The Blue and Gold was housed in as innocuous a classroom as any other. A computers, flash drives, cameras, and specialty paper lay strewn about the room, but it didn't seem like anyone but Betty and Jughead actually ever used the space.

Veronica set her things down as Betty guided her around the room, explaining how her parents were journalists, and how her mom had made the school paper what it was today. She offered Veronica use of the school's photojournalism equipment, but Veronica insisted on using her own.

"Where to first?" Veronica asked Betty, eager to get on with the case. Her new friends were pleasant, to be sure, but they were still teenagers.

"How about you start with telling us who you are?"

She turned around to see Jughead twirling her taser in his hand. She tried keeping up the charade. "I'm probably not supposed to have that here, am I? I went out and bought it as soon as I heard a kid had been murdered –"

"Save it," Jughead interrupted. "I noticed yesterday something was weird with you. Too formal, a few small creases in your face. How old are you?"

Betty spoke up. "Jug, stop it! What's wrong with you?"

He didn't relent. "You can't fool an abused kid when it comes to body language. Who are you?"

"Veronica, I'm so sorry…"

"No, Betty. He's right." Veronica took a deep breath and hoped she wasn't in the presence of a murderer. "My name is Veronica Mars. I'm a private investigator from Neptune, California. The Blossoms hired me to look into Jason's death." She kept eye contact with Jughead, wanting to prove she was telling the truth. Finally, he nodded.

"Well, Betts, this operation just got a little more legit."

"Mars… why do I know that name? I know my mom is always looking through articles…"

Veronica shrugged. "The Bonnie DeVille murder? Aurora Scott kidnapping?"

"Oh my God, that you?!" Betty looked like she might shriek. Or hug her. Maybe both. "I have to tell my mom…"

"No," Veronica said sternly. "No one else can know. Not even your friends. The more people who know, the less I'm able to do my job." Veronica could be the adult in the room when occasion called for it, and today she was literally and figuratively the only adult.

"Besides, it's not like your parents are exactly in the clear," Jughead added. "I think your mom might die if she doesn't curse Jason Blossom at least twice a day."

Whoa. Major red flag. "Why do your parents hate Jason Blossom?"

Betty looked around, then closed the classroom door. "Jason dated my sister Polly. He meant everything to Polly, but she meant nothing to him. When they broke up, it ruined her, and my parents sent her off to some house for wayward girls. I haven't seen her in months."

"What are your parents' names?" Veronica strode over to her bag and pulled out her reporter's notebook.

"Um, Hal and Alice Cooper."

Alice Cooper, right on. She flipped to a clean page and wrote out three names:

Hal Cooper

Alice Cooper

Polly Cooper

For a moment, she considered writing Betty's name, but she closed the notebook and hoped her hunch to trust Betty was justified.

"Okay," Veronica said at last. "Betty, I need you to find out everything you can. Why they broke up, if they said anything to each other before Jason's death, where your parents sent her… We need all of it, okay?"

Betty nodded.

"And what are you going to do?" It was Jughead now, his eyes still skeptical.

"I'm going to talk with your friendly neighborhood sheriff."

"Sheriff Keller?" Betty asked. "He's not going to be in a good mood. His son Kevin texted me this morning and told me his murder board had been swiped last night when everyone was at the drive-in."

"It was the hurrah before Archie's dad tears it down for his bigshot client," Jughead said morosely.

Veronica made a few more notes.

Sheriff Keller – Kevin, son

Missing murder board – perp could not have been at movies

"Okay," Veronica sighed. "We're going to have to hit the ground running, but I have a good feeling about this one."

"Why's that?" The other two spoke almost in unison. They were kind of cute together, if Veronica was being honest.

"The first time I solved a murder, I was working for my school paper." She smiled warmly at them and hoped they were trustworthy. "It's nice to have a good team."

Maybe one day they'll look back on this and say "Veronica Mars? We know her. A long time ago, we used to be friends."