Chapter 21: Double Trouble, Part 1

Hermione Lodge headed back to the Pembrooke that night. Fred Andrews was on her mind. He was quite a gentleman and rarely argued. You couldn't ask for a better co-worker. Hermione wondered what would have happened if she had married Fred instead of Hiram. Fred never worked for a mafia, never committed murder, and never threatened anyone just for extra profit. Fred never blackmailed anyone, never stole from anyone as far as she knew. If Hiram was going to be incarcerated for who knows how long, Hermione figured she may as well have a little fun in the meantime. Surely there was no way Hiram would find out.

Hermione was working a shift at Pop's. Money was tight, and without her husband pulling all the strings, she had to prove that she could handle things without his help. If she had to be honest, she felt a lot safer without him breathing her neck. It made life slightly easier.

Hermione noticed Archie Andrews talking with Reggie Mantle. She wasn't completely sure why the two of them were at Pop's, but she wasn't getting involved. Whatever those two did was their business. Why did it matter to her?

Of course, Hermione didn't know about Archie and Cheryl's secret romance. Archie was at Pop's so he could spend time with Cheryl without actually being near her. Obviously, if they were seen together, it would look suspicious. Of course, there was nothing stopping Archie from gazing at Cheryl from across the chocklit shoppe without anyone getting hints about their relationship.

Hermione then walked over to where Cheryl was and took her order.

"Make sure all of my money goes into the register", Cheryl growled. "Lodges are known to have sticky fingers."

Archie knew that Cheryl had to be still feeling hurt over what happened to her brother. Archie couldn't even imagine how she was coping with her trauma. Archie honestly had to wonder how Hermione would react.

"Cheryl, I went to school with your mother", Hermione said. "She didn't know the difference between having money and having class either."

Archie had to admit that Cheryl couldn't really argue with that. He had to wish good luck to anyone that could possibly defend Penelope's actions.

When Hermione walked away, Archie walked over to Cheryl.

"Are you feeling okay, Cheryl?", Archie asked. "If you need anything at all, just let me know."

"I guess I'm just feeling bitter and angry that my brother's killer is still out there somewhere", Cheryl said.

"It's totally understandable. You wouldn't be human if you didn't have any emotions or strong reactions to this."

Archie glanced towards Hermione, who was now walking outside of Pop's. Suddenly Archie suspected that Hermione may be up to something.

"Cheryl, I'll be right back", Archie said.

"Where are you going?", she called after him.

"I think I'm getting a clue", Archie said. He couldn't help but wonder if Hermione may be unintentionally giving him a clue on who could have killed Jason.

Archie discreetly followed Hermione and tried to avoid being seen. He knew that she was up to something, the way she was walking, thinking that she was slick and wouldn't be noticed. Archie hid behind the dumpster as Hermione met with a figure in the shadows. Archie held back a deep breath as he recognized who it was.

It was Jughead's father, Forsythe Pendleton Jones, Jr. Better known to his friends and acquaintances as FP. Archie hadn't seen FP very often since Jason's death. He could only wonder what this interaction was possibly about. It couldn't be good or beneficial to the general population, if they had to meet in the shadows.

Archie recalled a quote from Plato. We can easily forgive a child that is afraid of the dark, the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.

Hermione and FP were whispering to each other. Archie couldn't hear what they were saying. Well, it definitely looked suspicious.

FP handed Hermione something. Archie assumed it was money.

Isn't that weird? Archie thought. I have to tell Cheryl.

He headed back into Pop's. Reggie and Cheryl were waiting for him.

"What happened?", Reggie asked.

"We need to have another tutoring session", Archie said. "I'll tell you then. Let's meet at my house. I'll tell you there."

At the Andrews household…

At the Andrews house, Archie told Cheryl and Reggie everything that he had discovered from Hermione's secret rendezvous with FP. Archie was surprised by every new secret and clue he had uncovered. So many people in Riverdale were hiding secrets and not being completely truthful and honest about their intentions. Their intentions were far from pure. Archie knew he was getting closer to finding out the truth.

"So, Hermione and FP were meeting in some alley", Archie said. "I couldn't hear anything they were saying, but it seemed like they were making a secret transaction."

"That definitely does seem odd", Reggie said. "I bet you Jughead knows something about it."

"He doesn't, Reggie", Archie said. "Jughead's completely innocent, as far as I can tell. He's my best friend."

"Unless you know everything about Jughead's true intentions, I wouldn't dismiss that possibility", Reggie said. "These days, it doesn't seem you can trust anyone. Not even your friends or close friends, for that matter."

"You trusted Grundy. And you didn't hesitate to do that."

Reggie grunted. "Well, that's also true."

Cheryl then had an idea. "Let's focus on tutoring. So, it seems like you two need some help in Geometry."

"Well, yeah", Archie said. "We both need some help with finding the total amount of degrees in specific quadrilateral figures and the Pythagorean theorem, just to list a couple of topics."

"Well, let's get started", Cheryl said. "So, if one side of a triangle was 3 inches and a second side had 4 inches, what would be the third side, using the Pythagorean theorem?"

Archie took a deep breath, then answered.

"The third side would be 5 inches", he replied. Three squared is nine and four squared is sixteen. Nine plus sixteen equals twenty-five."

Two hours later, their tutoring session was over.

"Well, it looks like you two are showing improvement", Cheryl said. "Looking forward to seeing what else you two can improve on and eventually master in."

"I feel the same way, Cheryl", Archie said.

Later…

Fred Andrews was feeling confident for once since Jason's death. His construction business was improving, Archie and Cheryl both seemed to be happy together, and Hermione seemed to be enjoying their dates together. Fred wasn't feeling too worried. Of course, he was concerned about his son and hoped that his relationship with Cheryl would last. It was clear that the two of them genuinely and deeply cared about each other, and Fred wasn't going to get in the way of that. Fred wanted to reconcile with FP Jones and give him another chance. True, FP made mistakes, but nobody was perfect. Perfection from anyone was an impossibility. Still, Fred expected better from his employees. They may have been friends from high school, but on the job, they all had to act reasonably and professionally. Fred, however, gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. He was more than willing to show compassion and empathy towards FP. Hopefully he wouldn't screw up this time.

Fred sighed heavily, knowing that FP would probably mess up again if he reverted back to his old habits of drinking and procrastinating. Fred had enjoyed working with FP when they were known as the "Fred Heads", but surely FP would understand that there was currently too much at stake to be goofing off.

Fred then decided to call FP and have him work for him again. Why not. Fred himself made mistakes, and he very well knew that. He wasn't perfect, either.

Just then, he received a phone call from Vic. Vic was one of Fred's most loyal workers.

"Fred, I need to talk to you", Vic said. "This is serious."

"What's wrong?", Fred asked. "You can tell me."

"No easy way to say this", Vic said, sighing. "But most of our guys quit. I know it's shocking. But Clifford Blossom offered them a deal that they couldn't refuse if they worked for him instead. I'm sorry, I didn't want to have to tell you this."

"It's okay, Vic. You did the right thing by telling me. Don't worry about me. I'll find a way to manage, somehow."

Fred sighed heavily when he hung up the phone, clearly in disbelief. It was typical of Clifford Blossom to offer bribes to get other people to change their perspectives and do his dirty work for him. Now, he knew he needed FP's help. The only thing that could get worse is if Clifford somehow found out about Archie and Cheryl's relationship.

Fred shook his head in disgust. This was clearly not something he expected.

Later…

Archie was surprised when Fred called his cell phone. During the call, Fred said he wanted to inform he and Jughead about something. Archie texted Jughead about it. Jughead then called him.

"Seems like Mr. Andrews has something important to tell us about", Jughead said. "We'd better go check it out."

"Yeah, I'll see you at Pop's then."

Archie then texted Cheryl about what his dad had told him. Cheryl said she would be thinking about him.

Archie headed to Pop's, wondering what it was that Fred wanted to tell he and Jughead about. It seemed serious, from his voice on the phone.

Archie walked into Pop's with Jughead, and saw Fred and FP sitting at a table. The two of them seemed to be engaged in a deep conversation. They immediately stopped and smiled when they saw Archie and Jughead, although this caused Archie to become suspicious.

The two boys sat at that same table.

"Hello, Dad. Mr. Jones. How is everything?", Archie asked, trying to have a casual conversation.

"Everything is fine", Fred lied, not wanting to reveal the dire situation involving the construction company, of course. Fred didn't want Archie to worry and panic over his father's business.

"So, how is school?", FP asked.

"School is good", Archie said. He wasn't about to spill the details of becoming captain of the Riverdale Bulldogs or especially his relationship with Cheryl just yet with FP. He wasn't sure how the latter would react, and besides Jughead was standing right there.

"It's very strange, given the details of what happened", Jughead said. "You know, with Jason's death and everything."

FP nodded, but Archie could tell from the former's facial expressions that there seemed to be a flash in his eyes.

What does that mean? Archie thought.

Nah, maybe he imagined it. What did FP have to do with Jason's death? It didn't provoke his suspicion in the slightest. Archie was pretty sure FP had nothing to do with it.

"So, why did you call us here?", Jughead asked.

FP smiled. "Well, Fred called me and invited me to work for him at his construction company. I was short of cash and I needed the money. So, I accepted his offer."

"That's great", Archie said.

"Archie, you wouldn't mind doing me a favor, would you?", Fred asked.

"Sure, Dad. What is it?"

Fred then said, "You wouldn't mind recruiting other students from Riverdale High to help out? I know it's a lot to ask but I was hoping you could help me out. I just need more hands on the job, that's all."

Archie said, "Uh, sure Dad. I'll definitely see what I can do."

Fred smiled. "Glad that's settled."

"Remember when we were in the Fredheads band, Fred?", FP asked.

"Yeah, I remember", Fred said. "You certainly enjoyed being the drummer."

"You were a good singer, yourself", FP said.

Fred grinned. "Yeah, that was fun."

Hermione Lodge handed out the bill.

"I'll pay for it", Jughead said.

"No, I'll pay for it", FP adamantly stated.

"But I have the money…"

"Boy, put your damn money away", FP looked stern.

Archie wondered what was up with FP. He decided not to press it. Maybe it was none of his business.