Fic: Undercover Angel, Part I (Veronica, Cassidy, Logan and Dick), Rated: R
Title: Undercover Angel, Part I
Author: skk670
Pairing/Characters: Veronica, Cassidy, Logan, and Dick
Word Count: 2,600
Rating: R (Bad Language and Sexual Situations)
Summary: This season's mysteries began to unravel - and Veronica is at the center of it all.
Spoilers/Warnings: Episode 2-13 (Season II to date)
Authors Notes: This idea came to me, fully formed, the other day. I thought about it and wondered if this couldn't be RT's plan for the season. Could it be? Nah, it's just my wild speculation.
Much thanks to my wonderful betas picklepocket, Fickledame and moire2
Undercover Angel
Part I - The Conspiracy Unfolds
Veronica turned from her locker, slamming it shut smartly. Her calm expression stiffened into mild disgust when she saw who was standing behind her.
“Well, well, Deputy Lamb, what brings you here?” Her voice was cool and mocking, unruffled.
“Veronica Mars. The day has finally come.” Lamb smirked, his expression smug, confident. He looked like Wile E. Coyote did just as he was about to reach for the Road Runner. The same Wile E. that never caught the Road Runner.
Did Lamb ever watch the Road Runner cartoons? He should have. They would have taught him a lot about law enforcement. About the futility of battling Veronica Mars.
“And what day is that?” Veronica asked mildly. “The first Wednesday after a long hiatus of 'Lost'?”
Lamb’s smug smile never wavered. In fact, it grew wider as they began to attract a crowd of gawking Neptune High students. He puffed up with self-importance as Principal Clemmons came to join them.
“What seems to be the problem, Sheriff?” Clemmons asked, adopting his accustomed dour expression.
“I’m here to arrest Veronica Mars,” Lamb replied with poorly suppressed glee.
“Well, if at first you don’t succeed,” Clemmons muttered, his voice pitched low so that only Lamb and Veronica could hear him.
Veronica’s soft chuckle, combined with Clemmons’ clear annoyance caused Lamb’s face to tighten for an instant. But the smugness returned when he pulled out his handcuffs. Lamb looked around at the growing crowd and shook out the cuffs, the clang of the metal clasps clearly audible in the uncharacteristically silent hallway. His gaze landed on Logan Echolls and his eyes lit up.
Logan stiffened as he stepped forward. He looked tense but ready for a fight, if necessary.
Veronica remained serene. She crossed her arms under her breasts, leaned casually against the bank of lockers and looked at Lamb with bored disinterest.
“What is it this time, Lamb?” she asked, her voice dripping with condescension. “Jaywalking? Littering? Putting my elbows on the dinner table?”
Lamb turned back to her, his expression positively joyful. He fought to rein in his delight and speak with the appropriate authority and sobriety.
“Your luck has finally run out, Mars,” he crowed, failing miserably to hide his satisfaction. “Your partner in crime has just sold you out.”
Veronica gave an exaggerated sigh. “Do you just enjoy me making a fool of you?” she wondered idly. “Is that why you’re here?”
Lamb’s eyes narrowed and the joviality disappeared from his expression. “Not this time, Mars,” he snarled. “This time I’m here to arrest you for the kidnapping of Faith Manning.”
Veronica stared at him silently, her calm, bored expression never wavering. “We went through this weeks ago.” She rolled her eyes with disdain. “I know it’s hard for you, but try to keep up.” She hitched her messenger bag higher on her shoulder. “You should invest in a PDA or at least a permanent marker so you can write notes on the back of your hand.”
Lamb snapped open the cuffs. “Maybe you should have invested in a partner who doesn’t sell you out when a better offer comes along.” He stepped behind Veronica. “Arms behind you back,” he ordered.
Veronica heaved an exaggerated sigh and complied. “As usual Lamb, you’ve got nothing.”
The click of the cuffs snapping closed was clearly audible in the silent hallway. Lamb spoke from behind her, satisfaction coating his every word. “I’ve got a witness who tells me that you and Kane never broke up. That you plotted with him to kidnap the Manning baby.”
“Did you get this story out of a Harlequin romance novel or did you think it up all by yourself?” Veronica shook her head and rolled her eyes, clearly not intimidated by Lamb or his words.
Lamb gave her an ungentle push and started her moving forward. “I gotta hand it to you, Mars. I knew you were devious, but I didn’t know you were this devious. This witness,” he emphasized, “also told me that you’d been conspiring for months.”
“Really?” Clemmons said as he walked along side of them, as unimpressed with Lamb as Veronica was. “And this witness necessitated you arresting Miss Mars during school hours?”
Lamb grit his teeth, but then his gaze fell again upon Logan and Lamb’s mouth curved into a malicious smile. He leaned closer to Veronica and spoke loudly and clearly for Logan’s benefit. “My witness also told me how you set up Logan Echolls as a diversionary tactic. Weren’t you dating him at the time, Veronica?”
Lamb spoke to Veronica but kept his eyes on Logan, enjoying the shock on the teenager’s face. “That’s cold, Mars. Setting up your own boyfriend like that?” His smile turned glacial as he watched the blood drain from Logan’s face. “I didn’t think you had it in you.” He allowed a note of admiration to creep into his voice.
There was a slight setting to Veronica’s features, a faint narrowing of her mouth and a sliver of ice in her cool blue eyes. The change in her expression was so subtle that, unless the person knew her well, they wouldn’t even have noticed it.
But Logan knew Veronica well. And it scared him. Veronica had set him up? When? Why? He tried to catch her attention, hoping for some reassurance that Lamb was lying. Veronica had the most expressive eyes, once you learned to decode them. A single glance could speak volumes.
But the reassurance didn’t come. Veronica didn’t meet his gaze. Her focus was on someone else, telegraphing another message that was more important to her than Logan. Logan followed the line of her sight and his gaze landed on Cassidy Casablancas.
While Veronica’s expression was still impassive, Cassidy’s face was the classic example of someone trying desperately to maintain a poker face.
And failing miserably.
Logan’s gaze shifted back to Veronica but she was still locked in a stare with Cassidy. Cassidy must have also learned to decode Veronica’s eyes because he relaxed more the longer she held his gaze. Then she and Lamb walked past him and Cassidy jerked, as if startled out of a trance. He looked up and his gaze tangled with Logan’s.
Cassidy turned abruptly and fought his way out of the crowd. Logan swiveled his head to look at Lamb and Veronica, but they were walking out the front doors now. He turned to look down the hallway Cassidy had taken and saw the younger boy quickly round the corner. Logan reacted instinctively and went after Cassidy.
He pushed through the crowd, not listening to their giggles and catty comments, intent on finding Cassidy and figuring out what this was all about. He finally broke through the crowd and practically ran down the hall. Just as he turned the corner, Dick Casablancas materialized before him.
“Dude!” Dick spoke in his usual careless surfer drawl. “Did you hear? Your trashy ex-girlfr-”
Logan cut Dick off the quickest way he knew how. He grabbed Dick’s face, putting his palm on the blonde’s chin and gripped the sides of his face, like he was muzzling an obnoxious dog.
“Shut up. This is important,” Logan ordered. “Did you see where Beaver went?” he demanded, removing his hand.
Dick nodded cautiously and pointed to the door at the end of the hall. “Yeah, he went out that door.”
Logan pushed away from his annoying friend and ran down the hallway, his sneakers making squeaking noises on the polished floor. He reached the door and was out into the side parking lot in an instant. There were rows and rows of cars but no familiar dark head.
He was still looking around silently when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked back and saw that Dick had followed him out. Dick opened his mouth to speak and Logan shook his head sharply. For once, Dick used the intelligence he was rarely credited with and kept his mouth shut.
Logan mouthed ‘Where is Beaver?’ and Dick shook his head. Logan gritted his teeth and turned to walk down the rows of parked cars.
“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay.” Cassidy’s voice was strong and confident.
Logan stopped and turned at the sound of Cassidy’s voice, but Cassidy wasn’t there. Dick took Logan’s arm again and pulled him behind an aging Chevy Suburban. Logan peered cautiously around the hood of the SUV and saw Cassidy pacing back and forth at the end of the lot, a cell phone held to his ear.
“It’s just Lamb.” Cassidy was still speaking. “He doesn’t have the brains to put together a three piece puzzle. There’s no way he knows what’s going on. Lamb is such a moron that all he can focus on is this kidnapping. He doesn’t even see the bigger picture.”
He listened for a moment to the person on the other end of the call. “No, there’s nothing that can connect us to this.” He continued to pace, showing the nervousness he was keeping out of his voice. “Veronica is the only one they can nail for this, if they knew what was really going on.”
There was another short pause and Cassidy stopped pacing. “Lamb could line up a dozen witnesses and it’s not going to matter. You and I are clear. The only people that can connect us to this are Duncan and Veronica. Duncan is gone and Veronica is not going to turn on us.”
Logan leaned forward to make sure he didn’t miss a word of Cassidy’s side of the conversation. He looked back briefly at Dick, but Dick was staring hard at a rust spot on the side of the SUV. Logan gave a mental snort of derision. Staring hard at the spot was more than enough to keep Dick fully occupied.
“Duncan’s out of the equation, they’ll never find him.” Cassidy continued to calm his nervous caller. “And even if they do, they can’t extradite him.”
Cassidy sighed audibly through the next silence. “Yeah, he got the money.” His voice lowered in pitch. “Don’t worry, they’re locked down. Lamb and the Feds can’t touch them.”
Logan wrinkled his brow as he tried to reason out what he was hearing. He looked again at Dick but Dick was still focused on the rust spot.
“It’s only for a couple of more weeks and this will be all over.” Cassidy’s voice was low and soothing, he was calming himself as well as his caller.
“Come on! Has Veronica ever let you down?” Now confidence crept into Cassidy’s voice. “When you came to her for help, didn’t she drop everything for you?”
Cassidy began pacing again and Logan ducked further behind the protection of the SUV. Dick remained unmoving, still in his own little world.
“The witness is no problem.” Cassidy was speaking briskly, smoothly, fully reassured himself. “We have a contingency plan for this because we knew it would happen. I actually thought it would happen sooner than this.”
Cassidy stopped not ten feet from Logan and Dick’s hiding place. “No, Veronica is not going to roll over on us. Why would she? Lamb’s got nothing on her.”
Cassidy listened some more then laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s all part of the plan. Trust Veronica, she knows what she’s doing.”
Cassidy leaned against a pickup and casually crossed his ankles. “Has she been wrong yet?”
He listened to his caller and apparently didn’t like what he was hearing. He straightened up and annoyance flashed across his face. “You know how smart she is. You know how well she can read people. Do you remember when we were setting this up? I suggested throwing Kendall at Logan and laughed because I thought that it was so funny.”
Bitterness now glazed Cassidy’s words, making them hard and brittle. “I said there was no way that Kendall would be stupid enough to risk her cushy lifestyle to fuck a horny teenager. And that there was no way Logan would shit on his friendship with Dick by screwing stepmommy dearest. Do you remember what Veronica said?”
Logan stiffened and his mouth compressed into a hard line. He looked at Dick again but Dick had shifted his gaze to the ground, his face closed off and set. But he was listening to every word.
Cassidy laughed again, but this time there was no humor in it. “Yeah, in a heartbeat. In a fucking heartbeat.” The bitterness was now turning into rage. “Logan’s only loyalty is to himself. After everything Veronica did behind the scenes to make sure the DA dropped charges for that biker’s murder, he pulled that shit on her.”
Logan’s mouth fell open. He sat down abruptly on the dirty cement, stunned.
Cassidy took another deep breath and his shoulders sagged. “I know, I know. I knew they were going to pull some stupid prank, but I didn’t think they’d push it that far.” He was mumbling by the end, clearly embarrassed by his part in the events of the previous summer.
Logan hung his head and chewed on his lower lip, regret and confusion coloring his face. He snuck another peek at Dick but Dick’s face was its usual blank countenance. Dick Casabalancas hid a lot behind his mask of careless indifference.
Cassidy listened to his caller for a long time. “That’s the beauty of it. Logan and Kendall are each other’s alibis. Neither of them can connect us to this because they were with each other every time.” This time his laugh was almost gleeful. “I can’t believe Veronica made it work. I didn’t think Kendall would hold out this long. Logan isn’t that great a lay but he is that stupid. They deserve each other.”
Logan grit his teeth and his muscles tensed. He was about to spring out of his hiding place when Dick caught his arm with surprising strength. Logan looked at him in shock and Dick shook his head with an uncharacteristic serious expression. Logan hesitated then relaxed back to the cement.
“Course I’m pissed.” Cassidy was speaking again, his voice nearly a growl. “If Logan had shown some loyalty and trusted Veronica, none of this shit would have happened. But no, he had to think with his dick and fuck up everybody’s lives. I can’t believe that Veronica is still trying to protect that ungrateful little shit.”
Logan looked startled then his face flushed dark red with embarrassment and shame. He looked at the ground and shut his eyes.
Cassidy was back to reassuring his caller. “She won’t crack. I promise you, she won’t crack.”
There was only a brief pause before he added, “There’s no need, she’ll be fine.”
Cassidy sighed again, but this time it sounded indulgent. “Okay, if it makes you feel better, call Morganstein. But Lamb’s so fucking incompetent that even Cliff will have her out in an hour.”
His good humor returned as he continued to speak. “She won’t need it.” He paused to listen to his caller. “Fine, if she needs it, I’ve got the money ready.”
A huge smile nearly split Cassidy’s face as he listened. “Nope. Even then, there’s no link to us.” He laughed joyfully. “The Phoenix Land Trust is cash rich and has a very cushy bank account in the Cayman Islands. The firm’s lawyer has access to that account, at his discretion. Mrs. Kendall Casablancas, CEO of Phoenix, in her infinite wisdom, set that up.”
Cassidy laughed again as he walked away. “Isn’t that a kicker? If Veronica needs bail, Kendall will provide it. It seems that stepmommy is good for more than diverting stupid, horny high school boys.”
Author: skk670
Pairing/Characters: Veronica, Cassidy, Logan, and Dick
Word Count: 2,600
Rating: R (Bad Language and Sexual Situations)
Summary: This season's mysteries began to unravel - and Veronica is at the center of it all.
Spoilers/Warnings: Episode 2-13 (Season II to date)
Authors Notes: This idea came to me, fully formed, the other day. I thought about it and wondered if this couldn't be RT's plan for the season. Could it be? Nah, it's just my wild speculation.
Much thanks to my wonderful betas picklepocket, Fickledame and moire2
Undercover Angel
Part I - The Conspiracy Unfolds
Veronica turned from her locker, slamming it shut smartly. Her calm expression stiffened into mild disgust when she saw who was standing behind her.
“Well, well, Deputy Lamb, what brings you here?” Her voice was cool and mocking, unruffled.
“Veronica Mars. The day has finally come.” Lamb smirked, his expression smug, confident. He looked like Wile E. Coyote did just as he was about to reach for the Road Runner. The same Wile E. that never caught the Road Runner.
Did Lamb ever watch the Road Runner cartoons? He should have. They would have taught him a lot about law enforcement. About the futility of battling Veronica Mars.
“And what day is that?” Veronica asked mildly. “The first Wednesday after a long hiatus of 'Lost'?”
Lamb’s smug smile never wavered. In fact, it grew wider as they began to attract a crowd of gawking Neptune High students. He puffed up with self-importance as Principal Clemmons came to join them.
“What seems to be the problem, Sheriff?” Clemmons asked, adopting his accustomed dour expression.
“I’m here to arrest Veronica Mars,” Lamb replied with poorly suppressed glee.
“Well, if at first you don’t succeed,” Clemmons muttered, his voice pitched low so that only Lamb and Veronica could hear him.
Veronica’s soft chuckle, combined with Clemmons’ clear annoyance caused Lamb’s face to tighten for an instant. But the smugness returned when he pulled out his handcuffs. Lamb looked around at the growing crowd and shook out the cuffs, the clang of the metal clasps clearly audible in the uncharacteristically silent hallway. His gaze landed on Logan Echolls and his eyes lit up.
Logan stiffened as he stepped forward. He looked tense but ready for a fight, if necessary.
Veronica remained serene. She crossed her arms under her breasts, leaned casually against the bank of lockers and looked at Lamb with bored disinterest.
“What is it this time, Lamb?” she asked, her voice dripping with condescension. “Jaywalking? Littering? Putting my elbows on the dinner table?”
Lamb turned back to her, his expression positively joyful. He fought to rein in his delight and speak with the appropriate authority and sobriety.
“Your luck has finally run out, Mars,” he crowed, failing miserably to hide his satisfaction. “Your partner in crime has just sold you out.”
Veronica gave an exaggerated sigh. “Do you just enjoy me making a fool of you?” she wondered idly. “Is that why you’re here?”
Lamb’s eyes narrowed and the joviality disappeared from his expression. “Not this time, Mars,” he snarled. “This time I’m here to arrest you for the kidnapping of Faith Manning.”
Veronica stared at him silently, her calm, bored expression never wavering. “We went through this weeks ago.” She rolled her eyes with disdain. “I know it’s hard for you, but try to keep up.” She hitched her messenger bag higher on her shoulder. “You should invest in a PDA or at least a permanent marker so you can write notes on the back of your hand.”
Lamb snapped open the cuffs. “Maybe you should have invested in a partner who doesn’t sell you out when a better offer comes along.” He stepped behind Veronica. “Arms behind you back,” he ordered.
Veronica heaved an exaggerated sigh and complied. “As usual Lamb, you’ve got nothing.”
The click of the cuffs snapping closed was clearly audible in the silent hallway. Lamb spoke from behind her, satisfaction coating his every word. “I’ve got a witness who tells me that you and Kane never broke up. That you plotted with him to kidnap the Manning baby.”
“Did you get this story out of a Harlequin romance novel or did you think it up all by yourself?” Veronica shook her head and rolled her eyes, clearly not intimidated by Lamb or his words.
Lamb gave her an ungentle push and started her moving forward. “I gotta hand it to you, Mars. I knew you were devious, but I didn’t know you were this devious. This witness,” he emphasized, “also told me that you’d been conspiring for months.”
“Really?” Clemmons said as he walked along side of them, as unimpressed with Lamb as Veronica was. “And this witness necessitated you arresting Miss Mars during school hours?”
Lamb grit his teeth, but then his gaze fell again upon Logan and Lamb’s mouth curved into a malicious smile. He leaned closer to Veronica and spoke loudly and clearly for Logan’s benefit. “My witness also told me how you set up Logan Echolls as a diversionary tactic. Weren’t you dating him at the time, Veronica?”
Lamb spoke to Veronica but kept his eyes on Logan, enjoying the shock on the teenager’s face. “That’s cold, Mars. Setting up your own boyfriend like that?” His smile turned glacial as he watched the blood drain from Logan’s face. “I didn’t think you had it in you.” He allowed a note of admiration to creep into his voice.
There was a slight setting to Veronica’s features, a faint narrowing of her mouth and a sliver of ice in her cool blue eyes. The change in her expression was so subtle that, unless the person knew her well, they wouldn’t even have noticed it.
But Logan knew Veronica well. And it scared him. Veronica had set him up? When? Why? He tried to catch her attention, hoping for some reassurance that Lamb was lying. Veronica had the most expressive eyes, once you learned to decode them. A single glance could speak volumes.
But the reassurance didn’t come. Veronica didn’t meet his gaze. Her focus was on someone else, telegraphing another message that was more important to her than Logan. Logan followed the line of her sight and his gaze landed on Cassidy Casablancas.
While Veronica’s expression was still impassive, Cassidy’s face was the classic example of someone trying desperately to maintain a poker face.
And failing miserably.
Logan’s gaze shifted back to Veronica but she was still locked in a stare with Cassidy. Cassidy must have also learned to decode Veronica’s eyes because he relaxed more the longer she held his gaze. Then she and Lamb walked past him and Cassidy jerked, as if startled out of a trance. He looked up and his gaze tangled with Logan’s.
Cassidy turned abruptly and fought his way out of the crowd. Logan swiveled his head to look at Lamb and Veronica, but they were walking out the front doors now. He turned to look down the hallway Cassidy had taken and saw the younger boy quickly round the corner. Logan reacted instinctively and went after Cassidy.
He pushed through the crowd, not listening to their giggles and catty comments, intent on finding Cassidy and figuring out what this was all about. He finally broke through the crowd and practically ran down the hall. Just as he turned the corner, Dick Casablancas materialized before him.
“Dude!” Dick spoke in his usual careless surfer drawl. “Did you hear? Your trashy ex-girlfr-”
Logan cut Dick off the quickest way he knew how. He grabbed Dick’s face, putting his palm on the blonde’s chin and gripped the sides of his face, like he was muzzling an obnoxious dog.
“Shut up. This is important,” Logan ordered. “Did you see where Beaver went?” he demanded, removing his hand.
Dick nodded cautiously and pointed to the door at the end of the hall. “Yeah, he went out that door.”
Logan pushed away from his annoying friend and ran down the hallway, his sneakers making squeaking noises on the polished floor. He reached the door and was out into the side parking lot in an instant. There were rows and rows of cars but no familiar dark head.
He was still looking around silently when he felt a hand on his arm. He looked back and saw that Dick had followed him out. Dick opened his mouth to speak and Logan shook his head sharply. For once, Dick used the intelligence he was rarely credited with and kept his mouth shut.
Logan mouthed ‘Where is Beaver?’ and Dick shook his head. Logan gritted his teeth and turned to walk down the rows of parked cars.
“Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay.” Cassidy’s voice was strong and confident.
Logan stopped and turned at the sound of Cassidy’s voice, but Cassidy wasn’t there. Dick took Logan’s arm again and pulled him behind an aging Chevy Suburban. Logan peered cautiously around the hood of the SUV and saw Cassidy pacing back and forth at the end of the lot, a cell phone held to his ear.
“It’s just Lamb.” Cassidy was still speaking. “He doesn’t have the brains to put together a three piece puzzle. There’s no way he knows what’s going on. Lamb is such a moron that all he can focus on is this kidnapping. He doesn’t even see the bigger picture.”
He listened for a moment to the person on the other end of the call. “No, there’s nothing that can connect us to this.” He continued to pace, showing the nervousness he was keeping out of his voice. “Veronica is the only one they can nail for this, if they knew what was really going on.”
There was another short pause and Cassidy stopped pacing. “Lamb could line up a dozen witnesses and it’s not going to matter. You and I are clear. The only people that can connect us to this are Duncan and Veronica. Duncan is gone and Veronica is not going to turn on us.”
Logan leaned forward to make sure he didn’t miss a word of Cassidy’s side of the conversation. He looked back briefly at Dick, but Dick was staring hard at a rust spot on the side of the SUV. Logan gave a mental snort of derision. Staring hard at the spot was more than enough to keep Dick fully occupied.
“Duncan’s out of the equation, they’ll never find him.” Cassidy continued to calm his nervous caller. “And even if they do, they can’t extradite him.”
Cassidy sighed audibly through the next silence. “Yeah, he got the money.” His voice lowered in pitch. “Don’t worry, they’re locked down. Lamb and the Feds can’t touch them.”
Logan wrinkled his brow as he tried to reason out what he was hearing. He looked again at Dick but Dick was still focused on the rust spot.
“It’s only for a couple of more weeks and this will be all over.” Cassidy’s voice was low and soothing, he was calming himself as well as his caller.
“Come on! Has Veronica ever let you down?” Now confidence crept into Cassidy’s voice. “When you came to her for help, didn’t she drop everything for you?”
Cassidy began pacing again and Logan ducked further behind the protection of the SUV. Dick remained unmoving, still in his own little world.
“The witness is no problem.” Cassidy was speaking briskly, smoothly, fully reassured himself. “We have a contingency plan for this because we knew it would happen. I actually thought it would happen sooner than this.”
Cassidy stopped not ten feet from Logan and Dick’s hiding place. “No, Veronica is not going to roll over on us. Why would she? Lamb’s got nothing on her.”
Cassidy listened some more then laughed. “Don’t worry. It’s all part of the plan. Trust Veronica, she knows what she’s doing.”
Cassidy leaned against a pickup and casually crossed his ankles. “Has she been wrong yet?”
He listened to his caller and apparently didn’t like what he was hearing. He straightened up and annoyance flashed across his face. “You know how smart she is. You know how well she can read people. Do you remember when we were setting this up? I suggested throwing Kendall at Logan and laughed because I thought that it was so funny.”
Bitterness now glazed Cassidy’s words, making them hard and brittle. “I said there was no way that Kendall would be stupid enough to risk her cushy lifestyle to fuck a horny teenager. And that there was no way Logan would shit on his friendship with Dick by screwing stepmommy dearest. Do you remember what Veronica said?”
Logan stiffened and his mouth compressed into a hard line. He looked at Dick again but Dick had shifted his gaze to the ground, his face closed off and set. But he was listening to every word.
Cassidy laughed again, but this time there was no humor in it. “Yeah, in a heartbeat. In a fucking heartbeat.” The bitterness was now turning into rage. “Logan’s only loyalty is to himself. After everything Veronica did behind the scenes to make sure the DA dropped charges for that biker’s murder, he pulled that shit on her.”
Logan’s mouth fell open. He sat down abruptly on the dirty cement, stunned.
Cassidy took another deep breath and his shoulders sagged. “I know, I know. I knew they were going to pull some stupid prank, but I didn’t think they’d push it that far.” He was mumbling by the end, clearly embarrassed by his part in the events of the previous summer.
Logan hung his head and chewed on his lower lip, regret and confusion coloring his face. He snuck another peek at Dick but Dick’s face was its usual blank countenance. Dick Casabalancas hid a lot behind his mask of careless indifference.
Cassidy listened to his caller for a long time. “That’s the beauty of it. Logan and Kendall are each other’s alibis. Neither of them can connect us to this because they were with each other every time.” This time his laugh was almost gleeful. “I can’t believe Veronica made it work. I didn’t think Kendall would hold out this long. Logan isn’t that great a lay but he is that stupid. They deserve each other.”
Logan grit his teeth and his muscles tensed. He was about to spring out of his hiding place when Dick caught his arm with surprising strength. Logan looked at him in shock and Dick shook his head with an uncharacteristic serious expression. Logan hesitated then relaxed back to the cement.
“Course I’m pissed.” Cassidy was speaking again, his voice nearly a growl. “If Logan had shown some loyalty and trusted Veronica, none of this shit would have happened. But no, he had to think with his dick and fuck up everybody’s lives. I can’t believe that Veronica is still trying to protect that ungrateful little shit.”
Logan looked startled then his face flushed dark red with embarrassment and shame. He looked at the ground and shut his eyes.
Cassidy was back to reassuring his caller. “She won’t crack. I promise you, she won’t crack.”
There was only a brief pause before he added, “There’s no need, she’ll be fine.”
Cassidy sighed again, but this time it sounded indulgent. “Okay, if it makes you feel better, call Morganstein. But Lamb’s so fucking incompetent that even Cliff will have her out in an hour.”
His good humor returned as he continued to speak. “She won’t need it.” He paused to listen to his caller. “Fine, if she needs it, I’ve got the money ready.”
A huge smile nearly split Cassidy’s face as he listened. “Nope. Even then, there’s no link to us.” He laughed joyfully. “The Phoenix Land Trust is cash rich and has a very cushy bank account in the Cayman Islands. The firm’s lawyer has access to that account, at his discretion. Mrs. Kendall Casablancas, CEO of Phoenix, in her infinite wisdom, set that up.”
Cassidy laughed again as he walked away. “Isn’t that a kicker? If Veronica needs bail, Kendall will provide it. It seems that stepmommy is good for more than diverting stupid, horny high school boys.”