So I'm writing this while Season 4 is still ongoing. I don't know what will happen in Season 4, but if ever discrepancies happen, I apologize for that in advance.

Chapter 2: The First Clue

"Thank you so much, Veronica for letting us stay here," Toni said.

Veronica replied, "Don't worry about it. Just make yourselves comfortable."

She left as the two lovers got settled inside their new room, then she made her way to the kitchen to get some drink.

"It seems you're home again after many years," Hermosa greeted her in the dining room as she sipped her wine while busy reading a newspaper.

"It seems you're still here after many years," Veronica replied as she resumed her walk to the kitchen.

"You know I'm also your father's daughter," Hermosa told her as Veronica stopped midtrack.

Veronica asked her, "So? What are you trying to prove?"

"That I also have a right to stay here. Besides, I may be father's favorite daughter."

"Says who?" Veronica asked, disgusted by the thought of it.

"Based on how father acts," Hermosa said proudly.

Veronica let out a sarcastic laugh as she said, "You mean your imagination? I know father and I seem like we don't get along well. We just have this weird father-daughter bond, so I suggest you back off if you don't know anything about us."

"Then," Hermosa said as she stared at Veronica's eyes ready to threaten her, "Explain why in daddy's last will, all of his inheritance will go to only me after your mother."

"What?!" Veronica asked surprised, "Wait, you're kidding me. Why would daddy write a will in the first place? Yes, he's having a chronic disease but that doesn't mean he's dying anytime now."

"Don't know," Hermosa replied, "Maybe he thinks time is unpredictable and that he should be ready anytime. You know well that everything daddy has is because of his hard work, and he'll be able to leave peacefully knowing his hard works are in the hands of someone worthy."

"I'm going to talk to daddy about this. I'm sure there's some kind of mistake," Veronica said.

"Sure. I don't have anything to hide anyway. Visit him at the hospital, though I'm not sure if he's going to be happy to see you," Hermosa said with a smirk.

Veronica rolled her eyes and walked away to her room, completely forgetting her drink.

….

Betty woke up as the sun brightened up her room. She looked at the time and saw it was 10 minutes past 10 in the morning. "Damn! I was tired and slept late last night because of what happened," she told herself, "It's pretty rare of me to wake up this late." She slowly got up and took a shower. As she was busy combing her hair, her mother called her from the kitchen, "Betty! I made some brunch. Hurry up and come down. You don't want our guests to keep waiting."

"Guests?" Betty asked herself. She made her way to the kitchen, only to be greeted by Jughead and FP.

"Oh! Good you're here!" Alice said as she placed the eggs and bacons on the table.

"What's the occasion?" Betty asked.

"Well, nothing in particular," Alice replied, "I just think that we should celebrate that you're here in Riverdale after many years."

"Your mother is sweet," FP told her, "She missed you."

"Oh, thanks mom," Betty said, slightly embarrassed. "It must have been hard for you," she continued, "Dad's gone, Polly's away while I'm busy with work and college. You'll really get lonely."

"Who said I was lonely?" Alice asked her.

Betty, confused and taken aback by her mother's response, asked, "What do you mean?"

Alice smiled as she looked lovingly towards FP, "FP kept me company all this time." She went to FP's side as the two looked at each other, FP's hand hugged Alice's waist. "Its never too late for second chances," FP told Betty.

"Ok, stop!" Betty said as she felt awkward from their parents' sweetness, "Food is getting cold."

They laughed then began to eat their brunch. While in the middle of eating, FP brought up a topic, "I heard what happened last night. You guys better be careful. We don't know what the suspect is thinking."

"Right," Jughead said, "Especially since we don't know who's the culprit, so we don't know what we're dealing with."

"Anyone in mind?" FP asked.

"No one in particular, but many can be," Jughead said.

"How about we discuss them with everybody later tonight at Pops?" FP suggested.

"Yeah. I'll call them for tonight."

…..

"Thank you so much Mr. Bill for taking care of my local shelter while I'm away," Archie told his shelter caretaker.

Mr. Bill was a retired man in his late 60s. He had a wife who died due to an illness, and an only son who never contacted him since going abroad. He had been lonely and wanted to make the most of his remaining life, hence he came to Archie to lend a hand. He had been managing the shelter since Archie had been busy with his studies."

He told Archie, "No, Archie. I should be the one thanking you for giving me this opportunity."

Archie smiled back and asked, "What's the situation now, Mr. Bill?" Archie asked.

"Well, we have higher number of children since last year. We're currently on 41 children," Mr. Bill told him

"What's with the increase?"

"There have been fewer adoptions since last year. I'm already working with the local government to find possible foster parents. Some are stuck here due to their parents' abuse. They don't want to go home. The local government knows of these children and they're working on the cases."

"Ok. Let's just hope we don't increase in numbers again. Otherwise, I might find it hard to let them all fit here."

"Archie-kins!" a voice behind him called. He looked back and saw his girlfriend. They shared a kiss before Archie asked, "What brings you here?"

Veronica replied, "Well, we're going to meet soon at Pops so I'm wondering we can go together."

Archie smiled and said, "Yeah sure!"

The two left as they made their way towards Pops. They were walking along the street when Archie noticed Veronica's unusually quiet.

"Is there something bothering you?" he asked. A moment of silence between the two before Veronica told Archie, "Well, daddy wrote his will."

"Why? Is he getting worse?"

"No. I don't know why he suddenly thought of writing them," Veronica said as she sighed. She then continued, "Don't get me wrong, Archie. I have my own money to sustain myself, so I don't really care about my dad's money. The thing is, he didn't include me in his last will and that hurts me. I mean, does he hate me that much? Am I not his daughter in his eyes? I just felt excluded."

Archie held Veronica's hand tighter, "Maybe he did that to provoke you."

"Provoke me to what? Beg on my knees for him?"

"I don't know. I think you just have to talk to him to clear things up," he suggested.

"Fine," she said, "I'll visit him tomorrow."

The two stepped inside Pops and directly went to the speakeasy. Veronica has closed the speakeasy for the day so that they could have a private conversation. Once the two entered, they found everyone else already there including FP.

"Ah! No wonder the two of you are late," Kevin teased.

"Sorry, we lost track of time," Archie said apologetically.

"Now that you're here," FP started, "We need to have a list of possible suspects. So far, our only clue is someone who has a grudge on you. I suggest saying names of people who were connected to you during high school as it seems that all of you are involved here. Your common denominator? You are all friends from Riverdale High. So, speak up if you thought of a possible suspect and why."

"I'll start!" Cheryl volunteered. "You know very well Penelope Blossom, my mom, almost killed us in the woods."

"That's right," Betty commented, "That lead to my dad's death who can also be a suspect if he weren't dead."

"Don't forget, Nick ," Toni suggested, "Who abused Cheryl and we pushed him away from Riverdale."

"Uh-huh," Cheryl agreed, "Lastly, my aunt and uncle who wanted to get the Maple Syrup business from me."

"Ok thank you for your suggestions, Cheryl," FP said, "Who wants to go next?"

"I will," Veronica said, "We all know the troubles we've gone though because of my dad. However, he's quite sick right now and he's been living peacefully away from us for many years. I don't think my dad and Archie has the same disagreement as last time. So, he can be a suspect, but I'm having only minor feeling he's the one. My second suspect will be my half-sister, Hermosa, who hates me and is a good spy. Lastly, Elio has been one of my rivalries when it comes to business."

People nodded in agreement. Archie raised his hand and said, "I'll go next. Me and Mad Dog had a problem with Dodger. Though I know it's been a while since we last heard of him, it's better to be open for possibilities."

FP agreed, "You're right about that, Archie. How about you, Jughead? Anyone in mind?"

"Well, Tall Boy used to have a grudge on me when I was still a Serpent. Then there's also Bret who faked my death."

"Ok. Good!" FP said, "Anyone else?"

"I do," Betty replied as she raised her hand, "Chic can be a dangerous person and I have no idea where he is now. Also, Polly is my sister but lately she's been acting strange after joining the farm. That leads me to my next suspect which is Evelyn Evernever."

"Boy, you guys had a lot of enemies," FP remarked.

"Don't include me. I did not say a name," Kevin said proudly and jokingly.

"Might as well ask Fang where he is after the two of you broke up two years ago," Cheryl told Kevin.

"Ok," FP said as to silence unnecessary arguments, "I think the list should be enough. We practically excluded everyone else in Riverdale except these names. In the meantime, it's hard to make exclude who among this list has the motive now to come back after many years."

"So, we're just going to wait for his next move?" Mad Dog asked.

"Looks like it," Reggie answered him. They all sighed knowing they're still far away from catching the culprit. Silence filled the air, when unexpectedly, a gunshot was heard above them.

"What was that?!" Toni nervously asked.

"I think something happened at Pops," FP told them, "You kids stay here while I go up."

"Me and Mad Dog will come with you Mr. Jones," Archie said but was too late for FP did not heard them anymore. Nevertheless, Archie and Mad Dog went up as well.

FP came to Pops, followed by Archie and Mad Dog behind him. They saw people panicking & going out of the restaurant. "What happened?" FP stopped Pops as he was trying to get out of his restaurant. "I don't know," Pops said, "We just heard a gunshot over there. We're running away before the killer goes back here in the restaurant."

"You mean here?" Mad Dog asked as he stood right in front of the toilet door.

"Yes, that's right! Now, if you excuse me," Pops said as he hurriedly went out.

The three men surrounded the door as FP held his gun aiming it towards the door. Mad Dog was assigned to open the door for them, while Archie was behind FP.

Mad Dog quickly opened the door as FP shouted, "Police here! Whoever you are, raise your hands or I'll shoot!"

"Wait," Archie said as they noticed no one was inside the toilet. Instead, they found a body lying in the middle of it. They went inside to inspect the body. The man was dead with at least three gunshots seen in his chest. His body covered by his own blood. Archie picked up the piece of paper in the victim's pocket. He opened it and read it out loud, "Your first clue starts now. For every clue given to you, a body is sacrificed whether acquaintance or not. Find me with lesser clues to have lesser sacrifices. You have 6 days left."

"A clue? Where?" Mad Dog asked.

"This one," FP said as he took the black mask away from the victim's head.

"Mr. Jones are you telling me the first clue is…" Archie was about to ask but seems unable to get his sentence complete.

"You're right, Archie," FP said, "The first clue is the Blackhood."