Hi everyone! Things are going to speed up! Only 3/4 chapters before Logan and Veronica will go back to Neptune! Then we will have to bring justice to Lily and the school bus kids!
Thank you for the patience you have!
Let me know what you think of this chapter. (I know it's short, sorry, next one will be longer.)
21. The Sheriff
"No one thought it was possible for Keith Mars to change the opinion of the voters in so little time, but the now ex- Private Investigator did thanks to the audio file released from an anonymous source only a week ago that finally proved the late Ed Doyle innocent of the accuses of having provoked the incident in a suicide attempt. The citizen of Neptune are happy to celebrate the new Sheriff Mars election, a private party only for friends and family id taking place at Mars Investigation..."
"Did you hear that?" Keith said to the group of friend assembled in the main room of his office. "There is a new Sheriff in town!"
Cheers exploded right and left, people came to him to offer their congratulation, but still the one person he wished to see the most never came. Keith sighed, he had known that she wouldn't come back before both her and the Echoll kid would be eighteen, still it made him a little sad to not have her there while he celebrated the big victory against Lamb.
"Well done, Sheriff." Woody Goodman, the mayor of Neptune in everything but name, smiled at him. "With you as a Sheriff and me as a Mayor we really could change this city for the better, Keith."
"That's true, my friend." They shook hands on it.
"Having a good day?" Alicia came to him with a glass of champagne.
"The best." He kissed her chastely on the lips. "It could only have been better if Veronica was here."
"She would have loved to see Lamb demoted."
"Loved is not a strong enough word, my dear." He smirked and kissed her again. He couldn't wait for March to come. "Where is your wonderful son and his beautiful girlfriend?" He asked not seeing them around.
"They went with Eli and Mac to get more refreshment, we were low on everything." She smiled at him. "No one thought that so many people would want to celebrate with us. Not after that low blow at the interview."
"I'm still asking myself who I have to thanks for that audio. It saved the elections." Keith had some ideas about who was responsible of the leaking of the audio. Leo and Wallace had been a little too innocent the day of the leaking for the act to be true, but he decided to let it go. Having Lamb out of the office was a big plus, and now he would be able to reopen the bus case and Felix murder to bring some peace to the still grieving families.
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"I'm happy that you opened up with me Vicky." Lydia was hugging her after she told her of the pregnancy scare her and Logan had two weeks ago. "You should think about starting to take the pill if you want to be a little more sure."
Veronica smiled at her. She couldn't tell her friend that doing that could be risky for their cover.
"I know I should, but an aunt of mine became sterile after taking it and I'm afraid of that happening to me."
"I don't understand what you and London are so afraid of. You are married and both of you have a job, a baby wouldn't be such a big problem, even if you are a little on the young side." Lydia smiled sweetly to her, her hand always on the very big belly.
"It's complicate." She wasn't sure if it could tell her part of the truth.
"I see myself as a smart, independent woman, try me." She used her other hand to give her arm a light squeeze. "You can trust me, Vicky. I won't judge you."
"Okay, but please, do me a favor and stop calling me Vicky. It's awful." Both of them laughed a that.
"Okay, I will, but I'll still call London Lolo." She smirked evilly.
"I have no problem with that." Veronica replayed with a smirk just as evil. After some seconds of silence she went back on the serious topic. "Me and London didn't have what you can call some good parents. Of the four we have only my dad was a good one." She sighed a little, she missed her father a lot lately, even more after the pregnancy scare. "My mom is an alcoholic and a cheater on the side. I'm not even so sure about my real father."
"I'm so sorry, Vee."
"Anyway, she left us when things got hard a year ago and never come back." She smiled sadly at her friend. "London's mom died some months ago, before the wedding. She committed suicide, he took it very badly and his father didn't help at all."
"I think I understand." Lydia looked her in the eyes and Veronica was happy that there was not a trace of pity. She hated pity. "You think that you'll become like them, don't you?"
"We are working through that big stack of issues."
"Don't worry, sweety, you'll get through it in time." She stroked her own belly, probably to calm down her kicker of a daughter. "Mark had the same fears, you know?"
"Really?" Veronica asked surprised remembering the look on the man face when they had given him their congratulations for the good news.
"Sure. His dad is a bastard. He is an alcoholic too, and he was mentally abusive with both him and his poor mother, always calling them names while under the influence of alcohol."
"How he got over his fears?" Veronica asked in awe.
"He never has, but because he has this fear I'm sure that he will never be like him. Mark will be a perfect father, just like London." She assured her. "Those kind of fears never go away, but you can push them down and live your life happily, if you let your partner help you."
"I think you are right, Lydia."
"I'm always right, Vee. You should know that by now." She rolled her eyes and laughed at her.
"Silly me." She said before laughing with her.
Veronica was relived after the talk with her friend. She still was afraid of being a bad mother in the future, but she started to work on pushing down those fears to not let them ruin her life.
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"Hey, you Mac, you are good with computer, right?" Mac looked up from her lunch and saw Cassidy some feet away from her right side. He seemed a little embarrassed, his cheeks red.
"I'm the best." She said with a kind smile.
"Very good, I need your help with something, I promise that I can pay you." He assured her.
"Sure, what about?"
"I'd like to make a web page for my new society. I wanted something good but I'm not as good as I would like with computers, so I thought of you." He admitted blushing. She was almost sure that the younger boy had a kind of crush on her. She could see her going out with him if it wasn't for Weevil.
"Sure, I will help you." She made a little space near her. She was alone at the table. Weevil had to stay home because his cousin had a fever and Wallace was somewhere with Carmen that came see him during lunch break. "Do you have some ideas or I need to start from zero?" She asked taking out her PC.
"I have some ideas, but if you have better solutions I'm open to changes." He smiled at her and sat down, taking out from his back pack some papers.
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"Hey, Sheriff." Weevil welcomed Keith that Friday when he came back from his shift. Even after the end of the elections they didn't stop the tradition, so every Friday, the Mars-Fennel clan harbored both him and Leo to dinner.
"Hey there, Eli." He gave the man a friendly hug before kissing Mac on the cheek. Weevil could see that both him and Mac had become kind of his own kids for the Papa Mars. "lovely as always Mac."
"Dinner is almost ready, honey." Came Alicia voice from the kitchen. "Call Wallace, Carmen and Darryl please?"
"Sure, love." Keith had a big smile on his face. "Oh, before I forget about it." The man looked back at him. "Did you know that Felix was seeing someone before he died?"
"No, I didn't." He was surprised by the news. Felix was one of his best friends, he always told him everything. "How did ya find that out?"
"He was seen on the beach with a girl numerous time, but not even his parents knew about it. I hoped that you did." He sighed defeated.
"That's strange, let me tell you, man. Felix always told me everthin'. There must be something that wasn't okay with that. Maybe she was of rich family, or parents weren't okay with them seein' each other."
"That's what I thought about." Keith nodded at him. "But we'll talk later on about it. Alicia will call soon enough." He gave him a little smile before disappearing in the other room to get the others.
"Do you think that the girl could have something to do with his death?" Mac asked him when they were alone.
"I don't know, probably, but I'm almost sure that there is more behind it." Eli sighed and hugged his girlfriend, trying to find a little bit of strength from her sweet embrace. She really was his own personal angel.