So this was intended to be longer, but... what can I say? I wanna go to bed. Lol. I'm really seriously breaking personal limits here posting nightly, and it's AWESOME. Thanks so much for the reviews! Now... for questions... Don't worry, 'wantingchino', nothing of the sort will happen. YES, Duncan is GONE FOREVER NEVER TO RETURN... because... I think we all know by now that I don't like him much. Aaand 'Kaosmalek' That's supposed to be in italics as a flashback, but it wouldn't surprise me if decided to italicize whatever it wanted to. I'll run back through tomorrow and add separators to make it more sensical.

THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS hiphopdaze, Fanficfairy514, wantingchino, kaosmalek, and lukeandlorealilove!

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CHAPTER 5

Have a Little Faith in Me

Okay, she was thankful that the rumors about Duncan leaving overpowered those of 'the breakup' for the most part, but even so, the quality of the day was quickly decreasing. Things had been going relatively smooth until Weevil talked to her about the Fitzpatrick's, but then everything went sour.

It started, she got some stupid text message from a blocked number and now, three hours later, she'd gotten 3 more. In order they were '9', '3', and '6'. Just before that, she had gotten a message from Logan- who was probably not going to ever leave her alone about clearing his name.

And just moments before the last bell rang, after going through an entire period of Dick being his usual jackass self, she was called to the office.

"How can I help you, Principal Clemmons?" Veronica asked in her usual tone. Just as she was adding her signature smirk, her dad turned around and gave her a very condemning look. "Dad?"

The moment had flashed through her imagination so many times since Lily died that Veronica didn't know which fear to go with. Was her mom dead? Had someone else been murdered? Was something wrong with her dad? Had she finally been caught in one of her sleuthing acts?

Today, though, a new paranoia set in. Had Duncan been caught? Was he dead? ...Was the baby?

"Honey," He said in that annoying little tone of his- the one he uses when he knows what's going on. But this time, she felt as if she was genuinely innocent. "We need to talk."

Clemmons held up his arm to show her the way into his new office. "This way, Miss Mars." She had to physically bite her tongue to keep herself from adding some witty remark.

Everything she had done in the past few months ran through her head. Fitzpatrick's? Wallace's ex? Has she blamed something on Veronica? Was Logan in trouble and had ratted her out for something?

"Okay, what's the problem?" She asked as she sat down directly next to her father in front of Clemmons' desk. "This isn't my favorite mind game."

Keith looked over at her with such a stern, shadowy look that he actually scared her.

"Veronica, Duncan's ATM card has been used in Mexico. That's an awfully large from Northern California just this morning." Veronica gave her father a pointed look, signaling him to continue. "He's used all kinds of tricks. And the... sheriff and the FBI are convinced that someone is helping him from Neptune."

Veronica's jaw dropped for a moment before she sputtered out, "And you think that's me!" Both of the men looked at her, serving her with her answer. "I haven't talked to him at all since he broke up with me. And I haven't really talked to him since before he left for Napa!"

"What do you mean 'really'?" Keith asked, turning slightly to face her.

"I mean-...had a conversation. Since Meg died he hasn't said a word." Veronica glanced at Clemmons, who wore his typical expression. Her eyes slid over to her dad, who was doing just the same. "You don't believe me." She accused.

"Okay, Veronica. Let's go." He said and stood up, then sent a look of thanks to Clemmons.

The two of them walked out to Keith's car silently, interrupted only by Veronica's phone signaling another text message. '4'.

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Logan paced around the penthouse nervously. 'His' penthouse.

The Feds had just been there for over an hour, and he was almost certain that everything was bugged. Everything had to be bugged. He was beginning to think that he wasn't as good at the Nancy Drew game as Veronica, and that he shoulda kept out of all of this. Duncan, Felix, Weevil, the Fitzpatrick's... he should have said 'no'.

But he did, and here he was, nervous to do anything. And there was SO much he had to do. But first, he had to talk to Veronica.