Duncan was tossing his stuff in his duffel bag for the trip. Truth be told he was glad that Veronica wasn't going. He regretted letting Logan talk him into inviting her from the start. He knew that Logan had intended to share a room with her and Duncan wasn't sure how he felt about that. Except that throwing up came to mind.

He tried to accept that the two of them were a couple now. He really did. Only every time that he saw them together he wanted to punch something and cry out in frustration. He had been robbed of the love of his life.

He had tried to do the right thing. He broke up with Veronica because he thought she was his sister. Was he supposed to keep dating her after being burdened with that small detail? And now that he knew they weren't related he felt cheated. It had all been for nothing and it the meantime she'd moved on.

She had told him they couldn't get back together because she wasn't the same person any more. To which his reply had been "no duh". He knew she wasn't the same sweet, naïve big eyed girl he used to date. But despite the circumstances of her change, he liked the new Veronica Mars just as much as the old one. He loved how confident she was, how smart, how clever.

And he hated that it was Logan she was with now. Never in a million years would he have seen that coming. And because Logan was his best friend he couldn't do anything about it. But he certainly wanted to.

His dark and gloomy thoughts were interrupted by the knock at the door. He tossed his trunks in his suitcase and walked to the front door. He felt a mixture of pain and joy when he found Veronica on the other side of the door.

"Hey," he said carefully. "Does this mean your dad's going to let you go?"

"Uh, no," Veronica replied. "I just wanted to give you this." She handed him a bottle of suntan lotion. "I know how easily you burn."

"Oookay." He took the bottle and let her in. She stepped inside and glanced around. "My parents aren't home," he said, guessing correctly that they were the last people on Earth she wanted to run into.

"Oh, good," she said, than caught herself. "I mean—well—oh good."

Duncan smiled. He hoped he didn't sound pathetically hopeful when he said: "So why are you really here?"

Veronica looked at him and frowned.

"If I ask you something will you promise not to ask me any questions or tell anyone that I asked?"

Now he frowned.

"I guess."

"What do you know about Troy Vandegraff?"

That knocked the wind out of his sails.

"Troy?"

"You're friends, right?"

"Well we use to be. I haven't seen him in a while. Didn't you go to Homecoming with him last year?"

"Yeah," she replied and didn't sound particularly happy about it.

"Well, his family used to have the slip next to ours at the marina. Every summer we use to hang. His parents were there this year but no sign of Troy. They were pretty mum about where he was. I think Logan told me he got shipped to some boarding school."

"Do you know any of his other friends?"

"Well he got along with pretty much everyone he came into contact with."

Veronica dug a picture out of her purse and showed it to him.

"Does this person look familiar?"

"Uh, yeah, actually."

"Do you know anything about her? Where she hung out? Who she hung out with?"

Duncan shrugged. "Not really. But I can make a couple of calls I guess."

"That would be great."

"But you know we leave for the river in, like an hour." The "we" meaning Logan, seemed to be implied.

Veronica bit her lip.

"I know. Like I said, you can't tell anyone about this."

Duncan reached over and rubbed her arm.

"You're not in any trouble are you?"

"Nothing I can't handle." She said with a fake smile that didn't reassure Duncan in any way.

"If I were the jealous type this is the point where I'd have to get all kinds of ugly." Logan dropped his duffel bag on the floor with a thud. "After all, it's not like I just found my girlfriend with her ex."

Duncan dropped his hand away from Veronica. Veronica tried not to groan.

Subtle, Duncan, very subtle.

Instead she smiled and walked over to Logan.

"Good thing you're not the jealous type." She put her arms around his neck and directed his deadly gaze away from Duncan to her own. "Because we all know where my heart belongs, don't we?"

Logan looked down into her eyes and he felt the tension ease out of him. She was nothing, he knew, if not loyal to the people she loved. If she hadn't been, Lilly's real murderer would never have been found.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He leaned down and kissed her. "Old habits die hard."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Veronica pulled up in front of Troy's house with the sick feeling of betrayal in her stomach. She had no problems with bending the truth from time to time for the greater good. But straight out lying, especially to Logan, made her queasy.

She watched Troy came bounding out of the house, looking positively giddy. He was in an eyesore of a Hawaiian shirt, a patch of pink suntan lotion on his nose and a big floppy hat. Despite the outfit, watching him cross the lawn reminded her of a time ages ago when she had just driven home from Arizona after a fruitless trip of trying to find her mom. She had been devastated and she'd pulled up in front of his house and called him. He'd come out of the house with a reassuring smile and he'd hugged her. Comforted her in the darkness. But she shook her head as he climbed in next to her. It had all been a lie. Every minute of it.

"You seem chipper," she said suspiciously.

"I have a beautiful woman at my side, the sun at my back, a night of fun and frolic ahead of me. I would be beyond ungrateful to complain, wouldn't I?"

Veronica shook her head and slipped her sunglasses on.

This is going to be a long night.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Logan's Xterra, booming with music and laughter, was almost to the river when Duncan got the call he'd been waiting for. He glanced at the caller ID and then slipped it back in his pocket. With Logan only a foot away he decided to let it go to voicemail.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Logan asked.

Duncan shook his head and smiled. "Nah, it's just my dad. I don't need the hassle."

Logan nodded and tried to ignore the sudden nausea that was creeping up his throat. Duncan was probably the world's worst liar.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

When they got to the vacation house they all bustled inside hefting their bags.

"Damn," Wallace said when they walked in the living room and took in the floor-to-vaulted-ceiling windows overlooking the Colorado river. Mac walked up behind him.

"So this is how the other half lives," she mumbled.

While they all scattered to go pick out their rooms Duncan walked back out to the car in the driveway to get his bag. Glancing over his shoulder he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and listened to his voicemail. When he finished he punched in Veronica's number.

"Veronica?" Duncan practically shouted, then cringed and looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was around. "Veronica? Where the hell are you?"

"Hell pretty much describes it," she replied, looking passed the massive bonfire at a party that was rapidly getting out of control. With the drunken laughter, squealing girls, and blaring music she could barely hear Duncan. "What did you find out?"

Duncan said something but she could barely hear him. Especially when Troy walked up to her saying: "Come on, dance baby dance!"

Veronica covered the phone, albeit too late to blot out his slightly drunken declaration, and glared at him. He started to do a tango in front of her. Sighing, she uncovered the phone, and started talking again.

"Duncan, I can barely hear you. Do me a favor and call me back and leave the information on my voicemail, OK?"

"Veronica?" Duncan asked. "Was that Troy?"

Veronica heard that loud and clear.

"I really can't hear you Duncan, leave me that voicemail OK?"

She snapped her phone off before he could say more.

Damn. You're two for two in the lying department today and it's only Friday, Veronica Mars. By the end of the weekend you're going to need to become a nun to atone for everything.

Troy grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.

"Work with me, baby," he whispered in her ear. With a glare that could melt a glacier she smiled and slipped her arms around his neck.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Duncan stared at his phone in bafflement.

Troy?

She wouldn't cheat on Logan, of that he was painfully certain. But what was she up to? He punched in her number again and waited as it went to her voicemail then he left her a message.

Behind him, on the other side of the garage door, Logan had his forehead pressed against the door, his eyes squeezed shut.