I have absolutely no excuse good enough to explain why this took just over four months to produce.

Further info at the bottom, including info for a small competition I'm holding (I guess?)

xxxx

"'Don't bring my boyfriend into this' I think is what I said," Kevin grumbled, shoving his hands deeper into his jacket pockets.
"In fact, that might have been my exact wording. And what do you do? Bring my flipping boyfriend into this."

A designated interrogation gang of Betty, Veronica and Kevin had banded together, the crisp Saturday morning proving just how quickly the town was moving away from fall and settling into winter. The abrupt decline in the temperature, the sharp chill that clung to their faces and nipped at their fingers, the tentative frigid frost that hung in the air, making every breath they took thick, and laboured.

"It's positively gelid," Veronica had declared proudly, when she and Betty had been bundling up at the Cooper residence before meeting with their third party member. "It means freezing. I'm fully taking on the role of journalist with you for this little...expedition."

'Expedition' would lead one to believe that they were perhaps going on a charming winter outing; not going to drill a gang member about his connection to an ongoing murder case. However, since Alice Cooper was present at the time, Betty didn't mention this. She was positively sure that letting slip the true intention of their outing would've resulted in immediate incarceration for the rest of her mortal life.

"It's for the best, Kev," Betty offered up, linking her heavily bundled up arm through his equally insulated one, giving him a gentle squeeze. "And you know, maybe we've got nothing to worry about. Maybe he just knows something we don't, it doesn't mean-"

"Doesn't mean he's involved with an ongoing murder case?" Kevin finished, glumly.

"I, um...well, yeah..."

He shot her a withered look.

"All I wanted was a boyfriend, preferably not a positive criminal."

"Don't know what you expected from a gang member, but whatever," Veronica muttered, readjusting her scarf into what was undoubtedly the most current fashion trend.

Betty, elbowed her, glaring. "Not helping, V."
She got raised eyebrows and a shrug as a response, as if to say what? It's true.

Kevin just waved her comment off. "No, she's right, Betty. Gang member, criminal."

"Potential criminal."

"Oh Betty." Kevin patted the arm that was looped through his, and sighed. "Please never loose your insatiable optimism. The world won't be able to take it."

xxxx

The Ridgemount mansion in Toronto stood silent and stilled. Dust was beginning to creep into the corners, feather coat the mantle piece, catch the mid morning winter sun as it streamed through expansive French windows.
With family members absent on vacations and away pursuing education, no one was present to hear the arrive of a bicycle.
Or hear the clink! of the brass letter slot.
Or see the crisp, white envelope land on the doormat.
Addressed to Mr Igor & Mrs Elena Ridgemount, in stark, deep crimson.

xxxx

Betty had, for sure, been in uncomfortable situations before.
Growing up in the household that she did, passive aggressive quips between her parents, her parents and Polly, her parents and herself, were virtually unavoidable. She had thought that she's developed a sort of shield to it, often as a child imagining that she was tucked away behind a suit of armour where all tones of nastiness bounced harmlessly off.

Freezing to her bones, meeting with Joaquin outside the Serpent hang out of the Whyte Wyrm, she wished she was able to give Kevin one of his own.

Veronica was faring similar to her. Mouth pressed into a hard line, eyes darting from Kevin (who was looking to the space just above his boyfriend's elbow) to Joaquin (who was looking very pointedly at the floor), rocking on her heels, apparently not trusting herself to say anything just yet.

Joaquin blew out a stream of grey smoke through the side of his mouth, and threw his cigarette to the underside of his boot.

"Some lady calling me on the phone within the past month?" He ground his foot down on the cigarette butt. "Yep. About three weeks ago now."

Kevin started nodding, jaw setting into a tight, almost-grimace, and shoved his hands further into his pockets. "And she passed along the message from Mr Jones to 'forget the plan?'"

"Yep." Retrieving a small switch blade from his pocket, he started flicking it open and closed, in what appeared to be a way to keep his hands occupied.

Crunching in the loose pebbles surrounding them, Kevin twisted away from his boyfriend, closed his eyes and pinched his nose. He was quiet for some time, something that did not go unnoticed by everyone around him, the silence practically crushing them, thick with tension.

"Joaquin." Said boy's head jerked up, but chose to focus his line of sight onto the roar of motorbikes that were happening on the road behind them, rather than actually looking at Kevin.

"Joaquin," Kevin continued, his mouth moving slowly, as if every word he produced was labouring. "I'm not going to be talking to you now as your boyfriend. I'm going to be talking to you as the Sheriff's son."

Finally, the two of them actually looked each other in the eye. Joaquin's mouth twitched at the corners, pulling his expression into a resigned one. He flicked the knife closed. "I know."

Kevin didn't miss a beat. "Do you have anything to do with Jason Blossom's death."

Joaquin flinched. Hard.

"Oh. So you do," Kevin filled in. Everyone had the decency to pretended that they didn't hear his voice crack. Veronica took a step to place her hand on his arm, but Betty tugged her back gently.

"Not our moment, V," she mumbled under her breath. Surprisingly, Veronica didn't object, and instead just inclined her head in agreement before sliding back to where she stood next to Betty.

"I didn't kill him," Joaquin quickly assured them all. "I swear I wasn't apart of that."

A loud sniff from Kevin effectively communicated what they were all thinking of that's still not great, but he helpfully gave a verbal rendition to set the record straight. "I can't say that I find that very reassuring."

Their interviewee ducked his head slightly. "I know."

There was a pregnant pause, which Betty assumed was an awkward one where no one really knew what to say, but after a minute, it became evident that it was just Joaquin preparing himself for what he was going to reveal to them.

"I got a call from FP," he started, hands finally stilling of any nervous jitters, slipping the switch blade into his back pocket for good.
"About a clean up. Told me to meet him in the basement of this place." He slapped the side of the Whyte Wyrm. "Which is off-limits. No-one goes down there. Anyway, I show up and there is the kid, dead on the floor in a pool of his own blood, and FP standing over him."

Kevin's face had drained quickly to an ashen white, and looked ready to cry at any second. "Oh my God, Joaquin."

If Betty's heart had been at the bottom of her stomach beforehand, it had now slipped all the way down to her foot. "You think he killed him? Mr Jones, I mean?"

He shrugged glumly. "Most likely, yeah. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear."

Enter Veronica, stage left. "Do you think he might have done it- if he did it," she corrected herself after catching Betty's eye.
"If he was doing someone else's bidding? We were wondering...well, I was wondering, if possibly he was paid to kill him."

She inhaled deeply through her nose. "I need to know if you think that my father, Hiram Lodge, paid FP Jones to kill Jason Blossom," she said, slowly and with a sense of finality, as though she had been trying to say that sentence for a long time, and had finally committed to putting what had been eating away at her mind and conscious for weeks.

Another shrug. "It's possible. I overheard Mustang and FP talking about some rich guy, I think Mustang was more involved with him, but I don't know if it was connected."

"Mustang?" Betty inquired.

"Just another Serpent," Joaquin filled in. "When Kev and his pal showed up a few weeks ago, he was the one he confronted."

Kevin nodded slightly. "I remember."

Veronica perked up immediately. "Do you know where he is? Any chance I could talk to him?"

All she received was a sceptical one over from Joaquin. "I don't think he-"

"Oh, he will talk to me," Veronica stated bluntly, shaking a glossy stream of hair over her shoulder, squaring her shoulders. "Believe me, I can be very persuasive."

Huffing out a sigh, Joaquin relented. "Alright. I'll give you his address. You can try to get him to talk to you, but don't be put out if he wont co-operate."

"You're not coming?" Kevin tried to keep his tone light. Tried.

"I've gotta hit the road. Lay low for a while," Joaquin said, running a hand through his hair. "Stay out of gangs for a bit, I think. Keep the criminal activity down."

"Sounds good, but back to why we first came here," Betty said, hoping that she didn't sound as eager to return to her questioning as she thought she did. "'Forget the plan'; what's that about?"

Joaquin let out a breath slowly, obvious contemplating his next words. "It was...something to fall back on in case shit hit the fan. But, I'm guessing that whatever it was, it wasn't good enough to help anyone."

That made Betty frown. "Wait, what do you mean 'whatever it was'? You didn't know about the plan in question, the exact plan you were asked to forget about?"

Joaquin tilted his head slightly, the side of his mouth scrunching up. "Not exactly, no. Listen, I was told to stash something, but under strict orders not to check the contents. I guess, if I was found out, and didn't know what was in it, I could feign ignorance of the whole thing."

Tracing a finger on the inside of her palm in an attempt to get an idea of the bigger picture, Betty summed up. "So, you were asked to stash something, like a bag? Which probably is holding something linking the Serpents to the death, hence why it had to be hidden, but my best guess is that it also has something pointing us towards whoever the real killer is."

"You still banking on FP being innocent?" Joaquin stuck a fresh cigarette between his teeth. "You that convinced?"

"I have two people who know him well who trust his word. I think, like you, he was just involved in the clean-up." She stomped out any niggling doubt in the back of her mind. "Where's this bag stashed? While Veronica and Kevin go to Mustang, I can go find it, pretend I was having a stroll and happened upon it or whatever if I need to turn in anything."

Joaquin looked at her as though she were made. "In the middle of broad daylight?"

"Fine, I'll go tonight."

"No, I don't think you understand." Lighting his cigarette, Joaquin took a long drag before continuing. "When I hid it, I went when all you Northsiders were having your Homecoming dance, where most of the town population attended, and were gladly preoccupied. So if you want to go digging further into this bloody nightmare, you will do so at the next big Northside event."

Betty spread her hands in a surrender "Fine! Fine, we'll do that. The Jubilee is soon enough, if need be, I'll go then."

"Good." He turned to Kevin, eyes softening considerably. "Could you two please give us a moment?"

They complied, and after a few minutes, and something that sounded like a heated kiss (Betty made a point of keeping her eyesight rigidly on the ground, feeling her face tint red), Kevin tapped the both of them on the shoulders.

"He wrote down the addresses he promised you guys. But that is the last we are gonna see him, for now at least. Also, don't know if you're surprised, what with the criminal activity, but we are officially over." Despite the light tracks that streaked his cheeks, he smiled at them, radiating such a pure, explicitly Kevin warmth. "Guess we just had irreconcilable differences."

Veronica pulled him into a tight hug, looping Betty into the mix, and they gave a moment of silence to let Kevin cry onto their shoulders in peace, aside from Betty offering a tissue, which was received graciously.

"Just you kids promise me something?"

The three of them broke apart, and tuned back to Kevin's now ex-boyfrined, who had already started walking away.

"What would that be?" Betty asked.

A hollow of a smile ghosted his face. "Don't join a gang."

And with a wave from the distance, Joaquin DeSantos turned away from them to leave Riverdale, and all it's deep-seeded toxins, for good.

They didn't see him again.

xxxx

The Ridgemount residence in Riverdale was empty. This wasn't to say this was a permanent state of being; in fact, within the past few weeks, the place had seen more life within its walls in years.

With people absent at day-care, friend's houses, at Library's, no-one heard the doorbell ring.
Or see the letter land on the Welcome mat, addressed to Miss Halona Ridegmount Jones.
Also in stark crimson, no less.

xxxx

Seeing how Kevin was probably not in the best state, considering, well, everything that had just gone down between them and Joaquin, Betty and Veronica insisted he head home to chill for a bit. With Betty not being able to pick up any possibly incriminating item until a more convenient time anyway, she offered to go with Veronica in Kevin's place.

"Seriously, guys, I'm fine," he protested, even though his still puffy, red eyes and drippy nose betrayed him.

"Kev, really, I think you just a need a bit of you-time – at least, until we finish up with this Mustang guy." Veronica persuaded, with Betty beside her bobbing her head in agreement.
"Then you bet your cute ass we are going to have a therapy sleepover, at mine, of course, in true style, a la Lodge."

He smiled softly at that. "Thanks. I could use with one of those."

"Honestly? I think we all do. And besides, it's the least I can do," Veronica assured him, handing him another tissue for his nose.

For sure it was the least she could do; there were about a billion and one other things she felt compelled to do for the two of them, as, due to it becoming more and more blaringly apparent in her mind, she wasn't as far away from her old, vile self as she thought she was.

Vile Veronica. She remembered that what all the children in her elementary school would snigger about to each other nastily when they knew she could hear them.

Whispers of who she used to be, how she use to act kept creeping back in, seeping through miniscule cracks in her psyche, itching to do what served her interests alone. Paranoia present in every afterthought, scrutinizing her actions, whenever she was snarky unfairly or at things she said which she immediately wished she could put back into her mouth.

But they had been a godsend. All of them, actually, everyone who had taken her in. Betty, Kevin, Josie, Archie, even Jughead and on occasion, Cheryl. They had stuck by her, even when she heavily doubted her actions and worried, they had still been standing next to her, even when she let them down, even when she was wrong. And it meant the world to her. Never before had she ever had any friend go through all notions of hell that she emitted and stayed with her to the end.

She knew it was a big part of why she was so desperate to know if her father had committed one of the worst crimes; she didn't want to be living in the blithe ignorance of turning a blind eye at rotten and despicable behaviour. Within herself, or others.
Even if that included her father. Pretty much all of her common sense knew she wasn't being foolish for looking into it.

"Well," Betty announced, bringing Veronica out of her ponderings. "While I trust our abilities to deal with anyone, I was going to call Archie into the team. He also knows what the guy looks like, so he can help with identifying him too."

Archie. Possibly the sweetest and most genuine person the universe could possibly fathom up. And, with whom, her unnamed relationship with was unknown to her dear friend at her side.

"Um," Veronica started, wincing internally at how to best break the news, because clearly there was no time like the present. "Before you do, I just wanted to let you know...we have been sort of seeing each other."
She ducked her head, admittedly in a cowardly move so she didn't have to watch her best friend's face after discovering that the boy she had crushed on for most of her life was getting involved with her.
"I guess. I don't really know what to call it. But we've, um, kissed a couple times, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, things were just so hectic and-"

"V." Betty's voice was a whole lot calmer than she had thought it would be. She raised her head cautiously. With a heart-warming, sweet-as-sugar grin, completely void of any hidden negative emotions, there had been clearly nothing to get worked up about. She felt her breath slowly come back, though she hadn't even realised it'd ever left.

"I'm happy for you. Really, truly, I promise you. I want the both of you to be happy, and if that's with each other, then I support that, 100%."

What did the world do to deserve Betty Cooper?

xxxx

A manicured hand, tastefully adorned with exquisite jewellery embellishments, picked up the cream envelope that lay just inside their hallway. The wax seal was swiftly broken, and it's contents pulled out.

Deep, olive eyes, heavily lined with dark makeup flew back and forth over the page, taking in the writing once, twice, three times.

"Igor!" Elena Ridgemount beckoned her husband over. "You have to see this."

Mr Igor & Mrs Elena Ridgemount

Are hereby cordially invited to the Blossom family hosted gala, to mark the end of maple season.

Location, date and time are enclosed.

P.S. We hope you find the time to catch up with your daughter at this event. We believe you will have much to discuss.

xxxx

"You guys will not believe the weirdest coincidence," was Archie's opening statement when he met Betty and Veronica at the address Joaquin had given them (a sleazy motel, ridden with assorted pieces of garbage to help secure it's trustworthy state).
Which made Veronica a little put out, considering how she'd just shared with Betty that the two of them were sort-of seeing each other, she'd hoped for at least a 'hi'.

"So, you know Halona, yeah? She came round the other day to pick up Jug, and she had this photo on her? I think Cheryl's Grandma gave it to her, for some reason, but anyway, my mum had that exact photo. Then, she flipped it over and there was an area that was covering up some writing, she scrapped it off, and turns out it was a photo of my mum, Cheryl's mum and Jug's dad when they were kids." He was looking at them expectantly, as if waiting for them to react.

Veronica shared a look with Betty. "Is ...that weird?" she started slowly, trying to gage everyone's expressions. "I mean, didn't everyone's family grow up together in this town?"

Archie shook his head. "Nah, my mum grew up out of state. She moved here when she was in her late teens, and that's how she met my dad."

"Well, maybe all three of them grew up out of state, and that was how they knew each other."

"The Blossoms? Highly unlikely," Betty pointed out. "I mean, they're practically ingrained in this place; so much of this town belonged to them at some point. Sweetwater river, the surrounding woods, even some of the less obvious areas, like the drive in land-"

Veronica latched onto the last one. "Wait, what? The Blossom's used to own that?" A nonchalant tone was hard to pull off, with every fibre of her mind screaming my father bought that, is he involved, did he murder a kid.

"Yeah, it was made town-owned land maybe like, thirty years ago or something. I think the Blossom's have been desperate to get it back ever since. That's why everyone was so riled up about the anonymous buyer."

"Um, guys?" Archie's sunshine tone broke through Betty's history lesson. "Can we get back to why you phoned me here?"

This cued the moment for everyone to remember why they were rendezvousing outside a sleazy motel, ankle deep in rubbish.

"Right! Yes," Veronica said, fishing for the slip of paper that had Joaquin's loopy handwriting on (she was pretty sure she was also given strict instructions to burn it afterwards.) "Kevin's boyfriend- ex-boyfriend, he told us he overheard this guy called Mustang talking about this rich guy? So, we asked for the address, so I can ask about this 'rich guy'."

Archie's brow crinkled, which she found so quintessentially Archie (and adorable, despite the circumstances). "You think it's your dad?"

She nodded.

"And who's this Mustang guy? Do you know what he looks like?"

"We don't," Veronica supplied, with a quick gesture to herself and Betty. "But we believe that you do. When you went to that Serpent bar, apparently the guy we are looking for is the same guy you tried to get into a fight with."

"Oh..." Archie scratched his chin, with the decency to look a little sheepish. "That guy."

Betty flashed him a concerned look. "Do you think you'd be able to recognise him?"

He shrugged. "I'm pretty sure, but I guess we'll find out."

Together (with Archie taking the lead, which he insisted upon), they made their way up the rickety metal staircase leading to the second floor. Rows of kinda ugly, barren doors, their paint peeling and cracking from years without desperately needed upkeep, all vaguely identical. Aside from one in the middle, which only stood out due to what seemed like a nest of ants crowding around the frame.

Veronica shuddered slightly. The sooner they found this guy, the sooner they could get out of this place.

Archie checked the address. And again. And again. Then sighed.

"I don't think you guys are gonna like this, but..." He gestured to the bug infested doorframe. "I'm afraid that's our guy."

"Fantastic," Veronica muttered, but mostly to herself. She wasn't so pathetic that she couldn't step over some bugs.

But when they reached the door, that's when things started to set off all sorts of alarm bells in her head.

"Uh..." Betty stuck a finger on the decrepit door and pushed gently. It creaked open far too easily. "Guess he forgot to lock it?"

Then the smell hit.

Veronica tried to fight the overwhelming wave of nausea, as Betty staggered back, hand clasped over mouth looking like she was desperately trying to do the same. "Oh my god, did an animal die in there? Maybe three? Are you sure we have the right door?"

"It's the right door," Archie confirmed, quickly slipping his phone out his pocket and switching the flashlight on.

This only shed light onto an even more horrific sight. There were insects crawling everywhere, fat flies swarming together, ants littering the carpet, with a steady, but very obvious trail to the bathroom.

She didn't know what came over her. She ran inside, following the stream of insects, hardly hearing Betty and Archie's crying out to her, with a thundering rush of blood flowing through her mind. Every sound seemed muted to her, with just panic set in, chanting, please don't be another one, please no.

The bathroom definitely seemed to be the source of the insect infestation, and the smell, pungent with a sickly stench of disease. When she saw inside, every part of her body froze.

Mustang; who she presumed to be Mustang. Rather, what was left of him.

Sallow, yellow and leathery skin pulled tight and bloated at the highpoints of his body, sagging and collapsing in the low points, blotchy grey fingers where the skin was hanging off the bone. What was left of his hair had been pushed from his scalp, which crinkled unnaturally, patches of rotting skin eaten away. His eyes were almost gone entirely, with hundreds of fat maggots slowly writhing around in the sockets, his lips puffy and blue, with more maggots and flies crawling between them.

Veronica couldn't help it.

She screamed.

xxxx

I am, once again, so so sorry for the unbelievably long wait. I can assure you, however, that it wasn't a case of 'I don't know what happens next :/', as I have the whole story sketched out from start to finish. I was just stuck for forever on this chapter for some reason.

At least you can all take solace in knowing that, eventually, this will be concluded. Hopefully the next chapter wont take the same amount of time to produce.

Also, all of the chapter titles have a common thread in them! First person to comment with the correct answer can request any one-shot, or extended scene, or something, and it can be related to any of the works I've done or just within the Riverdale fandom (I couldn't really think of any better prize, I'm sorry. If anyone has a better idea, do let me know).

I also have a tumblr (wow fun) which I hardly post on, but I'm always working on various little creative writing things, so if you would like to see more of that, you can follow me at babygecko (yeah, its the exact same name as on here).

Any comments, thoughts and concerns are welcome x
- Alex