A/N: Finally! I want to send out a huge, huge cyber hug to Jen who asked me what the other students thought of the lunch kiss in chapter 5.The scene that question sparked led to my finally getting past the block I had on the rest of the chapter. Jen, I couldn't address all of the students but I hope you like the one student's response. Enjoy!

Chapter 6: Secrets, Lies, & Other Truths

2:01 Friday afternoon - Veronica glanced around the corner to the school's main office. Looking out of the office, Wallace gave her the nod she needed. With that nod, he confirmed Logan had indeed shown up for his mysterious meeting with Clemmons. Nodding back at him she turned and high-tailed it out to the parking lot. She needed to get to her vehicle and make sure she had a good view of the lot exit.

2:15 - Trailing a few vehicles behind Logan, she wondered for the millionth time what he could be doing that would require him to leave school every Friday. As they wound through the streets of Neptune, she realized they were heading downtown. He made one stop at the 7-11 and came out carrying a paper bag. 'He's probably buying beer to go get drunk,' she speculated.

2:25 - A few blocks later, he stopped again and she noticed he made a quick call on his cell phone. Getting out, he walked into a dark building with few windows. As she got closer, she noted it was an adult book store. 'Ewww. Gross,' she thought. 'This is just great. I skip school to follow my pseudo-boyfriend on his mystery outing and apparently he's busy buying alcohol and porn. If he heads straight home after this to do…whatever, I'm seriously going to beat him with my shoe.' Less than ten minutes later, he came back out with another mysterious paper bag, glanced around nervously and quickly drove downtown.

2:50 - He parked next to one of the municipal buildings and rushed inside. She followed him a minute later but he was already out of sight. Looking around, she tried to figure out where in the building he could have gone. Checking the directory she saw a whole slew of city and county offices but nothing that jumped out as a possible destination.

Seeing a guard sitting at a desk flipping through a magazine, she pasted on her most innocent smile and went over. "Hello-," pausing to look at his name badge before continuing, "-George. I was supposed to meet my brother here but I can't find him. You wouldn't have seen him come through here would you? He's tall, kind of muscular, has brown hair with some blonde coloring in it. He was wearing jeans, a yellow shirt, and a brown jacket. He probably came through here not more than three minutes ago."

"Sorry, I didn't see a thing. Of course, I just got back from the bathroom so I suppose I could have missed him. Doesn't sound familiar though," he responded before going back to his magazine.

"Okay, well thanks anyway," she responded dejectedly. She wandered around for a few minutes more but decided she was better off waiting in the Escape so she wouldn't take a chance of him seeing her nor her missing him when he left.

3:25 - Logan came running out of the building and hopped back in his X-Terra and headed off to his next destination. Parking at a medical complex thirty minutes later, he got out and sprinted for the building, taking the stairs two at a time. Slumping back in her seat, a multitude of possibilities assailed her. 'Is he sick? Is it fatal? Nah, Dad would warn me if it was something like that.'

5:05 - Logan strolled casually down the steps and back to his SUV. 'Is he whistling? Asshole. I'm over here bracing myself for all kinds of horrific scenarios and he's strolling along jauntily whistling.'

5:27 – He parked outside a rundown building she recognized as the one that held Cliff's office. As far as she knew, the only offices in the building other than the one Cliff occupied belonged to a few sleazy lawyers and PIs. She couldn't imagine him hiring any of the lawyers there considering the high priced ones at his father's disposal. Besides, why would he need a lawyer? But it made even less sense that he might hire one of the PIs. Why wouldn't he just ask her for help? 'Think Mars, would he really ask you? Until a week ago, you were barely speaking.'

5:53 - He came back out and drove to the grocery store. It was almost 45 minutes later when he came out with bags of food. 'Since when does he buy his own groceries?'

7:02 – He arrived home where he unloaded all of his bags, including the two mystery ones from earlier. Once he was inside, Veronica headed for home frustrated that she had essentially learned nothing more than her pseudo-boyfriend apparently shopped for groceries and porn on Fridays. She might know where he went now but all that information did was give rise to more questions.

The weekend was an enjoyable one for Veronica. Of course, it couldn't have been worse than last weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, she'd dropped by Logan's house unannounced hoping to spend time with him, maybe catch him off-guard and get some information. Both days, she was buzzed in as soon as she drove up to the gate and he acted like he'd just been waiting for her to get there. They watched movies, ate, and played games. As if in tactic agreement, neither of them brought up any heavy subjects. This weekend was about being young and having fun.

He managed to talk her into working out with him for awhile on Sunday afternoon. He loaned her some workout clothes Trina had left there. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy watching her work up a sweat but then things got rather heated at the end of the workout. Standing there dripping sweat, she snapped a towel at him and he came after her and tackled her though he turned at the last minute so he was the one to hit the mat and she fell on top of him.

Staring down at him, she bent down and kissed him, quickly delving her tongue between his lips. For the next few minutes their hands and mouths moved all over each other's sweat slicked bodies with fervor. They rolled around on the mat until he finally ended up on top settling between the legs she parted to wrap around the backs of his thighs. Groaning against her mouth, he rocked his body against hers. As she felt one hand running up her leg and reaching under her shorts to the scrap of lace underneath, Mrs. Navarro suddenly yelled up the stairway to Veronica that her dad was on the phone. Hastily rolling off her at the interruption and the mention of her father, Logan lay on the mat with one arm thrown over his eyes groaning and cursing.

To ensure Mrs. Navarro didn't come up to the gym, Veronica asked her to tell her father she'd call him back in ten minutes. Tears of frustration gathering in her own eyes, she reached a hand out to touch Logan. As her hand made contact, he jerked away leaving her bereft and hurt.

"Please don't touch me," he whispered huskily. She started to speak but he quickly waved a hand at her as if the mere sound of her voice was painful. Slowly getting to his feet, he looked anywhere but at her. "You should probably go call your dad. I need to go take a shower." She bit her lower lip as she watched him walk awkwardly out of the room, half hunched over in agony.

Thirty minutes later they had both emerged from the showers shaken and achy. Veronica's eyes were red and puffy and Logan's face was pale. After an awkward exchanged during which they avoided eye contact, she headed home.

Monday was shaping up to be a bad day. First Veronica had run out of hot water in the shower, then her hair dryer had quit and she had yet to have time to say more than hello to Logan. She was heading outside to meet Logan for lunch when Duncan stepped in her path with an odd look on his face. "Hey Duncan, how are you? What can I do for you?"

"You're back with Logan," he spat.

"Is that a question or an accusation," she inquired as her brows shot up?

"By your behavior last week and your disgusting display at lunch Friday it's pretty obvious. I'm not blind or stupid."

'Disgusting display,' she wondered? 'Oh. He must be talking about the kiss…but there was nothing disgusting about it. I enjoyed it!'

"People have been talking ever since about what a spectacle you made."

"The students around here talk about everything and everybody because they are a bunch of busybodies."

"How can you be with him," he asked? Meanwhile, his eyes asked her the real question, 'Why couldn't you make it work with me instead?'

She wasn't sure how best to respond as he was obviously hurting. 'How do I define what's in my heart?' Though she felt bad for him, she said, "Why shouldn't I be with him? He's done nothing wrong. I'm sorry but it's really none of your business."

"His father murdered my sister, your best friend," he raged.

"Yes, Aaron did it, not Logan. He's no more responsible for Aaron's actions than you are for Jake's. Your parents broke the law and nearly destroyed my family to cover up what they thought you had done but I don't hold that against you."

Grabbing her arm, "Logan's no saint. He's-."

"Shut up. Don't you dare talk about him. You don't want to compare your sins to his. At least he's never fucked a girl he thought was his sister and left her to wake alone in a strange bed with her underwear on the floor," she retorted.

She could tell Logan was watching their exchange and could tell it was getting heated. She tried to pull her arm away knowing if she didn't end this exchange soon, Logan would come over and end up punching Duncan. Duncan squeezed her arm tighter. "Ouch. Duncan, you're hurting me."

Clearly losing control fast, "Maybe everyone's right. You are nothing but a slut. You'll spread your legs for any-." He was cut off by Veronica's hand striking his face.

"That's enough," she snapped with tears gathering in her eyes.

The slap snapped Duncan out of his rage and he quickly let go of her arm. "Oh my God. I'm sorry Veronica. I didn't mean it. I would never deliberately hurt-."

"Get away and stay way from me Duncan."

"I love you Veronica."

"No you don't. You love someone who doesn't exist anymore. The girl you love died with Lilly. Let her go. Let me go."

Veronica hurried across the courtyard hoping to intercept Logan who had leaped out of his seat when she'd struck Duncan. When they met up, he put his hands on her shoulders, "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We just had a disagreement. Can we please just go sit down and eat lunch?" She could tell he wanted to press further but seeing how upset she was he let it pass for the moment. She knew she would have to tell him eventually but not until she had no other choice.

Later that evening, when she was getting ready for bed, she could see bruises had formed where Duncan squeezed her arm. 'Great. Now I'm going to have to wear long sleeves all week so Dad and Logan won't see.' Thankfully it was chilly out so no one would question if she wore sweaters and long sleeves. 'Definitely no workouts with Logan until these go away! If he saw these, there would be no stopping him from trying to kill Duncan.'

Veronica was beyond relieved when Friday finally arrived. Sitting in her Escape, her eyes trained on the yellow X-Terra, she waited for Logan to leave the school for his weekly sojourn through town. She was determined she would end the mystery today. With her eyes fixed so intently on the X-Terra, she didn't notice anything else around her until the door of the Escape was suddenly jerked open and Logan slid into the passenger seat. "Ready, Sugarpuss?"

Veronica just sat there gaping at him. As he reached back to put on his seatbelt, she finally found her voice, "What are you doing?"

"I figured since we were going to the same places, we might as well save gas and the environment by carpooling. Come one now, mush, we don't have much time, I can't afford to be late again this week," he snarked. He looked at her with both brows raised, a half-smile quirking his lips as if daring her to claim ignorance.

Letting out a hiss of frustration, she put the car in gear and drove off. Stopping first at the 7-11, she gritted her teeth while he ran inside. In five minutes, he was back with the mystery paper bag. Reaching in, he pulled out a bottle of tea and a bottle of water and offered them to her. "I wasn't sure which you'd like better so I just bought both. Oh yeah, I scored big time this week," pulling something else out the bag he offered it to her, "I managed to get some jerky. I was really annoyed last week when Raul was out. I tell you, you've got to jump on this stuff, it flies out of there." She grabbed the bottle of water and started for their next destination. "Oh, you can skip the next stop and just head straight downtown. I don't need anything from the bookstore this week," he finished charmingly.

"What in the hell are you up to Echolls," she gritted out?

"Since you want to know what I'm doing bad enough to stalk me, I figured I'd just bring you along and save you the trouble of trying to keep up. You do want to know what I'm up to, don't you?" After she nodded in the affirmative, he continued, "I'm actually surprised it took you this long to notice I left on Fridays. I've been expecting to see you behind me for a good month now."

She parked next to the municipal building and sat there until Logan came around, opened the door and offered her his hand, "Coming?" Silently, hands entwined, they walked into the building. "Hey George, how's it going this week? How're the grandkids?"

"Afternoon, Logan. The grandkids are great, growing like weeds."

"Good to hear. Tell the wife hello." With a wave, Logan tugged her up the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he headed for a door labeled Probation Office. Eyes bugging open, Veronica stared at him as he signed the register at the front desk and waved at the staff. Down the hall, he walked into an office with a large black man seated behind the desk.

"Logan. Good to see you made it without having to make any extra stops this week. Who is this pretty young lady with you?"

"No extra stops needed this week. Jack, this is Veronica Mars. Veronica, this is Jack Coleman…my probation officer."

"You're on probation? What for?"

Sheepishly, "Your buddy Leo busted me for being drunk and disorderly and resisting arrest last summer. Now, if you'll have a seat, Jacky boy here and I have to go in another room so I can piss in a cup and he can watch to make sure it's really me doing it. Jack here has agreed to let you read the arrest record while we're gone if you want the details."

Returning a few minutes later, Jack and Logan went through their usual weekly questions and paperwork while she sat there reflecting on what she'd just read. She made the connection between the day he was arrested and the day of Aaron's hearing easily. She remembered being there with Duncan and Wallace and knew Logan must have seen her and Duncan comforting each other. She could only imagine what he'd thought, felt.

Back in the car, Veronica looked at Logan, "Why didn't you tell me? Didn't you trust me to understand?"

"It's not exactly one of my more stellar moments in history V. I don't really care to advertise that I screwed up royally and got sentenced to 9 months probation. I mean what was I going to say? Hey Veronica, I got arrested over the summer so now I'm on probation. I get to go downtown every week to piss in a cup with another guy watching me the entire time. Gee, how was your summer?" There was silence as Veronica tried to figure out how to respond. "Can we get going? I can't be late to my next appointment or it'll involve a 10 minute lecture about courtesy and the importance of time management. Believe me, it's not a speech I need to hear again."

Arriving at the next destination, Veronica didn't think anything she saw here would shock her more than the probation bit. Yet again, she was proven wrong. 'Who the hell would have thought it? Logan in therapy.' And he didn't even seem to mind being there that much, he seemed to genuinely like Billy too. 'Of course he likes her, she's gorgeous. Leave it to Logan to get the leggy brunette that looks like she stepped off the cover of Vogue for a therapist. It's no wonder Logan isn't upset about being in therapy.'

"It's so nice to meet you Veronica. I have to admit I've been intrigued to meet you. I hope we get a chance to talk sometime. Logan, I need to make a quick phone call. If you'll take Veronica out to the waiting room, I'll be out to get you in a few minutes."

In the lobby, Logan tried to gauge her response to everything. "You don't have to wait here. I'm going to be in there for a good hour. I can just grab a cab when I'm done."

"I'm not going anywhere Logan." She hoped he realized she wasn't just talking about while he was in the therapist's office. "I think it's great that you're getting help. What made you decide to go into therapy," she questioned?

Nervously playing with the cuffs of his jacket, "It wasn't really my choice. This is another condition of my probation. If I do the therapy and attend the probation meetings for 9 months, the judge will dismiss all the charges. Seemed like a pretty good deal at the time. Cliff told me I should take it and shut up."

"So you were at Cliff's last week. I wondered about that. Why did you hire Cliff instead of using one of Aaron's high-priced attorneys? They might have managed to get the charges dismissed all together."

"If I used one of his attorneys, he would know and I don't want him knowing anything about my life," he declared vehemently. "Cliff was at the jail with some dancer when they brought me in. He seemed like a nice guy and offered to help my sorry ass. There wasn't exactly a long line of people forming to help at that point in my life."

"I should have come to see you. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you."

"No need to be sorry. I wouldn't have taken your help at that point if you'd offered." Approaching her, he took her hands and kissed her forehead. "You're here now. That's all that really matters."

While Logan was in his session, she called her father to tell him where she was and that she wouldn't be home until late. Keith was relieved to hear that Logan had told her about his arrest and subsequent sentence.

After his session with Billy, they dropped by Cliff's for a few minute so he could sign some papers and talk over something with Cliff. It took about twenty minutes and then they were on their way again.

When she asked if he really had to stop at the grocery store or if he'd just done that knowing she was following him, she was surprised at his response. "Friday is grocery shopping day and I like the market between Cliff's and my place the best. They have the best produce."

"You shop for produce," she asked incredulously? "I would have thought Mrs. Navarro or one of the other staff would do the shopping."

"Mrs. Navarro and a few yardmen are the only staff left. She's agreed to do some of the cooking but she refuses to do the shopping so I'm stuck with it," he sighed. "One good thing about it though is I never have to eat things I don't like. Mrs. Navarro and I work out a menu each week for the nights that she cooks and then she gives me a list of what I need to get at the store."

"What happened to the rest of the staff?"

"The few that didn't quit and sell their stories to the tabloids, I fired. Mrs. Navarro flat out refused to leave and I got tired of telling her she was fired so I gave up. Besides, I hate cleaning and until recently my cooking skills were limited to making sandwiches and pop tarts."

Once they got back to Logan's, Veronica offered to cook dinner so Mrs. Navarro could go home early. During dinner, Logan opened up to her about what he'd learned from his therapy and probation. He astounded her when he said he was thinking about staying in therapy even after he was released by the court.

After dinner he took her out on the patio to enjoy the cool evening and look at the stars. Staring over at the pool house, Veronica asked Logan, "Can I go in the there?"

He knew instantly where there was, "Why would you want to go in there?"

"I don't know. I just feel like I need to see it again. What happened in there led to Lilly's death and the destruction of a lot of people's lives, mine included. I just feel like I need to see again. I guess to assure myself it's not the place that was evil."

"We can go over there but there's nothing to see. I had the place gutted months ago."

"Why would you do that?"

"After the cops got done tearing the place apart, it was trashed. And what they didn't trash, I did. I went in there one day after therapy and lost it. I broke anything that wasn't already broken, shredded the sheets and the bed, I even busted the sliding glass door," he shrugged defensively.

"I can understand wanting to do that. I know I thought about wanting to smash the TVs and cameras. I still want to see it though."

The walk over there was completely different than it had been the night of Logan's party. There was no laughing or skipping this time. Once in there, Logan flipped on the light and Veronica saw that he hadn't been kidding. There was nothing left in there, not even the carpet. It was literally just one big empty white space.

"Thank you," she said.

"For what?"

"For coming over here with me even though I know you didn't want to. For taking apart this place so it really is just an simple room, not some evil place."

Walking back to the house, she asked, "So what business did Cliff arrange for you?" She felt him stiffen and hesitate. Looking sharply at him she stopped and waited. He looked like he was trying to come up with a plausible lie or a way to distract her. "Don't lie to me Logan."

Sighing, he looked at her, "He made arrangements for something Jack, Billy, the judge, and he all want me to do."

"What do they want you to do?"

"You aren't going to like it."

"Just tell me." She had a sinking feeling she knew what he was about to say.

"They want me to give a statement to the district attorney about what Aaron is really like. And…and they want me to go visit Aaron."