She pulled a pair of latex gloves on before opening Libby's bedroom door. She took a deep breath before venturing further inside. She had to take a second to collect her thoughts. This room carried the exact same vibe as Lily's.
Joe watched as she just stood there taking in her surroundings. He couldn't help but look at her differently. He didn't know how she coped with losing her best friend at such a young and fragile age. He cleared his throat a little. "So uh what exactly are we looking for?"
"Notes, a diary, just about anything that will give us a little more insight into who she is." Veronica looked at a few of the pictures that we sitting on her desk.
Joe nodded. He noticed the red light on her answering machine blinking. He walked over there and pressed the button.
Hi Libby its Candace. I was calling to see how you're date went with Anderson and if we were still on for watching Laguna Beach next Saturday. Call me when you get this.
Veronica walked out of the room after listening to the message twice. She made her way into the kitchen where Carrie was nursing a cup of coffee and making arrangements for her sister's funeral. "Hi Carrie I'm sorry to bother you but I had a quick question."
Carrie simply stared at Veronica. It took too much energy to speak right now.
"Uh there is a message on Libby's answering machine. First who is Candace and second do you know who an Anderson could be?"
Candace took a deep breath. She put down her pen and sighed. "Candace is Libby's best friend. Candace Beckman. Her cell phone number is written down on this list by Libby's phone. Everyone on that list is someone of significance." She paused. She willed herself not to cry. She couldn't believe she was having to make arrangements for her little sister's funeral. "I don't know an Anderson. It sounds like a rich white kid name. Candace would know though. Candace and Libby were like two peas in a pod."
Veronica nodded. "Thanks we'll just be in there for a little while longer today and then we'll be gone. If you don't mind we need you to stay out of there for now."
Carrie nodded. "I just wanted to say thank you Veronica. I know I was a bitch in high school but uh thanks for this. You are the perfect person to handle this case."
Veronica walked over and squeezed Carrie's hand before making her way back into Libby's bedroom. Just as Carrie had told her there was a list of phone numbers by the phone. She made a copy of the list and then looked at the room one more time. "Carrie doesn't know who Anderson is. She did say though that Candace was Libby's best friend and that they were two peas in a pod."
Joe nodded. "So tomorrow morning we'll go to school and talk to her friends. See what they know." He paused for a second. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I'll just need a little therapy when this is over that's all." Veronica joked. "I want you to take this computer with you. I want you have to the computer forensics team check it out."
"Is that all?" Joe asked a little surprised.
Veronica just nodded.
He parked his truck in the driveway next to Meg's BMW and sighed. He looked at his hand where she had jotted down her cell phone number and couldn't help but smile. Her skin had felt so soft. He sighed and climbed out of his truck and made his way into the house. He stood there for a second and simply stared at the home he shared with Meg. From the outside looking in it would seem as if they were the perfect couple. He shook his head and made his way inside. As soon as he opened the door he could feel that she knew that Veronica was back in town. It was the first time he ever really wanted to avoid her. Still he knew she knew that he was home. His truck was noisy whenever it pulled into the drive. He set his stuff down in his office before making his way to the kitchen. That's where he found her. She was sitting at the table nursing a cup of coffee staring at an old yearbook. He bent down and softly kissed her forehead before making his way to the fridge. He sighed. "She's in town on business. Libby Bishop was murdered last night outside of an L.A. club."
Meg didn't say anything. She just stared kept flipping through the pages of their old yearbook.
"Meg, please can we just go one night without fighting. I came home early for dinner. I'm really stressed about this gym. I just need you to not be on my case tonight. I come home to you every night Meg, not Veronica. I live with you Meg, not Veronica." He guessed that the yearbook she was looking at was junior year because of the angry look on her face. That was a good year for Duncan and Veronica. Actually it was their best year. That yearbook was filled with reasons why they were good together.
Meg nodded. "That may be true, but you dream of her Duncan, not me." Meg pointed out.
Duncan shook his head. Didn't she realize that she was pushing him away? Didn't she realize that this was ruining everything they had? Didn't she realize that the more she nagged and bitched and moaned the more he wished he had moved to Los Angeles? If she did she didn't act like it. "I'm not going to fight with you tonight Meg. I just can't. Today I had to tell one my best workers that his girlfriend was murdered in cold blood last night outside of some L.A. club. Today was a bad day. Coming home to this isn't helping any." He turned around and walked out the door not even bothering to say goodbye.
Meg didn't bother to even try and stop him. Instead she poured herself another cup of coffee. She figured he was going to find her or to get wasted. If this life wasn't so comfortable she would have left Duncan a long time ago. She picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.
Veronica smiled and laughed as she bounced Layla up and down on her knee. Every time she saw Layla she couldn't help but want a child of her own. Still she wasn't in a good place in her career to venture down that road right now. She looked up and saw Wallace was massaging his knee a bit. She frowned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah it just you knows flares up every once in a while." Wallace's knee blew out last year during the playoffs at the time he was playing for the San Antonio Spurs and while he wasn't a star or anything he was playing well. He was playing enough that it earned him that championship ring at the end of the playoffs even if he didn't get to play past the first series. "Did I tell you I finally got to meet Kobe Bryant?"
Veronica laughed. "Oh my gosh please tell me that you didn't fawn over him like a stalker."
"No actually he came up to me. I was watching Hannah play. They were playing Houston and next thing I know Kobe Bryant is coming up to me. This was while I was still doing my rehab so I have this knee brace on and I'm looking crazy. He sits down next to me and tells me that he's sorry to here about my knee and my early retirement and we just talked. He said that the NBA needed more underrated players like me as long as they all went to the Lakers of course."
Veronica smiled. "So you finally met your idol. So how is Hannah's team doing?"
"They could be doing better. They were talking about trading her to either Seattle or Connecticut but nothing serious has come of it."
"You must really miss basketball." Veronica could tell just by the look he got in his eyes when he was talking about it. She remembered when he blew out his knee. She remembered how she flew down to San Antonio to be with him while he was in the hospital.
Wallace shrugged and nodded. "It was my life for a long time. Still now Layla has a parent that can always be there for her. I got lucky though I finished college before entering the draft." Wallace paused. "I'm thinking about applying for a coaching job at Neptune."
Veronica couldn't hide her surprise. "Wow. I can't believe it. Was this your idea or theirs?"
"It was the schools idea. After I moved back here and bought a house they started calling. I could win a different kind of championship there. Still enough about me how did your visit with Duncan go?" Wallace couldn't help but smirk.
"He hugged me. We talked. I gave him my cell number. I left. I inspected Libby's room. I came here."
Wallace felt his eyes almost pop out of his head. "He hugged you? Duncan Kane hugged you? And then after that inappropriate public display you still gave him your cell number?"
Veronica couldn't help but smile, shrug, and laugh a little. When you described it that way the fact that she gave him her number was very inappropriate. Still at the time it didn't seem so inappropriate. "Well yes, but it wasn't as risqué as you're making it out to be. I just gave it to him in case he needed someone to talk to."
"Isn't that why you live with someone? Isn't that what Meg is for?"
"It's not that simple Wallace. Meg didn't know Duncan after Lily died. She didn't know the guilt that took him over. I just I know this reminds him a lot of when he lost his sister. I gave him my number."
Wallace smiled. "I'm happy you did."
"So why did you just give me so much shit?"
Wallace laughed and shrugged. "I just wanted to see if you backed down and regretted it. He needs you Veronica. He may live with Meg physically but not emotionally. He asks about you every time I see him."
Veronica wasn't sure what to say. Part of her couldn't help but be excited that he wasn't over her. She would always love Duncan. Still there was a part of her that felt guilty. Did this make her a home wrecker? Suddenly she felt nervous about bumping into Meg while she was here. She was in the middle of worrying about what all of this meant when she heard her cell phone start to ring in the other room. "I bet its Joe. He took the computer in to have it checked out by the computer forensics team." She rushed to answer her phone. When she reached it though she found she didn't recognize the number. She opened it anyway wondering if Joe was calling her from someone else's phone. "Veronica Mars."
"Hi."
Veronica didn't need the person on the other end of the line to say more than that one word. She found that her heart had started beating faster. "Duncan?"
"I was wondering if maybe you would want to join me for a nightcap." Duncan asked hopefully.
She sighed. Her heart was screaming yes. Her head was screaming no. She didn't want people to talk about her the way they talked about her mother. She didn't want to be known as the woman who would steal your husband from you in a millisecond. "What about Meg?"
Duncan let out a deep breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. "Meg doesn't matter. Not tonight anyway."
"I can't do this Duncan. You can't do this. You've been with her too long." Veronica could feel her heartbreaking more and more as she uttered each word.
Duncan sniffled a little. He couldn't believe he was crying. He'd been fine for so long without her. Well at least he was visibly fine. He sighed again. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'll see you later okay Veronica?"
Veronica willed herself not to cry until she hung up this phone. "Yeah Duncan it's a small town. I'm sure we'll see each other."
Duncan hung up his cell phone and made his way down the street. He was only a block from his house. He had decided not to drink tonight. He knew that was how people became alcoholics. The last thing he needed was for that rumor to go around and for Meg to throw that in his face. He was surprised to see a Ferrari in his driveway when he pulled in. He couldn't think of whose car it was. He assumed it was probably just one of Meg's book club friends. He walked into the backdoor and noticed that she had opened a bottle of wine. He picked it up and took a swig. He was on his way to his office when he noticed a tie on the floor. Intrigued he picked it up. He grabbed the tie and made his way down the hall. He felt his heart start to beat faster and faster. He had a feeling he knew what was going on. He didn't want to be right. He opened the door and found Meg cuddling with…..
AHHH it's a cliffhanger…I am really going to try and update this story in the next few weeks. Thank you for reading. I hope it was good. Review please! I love them. Every time I would read a review I would feel bad because I had no idea where I wanted to go next. Thank you once again for reading!
