Chapter 12: Danger

"Lilly! What the hell is going on? You ruined my date with Veronica!" Logan stomped into the hospital room, and Lilly rolled her eyes.

"Whatever Logan, you'll have plenty more, I'm sure." Lilly snapped. Weevil looked from one to the other, and breathed a sigh of relief when Veronica entered.

"Here." Weevil thrust the date-ruining note at Veronica. Veronica grabbed it quickly, and scanned it.

Dear Lilly Kane,

I hear you've got some "good news". I wish congratulations could be in order, but I'm afraid it won't be working out in a fairy-tale ending sort of way. You won't be having that baby, one way or another. Believe me, all your little friends will be standing over your gravestone before they're welcoming your bastard child into the world. I'm sorry to do this too you, but it's for your own protection. You do not want to be on Aaron Echolls's bad side.

My Sincerest Apologies,

A Concerned Friend

"Oh my god. Did you see who left it?" Veronica asked, concern coloring her voice. Lilly shook her head, tears filling her eyes again.

"Let me read it." Logan pulled the note from Veronica and read it. His face slowly drained of color, and he handed it wordlessly to Duncan. Duncan let out a roar of primal rage at the words on the lined-piece of paper. Veronica patted his shoulder gently in an effort to calm him, and it worked nearly immediately.

"You're the damn sleuth here Veronica. Who did it?" Weevil demanded, and Veronica shook her head.

"I may be smart Weevil, and the sheriff's daughter, but that doesn't mean I automatically can come up with a perpetrator. Where's my suspect list anyways?" Veronica searched and Lilly handed it to her.

"Okay, I'm going to go through every suspect. If they've got an alibi that you know of, tell me, and I'll cross them off. The person attempting to kill your baby obviously did this." Veronica instructed, and everyone nodded.

"Aaron Echolls." Veronica recited.

"No alibi. He's a definite possibility." Logan filled in, and Lilly nodded in complete agreement.

"Logan, but he was on a date with me. It couldn't have been Logan." Veronica crossed Logan off the list without questions from anyone.

"Duncan Kane." Veronica recited. The room was silent as everyone turned to look at Duncan.

"Um, hello? You all saw me get into a taxi. And you just picked me up at my house, I would not have had time to run home and look all surprised at your arrival. Plus, did you miss the roar of rage?" Duncan defended himself, and everyone consented to the fact that it was impossible for Duncan to have completed the task.

"Celeste Kane." Veronica read.

"She could've. She wasn't home when I got home, and she didn't ever arrive while I was there." Duncan admitted grudgingly. It pained him to submit his own mother as a suspect, but the proof was there in black and white.

"Jake Kane." Veronica read. She began to cross him off, but Duncan stopped her.

"Why are you crossing him off?" Duncan asked. Veronica gave him a look like he was a complete moron.

"He was home when we picked you up." Veronica reminded him, her voice dripping with that "duh" quality.

"No, but he'd like, just gotten there. It's possible he made it here and back in the time that you two were on your date." Duncan said the word date bitterly, and a little sarcastically, as though he believed Logan and Veronica weren't really a couple.

"Fine. Whatever. PCHers." Veronica changed the subject.

"No way, man. That handwriting is way too neat to come from my boys. And I mean, they signed it "my sincerest apologies". Not exactly gang-talk." Weevil explained. Veronica nodded in agreement, as she hadn't even been truly considering the PCHers a possibility.

"Lynn Echolls." Veronica watched out of the corner of her eye as Logan winced when his mother's name was mentioned. She waited for an alibi, but received total silence.

"Don't cross her off." Logan whispered from his corner of the room. No one else was willing to discuss it further, so they let the whole thing slide.

"Clarence Weidman." Veronica asked.

"Oh, yeah. Like, suspect number one. Or two, I guess." Duncan exclaimed. He'd only changed him to suspect number two after everyone had shot him a look, reminding him of the Aaron Echolls situation.

"Trina Echolls." Veronica said.

"Honestly, I don't think Trina's a possibility. She can't even know about the pregnancy yet. Plus, I think she's in L.A. trying to book some sort of movie gig." Logan explained. Veronica nodded, and looked back over her list.

"Okay. So, suspects have been narrowed down to Aaron, Celeste, Jake, Lynn, or Clarence Weidman." Veronica informed the group. Lilly looked at Logan before opening her mouth to speak.

"Cross off Aaron and Lynn." She commanded. Everyone shot her a look of shock.

"Lilly…that's insane." Logan told her honestly. She sighed.

"It says in the note whoever it is wants to protect me from Aaron. Why would Aaron or Lynn want to protect me?" Lilly questioned the group.

"Lilly, the note also says this person is willing to kill you to keep that baby from being born. Would your mother or father be willing to go that far? Or be willing to hire someone to go that far?" Veronica reminded her gently. Lilly shrugged.

"Maybe they don't know about the note. Or maybe they're just exaggerating. I just don't think it's Aaron, at the least. And Lynn seems like a slim possibility." Lilly concluded. Veronica sighed, but crossed Aaron's name off her list, and put a question mark by Lynn's.

"Don't go investigating them either, Veronica. Client's orders." Lilly warned, and Weevil nodded in agreement.

"Fine, fine. I'll only go over there for pleasurable activities, no work involved." Veronica said, with a wink in Logan's direction. He grinned, and Lilly faked gagging.

"Go back to your date, before I puke up my dinner. I'm eating for two now, you know." Lilly told them. They laughed, and walked from the room, hand in hand.

"Coming, Duncan?" Veronica called.

"No. I'm gonna stay here for awhile, I'll have someone pick me up later." Duncan promised. Veronica shrugged, and Logan's grin grew wider. Only Weevil and Lilly seemed still concerned by the tone and threats of the note. And they hadn't even seen the second note, which was still waiting under Weevil's chair, it's threats and promises unseen by anyone but the person who'd written them.