𝚂𝚎𝚛𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚂𝚔𝚒𝚗// 𝚂𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝙿𝚎𝚊

𝙰 𝙻𝚊𝚠𝚢𝚎𝚛'𝚜 𝙰𝚍𝚟𝚒𝚌𝚎

"The police report said FP and my dad worked alone." I look at the paper as I drink some water. 

"No mention of your dad, Ronnie. That's good news, right?" Betty says and I look up at them. 

"I can't stop thinking that... Maybe my dad hired another Serpent to plant that gun."

"It's surreal, isn't it? How's Jughead doing?" Kevin sits down and I look over at him. 

"Not good. He's not coming in today. He's at the station. Being grilled by your dad."

"Who's just doing his job. I mean, of course, he's gonna ask Jughead questions."

"Okay, well, he's wasting his time, Kev. Because FP and Sam didn't kill Jason." Betty slams her hand on the table. 

 "Betty, he confessed," Kevin says and I roll my eyes. 

"Or he was coerced. Or he's protecting someone, maybe a Serpent."

"Alice saw him and Joaquin together..."

"Don't! Do not drag my boyfriend into this." Kevin starts to get mad. I point my finger at him and his eyes widen. 

"I heard the conversation Kevin because it was in my room. I heard them talking about something, so don't you dare try to back up Joaquin. I grew up with him, you didn't so don't..."

"Oh, no." Archie says and I look up."

"What? What happened to him not coming in today?" Archie says and Jughead walks over to Cheryl and he stands in front of her. 

"I'm sorry, Cheryl." He sniffles and she gets up and starts hitting him. We get up and pull him away from Cheryl.

"Enough! Mr. Jones, you need to come with me. Right now." Weatherbee says and I look over at him.

"He was apologizing. He didn't do anything wrong!" I raise my voice and he takes Jughead anyway. I go after Cheryl and she sits in the locker room sobbing. 

"Cheryl?"

"I barely touched him."

"It's not his fault or mine, or even Nick's Cheryl. Even if our dads did do it, it's..."

"Everybody keeps coming up to me, and hugging me, and telling me that I must be so relieved that my brother's killer has finally been caught. That this nightmare is over. Then why doesn't it feel that way?"

"Because it's not over, someone is still hiding something and the confessions still have a few missing pieces. I promise you Cheryl I will figure all of this out and you will be at peace." She hugs me and I hug her back.

"I'm not mad at either of you, I was just frustrated and I just want all of this to be over."
***

"Juggy. Jug. Wake up, we gotta go to Pop's." I shake him and he rubs his eyes. 

"We'll wait in the car." I walk out of Archies garage and we go sit in the car. The backseat door opens and Nick gets in.

"What are you doing."

"Sam is my dad too, why can't I help."

I look at Archie and shrug my shoulders before Jug gets in. 
***

"Archie asked me to look into both your father's cases. I went down to the station, and passed myself off as his attorney to try to get as much information as I could." Mary says and I nod

"How's it looking, Mom?"

"Well, unfortunately, between FP's list of priors, the anonymous tip, and the possession of the murder weapon... Then there's Sam's priors."

"Don't forget that pesky confession."

 "Things look pretty bad. I was with them all night, and they never once budged from their story."

 "Well, if nothing else, at least they're honest murderers."

 "Jug..." I glare at him and he chuckles

"Right? Oh, also, who is Joaquin DeSantos? Joaquin?"

"As in Kevin's boyfriend?"

"He was FP's one phone call. Your dad called someone named SweetPea. My advice to three of you is, go and see your fathers. Tell them everything you wanna say. Once they're arraigned, things tend to move pretty quickly, and there won't be anything left to do. So, this might be your last chance."

"Thank you, Mary." I get up with Jughead, Nick, and I leave to go to the station.