Chapter Text
"Rusted brandy in a diamond glass
Everything is made from dreams
Time is made from honey slow and sweet
Only the fools know what it means
Temptation"
- Temptation sung by Cote de Pablo, originally by Tom Waits
“Where’s Weevil?!?”
Despite herself, the edges of Veronica’s lips tilt themselves up into a small, uncomfortable smile.
“I think we both stand out a bit.”
“Are you kidding me? You are a natural. Look at you.”
Veronica looks down at her feet with a self-deprecating laugh, acutely aware of the fact that not one person in this room would share Weevil’s sentiment. As she lifts her head up to return Weevil’s compliment with a witty retort, Veronica sees Jake Kane leaving the decorated ballroom. Her gaze firmly focused over Weevil’s shoulder, Veronica murmurs a distracted “Will you hold this for a sec?” to Weevil before following her maybe-father.
Across the room, someone else sees Jake Kane leave the room, Veronica in hot pursuit. Instead of joining Duncan at the bar for a much needed shot, Logan changes his trajectory.
Veronica is so intent on confronting Jake that she doesn’t notice Logan following her. The only thing she can focus on is making Jake admit to the reason that he forced her mother out of town. Luckily he heads into a study rather than a restroom and Veronica takes her chance. She glances around to make sure they’re alone and shuts the door firmly behind her.
The closed door doesn’t deter Logan. Quickly coming out from the corner he’d ducked behind when Veronica had looked behind her, he lopes up to press his ear to the door. He can’t hear everything but he can still hear the loudest parts of their conversations.
“-bullseyes... faces... special?”
What is Veronica talking about?
“Clarence Weidman... surveillance pictures... and sent them to my mother. Why?”
If Jake responds, the murmur is too low for Logan to hear.
“Why?"
“I have no idea-”
The voices get louder and closer, allowing Logan to hear every single word. Veronica’s voice runs over anything Jake is trying to say.
“Why did you want my mother out of town?”
“I didn’t.”
There is a soft, slow regret to Jake’s voice that Logan recognizes. It’s a revelation that Logan has never before even suspected; that Jake’s relationship with Lianne was nothing close to platonic.
Jake Kane and Lianne Mars?
Veronica’s voice takes on an abrasive panicked edge.
“Why didn’t she tell me or my father about the pictures instead of hiding them in a safe deposit box?”
“I don’t know!”
Veronica’s accusing answer is softly spoken, but still loud enough for Logan to catch.
“I don’t believe you.”
There is a small shuffling of bodies before the door is thrown wide open. Logan leaps away to the side and Jake storms off back to the ballroom without even seeing him. Veronica tries to go after him, but her elbow is grabbed and she is yanked backwards into a solid chest. Strong arms wrap themselves around her and Veronica struggles against them even past the point of recognition.
“Let go of me! What the hell do you think- Logan! Let go!”
Trying to use as little force as possible so as not to hurt her, Logan quite literally picks the petite girl up with his arms wrapped around her waist and walks her back inside the room before closing the door behind them.
“Logan I don’t know what you think you heard but-”
“I heard enough to know that you’re following nicely in Daddy’s footsteps; delusional crackpot theories pinned on the first available stooge. Something about some guy named Clarence Weidman? And Jake ran your mother out of town? Please, Veronica I think you need a reality check.” He sneers cruelly at her, “You know I’m a little hurt. I thought I was supposed to be the one great villain in your life. But how could I forget Jake Kane? Silly me. Guess I’m not as special as I thought.”
“So you obviously missed the part about how Clarence Weidman took pictures of me and put a bullseye over my face?”
Veronica cringes, gasping sharply at what she’s just revealed. She closes her eyes in a moment of self-reproach.
Damn.
She hadn’t meant for that to slip out. She clenches her fists in frustration but she refuses to back down. Veronica opens her eyes to look square at Logan, chin tilted upward proudly.
He stares back at her, dark eyes filled with doubt. His mouth curls itself into a sharp smile, an expression Veronica is familiar with. She braces herself for whatever spiteful comment is sure to follow.
“And this Clarence Weidman is connected to the Kanes how? No, wait. Let me guess. He’s Jake’s long lost older brother? Or his love child with another woman?”
Veronica blanches at that last barb. Her mouth drops open for just a second before she can pull herself back together. Despite trying to mentally prepare herself for it, the remark had hit her where it hurt the most.
Bravo, Logan. You found the biggest chink in my armor without even trying.
It’s clear that Logan realizes he’s actually shaken her. He stands there, waiting for her to reply, confused when her only answer is silence.
Veronica opens her mouth to try and say something back, but he’s rendered her speechless for the first time in months. Taking a steadying breath, she decides that if Logan wants to eavesdrop on private conversations, he might as well learn context.
It takes a moment or two before she can make her voice work again. Even when it does, Veronica’s voice is noticeably softer, more subdued than it was before.
“He’s the head of Kane security. He took photos of me as far back as before Lilly’s death. Before Duncan and I broke up even. He put-” Veronica’s loses her breath at the memory of her own smiling face in the pictures, the sinister intent clear by the red target trained on her, “He put a rifle scope over my face and then sent them to my mom.”
The information clearly shocks Logan. He leans against the large oak desk behind him, letting it carry the majority of his weight since he can’t quite seem to find the strength at the moment. He immediately shifts from high school bully to protective friend. As crazy as he thinks the Mars family is, he doesn’t think Veronica is actually the type to make up stories about something as serious as this.
“And you’re sure that it’s this Clarence guy?”
Veronica huffs out a breath, folding her arms over her chest.
“Despite what you may think of me and my dad Logan, we do actually know what we’re doing.”
Logan raises an eyebrow, a silent request for proof that Veronica isn’t sure she wants to give. She’s already told him more than she intended. No one but Jake was ever supposed to have known about the pictures.
But for the first time since Lilly’s death, there isn’t any hatred or condescension in Logan’s eyes. There’s confusion, shock, and even concern there. He looks like he might actually be inclined to believe what she’s said about Clarence Weidman. He looks like Veronica is someone he needs to keep safe.
It's been a long time since he’s cared about her safety.
She doesn’t want to admit how much she appreciates it.
The heat drains out of the moment and Veronica has to tear her eyes away from his. She focuses on the twinkling fairy lights behind him, twisting her fingers uncomfortably.
Before she can make a decision about what to say next, a scream rips apart the stillness.
Veronica snaps her head up to meet Logan’s wide eyes before the two of them both slam the door open and race down the hallway to the main ballroom. Panicking guests impede their way, but Logan finds a solution for that. He winds an arm around her small frame and, much like he had done earlier, practically carries her as he uses his taller frame to push through the crowd.
“Somebody call an ambulance!” Lynn’s voice echoes even above the shrill exclamations of the other partygoers.
Looking around to see that no one around them is actually bothering to make the call, Logan puts Veronica down before pulling his phone out of his pocket to dial 911.
The two of them are too far away from Lynn to see who’s been stabbed but Veronica spies Weevil still at the food table. He sees her too and immediately walks over to her.
“V, there you are.”
He spares a wry glance at Logan still standing hip to hip with her while arguing with the person on the other line.
“Look, I don’t know what happened but someone’s been hurt and there’s a bunch of screaming and we need an ambulance now. I don’t care how you do it as long they get here quickly.”
Veronica waves her hand to bring Weevil’s attention back to her.
“Weevil, what happened?"
“Some waiter chick went crazy and I guess she was accusing Aaron Echolls of sleeping with her and saying he loved her or some shit. Then she pulled out this ice pick and made to stab him but somebody else got in the way.”
There’s something else there. Something Weevil’s not telling her that makes her gut churn. She can tell in the way that he won’t quite meet her eyes and the stiff way he’s holding his body.
“So somebody besides Aaron Echolls got stabbed?”
“Yeah.”
“Who got stabbed Weevil?”
He won’t answer her. Lynn is still screaming for help in the background. Logan has just finished his 911 call. And Weevil won’t look at her.
“Weevil. Who got stabbed?”
Logan’s voice cuts through the bubble of tension that seems to be building.
“C’mon man? What’s the deal? Who got stabbed?”
Weevil’s continued silence and the small, guilty glance at Veronica is the only answer she needs.
“No. No.” Veronica doesn’t even realize her internal monologue of “no’s” is being said out loud. “No no no no no no no.”
She starts fighting her way through the crowd to get to where Lynn is kneeling at the other end of the room, next to the Christmas tree with its lights shining mockingly down at her.
“Veronica!"
“V!”
She doesn’t even register Logan and Weevil’s voices and bodies following closely behind her. All she can concentrate on is the sickeningly familiar tan jacket that comes into her view. The mostly hairless head that Lynn is cradling in her lap. The red bloom of blood slowly flowing over Aaron’s fingers as he puts pressure on the wound.
“Dad!”