warning: Aaron Echolls. I think that's all I really have to say…Also sorry for the short chapter, but I think it's going to be fine
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"Why would Lily have tapes in there?" Duncan asks, peering over her shoulder at the small plastic objects she has clutched in her hand. Veronica looks down at the stack of letters, and then back at the tapes.
"Do you have a tape player?" Veronica asks, and Duncan nods.
"Lily has one in here," he says, and holds out his hand. Veronica hands him the tapes, and watches as he inserts them into the small TV.
The picture fades into view slowly, the picture full of static. It slowly fades into clarity, and she hears Duncan suck in a breath. She doesn't blame him – they're seeing Lily Kane hours before she was murdered.
"Is that Logan's pool house?" this is the part Veronica's more interested in, and she steps closer to the television. She and Logan had been in that room in the last few weeks, if only to play some video games on the nice TV. They hadn't been lying directly on the bed…
Lily Kane is. She's sprawled against the sheets, her blonde hair spread out, her eyes staring playfully at the ceiling. "Come on lover!" she calls impatiently, her voice bright. Was she with Logan?
Lily Kane looks up at the ceiling, her eyes suddenly curious and excited. She stands up on the bed, her hands reaching to brush against the surface of the camera. "You naughty boy," she whispers.
"I'm going to kill Logan," Duncan growls, but Veronica's hand shoots out and grasps his wrist before he can move.
"Let's go a little further back in time," she says, and Duncan obliges, smashing his finger against the remote and fast-forwarding back a couple days. He stops the picture just at the shot of Lily, arching up, and the very obvious sounds of sex.
"Oh god," Duncan whispers, mortified, and covers his face with his hands.
Please don't be Logan, Veronica begged silently, she wasn't sure if she would be able to face him after that. Lily Kane rolls over, and her lover came into view. Duncan presses pause, and Veronica's mouth drops open.
Aaron Echolls is plainly in view, and Veronica suddenly feels like she's going to be sick. Her brain is putting together the facts though, sliding them together like puzzle pieces.
"I know what happened," she whispers, "Aaron killed Lily."
"Aaron Echolls?" Duncan looks incredulous.
"If Lily found these tapes – if they got leaked, Aaron's career would be over."
"But Aaron Echolls isn't violent –" Duncan protests, and Veronica whirls on him, her anger rising.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" she asks him honestly, "Haven't you seen the scars on Logan's back?" she knows that Logan should probably be the one to tell Duncan this – but she's so angry now. So angry at Duncan fucking Kane, who obviously thinks his former best friend is crazy.
"Those are from Aaron?" Duncan looks stunned, and Veronica impatiently tears the tape out of the TV.
"I've got to get these to the police station as soon as possible," Veronica says, "Listen, I need to borrow your car."
"Can I come with you?"
"No."
Veronica doesn't let him protest, she takes his car keys out of his pocket and marches out the door.
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Once inside the car, Veronica pulls out her phone and dials Logan's number. It rings and rings, and finally he picks up.
"Sorry, I fell asleep in the diner," he says, "What's up?"
"Aaron killed Lily," she says without pause, "She had tapes of them having sex –you know what he will do to keep his career intact. He killed her because he didn't know where the tapes were, I have them right now."
"You do?" Logan demands, and there is a frantic edge to his voice. "Where are you Veronica? If Aaron finds out you have these-"
"I'm heading towards the police station in Duncan's –"
That's when she spots the person sitting in her backseat.
"I would hang up the phone if I were you," Aaron says slowly, and Veronica drops it onto her lap. Aaron climbs into the front seat, and takes her phone and chucks it out the window. "I'm guessing you were talking to my son?" he sneers.
"You stay away from him," Veronica warns, and Aaron grins wolfishly.
"I don't know who you think you are little girl," he snarls, "But I don't think you or my son is going to survive the night."
Veronica doesn't hesitate. She jerks the wheel to the right, sending the car shooting towards a row of trees, headlights flashing. She reaches for her door handle and just manages to yank it open and tumble out before the car hits the trees. She hits the dirt with a thud, her eyes seeing stars as her head cracks against a rock. Still, she's conscious.
Her limbs are heavy, her entire body twitching in pain. She slowly places her hands in front of her, propping her knees up and shoving herself to her feet. Her head spins and she turns and vomits – her stomach a roiling mess. The tapes, she remembers distantly, I still need the tapes.
Her feet stumble towards the car, and she grabs for her bag, sliding it out of the car and over her shoulder. Aaron is slumped over, but he's twitching. He's alive. Veronica starts to stumble back towards the road, she needs to get out of here before he regains consciousness. She needs to get out of here before he can hurt Logan anymore.
Of course, now she no longer has a phone, which could prove potentially problematic. Still, she speeds up her pace, walking quicker and quicker down the road. She needs to get out of here now.
Everything seems dark, and something inside her is slowly breaking as silent tears slip down her cheeks in a panic. She had promised herself after Kyle that she wouldn't get involved in anymore things like this, and yet here she was – running down the road to get away from a psychopath.
Or is she running? Everything seems blurry and her legs aren't moving as fast as she wants them to.
"Oh Veronica!" she can hear Aaron Echolls call out, and fear spirals through her. Reaching into her pocket, she tosses one of the tapes into the forest, and shoves the other two down a tree trunk that's fallen adjacent to the road. No matter what, she can't let him find them.
She tries to move quicker, but dizziness overcomes her and she falls to her knees, retching. Why is she even still trying? It's not like she's going to make it out of this one – she's in close proximity with a murderer.
Logan's face hovers to her mind suddenly, looking at her with one of his genuine smiles, the corner of his mouth lifting up, his brown eyes staring down at her. I have to keep going, she promises herself, dragging herself to her knees. She needs to keep fighting, for Logan. He can't lose someone else.
"There you are Ms. Mars," Aaron's voice is right behind her now, but it sounds off somehow – maybe his brain was fuzzy too from the crash? It doesn't stop his hands from grabbing her hair at it's roots, and ripping it brutally upwards.
Her legs are pinned underneath her, and with the other hand Aaron Echolls grasps both her wrists.
She's trapped.
"Now," he hisses into her ear, "Where are the tapes?"