Ta daaaa! Third chapter! This one's got a bit more... length, and also a bit more umph in it. Well, sort of. Hope you like it!

-insert brief disclaimer about ownership of Veronica Mars characters-

I've come up with something for the story, that's going in a completely different direction than I first planned when writing this chapter. Something that may end up being pretty dark...

You'll see what I mean as the chapters keep coming.

Rating: For this chapter? Umm... T, probably.

Logan frowned angrily as the ringing stopped mid-ring. It seemed her phone had been turned off… That was strange. Or it ran out of battery as he was calling… "Damn it…" Logan murmured, putting his hands to his head. She'd probably gone after the stupid girl herself. Honestly, who was stupid enough to leave their drink unattended at a party after all of the rapes at the school?

In Logan's opinion that dumb girl deserved what she got.

Just as long as whatever was going on didn't drag Veronica into… it…

"God damn it, where the fuck is Piz?" Logan shouted, shoved his phone in his pocket.

"Dude, he'll be back. Just chill. I'm sure Veronica is fine. She knows how to handle herself." Wallace said, giving Logan a manly couple of pats on the shoulder. Logan knew Veronica could handle herself, but the fact was, she could be in danger.

There was always that off chance that Veronica couldn't handle herself. If Logan just sat back, thinking, 'Ah, Veronica's fine. She can take care of herself,' and something happened, he would never forgive himself.

His eyes scanned the massive crowd of students standing down in front of the stage, yelling, singing, screaming, swaying, dancing, retching… Lots of –ing words. Then he spotted Piz. He was trying to maneuver his way back to Logan and Wallace, and was having some trouble.

Once Piz saw that Logan was looking at him, he stuffed his hands in his pocket nervously, and shrugged.

That punk had the nerve to come back here and shrug?

Logan grit his teeth together, his hands balling into fists. He had never liked Piz, and this just proved how irresponsible and stupid he was. Logan and Wallace had left, leaving Piz with Veronica. When there are guys going around drugging and raping girls, you don't leave a girl by herself!

COMMON SENSE!

"Okay, come on, guys." Wallace said, putting an arm in front of Logan and an arm in front of the advancing Piz. Piz looked from Wallace to Logan apologetically, and opened his mouth, probably to apologize, when Logan cut him off.

"I don't want to hear your excuses. You fucked up big time. And if Veronica gets hurt, I'm going to beat your ass into the ground." Logan growled, glaring at Piz. Piz didn't say anything. Good.

"Let's see if we can find her. Piz, I want you to go find the safe driver people. Ask them if they gave Veronica a ride and where if they did. Can you handle that?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, yeah I can do that." Piz said, hurrying off in that direction. Stopping, Piz turned around. "Wait, a bit after you guys left, Veronica asked the crowed if they'd seen the girl you were looking for. She asked after the band played, and waited by the stage. You can try that if you want." After saying that, he turned back around again and left.

"Wallace, ask around. See if you can find out anything. Ask people who know her, ask people you know, give a description. I'm gonna try the stage."

Logan and Wallace headed off in two different directions. Logan waited until the song was over, and ran up on stage, grabbing the microphone. "All right, uh, round of applause for those guys!" He said, not much of a public speaker. "Have any of you seen Veronica Mars? She was here asking about a girl a while ago, and she stood in front of this stage for a while… Um, if you've heard of anything, let me know. I'll be in front of the stage for a little while."

A real little while… Logan thought, scanning the crowd. Most all these people were drunk. They weren't going to be much help to him. Still, it didn't hurt to try…

"Look, I don't care if you have another case that you're working on. My daughter is in trouble. She called me from her cell phone, and asked for help when some doors opened and men's voices were saying something about finding her and to take the phone from her. The phone went dead after that." Keith leaned over the sheriff's desk, glaring down at Lamb angrily.

"Did you try tracking her cell phone?" Lamb asked, leaning back in his chair almost boredly, looking at Keith as if he were just a bug he wanted to crush under his shoes.

"I did, and I got as far as tracking it to the college before the phone went dead."

"So it ran out of batteries?"

"Either that, or someone turned it off."

Lamb laced his fingers together, resting his chin on top of them, his eyes running over the length of his desk before returning to Mr. Mars. "Look, Mr. Mars, Veronica has gotten into trouble many times before, and obviously has a very easy time of slipping out of it. I'm sure she's fine. As I said before, I have a case that I'm working on. So, if you'll please leave my office-"

"LAMB, I do NOT have time for this! Veronica would not call me for help unless she needed it! Her voice sounded strange on the phone, shaky, scared, and sort of slow and slurred too. There may be drugs involved. Please, please get some of your men to search the college. I don't have the authority."

Lamb looked annoyed. Keith knew that Lamb would throw Keith out of his office if Keith gave him any smidgen of a reason. Lamb might even throw him out for yelling. After a few agonizing minutes, Lamb nodded slowly.

"We'll send a few officers. Not many, because the case is important, but I'll let go of a few. If you're wrong about this Keith, don't expect my help in dealings with your daughter. She already causes me enough trouble."

Keith let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and his whole body relaxed. He looked up at Lamb, and smiled gratefully. "Thank you, sheriff."

"Hey, uh, you were looking for a Veronica girl, right?"

Logan's attention snapped up to the girl in front of him, and he nodded quickly. "Yes, I am. Do you know anything?" Please let her know something, please let her know something…

"Yeah, she was here looking for someone earlier. One of my friends told her that the girl she was looking for, the one she thought was drugged or in trouble or something, wasn't actually here. It was her younger sister, using her older sister's ID to get booze. I can give you the building name that my friend told Veronica, if you need it."

Logan put his hands on the girl's shoulders, squeezing them thankfully. "Yes, yes I do need it. Thank you."

After a few minutes, Logan had all the information he needed. He thanked the girl, and pushed his way through the crowd. He spotted Wallace on the way, and shouted to him. "Wallace, I think I know where she is! We had the wrong building! Hurry up!" He didn't really feel the need to include Wallace. Logan could take care of whatever was going on, but it was always good to bring backup.

"What about Piz?" Wallace asked, as Logan came closer.

"We don't need him. It'd take too much time to find him, and I'm not sure we can waste any more time than we already have."

Wallace nodded, pulling out his phone, running with Logan to the parking lot. Dialing Piz's number, he put the phone to his ear. "Piz, we think we know where Veronica is. You stay at the party in case she shows up."

"Dude, I'm coming with you!"

"Piz, just-"

Before Wallace could finish, Logan grabbed the phone from him and shut it, climbing into the car. "We don't have time, man." After Wallace got in the car, Logan quickly put it in drive, and drove out of the parking lot.

The end! I hope you liked it!

I'm enjoying writing this story MUCH more than most of my other ones, actually!

I think it's all the amazing feedback. ;)

Thanks to all of you who reviewed for the past two chapters! You guys give me the incentive I need to get excited about this story. ::hugs all reviewers::

Thanks for reading, and Review, review, review!