

"Deal." He turned to walk into the living room and she called after him.

"Take Backup out please." He raised his hand to acknowledge her and then disappeared. She chuckled and shut the door, locking it again, just in case. She turned back to the bed but stopped when she noticed Logan, now without a shirt, lying back against her pillows with his hands behind his head. She smiled at him and unbuttoned the rest of her top shirt, discarding it as she walked toward him, then moving onto the bed to straddle his hips. "It's inconvenient that he's starting to push back but it kinda makes me proud that he's finally learning to get something for everything he gives." She ran her fingers along the planes of Logan's abs. "I can be a fairly demanding person, you know. Sometimes I take a little bit of advantage of people."

"Really? I've never noticed." She raised her eyebrows at the smirk on his face.

"Was that a slam? You're agreeing that I take advantage?"

"Weren't you listening, Sugarpuss? I said I'd never noticed." He gave her his smarmiest grin and she shook her head at him.

"It wasn't what you said, it was how you said it." She stripped off her second shirt and threw it over her shoulder.

"When did you get so messy? You're throwing stuff everywhere." She shifted to stretch out against his chest.

"It's interesting how much you suddenly care about me being neat. Is this about Dad making you do chores?" She combed her fingers through his hair, clutching his fingers where they were laced together behind his head, using them as leverage to pull herself up his body. She pulled her hands back to brace herself against his chest, grinning suggestively down at him. "Should I get up and hang my shirts up? Or maybe just put them back on? I wouldn't want to offend your delicate housekeeping sensibilities."

Logan wrapped his arms around her, unhooking her bra and snaking it out from between them. With a grin to match her own, he flung it across the room. "I think we're good." He ran his hands up and down her bare back before settling them along the curve of her ass. "Actually, I'm planning on tossing a few more items of both of our clothing around very soon. We don't have all night."

Veronica could feel her mood improving as she sat at her desk, getting a little tingly as she thought about what they'd been able to do with the time she'd negotiated with Wallace. Of course, today, there was none of that kind of action in her future. Her dad was coming back later in the evening and he'd wanted her to open the office for the afternoon and Logan, like the good big brother he was becoming, was off with the Fennels for Darrel's Spring Sports Banquet. Wallace had whined all through lunch that Darrel didn't even care if he came, as long as Logan was there. Veronica was invited also but she was happy to have the office obligation as an excuse to decline.

She'd finished her reading for History and was considering starting research for next week's newspaper article when her phone rang. She picked it up and saw Weevil's name on the screen. "Why, Mr. Navarro. I haven't spoken to you for a week. I truly expected to get a call from lock-up after our last conversation." There was no response and she pulled the phone away from her ear to see if the call was still connected. "Weevil?"

There was rustling from the speaker and then Weevil's voice. "Sorry, Vee. Hang on."

She scrunched her face up, disgruntled at how this call was going so far. "You called me," she said under her breath, tapping her pen on the desk in irritation.

"Okay, I'm back, sorry. Thumper just came in and I had to get somewhere private. Where are you? We need to talk."

"My dad told me I needed to stop smartening up the local criminal element—that's you, by the way—but I'm giving you this one for free. We are talking, Weevil."

"Aren't you a laugh riot. We need to meet."

"I'm at the office. I was going to close up in about fifteen minutes and then go home. Why can't we just talk on the phone?" She sighed and tapped her pen again.

"Umm, that thing we talked about before...what you mentioned when you answered? Well, I did it and now I have something you're gonna want to see."

She shook her head in frustration. "Weevil, why can't you just tell me what you're talking about?"

"Your pal Mac told me that cell phones are all monitored. I don't think we should talk about this on the phone."

"I doubt that either of us are the focus of any cell phone tapping by the Feds, Weevil. Just tell me."

There was a flurry of cursing that got Veronica's attention. "Dammit, Vee. You're gonna want to see what I've got but we're doing this my way. Should I meet you at the office?"

"Okay, okay, geez. Don't bust something. Come on over. I'll see you in a few." She ended the call and then sat for a minute, wondering what he had to tell her that he wouldn't discuss if someone else could overhear. Something that he'd managed not to get arrested for. She got up and started to close down the office for the day while she waited for him, turning off the coffee, cleaning the few items in the sink, and locking the file cabinets. She had everything done and was waiting for Weevil to show when the office phone rang. Since she was ready to leave, she let the call go to the answering machine. As the machine clicked over to record, she was surprised to hear Lynn's voice coming through the speaker.

"Umm, Keith, it's Lynn. You told me to call if I needed help. I'm not sure but I might. Uhhh...oh I really wish you were there."

Veronica lifted the handset. "Lynn, hey, it's Veronica. Sorry, I was closing up. Dad's not here. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, Veronica, hi. Should I try his cell?" Her voice sounded unsteady.

"You can but he's driving back from Palm Desert today and the cell reception isn't always the greatest through some of that trip. Is there something I can do for you?"

"No, I'm fine. Look, just forget I called. Don't tell Logan."

"Oh no, I'm not playing that game with him. Tell me what's going on and maybe I'll help you." Veronica had been trying to empathize with Lynn, understand why she was having such a hard time breaking free of Aaron, but the request that she keep a secret from Logan brought the anger raging back.

"There's nothing going on. I just..." Lynn's heavy sigh rolled through the phone. "I told Aaron that I thought he should go back to L.A. today. He wasn't very happy."

Veronica's anger turned to concern. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. He said...well, he said..." Her voice trailed off and Veronica could hear her crying.

"Is he gone?"

"He said that if I thought I could be rid of him than I was stupider than I looked. Then he stormed out. That was a few hours ago and I haven't seen him since."

"Is anyone still there? Are you alone?"

"There's only Mrs. Navarro today and she should be going home soon. I've been up in my room since he left. I just don't know if he's gonna come back..." She started to cry again.

"Okay, Lynn, I'm gonna come over and hang with you until Dad and Logan are back. That should be in the next couple of hours. If you're scared, just lock your door and stay where you are. I've got a key so I can let myself in. Just don't shoot me or anything when I knock on your door."

"I don't have a gun, Veronica. The only guns I know how to use are props."

Veronica rolled her eyes and a cutting comment about self-defense nearly escaped her but the bell sounded over the door and Veronica turned, panicked for a moment that Aaron might have come looking for her. Instead, Weevil walked in. "Hey Lynn, I've got some muscle to hang with us too. We'll be there in a few minutes." She hung up the phone and looked at Weevil. "Hope you don't have plans for the evening. Consider yourself conscripted."

"Dunno what that means, Vee. Let me show you..."

"Show me on the way. We've gotta go." She grabbed her bag and headed for the door. She gave him a push back out into the hallway and then turned to lock the office door.

"Veronica? What are we doing?" Weevil looked at her suspiciously but followed her down the stairs.

"Lynn told Aaron to hit the road and now she's sitting home freaked out. I told her I'd come sit with her til my dad gets back in town. You, my friend, get to hang with us." They reached the LeBaron and Weevil stopped with a grimace.

"My grandmother never has anything good to say about him. Is he as bad as all that?"

"Trust me, he's worse." Veronica unlocked the car doors, then pulled the driver's side door open, dropping her bag into the back seat.

"So, why not just have her come to your house? Or go to a hotel?"

"Get in, Weevil," she said as she slipped into the car. He opened the door but stood next to the car for another moment, like he was still not convinced. "Look, the point is to keep the house for Lynn and Logan. If she takes off, I'm afraid he'll just waltz back in and they'll never get him out." Weevil finally sighed and climbed reluctantly into the car.

As she headed for 09'er territory, he spoke up again. "You know, I'm not sure this idea you have about staking out the house like it's the Alamo really makes sense."

"Could we pick a slightly more successful analogy than the Alamo?" Veronica scoffed.

"Umm, Midway?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Weevil. Two historical references in a row! Color me impressed."

He rolled his eyes. "Even PeeWee Herman knows about the Alamo. And I kinda dig World War II history."

She laughed. "Well, unfortunately I don't have a naval fleet or any fighter pilots on hand so Midway doesn't really apply. Anyway, I'm not expecting to have to repulse boarders but if she takes off, he could just stroll back in and then she's never getting rid of him."

"So we're just hanging out til...when?"

"Til my dad turns up, I guess. And speaking of..." She grabbed her bag from the floor by his feet and dragged it up to dig around in it one-handed, finally pulling out her phone. She poked the phone a couple times, then held it to her ear.

"Urgh, straight to voicemail," she said as her dad's message ran. "Okay, here goes. Hey Dad! I'm heading for the Echolls; Lynn asked Aaron to go back to L.A. tonight and she's a little freaked out by herself at the house. Call when you get this. I'm not sure what the best thing for her to do would be. Thanks! Love you!" She ended the call and dropped the phone back in her bag. "Logan's phone will be off; he's with Wallace's family at this school thing for Wallace's little brother. I'll probably try him in another hour or so."

"Echolls is with Fennel's family? How'd that happen?"

"Wallace has the best mom of the three of us. So we're all kinda sharing her these days."

"Huh. Weird."

Veronica laughed. "Well, we've all been kinda borrowing your grandmother too so don't go thinking you're all that far removed from the weirdness. So, you wanna tell me what you were so desperate to see me about?"

"Oh, is it finally my turn? Okay, well...I kinda broke into the Kanes' last night."

"What?" she shrieked, slamming her hand against her steering wheel, making the car swerve briefly into the next lane. "You kinda broke into the Kanes'? Why would you do that?"

"If they're going to reopen Lilly's case, there's something I needed that I thought would be in her room. So, I went looking."

She shook her head at him in dismay and he shrugged. "Did you find what you were looking for? Is that what you want to show me?"

"Not at first. But then I remembered when you told my grandmother that if something happened to you or Echolls that there was a letter for your dad in your vent."

"So you went looking in Lilly's vent?" Despite herself, Veronica grinned at him. "What did you find?"

"A little of this, a little of that."

"Weevil!" He snickered at her frustrated exclamation.

"I found what I was looking for. But I also found two tapes. Just like the ones you've been hiding in my grandmother's closet."

She gave him a quick look of surprise. "What do you mean, just like? They're just video tapes."

"They're those weird mini tapes. Maybe they're something totally different. I just thought you'd be interested since you guys had such a hard-on for those other ones."

"Did you take them too? Do you have them?"

"As a matter of fact..." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled two tapes out. She held out her hand and he placed one in it.

"This is the same brand. But, it's the same thing I used when I was using my little mini video camera. These could be tapes that I made. We used to record ourselves all the time. We had a thing for singing and dancing on camera." She could feel her face warming pink. "We were kinda dorks."

"Sounds like it. So maybe this is nothing but your American Idol auditions. Do you still have your mini camera?" He reached for the tape back and slipped both of them back into his pocket.

"Yeah, I do, but it's at home and I don't want to wait that long if I don't have to. I'm a very curious person." She flinched at his shout of laughter. "Shut up. I'm pretty sure I know where there's a tape player at Logan's. We'll take a quick look before we head up to Lynn."

"What if these are related to your top secret tapes? I get to watch?"

She frowned. "If you do, you need to promise me that you won't use anything you see to harass Logan."

"Why would I do that?" he said with a smirk.

"Harass him or promise me?"

"I think you know the answer to that, Vee."

"Actually, I have no idea what you're saying. So you can wait outside while I take a peek." She looked at him, challenging him to argue with raised eyebrows. He put his hands up and shook his head.

"You know, I didn't have to say anything to you about this. Coulda gone out and found a player and watched these tapes and you woulda never known." Out of the corner of her eye, Veronica saw him settle back into his seat, his arms crossed in front of him.

"That's true. So, maybe you can watch. Let's see if there's even a player to use." She saw him nod and they were silent for the rest of the trip.

Veronica pulled up into the Echolls' driveway, parking so she could pull either forward or back to get out. Lynn had said that Aaron was gone but they needed to make sure of that before they pulled those tapes out. It was most likely that these were Lilly's copy of the Homecoming footage that she'd shared with Logan for the memorial video last October or other embarrassing footage that she didn't want Celeste to stumble on. But if Weevil's first thought had been right, and these were some of Aaron's tapes, what had she been doing with them? It was not impossible to see Lilly blackmailing Aaron with all of his indiscretions but he hadn't been all that concerned when they'd tried to do the same. Maybe she'd tried and he'd laughed her off so she never did anything with them? Veronica's mind was swirling with the possibilities and while she really hoped that Aaron was gone, she also hoped that he was enough of a creep to have set the recorder up in the pool house again so she could satisfy her curiosity.

"Okay, let's check the garage first. Make sure Aaron's car is gone." She led Weevil to the side door of the garage and peeked inside. There were several cars parked but the roadster that Aaron usually drove was gone. "Looks like she was right. Now we're off to the pool house." She crossed the patio and stopped at the sliding door to the front room of the pool house. They hadn't been in here since the day Logan watched all the videos. The space felt contaminated. How much do you really need to see these tapes, Veronica?

"Vee? What are we doing?" Weevil reached past her and slid the door open. "Come on, if we're doing this, let's get it over with." He stepped inside and held the blinds out of the way for her. "Veronica?"

"I'm coming." She took a deep breath, then stepped inside. "It feels like Aaron in here," she said with a shudder. "I guess that's just cuz he's been living in here for the last week." She looked around. "It does look like he cleared out though. There's nothing here that's not here all the time." She turned to Weevil. "Why don't you give me the tapes and then have a seat. If there's a player in here, it's in the bedroom." He reached into his pocket and handed her the tapes. She took them and started toward the bedroom. "There's probably soda and stuff behind the bar while you wait."

"Quite the hostess with the mostest you've become, Vee," he said condescendingly. "Just go watch your show and call me if it's good. I wouldn't mind seeing you and Lilly doing a dance routine."

"Dream on, Weevs," she said and entered the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Unfortunately, there was evidence of Aaron living in this room and it wasn't limited to the piles of clothes and unmade bed. The fake shelves were pulled apart and the video player was set up again. Veronica moved to the bathroom and tapped gently on the closed door. There was no answer so she opened the door to peek inside. It was empty but there were towels flung over the shower walls and a razor and toothbrush on the edge of the sink. "This doesn't look moved out to me," she murmured under her breath.

She left the bathroom and stood in front of the open shelving. There was another six-pack of the mini-tapes, torn open with four tapes still in the wrapping and one lying loose. She pressed eject and the sixth tape was revealed in the machine. "Has he been sneaking women in here since he moved back? And why would he leave this all open? Lynn could come in here anytime." Suddenly certain that Aaron was in the room with her, Veronica whirled around, looking in every direction but the room was as empty as it had been when she entered. "All right, Veronica. Get it together," she said under her breath and pulled the tape out of the machine then slipped one of the ones that Weevil had given her into the player. It was queued a little past the beginning so she hit rewind and, when it stopped, play.

The same room she was in appeared on the screen. There was no one in the picture. "Not an American Idol audition," Veronica muttered. She fast-forwarded a bit and then hit play again when Lilly entered the picture. She was dressed in her pep squad uniform, long hair ironed straight. She looked just how Veronica saw her still, dressed like she was...on that last day. Veronica watched Lilly call out for her lover, then flop back onto the mattress...and spot the camera. She appeared again in the alternate camera view, appearing to be testing where the camera was hidden, and then the tape cut off.

I've got a secret. A good one. Was the secret that she'd discovered Aaron was taping women in the poolhouse?

Veronica pulled the second tape out of its case. It had 'Oct 1' written on it. The other tape had not had any writing on it. Veronica looked at the tapes that had been on the shelf when she arrived. The one she'd removed from the machine was blank. The other one had 'Apr 27' on it, two days earlier. It appeared that Aaron probably dated the tapes after they'd been recorded. Obviously the tape with Lilly finding the camera wasn't there for Aaron to put a date on it because Lilly had stolen it. Veronica thought back to when they had been in their pep squad uniforms before that last day. It was so long ago, it was hard for her to remember when they might have been wearing their uniforms and Lilly would have been over meeting Logan in the pool house afterwards.

But the Oct 1 tape. Obviously, if that did reflect the date it was recorded, Lilly had to have been in the pool house after that date. She died on the third. And Logan wasn't even in the country on October 1st or 2nd. And he was there for much too short a time on the 3rd to meet Lilly after the car wash. So why would she have been anywhere near the pool house—or the Echolls' home at all—after October 1? She looked nervously over her shoulder again as the pieces started to fall into place. No one there. She popped the tape of Lilly out of the machine and put the Oct 1 tape in. She hit play where it was and the picture of the bed appeared again. It wasn't empty this time but only bodies shifting and moving could be seen under the sheets.

She watched with her hand over her mouth as the camera view changed and she clearly saw that the woman in the picture was Lilly. "No, no, Lilly." The angle switched to bodies again, then another change and Aaron's chuckle came through the speaker right before his face popped up into the screen. He was very clearly making eye contact with the camera. "Oh no, no, no. Why?" Aaron's face in front of her made her spin away and she sagged against the bookshelf. Lilly had been sleeping with Aaron, found out about the camera, and ran away with the proof. On the day she died. Duncan didn't get upset and kill her. He probably found her body and was so upset he had a seizure. Veronica was nearly certain that Aaron had realized what Lilly had done and chased her down. Then, when she wouldn't give him the tapes that she'd already hidden in her vent, he'd killed her.

The curtains to the sliding door into the bedroom fluttered and Veronica gasped and banged up against the shelf she was already leaning on. Nothing more than her heart trying to beat through her chest happened. Aaron didn't come through the door to deal with her like he'd dealt with Lilly. She stepped toward the bed to grab her bag and pulled her taser out of it, then crept silently to the slider and pulled the curtain suddenly to the side, brandishing her taser in front of her. The door was ajar, but there was no one there. She peered out to see if there was anyone lurking on that side of the building but saw no one. The sun was almost down so the shadows were long across the side yard but there wasn't anywhere to hide. She stepped back in and closed the sliding door, triggering the door lock and locking the track so even if the lock didn't work, the door wouldn't slide.

With the state of the bedroom, she was very concerned that Aaron had been in the pool house when they entered and that he had escaped before she went into the bedroom. But where was his car? And how much did he hear? Did he know she had the tapes of Lilly?

She pulled the Oct 1 tape out and dropped both tapes and her taser into her bag. She looked back at the shelf at the tape labeled Apr 27. Do I take it too? Prove that he's still taping women he's cheating with? But then he knows for sure someone was here. Her hand wavered over the tape when a knocking sound made her shriek and whirl around.

"Veronica, what the hell is taking so long?" Weevil's voice came through the door. She glanced once more at the Apr 27 tape, then grabbed her bag and walked away. Just in case he doesn't already know, I'm leaving that one there. There was a lot more at stake here than sexual indiscretions. She opened the bedroom door and slipped through it, not wanting Weevil to see the camera set-up.

"Okay, let's go see Lynn."

"No dancing?" Weevil smirked at her. She ducked her head as she walked past him so he wouldn't see her face. She still needed to get a grip on her emotions.

"No, unfortunately no dancing. Come on, let's go." She went to the door and peeked out of the blinds. She saw no one so opened the slider cautiously. "Keep your eyes open. If you see Aaron, speak up."

She lead him across the patio to the door that took them to the kitchen, looking everywhere as they went. The kitchen door was unlocked and they slipped inside. She was still on high alert in case Aaron was lurking around. As they crossed through the kitchen, Weevil bumped into her and she jumped away from him.

"Hey, easy, it's just me." He stopped walking for a minute. "What's happening? Girl, I've never seen you so wound so tight."

"Let's just get to Lynn's room, okay?" she asked in a pleading voice and he furrowed his eyebrows.

"All right, lead the way." They passed through the kitchen but Veronica stopped short at the dark living room ahead.

"Hang on," she said, and reached back into her bag for her taser. She sparked it experimentally and she heard Weevil's intake of breath.

"Get wherever we're going and then you better have an explanation for this." She nodded, not looking away from the murk of the living room, and then lead him through to the stairs.

The trip down the hallway past all the closed bedroom doors seemed endless but then they were in front of Lynn's door. She knocked and called out, "Lynn, it's Veronica." She tried the door but it was locked so she tried knocking again and called out more loudly. "Lynn?"

The door pulled open revealing Lynn's tear-stained face. "I was starting to think you weren't coming," she said, reaching for Veronica's arm, stopping short at the sight of the taser in her hand. "Veronica? What is that?"

Weevil pushed Veronica into the room from behind and spoke to Lynn. "Is my grandmother still here?"

"She went home about a half hour ago. I almost asked her to stay with me but I felt like I was being a scaredy-cat."

"Lynn, are you sure Aaron left? We were just in the pool house and he's got clothes all over the bedroom and a razer and toothbrush in the bathroom. It didn't look like someone who'd packed up."

"He didn't pack up anything. I told him I wasn't sure this was working and asked him to go back to Los Angeles. He stormed out, got in his car, and left. I watched him go. He didn't go back to the pool house before he left."

Veronica let out a huge sigh of relief. "That makes me feel a lot better. I was concerned that he might have been in there when we got there. The slider out of the bedroom was open."

"He always leaves that door open. Says he likes being able to go straight into the bathroom from the pool. Of course, now that I know about his camera set-up in there, he probably left it open so it was easy for him to slip women in and out." Lynn said matter-of-factly, the tinge of bitterness not well concealed. Weevil's eyebrows shot up to about the top of his head at her words and he looked directly at Veronica, tipping his head to one side, his expression very clearly saying, 'what the hell?' She sighed and gave him a tiny headshake.

"I'm sorry to ask this but was there anyone unusual here two days ago? Wednesday?"

"He had a meeting with his agent. The agent's assistant came along to take notes. Tall brunette, very short skirt. Aaron looked at her way too much. That was really the last straw. That's why I finally told him today that I thought he should go." Lynn made a sound of disgust then walked to the corner of her room to sit in a wingback chair. "Why are you sorry to ask? Did you find something in the pool house that suggested he'd had someone in there?"

"Maybe." Veronica followed her to the seating area. "The tape set-up is back in there and there's a tape with Wednesday's date on it."

"That bastard."

"I don't know for sure, I didn't watch it." Veronica hesitated, concerned Lynn might break down again. But instead of crying, she was finally starting to look angry. "It just...the date on it was like some of the others. It...seems likely that it is a new recording."

"Well, you know what? Let's go find out." Lynn stood and started for the door.

"Hold up," Weevil said, stepping forward. Lynn spun towards him with a look of surprise, almost like she'd forgotten he was there. "There's something else going on here and we aren't leaving this room until it's cleared up. We skulked through this house like thieves. I've never seen you like this, Vee. What else did you see in there? What was on the tapes I brought you?"

"What tapes did he bring you?" Lynn asked.

Veronica threw an angry look at Weevil.

"Are you aware of the word 'discretion'?"

"Too many syllables for me." He directed himself to Lynn. "I found two tapes in Lilly Kane's bedroom. They looked like the tapes that Vee and her boy t—umm...Logan were hiding. Seemed to me that they could be related so I brought them to her today. And now, I'm thinking I was right." He switched his gaze to Veronica. "So?"

Veronica stood silently for a moment, eyes downcast, trying to figure out what she wanted to say but Lynn broke in first. "Lilly had tapes of Aaron's in her room?" Veronica nodded. "Was she on them?" Veronica's eyes shot up to meet Lynn's. "I thought there might have been something going on. I caught her behind the house once when Logan wasn't here. It was the week before she died. At first...when we heard what had happened...I thought that Aaron might have been the one but then that man confessed. But it's turned out that he was lying, hasn't it?" Both Veronica and Weevil nodded silently and Lynn turned away from them, pressing her hand to her mouth. "I really thought that meant that your dad was right and the Kanes were covering something up so Aaron couldn't have been involved. But what if..." Lynn dropped her hand and squared her shoulders as she turned back to them. "So what was on the tapes?"

Veronica took a deep breath. "One is undated but it looks like the day Lilly died. She's dressed just like she was when I saw her last, and when I saw her...after. She's in the pool house and she notices the camera in the ceiling fan. She messes around like she's watching the monitor to see where the other camera is and then the tape goes dead."

Lynn nodded, like she wasn't surprised. "So the last thing she does before she dies is figure out that Aaron's got a set-up to tape himself in bed."

"That might be true," Veronica said, trying not to steer Lynn to any particular conclusions.

"So what's on the other tape then?" Weevil asked.

Lynn nodded at Veronica. "Yes, what's on the other tape?"

Veronica dropped her head, not wanting to look at either of them. She rubbed her forehead, suddenly realizing that Weevil believed he'd been in love with Lilly, and telling him this story was going to be hard. Though nowhere near as hard as it was going to be telling Logan.

"The other tape said October 1st. Two days before she was killed. Maybe the day you saw her out back, Lynn. The tape was of her..." Veronica reached up to press the pendant of her necklace, a gift from Lilly, against her throat before she could continue, "and Aaron...together...in bed."

Lynn turned away, running her hands through her hair like her son did under stress. Weevil stumbled backwards, dropping onto the edge of Lynn's bed.

"They were together?" he choked out. "Like together, together?"

"Yes." She couldn't bring herself to be any more specific about what she'd seen on the tape.

"Okay then," Lynn said, "I think it's a safe assumption that Lilly stole the tapes and ran away and Aaron followed to get them back and ended up killing her when she wouldn't give them to him. We need to get those tapes to the police so they can start looking for him. I'm not going to feel safe until he's behind bars."

"I agree," Weevil said. "Veronica? You've got the tapes in your bag?"

"Uh huh."

"All right. Get out your keys and your taser. I'm going first out of here. Stick right with me. We'll get out of here, to your car, and go straight to the station."

"Hang on, let me try Dad again. Maybe we should wait and let Lamb come to us." Veronica reached in her bag and grabbed her phone, but Weevil grabbed her arm.

"You could be waiting til tomorrow for Lamb to show. I feel like a sitting duck just waiting here. Let's go, you can call your dad in the car."

"He's right, Veronica. He could come back here anytime," Lynn said, sounding nervous. Her nerves were apparently contagious because suddenly Veronica wanted out of the house too.

"Okay then. You're going first, Weevil?"

"Yeah. You're right behind me with the taser. Mrs. Echolls, stay right with Veronica." Weevil walked to the door and stood for a moment with his hand on the door knob. "Hit the lights. I don't want to announce ourselves with a flood of light showing where we are." Lynn nodded and turned to a lamp, switching it off. That left the room in murky darkness, lit only by the light that was still on in the bathroom.

"How's that? So we can at least see where the door is?" Lynn asked Weevil.

"Yeah, probably fine. Are you ready?" Lynn nodded at Weevil. "Vee?"

"I guess." She switched on the taser and then grabbed Lynn's arm to pull them right together. "Let's go."

Weevil nodded and unlocked the door, then turned the knob slowly and silently. As he edged the door open, Veronica could see over his shoulder that it was very dark in the hallway. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears and the hand gripping the taser felt slick wiith sweat. She realized that even when she thought the agent was a kidnapper, she hadn't felt this afraid.

Weevil opened the door further, then stepped cautiously out into the dark hallway, heading for the stairs. Veronica had a clear view of him, when suddenly an arm grabbed him from behind and he vanished into the darkness of the hallway going away from the staircase. There was a sudden commotion and she scrambled to get to Weevil, brandishing the taser but it was too dark and she couldn't see anything until suddenly, Aaron's face loomed into the partial light, and then, everything went black.


So, committed to one more action chapter, then a prologue, and then onto my next story beginning on 12/3. Well, that last action chapter...it's gotten really long. I don't want to push back the start of 'Dissolutioned'' it's been done for a couple of months and I'm tired of waiting. And, this cliffhanger is probably bad enough, I don't want to pull the climax into two chapters with a week in between. So, the plan, at this exact moment, is to do the final chapter in 2 parts and post them at the same time, next Saturday, 11/19. It'll be like one of the 2 hour episodes they produce in two pieces so they can play them in one hour increments during re-runs. That way, if you only have time for 6000 words, you can read part one now and part two later, but if you've got time for 12K, you can read 'em both. Now, the only issue is getting part 2 done. It's a really busy week coming up but it's almost done so I'm optimistic. Keep those fingers crossed for me... :)