Veronica Mars had spent most of the morning when she wasn't obsessing over the recent changes in her relationship status updating Cassidy Casablancas on their investigation into his beautiful 25 year old step mother whom he believed was a gold digger and was cheating on his father. The FBLA meeting room was rather quiet today and Mr Pope was doing his best to tutor Dick Casablanca's on how to spread the outgoings of his business investments around more than one company. Things were going to be very tense in a few days when both of her ex-boyfriend and new lover Logan Echolls and ex-boyfriend and former lover Duncan Kane's suspensions were lifted. Listening to Cassidy Casablanca's complaining about he how had found the condoms in the sofa cushions made Veronica feel glad that her father was with such a great woman. Alicia Fennel and her dad made a great couple, and she never had to worry about these kinds of problems at home anymore. Not since her alcoholic mother Lianne Mars had left them last year and ended her 19 year affair with Jake Kane along with it.

It had been a welcome distraction and she was glad to have the case, he had asked her to investigate the woman in the hopes of proving that she was in fact doing the dirty behind his back. He insisted however that they needed the money shot, and Veronica had swapped out the woman's ipod with a shiny replica which was programmed with a hidden camera to take pictures every 15 seconds. They would be reviewing the footage and putting together a timeline of her movements after class.

"Veronica?" Mr Pope called from the door way, she snapped her head in his direction. Deputy Sacks was standing in the hallway with Mr Clemmons, surely it was a bit early for a locker search? Mac had programmed the schools computers to send her an alert text message the day before her locker was due a "random" inspection. She hadn't received anything today except a photograph of a very staged looking scene made with coffee cups and sugar of it calling to its Juliet. She forgot sometimes that Logan had grown up around show business, it had made her laugh. He was missing her… Peanut Butter where for art thou? Love Jelly.

She told Cassidy to meet her during her shift at Java the Hut later and left with Mr Clemmons who reassured her that her father was ok but she was being excused for the afternoon because her presence was required down at the Sheriff's Office. Deputy Sacks shifted uncomfortably as he drove her to the Balboa County Sheriffs Department. Sheriff Lamb welcomed her as she entered the interrogation room in his usual disdainful way, he didn't much care for her, but that was ok, the feeling of bile and contempt was mutual. Even as a deputy, she had hated him.

"What can I do ya for Sheriff?" she quipped, sliding into her seat.

"Do you know why you are here?" Lamb questioned sarcastically.

"Usually, however, this time.. I'll admit it, the Sheriff Piñata has caught me by surprise… is it a pony?" she joked.

He rolled his eyes and slid a case folder over to her, she flicked over it briefly, one thing that the PI game had taught her was how to absorb a lot of relevant critical details in a very short time. David Moran, Biker found washed up dead on the beach, last seen outside the road hog two nights ago.

"Bowling buddy of yours?" she mocked.

"And there was me thinking you were supposed to be smarter than me…" Lamb taunted as he shifted the last few crime scene photos for her see, there it was in black angry ink. Her name written on the guys hand. The Dead guys hand… suddenly she looked at the man in the photo with renewed interest, he was a little battered, and a little bloated.. but she had seen him somewhere before. The bus crash site, he had been there… and her name was scribbled onto his hand.

Lamb stared at her in delight, the shock must have been showing on her face.

"You recognise him?" he demanded, his blue eyes glowering at her suspiciously over the table.

"I've seen him before… but I cant place him" she told him. Which was a lie, she knew exactly where she had seen him, lunch time, a few weeks ago at the site where 6 of her classmates, the school bus driver and her new journalism teacher had been killed when the school bus she had narrowly escaped being on because of a divine intervention of her fate, had went skidding over the side of a cliff.

"David Curly Moran." He informed her.

"I don't know him" she repeated, glowering right back at him this time, his tone implied he thought she knew him all kinds of ways, she shouldn't have been surprised, her reputation had really been dragged through the mud in the 18 months since Lilly Kanes murder.

"You missing any jewellery?" he questioned, showing her an evidence bag holding a piece of shiny silver metal.

"Its not mine" she told him.

"If I search your apartment, you sure I won't find the matching set?" he repeated.

Veronica glared at him and repeated herself again. He went on like this with her for about 20 minutes before he decided to shake her loose. Rattled, she was grateful when her father's work friend Inga offered to drive her over to her shift at Java the Hut, her car was still parked at school. She would have to keep this to herself for now, but she was shaken. A dead guy, who had been there at the site where she almost died turning up with her name written on his hand? It seemed he may have been following her? But why? She filed it away and started her shift, her father called into the coffee house about an hour later for a quick slice of pie and to catch her up about his trip. It was welcome company, but she still hadn't worked up the courage yet to mention anything about Logan, she was still too freaked out by the events earlier that day, she promised to have Cassidy drive her over to the Mars Investigations Office for some clerical work and take out after her shift was over while he was having dinner out with Alicia before she came home, but it was just an excuse to have the evening alone with Logan.

It was 6.40pm when Cassidy had arrived back with the ipod, she retrieved her own camera work and they cross-referenced the time lines with her schedule, it took a while, but so far the last three days of her life were fairly routine. Yoga class in the morning, lunch with bag guy, motel room. Next they started lining up the footage from the spy camera, Cassidy excused himself to go to the bathroom while she continued flicking through. Then she found them, photographs of Logan at the Casablanca's house… and then more photos later on of Kendall at Logan's house. She recognised the bedroom… her heart was thundering in her chest. She felt sick, instinctively she wiped the last 900 pictures, the ones after Logan had appeared, from what she knew about Richard Casablanca's, the guy had a fondness for handguns, last thing she wanted was to be responsible for Logan getting shot. As angry and conflicted as she was, she refused to let anyone else get answers before she did. She saved them onto her camera memory card quickly as Cassidy returned to the table, thankfully she had erased them just in time.

"Sorry Cassidy, the last half of the photos were corrupted.. no money shot this time. Don't worry, I've got my sights on her now, I'll figure out exactly what is going on here" she swore through gritted teeth.

She transferred the memory card chip into her phone and flicked through the pictures of Logan and Kendall, sure enough, they got fairly graphic. These were taken only two days ago… her eyes burned hot with tears. She was such an idiot.. How could she have trusted him? She knew what he was like.. and yet she gave him the benefit of the doubt every single time. How could she ever think she could have competed with the kind of women he was used to? She had been supposed to call over when her shift ended at 8pm.. she didn't know what she was going to do now.

Logan Echolls had busied himself most of the afternoon with setting up a mini candle lit dinner in his garden, which he had rearranged so that the table was sitting right at the edge where the view from his house on the hill overlooked the Neptune Harbour Bay, it was picturesque. It was a surprise. He knew she loved this view, she had snapped many photos of it during their summer together, and she had a printed copy of it on the wall in her bedroom. The thousand lights of Neptune's harbour pier lit up like something inviting. It had comforted him a little sometimes when he couldn't sleep to lay out on one of the sun loungers on a cool evening looking out at this scene knowing that she might have been lying back against her pillows and looking at the same image. He couldn't really cook, culinary skills were not his specialty, but he had ordered some burgers and set them on the heated silver dishes. He had a bottle of wine waiting as well, pacing the garden nervously.

She hadn't replied his text at the end of school but he knew she was working a shift at Java the Hut, this reminded him of that day on the boat and he did his best to shake the feeling. They were different now, after last night? How could she stay away?

Veronica wasn't sure what her motives were exactly for coming to the Echolls estate after the picture she had found. Cassidy had indeed drove her after work, he had driven her back to school to pick up her car, and she had used her keys to got to the journalism lab and print out a few of the photos she had found. She needed answers.

"I'll be in the pool house, can't wait to see you x L"

The message had read when she had just been leaving work. 8.25pm and she was standing outside the main house, the door was propped open, music flowing through the kitchen and into the garden. Savage Garden, Truly Madly Deeply was playing, she searched through the foyer, no one was there, he was probably outside in the pool house, she was half way into the living room where they had started their love making the previous evening, when she spied something laying on the floor by the couch, a silky black bra lying on the floor. Fury erupted inside her; she knew which 32D bimbo owned this particular bra. There were images of it from the gym session that morning of Kendall Casablanca's putting it on after her yoga, and it certainly hadn't been there this morning because Veronica had had to search the living room for her underwear that morning before class.

She had been here today… been here long enough to take her bra off.. and god knows what else, but Veronica could pretty much tell from the pictures she still had stored in her phone. Placing the bra on the counter, she stifled a sob and placed the photos she had printed on the counter with the bra on top. He would get the message. She was so done, and she felt like such an idiot. After the revelations about the dead guy on the beach with her name written on his hand, the interrogation from Sheriff Lamb and now finding out the truth about Logan? She was exhausted.. she couldn't handle another confrontation tonight, this thing between them was till too fresh, the pain was too raw.

It didn't matter how many times it had been proven to be true through her PI work, the message she got was always the same. Love was a liability.

"I love you Veronica" he had told her the previous night in this very room as he had touched her in a way she had never let anyone touch her before. "I love you"

Yep… she was just a lovable idiot then… she thought as she turned around and got back in her car and headed to the Mars Investigations Office after all. She wasn't ready to deal with her dad, or Logan or any of it right now, she just needed to be alone. She should have run when her instincts had told her to that morning.. stupid stupid Veronica.