Lilly slowed almost to a stop as she drove up her road. Logan's car was parked in her driveway, partially hidden from view by a cluster of bushes. Sighing heavily, she pulled to a stop several feet from her house, so as not to alert Logan to her presence. She wanted to hide the tapes before she confronted him. With another sigh, she climbed from the car, clutching the bag containing the tapes. The day had been going so well, too. She had managed to sweet talk that officer into letting her off with a warning – her third that week – but had to make herself drive under the speed limit the rest of the way because as stealthy as Deputy Leo undoubtedly thought he was being, Lilly saw him following her home to make sure she didn't speed the second she got around the corner. Loser, she thought.

As Lilly approached the house, however, Logan came flying around the side of the house.

"Lilly! Thank God you're all right!" he yelled, wrapping her in a smothering hug. She pushed him off and stared at him, wondering if he had left his mind in Tijuana.

"Logan, what are you talking about?"

Logan gestured wildly towards the backyard he had been waiting in. "There's blood, on the patio. I thought something happened to you. Or Duncan."

"Duncan's at practice, Logan. I'm sure he's fine. Show me what you're talking about," Lilly ordered, not protesting when he took her hand to lead her around back. His hand felt slippery in hers and Lilly realized that her heart was beating double time. Her thoughts flew to Veronica, wondering if she had been here, if it was her blood. Logan stopped short and Lilly, who hadn't been paying attention to where they were walking, bumped into him. "Oomph." Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the pool of blood that lay at their feet. Next to it lay half of a silver necklace, glinting in the sunlight. Veronica's necklace. Her cell phone was out in an instant. "Hello, Mr. Mars? It's Lilly…Is Veronica there?…You did? When?…No, I think you should get out here. I think Veronica's been hurt." When Lilly hung up her phone, Logan was staring at the back of her head. She could feel his eyes boring a hole into her.

"Lilly," he said softly. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on, Logan," Lilly answered cattily. "Why don't you just…" Her voice trailed off as she whirled around and took in the wounded expression on Logan's face. She sighed and asked, "What are you doing here, Logan?"

Rubbing his eyes in exasperation, Logan told her, "I-I came to see you. I know you're seeing someone, Lilly. Don't try to hide it. Now tell me, what happened to Veronica?"

"I don't know, Logan!" she shrieked, fists beating against his chest. "If I did, do you think I'd be standing here fighting with you? I'd be out there finding her. It's my fault she was here!" Strong arms gripped Lilly, pulling her away from Logan and a familiar voice that she couldn't quite place was telling her to calm down. A second later, she was glaring into the face of Deputy Leo. "Let…me…go!" she demanded, struggling to escape from his hold.

"No," he said simply, tightening his grip. "Not unless you promise to stop yelling and hitting people because that's bad."

Lilly narrowed her eyes dangerously, but agreed to be a good little girl. Taking a seat on the closest lounge chair, Lilly let her head sag into her hands and whispered, "It's my fault she was here. What if she's…dead?"

Keith Mars arrived on the scene several long minutes later, a flurry of blazing lights, shrieking sirens, and bark-like orders. He raced around back, flanked by a dozen of his deputies, stopping short in front of the pool of blood. Lilly saw his eyes stray to the broken chain lying beside it. His eyes glistened with tears as he lifted his gaze to Lilly, but when he spoke he was all business. "What happened, Lilly?"

-x-

Groaning almost inaudibly, Veronica forced her eyelids to flutter open. For a moment she thought they hadn't opened, but then realized that the darkness obscuring her vision wasn't her eyelids but the lack of light wherever she was. Her hand tightened around a tiny object gripped in her right hand. Slowly she fingered the delicate letters that spelled out the first half of her name. Duncan will be so mad that I broke it, she told herself. Then, realizing how dumb it was to be worrying about Duncan then, she shook herself, gasping when a surge of pain shot through her head. Only then did she realize her tangled hair felt wet. A nauseating copper-like smell filled her nostrils, confirming Veronica's fears that it was blood.

"Veronica." The harsh sound of her name on his lips sent chills racing up and down her spine. "You know, I didn't want to do this. It's all Lilly's fault, really. If she hadn't taken those damn tapes, none of this would have had to happen. And in all honesty, I'm sorry you had to get involved because you're a sweet girl. Logan's always liked you, which makes me feel bad that I'm going to have to kill you. It's nothing against you; I just couldn't risk you figuring out what was going on. Keeping you little friend Lilly quiet is hard enough. It's a shame, though. You're not half bad looking."

Clearing her throat, Veronica rasped, "What if I promise to never find out? I'm a blonde and you know what they say about us. There's no guarantee I'll ever figure it out. So maybe you could let me go?"

Aaron laughed maniacally. "No, I don't think I can do that, Veronica. See, now you know too much and I'm not angling to get charged for kidnapping you. Bad for my career, you know." She could practically hear him shaking his head as he added, "No, we'll just wait until the search winds down and then I'll dump your body somewhere and get back to my life. After all, who would ever suspect me, Aaron Echolls, of kidnapping and murdering a nobody like Veronica Mars?"

---x---

Okay, I suck. I know this and I'm sorry. My only excuse is the usual one: life. But it's summer break now, so I promise I'll try to update this and everything else much more frequently in the next few months and hopefully even wrap up some, if not all, of my fics. Once again, I'm really sorry for the freakishly long wait and I really hope I didn't lose all my readers.

- Cate