The Rooftop

[watching_you]

Veronica's still shaken as she steps off the elevator - Aaron Echolls just has that kind of effect on people - but she forces herself to shrug it off. There are more important matters at hand, like making sure Mac is safe, and that Beaver doesn't hurt anyone else.

"Mac!"

Grimly, she realizes that her next hurdle will be convincing Lamb of the truth. It's not going to be easy, especially with her dad away and Woody - such an obvious suspect - already in custody. But Lamb will have to listen, won't he? Especially after she shows him the photograph, and brings in Hart...

"Mac!"

It would be hard to ignore such evidence, even for Lamb. If questioned, with Woody around, maybe a confession would even...

Why...

Why would Mac ask to meet on the roof...?

It's quiet up here, and very dark, and suddenly Veronica feels a chill.

"Mac...?"

Comments

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"Hey, Veronica!"

The voice is eager, almost cheerful.

It's not Mac.

Several yards behind her, Beaver's standing with his gun raised, preternaturally still.

[watching_you]

She turns slowly, disbelieving.

It's can't be. It can't --



But of course, it is.

Accusingly, "Where's Mac?"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"A better place."

He takes a few slow, measured steps closer.

"Unfortunately, she never got a chance to read your message -- now -- " Beaver gestures with the gun. "Throw me your bag."

When she doesn't move, "I SAID THROW ME YOUR BAG!"

[watching_you]

Veronica raises her hands, in an appeasing gesture, and slowly shrugs off her bag. She tosses it over, figuring he's just planning to deprive her of her cell phone - but no - and she can feel herself going slightly dizzy as he pulls out her taser.

Everything is going very wrong.

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

Beaver fishes around in his coat pocket next and pulls out Mac's cell phone, the text Veronica sent still in prominent display. He holds it up.

"So Beaver's a killer," he says quietly. His expression darkens further as he continues, "That's a pretty serious accusation. What exactly do you think you know?"

[watching_you]

Veronica hesitates, takes a breath. Time to see how much she really knows.

"You played for Woody's Little League team with Marcos and Peter. He molested all three of you. They wanted to come forward. They were going to spill - that's why they had to die."

(The file from Woody's computer. Two voices when there should be three.)

"My guess? You got the explosives from Curly Moran. I saw you with that sophomore, Hart Hanson, last week. Hart says you worked on his war movies with him, that you were in charge of blowing things up. He said... you knew a guy who taught you how to do it." She almost laughs, bitterly. "Your dad's mechanic! 'Former stunt coordinator, Curly Moran', right?"

(Cell phone. Whoever it was, they had to be close. The limo, trailing behind. He waits until the right moment, and then dials. The bus goes over.)

Beaver says nothing, so Veronica continues, her voice building in strength as her courage grows. "Curly told Weevil he knew who blew up the bus. He figured it out, didn't he? That's why you needed him gone.

"You knew Cervando'd been bragging about hustling Liam Fitzpatrick. So you convinced the PCHers that Curly blew up the bus. They nearly killed him - but you left to finish the job."

(Video recorded with a cell phone camera. Weevil, top of the food chain. Dealing punishment where it's due.)

"Then you wanted to focus any investigation in a new direction. You knew I was a key witness in the Aaron Echolls trial, so you wrote my name on Curly's palm. And wasn't it convenient? The Road Hog's cliff-side location? Easy to dump the body."

She's torn between laughing and sobbing and screaming now. It all makes such sense, and he's just standing there smirking, looking nothing at all like the Beaver she knows.

"...You didn't hire me to catch Kendall cheating on your dad, did you? You knew what he was up to. You wanted to punish him for the way he treated you, and you used me to do it."

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

It only slips once, when she says he molested all three of you and his features slacken like he's been slapped.

Only once, and by the time she's finished rattling off his list of accomplishments, it's long past.

"And you," he says with a cocky grin, spreading his arms, "were marvelous."

[watching_you]

He's teasing her. He's mocking her, and so Veronica's voice is dangerous as she speaks next.

"Now let me ask you something. How is it I got chlamydia?"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

Beaver raises his eyebrows, but doesn't speak.

You tell me, it says silently.

[watching_you]

"Woody had it," she tells him. "I ended up with it."

Veronica can feel her fingernails digging into the palm of her hand.

"Shelly Pomeroy's party, sophmore year. You said, Dick pushed you into a room with me after I'd been roofied. But you didn't run out like you said you did, did you? Nope. You wanted to prove you were a man. And it helped that I was unconscious, didn't it? Easy for you to imagine anything you needed to imagine."

She can't talk, then. Can't say what's coming next. She needs him to step in, say anything, say she's wrong, because murder is one thing - but this --

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

He doesn't step in.

He doesn't deny it.

In fact, Beaver just ducks his head into a nod, as if he's proud, and chuckles.

[watching_you]

Veronica breaks.

She's hoarse, hurt.

Devastated.





"You RAPED me!"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"And Dick still thinks I'm a virgin," he answers, calm, and still with the tiniest of smiles.

Veronica's disbelieving laugh goes ignored.

"See, I know how to keep a secret."

[watching_you]

"That's what this is all about, isn't it?" Veronica raises her arms, then drops them again, frustrated. "Keeping your secret? But it's over, it's out, I know!"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, but -- "

Taser in one hand, gun in the other, he steps closer, gives her a meaningful look.

" -- I have a pretty good feeling that you won't be telling anybody."

[watching_you]

It takes less than half a second for her to create a lie, and to make it sound convincing.

"I already did. I told my dad, he knows."

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"That's, uh...that's too bad."

He shrugs, casually.

"He's on Woody's plane with him, right? Right now, on his way back? See, because I have no more use for Woody."

Another smile, malicious and proud.

"You heard about the bomb in Woody's car, right? Yeah, 'cause there's one on his plane. And all I have to do..."

Beaver switches the taser to his other hand and pulls out a second cell phone: his own.

"Is dial."

[watching_you]

Veronica just stares. There's no witty answer to that. No quick comeback.

It must be a lie.

It must be.

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

Beaver chuckles.

"You wanna call your dad?"

His thumb curls, poised over the SEND button.

"Say goodbye before I press 'send?' Go ahead, I'll give you a minute."

[watching_you]

"Cass... Cassidy. No."

She's breathless, stunned.

"You can't be serious -"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

"Fifty-six."

A glance down to the phone.

Fifty-five." A mocking whisper: "Tick-tock."

[watching_you]

Immediately Veronica scrambles, grabbing her phone from her back pocket. The first numbers she dials are wrong, and she's forced to hang up, do it again. Oh god oh god, why didn't she put her dad on speed dial? Vital seconds. Vital seconds. Beaver's watching her, smirking, smug, and she's dailing again, pressing the phone to her ear, getting nothing but dial tone.

"Pick up."

But it's going to be okay, she knows. He'll answer, she'll tell him. They'll find the bomb and - defuse it, throw it out a window, something - land the plane. His plans foiled, Cassidy will run, try to escape: he'll use his father's wealth and name to get as far as possible. But in the end, Keith will track him down. Because that's what Keith does. And Cassidy will go to prison.

Everything's going to be fine.

"Please pick up!"

But in her hand, the phone's still ringing. And Veronica chokes, and lets out a cry despite herself.

"Daddy...!"

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

Three. Two.

One.

Beaver sighs, and even tsks a little as he turns his attention back to the phone. "Oh well," he murmurs.

The traffic's muted by distance, the wind is calm, and the roof is empty, save them. The quiet beep as he places the call carries in the stillness.

Dialing 555-0107, the screen reads.

And then --




BOOM.

A fireball blossoms in the sky behind Veronica. Beaver watches, dispassionate.

"Whaddya know."

[watching_you]

It's like fireworks.

Like the fourth of July.

Bright lights in the sky, in the middle of the night. Loud noises.






"I'll be home late. Don't wait up."





Veronica hiccups, makes short, gasping noises, like a child. Light from the fire in the sky on her face.

Feels herself falling to her knees.

Feels her heart break.

[neptune-npcs.livejournal.com]

Beaver closes the last bit of distance between them and crouches next to her, eyes still on the sky. Bits of shrapnel flare up as they fall, burn out, disappear.

"Eeeyeah, sorry about that," he says with no remorse, dropping the phone back into his pocket and switching the taser into his free hand. "I know this might be, uh -- " he giggles, "a bad time to ask for a favor, but how would you feel, now that you've got...."

He considers, then shrugs.

"Nothing left to live for, about just...rolling yourself off?" A twirling gesture with the taser, in the direction of the rooftop's edge. "I just -- I really don't want your DNA all over my shirt."