Tyranny of the Urgent: Chapter Twenty-Two: Part One: Throw One's Self Into the Wave
Chapter Twenty-Two: Part One:
Throw One’s Self Into the Wave
“Psst, Veronica.” Veronica buried her head farther in her pillows. “It’s the big day, dorkus!”
“Lilly?” Veronica questioned, waking up fast. But it was her mother who entered her field of vision.
“Up and at em, honey. Can you believe the big day is finally here?”
Her parents laughed and joked and kissed. She wished it could happen again.
“What? A comment? Get a room? You just gagged in your mouth?” Keith asked sarcastically while Lianne giggled.
“No, it's nice.”
It was nice.
Veronica walked across the lunch quad with her cap and gown. Wallace passed by her.
“Wallace!”
“What?”
“Stop. Where are you going?”
“They want the jocks to take a special photo on the other end of the field.”
“Are you coming by later?”
“Me and the fellas are going out, then I gotta get Jane. But I’ll catch ya tomorrow.”
“You’re ditching me on grad?”
“Hey, you got your own boyfriend.”
Wallace left to take his photo.
Veronica wandered to the 09er lunch table wondering who her boyfriend was.
“Hey, sweetie.” Of course. It was him. It was always him.
“Guess who’s going commando?” Dick laughed from the other side of the table.
“Please let’s not guess,” Duncan said, shifting his baby from one arm to the next.
“Duncan, your baby!”
“Yeah, Meg asked me to look after him while she took photos with her parents.”
“Him?”
“Yeah, him.”
“I thought…never mind. I have to find Mac.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Veronica looked up at Logan. He was holding the cap that she’d dropped. He leaned over and gave it to her, then grazed her lips gently.
“Thanks,” she breathed and walked away quickly.
“Having fun without me?”
“Lilly?” Veronica circled trying to find out where Lilly’s voice was coming from. She spotted Lilly standing by her memorial fountain.
“He’s in jail, Lilly. He’s getting justice.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Veronica Mars.” Veronica grabbed Lilly in a hug. “Don’t let your guard down now. There’s always more coming. Always more to do.”
“What?” Veronica asked, confused.
“Don’t you think we have plenty to do now that we’re dead? One down, one to go, Veronica.” Lilly quirked her head to the side. “Do you smell bacon?”
Veronica jerked awake and then lay back on her pillow.
***
This was the second time in two days that Duncan had stood in court waiting for a verdict. It was just as nerve wracking the second time. Meg stood beside him, holding Lilly, with her head held high. But he could tell that she was trembling. She was still weak from having been in the crash and then giving birth. But she hadn’t backed down yet.
He loved that about her. He wondered what he was going to do now that he was graduating. Meg would have to complete another year before she could receive her diploma, having lost so many days in the hospital. It hadn’t been worth her coming back for just a few months. Duncan knew he could support both of them even if he didn’t have to. And that without his parent’s money.
His parents hadn’t been happy about the news of his child or their court battle. They were still in legal entanglements themselves. But Celeste was happy it wasn’t Veronica and Jake was now thrilled to have a granddaughter. They were going to try and interfere just as much as Meg’s parents were planning on. It didn’t matter who won in court today; both sets of parents would try to run their lives.
It was up to him, and to Meg, to make sure that whatever happened to the two of them, their baby was happy.
“All rise.”
“In the case of Kane and Manning vs. Manning, the court has reached a verdict. Full custody will be granted to the biological parents.” Meg squeezed Duncan’s hand so hard that he winced even as he smiled. “The Mannings will have the right to see their grandchild though the extent of visitation will be decided upon by the parents.” The gavel banged down and their lives could start again.
Duncan crushed Meg in his arms and they held Lilly between them.
“Meg?” She turned to see her parents. It was slightly awkward, but they looked devastated.
“Hey, Mom.”
“You will let us see her, won’t you?”
“How about you watch her for us after graduation today?”
Smiles broke out over her parents’ faces.
“You know my parents are going to butt in too, right?” Duncan murmured in her ear. Meg smiled.
“We can take them.”
***
“He was boozing it up in the Road Hog, so I figured I’d get a confession right there. He’s willing to testify.”
Keith was surprisingly impressed with the young man, standing beside him, who was obviously uncomfortable in the Sheriff’s office.
“Thank you, Eli.”
“No problem, Sheriff. Can I go now? I got this thing called graduation.”
“Sure thing. Listen, Veronica tells me she’s interested in hiring you at the office. It’s still legally my decision and I think I’ll be telling her it’s okay.”
“Seriously?” Weevil’s face split in a smile. “You ain’t yanking my chain or nothing, are you?”
“No yanking,” Keith promised. “It was some good work finding this guy. I’ll see you at the ceremony.” Weevil nodded and booked it out of the office. Keith shook his head. The man would have to get used to being in there if he wanted to work as a private investigator.
Keith headed into the interrogation room where Kendall sat.
“I didn’t know what he was going to do with the hair,” she was telling Sacks impatiently. “But I’m not going to take the fall for him. You can’t prove I did any of that.”
“You’re contradicting yourself, Mrs. Casablancas,” Keith told her. “We have the guy who you hired, under Mr. Echolls' orders, to reframe Logan Echolls. He was paid by you to steal state evidence.”
“Some lowlife off the street is having his word taken over mine?”
“He’s doing what I encourage you to do. Pass the buck. Tell us about Aaron’s involvement and I can promise you, your punishment will be less severe.”
Kendall glared at him.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
***
Veronica hugged her dad and made her way to her seat. Keith took his place beside Alicia. It was sad not having her mom there, but she was glad that Keith and Alicia were still managing to hang onto something together. That was despite everything that had happened over the last school year. She imagined things would be better when she and Wallace went off to college. At least when she figured out where to go to college now that she’d sacrificed her Stanford dreams.
“Hey, Veronica.” Veronica spun at Mac’s tap on her shoulder. “Guess who’s got a room at the Neptune Grand tonight?”
“Beaver and some hot chick?”
“If by hot you mean me, then yes,” Mac said somewhat testily. They took their places as Veronica laughed to herself. Mac was so easy to annoy.
“Logan Echolls!” Veronica forced herself to look up as Logan almost waltzed across the stage. The boy had more grace than was good for him. Dick started catcalling from where he sat in the audience. Veronica chuckled slightly. Poor Mr. Wu had to endure Dick all summer long.
“Wallace Fennel!” The sports fan of Neptune High erupted in cheers. Alicia and Keith both rose to their feet and joined in. Veronica started to realize how much in tandem they did everything. It was a thought she decided not to dwell on as she hollered for her best friend.
“Duncan Kane!” Meg cheered as loud as she could while her parents did their best to shield Lilly’s ears from the noise. Jake clapped enthusiastically while Celeste applauded as loudly as society dictated was proper. Duncan received his diploma and sat down, relieved that his student body president duties were at an end.
“Cindy MacKenzie!” Cassidy was tempted to rise to his feet. He felt like he owed it to her. But he didn’t. Instead, he clapped while her parents stood up and waved their video camera around. Mac’s cheeks blushed red and she hurried to her seat.
“Veronica Mars!” Keith’s voice could be heard above everyone else as he rooted for his daughter. Veronica was amazed to see how many people were clapping. All of her friends, Wallace, Weevil, Mac, Meg, and Duncan. Logan. But it was more than that. Even Dick was clapping for her. She shook Clemmons' hand and returned to her seat, feeling slightly sorry for her bad feelings toward Neptune High.
“Eli Nevarro!” Veronica clapped extra hard for Weevil. It had taken a lot to get him on that stage and she wanted the moment given the praise it deserved. She glanced back at Weevil’s grandma and saw her silently weeping. Veronica turned back towards the stage and noticed Weevil giving her a silent nod of thanks. She nodded back. They’d come a long way from him taping Wallace to a pole. Weevil sat down and surreptitiously wiped away a tear from his own eye. He’d done it and his grandma had seen it. He couldn’t believe it.
“I present to you the Neptune High Class of 2006.”
Moments later, having hugged many people, some she didn’t even know, Veronica made her way through the crowd to find her father. He grinned and pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket.
“For you on this momentous occasion.” Veronica took the envelope and felt it up and down. She shook it and smelt it while Keith smiled at her. She jumped up and down with childish glee.
“A pony?” Keith shook his head in despair. She opened the envelope and pulled out airline tickets. “New York?”
“We leave Tuesday.”
“Broadway, Soho, the MOMA?”
“Um, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Madison Square Gardens.”
“Oh, thank you so much. This is awesome.” She hugged him fiercely. “Awesome. Now, go catch Woody. I get creeped out just knowing he's out there somewhere.”
“All right. You have fun tonight.”
“That's the plan.” Her father mingled back into the crowd and she
started as someone smacked her butt. Dick looked down at her, unashamed.
“Put on your dancing shoes, Mars, cause tonight...” He started to dance. “We're gonna up chuck to the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie the beat.”
“Up chuck?” He pointed at her.
“You heard me.” Veronica honestly wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She decided she’d had enough celebrating and headed for her car, passing a grinning Alicia fawning over Wallace. She avoided anywhere she thought Logan might be. She swore she was going to talk to him, but not yet. Not until Woody was behind bars.
***
While I may be reasonably sure that Woody crashed the bus to silence Marcos and Peter, I have to find out who the third victim was and why he wasn’t on the bus. I can only think of one place where the full roster of the team is listed on the picture. In fact, there’s only one boy’s name I need.
Veronica stepped into the air conditioned room of Woody’s local hamburger joint. The walls were covered with memorabilia and paraphernalia from anything involving Woody and baseball. She quickly found the Little League Sharks team.
“Derek Applegate? Hmm, where can I find you?”
Something caught her eye and Veronica went pale as she read:
Not Pictured: Cassidy Casablancas.
Her world spun as everything fit into place; puzzle pieces of morbid shapes that clicked together with sickening thuds. She tried hard not to retch.
”I thought you’d come here,” said a voice from behind her. Veronica froze as she recognized the voice. She slowly turned to see Cassidy behind her. “Hey, Veronica.”
Throw One’s Self Into the Wave
“Psst, Veronica.” Veronica buried her head farther in her pillows. “It’s the big day, dorkus!”
“Lilly?” Veronica questioned, waking up fast. But it was her mother who entered her field of vision.
“Up and at em, honey. Can you believe the big day is finally here?”
Her parents laughed and joked and kissed. She wished it could happen again.
“What? A comment? Get a room? You just gagged in your mouth?” Keith asked sarcastically while Lianne giggled.
“No, it's nice.”
It was nice.
Veronica walked across the lunch quad with her cap and gown. Wallace passed by her.
“Wallace!”
“What?”
“Stop. Where are you going?”
“They want the jocks to take a special photo on the other end of the field.”
“Are you coming by later?”
“Me and the fellas are going out, then I gotta get Jane. But I’ll catch ya tomorrow.”
“You’re ditching me on grad?”
“Hey, you got your own boyfriend.”
Wallace left to take his photo.
Veronica wandered to the 09er lunch table wondering who her boyfriend was.
“Hey, sweetie.” Of course. It was him. It was always him.
“Guess who’s going commando?” Dick laughed from the other side of the table.
“Please let’s not guess,” Duncan said, shifting his baby from one arm to the next.
“Duncan, your baby!”
“Yeah, Meg asked me to look after him while she took photos with her parents.”
“Him?”
“Yeah, him.”
“I thought…never mind. I have to find Mac.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Veronica looked up at Logan. He was holding the cap that she’d dropped. He leaned over and gave it to her, then grazed her lips gently.
“Thanks,” she breathed and walked away quickly.
“Having fun without me?”
“Lilly?” Veronica circled trying to find out where Lilly’s voice was coming from. She spotted Lilly standing by her memorial fountain.
“He’s in jail, Lilly. He’s getting justice.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Veronica Mars.” Veronica grabbed Lilly in a hug. “Don’t let your guard down now. There’s always more coming. Always more to do.”
“What?” Veronica asked, confused.
“Don’t you think we have plenty to do now that we’re dead? One down, one to go, Veronica.” Lilly quirked her head to the side. “Do you smell bacon?”
Veronica jerked awake and then lay back on her pillow.
***
This was the second time in two days that Duncan had stood in court waiting for a verdict. It was just as nerve wracking the second time. Meg stood beside him, holding Lilly, with her head held high. But he could tell that she was trembling. She was still weak from having been in the crash and then giving birth. But she hadn’t backed down yet.
He loved that about her. He wondered what he was going to do now that he was graduating. Meg would have to complete another year before she could receive her diploma, having lost so many days in the hospital. It hadn’t been worth her coming back for just a few months. Duncan knew he could support both of them even if he didn’t have to. And that without his parent’s money.
His parents hadn’t been happy about the news of his child or their court battle. They were still in legal entanglements themselves. But Celeste was happy it wasn’t Veronica and Jake was now thrilled to have a granddaughter. They were going to try and interfere just as much as Meg’s parents were planning on. It didn’t matter who won in court today; both sets of parents would try to run their lives.
It was up to him, and to Meg, to make sure that whatever happened to the two of them, their baby was happy.
“All rise.”
“In the case of Kane and Manning vs. Manning, the court has reached a verdict. Full custody will be granted to the biological parents.” Meg squeezed Duncan’s hand so hard that he winced even as he smiled. “The Mannings will have the right to see their grandchild though the extent of visitation will be decided upon by the parents.” The gavel banged down and their lives could start again.
Duncan crushed Meg in his arms and they held Lilly between them.
“Meg?” She turned to see her parents. It was slightly awkward, but they looked devastated.
“Hey, Mom.”
“You will let us see her, won’t you?”
“How about you watch her for us after graduation today?”
Smiles broke out over her parents’ faces.
“You know my parents are going to butt in too, right?” Duncan murmured in her ear. Meg smiled.
“We can take them.”
***
“He was boozing it up in the Road Hog, so I figured I’d get a confession right there. He’s willing to testify.”
Keith was surprisingly impressed with the young man, standing beside him, who was obviously uncomfortable in the Sheriff’s office.
“Thank you, Eli.”
“No problem, Sheriff. Can I go now? I got this thing called graduation.”
“Sure thing. Listen, Veronica tells me she’s interested in hiring you at the office. It’s still legally my decision and I think I’ll be telling her it’s okay.”
“Seriously?” Weevil’s face split in a smile. “You ain’t yanking my chain or nothing, are you?”
“No yanking,” Keith promised. “It was some good work finding this guy. I’ll see you at the ceremony.” Weevil nodded and booked it out of the office. Keith shook his head. The man would have to get used to being in there if he wanted to work as a private investigator.
Keith headed into the interrogation room where Kendall sat.
“I didn’t know what he was going to do with the hair,” she was telling Sacks impatiently. “But I’m not going to take the fall for him. You can’t prove I did any of that.”
“You’re contradicting yourself, Mrs. Casablancas,” Keith told her. “We have the guy who you hired, under Mr. Echolls' orders, to reframe Logan Echolls. He was paid by you to steal state evidence.”
“Some lowlife off the street is having his word taken over mine?”
“He’s doing what I encourage you to do. Pass the buck. Tell us about Aaron’s involvement and I can promise you, your punishment will be less severe.”
Kendall glared at him.
“Fine. What do you want to know?”
***
Veronica hugged her dad and made her way to her seat. Keith took his place beside Alicia. It was sad not having her mom there, but she was glad that Keith and Alicia were still managing to hang onto something together. That was despite everything that had happened over the last school year. She imagined things would be better when she and Wallace went off to college. At least when she figured out where to go to college now that she’d sacrificed her Stanford dreams.
“Hey, Veronica.” Veronica spun at Mac’s tap on her shoulder. “Guess who’s got a room at the Neptune Grand tonight?”
“Beaver and some hot chick?”
“If by hot you mean me, then yes,” Mac said somewhat testily. They took their places as Veronica laughed to herself. Mac was so easy to annoy.
“Logan Echolls!” Veronica forced herself to look up as Logan almost waltzed across the stage. The boy had more grace than was good for him. Dick started catcalling from where he sat in the audience. Veronica chuckled slightly. Poor Mr. Wu had to endure Dick all summer long.
“Wallace Fennel!” The sports fan of Neptune High erupted in cheers. Alicia and Keith both rose to their feet and joined in. Veronica started to realize how much in tandem they did everything. It was a thought she decided not to dwell on as she hollered for her best friend.
“Duncan Kane!” Meg cheered as loud as she could while her parents did their best to shield Lilly’s ears from the noise. Jake clapped enthusiastically while Celeste applauded as loudly as society dictated was proper. Duncan received his diploma and sat down, relieved that his student body president duties were at an end.
“Cindy MacKenzie!” Cassidy was tempted to rise to his feet. He felt like he owed it to her. But he didn’t. Instead, he clapped while her parents stood up and waved their video camera around. Mac’s cheeks blushed red and she hurried to her seat.
“Veronica Mars!” Keith’s voice could be heard above everyone else as he rooted for his daughter. Veronica was amazed to see how many people were clapping. All of her friends, Wallace, Weevil, Mac, Meg, and Duncan. Logan. But it was more than that. Even Dick was clapping for her. She shook Clemmons' hand and returned to her seat, feeling slightly sorry for her bad feelings toward Neptune High.
“Eli Nevarro!” Veronica clapped extra hard for Weevil. It had taken a lot to get him on that stage and she wanted the moment given the praise it deserved. She glanced back at Weevil’s grandma and saw her silently weeping. Veronica turned back towards the stage and noticed Weevil giving her a silent nod of thanks. She nodded back. They’d come a long way from him taping Wallace to a pole. Weevil sat down and surreptitiously wiped away a tear from his own eye. He’d done it and his grandma had seen it. He couldn’t believe it.
“I present to you the Neptune High Class of 2006.”
Moments later, having hugged many people, some she didn’t even know, Veronica made her way through the crowd to find her father. He grinned and pulled an envelope from his jacket pocket.
“For you on this momentous occasion.” Veronica took the envelope and felt it up and down. She shook it and smelt it while Keith smiled at her. She jumped up and down with childish glee.
“A pony?” Keith shook his head in despair. She opened the envelope and pulled out airline tickets. “New York?”
“We leave Tuesday.”
“Broadway, Soho, the MOMA?”
“Um, Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Madison Square Gardens.”
“Oh, thank you so much. This is awesome.” She hugged him fiercely. “Awesome. Now, go catch Woody. I get creeped out just knowing he's out there somewhere.”
“All right. You have fun tonight.”
“That's the plan.” Her father mingled back into the crowd and she
started as someone smacked her butt. Dick looked down at her, unashamed.
“Put on your dancing shoes, Mars, cause tonight...” He started to dance. “We're gonna up chuck to the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie the beat.”
“Up chuck?” He pointed at her.
“You heard me.” Veronica honestly wasn’t quite sure how to respond. She decided she’d had enough celebrating and headed for her car, passing a grinning Alicia fawning over Wallace. She avoided anywhere she thought Logan might be. She swore she was going to talk to him, but not yet. Not until Woody was behind bars.
***
While I may be reasonably sure that Woody crashed the bus to silence Marcos and Peter, I have to find out who the third victim was and why he wasn’t on the bus. I can only think of one place where the full roster of the team is listed on the picture. In fact, there’s only one boy’s name I need.
Veronica stepped into the air conditioned room of Woody’s local hamburger joint. The walls were covered with memorabilia and paraphernalia from anything involving Woody and baseball. She quickly found the Little League Sharks team.
“Derek Applegate? Hmm, where can I find you?”
Something caught her eye and Veronica went pale as she read:
Not Pictured: Cassidy Casablancas.
Her world spun as everything fit into place; puzzle pieces of morbid shapes that clicked together with sickening thuds. She tried hard not to retch.
”I thought you’d come here,” said a voice from behind her. Veronica froze as she recognized the voice. She slowly turned to see Cassidy behind her. “Hey, Veronica.”