𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖 𝕄𝕪 ℍ𝕖𝕒𝕣𝕥 (ℝ𝕚𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕕𝕒𝕝𝕖)

16 || 𝕒𝕟𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕞𝕪 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕦𝕣𝕕𝕖𝕣

"He called Joaquin?" Veronica questioned Archie as the two of them sat on the couch in her house. "Why not Jughead? Or Bryce? Or your dad? Or a lawyer?"

"It's weird."

"What does Betty think?" Veronica asked.

"She thinks it's weird." He told her.

"Joaquin might know if FP was hired to kill Jason, if it was my father...." Veronica said, "I need to see this through to the end."

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"We know FP used his call from jail to get in touch with you. What did he say?" Archie asked Joaquin as him, Kevin and Veronica stood in front of him as he sat in the chair in Archie's garage.

"It was basically just a warning." Joaquin told them. "Said to lay low."

"No one uses their one call to say "lay low."" Veronica told him.

"Joaquin, do you know something?" Kevin asked, walking closer to him, "I'm not talking to you as your boyfriend, I'm talking to you as the sheriff's son. Did FP kill Jason?"

"Yeah. I mean, I...I assume." Joaquin said, moving his position.

"Oh, my god."

"Did you see him pull the trigger?" Veronica asked.

"No, no. God, no."

"Then why do you think he did it?" Archie asked.

"On July 11th, I got a phone call in the middle of the night from FP. Said he needed my help with some clean-up job at the Whyte Wyrm."

"What job?" Kevin questioned.

"The basement of the Whyte Wyrm is off limits to everyone, but that's where I met FP, and that's where I saw..He'd been shot." Joaquin said. "I never asked FP if he did it, I just...I mean, I was terrified. And was thinking about how much of a mess Bryce would be when she found out. I....I just assumed. We stashed the body in the freezer, cleaned up the mess, got rid of any evidence...."

"You are a criminal." Kevin said.

"Joaquin, FP has done jobs for my dad, Hiram Lodge, in the past." Veronica said. "Do you think killing Jason was one of them?"

"There was one time I overheard a conversations between FP and Mustang...."

"Who's Mustang?" Archie asked.

"He's another serpent." He said. "The only other guy who knew about the clean-up. The guy you got into a fight with at the Wyrm. I heard him tell FP something about some rich guy. I don't know who."

"Where is Mustang?" Veronica asked.

"No, no, no, no. You do now want to go see him."

"Yes, I do." Veronica said, walking closer to him, "And you're gonna take us. Or..."

"Or I'm gonna tell my dad about your little clean-up job." Kevin said.

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"Not that much money in local crime and villainy, huh?" Veronica questioned as they walked up the stairs of the motel, being joined by Bryce and Beau who Joaquin called.

"We can't all be rich and walk around wearing pearls." Bryce rolled her eyes.

"This is him, here." Joaquin said, banging on the door. "Mustang? You here?"

"Oh, my god." Archie backed away from the bathroom that held Mustangs dead body.

Bryce let out a gasp, hiding her face in Beau's chest.