LUCK HAS NOTHING

3: Knowledge is Power

I let Trina sleep on my couch that night. She didn't want to leave, to go to a hotel, she definitely wouldn't go back home... staying with me was the only option.

In the morning, I was surprised to hear more banging on my door. Whoever was there was loud and impatient; I winced as I walked over and opened it for them. I found myself face to face with Jordan Hayes, wearing a rather vicious black eye. Probably should have seen that one coming.

"Is Trina here?" he asked, not waiting for an answer, or for me to invite him in. He barged through me, and I took a moment to see that, for whatever reason, he had dragged his little brother along with him. Mercer looked at him exasperatedly, then turned to me and gave an "I don't get it either" smile.

"Trina?" Jordan called out. "Are you here?"

The aforementioned raised herself to look at her boyfriend, bruises somehow looking even worse in the morning light. "Jordan?" she asked, and they quickly ran into a hug. He pulled back over a few seconds and asked. "I got your call. Took me forever to figure out where you'd go."

"He kept me up all that," chimed in Mercer with a tinge of irritation. Then he paused and blinked. "Wow. There's a sentence that can be taken a few ways."

"Mercer-" Jordan warned in that tone that told me Jordan got annoyed with the Littlest Hayes a lot.

"Just saying," Mercer concluded and I smiled. Trina turned back to Jordan, and looked at his black eye.

"What you heard... You went after him, didn't you?"

"That's also a sentence that can be taken a few ways," I murmured, and Trina and Jordan both looked at me with a patented sibling "Shut up, asshole" look.

Mercer nodded. "I'm a bad influence."

Trina sighed, and turned back to Jordan. "You're an idiot, you know that? What is Dad had, I don't know, hurt you badly?" she asked.

"Like he hurt you?" he said, gently caressing her bruises. She looked down. "It doesn't matter. Besides, I thought you'd like the whole knight in shining armor thing."

"Knights in shining armor don't get beat up," she replied, smiling.

"So was there any point to this expedition of ours?" interrupted Mercer. You good practically hear a record scratching.

"Wow," I said. "You love this killing the mood thing, don't you?"

He shrugged. "It's a hobby."

Jordan wore that long-suffering look again. "Well, I wanted to make sure my girlfriend didn't get beaten to death. Sorry."

"So why'd you drag me here?" he asked. It was a valid question.

Jordan shrugged. "I don't really know. Seems like a good idea when it's 2 AM and and you haven't slept at all, and you're stressed out of your mind trying to find your girlfriend and figure out what happened to her."

"Cute," said Mercer. "God, you make me gag."

"Would that make you shut up?"

"Probably not."

I just stood there for a bit, waiting. "So... are you people going to do anything while you're here, or is this just pointless?"

Trina smacked me on the arm. "You don't like it, you can leave."

"It is my apartment."

"Only 'cause Dad is paying for it."

"Because he's such a swell, stand-up guy?"

She flinched, and I felt a little guilty. Jordan winced a little bit as well, but Mercer just looked bored. There was an awkward silence as I weighed up what on Earth I could say after that.

Mercer beat me to it. "Okay, whatever. Can we go? I haven't slept for just under a day; I'm gonna start hitting things soon."

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever," he said, and bent down to kiss Trina on the lips. "I'll call you, okay? Be safe."

"You too," she replied with saccharine sweetness. Mercer and I shared eye-rolls.

Then the Hayes left, and Trina and I were alone in my apartment. I heard the sound of a car, and decided that there was no use putting it off – I had something to do.

"Where are you going?" asked Trina as I grabbed for my stuff and car keys.

"Out."

Mars Investigations. It had been a while since I was there. After Duncan died, but before Veronica disappeared, I spent a lot of time there – Veronica was, after all, the only friend I had left. Former Sheriff Mars had been one of the only people to believe me about my father; I appreciated and respected him for that. Lianne turned to drinking during the whole investigation, but she was always sweet – I had grown up with a drunk mom myself, after all.

However, after the Mars women vanished, Keith and I didn't see each other much. The major reason I ran into him – Veronica – was gone, and dealing with each other became a little bit painful. Plus, there was that "I slept with your daughter" awkwardness.

But now, I needed to talk to him. I entered the office to see – surprisingly – a girl I knew sitting at the desk.

"Carrie Bishop?" I asked, dubious and amused tone in my voice. "What are you doing here?"

"It's called a job, Logan," she said snootily. "It's what you do when your parents don't pay for every little thing, however undeserving you may be."

My palm clenched, but I forced my trademark sardonic grin to the surface anyway. "Of course. You're a starving peasant child; you're parents could never afford to care for you properly," she and I both knew her father was second-in-command at Kane Software; they were millionaires.

"My parents are big on the responsibility thing."

"Ah," I said, then paused. "Anyway, I need to see Mr. Mars?"

"Go right on in," she replied, and I did so. Keith blinked a few times when he saw me, almost disbelieving.

"Logan?"

I smirked. "What, you were expecting Sidney Poitier?"

He shook his head and laughed a little. "No... it's just..."

"We both went all Chuck Cunningham to each other, I know," I said, dancing around the issue.

"So... what can I do for you, Logan?"

So much for dancing around the issue.

I sighed. "It's... it's about Duncan," we both paused.

"What about him?" Keith asked, keeping his voice distinctly flat.

"I was hoping you'd tell me that."

"Logan-"

"Don't," I warned, not even that sure what he was going to say. "I need to know more about the case. What happened. No-one knows the full story; the killer's still at large."

"Logan, it's ugly," said Keith, sounding defeated. "You have been through more than one kid your age... or anyone ever... could possibly need to go through. I want thoughts of Duncan's murder out of your head; I'm not going to pour more in."

"Well that's sweet, and parental-substitute-like, but it doesn't really work that way. Look, we both think Aaron did it. The whole of Neptune thinks Veronica did it, and we both know that's just crazy," I said, and I saw Keith's hand grip a little firmer on the desk. "The bastard should pay."

Keith looked quizzical. "Why are you asking me this now? Why not when I was investigating, after Lianne and Veronica vanished, just earlier?"

I sighed. "Trina. She tried to fleece Aaron, 'cause she's an idiot... He found out. She's sheltering with me right now; she's bruised like..." I trailed off. Keith looked sympathetic.

"I'm sorry, Logan."

"Look; Duncan was killed with that weird poison... can't remember its name. Delayed onset, rapid death; it's rare, expensive and near impossible to get legally. So this meant that whoever killed him would need to be rich just to get it, right?"

"Probably."

"Look, Keith," I said. "What made you think Aaron had done it? I told you about what he did to me, and I still think he did it, but... what's the direct connection there?"

He shrugged. "None really, but it seems a logical connection: man with a history of violence, boy he sort of knew found dead on his property... That can't be a coincidence."

"But why?" I asked. "What motive would my dad have to kill Duncan?"

"You said Duncan knew about the abuse," said Keith. "You sure he wouldn't try and pull something off, try to help you?"

"If he was going to..." I wanted to say that if he was going to do something about my abuse, he would have told me. But somehow I wasn't so sure. For a couple of weeks before he died, Duncan was acting pretty weird – secretive. He wouldn't tell me what was going on. I thought he'd get over it and tell me eventually; that was just what we did with secrets. But then he died, so that plan was kind of screwed.

"Logan?" Keith jolted me back to reality.

"Sorry, just... I don't think he would have done something about... that, without telling me," I explained. "Then again, he could have just been going to tell me... Didn't get time..."

I remembered the week before Duncan died.

"Okay, dude. The moodiness, the avoidingness, the barely talking... what's going on?" I asked, hint of actual concern under a flippant tone.

Duncan tried to brush it off with a laugh, but it came out seeming fake. "Nothing's going on. Just your paranoid dedication to annoying me."

"I know you. DK, you are not telling me something. You make BFFL Logan cry," I said with a mocking pout. Duncan rolled his eyes at me.

"If there was something going on, I'd tell you."

"Well, yeah; but not for months and until after you'd suffered a major nervous breakdown. You're a douche that way."

What was he not telling me?

"I don't think he was being Mr. Honest '03 before he died," I said.

"Well, I remember the statements we got from the rest of the Kanes – I think this was... secret fun, for the whole family."

I cocked an eyebrow.

"They were evasive," Keith elaborated. "Particularly Lilly. I knew they weren't telling me everything they knew..."

"Well, Lilly's about the only person in Neptune, bar us, who didn't wind up believing Veronica killed him," I said. "Maybe she had a bit more of a clue about what happened?"

Keith sighed. "Maybe. I'm not sure of much, Logan; if you came here looking for a special sudden insight..."

"I know. I just... Needed someone to tell me something. I've been waiting all my life to make this son of a bitch pay for some of the shit he wrought; I need to do something about it now."

"Logan-" Keith hesitated part way through his sentence. "What if Aaron didn't do it? Violent nature, on his property, possible motive... This is all pretty circumstantial."

"I know," I said. "I kind of hope it was him, mostly because I don't want the whole world treating me like and ungrateful attention-whoring piece of shit for the rest of ever. That probably makes me selfish, but whatever. But even if it wasn't him, whoever it was is still out there. I'd kind of like to shred them into thins strips and feed them to wild dogs."

Keith looked understanding as I stood up and headed for the door. "I'll see you, Logan," he said.

I turned back to him for a second. "Have you... You know, heard anything from Veronica?"

He winced and shook his head. "No. If I had, Logan, you know I would have told you."

I shrugged. "Yeah. Wasn't expecting you to know anything; last ditch effort, really. See you."

And I left.

"Listen up, patriots," Mrs. Murphy was droning to a bored looking audience, including me. "This week is Woody Goodman's Freedom Essay Writing Competition; and you are all required to place an entry. The winner receives a one week internship at the mayor's office – which means an opportunity to learn about civic affairs, a plum entry on any college applications, and – the only one I think this class will be interested in – the opportunity to stand on live TV and push the plunger for the demolition of old Shark Field Stadium."

Nuke the stadium? I'd admit, it sounded cool. Not that I'd ever write well enough to win, but still. Cool.

I looked around the class, and realized – I didn't actually have to win. I could just crib by essay off a movie or some shit; Easy Rider had a lot of good stuff on freedom. No-one'd actually notice.

Entry for college application (to get me out of this town), blowing shit up, week out of this hellhole school – what could possibly go wrong?

I was an idiot.

I "worked" (ie. tried to make my stealing seem plausible) for a while, until it was done. The day they announced the winner eventually happened, and Mrs. Murphy stood before us with a smile.

"Okay, the big day has finally arrived. And the winner, of Woody Goodman's Freedom Essay Writing competition is... Logan Echolls!"

I saw the people around me glare – what right did I have to win something? I just smirked. "Did somebody say my name?"

The actual English class went on after that, although people were still glaring at me like I had no right to win. Which i kind of didn't, given I cheated, but they didn't know that.

The bell rang and I heard people laughing at me – like that was news. I wound up confronted by (unsurprisingly) Dick Casablancas, with little brother Beaver (long story; poor guy) by his side.

"So, great. They want to put you with another rich guy people like. Let's see how long it'll take you to try and wreck his reputation for no good reason this time?" Dick said. I raised an eyebrow.

"Was that... meant to be a joke?" I asked. I saw the color starting to drain from Beaver's face.

Dick snorted. "Well, after the shit you said about your dad, you'll have to work pretty hard to make this one better. Hmm, let's think. Well, you could say he touched you a different way to Daddy Dear-"

"Dick!" exclaimed Beaver, in a distinctly clipped tone. A little bit of nausea swelled in my stomach – my thoughts traveled back to Shelley's party, no matter how hard I wished them not to. "Leave him alone, okay?" said Beaver, avoiding my eyes.

Dick looked annoyed. "Dude, it's just a joke," he said.

Beaver tugged him by the sleeve a little. "Come on man, let's just go."

Dick gave an exaggerated shrug, and they left. Beaver didn't look back at me as they walked away.