"DO-RAG ON THE HIGHWAY"
Previously on 'Veronica Mars':
Logan walked down the hall of Neptune High on the next morning to run into Weevil. They both gave a glance.
"I know it was you." Logan started.
"You mean I stabbed you, is that it?"
"Why the hell would I want to stab you for? Huh? I tried to help you out, to get you off of murder, and now you're accusing me!"
"You only helped to find out who actually killed Felix."
Weevil got on top and started to repeatedly smack Logan in the face. Dick came over and pulled Weevil off of Logan, smacking him.
Soon after a crowd formed, teachers came over to break it up. As they did, Veronica walked in to see the three guys. Blood on their faces, their shirts torn. Bruises already forming.
"What happened?" Veronica asked as she stepped up to the three boys.
"These two rich boys jumped me." Weevil replied.
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Veronica sat down and waited for the return of Cheryl LeBlanc. When she came in, she became startled at the fact that Veronica was in the room. LeBlanc was dressed in a red and black short skirt, large high heels, a top that barely covered, dark red lipstick, and wavy blond hair."Excuse me?" LeBlanc started.
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'Superintendent Sheryl LeBlanc. She's been around years. No one's liked her, and they've even tried to get rid of her, but with no luck. Of course, she's not your all together superintendent, but more of a… flashy hooker type.'
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"Yeah, Allison. We've got trouble. I just had that Mars girl in my office just a few minutes ago."
"Oh god, no. She's trying to spoil everything. What did you tell her?"
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Veronica felt a sense of relief that it wasn't Duncan, but was still shaken. She looked back at Keith and Sheriff Lamb before looking back at the cold body on the table. It wasn't Duncan, but it was Carla Jackie.
"Oh my god, what happened?" Veronica asked.
"She was murdered, two days ago. In cold blood." Lamb explained.
"Well, why am I here?" Veronica asked.
"I wanted you to I.D. the body, and get entertainment from your expression."
Veronica looked at Lamb in disgust. Keith put his head down.
"Your prints were at the scene. We have a witness that says he saw you before the murder."
"What?" Veronica was shocked.
"What, LAMB? My daughter? You told me that we had to come down here just to ID a body!"
"I was wrong. Veronica Mars, you're under arrest for the murder of Carla Jackie." Lamb took out the cuffs.
"What?" Veronica was even more stunned.
"What? Lamb! No, this is insanity! My daughter would never do that!"
"Step away, or I'll have to hold you in contempt."
"Dad?" Veronica asked as Lamb started to put the cuffs on.
'How did this happen? The very person I was trying to protect and find innocent is now dead and the only evidence they have toward this dire crime points to me. How is this possible? How? When I said life was unfair, I didn't mean unfair, I meant sucks. Life sucks, and there aren't any guarantees that I'm going to get out of this…'
Veronica and Sheriff Lamb were in the brightly lit interrogation room around four in the morning. She was sitting with her head down to the table as Lamb paced back and forth. An infuriated expression lit up his face in frenzy.
He went back over to Veronica and slammed his fists on the desk. Veronica looked up at him.
"Okay… one more time. Why did you do it?" Lamb asked, trying to be calm.
"I didn't do it! I was trying to help her, I wouldn't kill her!"
"We have a witness who says you did."
'A witness? Okay, now I'm intrigued, confused, and madly pissed all in one motion. How could there be a witness?'
"Who?" Veronica asked.
"That's not important at this time."
"Um… yeah it is!"
"What's important is that you confess to this crime and tell me why you did it!" His voice raised.
"I didn't do it!" Veronica also raised her voice.
"I have proof that you did!"
A tear crossed down Veronica's cheek, already softened by other lain tears.
"Stop the waterworks and just tell my why."
"No… I want to know how. How exactly did I commit this unearthly crime?" Veronica replied.
"What?"
"I want to know! Where's the evidence? The weapon, my blood, my hair, Anything except this imaginary witness. Where's the evidence?"
Lamb stopped and looked at the mirror glass behind Veronica and shook his head. Behind the glass was Keith and Deputy Sacks.
"We'll try again after you get some sleep." Lamb told Veronica.
Veronica got up with Lamb, and she was escorted to the jail cell in the back room.
'Life sucks? Life totally sucks and has screwed me one completely. Being arrested is one thing… but jail cells? That's a whole different ballpark…'
CREDITS PLAY.
Lamb walked out of the back room and was intercepted by Keith.
"Keith…"
"You know my daughter has nothing to do with this, you do know that. So why all the mish mashed interrogations and questionings?"
"You're mistaken, Keith. There is hard evidence against your daughter. We're running blood tests that we found at the scene that can place your daughter at the crime. Two witnesses that saw her go in, kill the woman, and leave. You may want to go home and get some rest Keith. And then start looking for a good lawyer."
Lamb walked away from the fuming Keith Mars.
Several faculty members were sitting in the teacher's lounge with the superintendent encircling the room.
"All right, I want to know who went against my orders and decided to do the stupid stunt of killing Carla Jackie? We were to scare her, and run her out of Neptune, not kill her and pin it on Veronica Mars. Who killed her?" The superintendent kept circling the room.
The group nodded their heads and objected to their dealings in the crime.
"Someone had to!" LeBlanc yelled.
"Her loss is at a great measure to us, but none of us here killed her." The principal spoke up.
"A great measure? She was the decoy in our plan. Now she's dead, and someone else is taking the fall."
"This gives us a chance to move further into the plan without other questioning from outside groups." A teacher spoke.
"No, we were not to have outside help with this matter. Someone must have. How about you? You never speak much, did you kill her?"
The superintendent pointed to the dark colored man in the corner. He spoke.
"No." The voice sounded familiar. "I did not."
The man in the corner got up from his chair.
"If you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
He stepped into the light for his face to be seen; Clarence Weidman.
"Let's get this matter under control, and do what's necessary." LeBlanc told Weidman.
"I know what to do." He left the room.
"Mars can be a great asset to this plan. Let's not do anything drastic just yet." Another teacher responded.
"She is not to be messed around with." Leblanc replied.
"If we help to let her go, she'll come after us harder than before." Patterson said.
"That's where we'll have to be careful…"
'Of course, there are many things that could have happened that day when Carla Jackie was murdered. But how, and why? Who is this witness Sheriff Lamb is talking about? And why me?'
Veronica was sitting in her cell, thinking of the possibilities.
Veronica walked to the door of Carla Jackie's home. She knocked with petite, and Carla Jackie came to the door. Baffled at what Veronica was doing there.
"Veronica… how unexpected. Can I help you?"
"Yeah…" Veronica seemed shaken, "My boyfriend, please. May I come in?"
"Sure. Come on in." Jackie undid the latch to the screen door, and opened it for Veronica to come in.
Miss Jackie closed the door, and walked in front of Veronica with her back facing her.
"What's up?"
Veronica took out a knife, and ran up behind Jackie, violently stabbing her in the back.
Jackie let out a hoarse scream.
Veronica came out of her daydream to see Cliff, Keith, and Lamb at the bars of the cell.
"Your lawyer's here." Lamb told Veronica.
Veronica, Keith, and Cliff were seated in the interrogation room.
"The police have quite a case build up on you, you realize that Miss Mars?" Cliff asked.
"Yeah, I figured from the NYPD Blue styled interrogations." Veronica replied.
"Veronica…" Keith responded.
"Sorry." She replied.
"They've proved that the blood sample that they found in the house is yours. They have two witnesses…"
"Two? I thought there was only one." Veronica replied.
"No. A Tim Kennedy and an Eduardo Oroczo."
"Thumper?" Veronica asked.
"If that's what you call him…" Cliff replied.
"What's the matter?" Keith asked.
"It's just weird that a biker would be around that area…"
"Well… that's what they say." Cliff replied.
"Do they have anything else against me?" Veronica asked.
"They're in right now searching for a murder weapon, and… that's really all they have, but with the evidence they do have and rock solid alibis with the witnesses, they may just have a case against you."
"Do you think?" Veronica asked, hopeful.
"I may not have criminal law down pat, but I'd say that they do."
Cliff got up from his chair and grabbed his briefcase and the files that were on the table.
"Thanks Cliff." Keith said as he got up and shook Cliff's hand.
"Hey, any time."
Cliff left the room.
"Well, honey…" Keith started.
"Dad, it's…"
Keith looked down.
"I know, I know."
Veronica went over to Keith and hugged him right as Lamb entered the room.
"All right, let's go." Lamb took a hold of Veronica's arm.
"I'm going to get you out of this." Keith told Veronica.
"I know, dad."
'I still wonder… who could have done it. Gone against her will and murdered her in cold blood. I know at least it wasn't Aaron Echolls.'
Principal Patterson walked up and knocked on Carla Jackie's door. Jackie opened it.
"What do you want?" Hostility in the air.
"Carla…"
"Don't Carla me. You drove me out of my job. What the hell do you want?"
"I'm sorry."
"The hell you are."
Carla Jackie slammed the door and started to walk away when she stopped, hesitated, and reopened the door to find Patterson standing outside with a gun.
"Oh my god…" Jackie replied as two shots were fired.
Jackie looked down at her bleeding abdomen, stumbled away from the door, and fell onto the ground.
"Okay, I was riding my bike down that street a few minutes before it happened. And as I am, I saw that chick's car parked outside."
Thumper looked at Keith who was staring at him.
"Um… your daughter. And she was next to it, and I saw some type of shiny thing in her hand that she tucked under her sleeve. And then she went up to the door. By that time I had stopped my bike and knew something fishy was goin' on so I went to the door and heard screams. That's when I looked in the window to see your daughter standing there with a knife, and the woman on the floor covered in blood. So I called 911 but by that time she was gone."
"So, you decided to be a good Samaritan all of a sudden and pull over?" Keith asked.
"Yes."
"Keith, let's talk." Lamb demanded.
Keith and Lamb went outside the interrogation room.
"Listen, Keith. I know she's your daughter, and that you used to be sheriff. But not anymore, this is my investigation. I call the shots, I ask the questions. You go and buy yourself a Slurpee down at the 7 Eleven across the street and come back in a little while. I'll fill you in on the details." Lamb patted Keith on the back and reentered the interrogation room.
Keith, silenced from what had just happened, took out his cellular phone and dialed a number.
"Yeah, Max. Listen, could you bring me some things… right away."
Max rushed over to Keith as soon as he got there.
"I got your message."
Keith got up.
"You got what I asked for?"
"Yeah." Max reached into the black duffle bag he was carrying and pulled out a laptop, a small bug, and some other equipment.
"And that's really all that happened." Thumper told Lamb.
"Nothing else?" Lamb asked.
"That was it."
"All right." Lamb wrote on his yellow pad, "Be sure to stay in contact with us. The court date will probably be soon. You're free to go."
Thumper got up from the chair and walked out of the room stopping at the doorway looking at Keith who was sitting there. Keith looked up at him, and Thumper scoffed, and walked away.
Lamb came out moments later and Keith got up from his chair and scrambled over to Lamb.
Lamb rolled his eyes.
"You finished that Slurpee already?"
"Well?"
"The guy told us what he knew, that's that."
"What do you mean, that's that?"
"That's that. We got the guy's statement, and now we go onto witness number 2."
"What did he say? What was…"
"Keith, Keith. Go home, we'll keep you informed."
Keith looked at Lamb.
"All right, fine. I just need to grab my stuff."
Keith entered the interrogation room, and reached into his jacket pocket to pull out a small black bug with sticky holder at the bottom end. He reached under the table, and lightly jammed it up there to make it stay. He then grabbed his papers and walked out.
"Is that it?" Lamb asked.
"Sure is."
"We'll call you if anything is sure to come up." Lamb replied.
"I'm sure you will…"
Max and Keith walked out of the station.
"Well?" Max asked.
"We're about to find out."
Keith and Max got into Keith's car and he took out the laptop.
"Voila." Keith replied as sound came out of the laptop's speakers.
"State your full name." Lamb demanded.
"Tim Joseph Kennedy."
"Where were you on the day of March 3rd?" Lamb asked.
"I was inside my house. It's the house across from the backyard of Carla Jackie."
"So, you have a direct clear line of sight right into the home of Miss Carla Jackie?"
"That is correct."
"Go on."
"I was making myself lunch as the commercials played when I noticed something strange going on across from my backyard in Carla's house. I went over to my sliding glass doors to see someone with her in her home beating her, then I saw the blonde headed girl take out a knife and just stabbed her."
"What happened after that?"
"I saw the girl make a break for it, so I picked up my cell and called the police."
Keith looked over at Max.
"Check out Mr. Kennedy's cell phone bill. Get the records of all calls made from March 1st to March 4th."
"Sure thing. Where are you going?"
"I'm going to go check out Mr. Kennedy's home. See what he's cooking up today."
Max got out of the car and walked off leaving Keith to start up his car and drive off.
Thumper had just filled up his tank on his motorcycle at a local rest stop on the outskirts of town when he was just driving off. Across the lot of the station was a parked blue sedan. The driver's side mirror was fidgeted with and stopped to show the reflection of Clarence Weidman. The blue sedan pulled out of the station right after Thumper had left.
Keith parked his car across the street from the Kennedy residence, and made his way over to the front door where it was already unlocked due to the recent police search.
He went inside and into the living room where bright white carpet lay on the floor, and next to that was the open spaced kitchen. Keith went into the kitchen and over to the sliding glass doors. Instead of seeing a clear open space into Carla Jackie's own home, he saw an old, brown, and ugly picketed wood fence covered with vines that was in the way.
Keith's brow lifted as he opened the sliding glass door, and walked into the backyard. He went over to the fence. He gazed at it for a good three minutes, then heard the door slam in Kennedy's home. Keith saw through one of the windows two green suits. Keith climbed over the fence and into Carla Jackie's backyard.
Logan rushed into the station an hour later, and went over to one of the Deputy's who was manning the desk.
"Veronica Mars." Logan replied.
"My, she's popular today. Interrogation room."
Logan ran into the interrogation room to find Keith and Veronica talking. Keith's brow raised again.
"What do you want?" Keith asked aggressively.
"I came here to see…"
"I told you I didn't want you around my daughter."
"I can help her. I have lawyers…"
"Like the one's who helped you? Get out."
"But…"
"I said get out!"
Logan stopped arguing, looked at Veronica, shook his head, and left the room. Keith looked back at Veronica who had a tear streaming down her cheek.
"Veronica… you don't need a lawyer. You need a god damned miracle to get you out of this one. I've check out the place, the evidence…"
"What are you saying?"
"I can only do so much as a father for you."
"What? What are you talking about?"
"It's not…"
"Oh my god… you don't believe me?"
"Veronica… the evidence. Plain facts here. Even though the witness may have lied, they still have further evidence that can even put O.J. away."
"Dad, all I did was try to help someone out. I never killed. It was those damned bastards who kept trying to take her out. The principal, the superintendent… they know I know."
"I know that."
"By those people planning some sort of crime, I became stuck in the middle of it all to only be set up by them to try and rid of me. I'm a flaw in their plan."
"Veronica! Evidence. The witnesses…"
"Tim Kennedy, the so called witness, used to have a relationship with the superintendent. He was her husband."
"Her husband?"
"They were married, then got divorced in 92'. They both live in Neptune, and it seems like he's gotten close to her again."
"There's records of this?"
"Yeah."
"That could mean…" Keith started.
"And Thumper… he's been having an affair with the principal for the last two months."
Keith's eyes widened.
"It makes sense now… I'm sorry, honey. For doubting you like that."
Keith got up.
"I've gotta make some calls." Keith looked at Veronica. "We got them."
Keith stormed out of the room, and took out his cell phone.
"Yeah, Max. Did you get the records?" Keith listened. "Okay, thanks." Keith tucked the phone back into his pocket. "We've got them."
Keith stormed into Lamb's office where Lamb was on the phone.
"Lamb, you told me that each of the witnesses in this case had nothing to do with what Veronica was investigating."
Lamb looked at Keith.
"I'll be there in a few minutes." Lamb placed the phone down. "What?"
"Those two witnesses both have relationships with the two people Veronica was trying to take down. She's been set up. Tim Kennedy never made any such phone call land based or cellular phone wise to 911 on March the 3rd. Tim Kennedy never even witnessed the attack due to a large brown picketed fence blocking his view."
"What?" Lamb was shocked. He then smiled and nodded his head. "Oh, I see. You did some Abracadabra, Hocus Pocus to get the interrogation conversation, and then decided to do a little snooping of your own."
Lamb pulled out of his desk the small, black, and sticky bug and threw it onto a stack of papers.
"Why shouldn't I arrest you here for the invasion of a police investigation?"
"Because you know I'm right, and that Veronica never did kill that woman."
Lamb bit onto his lip.
"Your friend Thumper was found off of the side of the road just a few minutes ago. His skull crushed in. Tim Kennedy is also missing. It looks like that god damned miracle is working after all."
Keith and Lamb walked to the scene of where Thumper's body was found. Deputy Sacks approached the two.
"All we found at first was a bloodied do-rag on the highway. It wasn't until a squad car noticed the body about a half a mile up the road. His motorcycle was found in the field over there, smashed to bits. It looks like someone had run him off of the road." Sacks told them.
"Ah, such a damned shame. How about some coffee?" Lamb asked.
"Is that it? No investigation? No anything?"
"What can we do, Keith? The guy's dead. The second witness missing. There's nothing else."
"What about the other evidence? Shouldn't you try to prove that that's fake?"
"Keith, go home."
Lamb started to walk away.
"This is my daughter we're talking about here!" Keith yelled.
"And this is my investigation!" Lamb replied.
'So, all in all, with two witnesses missing, a crooked investigation, and one angry father, this case seems to be getting more interesting by the moment.'
Carla Jackie opened her front door to find Clarence Weidman standing at the door.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm looking for a Carla Jackie."
"This is she. What can I do for you?"
Weidman rammed through the screen door knocking Miss Jackie to the floor.
"Wait, wait…" Jackie screamed.
Keith pulled up outside of Carla Jackie's residence. He went over to the front door to see the broken screen door. He opened the door to see the blood stain on the floor with a white trace of where the body was. Keith looked around without stepping out of bounds. He went over to an armoire that lain next to the outline.
Keith got on his knees, and checked the small opening under the armoire. He turned up nothing. He stopped, thought for a moment, then went over to the other side of the outline where grounded shelves were. He checked under that. Nothing. He got up onto his feet, wiped his hands onto his jacket, and glanced at the flashing LED on the phone.
He went over to the phone, and pressed 'play' button.
'You have three new messages.'
"Would you like a free mortgage? Then why not…"
Keith pressed 'next'.
"Carla, we need to talk. Things have been going on, and it doesn't look good. Call me back."
Keith took the phone off of the receiver, and glanced back through the caller i.d..
'Sean Stewart, 555-6536'
Keith wrote the number down on a pad and pressed next.
"Listen, Carla. I'm sorry that this was the way it had to be. You're a fine teacher, but LeBlanc thought that you may have been a little strong in the ways of Neptune High. Please call me back, we can have coffee."
Keith went through the caller i.d. again.
"Yeah, Max. I need you to run a search on a Sean Stewart. Yeah. 555-6536. And also see what you can find out on the principal at Neptune High. She just called leaving a message, Veronica's right. There is something going on."
Keith got into his car, and drove off.
All was silent in the Neptune Sheriff's station that night. Not a creature was stirring, except Keith Mars. He tip toed over to the evidence storage locker. Took out a small card, and swiped it in the card holder. The card was denied. He tried again. The red dot appeared.
"Damn…" Keith whispered.
"So, why shouldn't I bust you for the breaking and entering of a sheriff's station with the intent to steal evidence?" Sheriff Lamb was standing around the corner with a cup of coffee in his hand.
"Oh my, you got me." Keith replied sarcastically.
"Well, don't worry. We have this room completely under surveillance. No one gets in, no one gets out."
The blue sedan was parked in the Sheriff's office parking lot. Click clack from dress shoes came closer and closer until they stopped at the passenger side door. A shadowy figure threw a box onto the seat of the passenger side, then made his way around to the driver's side.
The door opened and the car interior light came on briefly to see the face of the one and only Clarence Weidman. The door shut, the car turned over, and he drove off.
"Well… with the complete lack of evidence…" The judge began.
"That happened when there was a break in into the evidence locker…" Lamb replied with his head hanging low.
"…All but left a vile of blood in which may or may not be miss Veronica Mars's, two witnesses gone, for which one is dead and the other missing, and the lack of professionalism in this case from the sheriff's station, which Mr. Keith Mars over here has done more investigating than a celebrity murder case, I will have to say that this court is adjourned with Miss Veronica Mars to be free from charge. But, there will be a second court date held two months from now in order to see how far this case has come to, and to see if substantial evidence and witnesses have been acquired. Other than that, court is adjourned."
The judge threw down his gavel and everyone in the court got up from their seats.
Wallace and Jackie went over to Veronica.
"Free at last, free at last!" Wallace smiled.
"Yep." Veronica replied.
A quiet Logan in the distance flagged Veronica down, shook his head, and left. Weevil came over.
"Damn you girl, how many lives you got?"
"More than I can count."
Keith and Cliff came over.
"Well Miss Mars, I do believe that a miracle did happen. Either that or you had a very good lawyer." Cliff smiled.
Keith cleared his throat.
"Or maybe a good father, either way. Good day." Cliff went on his way.
"Let's go home, honey."
Keith put his arm around Veronica as the two went for the court doors.
"Can I help you?" Miss Jackie answered the door to find Cheryl LeBlanc stand there.
"Carla, hi. How's it going?"
"You know how it's going!"
"I'm glad."
LeBlanc rammed through the door, took out a knife, and began to repeatedly stab Carla Jackie.
"Bitch…"
Keith woke up from his desk after he had heard powerful banging at the front door of Mars Investigations. He waddled his way over to the door, and opened it to find no one there. He looked down to see a manila envelope. He picked it up and went inside.
He undid the flap, and slid out the heave object onto the desk. A bloodied switchblade lain on the desk. Keith took in a deep breath, and looked up back at the door, then back at the knife.
And the spiffy 'CREATED BY ROB THOMAS' ending credit plays, then we fade out completely.
NEXT TIME: Veronica is outcasted from her school once more and only has a few friends to help her solve the murder of Carla Jackie while also finding out about the knife Keith has. It's an all out 'who done it'… next time.
