AngelMonroe: I've used your exact wording. Thank you.
Disclaimer: This is all mine. Mine, I say!
Well, I wish it were. It's all rob Thomas', folks.
X X X X X
Wallace and I went in my car, Duncan and Meg in his. I made a fast phone call and gave the person on the other end a thirty-second summary of what was going on.
"I'll be ready," they said.
And to their credit, they were. The pickup job took no more than five minutes, and then the five of us took off for the Echolls estate.
When we got there, there were two 09'ers I didn't recognize standing by the front gate. One of them – the woman of the two -- ran for the house while the other one said, "You're not getting in here, Veronica." In the distance, I could see four or five 09'er cars in the Echolls' driveway.
And then my mystery guest got out of Duncan's car and said, "We're coming in. Now, move, or I'll call the police." Duncan and Meg quickly followed her out of the car.
It had occurred to me. If Dick Casablancas and his partners in crime were roaming about the Echolls' grounds, there was no way in hell I was getting in without a parachute, automatic weaponry, or Batman. And I couldn't rent a plane on that short notice, didn't have my firearms license, and Bruce Wayne was otherwise occupied.
Same applied for Wallace and even Meg. Though Meg was an 09'er, she was widely known for liking me – and she didn't think too highly of most of her fellow rich folk, after the debacle with the purity test.
Duncan might be able to talk himself inside, but no way were Meg, Wallace or I going with him. And I didn't trust him to be able to do what was necessary by himself.
But there was one person who could get onto the Echolls estate with no problem.
The only person in Neptune, other than Logan, who actually belonged there.
Lynn Echolls.
I couldn't call the police. She, they'd listen to.
The 09'er moved. Ms. Echolls looked at me, smiled, and pressed a small remote she had in her purse. The gate swung open. Both cars pulled inside. I parked about ten feet in front of the gate, parallel to it, and gestured for Duncan to do the same. Blocking off the escape route. Not many 09'ers are going to want to crash their $25,000 BMWs through two cars or a brick wall just to get away.
Wallace caught up with the guy as he tried to scamper across the lawn to the Echolls' front door and actually tackled him. "Nuh-uh," he said. Duncan ran over to help control the guy.
I said, appreciatively, "Nice footwork, Fennel. Maybe you should be on the football team and not the basketball team."
"Naah, I like this pretty face of mine just the way it is."
Lynn and Meg got there last. "Okay," I said. "What's going on in there?" He said nothing. "Let me introduce you to my friend Mr. Taser," I said, pulling the weapon out of my pocket.
His eyes widened. Damn, sometimes it's good to have a rep. "Dick and Madison and a couple of others dragged Logan off after the dance last night and brought him here. They plan on taking him to Tijuana for several days of booze and strippers." Which, by Dick Casablancas standards, was actually a reasonably intelligent plan.
I gestured for Wallace and Duncan to turn him loose, and they did so. "Get off my property," Lynn said.
"But – my car –"
I held up Mr. Taser again. His car suddenly got a whole lot less important. He sprinted off down the driveway, climbed awkwardly over the fence, and ran off.
Lynn grinned when she looked at me. "This is fun, Veronica! What next?"
"Next we find Logan."
"I'll check around back," Duncan said, and he and Meg began jogging around the house. Lynn, Wallace and I went for the front door. Locked, of course, but she had a key.
There was no one inside. We'd taken no more than a couple of steps when we began to hear fighting from the back.
Wallace and I ran to see what was going on. Lynn, I was sure, would catch up with us eventually.
Dick and Beaver Casablancas were wrestling with Duncan, who seemed almost crazed. At their feet was a sleeping bag zipped to the top; only Logan's head was sticking out. He didn't look in the least happy. Most of the other 09'ers, including Caz and Shelly Pomroy, stood back in various states of confusion. Casey Gant was just standing there laughing, at who or what I didn't know and didn't care. Vanessa Mencken took one look at me and started running. Smart girl.
Meg was being held back by her ex, Cole; Madison Sinclair was standing nearby. I nodded to Wallace to go try and help Duncan, and went over towards Cole. Madison moved to get in my way. "Hi, Veronica –" she began.
I pushed my taser into her stomach, pressed the trigger, and pushed her to one side as she fell down. I was in no mood to trade insults. A lot more physical than I usually get but that was nowhere near what I was planning to do to Dick Casablancas if I had the chance.
Cole picked up on this and let Meg go, backing away. "I'd keep backing away, if I were you," I said. "Lynn Echolls is in there and she might be calling the police."
Cole wasn't that stupid. He ran off.
"You okay?" I asked Meg. She said yes. Good.
Wallace was unzipping Logan, to the glares of other 09'ers. He was still in the Indiana Jones costume. Wallace helped him to his feet and they staggered away.
What the hell had they done to him?
Duncan, meanwhile, had shoved Beaver into the pool in his fight with the brothers Casablancas and was starting to get the upper hand with Dick. As Caz started moving over to help Dick, Lynn Echolls finally came through the back door. She put two fingers in her mouth and blew the loudest and longest whistle I'd ever heard. Caz froze.
"I've just called the Neptune Sheriff's Department," she said. "Anyone still here when they get here will be arrested."
One of them yelled, "My dad could buy and sell them ten times over."
"So could I," Lynn said. "I bet me and the Kanes together can get a fair hearing."
"Especially when backed by the Mannings," Meg added. I didn't say anything. The word of a Mars in this town meant less than nothing to Don Lamb. But the word of an Echolls, a Kane, and a Manning versus that of a Casablancas, a Pomroy, a Sinclair and a Mencken? Lamb would have a seizure trying to figure out who he needed to suck up to more. Whatever happened would have to be played fairly.
In any event, Lynn Echolls' words had the desired effect. Within a minute there was no one left in the backyard but Logan's rescuers, Logan, the brothers Casablancas, and Casey Gant. "Didn't you hear –" I said to Casey.
"No, Veronica," Meg said. "He's the one that told me and Duncan what was going on."
When I looked at Casey, he said, "I really don't like brainwashing."
Lynn ran up to Logan while I went over by Duncan. Wallace, meanwhile, had grabbed a pool skimmer and was poking it at Beaver Casablancas, who was trying to climb out of the pool. "Stay put, Short Round," he said.
Damn. I really was rubbing off on him.
Then I went up to Duncan, holding Dick. "Look at the action hero," I said with genuine admiration.
"They were trying to drag him off in a sleeping bag," Duncan said. "I wasn't about to stand idly by."
"Dude!" Dick said. "We weren't going to hurt him or anything. We were just going to take him out and get him wasted and hook him up with some strippers." He glared at me. "Had to get him to stop thinking about you."
"Dude," Logan said irritably from his sitting position, "It would take more than that. As of right now, you and anyone who had any part of this are dead to me. Don't talk to me. Don't write me – like you could, of course. And that's assuming you and Beaver are allowed writing implements in prison."
"You know, I've always wondered," I said casually. "If your dad is Big Dick, what does that make you? And as far as thinking about me goes," I said, holding my taser in an area I know Dick loved and respected, "You'll be doing that for a while."
"No!" he shouted, before he fainted. Everyone except Beaver laughed. Lynn said, "I'm going to keep an eye out for the Sheriff," and walked back into the house. "And Veronica?"
"Yes?"
"Thanks," she said. "I owe you a lot now. Anything you ever need, ask."
Sure. Why not help me set up your dead husband for murder to make sure your son doesn't get nailed for it? Just a thought.
I went over and helped Logan into the poolhouse so he could get away from having to look at Dick and Beaver. "You okay?"
He snorted. "Yeah, they really didn't mistreat me all that much. Apart from zipping me up in a sleeping bag, holding me in the poolhouse against my will, and threatening to kidnap me to another country, I'd say everything was just peachy."
"They didn't physically hurt you, though."
"Well, I had to listen to Dick's attempts to 'intervene' – and Caz's, Cole's, and Madison's as well. Dick was saying, 'Dude. Veronica Mars?' I told him 'Dude. Every girl in the freshman class?' He looked at me like I was crazy and said, 'You say that like it's a bad thing.' So I could actually feel my brain start to dribble out of my ears. But no, they actually thought they were doing me a favor."
Despite the situation, I laughed.
"Look at you," he said. "Veronica Mars to the rescue."
"Glad you came out of it more or less intact," I said, then bent down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
Then a longer one.