Part 11

When he stopped the car in front of their apartment, Keith watched as his daughter gave him a quick nod and opened the car door. Before she could step out, Keith reached out a hand and grasped her wrist. She turned towards her father and looked down at where he held her. Then, her gaze rose to meet his. Her eyes flickered.

Keith opened his mouth to speak, then gave her a small sad smile and shook his head. "Go on and have some rest," he said softly. "I'll take care of it."

Veronica took a deep shuddering breath, then nodded and got out of the car. She shut the door and walked towards the apartment.

Keith Mars then drove back towards the sheriff's office to gather the missing pieces of the puzzle that Veronica had presented him with. His hands tightened around the steering wheel, remembering the details that she had given. Most victims would not have given such a clean recount. Then again, most victims were not his daughter. Most suspects were not her ex-boyfriends. He had to take his relationship with Veronica out of the equation or else he would never see this clearly enough to resolve it.

He despised Logan Echolls. Three years ago he walked out of Neptune and was never heard from again. After finding out what he suspected was true, and that Logan abandoned his daughter in the middle of their relationship, he loathed the guy. Today, Keith found out that Logan had walked out on a serious involvement with his daughter on the aftermath of her rape. He hoped to God he did not end up in jail for assault.

"Echolls," Keith told Lamb. "I'm here to see Logan Echolls."

Lamb placed his feet on top of the desk. "We're not yet done with him."

"What," Keith asked, "you think he'll sign a confession just because you're illegally detaining him in here?"

There was a clatter against the wood. Keith glanced down to see that Lamb had tossed the plastic bag containing a kitchen knife towards him. "It's an open and shut case. There's your murder weapon."

Keith took the bag in his hands and held up the evidence. "I've got one just like this. You won't remember," he told Lamb. "A set of these knives went on sale a long time ago. I got this as a wedding gift for Lianne."

"You're telling me the Echolls, multimillionaires that they are, have the same cheap ass kitchen knives that deputy had," Lamb retorted.

"They cost me an arm and a leg," Keith replied testily. "It was a good set at a good price. I'm betting seventy percent of the kitchens in Neptune had this type of knife any time in the last twenty years."

Lamb's eyes narrowed. He grabbed the bag from Keith and placed it on his desk. "If you're trying for reasonable doubt, save it for the judge. I've had this swabbed. We will find Duncan Kane's DNA on that."

"Proves Duncan was killed with the knife or he wandered by the Echolls' kitchen and used it to cut up something, then nicked his fingers the way rich boys are prone to do when they perform manual labor," Keith pointed out.

"Are you this kid's lawyer?" Lamb demanded.

"I'm simply looking out for you, Lamb," was Keith's reply. "Do you know how embarrassing it's going to be if either myself or my daughter overturns your findings?"

"The kid's fingerprints are all over that knife!" the sheriff exploded.

Keith sighed, then slumped on the chair in front of Lamb's desk. "It's a knife from his kitchen, remember?" he reasoned. "The same kitchen Duncan was in when he used it to slice their pepperoni and cheese pizza one study night."

Lamb's fists slammed on the desk, then he stormed outside. Keith waited and listened as Lamb yelled at the officers outside.

"It's been three hours!" he cried. "I can't hold Echolls without any other evidence. Get someone over to his house with a warrant."

Lamb slammed back in to his office and glared at Keith who sat grinning. "Now can I take the boy out of here?" Keith prodded, irritating the sheriff even more.

"You're an asshole, Mars. You know as well as I do that the Kane kid's blood and the Echolls' kid's fingerprints all over the murder weapon proves that Logan killed Duncan."

"They've been friends since they had snot up their noses," Keith said. "Your evidence is weak."

Lamb gritted his teeth. "Your daughter sent you to do this. She was with Echolls in the hotel according to my guys. Is that it, Mars? Did the little girl ask you to help her free the guy she was cheating on Gant with?"

Keith leaned back in his chair. "For a sheriff, you know an awful lot of gossip about the young people in town." When he picked Veronica up from the hotel, he had not thought to ask who she had been with. He hoped to God Logan made up for the hell he had subjected his daughter to.

"Lianne's daughter would always be Lianne's daughter, huh?" Lamb murmured.

"What the hell does that mean?" Keith spat.

Lamb smirked. "Nothing really. I was only marveling at the fact that your wife and your daughter has that much in common. Apart from the looks of course, because Veronica did not get that face from that mug of yours."

"Why are you hesitating, Lamb?" Keith continued coldly. "You had something to say, spit it out."

"Same M.O. The bumbling idiot who always means well goes away for work, maybe police business, maybe college. Attractive young blonde goes out and has an affair with the readily available, filthy rich old flame." By then, Keith had frozen up. "They even used the same hotel."

Keith jumped up from his seat and leaned over the desk, catching lamb by the shirt. "You do not talk about my daughter that way."

"Or else what?" Lamb coaxed. "It may have been a long time since you were sheriff, Mars, but assaulting an officer of the law is still illegal."

Keith released Lamb by pushing him into the chair. He stalked towards the door to leave.

"Tell Veronica that she made her bed. Now she has to lie on it," Lamb called out as Keith was leaving. "She cheated on Gant last night, didn't she? My people take a lot of notes. She pissed off Casey Gant enough to turn in the murder weapon last night. Now I'm betting he found out. For someone who used to make her living running after cheating spouses, she sure doesn't know how to cover her tracks."

At those words, Keith grabbed his phone and saw the blinking voicemail. He pushed the button to play it, then paled.

"Release Logan now!" he yelled at Lamb.

"If your rational arguments didn't get me to release him, yelling at me won't do it either," Lamb told Keith.

Keith stormed towards the interrogation room and kicked the door open. Logan looked up at Keith in surprise. "Follow me," he told Logan.

Logan stood up and jogged towards Keith. "You got me out?"

"Just follow me now. Veronica's in trouble."

"They're not gonna let me walk out of here," Logan reminded Keith.

"Good. We need the police anyway," Keith reasoned. "While they're on our way to arrest us we'll give them a real case." He tossed his phone towards Logan. "I want you to dial the number she used to leave the last voicemail message and not stop until you reach her."

With trembling fingers, Veronica reached for the doorbell and rang. As soon as her father had driven off, she had run to her bedroom and changed into a pair of jeans and a sweater. She had released her problem and the burden she had been carrying for a long time to the person she trusted would never stop until it was completely resolved. However, she had never been the type of person to sit back and wait for everything to be handed to her on a silver platter.

"Dad," Veronica said into the phone, "I know you're at the sheriff's right now. I know you told me to wait at home. You know me enough to know that's not gonna happen. I'm following up something. I'll be at Casey's, then I'm heading right back. I love you. Bye." She hung up her phone.

The letters had been in her bedroom, safe and away from her father's, much less strangers' prying eyes, since Logan accidentally found them. There was no way for Casey to have gotten them unless he had been in her bedroom. If he was right and he had taken the letters right after Duncan was killed, then it did not make sense. Casey Gant had not been a real part of her life until a few months after Duncan died and Logan had cut her off of his life. There was no way Casey could have stumbled on those letters then.

There were two explanations. One, Casey had lied about when he took them. He covered up the fact that he had snooped around his room and taken them while they were dating so that she would consider his thievery an act of concern. Two, Casey had been telling the truth and he had taken them then. It would present most questions and would terrify her more. If he had been telling the truth, it meant Casey had broken into her house when she was no more than a school acquaintance and committed a felony without reason.

Either explanation did not sit well with her.

The door opened and Veronica smiled at Mrs Gant. "What are you doing here?" Casey's mother hissed at her.

"I came here to take something that belongs to me. Please, Mrs Gant. I need them," she pleaded.

The older woman glanced at her watch, then at Veronica. Finally, she nodded and cracked the door open wider. "Hurry up."

Veronica slid inside and ran up the stairs, heading towards Casey's bedroom. She knelt on the floor beside the bed and then crawled to search for the familiar box, hoping against hope that it was there but fearing what it meant if it was. Sure enough, the box was right where she had found them. Veronica reached for it and pulled it out, took off the cover and found the letters and photos all neatly stacked.

She closed her eyes.

iVeronica took the cover off and upended the box, spilling the contents onto the floor and all over her lap.

Her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. Familiar colored and scented envelopes, addressed with Duncan's handwriting, and photographs of herself taken without her knowledge. Suddenly she could not breathe. Veronica's hand wrapped around her throat. She felt her pulse beating rapidly.

She felt goosebumps all over her arms. Veronica pushed the letters and envelopes away from her skin, afraid that they would burn holes through her clothes and poison her./i

Either Casey had found them in a mess on the floor, or someone else had fixed them up. If Casey had done it, then it meant he knew. That was why he told her about the letters. She took out one of the letters again, then another, and another, and another. One by one she took out the letters from their envelopes. Soon, dozens of pieces of paper were scattered around her. Veronica's heart thundered in her chest. She was looking for something, anything. She did not know exactly what, but something was bound to be inside the box if it called her even now when she was sure that something about Casey was not right. Veronica took out the stack of photos and looked through them again, carefully now, one by one. They were photographs of herself in the grocery, walking her dog, waving to her father. There were photographs taken of her while she was waiting for the bus. Veronica found a picture of her in a payphone booth. She found a snapshot of herself speaking with Logan. Then she froze at a photograph she had not noticed before, a picture midway through the stack. It was a picture of her eating lunch. However, that was not what had caught her attention. In the background, there was Duncan Kane watching her in one of the other tables.

She dropped the stack back in the box. These were not photos taken by Duncan. They were in the same box where Casey had placed Duncan's letters, and she had assumed they were Duncan's as well. Her heart froze in her chest. Methodically, she returned to the letters. She had opened about five dozen when she stopped. She was not looking for evidence on the letters. She carefully picked up all of the envelopes and piled them. Her trembling hands made it difficult to stack them neatly. Afterwards, she allowed her hands to direct her to make the stack line in exactly the way she had done when she hid the letters all those years ago. Longest envelope at the back, shortest at the front. All of the envelopes that made the thickest material defend the rest and cover the sides. After she was done, Veronica lifted the stack and raised it to the light.

And that was when she found them—faint, brown, perfect. Bloodstained fingerprints.

Casey was right. He had taken the letters after Duncan was murdered.

Veronica closed the box and tucked it under her arm. She had enough evidence to close this chapter of her life.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" There was a long tumbling sound.

She jerked to awareness and ran out of the room. Veronica ran towards the stairs and froze at the top step. At the bottom, she saw the crumpled figure of Mrs Gant, lying on a pool of her own blood.

"You know it's not good manners to steal from someone else's home, Veronica."

She whirled around, then grabbed the rail for balance. Casey stood a few feet away smiling at her. "Your mom let me in. I told her I needed something."

Casey shook his head. "That was my room."

"These are my letters. I want them back."

His eyes narrowed at her. "You're in love with him, aren't you?" Casey demanded. "He's been dead for so long and you still want to keep his letters to you?"

Veronica swallowed at the rage that was evident in his eyes. "Casey, you're not well," she said carefully.

He leapt towards her and grabbed her arm. Veronica squealed in surprise and dropped the box. The contents spilled onto the steps and tumbled down. "Look what you made me do!"

"Casey, you can get treated for this," Veronica whispered.

He smirked at her. "That's what they said too."

"Who, Casey?"

"The programmer and my parents. Look what happened to them."

Veronica tried to pull her arm away but he grasped tighter. "Your dad is in the Rockies."

"Right," he answered quickly. "Together with that programmer. And my mom tried to go skiing down the stairs."

Veronica looked down and saw the sickly shade of blue that Mrs Gant's face had. "Casey, we need to get your mom to the hospital."

"That's what happens when people tell me I'm sick!" he exploded. "She knew that. It's her fault. She knows she knows she knows everything and she won't stop. She's like a broken record and she keeps telling I'm sick I'm sick and I'm not sick! Now she's sick."

"Casey, you're hurting my arm," Veronica said calmly, not wanting to rile him even more.

He took a deep breath, then slowly released her arm. She hissed in relief. Casey sat on the top step. "I wish you appreciated everything I did for you," he told her once again.

Carefully, she settled on the step beside him. "I do, Casey."

"No, you don't," he snapped. "You don't even know everything I've done for you."

Veronica watched him carefully, noting the way his attention was focused solely on the gathering blood around his mother's undoubtedly crushed skull. She glanced down at the blinking light inside the pocket of her pants. She pushed on the phone and prayed she pushed the right button.

"Why don't you tell me, Casey?" she urged. "Casey, did you kill Duncan for me?" she asked, her voice breaking.

Casey did not answer for the longest time. Then he said, "I made sure my mom won't complain every time we're here. Did you notice how much quieter she'd gotten after she asked us to keep it down?"

Veronica had noticed the broken vase and the bandage around her mother's hand afterwards.

"Logan kept making you miserable," he said. "Did you notice how fast he vanished after we had lunch?"

"Did you tell him we were dating? Casey, we only met at the shrink's."

He frowned. "You were at there because of Duncan Kane. Why were you there because of him? I already took care of it."

"Did you kill him, Casey?" she repeated.

"He was hurting you."

Veronica stifled her sob at the words. Even if nobody else found out, even if she had turned off her phone like an idiot instead of answering it, she was confident in the knowledge now that neither she nor Logan did anything to Duncan. "Casey, you put the knife in my hand. I thought you did everything for me. Why would you do that?"

He smiled briefly. "You won't go to jail. You were never in any danger of going to jail."

"You knew Logan would take the fall," she realized. He turned to her and pushed the hair behind her ear. Casey wiped the tears from her cheeks. Then he leaned over her and kissed the tears away. Veronica pushed him away. "Your mom will die if we don't take her to the hospital now."

His eyes flashed with anger. "You don't want to kiss me," he breathed. Then, as if only just remembering then, he voiced, "You fucked Logan Echolls last night."

"Casey," she said tentatively. Veronica could not read his expression then. He had always been open with his emotions. At least that's what she thought. Her heartbeat raced. "Casey."

He grabbed fistfuls of her hair and pulled them under her chin. Veronica grabbed his wrists and tried to pull them off of her. Vaguely, she realized they were teetering on the top step of the staircase. He pulled tighter and Veronica felt darkness edging its way into her vision. Porphyria, she realized. The persona in the poem had strangled Porphyria with her own hair. He would rather kill her than have her touched by any one else.

She choked, then as darkness blanketed her, she realized she was falling endlessly, falling into Casey's arms, being enveloped in his embrace, then falling, jerking, falling and tumbling down.

tbc