Chapter Fifty-Eight

Alone for the time being, Veronica tried desperately to find some way to detach herself from the wall furnace or the cuffs or both. At first, it seemed impossible. She didn't want to risk loosening anything that could cause a gas leak. If she didn't manage to get completely free, she didn't want to accidentally blow herself up. But she was starting to get desperate. She'd heard the men talking about her and death in the same sentence. That could NOT be good. If it came down to it, would she rather die by their hand or die trying to get away?

Morbid, she thought to herself wryly. If she had her choice, how would she want to die? The image that flashed in her mind when she asked herself that supposedly rhetorical question surprised her and made her heart ache. When exactly had she become so sure that she wanted to spend the rest of her life sleeping beside Logan?

Because that was exactly the picture that came to mind when she thought of how she wanted to die: lying in bed, old and decrepit, with Logan wrapped around her like a safety blanket. Her breath caught in her throat as she choked back a sob.

"Awww, what's the matter?" one of the two men taunted as he walked in the door and caught her in her moment of vulnerability. "Don't worry, only one of us wants to kill you and it's not me."

Never one to allow for even a moment of looking weak, Veronica replied harshly, "That's NOT what I was sniveling about. I need to pee. And I'm hungry." Her tone changed to one that was almost flirtatious, "What's a girl gotta do to get something to eat around here?"

"Be rescued or let her man go down for murder. One of the two. Either will do," the voice returned pleasantly.

If Veronica had been wondering about the connection between her captors and Logan's case, she was curious no more. Her jaw clenched and her eyes went hard as steel as she sneered sharply, "No thanks. I'd rather die of gonorrhea or syphilis than let Logan take that rap. Nice try, though."

Hearing a 'tsk,tsk' sound as she watched the man shake his head, she prepared for what might come next. When he spoke, though, what he said surprised her and terrified her.

"That's just a shame. Such a feisty little thing. Might have to take some of that for myself before I let Freddy do you in."

A shiver went up her spine. She didn't know what to focus on first. Finally deciding to ignore the threat of sexual assault for now, she asked as calmly as she could, "Who's Freddy?"

"An old friend," came the arrogant reply. "To be honest, we would never have met if it hadn't been for you. Should I thank you or curse you? That's a tough call." His tone was conversational and she knew he was daring her to take a guess.

"Most people have that problem," she responded dryly, "I'd be more than happy to help you figure out which it should be if only I knew who you and your friend were."

"Nope," said the man easily, "You want to know, you need to guess."

He then heard an angry shout from outside the door and spun, saying over his shoulder, "I'd better go take care of that. You sit tight now, you hear?"

Veronica groaned, straining to hear the exchange going on outside. Moments later, the door slammed open and Sean Freidrich stood silhouetted in the morning light.

"At least try to act surprised, Veronica," Sean mocked coldly. "By the way, you won't be seeing HIM again so don't worry about figuring out who he was. Right now, all you have to worry about is how much your dad and boyfriend love you. Will they give up their own lives to save yours?"

"I hope not," she spat at him. "What the hell, Sean?! How did you even get mixed up in all this?"

He looked like he was considering something for a moment before saying, "Well, seeing as you're not likely to be sharing the tale anytime soon, it can't hurt to tell a little bit. Have to admit, it's nice to know I pulled one over on the infamous Veronica Mars. Skanky sleuthing bitch from hell."

"Love you, too," Veronica returned sarcastically.

"Regardless. Carrie was another skanky bitch. Manipulative whore. She deserved everything she got. Idiot asked for it. Literally asked for it. Is it my fault she got what she wanted?" Sean asked. Something in his tone, the way he spoke and moved reminded Veronica of Cassidy when he was talking to her on the roof of the Grand before stepping off to his death.

"No, it's not your fault," Veronica said with as much compassion as she could force into her words to make them sound sincere. If she could keep him talking, maybe neither of them would have to die.

"Don't patronize me, Veronica," Sean said scornfully, his beady eyes glaring at her.

"I'm not," Veronica replied, "I wouldn't dream of it. Not when my life is in your hands." Her tone was even and calm. She was having a hard time fearing him even though she knew she should. This was, after all, the same bastard who had tried to steal five grand from Weevil their junior year of high school. "So you've moved up in the world, is that it, Sean? Petty thief turned accidental murderer? I mean, come on. There's not a chance you intentionally killed her. Would take too much...work."

He twitched at her last word, last sentence really. She knew she had struck a nerve so she kept talking, hoping to get him to open up. Let her see a weakness.

"I bet this whole thing has been a pain in your ass, hasn't it?" she continued, "So what were you to her? Lou was her manager. Luke the financial advisor. So what does that leave for you?"

"Why should I tell you?" Sean sneered. He looked as if he were searching for something. She knew she needed to be careful. She didn't want to push him over the edge. If she did, he might actually harm her. She had a sinking feeling that Sean may have enjoyed taking someone's life with his own hands.

"I'm just making conversation here. You know, trying to piece things together. I just doubt you would have had anything to do with Carrie if there wasn't anything in it for you," Veronica stated.

Snorting, Sean shook his head, "You think you know everything, don't you, bitch?"

"No," Veronica returned, "I don't know why you went along with Carrie's plan."

"You wanna know why?" Sean fumed, stalking closer to her before continuing, "I'll tell you why! She paid me. A LOT. Under the table. I was her own personal paparazzi snitch. She wanted to be perceived a certain way? I made it happen. She wanted to meet someone, move in different circles? I found the way in."

A couple things started to shift in Veronica's head. She furrowed her brow before saying, "So the headlines...about her dating Logan, then about her being unfaithful...those were you?"

"Lines I fed the hyenas," Sean said with a dismissive wave, sounding almost impatient. She wondered why he didn't sound more pleased with his accomplishments.

"Not enough for you or something?" Veronica asked, close to having one of the grates from the furnace dislocated so she could try to free herself soon.

"No, not enough," he spat with fury, "Because it was never enough for her. She always wanted more, more, more, more. Selfish cow."

"Which meant you had to work harder than you cared to for your money, am I right?" Veronica queried, finally having one hand completely free.

Unexpectedly, he slapped her for that. The force of it nearly flung her freed hand into view. She gasped, shocked by the sting.

"Do NOT pretend to know me," Sean ground out.

There was a scuffling sound at the door that caught Sean's attention. "Don't go anywhere," he commanded with a cruel sneer.

"As if I could," she mumbled back in annoyance. But as soon as he was out the door, she was able to get her other hand free. It still left the cuffs in place behind her back but at least she could try to get away now. Soon, though, she began to smell gas coming from the furnace behind her. She closed her eyes and cursed to herself.

Scrambling to get up and away, Veronica was ready to charge against the door when it opened and the first man tried to step inside. Veronica hurdled herself toward him and tumbled them both out the door and into a dirt and gravel patio area.

Sean moved forward to grab her around the neck while the other man held her around the waist. They struggled for several minutes before Veronica managed to gasp out, "Boom goes the dynamite."

The cabin behind them exploded, thrusting the three forward, debris flying everywhere. Veronica hit her head against a rock and nearly blacked out. It was only by sheer force of will that she didn't. Sean was about six feet away from her with a splintered 2x4 sticking out of his left thigh. He was grappling with it and screaming when he saw her get up and try to scramble away.

"Get back here, bitch!" he called as she headed for the truck she saw around what had been the far side of the cabin. He stumbled forward and limped as fast as he could to try to catch her.

The other man was out cold. At least Veronica had that going for her, she thought to herself. If she could just make it to the truck…

The truck was too close to the flames, however, and she worried that it may become engulfed as well. Looking around frantically, Veronica turned as she heard what sounded like another vehicle pulling up the long and twisting drive.

"HELP!" she shouted just before Sean tackled her back to the ground.

He was choking her to the point that her vision was becoming blurry and she was seeing black spots around the edges. She heard someone shout in alarm but then there was nothing.

When she came to, she was on the floor inside the tool shed she'd caught a glimpse of behind what used to be the cabin. Or at least that's where she thought she was.

Sean's lifeless body was about 18 inches to her left and the mumbling, passed out form of the other man was against the wall to her right. The person who had saved her was nowhere to be seen. Looking toward Sean again, she couldn't help but think to herself, 'He's not dead. He can't be.'

Before she could figure out what to do next, the man who had apparently saved her from Sean entered the small building. It was Lou Cobbler.

Veronica glared at him and blurted coldly, "Thanks for saving me, Cobb. Mind taking me home now?"

"Sorry, Mars. Not yet," The muscular oaf stated. "You see, I can't let you go until Echolls goes down for Carrie's death. Oh, and your pal Weevil along with him."

"What?! Weevil? How did Weevil get involved in any of this?" Veronica asked incredulously.

"Oh, let's just say we planted some evidence with Sean's wallet that both made him the thief and showed that he and Carrie met up that night," Cobb explained, sounding pleased with himself. "All while showing that Sean was nowhere near the crime scene."

"So the stairwell, in the club, totally where she was killed?" Veronica asked, fascinated and sickened all at once.

"Yeah," Cobb grinned, "You see, originally it was supposed to be me who beat her up. She was going to claim that Logan did it and go public through a tabloid source Sean had ready and waiting." His smile faltered a moment as he shrugged, "I couldn't do it, though. She drove me insane but I loved that girl. Couldn't stand the thought of her being injured by my own hand. So she ordered Sean to do it."

Processing everything, Veronica shook her head, her mouth open slightly before saying quietly, "And Sean followed orders, especially when a large paycheck was involved."

Giving a single nod, Cobb's features briefly showed a shadowed, haunted look before mostly clearing again. Sounding bitter he said, "Lost his best damn paycheck when he choked out my girl."

"What'd you do?" Veronica asked, wishing she had some type of recording device on her. But no, no cell phone, no tracker, nothing.

"Only thing we could do!" he laughed hollowly, "Pinned it on the people we hated most."

"I get hating Logan," Veronica said, still trying to understand, "But why Weevil? What did he do?"

Lou snarled, his eyes hard as he said, "He did what we couldn't. He moved up the food chain."

The man who had been passed out, the one whom Veronica couldn't place, sat up and hissed, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?! You can't tell her everything! Now we will have to let Sean kill her!"

"Can't," Lou said evenly, "Sean's dead."

"Shit," the other man cursed beneath his breath before asking, "Did you bring Echolls' car? They've been analyzing the decoy, the idiots. We can still get out of this alive with everything pinned on him if we knock the girl out and dump her in the trunk with Sean's body. Stick it in neutral and shove it off a cliff somewhere along the PCH." He glanced at Veronica and smirked knowingly, "Poetic justice galore if we pick somewhere close to where that damn bus crashed. Just think of the publicity," he sneered.

Something with how he said the word publicity made things click in Veronica's head. Her eyes widened in recognition and she blurted out, "Norman Phipps!"

"In the flesh," Norman said, having risen sometime before so that now he was able to take a bow.

"How are you even in on this?" Veronica asked in bewilderment.

"Hmm, well, I wouldn't tell you," Norman smirked, "But you're already dead so I might as well. Sean there caught Logan outing me on Larry King. Poor sap contacted me for an easy in to the scandal industry. I took a hit with that story but I wasn't out of the game. Publicity stunts had become my thing. They were easy and paid handsomely. I was flattered that Sean had looked me up so I hooked him up. He called me when things went wrong with Carrie. He and Lou were panicking so I set them up with a set up. Then you showed up and had to ruin it. And not for the first time, I might add."

"So I'm dead because I outed you as a fake nine years ago?" Veronica asked incredulously.

"No, you're dead because you're a pain in the ass," Norman returned while Lou snickered in agreement. "Come on, Lou, let's get them in the trunk."