Part 10

She stared at the closed steel doors of the elevator, still stunned by the events that fast transpired in front of her eyes. Only this morning everything seemed perfect as she stretched in Logan's bed, with most of their problems pushed so far back that she forgot for those precious hours they had spent together. Now she was right back where she started—trembling, confused, frantic, with Casey Gant waiting in the wings.

She felt his hand close over her elbow. Casey leaned and assured her, "You'll be fine. Come on. Let's go."

One thing was different from then and now. Veronica did not need anyone to assure her that she was desirable. She did not need anyone to grab the reins and take her. She firmly pulled away. "Go ahead, Casey. I'll wait for my dad."

He frowned. "I'd really rather just drive you."

"I don't care what you'd rather do, Casey," she answered. "I'd rather stay here and wait for my father."

With a long look that bordered on disappointment, Casey turned his back on her and pushed the elevator button to wait for the lift. Veronica slowly made her way towards one of the waiting couches and reached for the available phone on the lamp table, then called her dad.

She turned at the sound of the bell and saw Casey enter the elevator. "Are you sure? I can drop you off if you really want to stay at home."

Veronica gave him a stiff, uncomfortable smile and waved him away. She waited for any mention of her night with Logan. She should have been relieved that Casey could so easily forgive and forget. It was obvious he did not want her unsettled and that was why he did not remind her of what he knew. Instead of comforting her, his reaction gave her goosebumps.

When the doors to the elevator closed, Veronica was finally able to sigh in relief and settle back in the couch. She closed her eyes to keep the burning down. It was futile. The tears began to seep through the edges soon enough. Veronica shook her head and clutched the robe tighter around her body.

There was so much in her mind—enough to drive her insane because every bit of information seemed placed haphazardly in a nonsequence. There was so much essential information that had been relegated to the periphery. Had it not been her at the center of it all, she would have sat down and resolved the intricacies herself. She waited for the one person who could solve the problem.

Through the half an hour since Casey finally left, the elevator pinged several times but Veronica did not bother to check. Finally, on one last bell, Veronica opened her eyes to see her father step off the elevator and search the room for her. When Keith Mars spotted his daughter, he gave her a sad smile and opened his arms. It was as if she became a little girl again. Veronica flew towards Keith and threw her arms around him, embracing him tightly and burying her nose in the crook of his neck. "Thanks for coming, dad," she whispered.

"Why didn't you call Casey?" Keith asked her gently.

"He was here."

"You didn't ride with him."

She shook her head. "It doesn't feel right anymore." The look she sent her father pleaded for him to understand.

Keith nodded and held his daughter at arm's length. He scrutinized her face and asked, "Do you want me to tell him it's over?" he inquired carefully, recognizing how much her daughter had changed since Duncan died.

"I already did," she told him.

Keith stared at her for a moment before a smile broke out on his face. It was the first sign of her spirit sparking back to life. At her father's reaction, Veronica appreciated even more what had changed in her since last night.

Proudly, she repeated, "I took care of it, dad."

Keith grinned and put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, kid. Let's go."

In the car, Keith drove and silence hung between the two of them. He glanced at Veronica in the passenger seat. She drew a deep breath. As Keith negotiated his way through the streets of Neptune, he broke the silence by telling her, "Talk to me, Veronica. What's going on?"

Her eyes were clear when she answered. "Dad, will it be okay if you drop me off at the sheriff's?" When it appeared like Keith was about to refuse, Veronica closed her hand around Keith's as it gripped the wheel. "I promise to tell you everything afterwards, okay? Please trust me."

Keith's jaw tensed. It took another half a minute before he nodded curtly. "I'll wait for you right outside. But you have to promise that you will tell me everything and you will answer all my questions afterwards. Is that a deal?"

She nodded. Then she looked out the window, waiting. There was only one man who could solve this problem when her eyes were too blinded by proximity. Her father was her last chance to save herself and Logan. She wanted to tell him everything, maybe to unload some of the weight that had been bogging her down for so long. It would be so easy. Her father would be willing to take the brunt of anything that caused her worry, anything that endangered her. She had proven that so many times. Still, Veronica needed one last stop. She owed him that much.

Veronica had not realized how much time had passed until her father stopped the car and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to him and met his somber gaze. "Will you be long?"

Veronica smiled grimly and shook her head. "How long is the longest they'll give me to talk to someone they arrested for murder?"

Keith did not give an outward sign of his surprise. "How much do they have on him?" he asked instead.

"Nothing but fingerprints on a three-year-old murder weapon," she answered in a monotone.

Keith was not a successful investigator for nothing. He quickly pieced together what little information he gained from that statement as well as everything that Veronica had shared with him in the hotel regarding the state of her relationship with Casey Gant. "Normally none. But knowing how they bungled most of their cases against Logan Echolls, they'll probably give you as much as ten minutes."

She swallowed. There was no sense denying it. She was supposed to talk to her father about it afterwards anyway. "Ten?"

"That's all. Duncan Kane's murder has been a cloud hanging over the department for years. They're going to prosecute someone."

Veronica opened her mouth to say something, but she shook her head instead. She opened the door and stepped out. "I'll be back in twenty," she told her father then shut the door.

"Veronica!" Keith called to his daughter. She turned and waited for him to speak. "You're wearing a robe."

Veronica glanced down as if she had forgotten what she was wearing. She raised anxious eyes towards Keith, then resolved to herself that she did not care. She shrugged then proceeded to the sheriff's office with her head held high, walking in as if she had been doing it daily without fail when in fact she had not done so since the last time she was invited there for her statement when they closed Duncan's case.

It had taken no more than a look at her—with her tangled hair, sunken red-rimmed eyes, and stubborn jaw—for the sheriff to reluctantly give her five minutes with Logan. He owed her. She solved Lilly's case for him and nearly got killed in the process. She cooperated completely to the resolution of the bus crash, a case she could have simply walked away from after escaping unscathed. Lamb owed her this.

"Five?" she repeated, clearly displeased.

Lamb sneered, but pity peeked behind the warring mixture of contempt, arrogance, admiration and fear. "You'll take five and be grateful for it." The Veronica Mars who walked out of his door after giving a tremulous statement after Kane's investigation closed would nod despite the spark of indignation.

"I'll take ten. Thank you." Veronica turned towards the interrogation room. "I want the audio recorder turned off."

"I wouldn't intrude on your privacy," the sheriff assured her. "And Veronica," he called out, looking pointedly at her attire, "if this is a conjugal visit, I have to warn you that there's no way I can block the one-way glass on the wall."

Veronica walked over and turned right on the corridor, having memorized the way from the years her father served as sheriff and the time she had spent coming back here during her quest for Lilly's killer. She stopped right outside the glass window. Logan sat inside, his hands clasped on the table in front of him, staring down at his entwined fingers, hunched over and looking so small but so strong. Veronica took a deep, steadying breath, then went over to the door and swung it open.

When he heard the movement, he straightened his back. He did not turn around to look at her. "Finished running out to collect more questions?" he asked sardonically.

His attitude put a smile on her face. They could beat him down with a stick and he was always going to come lashing back with sarcasm. How could anyone ever think he could physically hurt anyone? Veronica stepped closer until she was so close to him that her robe brushed against his back. Logan whirled around and looked down at her. He caught her by the waist and then wrapped his arms around her tightly, so hard that she felt crushed, unable to breathe, and she did not even care. Veronica twisted her arms out of Logan's enclosing ones, and looped them around his neck, pulling him down so she could kiss him and drown in him. Logan's lips took hers hungrily. Veronica gasped for breath when their mouths parted. After taking enough to sustain herself, she met his lips again for another more bruising kiss. He turned them so that she could sit on the table. Veronica buried her fingers in his hair. When Logan's kisses trailed across her jaw to the pulse point behind her ear, and Veronica moaned.

"Logan," she gasped. "Logan, the window."

He closed his eyes tightly, tempted to say to hell with it and just make love to her with no regard to whether or not Lamb was outside leering at them. "I have to touch you," he whispered into her ear, grazing the shell with his teeth.

Veronica shivered, firmly but gently pulling away. "Logan," she repeated.

Her voice was tight and her muscles wound. He recognized the change and reluctantly pulled away. "You're right," he agreed. Logan waited for her to relax and feel that he was not forcing anything.

She picked up his hand and placed a soft kiss on his fingers. Veronica held his hand against her cheek. Logan cupped her face. "I'm getting you out of here," she promised.

"You swore to me—"

Veronica shushed him, then walked around the room, searching for any audio device. Veronica ran her hands over the walls, searching for hollows. She found none. She then proceeded to the edges of the glass. Veronica ran her fingers under the table and touched the one device that still blinked green, indicating that it was on. She pulled off the wire and turned to the glass window, staring back at her reflection where she supposed Lamb stood watching. She held up the device and raised her eyebrows. "You won't fine us for this, right? After all, you did promise there won't be anything like this." She tossed the device aside and turned back to Logan.

"You're not going to confess," he told her as soon as she turned back to him.

Her eyes narrowed and she retorted, "I thought we understood each other. You don't control me or anything I want to do."

"I'm giving you your control back so that we can be together without your hangup or your concerns. But I didn't agree to let you throw away your life."

"So our agreement was selective?" she asserted.

"Our agreement goes only so far as to assure that we can be together," he told her. "That's not going to happen with you in jail."

"And it's going to happen when you're the one in jail?" she snapped. He lowered his hackles. Veronica continued, "I'm going to get you out of here. As much as possible, I'll make sure neither of us does any jail time. I've had enough of trying to convince ourselves we'll be better off alone. I need you to trust me."

The knock on the door indicated that their time was over. She wanted to curse the several minutes of heaven they shared, because it took away the precious little time they had for discussion. Logan sensed what the knock was for and grasped her hand then pulled her towards him. "Let's not argue."

Veronica closed her eyes and gave him a bittersweet kiss. He responded with the same tender kiss and said against her lips, "I trust you."

Veronica swallowed the tears that threatened and quickly walked away and closed the door behind her. She nodded at the deputy waiting outside and walked by the glass window and jumped back when he saw him standing there, staring blindly at a spot just in front of her. She stepped over to stand across from him and pressed her palm against the cool glass. Slowly, as if called by something unheard, Logan pressed his own palm on the glass over hers.

She bit her lip and hurried away, leaving Logan holding his hand to the one-way looking glass. She burst out of the sheriff's office and saw her father leaning against the car. At the sight of his daughter, Keith smiled and opened the door. Once she was safely ensconced in the passenger seat, he sat in the driver's seat.

"Dad," she began once Keith started the car, "I need you to help me get Logan out. He didn't kill Duncan."

Keith turned off the car and turned to his daughter. "Tell me."

"Shouldn't we go somewhere else?" She shot a wary glance at the sheriff's office.

"It's safer here inside the car, Veronica," her father reminded her.

She blinked, recalling a certain lesson that she had learned. "Diners can have people eavesdropping. At least we know our vehicle is clean." Keith nodded, pleased. Veronica bent her head and continued. "Dad, Logan couldn't have killed Duncan. He wasn't in the scene until after."

"The scene?" Keith repeated, his voice taking on an edge. "Veronica, what do you know about the scene of the crime? Duncan's body was found at the beach. You're telling me you know there was another scene?"

She nodded, facing her father with as much courage and trust she could muster. "Duncan died on Logan's kitchen floor. He—he died on top of me," she rasped. Unknowingly, she gripped her father's hand. "Duncan raped me, dad," she confessed brokenly. "I went to Logan's and he raped me on Logan's kitchen floor."

"You were dating Logan then, weren't you?" Keith asked, playing the devil's advocate, trying to ignore the words the stabbed into his heart. He allowed his daughter to dig half moons of blood into his hand, sharing the pain that he hadn't known about for so long. "He could have killed him after what Duncan did to you."

Veronica shook her head. "Duncan was already dead when Logan arrived. He took the knife and told me he'd take care of it."

Keith's silence was long and troubled. Finally, he said, "You're telling me you killed Duncan."

i Her mind barely registered him pumping inside her. She had stopped moving, and lay open to him. Duncan thrust inside her, uncaring that he ripped her, or that she had slipped into oblivion. All she felt before the blackness was a raw, ripping, burning tenderness./i

Veronica swallowed and looked down at her hands, wondering. "I don't know," she admitted, her voice trembling. "I don't know what happened between blacking out with him thrusting into me and waking up with his dead weight on me and gripping a knife in my hand."

"What?"

i Veronica's eyelids fluttered open. Around her was darkness. She felt the heavy weight of Duncan's body weighing her down. She laid on her back on the cold floor and her thighs were still splayed wide around Duncan's bare hips. Bile rose in her throat./i

"I didn't," she realized. Her eyes flew up to meet her father's, ignoring the tears that seemed to provide a sheen to his eyes. "I didn't kill him, dad."

"Are you sure?" he pressed on.

Veronica shuddered to think about it, to remember what had happened to her, to recall the exact way it felt, the position they had been, the reaction she had had. "He was still inside me," she whispered.

"Veronica—" Keith choked out.

"He was still inside me," she repeated. "He was limp and dead and heavy, but he was inside me." Veronica closed her eyes against the horror she saw flooding Keith's face. "I'm sorry, dad. You're the only one who can help me."

Keith's other hand soothed hers as she gripped his. "You can tell me," he assured her even if every word killed him.

i His hands now grasped her by her calves as he moved her into position. Veronica struggled under his weight as he raised himself up. With one hand he ripped away her underwear, bruising her lips where the stitching would not budge. Again, he pulled until finally it ripped away.

"Duncan, you love me, don't you?" she whispered.

His face mottled and screwed. He slapped her hard across the face. Veronica saw the burst of stars in her eyelids. Her breasts were flattened between their bodies. There was no use pleading with him. She grabbed fistfuls of his hair and pulled. Duncan caught her wrists and tightened his hold, cutting off the flow of blood./i

"He held my hands up," she told her father. "I didn't have any weapon. That was when he raped me. I didn't have a knife, dad. If I woke up sometime afterwards to get a knife and stab him, he wouldn't still have been inside me."

Keith cracked his knuckles in an effort to relieve the overwhelming tension. He processed the words, forcing himself to treat it as any other case so that he could think. He had to forget this was his daughter. Pieces of the puzzle fell together but the undeniable fact that Veronica was the one it had happened to made it difficult for him to even think. "When did Logan come into the picture?"

"After I had pushed Duncan off of me," Veronica told him. "He saw the knife and he thought I'd killed Duncan. I thought I'd killed Duncan," she admitted. "He was going to take care of it."

"Did he?"

"They found Duncan's body in Dog Beach, didn't they?"

Keith nodded. "I'm going to have to talk to Logan." He leaned over his daughter and embraced her and he felt her shivering. At least he could give her this much. "Is there anything else that you think is relevant? Anything you want to tell me?"

"Duncan had been stalking me," she told Keith. "He sent me letters. Then I found those letters in Casey's room, along with some photos of me. Casey told me he took them so that the police won't suspect me."

Keith turned and stared out into the windshield. He then started the car.

tbc