This is, I suspect, the penultimate part. There may be a sequel if you ask me nicely and send me bribes.

X X X X X

We went up to Lamb after he'd talked to Logan and Mac and asked him if he needed anything else from us at the moment.

"Not right now," he said. "Eventually I'm going to need a full statement -- including how you figured out that it was Trina Echolls. But for right now we've got her on one count of kidnapping and two counts of attempted murder, plus whatever else we can think to throw at her."

"I'll help you with that if you want," Dad said, deadly serious.

"I may take you up on that," Lamb said. "I don't want this one getting away."

"I don't think she wants to," I said.

Lamb actually snorted. "Yeah. It was like she was happy we caught her." He circled his right index finger close to his temple. "Some people."

I couldn't disagree.

Looking at Dad, I said, "I need to go talk to Logan and Mac for a second."

"I'll be in the car when you're ready," Dad said.

Logan said as I came up to him, "You're riding back with your father?"

"Yeah," I said. "I figure you'll have your hands full with Lynn."

"Two emotional shocks like this in a few months," he said. "She'll be fine. But she's not fine right now." Then he said, "Dammit!" loudly. "I should have seen it coming."

"I don't think anyone could have seen this coming," I said.

"I should have," he said. "I may not have always been Trina's best friend, but I really thought I knew her better than anyone." He laughed bitterly. "Hell, even Daddy Dearest, in his quest for good publicity, wouldn't have done something like this."

"Aaron Echolls not being a good father. Who would have imagined it?"

Another bitter laugh. "You're wrong, there. Trina was the only one of us he ever did really seem to love. I told you he never hit her. But he always treated her like the true child and me like the bastard afterthought."

"And you grew up as someone who protects people," I said. "And Trina grew up as someone who thinks taking potshots at her stepmother is a good way to get people to listen to her. I never said Aaron, in his own way, didn't love Trina; he just taught her the wrong lessons, and never told her where and when to stop."

I reached over and hugged him. "I'll call you later, okay? And tell Lynn I'll talk to her whenever she's up to it. And -- and that I'm really sorry I didn't figure this out earlier."

"I don't think she's going to blame you," Logan said.

"I don't either. But I'm still sorry."

With another promise to call later, I went over to Mac.

"Hey, action hero," I said.

"Hey. I think I'm pretty much done here for the moment."

"I understand," I said. "Some madman's probably threatening to blow up the Eiffel Tower."

"Actually, they're planning a big heist at the world headquarters of Deutschebank," she replied, equally deadpan.

"I see. And you have to stop it."

"Stop it? Hell, no. I'm joining in."

I laughed. "Of course you are. Just wanted to touch base before you left. And thank you again."

"No more hugs," Mac said.

"No, no more hugs," I said. "I'll call you later, okay?"

And that was more or less that. For the moment, anyway.

X X X X X

When I got into Dad's car, I closed my eyes as he got in. "Lay it on me," I said.

"Lay what on you?"

"About how dangerous this is, and I could have gotten myself killed . . ."

"Do you think so little of me that you think I'd do that now?" he asked. "Veronica, after what happened today the last think you need is me giving you a hard time." After a second, "Besides, by and large you did very well. Any criticisms I do have can wait until later."

"Thanks," I said.

"How's your shoulder?"

"Fine," I said. "Oddly enough. I didn't strain it once and Trina never tied me up or even poked me with the rifle."

"That's good," he said. "You didn't look like you were in pain, but --"

"Trust me, Dad," I said. "If my shoulder were hurting right now I'd be screaming. I've had a very bad last few weeks -- not as bad as Lynn --"

Dad interrupted. "There's a proverb I've always hated," he said. "It goes, 'I wept because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.' At first, yeah, it sounds like a good reason to buck up and quit complaining because other people have it worse. But think about it, sweetie: literally this would mean that the only person in the whole world who was allowed to complain about anything would be the person who was absolutely the worst off. Which is ridiculous on the face of it. Just because there are other people who have no feet doesn't put shoes on yours. It's not like you're weeping because you had a hangnail. You have had a lousy last few weeks. And a lousy last few months. And a lousy year. You're entitled to feel sorry for yourself on occasion. Good things have happened to you as well, though."

Logan. Catching my "rapist," Duncan, and my actual rapist, Cassidy. Finding out that Meg had been right: I have friends. Figuring out who'd killed Lilly. Yeah, a lot had gone well as well.

Didn't make me feel a whole lot better at the moment. And I was glad that Dad was trying to stop me from feeling guilty about that. "Thanks, Dad," I said. "I've had a bad last few weeks. My emotional control is kind of shot at the moment."

"So I saw," Dad said. "I don't think I've ever seen you get violent. You didn't even get violent with Cassidy Casablancas. Or Dick Casablancas, for that matter." He shook head. "All I could think when I saw you hit her like that, not once but three times, was how frustrated you must have been. How much pain everything has caused you. I thought I knew all of that before tonight," he said. "Now, I think I really do. You weren't just expressing how angry you were at Trina. You were expressing how angry you were at the entire world."

The world doesn't need more psychiatrists; it needs more people like my father. "Pretty much," I said. "But I think the world is safe for the moment."

He laughed. "For the moment, huh?"

"I make no guarantees."

"So . . . straight home and right to bed?"

"Toss in some food and you've got yourself a deal," I said. "I think I'll be able to sleep for a week."

"Are you going to take off school tomorrow?"

"Probably not," I said. "That's where my friends are."

X X X X X

I had a Lilly dream that night. She was sitting on the edge of my bed.

"So, I hear you got shot," she said.

"You're a little behind the times," I said. "Got shot, caught the person who did it, and maybe. just maybe, we've done enough to put your 'restless shade' to rest."

She laughed. "I'm still here walking the Earth, aren't I, Veronica Mars?"

"Not walking so much as sitting."

"Well, you have a small room," she said. "I try to walk too much and I'll wind up smashing my fabulous self into a wall."

"Can't you walk through them?"

She got a questioning look on her face. "You know, I've never tried," she said. She strode confidently forward . . .

And smashed right into the wall.

I couldn't help myself; I laughed. She turned at me and glowered before she said, "It's a good thing for you that I'm dead, Veronica Mars. Because otherwise I would so kick your ass about now."

I kept laughing.

"Anyway," she said, her voice suddenly serious for a second, "Just wanted to be sure you were okay. After everything that's happened."

"I think I will be," I said.

"That's good. Because I do worry about you, you know. You go from valley to peak to valley again."

"That's the story of my life ever since --"

"Ever since Aaron Echolls bashed my skull in?" she said brightly.

I realized something. "That's the first time you've ever said that he did it."

"I wonder why that is?"

"So, no easy answers?"

"Veronica, you know better than that."

"I miss you, Lilly."

"I miss you too, Veronica. Now go back out there and kick some ass." She hesitated. "You know, it's been a metaphor in your head ever since Aaron croaked -- that death became him. Made him look better, like a martyred hunky movie star instead of the killer he was."

"Yeah. And Trina --"

She snorted. "Trina. Trina's always been out to make sure of that."

"I've done all I can, there."

Lilly said, "No, you haven't. Use her weapons against her." She laughed. "Fire with fire, Veronica Mars."

And then I woke up.

This was another dream that meant something, like "she came back wrong."

Only I was fairly sure I knew what this one meant.

X X X X X

The next morning, I asked Dad if Trina's arrest had made the news.

"It has," he said. "Lamb's issued a brief statement confirming the arrest, but that's about it."

I blinked. "Wow," I said. "Under the circumstances I would have expected him to be damn near throwing a parade."

"I may have talked with him last night and indicated that a lot of press was what Trina wanted," Dad said. "He wanted to trumpet the arrest to the high heavens but I managed to convince him that another case where someone else figured it out before him might not be what he wanted to be trumpeting. This way he gets to take the credit for arresting the person for a while."

"Did he have any clue?"

"If you believe him, once Dick Casablancas was eliminated, he actually did figure out that the person might have been shooting at someone else on the platform. Trina was on his list of 'possible suspects.'"

"Do you believe him?"

"I don't see what he's got to gain by lying," Dad said, shrugging. "And given the number of people who got there before he did it's not like he'd be able to successfully lie about it."

"True," I said. Then, "Dad, I have a favor to ask you."

"What is it, sweetie?"

I explained what I wanted him to do. He seemed dubious. "Are you sure?"

"It's the exact opposite of how we've been doing it all along," I said. "But I think it could do some good. Call it a pre-emptive strike."

"I'll do what I can," he said.

Mac picked me up for school that morning; I called her "action hero" until she begged me to stop.

Then I explained to her what I was doing.

"I'll be there," she said.

Wallace, Meg, and Duncan also agreed. I called Logan, who'd taken the day off, and he said he'd be there as well. And so would Lynn.

"What? Logan, I can't ask her . . ."

"You're not asking her. She's volunteering."

"Are you sure she's up for this?"

"She's sure."

The only one who said no was Weevil. "Not because I don't want to be there for you, V; just that it's a little too public for me. But I'll be in the audience if you want."

"I do. Thanks." After a second. "Seen Armando recently?"

"Yeah; ran into him late last night."

"And?"

"I just told you; I ran into him." Oh.

After school came quickly. Dad had it all set up.

I looked back at my friends, my father, and Lynn Echolls, all standing behind me.

Then I took a step forward and looked at the people out in the crowd, all focused on me.

Fire with fire.

Trina seemed to think there was no such thing as bad publicity. I was about to do my damnedest to prove her wrong.

"Thanks for coming today," I said, kicking off my press conference. "My name is Veronica Mars . . ."