For the Sake of a Friend, Chapter 28, Part 2
Title: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil), PG-13, 28/30
PART 2
To read Part 1, CLICK HERE
The next day was a full one. First was the orthopedic specialist, who looked over the MRI pictures and told Logan how lucky he was that nothing had been torn.
“Oh, yeah, I’m feelin’ real lucky,” muttered Logan.
The doctor gave him a typed-out set of instructions that detailed how to rebuild strength in his shoulder over the next week and a half. He also gave them the name of a good physical therapist, should Logan need extra help.
Then came the real fun. The orthodontic surgeon informed them that the blow to Logan’s jaw had effectively killed his left rear bottom molar. This came as a surprise to Logan, who hadn’t experienced much pain in that area, certainly nothing compared to his shoulder, which had turned out to not be that big of a deal.
“Teeth can die?” Veronica asked the dentist, trying to grasp the situation.
“Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Abbott said in his Southern drawl. “It’s like pulling out your hair by the root. Once you do that, the hair stops growing and dies. While your teeth don’t grow, per se, the root still has to be plugged in for it to stay alive. Logan’s molar got uprooted, so to speak, and when that happened, the tooth died.”
“So what now?” Logan sounded resigned. The Southern doctor’s accent and politeness was kind of creeping him out. He had no doubt that the dentist was capable-Logan just wasn’t used to anyone being that…polite.
“We’re going to remove the dead tooth and put in a permanent replacement. You can’t have a gaping hole in the back of your mouth, son.”
“So I’m not going to be toothless.” It was less of a question than a statement.
Dr. Abbott laughed. “No, you’re not gonna be toothless.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Veronica.
The doctor looked at her, apparently surprised.
Veronica gave him a smirk. “There’s always a catch.”
“Well, you know how you said your tooth hasn’t been hurtin’?” The doctor aimed his comment at Logan, who nodded. “It will now.”
“Great. Just great,” muttered Logan.
-
Logan jerked awake when the car stopped.
“Are we home?” he mumbled. The left side of his mouth was still numb from the anesthesia, but it was one of those numbnesses that spoke loudly of the pain to come.
“No. I need to run up to the office for a minute. I’ll be right back. I promise.” Veronica leaned over and kissed her boyfriend’s temple. Logan would have responded, but he had fallen back asleep before Veronica closed the car door.
-
He jerked back awake the next time the car stopped.
“Are we home?”
“Yeah. Hold on. I’m coming around.”
Logan fought to climb up through the fog to full consciousness. Even so, he remembered very little about their walk to her apartment. Seriously, he hadn’t expected dental surgery to wipe him out so hard.
When he finally came to, the sky behind the bedroom curtain was dark and Veronica was in a chair next to the bed working on her laptop.
He started to speak, but only a moan came out.
“Logan?” The laptop disappeared from view and Veronica’s hand was stroking his hair.
“Ow…” was all he was able to communicate.
“Well, at least we know Dr. Abbott’s not a liar.”
Veronica picked up a washcloth out of a bowl of cold water next to the bed. She wrung out the excess water and gently placed the cloth against Logan’s swollen jaw.
Logan waved his right hand in the direction of Veronica’s computer. It was clear that he was changing the subject. He took over holding the washcloth on his face and Veronica picked up her computer. She scooted onto the bed so that Logan could see the screen. She tabbed over to Microsoft Word.
“This,” she pointed to the document, “is a list of all of the women that your father told my father that he had slept with.” She paused for Logan’s reaction, but her boyfriend just rolled his eyes. Hardly surprising. “These names,” she scrolled down, “are the women that the tabloids, gossip columns and celebrity news say that he’s had affairs with.”
Logan waved his hand up and down.
“Yeah, it’s a long list.”
Logan snorted and then looked at Veronica expectantly.
“Ah, the purpose to this list? Well, I’ve been putting together contact information for all of these women. Would you like to watch now as I put my plan into action?” She looked over at her boyfriend. His expression clearly read, That would be a yes. “Good.”
Veronica picked up a cell phone from the night stand. “This,” she held up the phone, “is an untraceable, pre-paid cell phone. That’s key.” Logan continued to watch her, amused.
Veronica looked at her computer and dialed a number.
“Hello, may I speak with Candice Kilmartin?” Pause. “This is Jennifer Sparks with the Department of Health.” Pause. “Yes. Mrs. Kilmartin, I’m sorry to have to inform you that you may have been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease.” Pause. “I’m afraid so. A recently diagnosed individual listed you as a sexual partner. We’re calling to inform you that you should be tested as soon as possible.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry, the name of the infected individual is strictly confidential.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t be more specific as to the nature of the sexually-transmitted disease. That is also considered to be confidential information.” Pause, and then Veronica appeared to be cutting off the person on the other end of the line. “Mrs. Kilmartin, we would like to recommend that you get tested as soon as possible. We wish you a safe and healthy future.” And with that, Veronica snapped the phone shut.
She turned to Logan and smiled. She was actually afraid that Logan would be mad or uncomfortable. While Veronica wasn’t identifying Aaron as the partner in question, the hope was that people would talk and that the common thread-Aaron Echolls, action hero extraordinaire-would be identified, if only by rumor and conjecture, which is what fueled Hollywood, anyway. She held her breath as she waited for Logan’s reaction.
Unable to talk, Logan pantomimed his response, which Veronica translated.
He pointed to himself.
“I.”
He drew a heart over his left breast.
“Love.” Veronica couldn’t help but smile.
He pointed to her.
“You.”
He spread out his good arm wide and moved his left arm the small fraction that he could.
“THIIIIIIS MUCH.” Veronica’s grin threatened to crack her face in half.
Logan’s hand moved up to cup Veronica’s face and he nodded. He also grimaced and pointed to his cheek.
“Well, stop trying to smile, you idiot!” Veronica put the washcloth back up to the side of his face. “I’ve got more phone calls to make!”
*
On Tuesday, Veronica went back to school. The stares and whispers weren’t anything that she wasn’t used to, especially since she was still too focused on getting home to take care of Logan to pay more than passing notice to the attention of Neptune High’s masses.
She did enjoy lunch with her friends, all of whom were genuinely concerned about Logan. Mac, in particular, wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. Veronica promised to call her if she needed anything.
She got home that afternoon to find that Logan had regained the power of speech-slow speech, but audible communication nonetheless.
“Your dad got a bail jumper,” he told her as she came in and kissed him softly.
“I assume you mean he got a case, not that he already caught him,” snarked Veronica.
“Smart-ass.”
“And here I thought you loved me for my mind. Are you saying that it’s actually because you think my ass is smart?” Veronica ran her lips down the side of her boyfriend’s neck.
“Veronica Mars, are you trying to cheapen my virtue?” asked Logan as he carefully tilted his head to give her the best possible angle for her explorations.
“Are you suggesting you have virtue left to cheapen?” Veronica leaned back as Logan laughed. “This might take a little maneuvering.”
“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Logan assured her, reaching forward to pull her closer to himself.
“Oh, no,” she pushed him back down. “You’re going to have to let me take the lead on this one.”
“Oh, the agony,” Logan lamented with his trademark grin.
“You have no idea.”
-
Veronica was still wrapped around him when Logan woke up. He bent his head to breathe in the smell of her shampoo, one of his favorite scents.
It had been a week of firsts for him. The first time Aaron had ever beaten him that badly. The first time someone outside of his family had dealt with injuries inflicted upon him by his father, much less been the one to take him to the emergency room. And the way he’d been pampered since then? Usually after his wounds were patched up, Logan was left to his own devices. Aaron never let Lynn “baby him”, saying that Logan had to deal with the “consequences of his actions”.
In the Mars home, though, Logan felt…loved. Cared for. How sad was it that that was a first? And then there were the phone calls. Veronica had spent two hours on the phone yesterday, calling almost twenty women to warn them about getting tested for STDs. The way Logan saw it, those women needed the heads-up. He doubted that his father was a stickler for safe sex.
Veronica had told him that she was going to take down his father and she was doing it. His mom had caved. His teacher had used the revelation of his dad’s abuse to her own benefit. His older sister had feigned ignorance. Doctors had looked the other way. All of the people who should have helped him hadn’t. Every resource put in place by biology or society had let him down.
Until Veronica. And Keith. His 17-year-old girlfriend was taking on herself the responsibility of righting the wrongs that had been perpetrated upon him for years. Logan wasn’t sure how to react. Contrary to Veronica’s worry, he felt no need or drive to protect his abuser. Logan was fine with anything that Veronica wanted to do, up to and including sneaking in to light the man’s bed on fire. His reticence came from a fear of a shift in their relationship. This was too much. How could he ever pay Veronica back for bringing down The Great Aaron Echolls? How was he supposed to do that?
Veronica stirred and Logan’s attention moved back to the small blonde lying in his arms.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said by way of greeting.
“Hey, yourself.” She leaned up to kiss him. “That was fun.”
“You can cheapen my virtue any time you want,” he assured her and Veronica laughed.
Logan took as deep of a breath as his ribs would let him. “What you did yesterday-with the calls…” His voice drifted off. He hated…but he had to ask…
Veronica’s blood suddenly felt icy in her veins. “Look, Logan, I-“
“I’m not angry, Veronica! Trust me, I’m not…angry.” He looked down. “How am I-how do I say thank you for something like this? How do I pay you back?”
Veronica’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious! There’s no way-I mean, come on, Veronica.”
She stared at the boy she loved with all of her heart. “Logan.” He didn’t look up. “Logan?” she said more insistently, and he raised his eyes to hers. “What would you do? If it was me. What would you do to the person that hurt me like this?”
Logan didn’t hesitate. “I’d kill them.”
“Would you expect anything in return?”
“Of course not, but-“
“There’s no ‘but’, Logan. We’re partners. I love you, you love me, we’re in this together. Aaron hurt you, and I’m going to do worse than kill him. I’m going to take away everything that he thinks is important. And you don’t owe me anything. That’s just how it is.”
The eye contact between them was so intense, Veronica felt like she and Logan were going to merge together and become one person. Then one of them blinked and the moment was gone, but the connection was still there.
“Logan…” Veronica had to ask him something.
“Yeah?” he tenderly moved a piece of hair off of her face.
“I know what I’m going to do next-to Aaron…”
“Yeah?” he prodded her.
“I’m gonna need Mac’s help.” She said it quickly, afraid of his reaction, hating to disturb the peace between them, but knowing that she couldn’t do what needed to be done without talking to Logan first.
“And…you’re going to have to tell her…?” Logan’s question drifted off.
“No!” Veronica reassured him. “No. It’s just…she’s smart. She’ll probably…figure it out. You know, you’re like this, I go ask her to help me hack into your father’s computer…”
Logan didn’t need a roadmap. He could see where she was going.
“I gotcha.” He thought about what Veronica was asking. “This plan of yours-it’ll hurt him?”
“Yeah.”
He looked her in the eye again.
“Badly?”
“Yeah,” she said even more firmly.
“Then do what you have to do, Veronica. I trust you.”
*
Mac answered the knock on the door to find Veronica standing on her doorstep.
“Veronica,” she couldn’t hide her surprise.
“Can I come in?” asked the petite blonde.
“Of course.” Mac stepped back to let her friend in. “Let’s go to my room.”
“Who’s there, Cindy?” Mac’s mom called.
“It’s Veronica! We’re going to my room!” She turned to whisper to Veronica. “Quick, before we get accosted with cookies and juice!”
Laughing, the two of them barricade themselves in Mac’s inner sanctum.
“I need your help,” Veronica began.
“Anything. You know that.”
Veronica took a deep breath. “I have to go over to Logan’s house to pick up some things for him and while I’m there, I want you to log on to Aaron Echolls’ computer and see if there’s anything on it that shouldn’t be there.”
“Like what?”
“Like anything that’ll help me destroy his life and make his existence miserable.”
Mac blinked. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“All right. Can you go right now?”
“Sure. I’ll let my mom know we’re heading out.”
They didn’t discuss anything of universal importance on the drive to the wealthiest neighborhood in town. Veronica shared the user name and password that Logan had given her and when they got to the Echolls mansion she parked in the back near the servants’ entrance.
“If Aaron comes home, he won’t notice my car back here. The servants here might as well be invisible. Come on, I’ll take you up to the office.”
At no point had Mac asked Veronica why Aaron Echolls was soon to have his life ruined. It was pretty clear that her friend had figured out what really happened to Logan long before Veronica showed up on the Mackenzies’ front porch. Veronica was willing to leave it at that.
After she got Mac settled into the “office”, Veronica went to Logan’s room and gathered up some clothes and personal items. Then she began combing the house.
Veronica had insisted Mac use gloves while trawling through Aaron’s computer and she did the same thing herself. As her goal was to find out if anything in the house could get Aaron arrested, it would therefore follow that the police might eventually sweep it for prints. Veronica didn’t want her or Mac’s fingerprints showing up where they didn’t belong.
She was methodical, going through the house room by room. She checked her boyfriend’s room first and it was clean. She and Logan had discussed the possibility of Aaron hiding incriminating material in his son’s room, for no other reason than because he could. True to Logan’s word, there hadn’t even been any porno magazines, and she left his vent alone. Logan was entitled to any few remaining secrets that he might have.
She moved to the various storage closets, but she didn’t have high expectations for those-too much activity on the staff’s part for Aaron to try to hide anything there. She took special care in Aaron’s bedroom. Logan had told her that all of Lynn’s effects had been cleared out a week after his mother’s death, and the room was a little spartan.
Veronica checked all of the nooks and crannies that any room would have. She checked the corners where the walls met the carpet to see if anything was loose.
Nothing.
She checked all of the boxes in the closet, looked for hidden compartments and gave the room as thorough a once-over as she could without leaving any trace of her presence.
And she came up with nothing to show for her efforts.
“Damn it.”
She checked her watch. She had worked quickly and had gotten through everything in about an hour. She went to the office to check on Mac.
“Hey, Mac.”
“Hey, Veronica.”
“Whatcha found?”
Mac leaned back. “Aaron doesn’t know jack about computers, but someone who does installed his software. He has a program that erases all traces of any site that he goes to.”
“So no one can tell where he’s gone on the Internet.”
“Exactly. And he has another program installed that masks his IP address, so no matter where he goes-“
“-no one can tell that it’s him,” Veronica finished the blue-haired genius’s sentence.
“Right again.”
“So what can we do? To find out where he’s going,” pushed Veronica.
“Because if he’s trying this hard to cover his tracks…”
“He has to have something to hide.” Veronica stared at the computer. She wanted to know where the putrid scum that was Aaron Echolls was going in cyberspace. “So. What can you do?”
Before Mac could answer, the office’s dark window lit up with car headlights. Veronica ran over and looked down.
“Aaron’s back,” she said tensely. “Shut down the computer.”
Mac was already on it and the two of them rushed back to Logan’s room. Several minutes passed, though, and there were still no sounds downstairs.
Veronica looked out Logan’s window to check the pool area.
“There are lights on in the pool house.”
“The pool house?” Mac joined her. “Why would he go there?” The answer came to her the minute the words left her mouth. “Oh. Okay, then.”
“At least we know where he’ll be for the next few minutes,” said Veronica disdainfully. “How about we fix his computer and get outta Dodge?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Mac proceeded to disable the special software on Aaron’s computer while outwardly making it appear as though it was working. According to the computer wizard, it wasn’t hard to do.
“All we have to do is come back in a few days and we should have a pretty good picture of what he’s doing.”
“And I’ll check out the pool house,” concluded Veronica.
-
“I can’t thank you enough, Mac.”
Veronica had just pulled up to the curb in front of Mac’s house.
Mac looked at her hands. “I know why he doesn’t want it to go public. But Aaron should still have to pay.” She didn’t elaborate and she didn’t have to. “I’m with you every step of the way.”
Veronica leaned over and gave her friend a hug.
“Thank you,” her voice was muffled against Mac’s blue hair.
“Call me,” said Mac as she got out of the car.
Veronica nodded and drove off into the night.
-
“What did I tell you? No Playboys.”
“It’s because you have me, isn’t it?” Veronica seductively started to unbutton her shirt, to the delight of the young man lounging on her living room sofa.
“Absolutely.”
Veronica stopped and Logan shook his head as if to clear away the fog in his brain.
“Um, Veronica?”
“I have to get into that pool house.”
Logan stared at the blonde ball of energy standing in front of him.
“Only if I come with you.”
“Logan-“ Veronica immediately started to protest.
“I’ve been a model patient.”
Veronica couldn’t argue with that. No man was supposed to be that good when he was sick.
“But I’m perfectly capable of moving around now. I was worried sick the entire time you were gone. My father has a temper, Veronica. You know that. What if he had caught you and Mac? You told him off on Saturday, remember?” Logan shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t handle you going back there alone. Besides, it’ll look better if I go with you. I don’t have to stay. We can just say that we have to pick up some more stuff and then leave.”
The light bulb turned on over Veronica’s head. Logan had been a good patient because he didn’t want to go home. As long as he was doing everything they told him to, Veronica and Keith were less likely to send him back to his cold, loveless mansion. But he was worried enough about Veronica going back there alone to risk just such exile.
Veronica nodded jerkily. She had to set his mind at ease, though.
“You know you can stay here as long as you like, right?”
Logan put out his arms and pulled her to him. He didn’t have full mobility in his left arm yet, but he was doing the exercises the doctor had given him, and it was getting better. He buried his face in her chest and Veronica snaked her fingers through his hair.
“I love you, Logan Echolls.”
“I love you back, Veronica Mars.”
*
They weren’t able to go to the house on Wednesday because Logan had to make an emergency trip back to the dentist. He woke up in the middle of the night in terrible pain. Fortunately Keith had gotten back from St. Louis not long before and was still awake when Logan awoke in a cold sweat, holding his jaw in agony.
The three of them rushed back to the emergency room, where they were told that an air pocket had formed around Logan’s new tooth. The ER doctor-a woman, not Dr. Lake-gave him some topical medicine for the pain and sent them home with orders to get to Dr. Abbott’s office the minute he opened his doors.
They did so and the dentist, amidst sincerest condolences and apologies, inserted a needle to withdraw the air from the infected area and used another needle to medicate the tooth.
“When an air pocket develops, the raw nerves are exposed, which is what hurts so much. It has to be fixed as quickly as possible or it’ll get infected,” Dr. Abbott explained in his slow drawl as he worked his magic on Logan’s mouth. “It’s not necessarily a common occurrence, but it’s not uncommon, either. There you go-all better.” The dentist put down the needle. “That nasty-tasting stuff the ER doc gave you is actually the best thing to put on it. I’ll give you a prescription for some extra pain killers just in case, though.” He turned his attention to Veronica. “All right, little lady, I’m gonna to leave it to you to make sure that Logan here doesn’t talk today. We need to give his mouth time to heal.”
“Yes, sir,” said Veronica. One automatically felt it appropriate to use the word “sir” when addressing Dr. Abbott. “Can he eat anything?”
“Broth only,” replied the dentist with a stern glance at Logan. “He should be ready to go back on simple solids tomorrow.”
Logan looked put-out.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Abbott. I’ll make sure he behaves himself,” Veronica assured the dentist sternly, noting the less-than-pleased look on her boyfriend’s face.
“We both will,” added Keith, who had come in from the lobby area where he had been waiting for his daughter and his new ward.
After they got Logan home, everyone went to bed, having been awake since three in the morning. Logan had been in too much pain to sleep after they got back from the ER and Keith and Veronica had been too concerned to leave him alone.
Veronica had text messaged their friends from the dentist’s office, and after she woke up that afternoon, she texted them again to let them know that everything was okay. She and Keith spent the afternoon and evening fussing over Logan and all three of them slept hard that evening.
Thursday dawned bright and sunny. Keith went back to work, but Veronica didn’t want to leave Logan alone, so she stayed home.
By that afternoon, Logan claimed to be fine and started pushing for the two of them to head over to his house, Veronica agreeing mainly because she was so desperate to search the pool house.
The house was empty except for servants when they got there, Veronica once again parking in the back.
“He’s probably off schmoozing his agent,” Logan muttered.
It didn’t take but a minute to find what they were looking for in the pool house. The entertainment center was locked, but Veronica picked it in under a minute, and hidden behind what was clearly a false panel was a stack of video tapes, all thoughtfully labeled with names and dates.
Veronica gasped.
“What?” Logan’s head whipped around.
Veronica pulled out a tape and showed it to him. It was labeled “Logan & Veronica” and bore the date of Lynn’s funeral.
Neither Logan nor Veronica seemed able to speak.
Logan made a strangled noise, pulling Veronica’s attention away from the tape in her hand to the stack in front of them. She followed Logan’s gaze to a trio of tapes with Lilly’s name on them. They were dated shortly before the vivacious girl’s untimely death.
“That’s statutory rape,” was the only thing Veronica could think to say.
“So’s this one,” Logan said bitterly, pulling out a tape from the previous year labeled “Madison”. “She would have been fifteen.”
“We’ve got him,” said Veronica.
-
Four hours later, the FBI descended on Aaron Echolls’ palatial estate in Neptune, California, confiscating dozens of illegally-made sex tapes, including several that featured underage girls. They also found evidence on his laptop that in the previous 48 hours, the action star had visited several porn sites devoted to teenage girls.
They arrested Logan’s father in the middle of a Hollywood power meeting, charging him with statutory rape, child pornography, and a host of other charges related to his videotaping fetish and penchant for young teenage girls.
The press had a field day.
“AARON ECHOLLS AND HIS POOL HOUSE OF LOVE”
“AARON ECHOLLS’ DEN OF INIQUITY”
“FAME TODAY: HOW FAR WILL IT GO?”
“ACTION STAR CHARGED AS PEDOPHILE”
Regardless of the final outcome, Aaron’s life as he had known it was over.
*
Duncan was listening to Logan and Veronica watch the news. Aaron was a bad guy, Duncan would give them that. But since this whole thing with Logan’s dad had started, Logan and Veronica hadn’t talked about Duncan once, and the troubled young man was not okay with that. He liked it when Logan and Veronica were focused on him, not some two-bit Hollywood action hero. Pedophile or not.
They had forgotten all about him, and that left Duncan feeling cold and empty.
*
“Aaron Echolls was arrested yesterday in Los Angeles on charges of statutory rape, child pornography-“
Veronica turned off the TV and burrowed into Logan’s side.
“I’m so sorry, Logan.” She wasn’t referring to his father being arrested.
“Me, too.” Neither was he.
The tape of the two of them was sitting on the coffee table. They hadn’t been able to watch it, but they had taken it with them so it wouldn’t be found by the FBI.
Without warning, Veronica got up and went into the kitchen.
“What?” asked Logan.
She didn’t answer, pulling a meat tenderizer out of a drawer. Logan watched as Veronica put the video tape on the carpet and knelt in front of it. She gestured for him to join her.
Logan got off to couch to kneel next to his girlfriend. He wrapped his hand around hers and together the two of them smashed the tape into miniscule pieces.
*
They were asleep on the couch when there was a knock on the door. Veronica, as per usual when she was sleeping with Logan, didn’t hear it. Logan gently laid her down and got up to answer the knock.
At the sight of the person on the other side, Logan turned around.
“Veronica,” he called. “Veronica!” he called more loudly when she didn’t stir.
The blonde on the couch opened her eyes sleepily.
“Your mom is here.”
To be continued…
PART 2
To read Part 1, CLICK HERE
The next day was a full one. First was the orthopedic specialist, who looked over the MRI pictures and told Logan how lucky he was that nothing had been torn.
“Oh, yeah, I’m feelin’ real lucky,” muttered Logan.
The doctor gave him a typed-out set of instructions that detailed how to rebuild strength in his shoulder over the next week and a half. He also gave them the name of a good physical therapist, should Logan need extra help.
Then came the real fun. The orthodontic surgeon informed them that the blow to Logan’s jaw had effectively killed his left rear bottom molar. This came as a surprise to Logan, who hadn’t experienced much pain in that area, certainly nothing compared to his shoulder, which had turned out to not be that big of a deal.
“Teeth can die?” Veronica asked the dentist, trying to grasp the situation.
“Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Abbott said in his Southern drawl. “It’s like pulling out your hair by the root. Once you do that, the hair stops growing and dies. While your teeth don’t grow, per se, the root still has to be plugged in for it to stay alive. Logan’s molar got uprooted, so to speak, and when that happened, the tooth died.”
“So what now?” Logan sounded resigned. The Southern doctor’s accent and politeness was kind of creeping him out. He had no doubt that the dentist was capable-Logan just wasn’t used to anyone being that…polite.
“We’re going to remove the dead tooth and put in a permanent replacement. You can’t have a gaping hole in the back of your mouth, son.”
“So I’m not going to be toothless.” It was less of a question than a statement.
Dr. Abbott laughed. “No, you’re not gonna be toothless.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Veronica.
The doctor looked at her, apparently surprised.
Veronica gave him a smirk. “There’s always a catch.”
“Well, you know how you said your tooth hasn’t been hurtin’?” The doctor aimed his comment at Logan, who nodded. “It will now.”
“Great. Just great,” muttered Logan.
-
Logan jerked awake when the car stopped.
“Are we home?” he mumbled. The left side of his mouth was still numb from the anesthesia, but it was one of those numbnesses that spoke loudly of the pain to come.
“No. I need to run up to the office for a minute. I’ll be right back. I promise.” Veronica leaned over and kissed her boyfriend’s temple. Logan would have responded, but he had fallen back asleep before Veronica closed the car door.
-
He jerked back awake the next time the car stopped.
“Are we home?”
“Yeah. Hold on. I’m coming around.”
Logan fought to climb up through the fog to full consciousness. Even so, he remembered very little about their walk to her apartment. Seriously, he hadn’t expected dental surgery to wipe him out so hard.
When he finally came to, the sky behind the bedroom curtain was dark and Veronica was in a chair next to the bed working on her laptop.
He started to speak, but only a moan came out.
“Logan?” The laptop disappeared from view and Veronica’s hand was stroking his hair.
“Ow…” was all he was able to communicate.
“Well, at least we know Dr. Abbott’s not a liar.”
Veronica picked up a washcloth out of a bowl of cold water next to the bed. She wrung out the excess water and gently placed the cloth against Logan’s swollen jaw.
Logan waved his right hand in the direction of Veronica’s computer. It was clear that he was changing the subject. He took over holding the washcloth on his face and Veronica picked up her computer. She scooted onto the bed so that Logan could see the screen. She tabbed over to Microsoft Word.
“This,” she pointed to the document, “is a list of all of the women that your father told my father that he had slept with.” She paused for Logan’s reaction, but her boyfriend just rolled his eyes. Hardly surprising. “These names,” she scrolled down, “are the women that the tabloids, gossip columns and celebrity news say that he’s had affairs with.”
Logan waved his hand up and down.
“Yeah, it’s a long list.”
Logan snorted and then looked at Veronica expectantly.
“Ah, the purpose to this list? Well, I’ve been putting together contact information for all of these women. Would you like to watch now as I put my plan into action?” She looked over at her boyfriend. His expression clearly read, That would be a yes. “Good.”
Veronica picked up a cell phone from the night stand. “This,” she held up the phone, “is an untraceable, pre-paid cell phone. That’s key.” Logan continued to watch her, amused.
Veronica looked at her computer and dialed a number.
“Hello, may I speak with Candice Kilmartin?” Pause. “This is Jennifer Sparks with the Department of Health.” Pause. “Yes. Mrs. Kilmartin, I’m sorry to have to inform you that you may have been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease.” Pause. “I’m afraid so. A recently diagnosed individual listed you as a sexual partner. We’re calling to inform you that you should be tested as soon as possible.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry, the name of the infected individual is strictly confidential.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t be more specific as to the nature of the sexually-transmitted disease. That is also considered to be confidential information.” Pause, and then Veronica appeared to be cutting off the person on the other end of the line. “Mrs. Kilmartin, we would like to recommend that you get tested as soon as possible. We wish you a safe and healthy future.” And with that, Veronica snapped the phone shut.
She turned to Logan and smiled. She was actually afraid that Logan would be mad or uncomfortable. While Veronica wasn’t identifying Aaron as the partner in question, the hope was that people would talk and that the common thread-Aaron Echolls, action hero extraordinaire-would be identified, if only by rumor and conjecture, which is what fueled Hollywood, anyway. She held her breath as she waited for Logan’s reaction.
Unable to talk, Logan pantomimed his response, which Veronica translated.
He pointed to himself.
“I.”
He drew a heart over his left breast.
“Love.” Veronica couldn’t help but smile.
He pointed to her.
“You.”
He spread out his good arm wide and moved his left arm the small fraction that he could.
“THIIIIIIS MUCH.” Veronica’s grin threatened to crack her face in half.
Logan’s hand moved up to cup Veronica’s face and he nodded. He also grimaced and pointed to his cheek.
“Well, stop trying to smile, you idiot!” Veronica put the washcloth back up to the side of his face. “I’ve got more phone calls to make!”
*
On Tuesday, Veronica went back to school. The stares and whispers weren’t anything that she wasn’t used to, especially since she was still too focused on getting home to take care of Logan to pay more than passing notice to the attention of Neptune High’s masses.
She did enjoy lunch with her friends, all of whom were genuinely concerned about Logan. Mac, in particular, wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. Veronica promised to call her if she needed anything.
She got home that afternoon to find that Logan had regained the power of speech-slow speech, but audible communication nonetheless.
“Your dad got a bail jumper,” he told her as she came in and kissed him softly.
“I assume you mean he got a case, not that he already caught him,” snarked Veronica.
“Smart-ass.”
“And here I thought you loved me for my mind. Are you saying that it’s actually because you think my ass is smart?” Veronica ran her lips down the side of her boyfriend’s neck.
“Veronica Mars, are you trying to cheapen my virtue?” asked Logan as he carefully tilted his head to give her the best possible angle for her explorations.
“Are you suggesting you have virtue left to cheapen?” Veronica leaned back as Logan laughed. “This might take a little maneuvering.”
“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Logan assured her, reaching forward to pull her closer to himself.
“Oh, no,” she pushed him back down. “You’re going to have to let me take the lead on this one.”
“Oh, the agony,” Logan lamented with his trademark grin.
“You have no idea.”
-
Veronica was still wrapped around him when Logan woke up. He bent his head to breathe in the smell of her shampoo, one of his favorite scents.
It had been a week of firsts for him. The first time Aaron had ever beaten him that badly. The first time someone outside of his family had dealt with injuries inflicted upon him by his father, much less been the one to take him to the emergency room. And the way he’d been pampered since then? Usually after his wounds were patched up, Logan was left to his own devices. Aaron never let Lynn “baby him”, saying that Logan had to deal with the “consequences of his actions”.
In the Mars home, though, Logan felt…loved. Cared for. How sad was it that that was a first? And then there were the phone calls. Veronica had spent two hours on the phone yesterday, calling almost twenty women to warn them about getting tested for STDs. The way Logan saw it, those women needed the heads-up. He doubted that his father was a stickler for safe sex.
Veronica had told him that she was going to take down his father and she was doing it. His mom had caved. His teacher had used the revelation of his dad’s abuse to her own benefit. His older sister had feigned ignorance. Doctors had looked the other way. All of the people who should have helped him hadn’t. Every resource put in place by biology or society had let him down.
Until Veronica. And Keith. His 17-year-old girlfriend was taking on herself the responsibility of righting the wrongs that had been perpetrated upon him for years. Logan wasn’t sure how to react. Contrary to Veronica’s worry, he felt no need or drive to protect his abuser. Logan was fine with anything that Veronica wanted to do, up to and including sneaking in to light the man’s bed on fire. His reticence came from a fear of a shift in their relationship. This was too much. How could he ever pay Veronica back for bringing down The Great Aaron Echolls? How was he supposed to do that?
Veronica stirred and Logan’s attention moved back to the small blonde lying in his arms.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said by way of greeting.
“Hey, yourself.” She leaned up to kiss him. “That was fun.”
“You can cheapen my virtue any time you want,” he assured her and Veronica laughed.
Logan took as deep of a breath as his ribs would let him. “What you did yesterday-with the calls…” His voice drifted off. He hated…but he had to ask…
Veronica’s blood suddenly felt icy in her veins. “Look, Logan, I-“
“I’m not angry, Veronica! Trust me, I’m not…angry.” He looked down. “How am I-how do I say thank you for something like this? How do I pay you back?”
Veronica’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m serious! There’s no way-I mean, come on, Veronica.”
She stared at the boy she loved with all of her heart. “Logan.” He didn’t look up. “Logan?” she said more insistently, and he raised his eyes to hers. “What would you do? If it was me. What would you do to the person that hurt me like this?”
Logan didn’t hesitate. “I’d kill them.”
“Would you expect anything in return?”
“Of course not, but-“
“There’s no ‘but’, Logan. We’re partners. I love you, you love me, we’re in this together. Aaron hurt you, and I’m going to do worse than kill him. I’m going to take away everything that he thinks is important. And you don’t owe me anything. That’s just how it is.”
The eye contact between them was so intense, Veronica felt like she and Logan were going to merge together and become one person. Then one of them blinked and the moment was gone, but the connection was still there.
“Logan…” Veronica had to ask him something.
“Yeah?” he tenderly moved a piece of hair off of her face.
“I know what I’m going to do next-to Aaron…”
“Yeah?” he prodded her.
“I’m gonna need Mac’s help.” She said it quickly, afraid of his reaction, hating to disturb the peace between them, but knowing that she couldn’t do what needed to be done without talking to Logan first.
“And…you’re going to have to tell her…?” Logan’s question drifted off.
“No!” Veronica reassured him. “No. It’s just…she’s smart. She’ll probably…figure it out. You know, you’re like this, I go ask her to help me hack into your father’s computer…”
Logan didn’t need a roadmap. He could see where she was going.
“I gotcha.” He thought about what Veronica was asking. “This plan of yours-it’ll hurt him?”
“Yeah.”
He looked her in the eye again.
“Badly?”
“Yeah,” she said even more firmly.
“Then do what you have to do, Veronica. I trust you.”
*
Mac answered the knock on the door to find Veronica standing on her doorstep.
“Veronica,” she couldn’t hide her surprise.
“Can I come in?” asked the petite blonde.
“Of course.” Mac stepped back to let her friend in. “Let’s go to my room.”
“Who’s there, Cindy?” Mac’s mom called.
“It’s Veronica! We’re going to my room!” She turned to whisper to Veronica. “Quick, before we get accosted with cookies and juice!”
Laughing, the two of them barricade themselves in Mac’s inner sanctum.
“I need your help,” Veronica began.
“Anything. You know that.”
Veronica took a deep breath. “I have to go over to Logan’s house to pick up some things for him and while I’m there, I want you to log on to Aaron Echolls’ computer and see if there’s anything on it that shouldn’t be there.”
“Like what?”
“Like anything that’ll help me destroy his life and make his existence miserable.”
Mac blinked. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“All right. Can you go right now?”
“Sure. I’ll let my mom know we’re heading out.”
They didn’t discuss anything of universal importance on the drive to the wealthiest neighborhood in town. Veronica shared the user name and password that Logan had given her and when they got to the Echolls mansion she parked in the back near the servants’ entrance.
“If Aaron comes home, he won’t notice my car back here. The servants here might as well be invisible. Come on, I’ll take you up to the office.”
At no point had Mac asked Veronica why Aaron Echolls was soon to have his life ruined. It was pretty clear that her friend had figured out what really happened to Logan long before Veronica showed up on the Mackenzies’ front porch. Veronica was willing to leave it at that.
After she got Mac settled into the “office”, Veronica went to Logan’s room and gathered up some clothes and personal items. Then she began combing the house.
Veronica had insisted Mac use gloves while trawling through Aaron’s computer and she did the same thing herself. As her goal was to find out if anything in the house could get Aaron arrested, it would therefore follow that the police might eventually sweep it for prints. Veronica didn’t want her or Mac’s fingerprints showing up where they didn’t belong.
She was methodical, going through the house room by room. She checked her boyfriend’s room first and it was clean. She and Logan had discussed the possibility of Aaron hiding incriminating material in his son’s room, for no other reason than because he could. True to Logan’s word, there hadn’t even been any porno magazines, and she left his vent alone. Logan was entitled to any few remaining secrets that he might have.
She moved to the various storage closets, but she didn’t have high expectations for those-too much activity on the staff’s part for Aaron to try to hide anything there. She took special care in Aaron’s bedroom. Logan had told her that all of Lynn’s effects had been cleared out a week after his mother’s death, and the room was a little spartan.
Veronica checked all of the nooks and crannies that any room would have. She checked the corners where the walls met the carpet to see if anything was loose.
Nothing.
She checked all of the boxes in the closet, looked for hidden compartments and gave the room as thorough a once-over as she could without leaving any trace of her presence.
And she came up with nothing to show for her efforts.
“Damn it.”
She checked her watch. She had worked quickly and had gotten through everything in about an hour. She went to the office to check on Mac.
“Hey, Mac.”
“Hey, Veronica.”
“Whatcha found?”
Mac leaned back. “Aaron doesn’t know jack about computers, but someone who does installed his software. He has a program that erases all traces of any site that he goes to.”
“So no one can tell where he’s gone on the Internet.”
“Exactly. And he has another program installed that masks his IP address, so no matter where he goes-“
“-no one can tell that it’s him,” Veronica finished the blue-haired genius’s sentence.
“Right again.”
“So what can we do? To find out where he’s going,” pushed Veronica.
“Because if he’s trying this hard to cover his tracks…”
“He has to have something to hide.” Veronica stared at the computer. She wanted to know where the putrid scum that was Aaron Echolls was going in cyberspace. “So. What can you do?”
Before Mac could answer, the office’s dark window lit up with car headlights. Veronica ran over and looked down.
“Aaron’s back,” she said tensely. “Shut down the computer.”
Mac was already on it and the two of them rushed back to Logan’s room. Several minutes passed, though, and there were still no sounds downstairs.
Veronica looked out Logan’s window to check the pool area.
“There are lights on in the pool house.”
“The pool house?” Mac joined her. “Why would he go there?” The answer came to her the minute the words left her mouth. “Oh. Okay, then.”
“At least we know where he’ll be for the next few minutes,” said Veronica disdainfully. “How about we fix his computer and get outta Dodge?”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Mac proceeded to disable the special software on Aaron’s computer while outwardly making it appear as though it was working. According to the computer wizard, it wasn’t hard to do.
“All we have to do is come back in a few days and we should have a pretty good picture of what he’s doing.”
“And I’ll check out the pool house,” concluded Veronica.
-
“I can’t thank you enough, Mac.”
Veronica had just pulled up to the curb in front of Mac’s house.
Mac looked at her hands. “I know why he doesn’t want it to go public. But Aaron should still have to pay.” She didn’t elaborate and she didn’t have to. “I’m with you every step of the way.”
Veronica leaned over and gave her friend a hug.
“Thank you,” her voice was muffled against Mac’s blue hair.
“Call me,” said Mac as she got out of the car.
Veronica nodded and drove off into the night.
-
“What did I tell you? No Playboys.”
“It’s because you have me, isn’t it?” Veronica seductively started to unbutton her shirt, to the delight of the young man lounging on her living room sofa.
“Absolutely.”
Veronica stopped and Logan shook his head as if to clear away the fog in his brain.
“Um, Veronica?”
“I have to get into that pool house.”
Logan stared at the blonde ball of energy standing in front of him.
“Only if I come with you.”
“Logan-“ Veronica immediately started to protest.
“I’ve been a model patient.”
Veronica couldn’t argue with that. No man was supposed to be that good when he was sick.
“But I’m perfectly capable of moving around now. I was worried sick the entire time you were gone. My father has a temper, Veronica. You know that. What if he had caught you and Mac? You told him off on Saturday, remember?” Logan shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t handle you going back there alone. Besides, it’ll look better if I go with you. I don’t have to stay. We can just say that we have to pick up some more stuff and then leave.”
The light bulb turned on over Veronica’s head. Logan had been a good patient because he didn’t want to go home. As long as he was doing everything they told him to, Veronica and Keith were less likely to send him back to his cold, loveless mansion. But he was worried enough about Veronica going back there alone to risk just such exile.
Veronica nodded jerkily. She had to set his mind at ease, though.
“You know you can stay here as long as you like, right?”
Logan put out his arms and pulled her to him. He didn’t have full mobility in his left arm yet, but he was doing the exercises the doctor had given him, and it was getting better. He buried his face in her chest and Veronica snaked her fingers through his hair.
“I love you, Logan Echolls.”
“I love you back, Veronica Mars.”
*
They weren’t able to go to the house on Wednesday because Logan had to make an emergency trip back to the dentist. He woke up in the middle of the night in terrible pain. Fortunately Keith had gotten back from St. Louis not long before and was still awake when Logan awoke in a cold sweat, holding his jaw in agony.
The three of them rushed back to the emergency room, where they were told that an air pocket had formed around Logan’s new tooth. The ER doctor-a woman, not Dr. Lake-gave him some topical medicine for the pain and sent them home with orders to get to Dr. Abbott’s office the minute he opened his doors.
They did so and the dentist, amidst sincerest condolences and apologies, inserted a needle to withdraw the air from the infected area and used another needle to medicate the tooth.
“When an air pocket develops, the raw nerves are exposed, which is what hurts so much. It has to be fixed as quickly as possible or it’ll get infected,” Dr. Abbott explained in his slow drawl as he worked his magic on Logan’s mouth. “It’s not necessarily a common occurrence, but it’s not uncommon, either. There you go-all better.” The dentist put down the needle. “That nasty-tasting stuff the ER doc gave you is actually the best thing to put on it. I’ll give you a prescription for some extra pain killers just in case, though.” He turned his attention to Veronica. “All right, little lady, I’m gonna to leave it to you to make sure that Logan here doesn’t talk today. We need to give his mouth time to heal.”
“Yes, sir,” said Veronica. One automatically felt it appropriate to use the word “sir” when addressing Dr. Abbott. “Can he eat anything?”
“Broth only,” replied the dentist with a stern glance at Logan. “He should be ready to go back on simple solids tomorrow.”
Logan looked put-out.
“Don’t worry, Dr. Abbott. I’ll make sure he behaves himself,” Veronica assured the dentist sternly, noting the less-than-pleased look on her boyfriend’s face.
“We both will,” added Keith, who had come in from the lobby area where he had been waiting for his daughter and his new ward.
After they got Logan home, everyone went to bed, having been awake since three in the morning. Logan had been in too much pain to sleep after they got back from the ER and Keith and Veronica had been too concerned to leave him alone.
Veronica had text messaged their friends from the dentist’s office, and after she woke up that afternoon, she texted them again to let them know that everything was okay. She and Keith spent the afternoon and evening fussing over Logan and all three of them slept hard that evening.
Thursday dawned bright and sunny. Keith went back to work, but Veronica didn’t want to leave Logan alone, so she stayed home.
By that afternoon, Logan claimed to be fine and started pushing for the two of them to head over to his house, Veronica agreeing mainly because she was so desperate to search the pool house.
The house was empty except for servants when they got there, Veronica once again parking in the back.
“He’s probably off schmoozing his agent,” Logan muttered.
It didn’t take but a minute to find what they were looking for in the pool house. The entertainment center was locked, but Veronica picked it in under a minute, and hidden behind what was clearly a false panel was a stack of video tapes, all thoughtfully labeled with names and dates.
Veronica gasped.
“What?” Logan’s head whipped around.
Veronica pulled out a tape and showed it to him. It was labeled “Logan & Veronica” and bore the date of Lynn’s funeral.
Neither Logan nor Veronica seemed able to speak.
Logan made a strangled noise, pulling Veronica’s attention away from the tape in her hand to the stack in front of them. She followed Logan’s gaze to a trio of tapes with Lilly’s name on them. They were dated shortly before the vivacious girl’s untimely death.
“That’s statutory rape,” was the only thing Veronica could think to say.
“So’s this one,” Logan said bitterly, pulling out a tape from the previous year labeled “Madison”. “She would have been fifteen.”
“We’ve got him,” said Veronica.
-
Four hours later, the FBI descended on Aaron Echolls’ palatial estate in Neptune, California, confiscating dozens of illegally-made sex tapes, including several that featured underage girls. They also found evidence on his laptop that in the previous 48 hours, the action star had visited several porn sites devoted to teenage girls.
They arrested Logan’s father in the middle of a Hollywood power meeting, charging him with statutory rape, child pornography, and a host of other charges related to his videotaping fetish and penchant for young teenage girls.
The press had a field day.
“AARON ECHOLLS AND HIS POOL HOUSE OF LOVE”
“AARON ECHOLLS’ DEN OF INIQUITY”
“FAME TODAY: HOW FAR WILL IT GO?”
“ACTION STAR CHARGED AS PEDOPHILE”
Regardless of the final outcome, Aaron’s life as he had known it was over.
*
Duncan was listening to Logan and Veronica watch the news. Aaron was a bad guy, Duncan would give them that. But since this whole thing with Logan’s dad had started, Logan and Veronica hadn’t talked about Duncan once, and the troubled young man was not okay with that. He liked it when Logan and Veronica were focused on him, not some two-bit Hollywood action hero. Pedophile or not.
They had forgotten all about him, and that left Duncan feeling cold and empty.
*
“Aaron Echolls was arrested yesterday in Los Angeles on charges of statutory rape, child pornography-“
Veronica turned off the TV and burrowed into Logan’s side.
“I’m so sorry, Logan.” She wasn’t referring to his father being arrested.
“Me, too.” Neither was he.
The tape of the two of them was sitting on the coffee table. They hadn’t been able to watch it, but they had taken it with them so it wouldn’t be found by the FBI.
Without warning, Veronica got up and went into the kitchen.
“What?” asked Logan.
She didn’t answer, pulling a meat tenderizer out of a drawer. Logan watched as Veronica put the video tape on the carpet and knelt in front of it. She gestured for him to join her.
Logan got off to couch to kneel next to his girlfriend. He wrapped his hand around hers and together the two of them smashed the tape into miniscule pieces.
*
They were asleep on the couch when there was a knock on the door. Veronica, as per usual when she was sleeping with Logan, didn’t hear it. Logan gently laid her down and got up to answer the knock.
At the sight of the person on the other side, Logan turned around.
“Veronica,” he called. “Veronica!” he called more loudly when she didn’t stir.
The blonde on the couch opened her eyes sleepily.
“Your mom is here.”
To be continued…