Hearing the bell of the elevator, the two look up to see a woman in a black hat and sunglasses walking out.
"That's her." Logan rushes over to the mysterious woman and spins her around. "Mom?"
"Oh. Hey, Logan. Did you just call me Mom? You okay, brother? You know Mom's gone, right?"
'And the reasonable explanation rears its ugly head. Poor Logan. Why didn't I think that his sister might also have access to his mom's cards?' Veronica berated herself.
"Oh, wow. You're supposed to be in Australia."
"Yeah that didn't quite work out." She replied turning her attention to the blonde next to her brother. "Veronica, hey!"
"Hey Trina." Veronica mumbled in response.
"So, is the whole brat pack here? What is this, like prom night? You guys get a room here for some after party? Oh, I've been kinda out of the loop lately. Are you two-." Trina started only to have Logan cut her off.
"Stop. You shut up." He was not appreciating his sister's implications. "You're wearing Mom's clothes, you're wearing Mom's hat."
"She was your mom. My step mom, the lady who liked to parade around the house in a string bikini whenever I had a boy over."
"Well, to be fair, when didn't you have a boy over?"
"Oh you."
"Dad could have used you there."
"So now you're worried about Dad's welfare? Isn't he the Big Bad Wolf? Cigarette burns and broken noses? Oh those stories you used to tell." She was taunting him. He had reached out to his sister for help and she ignored him. Thought he was making up stories. Now, she was using it to spit in his face. He was pissed.
"Wow we should get together and do this more often." He responded sarcastically hoping that she didn't see how much her jab had hurt him.
"Yeah, well you're in luck. I'm heading home now. I guess some accountant finally cancelled Mom's cards."
"But if you're coming home, who will play dead hooker number two on CSI this week? How will you get your attention fix?"
"Maybe I can be the ring girl at one of your bum fights."
Veronica could tell this conversation was quickly getting out of hand. If she didn't stop it, the two would probably come to blows. She had to get Logan out of there before he said or did something he would later regret. "You know what, should we get going, Logan?"
"Veronica, look at you. All grown up. Hey, we should hang out when I'm in town."
"Okay, yeah." Veronica answered, blowing Trina off, desperate to get Logan away from her. "Logan, come on, let's go."
She had started to pull him away from his sister and ignored the comment she called after them. Suddenly, Logan seemed to stumble and the next thing she knew he let out a sob. Her heart broke for Logan once again that day seeing his normally touch exterior crumble before her very eyes. Not knowing what else to do, she put her arms around him and felt him press against her, holding on to her for dear life as he mourned the death of his mother.
The car ride back to Neptune was as quiet as the ride to LA. This time though, it was due to Logan's sleeping. She was grateful that he had worn himself out with his breakdown. He needed all of the sleep he could get. After what seemed like forever, she finally pulled up to the Echolls' residence.
"Logan come on. We're at your house now. You need to wake up. I don't think I'll be able to carry you to your room."
After some incoherent mumbling, he allowed Veronica to pull him out of the car and led him to the guesthouse where they had played poker just weeks before. He was back asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Trying to make him more comfortable, she removed his shoes and placed the blanket over him. She stood next to him and watched him as he slept. He looked so peaceful that you wouldn't know to look at him that he had just lost his mother.
Then she thought back to the fight between Logan and Trina. She hadn't seen any cigarette burns on him but she knew his nose had been broken several times. It made her sick to think that Mr. Echolls could be responsible for it. She wondered if Lilly had known about the abuse but doubted it. Lilly would have told her if she suspected Logan was being abused. She wasn't one to sit back and let someone hurt one of her loved ones. She would have come to Veronica for help to expose Aaron's wrong doings.
All Veronica knew was that Logan shouldn't be alone. She wished she could stay with him but she knew it would probably be awkward between them if he found her there when he woke up the next morning. Not knowing whom else to call, she dialed Duncan's number. Without giving any details, she asked him to come over because Logan needed him. He showed up ten minutes later quietly demanding to know what was going on.
She led Duncan outside so they didn't wake Logan up. She explained about the video, the credit card and the confrontation with Trina. Veronica could tell that Duncan was extremely upset about being out of the loop with the whole investigation but he just thanked her for calling him and told her to go home, walking back into the guest house to his best friend.