Redeeming Love
Chapter 19: Hidden Secrets, Hard Truths
Veronica
"Bob sells a house for $136,000," I say as I pace behind Weevil trying to help him understand the math he was failing, but my mind was fully somewhere else though. I could tell that all this number talk was boring Weevil out of his mind, but he asked for my help and like a good friend I couldn't let him down, "If he makes 5% commission for every house he sells, how much money did Bob earn on this sale?" I ask as I put the book down on the desk and move to the side of him.
"Seriously all he gets is 5%; well your boy Bob is pushing the wrong product. There is more money in other merchandise than in house selling," he mutters as I sit down next to him. "Do you got something here I could write with," he moans as I get a pencil out of the holder right in front of him.
"Weevil, you need to remember to bring your own pencil," I say as he takes it from me and begins to write in the notebook he brought.
"I heard that Duncan took off," he says after writing the problem down.
"I guess, although I heard he went to Chattanooga, to help out a sick relative," I say not giving any more details on the subject because I really didn't know what had happened.
"Really, because my boys heard he bolted 'cause you accused him of killing Lilly," he responses looking at me waiting for me to answer.
"I have no clue what you're talking about, beside word is wrong," I say hoping to end that conversation.
"Hm, that's good to know although you don't think they got the right guy though," he says as I turn to look at him. I didn't get a chance to respond because the door to the office opened. I turn to look at the person who had just entered only to find my dad staring at the two of us. Of course my dad would intimidate a well known biker because I saw Weevil move away from me. My dad tried to make small talk, but Weevil wasn't having any of it as he gathered up his things and left. I wasn't going to let my dad intimidate me either so I quickly put my things away and headed out.
I was very frustrated with how things seemed to be getting out of hand for me. My dad was being sneaky in trying to get things from me, but I wasn't going to let him know too much. I needed some outside influence if I was going to figure out things for myself. I slammed my locker door and was turning around as I almost walked right into Logan.
"Oh! Hey," I say softly as I push a strand of hair behind my ear as he looks just as nervous as I was feeling.
"Veronica, how have you been doing?" he questions as I try to keep my eyes from looking at his lips. "What do you think is happening right now?" he questions as I raise my eyes up to look directly at him. His brown eyes were warm and inviting.
"Like...in general, or is there a specific arena in which you'd like my opinion?" I remark as I watch him shift uncomfortable.
"Veronica seriously; do you think Duncan, is just cooling off thinking about things or is he, like I don't know holed up in some hotel room pouring peroxide on his hair, and trying to file his fingerprints off?" he says as I just shake my head trying not to laugh because for Logan to think that I had to wonder what Duncan really thought.
"Logan, really I have no idea what Duncan is thinking. I haven't really known what he has been doing for more than a year," I snap as I turn to walk away a little flustered with him being nice. I could sense though that he wasn't going to give up as easily as I thought he might have.
"I got the call from Celeste today wanting to know where, I thought he might've gone since the two of us are as thick as thieves," he says waving his hands out in front of his body.
"I highly doubt those were her words. What did you tell her, though?" I asked as he moved closer to me.
"I told her the truth. That I don't really know. I mean Veronica he could be just about anywhere. Duncan isn't dumb, but I am worried about him," he admits as I turn away from him. Logan and Duncan were best of friends just like Lilly and me, but they were able to weather her death better than me. I watch as Logan stops as if he was going to say something, but looks to the ceiling waving his hands as the bell rings.
"Bye Veronica," he says as I give him a tight smile while he turns abruptly and walks away leaving me standing there puzzled. I would be lying if I said I wasn't miffed that he didn't want to talk with me, I thought we had shared something special. But if he wanted to smirk and hide behind his fear then I would let him. I turned to catch Mandy posting lost dog flyers. I watched as Mandy began to walk away when I noticed the lost poster on her back.
I disliked how all the students would turn on each other if there wasn't something unique or special about them. I went up to Mandy and pulled the poster off her back. I handed her the poster and began to walk away when she asked me for my help. I wanted to say no so badly, but the thought that it could be Backup made me listen to her story. I decided that I would help her find the missing dog. As we were still talking Wallace comes around the corner and pulls me away from Mandy.
"Sorry I need Veronica for a sec," he says as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and begins to lead me away. "Breaking news. Record this date in history. First time Wallace Fennel got the 4-1-1 before the little birdie got it to you," he begins as I turn to look at him while we stop in the hallway.
"Fennel, do I have to tip you over like a cow or are you gonna spill it on your own?" I say putting my arms on his shoulders getting ready to shake him down.
"Relax girl, Clemmons just got a call. Weevil broke into the Kane house last night the neighborhood security patrol caught him in Lilly Kane's bedroom," he whispers as I stand there shocked. Who would have thought Weevil would do that, especially that house.
I decided to take a break from school and headed over to the Sheriff's station to see why my pal was breaking into the Kane house. I headed right for Leo as I entered the main room.
"Hi. How are ya?" I ask softly.
"I'm much better now. I haven't heard from you in a couple days. About to show up at your place with my tools of restraint.' He says jokingly, but I can hear the longing in his voice. The truth had been I was trying to clear my head of the kiss I shared with Logan before I decided what to do with Leo.
"Well I wouldn't recommend it. Dad usually likes to have a guy over to dinner at least once before he cuffs me kicking and screaming out the door," I joke and he chuckles.
"So what can I help you with, Miss Mars? My schedule? Sure. I'm off Thursday and Friday," he says smiling as I shake my head slowly.
"Um not that although that is good to know, I'm actually here to see Weevil. Do you think I could get a minute with him?" I say as I flash him a bright smile and a small pucker of my lips. He looks from me to the area where the cells are located.
"What is it about bad boys and you?" he says shaking his head as he gets up and pulls out a set of keys.
"Um, tattoos, leather, parole violations. Total good-girl bait," I say quickly while liking the tip of my finger before following closely behind him.
"I'm doomed," he jokes as we stop in front of the door leading into the cells.
"Hey, you were here when Weevil was brought in, right? What did they find on him?" I ask pumping him for information before heading in to give Weevil a piece of my mind.
"Well I am not sure what the bad-ass standards are currently, but seventeen cents, a couple of condoms, a pen," he says raising his hand up to unlock the door. I slip my bag off of my shoulder and hand it to him. He lets me in as I walk toward the cell where Weevil is located I have the fighting urge to turn around and leave him there, but I needed answers.
"Blondie I hope you brought a nail file and the J-Lo poster I asked for?" Weevil smirks as I pull up a chair in front of him and sit down.
"Why were you in Lilly's room?" I snap not even trying to hide my anger at him. Lilly was off limits to everyone who might tarnish her name.
"Come On what better house for some B&E?" he snaps at me as I feel the need to slam him into the wall, but I hold my place. I mean Lilly wasn't hooking up with him or anything was she.
"Weevil, I know about you and Lilly. I know about the letters," I finally say putting all the pieces together that I had seemed to just realize who it was.
"Yeah? You think you know me because of some letters," he sneers at me pulling himself up to a sitting position. "Well, whatever you know doesn't matter because there is nothing more to say," he snaps.
"What I think is you're a jerk who thinks he's better than the rest of us. I tell you that I'm close to finding Lilly's killer and two hours later, you're breaking into her room. What do you expect me to think?" I snap standing up quickly as the chair falls backwards.
"I don't know what else you want me to say. I told you all there is. Are you going to help me or not?" he asks angrily.
"No," I as I make my way back to the holding cell door.
"Fine, hold on!" he mutters as I stop right beside the door waiting for him. "Diamond ring," he says as I look back at him puzzled.
"That's why you broke into the house to steal a ring?" I snap as I turn back around to face him. I really didn't totally believe him but what was I suppose to do. Weevil told me it was his mother's ring and he wanted it back since Lilly was no longer alive. I left him there to think about what to do next.
Ii spent the next hour working with Mandy on creating better posters for her missing dog. I even thought a little about what was really going on with Weevil.
***LoVe***
Logan
As I was walking up the back of the pool area I noticed a woman was cleaning the pool while Trina was sitting on one of the deck chairs. She got up as I moved closer to her. She was in the house before I had a chance to say anything.
"Sweetheart. Stay close, okay? Barry's gonna be here any minute," Aaron said as I moved closer to the open door to listen. Trina was sitting right next to Aaron.
"Is that research for your next role?" she asks as I felt like ice was falling all over me as I dreaded entering the house.
"No honey, Phil Jackson gave me this. He said it would change my perspective on life," he says holding up a book from what I could see.
"Seriously, dad are you sure that's something you want to do right now," she replied while Aaron snorted and the sound of the book dropping could be heard.
"I can't believe this nobody seems to believe me. Not even my own children. I'm done acting, Trina. It's behind me now. I just want to focus on our family right now," he says as I decide to close a little of the distance between me and the patio door to get a better position.
"Dad come one what if a great part came your way would you seriously turn it down," Trina whines as I feel my skin boiling from her lack of composure. I always hated the fact that she pretty much got away with all kinds of crap where I got beaten over so many stupid things. I hear my dad chuckle as I enter the den area to see my dad seated on one sofa while Trina was perched on the other side of him.
"Trina right now there isn't anything more important to me than living in the moment. I need to be here for those that I love. I think I have been gone far too long," he says as he touches her under her chin. I wanted to gag at the thought of him actually caring about someone other than himself. "Right now that's all I want since Lynn died. Her death was a real wake up call for me and the way I have been living," he says.
"Push in on our hero. Natural light frames his handsome, weathered face as he passes sage advice to his doting daughter. The music swells," I say as I put my hands up in the motions of a director trying to get the perfect scene framing my dad and Trina together.
"Really Logan," Trina says rolling her eyes at me.
"Important your family is. Hm, young Jedi," I say in my best Yoda impression. I knew that would hit my dad because he hated the Star Wars movies since he wasn't in them. Of course he auditioned, but lost out to Harrison Ford. Who I think is such a better actor anyway. I lean up against the other couch opposite them and fall onto it.
"Daddy, there's this terrific part. I know if you looked at the script you'd love it," Trina whines as I can't stop myself from laughing at her. "It's the villain in this independent feature my boyfriend Dylan's producing, "Escaping Your Past." You'd be perfect. Two days work," she continues to whine as I feel like it's grating on my nerves.
"Trina hold on, thank you for thinking of me, really..." Aaron starts as I start laughing again because it's funny to see Trina's efforts to win old father dearest. Of course he tells her he isn't doing anymore acting, due to the fact that he is focusing more on his family. He doesn't want to lose out on anymore family time. Whatever the heck that means. Trina is irrupted by the doorbell ringing. Thank god her whining is paused for the moment.
I find myself amused as I sit with Trina, Aaron and my mom's attorney. Evidently Aaron didn't know she had one outside of the one he had. It was funny watching him squint his eyes as the guy entered the house. I mean sure he knew who Barry was, but he didn't know mom had asked his advice on legal matters.
"I'm not sure if you guys are aware, but Lynn updated her will a few weeks before her…death. Aaron, you were removed," Barry says as he looks over a page in the document.
"Hm. Well I didn't know that but, uh, well, doesn't surprise me. She was keeping several secrets from me there toward the end," he mutters narrowing his eyes at me.
"It's cool, Barr. Dad's accountants didn't give Mom much of an allowance," I snap back knowing that was very true since I heard them discussing money matters several times over the years. Aaron gives me one of his silent glares that meant I was treading on thin ice.
"Right, so I guess I'll just skip to the relevant paragraph then," he says as he scans a few more pages before turning toward me. "To my son Logan, I bequeath my art collection as well as all of my personal effects in the house which includes all of my clothing, jewelry, awards, and anything else that belonged to me. In addition I leave him the balance in my investment account, held with JP Morgan, totaling $25 million to be held unto he turns 18 or is emancipated. In the effect he needs any money before he turns 18 the trustee Keith Mars will give him an allowance, but if Keith deems Logan not to be responsible for such an amount the money can be held in the trust until he turns 21 and will be given an allocated amount for living until then. He also will get my property located at 3617 S. Seacrest here in Neptune.
"What about me Barry, she took me out too?" Trina whines as I put my hands behind my head secretly thanking my mom for thinking about me.
"I'm sorry to say this, but Trina you were never in her will," he says as I chuckle under my breath. "I have to go see the Mars now," he says as I perk up hearing that. Trina looks murderously at me.
I had a restless night thinking about Lilly and the things I had done to Veronica after her death. It wasn't setting well with me the idea that things turned so bad just because I wanted to blame her.
"Good morning, brother," Trina says as I enter the kitchen. She is holding out a plate to me. "Want a Pop Tart?" she asks as I take the plate from her.
"Wow, a tart from a tart," I reply before she has a chance to comment anymore. I take a bit and realize its strawberry which is my favorite, but I thought I ate the last one yesterday.
"Right, you have such a great sense of humor. Can I ask you something?" she says as she seems to be fidgeting and not looking directly at me. I pause and look from my pop tart to her and then pretend to pull something away from the plate.
"Wow, would you take a look at that? There was a string attached to my pop tart, all this time," I snap as she looks up slightly at me but still not making eye contact as a toss the pretend string over my shoulder.
"Logan, I'm in a little bit of a jam. I could use a loan. I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't really need it," she says as I just look at my watch irrated that she was hitting me up for money. I tap it softly then look back up at her.
"That has to be a record; I can't believe it took you twelve hours to hit me up for my dead mother's money. Hm, I wonder who had that in the pool?" I say as I look back at the pop tart that had lost all interest to me.
I would ask dad, but I have already gone over my limit and you cancelled the card I was using. You know I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important," she says as if this was my entire fault.
"Oh, I'm sure you wouldn't if you could weasel the money from somewhere else," I mutter as I pick at the now forgotten tart.
"Could I just borrow…ten grand, just for a little while," she says as if I really cared why she needed the money or even how much.
"Ten grand?" I say louder than I probably should have, but that was a lot of money.
"Just hear me out, please? My boyfriend Dylan spotted me some cash a few months ago and…now he's bugging me about it. I-I can't get him off my back, she says as I stand up getting ready to leave.
"Trina, did you try standing up to him?" I say smirking as I feel really pleased with myself.
"Nice! Thanks. Knew I could count on you," she retorts sarcastically as she stalks off toward her bedroom. I pick up my books and head off to school.
***LoVe***
Veronica
I was having a hard time focusing on all the things going on in my life with Logan and my cases, but now I needed to worry about my dad hiding things from me as well. It seemed Lynn Echolls had made some arrangements with my dad and her lawyer was in his office right now discussing them. Since I wasn't allowed in the meeting I wanted to eavesdrop, but declined so that I could put all my attention on Mandy's case. I felt bad for her.
I decided that in order for me to help Mandy better we needed better flyers. I took the one she had created and redesigned it to have more info in a better way. I mean I know Mandy cares for her dog and all but you need to go the extra mile if you want to get anywhere. Once I was done I texted Many to meet me at the pound to show the flyer to the people there to see if they saw Chester or not.
Once we were inside the pound it seemed like we were getting nowhere. I mean the flyers were better and all, but the two guys who were working said they hadn't. I didn't like the thought that this seemed to be yet another dead end for me. I would have to try something else. The boy Han who seemed about our age did say he would keep his eye out for the dog, but still it could be long gone by now.
I was getting frustrated with how my case was going. I thought for sure this would be an open and shut one. Mandy and I were discussing what we were going to do next when her phone rang. She turned away from me to answer it. She seemed really excited as the caller spoke to her until she turned back to me looking even more depressed than what she already was. It turns out one of our esteemed classmates thought it was cool to pull a prank on her. It pissed me off how easy kids could turn on each other.
As I looked up from her I noticed the group of kids laughing and staring our way. She explained that one of the boys went out of his way to pick on her due to an old crush she had on him. I decided enough was enough and went over and laid into him. I saw Logan standing off to the side as I turned back to Mandy and then told her to stand up for herself. It was sickening to watch as someone nice was being bullied.
My temper began to get better later in the afternoon once I headed home. I felt as if someone was watching me from the corner of my eyesight, but couldn't find the person. If I had to wager it was probably Logan. He seemed to pop up at the strangest times. I took Backup for a walk once I got home. As I was putting my key in the lock my phone rang. Hans the boy from the pound called me to give me some information on Mandy's missing dog. I call Mandy once I hang up the phone and tell her to meet me at the pound.
"I hate to be the person to tell you this, but one of our guys found Chester by the side of the highway on his way in last night. He'd been hit by a car. They had to put him down," Hans says as I watch a tear slide down Mandy's cheek. I mean if it had been Backup I would be a mess as well. I watch as Hans reaches into his pocket and pulls something out.
"Here I found this, saved it for you," he says as he hands her the collar with Chester's tags on it. Mandy thanks me for the help I gave her and handed me a check for the money she said she would pay me. I felt bad taking it from her since I really didn't find her dog, but she wouldn't take it back. I watched her drive away as I decided to take Backup out again to think.
As we are rounding a corner on the sidewalk near the beach I notice a bulletin board. I must pass by it every time I go to the beach and up again, but never stop to really look at it. There are all kinds of notices on it for missing dogs. It once probably held band concerts or party information, but now it was littered with missing dog posters. I decided to take several of them to see if the people had found their missing loved ones or not.
As I sit at my desk looking over the flyers I begin to call a few to see if they had been found. After calling a few people I noticed that the people who offered large sums of money got their dog back, but those who offered a small reward didn't. I took one of the more recent flyers and changed not only the reward, but the phone number as well to see if anything happened. I can't do anything for Mandy but if someone is stealing dogs in Neptune, they need to be brought down, hard, then beaten with some sort of tire iron, and dumped into the nearest body of water.
"What did you say to Duncan? Where is he?" Celeste accuses me as I exit my dad's office.
"Excuse me?" I say clearly not understanding her issue with me.
"I think you know why he left. In fact, you're probably the reason he left. What did you say to him, Veronica?" she snaps at me as I see she feels it is my fault her precious son disappeared.
"Alright Celeste let's start with what I didn't tell him. I didn't tell him that his mother threatened to kill me. I didn't tell him that his mother drove my mother out of town," I snap back at her as I feel the anger and hatred I had been keeping locked up break free. She walks toward me.
"Veronica I know you think I hate you, but I don't. I just can't stand to look at you. Every time I see you, I see everything that's wrong in my life, in my family," she says slowly as I have the urge to shove her out the window, but reign in my anger as I decide she's not worth it. "I see my husband's infidelity, your mother in his office, in his hotel room. I see your father trying to destroy us," she mutters.
"What are you doing here?" my dad says as he walks into the office past Celeste toward me. I am clinching my hands to my side trying to calm myself down.
"I…needed to ask your daughter a few questions," she replies coldly.
"You don't need to ask her anything. You just leave her alone," my dad says as I see a smile form on her lips.
"You don't scare me, Keith. If you were such a great detective, you would have seen what was going on right underneath your nose," she snares at him as she turns around and walks out the door.
"Wait," I call out as I follow her. "I'll help you find Duncan if you drop the charges against Weevil," I say as she turns around to face me.
"You want the intruder caught in Lilly's bedroom released. I'm sure I should be surprised but I'm not," she replies back at me.
"Celeste nothing was stolen, nothing was damaged. I might have an idea where Duncan went, that's my offer," I say knowing this might bite me in the ass later. She seems to be trying to stare me down as if that would break my spirit, but I stand strong. She just turns around and walks out the door without giving me an answer. I don't have time to waste thinking anymore on her or Duncan right now. I had other things to do.
I head back to the beach with my newly made missing dog sign and staple it to the bulletin board where I had removed all the other notices.
"Is Backup missing?" I hear a voice questioning me as I don't even turn around knowing who it was.
"I am beginning to think you are following me," I say as I move away from the board to step toward him.
"I was surfing with Dick and saw you up here," Logan says as he moves to look at the poster. I could tell he was puzzled as to why I was placing a missing dog poster up for a dog I didn't even own.
"I was helping someone find their lost dog. It turns out it was hit and left for dead. I noticed that more and more dogs were disappearing, but when I made some calls to the numbers listed I found that people who offered big rewards had gotten their pet back. I think someone is stealing dogs and holding them hostage," I say as I see him shake his head.
"It must never be a dull day in your life," he replies chuckling as he helps me down from the wood bench.
"Nope, always full of fun and cheer," I say as I watch him pull his phone out of his pocket. I see the face he makes before putting it back in.
"I've got to head home, but if you need any help let me know," he says before leaving me.
***LoVe***
Logan
I would have stayed longer with Veronica, but Aaron demanded I get my butt home to study. At times he is taking this whole single, loving father bit too far. He hasn't cared for me for way too long, and I sure as hell don't feel like him being a part of my life right now. I decided to hang out until he got home in the pool house playing video games. My stomach began to rumble as I looked at the time and noticed it was after 7. I headed toward the main house to see if the maid had left anything to eat.
"Is Dad still at dinner?" Trina asks as she walks into the kitchen.
"I guess, but he's not far. I'm sure if you really tried you could blow smoke up his ass from here," I say as she passes me by heading toward the ice maker. I just watch her because I knew the signs all too well.
"Hey Trin, if you take your top off before you get on the mechanical bull, you won't fall off," I joke trying to make light of the thought that someone had touched her. I knew from the way she walked and hid herself what had happened. It pissed me off knowing that it was probably that jerk of a boyfriend of hers. "What happened to you?" I snap as she limps by me.
"Nothing," she mutters as I grab the sunglasses off her face. It reveals a black eye; she goes to take them from me. I try to keep them out of her reach.
"Don't you have some homework to do, little brother?" she snares at me as I feel like the shitiest brother in the world. Did the guy beat her up because I refused to give her the money? I drop my hand as she snatches the sunglasses from me. She is walking away from me as I decide to follow her.
"Did that wannabe producer boyfriend do this to you?" I yell as she stops but doesn't turn around. "What's his name, Dylan? Dylan what, what's his last name?" I yell louder as she finally turns to face me looking directly at me.
"It doesn't matter, just leave it alone," she says as I feel the rage filling me up.
"Don't stand there and tell me it doesn't matter. It does now! Tell me," I snap as I keep my hands from pulling her to me.
"You've made it clear that you have no interest in my problems, Logan. Don't be wishy-washy. It's so unattractive in a guy," she mutters as I say nothing but watch her limp away. It killed me to watch her in pain. She may have been a crappie big sister, but she didn't deserve to be hit, hell no one did.
I watched as Veronica and her little friend walked out of the café toward their normal spot. I wasn't listening too much as Dick was muttering something when I stood up and walked over to them.
"Hey," I say as I sit down with them. Wallace looked around to see if this was probably real or not.
"You're sitting with us now," he says as he motions to Veronica and then to himself.
"Logan don't mind Wallace. He was trying to distract with me parental PDA," Veronica says as I watch her confused. I had no clue what the hell she was talking about.
"Hotshot, our parents are dating," Wallace says as I see Veronica smirk. I felt a strange vibe from them. All of a sudden Veronica's cell rings and she answers it. She says her name is Bridget and she was missing a dog. It must have something to do with her dog case.
"Great, um, I'll send my brother to meet you. Dog Beach, three o'clock," she says as I look toward Wallace as he turns toward me.
"So I'm your brother?" he jokes as I watch silently their little interaction. It was funny just how in tune they seemed to be at times. It was hard to say they acted a lot like siblings.
"I didn't mean brother like, brother. I meant brother like..." she says stumbling over her words. She does some funky head tilt wave thing that causes me to laugh.
"You know," I say as they both turn to look at me. "I could be your brother," I say as they both laugh. I must have missed the joke.
"That is a good idea," Wallace says chuckling as Veronica shakes her head.
"Sorry Logan, but you're the son of Aaron Echolls. I'm not sure who I'm dealing with and I don't need my cover blown," she says softly as I just nod my head. Of course she was right. Everyone knows who my family is, if they didn't than they must have been living under a rock since I have been plastered all over the TV for the past few months.
Veronica and Wallace go over the plan on how to meet up with the person and switch the money for the dog, and then retrieve the money without being caught. I was even allowed to go with them, as long as I stayed in the car. I watched from Veronica's cramped car Wallace switch the money with a Hispanic man as Veronica and Backup ran into him on accident. It was funny watching Backup attack the guy though.
"Did you get the money?" Wallace questions as he watches Veronica get into the front seat. She just pulls out the envelope out of her pocket with a huge grin.
"I'll drop you off to take the dog to his owner and I'm going to head out for a lead," she says as if I am not in the car. She heads back to Mars Investigation where Wallace gets out of the car with the dog and I move into the front seat with Backup. She pulled out her laptop and flicks a few screens until I see a blinking light. She hands me the laptop and pulls out into traffic. She follows the dot until we get to a warehouse area.
"I want you stay in the car. I am going to take Backup and go talk to the guy," she says as I grasp her arm.
"Let me go with you," I say pleading her with my eyes.
"Logan, I'll blow this horn in I need your help," she says as she reaches for Backup. I watch her go around the corner. It was killing me sitting on the sidelines. I don't know how long I sat there, but all of a sudden I heard a fog horn sound and jumped out of the car running in the direction I saw Veronica go. I came to a stop as I saw her walking toward me.
"I'm fine," she says softly placing her hand on my chest as I looked beyond her to the large crowd of guys. If I had known she would be up against so many I would have followed her no matter what she had said.
"Did you learn anything?" I questioned as she got into the car.
"Yeah, there's a dog man who hires these guys to return dogs. He drives a white van, or maybe a white horse, and he likes to spank busty women. Basically, that's any male living in Neptune," she says as I shake my head chuckling to myself. She didn't think it was funny when I saw her stern face. I knew this must be puzzling to her.
***LoVe***
Veronica
I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was nice spending time with Logan again. I mean we aren't best friends like we once were, but he was beginning to soften me to his presence. It was different this time around because Wallace was my friend as well, but I had to give him credit he was being nice to both of us. I was walking in the parking lot as I noticed a white van. I turn to look at it more when I noticed the busty women on the mounts. "Hello, ladies," I say smiling to myself. There is a cowboy on a bucking bronco on the window everything the guys told me. I slip inside without anyone noticing. I was surprised though when I saw who got in.
"I should have known it was you who killed dogs?" I snap as I see him thinking over what to say.
"What are you doing in my van?" he snaps at me as I move a little closer to him.
"That doesn't matter I know what you're doing. You're kidnapping 09er dogs, holding them at the pound, and then waiting for an offer of a big reward," I say trying to reign in my anger because he was the lowest form of scum there was.
"Right, you break into my van and you're accusing me of stealing," he retorts back at me as I just shake my head because I knew he was behind it.
"So I guess when Mandy and I came looking for Chester, you realized you screwed up, dog napped from a poor girl. So you just cut your losses and threw him to the side of the road," I snap at him pulling out my tazer getting ready to give him a little shock.
"Actually, I rounded up a hundred and one of them. Some crazy lady's making' a coat. Now get out of my van, you lunatic," he says.
"How old are you, anyway, Hans?" I ask as I look around myself at his van. It looked as if he lived in it.
"Eighteen. Why?" he retorts as I give him a nasty grin knowing where he'd be going once I got the evidence to lock him up.
"Community soap," I say smirking as I get out of the back of his van walking right into Weevil just as Hans pulls out of the parking spot.
"Always gettin' out the back of some dude's van, aren't you?" he says with a smirk on his face.
"Of course, I see you're out," I say giving him a tight smile.
"Yeah. How many get-out-of-jail-free cards do you have up your sleeve, anyway?" he says as I think back to what I told Celeste.
"Well I'm pretty sure that was my last, so you might keep your felonies to a bare minimum," I say knowing I had probably used up all my free passes long ago. I watch him walk toward the quad as I head toward my car. I needed to go to the office.
"Hi," I say as I take a drink out of my water I just got out of the mini fridge.
"Hey, I need your help," he says as notice the dark circles under his eyes.
"Would it be weird for me to start my own drinking game? Like I have to do a shot every time someone asks for my help?" I ask joking.
"I need you to track down Trina's leech-of-the-week boyfriend," he says as I watch him inhale sharply before exhaling. I knew this had to be serious for him to come to me asking for help.
"Why? What'd he do?" I question as I watch the anger wash over his expression as he reigned it in before answering me.
"He beat her up," he finally says as I look up at him with horror clearly written all over my face.
Veronica looks horrified and puts down the water.
"I plan on returning the favor. All I know is his first name, Dylan, and he's producing this steamer," he says as I nod my head trying to form words to calm him down, but coming up empty. He slaps some papers down on the desk in front of me. I look over at it knowing it was probably a script or something similar to it.
"Easy there tiger," I say opening up my laptop and getting to work on digging up dirt on the jerk. I found some info from calling around to different places, but I hit the jackpot once I got to someone who gave me the guy's full name.
"Dylan Goran," I say as I look up to Logan and hang up the phone. I then turn back to my laptop as I type his name into the Prying Eyez website, which displays a host of information for me. The jerk had been arrested several times for beating up the ladies. It seems Trina wasn't the first that this Romeo put the smack to. I watched as Logan pulled out his cell and dialed a number.
"Dad, hey, I need Trina. It's important," Logan says, but before he could say much it seems his dad hung up the phone on him.
"Dylan's on his way to the house. And Dad's cooking for him," he mutters tersely. I follow Logan out of the office door not wanting to leave him alone at the moment. I jump into his yellow X-terra as he looks over at me and just shakes his head. I knew no words needed to be spoken and he peels out of the parking spot and heads in the direction of his house. I watch quietly as he takes corners faster than he should praying that no cops decide to pull him over.
"Daddy, no!" we both heard Trina yell as he pulled the X-terra to a stop and jumped out racing to the house. I am following him as he races through the door from the house into the backyard. I almost bumped into him as he stopped all of a sudden both of us shocked by the scene in front of us, Aaron, out of breath, looming over Dylan, with a belt in his hand.
"Son how was school?" Aaron says as he drops the belt mid strike. Dylan groans below him as he turns over on his back.
"You know what. I considered your offer but…I think I'm gonna pass," he continues as I chance a glance in Trina's direction. She looks like hell. "Logan. Will you see this young man to his car, please?" Aaron says as he looks from me to Trina and then back at Logan.
"I'll be happy to," Logan says as he moves from me and toward the jerk laying on the ground whimpering like a wounded puppy. I can't help but stand rooted in my spot as I just witnessed Aaron Echolls beating another human being. I couldn't help but cringe at the thought of him doing that to Logan. I felt so helpless at the moment.
"Wow," I say as I see him look toward me as if he was waiting for me to bolt.
"Father knows best," he says half proudly and half scornfully as we watch Dylan's car peeling out of the driveway. We walk for a few moments in silence while I see Logan glancing at me.
"Do you think Lilly loved Weevil?" he finally says breaking the silence with his odd as hell question.
"I don't know. Um, Lilly never mentioned anything to me about Weevil. I was wondering when you were gonna ask me about that," I say as honestly as I could because I really had no clue.
"Yeah, well. I don't know. When he's caught in her bedroom, you know, I guess you gotta think," he says softly as we come to his SUV as we face each other.
"Logan I'm proud of you because you're handling it a lot better than I thought you would," I say praising him because he was actually handling it better than he should be.
"You and I both know that I loved Lilly and well we also know Lilly loved guys," he mutters softly.
"Logan, you know that she," I start but he stops me from finishing my statement. I mean I know nothing could compare to what he was feeling or thinking as of this moment.
"You know, she used to say that her..." he starts but stops as he clears his throat "...her parents worshipped Duncan and tolerated her. And if she couldn't please 'em, she was gonna go out of her way to piss 'em off. Weevil must have been perfect for that," he finally finishes. I know felt really bad for him because it seemed like he had the worst luck in love.
"I know Lilly loved you," I say trying not only to convince him but myself as well.
"I know she cared for me in her own way, but I don't think she really loved me. I just don't want to feel guilty anymore," he says as he moves closer to me.
"Feel guilty about what?" I question as he is just inches from me.
"Moving on," he says softly as he leans forward and kisses me passionately. What seems like just mere seconds he leans his forehead on mine as I feel his hot breath on my neck.
"What are we doing?" I ask as he just laughs softly.
"I have no idea, but I don't want it to end either," he says as he kisses me once more before we both laugh breaking it off.
"We need to talk about this," I say as I watch him nod his head.
"I know. I kn-" he chuckles as I just shake my head knowing that this is the first time I seem to be really seeing him. I don't know if it's the adrenalin from watching Aaron in action or Logan finally being himself.
"Can we keep this between us for now? Let us see where it goes before letting everyone else know," I ask as I see him look hard at me.
"Meet in mop closets? Pass each other secret notes in the hallway?" he whispers half joking but it hit home with me as I realized I was dating Leo and making out with Logan. I pulled away from him a little hoping he wouldn't notice, but being Logan he did. He didn't say anything to me but I could clearly see the pain in his features.
"Come on, I'll drive you home on the back streets," he says opening the SUV door for me before walking around his SUV to the driver's side door. As he fumbles with the keys and all I look in the back of his SUV and can faintly see Lilly and her spy pen. It was the last memory of us together in the SUV; she had just found the pen in her cereal and was going to use it for all her lovers. God I missed her.
"You okay?" Logan asks as I turn to look at him and give him a peck on the check before he starts the SUV and heads to my apartment. If things worked out for us I would try to do better by him than what Lilly did. Logan needed someone worthy of his love.
After Logan had dropped me off last night I decided to work on a plan to help Mandy while taking down the scum at the pound. As soon as I got to school I found Mandy in the Library and told her about my plan. She was excited, but I needed to remind her not to get her hopes up. According to Hans and the other people Chester had died.
After school I went to the office to do some work for homework, but was really waiting to ambush my dad about why Lynn's lawyer was talking to him. Although he was normally in the office at this time he seemed to be avoiding me. I couldn't wait for him any longer as I packed up my things to head to the Sheriff's department. I needed to talk to a certain Deputy.
"I need to talk to you," I say as I watch Leo pouring a cup of coffee, he laughs.
"Me, finally, me. You are actually here to see me," he says jokingly as he looks around the room before pointing to himself.
"I can't date you anymore," I say slowly as I finally realize I was going to take a leap of faith and go all in with Logan. I hadn't seriously made this decision until right now. I was only going to ask for a break, but after seeing him I knew I had to end it.
"What" he questions as his grin slowly fades away. "Whoa, okay I thought we were doing alright," he finally says as I just nod my head slowly.
"Hear me out, and please trust me in this matter. You don't want to date me. I'm a train wreck. Seriously. The-the first guy I ever loved just dropped off the face of the earth, probably because of something I said, and the last guy I dated turned out to be a drug dealer, and I just made out with my dead best friend's boyfriend, who, incidentally, I hate," I say quickly as I point to myself with both my thumbs before looking back up at him. "Yet, Leo, you are the sweetest-" I start as he cuts me off.
"Please. Don't tell me how sweet I am," he mutters as he moves toward his desk and sits down as I follow him.
"I can't imagine you being single long with how hot you are," I say trying to lighten up the mood.
"Right, now that's more helpful," he says half sarcastically.
"I hate dumping all this on you right now. I do care about you, but I thought I owned it to you and myself to be honest about where things were for me,' I say leaning up against the desk behind me.
"Pray do tell me Veronica what should my response be, um thanks?" he says looking directly at me.
"Probably overshooting a bit there, huh?" I say as he snorts while nodding his head. "You could tell me that you understand," I add as he just shakes his as if I was joking.
"That we could still be friends?" he says under his breath.
"Exactly, because now I kind of need to ask for a favor," I say as I can see his eyes open even bigger as if I was pulling the carpet out from under him. He actually leans back in his chair and laughs out loud before sipping on his coffee. I tell him what I need and he agrees to it as long as I don't do anything that could get him fired or me in jail. He didn't want to answer to my dad as to way I was arrested. I think he was highly afraid of my dad.
Once we got to the pound Leo took it and got the guy to open it up. He demanded to get to look around just as the night guy tried to get out of the search. As we were looking through the different stall a door seemed to stand out. The guy said the most infectious dogs were there in quarantine, but no once we got into the room we found most of the missing dogs.
"He's not here. Chester's not here," Mandy says half crying as I notice all the dogs around us.
"I'm sorry," I say as I realize just how big of a long shot this was for her.
"You have the right to remain silent," Leo is saying as I hear Mandy yelling outside the door.
"Look at me you creep," she says as I see Hans is on the ground with Mandy over him with my tazer in her hand.
"Come on Mandy he's not worth it," I say as Wallace comes up behind me.
"That was my dog! You killed my dog! Do you see what you did?" she yells as he tazes him.
"Stop, stop. Hey, hey," I say pulling her arm away from Hans.
"He's not dead, I swear. Please stop," he mutters as he relents and tells us that he sold him once he couldn't get any money out of her. Leo comes out of the room and cuffs Hans before looking at me and shaking his head as if this was all normal.
"Thank you, Leo," I say after he places Hans in his car. I watch as Mandy and Wallace head toward mine so I could drive them home.
"It was fun, but I'm not going to do something like this again," he says as I move away from him before turning around.
"Can I ask you kind of a weird question?" I say as he gives me a puzzled look.
"Do you ever ask any other kind of questions?' he jokes as I just chuckle knowing he was right.
"You said Weevil had a pen on him when he was arrested. Are you sure it wasn't a pencil?" I say knowing that when he left that night he had borrowed a pencil from me not a pen.
"It was definitely a pen. Pretty girlie one too. Big, pink, plastic. So much for your bad boy," he says before walking to his car, gets in and drives off leaving me more puzzled than I was before. As I was driving back to my apartment from dropping off Wallace it hits me like a lightning bolt. The pink pen Weevil had was the spy pen of Lilly's. Weevil was one of her lovers.
"Dad did you know Weevil stalked Lilly. You questioned him. What convinced you he wasn't the guy?" I say as I walked into the apartment.
"Veronica," he mutters as I watch him get up from his chair.
"We searched him, his home, DNA, all that stuff, nothing came up. He also had an airtight alibi. I'll show you," he says as I follow him into his bedroom. He opens his closet door and pulls a bog box out of it.
"All this time, you've had Lilly Kane research in a box marked "Playboys" in the closet?" I joke as he lifts an eyebrow at me before placing the box on the bed.
"Well, I figured it'd be safe there. It's the closed files, it's just the non-essential stuff," he says as he flips through he contents.
"You think you're slick, don't you?' I joke as he shrugs his shoulders before pulling out something.
"Only 'cause I am. Okay, Weevil was on community service detail. A dozen people saw him from 8am to 2pm," he says holding up a stamped time card. "His time card confirms it," he added as I just nod my head.
"Well now that we know that Lilly's time of death is well after four?" I say knowing that this wasn't the best evidence to prove Weevil innocent anymore.
"The Kanes covered up Lilly's murder. We know that. You think they'd go through all that for someone like Weevil?" he says as I know they wouldn't unless they didn't know who really killed her or they thought someone they knew did. It was bothering me that for every step forward it seemed we went back two.
I had decided to go with Mandy bright and early as she went to the address that Hans gave for who purchased Chester from the pound. I watched in awe the love a pet and owner has as Chester went right to Mandy and began loving on her. It was remarkable just how loyal animals could be. I knew I had to do something about Weevil because I needed to know I didn't go out on a limb for him with Celeste for no reason. I had to be sure he wasn't behind Lilly's murder.
As I lean up against a wall until waiting for Weevil I think of what Lilly would say if she knew who I thought might have killed her. I wondered if she really cared for him or was just using him as well.
"Weevil, the night you broke into the Kanes, I gave you a pencil. You were found with a pen. There was no ring, was there? You found exactly what you were looking for didn't you," I snap as I pull the spy pen from his shirt pocket.
"Oh you mean this little thing here," he says waving the pen in front of my face. "You can have it, I don't need it anymore," he says as I feel mad at myself for helping him when he had underlying motives the whole time.
"Were there any hidden messages inside when you found it?" I ask as he chuckled at me before looking down and then back up at me.
"V, now if I told you, it wouldn't really be a secret message pen. Would it?" he says smiling as he walks off leaving me more troubled than I was before.