"You sure you don't have anything else to add to this statement?" Sheriff Lamb asked, as he flashed the piece of paper from the case file that sat in front of Logan of the Felix Toomes murder investigation.
"I've already told you everything, any other questions you can refer to my lawyer" Logan dismissed as he fiddled with the cuffs digging into his wrists. Sheriff Lamb had been grilling him for the last two hours about this mysterious eye witness who had come forward to say that he had threatened him into silence for what had happened that night on the bridge.
"Daddy's money won't save you all the time" Lamb sneered.
"Then just find me the first sober public defender you've got and put the bail on my black Amex" Logan snapped.
He hadn't called anyone yet, as an emancipated minor, there wasn't really anyone left at home who cared what happened to him anyway, he was practically an orphan, Logan thought bitterly. His mother Lynn Echolls had thrown herself off a bridge after the truth of his father's infidelity had become a national spectacle, and his only surviving parent, was in jail, awaiting trial for the murder of Logan's girlfriend, Lilly Kane. Like Father Like Son… in the court of public opinion anyway. He really wanted to call Veronica… to explain things... but if he didn't make bail this time, then that one call was all he had. He needed to contact Vinnie Van Lowe in the morning and have those tapes of Kendall's investigated; found and destroyed, but right now he was anxious about not having his phone. If she had tried to contact him, he wouldn't know. Being separated from her hurt like a missing limb.
"You should go see the Wizard.. ask him for some balls… because where you are going, you better hope yours are as big as you like to think they are" Sheriff Lamb taunted as he packed up the file again and stormed off out of the room. Logan sighed and felt the tension he had been holding release a little. Man, he really hated being arrested. The trial over the previous summer had taken 6 weeks and 3 high powered lawyers and he had prayed this was all over… was she even going to try and talk to him about those pictures? Had she even seen them?
He could almost have laughed at the absurdity of it all, now because of this new piece of eye witness testimony, Logan was looking at 25 years to Life… and all he cared about was Veronica getting in touch to yell at him about those pictures at his house? This deafening silence was worse. He just wanted to explain that Kendall meant absolutely nothing to him. That it was from before last night, before they had given into their desires. It didn't feel right to be apart from her for so long… Why was this stuff happening to him now? She had just come back to him…
Everything in his soul told him that Veronica was his fate, she was where his heart lived outside of his body but it seemed like the Universe kept putting obstacles in their path. He couldn't remember much about that night on the bridge, somewhere between having his ribs broken and being knocked unconscious, someone had stabbed and killed Felix Toomes, and left Logan with the bloody knife in his hands. Now there was a witness who was putting the blame onto him… he felt so hopeless.
He wanted to rewind time, be curled back up in his bed with her nestled against him. The day had started off so well, one of the best in his life. He wondered how long it would take her to find out where he was? Logan hated being in this situation, the town had turned on him, most of the other kids at school avoided him now as if his blood were somehow made of liquid evil. Like after the stabbing of Felix Toomes, Logan was tainted, evil incarnate like his father's. He shuddered at his own comparison, Logan was nothing like that monster. The man who still haunted his nightmares, the reason why he still hadn't managed to shake the feeling like he needed to be evasive in his own house in a permanent state of hypervigilance, he needed to look around every corner for the next fist or beating. His abusive childhood was the reason that Logan first lashed out with aggression, the reason he struggled to communicate his feelings, why he clung on so fiercely to the good things in his life almost to the point of suffocating them. Like he had with Lilly… like why he hadn't been able to stop harassing Veronica after their break up over the summer, part of a desperate need to have her attention, to be noticed even if he had thought she didn't want him.
Aaron Echolls abuse and need for control was the reason why Logan had such a defiant attitude problem with authority figures. It had only been in these last few months of the only real peace that Logan had ever known now that his father was behind bars, that he had been able to start mentally unpacking the box of the entire trauma his relationship with his father had created. He was able to see through Veronica's relationship with her father, all the ways that his own was broken. That he was broken. His dad had murdered his girlfriend, drove his mother to suicide and tried to kill Veronica, the only good things in his life weren't even safe from shadow his father cast. He hadn't been able to lift a finger to protect them; he had failed each and every one of them.
The arrest of his father had brought some much needed distance but it hadn't stopped the psychological torment, even from behind prison Aaron Echolls had been taunting him. Logan had woken up the morning after the emancipation paperwork had finally come through to find a fruit basket had been delivered, it had contained nothing but pears and a handwritten note. Don't forget to eat well, Son.
Logan had cried and sat in his kitchen shaken for several hours and thrown up twice, recalling the Christmas when he was 9 and the man had shoved a fruit basket of pears down his throat, a memory his father knew still haunted him. He had never told anyone these things, not even Veronica, although she had gently tried to ask him once during their time dating. He hadn't wanted to invite that part of his life into their relationship; he didn't want her to see him that way. He had an innate ability to block certain parts of his life out, so the pieces didn't touch. He didn't want to infect the rest of his life with that darkness, didn't want that pain to be in every part of his world. When he was with Veronica, he could be the man that he wanted to be, he could try to be the man she thought he was capable of being. She didn't look at him like he was anything like his father. She saw Him.
Logan was still lost in his thoughts when Sheriff Lamb returned with his publicly appointed lawyer, Cliff McCormack.
"What are you trying to pull?" Cliff McCormack complained. "This doesn't make you look innocent you know, it makes you look like an arrogant jackass… I'm not into trying murky murder cases, you should be using that phone call to get yourself a real lawyer" he scolded as he began to flick through the case work.
"I am innocent" Logan replied, still rubbing his wrists where the cuffs chaffed.
"Until proven guilty by a jury of your peers" Cliff retorted wearily. "Lamb is insisting on refusing bail, I will have to reach out to some Judge contacts of mine to see if I can get you a hearing date arranged. You could be allowed home if under house arrest barring the set hours you would need to get to school and for some personal time for grocery shopping" he elaborated in a dry tired voice.
"Ankle bling huh?" Logan smirked. This just kept getting better and better… clearly his legal defence didn't sound any more optimistic about his chances than he felt himself. He had told the police he hadn't remembered the guy on the bridge who had stopped to help him that night, he had thought he was clear when the witness hadn't shown up. He hadn't wanted to find him because he couldn't be sure what he would say, he would be in the clear as long as they never found him. Now here 5 months later, the mystery caller had decided to come back and ruin his life.
"The ankle monitor sends a radio frequency signal containing location and other information to a receiver but the alternative would be you spend your time in here, awaiting trial" Cliff explained before handing Logan a document to sign to act on his behalf.
Sheriff Lamb came back and scoffed at the petition for bail, but couldn't hold him much longer without his lawyer being present for questioning. Thankfully Cliff McCormack had needed to go and make some calls, so Logan got to have the cuffs removed finally and step out of the stuffy interrogation room. He was thankful for the cool air during the walk to the holding cells.
"Even if you do get out of here, this is where an animal like you belongs…" The Sheriff told him venomously. "Must be something special if you are holding out on that phone call" he sneered.
"Yeah.. well when do I get my conjugal visit?" Logan retorted as he stepped backwards and the bars to the holding closed.
"Well… incest really isn't my thing, but you 09ers are a breed onto yourselves, a whole different class than the rest of us" Lamb mocked as he pointed. "You should ask your new bunk mate" Lamb continued and Logan felt a sick ball of dread knot in his stomach as he saw the gleam in the Sheriffs eye.
No. No. No. Logan turned slowly and had to fight the urge to run to the bars and shake them, to plead for help. Sure enough, it was dear old dad.
"Hello Son" his father said finally.