Octavia had called the teenagers' parents over to her house to discuss the latest news. For Archie and Veronica, especially, it was time to face up to what they had done.

"You did what?" Fred fumed when the two were done telling them what happened.

"We had to make sure FP wasn't involved in Jason's murder," Archie defended himself.

"And now we know the truth. He was," Alice said.

"What? Mom, no. We just told you," Betty said.

"The gun was planted," Archie chimed in.

"By whoever killed Jason," Veronica added.

"Couldn't you have just missed it?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, excuse me if I trust the detection skills of an officer of the law over three amateur sleuths," Alice snarked.

Dot couldn't help but feel annoyed over the petty attempt to cover up her tracks. She was the one who started this whole mess after all.

"Mom, you're the one who asked Veronica to break in!" Betty said.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked outraged.

"What!" Mary added just as angry.

"Alice?" Fred finally asked.

"Actually, I approached Mrs. Cooper. I had to know if FP was involved, and if he was connected to my dad," Veronica told them in defense of Alice.

"A gun was found. FP is the killer. Case closed. We're leaving," Hermione demanded as she tried to grab Veronica and leave.

"There was no gun!" Archie and Dot yelled simultaneously. It was the first time the girl had spoken up since the other parents had arrived.

"Guys, this isn't petty theft or a bar fight we're talking about. This is murder," Fred reminded them.

"Fred, listen I really don't think he did it either. FP might be involved in some shady business, but murder? This all seems way too convenient," Octavia chimed in.

"O, you out of all people should know that this isn't some thriller with a giant twist coming up. This is real life and FP has done a lot of other illegal crap before," Fred reminded his old friend.

"Okay, fine. Then we'll go to the sheriff without you," Archie interrupted.

"Archie, you entered FP's residence illegally. So whatever you did or did not find there would be inadmissible in a court of law," Mary informed him.

"I don't care what happens to me," Archie declared. Dot did. Even if she was disappointed in him and Veronica he didn't want them to be prosecuted.

"I do care. FP may have ruined Jughead's life, I'm not gonna let him ruin yours," Fred said.

"Come on, Ronnie. We're going home," Hermione repeated, much sterner than before. They left without another word.

"You too, Betty. Let's go," Alice demanded. They too didn't say another word.

"Let's go, Archie. I don't want to keep Dot and her mom up any longer," Fred said as he got ready to leave.

"It was nice seeing you again, even under these circumstances," Mary said as she hugged Octavia goodbye.

"Goodnight," Octavia said as the three left the house.

Dot sighed. "Mom, he didn't do this. I don't believe it."

"I know," Octavia said. "But right now we can't do anything. So get changed and go to bed."

Going to bed seemed like an undoable task. She still didn't know where Jug was, but she went to her room, changed out of her dress anyway, and tried to fall asleep. She could have slapped herself when she recalled the only place Jughead could possibly be at. She grabbed her phone as she put on some clothes. "Kippi? Meet me at Pop's immediately."

"Of course, he would be here. The first thing he'd do is try and get out of town. Naturally, the bus station is closed. So where would he go to spend the night?" Dot asked Kippi as they got out of her car.

Though Kippi was already well aware of the answer. "Pop's of course. The only sanctuary he has left in town."

"Exactly," Dot said as they pushed through the door.

And sure enough, Jug was sitting in a booth by himself. Dot slowly sat down next to him. "Hey, Jug."

Kippi propped herself up on the seat behind him. "Hey," he greeted, lost in his thoughts.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Dot said.

He waved sarcastically. "Well, you found me."

"Yeah and we have news," Kippi said.

"What kind of news?"

"Jug, your dad didn't kill Jason," Dot declared.

"Pretty sure he was just arrested for it though," Jug snarked.

Dot grabbed his hand, sighing. "Listen to me, Jug. When Archie and Veronica were in your dad's trailer, they did not find that gun. Somebody planted it there, no doubt about it."

He turned his head towards the two. "What do you mean?"

"We mean, there was no gun in your dad's trailer, so somebody must have planted it there," Dot exposited.

"The same person that killed Jason Blossom," Kippi added. Jug sighed.

"We need to talk to the Sheriff. Right now," Dot demanded.

"Yeah, come on," Kippi said, lightly hitting Jughead's shoulder.

Ten minutes later, the three kids rushed into the Sheriff's station, ready to bail FP out of jail. They didn't know he was about to make it infinitely harder on them. They ran up to the reception. "We need to talk to Sheriff Keller immediately," Dot said. Just then, the man in question walked up to them. "Sheriff Keller, there's been a huge misunderstanding."

"FP Jones didn't kill Jason Blossom. Somebody else put that gun in his trailer," Kippi added.

"So why did he just confess?" Keller asked. Behind him, two officers led FP away. This was too much to process. Why would FP confess? He didn't do it. Or did he? The Sheriff walked away.

"Oh Jug, I'm so sorry.," Dot said.

"This doesn't make sense," Kippi claimed.

"Let it be, Kip," Jug said. "Let's go."

"You can sleep at my place if you want to." Dot offered.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks," Jug mumbled. He seemed to be frozen in place. Dot almost had to drag him out, but eventually, they left the Sheriff's station to go home.

The mood in school was tense the next day. Dot and Octavia had convinced Jug to stay home, so he wouldn't cross paths with Cheryl. Who knew what she would have done? The debate about FP's guilt carried on well into lunch.

Betty read over the article describing FP's arrest once more. "The police report said FP worked alone."

"No mention of your dad, Ronnie. That's good news, right?" Archie asked.

"I can't stop thinking that maybe my dad hired another Serpent to plant that gun," Veronica said.

"Well, what if he didn't? What if we exclude your dad for now? I still think it was the Blossoms themselves. There is something extremely shady going on at Thornhill, I'm sure of it," Kippi suggested.

"It's surreal, isn't it? How's Jughead doing?" Kevin asked as he sat down at the table.

"Not great, obviously. He's not coming to School today," Dot replied.

"He's at the station," Archie said.

"Being grilled by your dad," Veronica sassed.

"Who's just doing his job. I mean, of course, he's gonna ask Jughead questions," Kevin said in his father's defense. Dot knew he was right. Sheriff Keller was doing his job and everything FP had said and done made him look guilty.

"Okay, well, he's wasting his time, Kev. Because FP didn't kill Jason," Betty fumed.

"It's too easy," Dot added.

"Guys, he confessed," Kev reminded them.

"Or he was coerced. Or he's protecting someone, maybe a Serpent. My mom saw him and Joaquin together-" Betty clarified.

"Don't! Do not drag my boyfriend into this," Kevin demanded.

Suddenly, Kippi hit Dot in the arm. "Holy shit!"

Dot cocked an eyebrow in confusion until she directed her attention to where Kippi was looking at. She sighed, spotting Jughead walking into the cafeteria and towards Cheryl. "Fucking hell..."

"I'm sorry, Cheryl," he choked out.

The mood had shifted once more. The world seemed at a standstill as everyone watched and waited for Cheryl's reaction. Dot held her breath, practically clawing the table, trying to stop herself from pulling Jug out of school and back to her house. Cheryl arose from her seat, slowly walking up to Jughead. Another second of silence passed before Cheryl's hand connected with Jughead's face. She began to beat at him violently, causing Archie to jump from his seat and pull her away from his best friend.

Mr. Weatherbee, never seeming to be around when it was necessary, stopped the outburst as he stepped onto the scene. "Enough!" he bellowed. "Mr. Jones, you need to come with me. Right now."

"It wasn't his fault!" Dot barked back.

"He was apologizing. He didn't do anything wrong!" Archie added.

"Mr. Andrews, Ms, Cahill, watch yourselves! I don't want to have to call your parents."

Jug reluctantly followed the Principal and Dot couldn't help but realize that nothing would be okay anytime soon. The only thing she could do in the meantime was to be as supportive as possible. She took off after him.

She sat in front of the office even thirty minutes later, bouncing her leg wildly, trying to swallow the anger she felt. When Jug exited the office, he looked worse than at Pop's last weekend. "What happened?"

He huffed in annoyance. "Just another interrogation. I should have left when I had the chance."

"What do you think would have happened then? You're a minor, they would have pulled you right back. So to hell with everyone else. Because we know the truth," Dot said.

"What is the truth?!" Jug shouted.

"That your dad is innocent. And somebody is framing him," Dot answered, level-headedly. He didn't need another fight and another storm-off. He needed reassurance. Something he hadn't gotten enough of as a child.

Jug sighed, dragging a hand through his hair. "Okay, so if my dad didn't kill Jason Blossom, who did?"

Dot crossed her arms, leaning against a nearby wall. "Good question," she said. "Let's find out."

"I can't. I've put up with so much that was coming from him. And now I'm done. As you should be," he declared, then walked off.

"Archie called me just now and told me that Mr. Weatherbee wants to make Jug leave school and finish the rest of the semester at home. What is that about? He didn't even do anything!" Dot spouted.

"Dorothy, maybe he just wants him not to have to deal with his classmates doing to him what Cheryl did today," Octavia said.

"Oh please, all Weatherbee wants is the school's reputation to stay good. He doesn't care about Jug like he didn't care about Kippi, Veronica, or Ethel when the football team made that dumb playbook. It's making me sick!" Dot ranted.

"Honey, listen to me. FP confessed. And he doesn't seem to be budging from his story. So we have to let it go. Jughead seems to be doing just that," Octavia told her, her demeanor calm.

"He's disappointed in his dad. And he doesn't want to be disappointed again. That's why he doesn't want to keep going. But we have to. For both of their sakes," Dot said.

"Baby-" Octavia said before the doorbell rang.

Dot went to get it. It was Jughead. He was shaking. "Hey Jug, what's going on?"

"Could I maybe stay with you for tonight?" he murmured.

"Of course. Come in, come in," she replied, ushering her boyfriend into the hallway.

"Thank you," he said as he stepped in.

"What happened? Did you and Archie get into a fight or something?" Dot asked, stripping his jacket off him.

Jug shook his head. "No, but Mr. Andrews probably wants me out of his house just about now."

"What? No way? Why?" she asked.

"Because my family is cursed," Jug just said.

Dot shook her head, still enraged on his behalf. "I'm calling back-up."

She dragged him into the living room. "Hey, Ms. C," Jug greeted.

"Hey, Jug," Octavia said, pulling him into a hug. One which he surprisingly accepted graciously. "I'm so sorry because of everything that's been happening with your dad."

"Me too," he mumbled into her shoulder.

"Could I host a slightly big sleepover tonight?" Dot asked her mom.

Octavia sighed. "Would saying no stop you from doing it?"

"Usually, yes. Tonight, probably not," Dot replied.

Octavia chuckled. "Go ahead," she said, waving her off.

"Yes! Thank you, Mom!" Dot said as she kissed her on the cheek. She fished her phone out of her pocket with a smirk. "Hey, Kip? You wanna come over tonight?"

"Yo, yo, yo!" Kippi greeted as she entered Dot's room about twenty minutes later.

"Hey!" Dot greeted.

Jug smiled at her. "Hey, Kip."

"Here you go. Coffee, a vanilla milkshake, and a burger from Pops," she said, handing each item off to him.

He smiled at Dot. "Thank you."

"Of course," she mouthed.

"Is there a reason why Mr. Cooper just snuck into his own house a few minutes ago?" Kippi asked, then plopped down onto the bed next to the two.

Dot raised an eyebrow in confusion. "He did what now?" she asked. The three went to the window to see if anything was happening next door. And in fact, a few minutes later, the three Coopers rushed out of the house and sped off. About an hour later, they heard the car pull back up. This time, Polly was with them.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Kippi asked.

The other two shrugged. Dot opened the window and whistled over to Betty. The blonde looked up. Her friends gave her a questioning look.

"I'll tell you tomorrow!" she quietly yelled back up.

Dot nodded as she waved her goodbye and closed the window. "Okay, something happened for sure.

"Another mystery to crack," Kippi said, sipping her strawberry milkshake.

The next day in school, after Jug talked to his father, he was finally convinced that he was hiding something. Dot, Jug, Betty, and Kippi sat in the Blue and Gold office. "My dad's been lying to me his whole life, but he's never been any good at it. I saw it in his eyes. He didn't do it."

"So, why lie? Who is he protecting?" Betty asked.

"Well, we've got a handful of suspects left," Kippi said, looking at the murder board.

"Okay, who can we rule out?" Jug asked.

"My dad. We know why he was acting so shady," Betty said as she took his picture off the board. "Hermione."

Dot shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Me either. Veronica says she's guilty of plenty, but not murder. Plus, she has an alibi. She was in New York," Betty explained as she took her picture off the board.

That only left three. "So, that just leaves Hiram Lodge," Jug said.

"And Clifford and Penelope Blossom," Betty added.

"I'm not so sure Penelope did it," Kippi said.

"Why not?" Dot asked.

"I mean, I know she's a terrible person and that murderers are good actors and all. But every time her son came up she seemed legitimately heartbroken. Her husband, not so much," Kippi explained.

Betty nodded. "That's true. But at this point, we can't rule out Hiram Lodge either."

"Also true. But at least there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel now," Kippi said.

At that point, Alice walked into the room. "Well, what do we have here? You four just can't leave well enough alone, can you?"

Dot sighed. She didn't have the time or the nerves for more drama. And neither did Jughead.

"Mom, we know what you're going to say." Betty immediately said.

"The police found another dead body," Alice interrupted.

"What?" Kippi asked.

"Okay, maybe not that." Jug added.

"A Southside Serpent and Sheriff Clueless is convinced that he was working with your father. He allegedly committed suicide by overdose, and there was a bag of money on-site that links him to Hiram Lodge. Everything is tied up into a nice little bow. Too tidy, if you ask me," Alice explained.

Dot was glad to finally have Alice off their backs and on their side. Betty's phone rang and she answered it. "Kevin? Oh, okay. We'll meet you there."

The group of five was back at the place where Jug and Betty had found Jason's getaway car. Kevin had gotten some information from Joaquin before he left town. "Whatever it is we're looking for, Joaquin didn't know if it would help your dad, or make things worse," Kevin explained.

"Um, guess we're going to find out. And why did he wait so long to tell us?" Betty asked.

"FP called him from jail. Told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan. He said it was too dangerous," Kevin replied.

"Deja vu." Jug mumbled. "Hey, right here," he added, rummaging through the branches next to the Maple Farm sign. He found a bag and pulled a varsity jacket out of it. It was Jason's. The name was stitched onto it.

"How is this helping or not helping anything?" Dot asked confused.

"I don't know. Let's get back to Archies house," Jug said.

Twenty minutes later, back in Archies garage, the group was still looking at the jacket. None of them knew what it meant. And it was getting more and more frustrating. "This is meant to help FP?" Archie asked.

"I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me," Kevin answered.

"Yeah, this just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car," Jug said.

"And that his confession was true," Kevin mumbled.

"Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous? What could that mean?" Betty finally asked.

"I can ask my father. He would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason." Veronica said as she walked into the room. "Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead. I'm sorry."

Dot looked at Jug. He was heartbroken. She looked at Betty, equally determined not to give up. Dot shook her head and Betty nodded. "We've come too far. We're not about to give up now. This jacket has to mean something. FP wouldn't have let it burn with the car if not."

"Put this on," Betty told Archie, sighing as she held the jacket toward him.

"What?" Archie asked, clearly creeped out.

"Put it on," Betty demanded.

Archie let Betty put the jacket on him, but only reluctantly. "Betty, this is weird.".

Betty started feeling up the jacket. "There's a hole in the pocket."

"Okay, now we're just grasping at straws," Kevin complained.

"Okay, no. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a hole in my jacket pocket, I always lose my chapstick in the lining," Betty said as she fumbled inside the pocket.

"Or my Montblanc," Veronica added.

"Or my taser," Kippi said. Kevin stared at her in shock, his mouth hanging wide open. Kippi knitted her eyebrows. "What? A girl's gotta protect herself somehow," she said defensively.

"Hold on," Betty interrupted. She pulled a memory stick from the pocket.

"What the hell?" Veronica asked.

"Nancy Drew strikes again," Kevin said excitedly.

"Of course. There had to be evidence that could help or not help your dad, Jug. He wouldn't keep the jacket for sentimental reasons," Dot said as they went to Archies laptop.

They put in the stick and pulled up a video. It seemed to be footage from a security camera. What they then saw explained a lot. They saw a Southside Serpent, taunting and beating Jason Blossom who was tied up on a chair. But nothing and no one could have prepared them for what they saw next.

Somebody walked in after the Serpent left, someone they knew very well. He took the heirloom ring from Jason and then pulled out a gun. The real killer was revealed. Clifford Blossom, Jason's father, had just shot his son between the eyes and left like there was nothing more to that.

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God," Veronica sobbed next to Dot.

Dot looked at Kippi. Tears were streaming down her face. Dot grabbed her hand.

Betty stood up and pulled out her phone. "Betty? Betty, who are you calling?" Jug asked.

"You have to get out of that house. Listen to me. Get out of there!" Betty yelled.

Dot assumed she was talking to Cheryl. All of this meant that FP didn't kill Jason. Yet there was one more thing they had to worry about. "I have to get my mom. Wait for me." Dot said. Her mom was an attorney and if anyone were to know what to do, it'd be her. When she arrived next door and they showed her the footage again she was just as baffled as the others.

"Take this to your mom, Betty. Tell her to give it to the Sheriff," Octavia said as she handed Betty the stick. The girl rushed off. "Jug, Kevin. Take Veronica and Kippi outside. Get some fresh air," she went on. The girls still sobbed, finding it harder to breathe. Some air would do them good.

When the four had left the garage, Dot was quick to get excited. Too quickly, as it would turn out. "This is good news, right? FP is innocent. They can release him."

Octavia gave her a sad look. She shook her head. "I don't think so, baby."

Archie cocked an eyebrow. "What?"

"FP didn't kill Jason. That's for sure and that's good. But there are other things he can be charged with. Tampering with evidence and mishandling of a body are just two of them. He won't be getting out so soon."

Dot and Kippi sat on her bed, their gazes stuck on the ceiling. "So what do you think will happen to Jug now?"

Dot shrugged. "He's at the station right now and probably getting told what my mom told Archie and me. And after that, maybe he'll move to his mom. Or somewhere else entirely with a new family. Because I'm pretty sure Fred won't or can't officially take him in."

"So one way or another, you might lose him," Kippi said.

Dot nodded. "Exactly," she said. "This nightmare will just not end."

"You might be right about that," Octavia announced, standing in the doorway.

Dot sat up with a groan. "What now?"

"I just got a call from a friend at the coroner's office," Octavia began. "When the Sheriff went to arrest Mr. Blossom..." she trailed off. "They found him hung by a beamer in their barn. He's dead. Clifford Blossom killed himself."