Chapter 6

Jughead's phone buzzed in his pocket as he sat talking to Fangs and Sweet Pea in the Whyte Wyrm. He smiled when he saw Betty's name pop up on the screen, realizing she must now be awake. Sliding the message open his heart sunk. The text contained one lonely four letter word.

'help'

Standing to his feet quickly he grabbed his keys.

"Boss everything alright?" Fangs asked following his lead.

"Betty," Was all he managed to shout as he ran through the maze of tables and slammed his way out the front door. Jumping onto his bike he fumbled with his keys before eventually getting them in the ignition. As he roared his way through the car park onto the road he heard the echoing rumble of Fangs and Sweet Pea following on their bikes. Together they raced through the tree lined road. 5 minutes later they pulled up outside the trailer. Barely remembering to turn the engine off he launched off and ran up the stairs, his feet barely touching the ground. He pushed through the trailer door and found Betty sat on the kitchen floor curled up into a ball. Her back pushed against the cupboards, knees pulled up into her chest with her arms wrapped tightly around them. She skin was pale and her eyes were bloodshot from all the tears she'd been crying. Kneeling down he pulled her body close to his and held her, showing her that she was safe.

"Betty, baby what's wrong?" he asked tentatively , pulling back slightly to see her face.

Sniffling she opened her mouth and attempted to speak. "F…Fridge" was all she could croak out as tear began to pool in her eyes once again. Fangs and Sweet Pea stepped in through the door and together walked over to the fridge.

Betty forced her eyes shut as they pulled the door open. Jughead stood up and turned to see what lay in their fairly normal, trailer fridge. His hand shot to his mouth as his eyes fell on the main shelf. The heart was just sat there; and it certainly hadn't been there when he'd left that morning which could only mean one thing. Someone had been in the trailer while Betty had been sleeping. Someone who could have easily hurt Betty and there would've been nothing he could do about it because he hadn't been there.

"Take some photos of that for me boys, I'm gonna sort Betty out," Jughead said, nodding towards the camera bag sat on the desk in the kitchen. The boys nodded as Jughead ushered his distraught girlfriend off the floor and into the next room. Setting her down on the bed he sat down next to her and pulled her into a warm, safe embrace. He didn't know what to say to try and make her feel better, so he just held her and pressed his lips into her fluffy blonde hair.

A few minutes passed before Betty pulled back slightly, sniffling and smiled at his sadly.

"I'm sorry to pull you away from the gang," she mumbled as she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"Don't be silly baby, I should never have left you after how you've been feeling this week," Jughead said as he shook his head at her, "From now on though, you're not going anywhere without me or one of the guys at your side. No arguing."

Betty just nodded in agreement. She knew better than to argue with him about this and to be truthful to herself, she knew she'd feel safer having someone with her all the time.

"Jughead, what shall we do with this?" Fangs called from the kitchen.

"Bag it up, I want to know where it came from," he said.

"Sure thing boss."

Turning his attention back to Betty he took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles softly.

"Bets, do you remember noticing anything strange this morning after I left? Any noises that may have woken you?" He asked as softly as he could but he needed answers.

"No, I didn't even know you'd gone till I woke up. I never heard you leave," she answered, shaking her head in further confirmation. He sighed in defeat, he had no idea how he would find out who had been in his trailer.

"Okay, don't worry sweetie. We'll get this sorted. Whoever this is, we will find them and they will pay." His voice was a little shaky, he was trying to be reassuring but at this moment in time he didn't even know how to start. He need to think, he needed to look at the heart again and the artefacts found with it.

"Why don't you go and run a bath, take some time and relax. I need to go and discuss this with the guys," he suggested as he stood up. Betty just nodded in reply as she stood up behind him. Stepping close to him she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, her lips still tasting salty from the tears she'd shed.

"Thank you Juggy," she whispered as their lips parted, then letting go of his hand she walked through to the bathroom. Rubbing his hands over his face he took a deep breath. Heading back into the kitchen he folded his arms across his chest.

"What have we go so far boys," he looked at them expectantly.

"The knife is the interesting thing. It looks hand crafted and like it has some meaning behind it," Sweet Pea explained handing the knife to his in an evidence bag. Jughead was going to be taking up a long distance learning course in Criminology so always had random stuff like that lying around. He took the small bag and examined the intricate knife. It had leaves and small animals carved into the handle, the blade perfectly sharpened all the way along. The blood pooled in the corner of the bag as the ran off the blade.

"This is all we have to go on," he stated bluntly. He was annoyed that there wasn't more to see, this knife wouldn't give them anything, someone had made sure not to leave any print or anything. The handle looked fresh and newly carved. Throwing himself down onto the kitchen chair he bought his hand to his chin.

"I'll see what I can find on the knife and anything else found but I don't think there will be much. So for now our main focus is making sure Betty is safe. What happened today cannot happen again."

Fangs and Sweet Pea nodded in agreement. Just as they were starting to gather all the bits and pieces together Jughead stood up.

"I don't want anyone else knowing about this. This stays between us in this trailer, the more people that know the better chance there is at finding out who done this," his voice was very strict. The guys just nodded in agreement. "Right lets get this stuff out of here."

Half an hour later as Betty clambered out of the bedroom, dressed in jeans and a plain t-shirt. It smelled of cleaning products and there were dirty clothes piled up in the sink. Jughead was sat sipping a cup of coffee on the back door step. Betty walked over and bent down behind him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing his cheek softly. He reached up and placed his free hand over hers.

"Did you find anything?" She asked, wrapping her legs around him as she sat down behind him.

"No, but we're taking it to the Sheriff's office and dad is going to let us do some basic tests," he explained, sipping his coffee once again.

"I think it's Josh," Betty blurted out dropping her arms from around his neck.

"What makes you think that?" Jug asked, spinning slightly so he was sideways facing Betty, moving her legs so that they were over his lap.

"They used to have wild flowers growing in his garden," She explained, rolling her fingers around in Jugheads. He looked at her, feeling like she had something more to say. "His dad had a set of hunting knives, I don't remember what they looked like but it seems fitting."

"It does, but it's not hard evidence," He saw Betty's face drop as he stated the fact. "I'll look into it though baby." He promised squeezing her hand.

"Thank you Juggy," she smiled back at him.

"Also Bets, I'm going to make sure you're not on your own at all. Either me, Fangs or Sweet Pea will be with you at all times," he explained, watching her face for any signs of annoyance. To his surprise she nodded in agreement.

"I'm happy with that, I just don't feel safe anymore. After last week I felt a bit vulnerable but I've been getting more and more confident. Then this happens," she looked down at their intertwined hands. "Someone was in here while I was sleeping, they could've done anything."

"I know baby, I feel awful I wasn't here for you," he swallowed an angry lump. "I don't know what I would've done if anything had happened to you."

They rested their heads together, happy to sit in silence for a few moments. Neither of them wanted to think about what could've happened, but different scenarios were playing through their head. Suddenly Jughead slid Betty's legs off his lap and stood up. He held an outstretched hand to her which she accepted. Pulling her to her feet he smiled happily at her.

"Shall we go for a swim?"

She looked questioningly at him, wondering if he was being serious.

"I'm deadly serious! It's hot enough for a swim," he said in a high excited voice.

"Okay then!" She laughed back at him. With that he dragged her into the bedroom to get their swimsuits. Betty laughed as she staggered around behind him. She knew he was trying to cheer her up and she loved it him even more for it.