a/n: So it's been about three weeks in the story timeline. Just letting you guys know, and I'm mostly skipping time because I think it would take them several months to really fall in love – but I don't want to write out every day or every week in-between if that makes sense. Also this fiction, so some things would obviously not be done in real life but they fit better with the storyline.
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It's two weeks past bowling and it's two o'clock in the morning when her phone rings. It's not loud enough to wake up Mac, but it certainly wakes Veronica. She groans and rolls over, lifting the small device up to her ear and exhaling slowly when she sees who's calling.
"Lo?" she murmurs sleepily, and he responds at once.
"I have the tapes of the investigation and pictures of the crime scene from the police station," he tells her, and she sits up immediately, kicking her legs out from underneath the covers. "But they have to be returned by eight o 'clock tomorrow morning."
"Where do you want me to meet you?"
"I'm kind of already in the parking lot," he says sheepishly, and she laughs softly.
"Well if you're that eager, you're going to have to deal with me in my PJs," Veronica tells him, sliding out of bed and hanging up the phone. She ties her messy hair back into an even messier bun, and pulls on a soft sweatshirt and her slippers. She quickly scrawls a note to Mac telling her not to worry, and then silently traipses out the door.
Logan is waiting in his car, his knee bouncing up and down and his fingers tapping against the steering wheel. He looks like a dog trapped in a kennel from where she's standing. He's in his pajamas too she realizes, a pair of navy sweatpants and a gray T-shirt. So this wasn't planned from the start.
She slides into the car next to him, and Logan jumps like she's shocked him. When he sees it's just her, he visibly relaxes, letting out a long sigh and shifting the car into drive.
"So why are we on limited time?" Veronica inquires as they pull out of the parking lot. Logan's brown eyes dart to her and then back up at the road, and she can see his hands quivering from where they rest on the steering wheel.
"My contact has to get them back in before tomorrow morning, so nobody notices that they're missing," he says quickly, "So we're going to go drive to the most remote beach possible and watch them on my laptop."
"Why're you so nervous?" Veronica asks, leaning back against the seat, her mind still slightly hazy from just barely waking up.
"We are breaking the law Veronica," Logan snaps, and Veronica laughs.
"Is the big fierce Logan Echolls scared of getting caught?" she teases, and Logan shoots her a glare. "Whatever, I get it. We're breaking the law. We'll be careful, trust me. This is not my first time."
"Breaking the law or jumping out of bed to watch confessionals with a boy you met three weeks ago?"
"This is the first time I've ever jumped out of bed and into a boy's car," Veronica confesses and Logan laughs. "What, is this your first time breaking the law?"
"No, but it's the first time it's really counted," Logan says, "And for a moment there, I didn't think my contact would meet with me at all. I thought we had reached a dead end."
It was true that in the last two weeks, while they had added more pictures and more random Lily trivia to their board, they hadn't exactly gone much farther past the 'investigation' stage. This though, was a start. With this they could determine if Jake and Celeste's alibi's matched up, and if they could possibly have anything to do with their daughter's death. Which, Veronica concludes to herself, would be really be a stretch. Why would someone kill their own daughter? But Duncan…Duncan didn't remember anything. What did that mean? This case was like when you leave your headphones in the bottom of your bag, you don't know how they've got so tangled and knotted, but you pull it out and suddenly they're just a mess and you can't pick through it until you concentrate enough.
"Doing some hard thinking over there Mars?" Logan asks her, his eyes flickering over to her. They're approaching Dog Beach Veronica notes distantly.
"Just thinking about the case," she says in frustration, "I mean Duncan getting his alibi provided to him by his parents is definitely suspicious. Is he lying? Or does he really not remember what happened? Is Celeste lying?" she groans, leaning forward and pressing her face into her palms.
"Don't you see why I wanted to look into this?" Logan asks as he parks the car, "There's something fishy about it all."
"You have a good eye for this sort of thing," Veronica compliments him, and Logan smiles. He digs around in his bag and pulls out a laptop, setting it on the dashboard and pressing the power button. "Are you prepared though?"
"Prepared?" a frown crinkles his brow, and while he appears to be confused, Veronica knows he gets what she's saying. Still, she complies with his act and continues.
"Prepared for what we might find," Veronica says, "Because it might not be pretty."
"When is anything ever pretty?" Logan asks her honestly as the computer boots up, "Most of the people in my life believe I'm crazy, my Mother's dead, my girlfriend's dead and my Dad—" he breaks off, catching himself.
"Your Dad's what?"
"Don't worry about me Veronica," Logan assures, ignoring her question, "I can handle it."
He takes out several CDs and inserts them into the disc drive, opening the digital files.
"Who's the sheriff at this time?" Veronica inquires, leaning closer to the computer. The video files are taking their time loading, and she taps her fingers impatiently against the dashboard.
"The sheriff wasn't the one who did the integration. They hired a PI to do it at the time, because it was revealed that the department was corrupt."
"That explains a lot about this town if the sheriff's department sucks," Veronica says, and Logan chuckles.
"Yeah, it really does."
The files finally open, and it pans to a view of a steel table and two chairs. Jake Kane sits in one chair, looking worn out and struck dumb. The other chair is occupied by…
"Dad?" Veronica leans forward to get a better view.
"Actually, my name is Logan. I'm so glad that I resemble enough of a fatherly figure to get confused though," Logan jibes from next to her, but Veronica's still staring at the screen. Her head whips around to look at Logan.
"Was the interrogator's name Keith Mars?!" she demands angrily.
"Yeah, but I thought you knew that…" Logan trails off, and then frowns. "Wait… are you telling me that he's your Dad?"
Veronica doesn't answer but instead leans back, putting her head in her hands and trying to stop her spinning thoughts. Her Dad? Why would her Dad go to Neptune to investigate a murder without telling her? Why would he lie to her?
"He interrogated you, didn't he?" she asks softly, and Logan nods.
"He was pretty interested in me because Lily and I just had broken up. I didn't really like—" he breaks off. "But it doesn't really matter now."
"Of course it matters!" Veronica angrily throws up her hands, her blue eyes blazing at Logan. "He could have speculations, theories, unless… he wasn't the one who arrested Abel Koontz was he?" The thought feels like a vice around her heart, because if her Dad was the one who arrested Abel Koontz, what did that mean? What were her and Logan doing if that was the case?
"No, it was the original Sheriff in a desperate claim to get the public's attention back on him. Mr. Mars was focused on Jake Kane, he was in there for hours interrogating him."
"He was out of town after Lily Kane was murdered," Veronica whispers, mostly to herself. "I remember because it was also the day my Mother left." She says it matter of fact, toneless, emotionless. It doesn't matter now, it's over and done. What she cares about, what she really wants to know, is why her Father didn't tell her about being asked to investigate the murder.
"Ronnie—"
"Did you know this?" she demands of him, "Did you know who my Father was? And don't you dare lie to me Logan because I will be able to tell when you're lying to me."
"Why would I know this?" Logan asks, "And why would it matter?"
"Because did you think I could get information from my Dad on this? Did you use me?"
"What—Veronica no," Logan says, reaching out to touch her on the shoulder. She almost flinches away, but something about his touch is comforting and she instead leans into it, closing her eyes tightly.
"I'm sorry," she mutters, "My Dad is the only person who hadn't lied to me before today, and to find out that he was doing this instead of visiting a sick relative like I thought kind of hurts."
"You're wrong," Logan says quietly, and she looks up at him in confusion, "I haven't lied to you. And I never will Veronica, even if I keep secrets."
"Aren't secrets just another form of lying?" Veronica asks him honestly, and Logan shakes his head.
"Not when you're keeping it to protect someone," he tells her softly, and something inside her breaks. She lunges forward and wraps her arms around his muscular frame tightly. He stiffens for a moment, probably because they haven't really touched each other despite the fake handholding's and lame punches. She needs this though, needs someone to hold her without asking any questions. Logan hesitates at first, but then his arms pull her closer, burying his face into her hair. He let's her hold him, and she lets him hold her, and everything is okay for now.
She doesn't tell him how much his promise means to her, or why it strikes a cord, and he doesn't give up any of his secrets. They just sit in the car, and hold each other.
"Maybe we should start by looking at the crime scene photos?" Logan suggests, "Give you some time to wrap your head around it." Veronica pulls back from him, discreetly wiping at her eyes.
"Sorry about that," she tells him, her voice slightly shaky.
"Don't worry about it," Logan looks at his computer, closing the video file and opening the photo files. "So these are the pictures of her room," he says, clicking on one.
At the sight of the room, he takes a deep wary breath, his eyes far away and lost like he's in another time. The room is large (Lily Kane was rich) and very messy. Wardrobes open with clothes spilling out, photos lying crooked on the wall, makeup lying open everywhere – your typical teenage girl's room.
Logan's looking at it like he's a drowning man and he's found his ship, his eyes wide and hopeful as he reaches out a finger to trace a small pink blob on the screen.
"I think I gave her those shoes," he says, his voice warm like he's forgotten for a moment that Lily's dead and that they're looking at the photos of her room from the day she was murdered, and Veronica thinks it's a good look on him – being happy. She's only seen it a couple times, and she wishes that she knew how to make it stay on there permanently.
"Do you want me to enlarge it?" Veronica asks, already leaning over the computer and typing in a few simple commands. The picture zooms in, revealing a pair of pink shoes with the words I love Logan written on it in blue felt marker.
"I wrote that," Logan says fondly, his fingertip running along the words, "She was so mad that I ruined her shoes, but I was bored and –" he breaks off abruptly. "God Ronnie, I'm sitting in a car on the beach with a girl I met on the beach, looking at pictures of my girlfriend's room – and she died when I was sixteen. It's been two years…" he trails off, "It's been two years," he repeats, his voice a little bit broken and lost. Veronica wants to hold him again, but she doesn't think he would appreciate that, so instead she looks more closely at the shoes as if she stares hard enough, Lily Kane will come back.
"Oh my god," she whispers, as something about the shoes clicks in her mind. "Do you have the video of when they caught Abel Koontz on here?" she knows it's silly to think that he has a newscast video on his computer, but he pulls it up regardless, he must have saved it a long time ago.
At the beginning of the video, the triumphant sheriff holds up two plastic bags labeled evidence. Veronica hits pause.
"Do you see it?" she asks, minimizing the window and moving the picture so they both fit on the screen.
"It's the same shoes," he whispers, "But they found them on Abel Koontz's houseboat –"
"So unless he went back for souvenirs," Veronica finishes, "That man was innocent."
"But then why would he confess?" Logan asks, rubbing his forehead, "That's always the flaw isn't it? Why would he confess if he was innocent?"
"Well we can't ask him," Veronica shakes her head, "We both know he was killed for that murder. Still," she says at Logan's dejected look, "This is a start."
"Should we watch Jake and Celeste's alibi's?" he asks, pulling up the interview.
They spend the next two hours watching Veronica's father interrogate everyone, including Logan. It's a new experience for Veronica, because her Father has always talked to her with love and compassion, but he has none for these people as he grills Jake Kane about how long he had sex with his wife – about how he asks the questions people aren't sure to have thought of before hand. There is something fishy in the way Jake and Celeste Kane are answering their questions – and Veronica is almost certain that they're lying.
"We're going to have to look into the Kane's more," she says, and Logan agrees with a meek bob of his head.
"I lied about my alibi," he says abruptly and quickly, his eyes downcast.
"What?" Veronica looks at him in surprise.
"I wasn't in Mexico like I said, I came back early and left a letter for Lily in her car, telling her it was really over this time. I watched as she talked to Madison for the last time, and I watched as she drove away."
"Why would you lie?" Veronica asks, something like anger filling her. Frustration.
"I didn't want them to think I would ever hurt her," he says honestly, his voice shaking slightly. "And I wouldn't Ronnie – I loved her, I loved Lily."
"I believe you," Veronica decides, and Logan looks at her in surprise, like he's expected her to get out of the car and walk home without him. "Like I said before, if you wanted to get her killer caught – you'd be pretty damn stupid to do everything you can to catch the killer."
"Thanks Veronica," he says gratefully.
"Plus, no offense – but you don't really seem like that type," Veronica smiles, and then rubs at her eyes. "Thank god it's Saturday."
"How would I take offense that I'm not the murderer type?" Logan asks her, amused. Veronica throws her arms up in the air.
"I don't know! I'm tired and under caffeinated. Although I do think we have watched all that we really need to, and I know what our next step is, and it's not a fun one."
"What's that?"
"We need to talk to my Dad," Veronica rubs at her eyes, "You say I'm good at solving things, but my Dad's the expert. If he had any leeway into this, he'll know."
"And what, he'll just tell us?" Logan asks, "Because I didn't really think he seemed like the type to just give us information."
"Are you ready to put on your acting hat again?" Veronica asks, her blue eyes meeting Logan's brown ones.
"Oh no."
"Oh yes," Veronica shook her head, "If you pretend to be my new boyfriend, my Dad will be so focused on the fact that you're here that I'll be able to break into his super secret safe."
"Do you know the combination?" Logan asks, and Veronica laughs.
"Of course, but he's always on the look out. That's where you come in."
"Oh dear god," Logan shakes his head, "Okay, when are we going to do this?"
"Next weekend," Veronica yawns, "I'll also have to tell Piz in case my Dad calls him with info."
Logan shifts his car into gear and starts back towards the college. "Sounds like a plan."