"What does this mean? What do we do?" asked Piz.

"How did this even happen?" said Logan pacing the living room of the Piznarski home.

"Right now, all we know is that a woman came to Veronica's hotel room and after a few words Veronica left with her." Replied Weevil trying to keep his voice neutral and calm. "Mac is already running facial recognition on the woman's face but it wasn't the best quality image so it might take a little while."

"Veronica went with her? Willingly?" asked Piz "How do you know it was a kidnapping? Maybe she knew her, why would she just go with her."

"They were too far away from the laptop so there is no way for us to know what was said, but watching the video it's pretty clear to me that while she left by choice, it wasn't a friendly visit."

"Why?" asked Logan turning to face Weevil. "Why don't you think it was a friendly visit? How do you know?"

Weevil was quiet for a moment trying to decide the best way to phrase it without worrying them.

"Veronica wouldn't just leave in the middle of looking for Annabelle." Remarked Piz.

"That's right." Said Weevil.

Logan watched him carefully and moved closer to him. Their eyes locked, Logan's searched for an answer, Weevil's tried not to reveal anything.

"There's something else." Logan said, Weevil's eyes looked away. "What exactly did you see?"

"Like I said we couldn't hear-" Weevil began.

"I didn't ask what you heard Weevil, what did you see." Logan said anger beginning to seep into his voice.

Weevil let out a sigh and looked at Logan.

"She left her phone." He began. "She made an effort to show the person at the door that she was leaving it behind and she wasn't going to fight. Looking at the hotel surveillance, the woman came in through the front but left another way."

There was silence. Logan moved away from Weevil and sank into the closest chair. He leaned forward and held his head in hands his fingers gripping at his hair. Piz looked between Logan and Weevil.

"I don't understand. I get how you think that means it wasn't friendly, but how does that change anything? We already knew that she was taken, you already said that." He asked with genuine confusion.

"Because it means that they threatened Annabelle." Said a shaky voice from the hallway.

Weevil and Piz both turned to see Hannah leaning against the doorframe, her eyes red from everything they had experienced over the past week but still new tears fell at the news. Piz moved to hold his wife.

"Hannah come on, you should be laying down." He whispered trying to lead her back out of the room.

"No." she said weakly pushing him away. She looked at Weevil. "I'm right aren't I? You think that she went with them and didn't try to leave a trail because they threatened her with our daughter."

Weevil could only nod in response.

Piz tried again to take his wife, this time she allowed him to lead her away.

Logan still sat with his head in his hands, he hadn't said a word, he hadn't even responded when Hannah had come in. Weevil moved to approach him when his phone rang, it was Mac.

"Hey." He answered.

"I looked at all the camera feeds in the surrounding areas, there are a lot, thank you big brother, and I have something. I was able to see the car she got out of from a camera across the street and I got her license plate from another. I traced the license plate, it's registered to a Ronald Branson, and married to a Jolene Branson who looks pretty similar to the woman Veronica left with. I have an address."

"Really?" Weevil asked trying to stay calm not wanting to let Logan know anything was happening.

"Yea. But something is bothering me." She said

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"It was so easy."

Twenty minutes after getting Mac's call Weevil stood in front of a two story ranch style suburban home with a minivan in the driveway and a bunny family lawn display. He looked down at the address written on the paper and double checked.

"Yea this is the place." He whispered to himself. He looked around again before ringing the doorbell. After a couple of minutes the door opened slightly and through the screen door stood a child of about ten. He looked up at Weevil.

"Hi." Said the boy.

Weevil knelt down and smiled at the boy.

"Hi." He said "Is your mommy home?"

The boy continued looking at Weevil shyly. From behind the boy Weevil heard the sounds of someone approaching.

"Jason! I told you before you aren't allowed to open the door!"

It was a woman's voice. Weevil stood up as the door opened and now behind the screen stood the woman that Weevil recognized as the blurry image from the laptop. He felt his jaw tighten and his desire to find Veronica threatened to bring out the street kid in him.

"Good afternoon ma'am."

"Can I help you?" the woman asked clearly on guard.

"I hope so. I'm looking for Jolene Branson, would that be you?" Weevil asked calmly.

"What is this about?" she asked.

"Maybe your son should go play while we have a conversation?" Weevil offered.

"I don't think you and I have anything to talk about." She replied trying to close the door.

"Annabelle, and a young blonde woman with a cast. I'd say we have plenty to talk about." He said unable to keep the threat out of his voice this time.

Her eyes widened and tears rushed to form in them. Her grip on the door tightened.

"Jason go to your room and play. Mommy will be up soon." Her voice was steady but filled with fear.

The boy looked up at his mom and then back at Weevil before he slowly turned and ran further into the house. Jolene waited until the sounds of the boys running could no longer be heard and then she looked up at Weevil.

"I don't know anything about Annabelle." She began.

"It would make everything so much easier if you didn't lie to me." Weevil interrupted angrily.

"I'm not lying! I swear it. The only thing I know is her name and what I needed to say to the woman I picked up. The blonde girl with the cast. I don't even know her name." she said quickly.

"Tell me everything you do know." Weevil replied trying to calm himself.

Jolene looked down and swallowed hard. She took a deep breath and let it out before starting her story.

"I woke up this morning the same as any other, I got up and got dressed and began breakfast for my son. My husband was already gone for work, just like every other day. But when I went to wake Jason.." she paused and took another deep breath before continuing. "When I went to his room, he was gone. I searched all over the house and the backyard, I was panicking. When I went to call my husband the phone rang. The person on the other end told me that he had both of them, Jason and Ronald."

She let out a sob and Weevil wanted to offer her support but couldn't.

"The man on the phone said that I needed to do him a favor and do it exactly as he ordered or he would kill them. He told me that I would find Ronald's keys still in the ignition of his car, that I needed to take his car to that hotel, go to room 23D and get the blonde girl with a cast on her arm to come with me. I was to put her in the trunk, blind fold her and tie her hands and then take her to a specified location and wait. Then she would be traded for Ronald and Jason."

She paused again looking at the ground.

"I did exactly as he told me. And then drove home and parked the car in the garage."

Weevil just stared at the woman, unsure how to proceed. He believed every word she said, her emotions made it clear she wasn't lying. He wanted to be angry, to yell at her for giving Veronica away like that but he couldn't.

"How are they?" he asked quietly. "Your family."

She looked up at him with confusion before replying hesitantly.

"Ronald was hit on the head, it's not serious, and he is resting now. Jason was asleep when they took him and it seems they kept him asleep. He has no idea what happened thank goodness."

Weevil nodded and then asked.

"Did you tell her? About your family? Is that why she went with you?"

The woman looked pained and shook her head. She bit her lip and took another deep breath as another sob escaped her.

"I didn't want to do this. I didn't want to take her or let them have her, but this was my family. I couldn't.." she cried.

"Jolene." Weevil said but she didn't respond lost in her own tears and regret.

"Jolene!" he shouted.

She looked up at him, anguish and regret on her face tears streaming down.

"I know you didn't want to do this, but you have your family back. I don't. So tell me what happened. I need to know everything."

She swallowed hard and nodded.

"The man told me not to talk to her, he told me that I would only need to tell her one thing and she would follow me. He said I had to tell her exactly what he said and say nothing more. 'If you try anything clever, anything brave, anything remotely like an escape or call for help, it will be Annabelle who pays the price.' He made me say it five times to make sure I said it right. When she opened the door I said it exactly as he told me to. She put down her cell phone and immediately walked out of her room shutting the door behind her, when I turned to go back the way I came she told me she wasn't trying anything but we needed to go through the back stairs to avoid the cameras. When we got to the ground floor, she said she would wait by the back entrance for me to pull my car around, at first I didn't think I should trust her but she said that she would wait so the cameras wouldn't see her. I'm not sure why but I trusted her. When I came back I opened the trunk and she got in without a word, she let me blindfold her and she offered up her wrists. She gave herself up so easily without even a hint of fight it made me even more scared of the people who took my family. I took her to the drop off and we waited for fifteen minutes, I waited for the man to get out and bring out Ronald, he held Jason in his arms and I jumped out of the car. I opened the trunk and led her to the man, he repeated to her the same thing I had said to her and then took her arm and she went with him without any struggle and got into his trunk. He drove away and I brought my family home. I swear that is everything."

She ended with a deep sob and tears still flowing.

"I am so sorry. I wish there was more I could tell you, I wish that I could help. I just.." she cried out.

Weevil swallowed and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. His fist were gripped tight and the pain of his nails digging into his palm suddenly hit him. He couldn't blame her, he knew there was nothing she could have done and even more he knew that Veronica would have always gone willingly whether it was with this woman or one of the actual kidnappers. But this woman and her family were victims, he couldn't hold them responsible.

"Someone will be looking at your phone records, I'm not sure what else. Her name is Mac she may need to talk to you. Please cooperate with her however she needs it."

Jolene nodded and wiped her tears. Weevil was about to leave when something struck him.

"I have one more question." He said, Jolene looked at him with willingness. "Why are you so willing to share this information, to tell me everything? Aren't you afraid they will find out you helped me."

Jolene looked confused.

"Didn't they tell you to come find me?" she asked.

Weevil felt a deep tug in the pit of his stomach.

"What do you mean?"

"They said that someone would come to me asking about the blonde girl with the cast. They said to tell you everything. It was one of the conditions for getting my family back. Didn't they send you here?" she asked confused.

Weevil stumbled back a little. They had planned even this?

Veronica looked at the small sleeping girl in her lap and stroked her hair softly. She had tried to keep their conversation light, to ask her as many silly or comforting questions as she could to move the girls mind away from the situation.

Her favorite color was blue because it reminded her of the sky on a sunny day at the park. Her favorite ice cream flavor was lime because it was both sweet and sour. When Piz and Hannah order pizza she would eat all of Hannah's mushrooms not because she liked them but because Hannah would pick them off and Annabelle didn't want them to feel like no one wanted them. She was excited to have a little brother because she wanted to teach him all the things she had already learned and read him stories.

Annabelle had told Veronica stories about Piz and Hannah and the happy life they led together, the kind of life that they deserved and it gave Veronica a feeling of relief she didn't realize she needed. She had held her guilt over her relationship with Piz so tightly that even she didn't realize it was still in her.

Eventually she had fallen asleep telling Veronica about the last recital she had been in, the one where she had been a lisianthus. Annabelle had originally been named just a purple flower but had begged her dance teacher to give her a true flower. Though she struggled a little to remember the name of her flower, she had smiled proudly as she was able to say it on her second attempt. Veronica couldn't help but smile remembering the picture of Logan giving Annabelle what she assumed was a Lisianthus at the same recital.

This was Logan's daughter. A girl with Hannah's bright and happy outlook and Logan's heartwarming smile.

Veronica felt she had never wanted anything more in her life than to get this girl home. But until she could do that, she would stay by her side and try to help her keep her smile. The saying was true after all; Veronica Mars, she's a marshmallow.