The Only Beanie - Book 4 (Riverdale Season 4/5)

Climax - Part 1

"Hey, did you reach out to Mr. Honey?" Betty asked as Charles walked over to them, other FBI agents combing through the cabin.

"We did. He's fine. No one's tried to kill him."

"Well, for now at least," Jughead said.

"In the meantime, you mind breaking this down for me?"
"It's the auteur again," Aminity went first. "It looks like they've moved on from recreating killings to reenacting a metaphoric one."

"Us and our friends getting Mr. Honey fired," Betty told him.

"And there is one other thing," Jughead continued. "I wrote a story called Killing Mr. Honey within which was a fictionalized version of this cabin. I don't think that's a coincidence."

"Alright, uh," Charles processed, "who else knew about that story."

"I read some of it," Sweet Pea told him. "I didn't tell anyone though."

"That leaves just us," Jughead looked at his sister and girlfriend who nodded. "Me, Betty, and Aminity. I mean, unless I'm being watched or hacked."

"This is interesting," an officer said, walking over and handing Charles a bag.

"It's four ticket stubs."

"From, like, the movie theater? Admission to watch the tapes?"

"Stubs have the letters B and V on them," he told her.

"The hell? Like Betty and Veronica?"
"No," Aminity looked at them.

"Blue Velvet," Jughead realized. "Like Blue Velvet Video? As in the one place that all roads keep coming back to? That video store and that crypt keeper, David? If he's not the auteur, he's connected to the auteur somehow. Or at least he's a fan."

"We'll bring him in," Charles told him. "I'll call you in the morning. Get some rest."

"Okay," Betty agreed. "Good night." They headed back to the house, separating and going to bed. Sweet Pea sighed, flopping back on Aminity's bed.

"You alright?" she asked as she took her jacket off and hung it up.

"How can you be acting so normal right now?"

"Because this, as weird as it is, is my normal."

"Your unnormal normal."

She got on the bed, straddling his hips. "Unnormal isn't a word."
"Pretty sure it is," he hummed, unable to keep the smile off his face as she leant down, starting to kiss his neck, stopping as she reached his tattoo and he let out a low moan. "But I'll agree to disagree if you keep doing that," he breathed out, making her laugh before she continued.

***

"He's not talking," Charles sighed as Aminity and Jughead watched an FBI agent speak to David in the office. "Unless you count movie quotes."

"Well what did he have to say about his store's initials on those ticket stubs?"

"He's never seen them before in his life."

"Right," Jughead scoffed as Aminity rolled her eyes.

"He may not be responsible for making the videos, but is there some way he could be profiting off of it?" Aminity asked. "Based on what you've been telling me, his business is already pretty shady."

"It's possible," Charles agreed. "Where's your partner in crime?"

"She's following up on another lead," Jughead said.

***

"Well, Mrs. Bell was a bust," Betty said as they went over notes in the Blue and Gold office.

"Yeah, well, Charles didn't have much luck with the video store's owner, either."

"You know, it would be so much easier if people would just tell the truth about things," Aminity sighed.

"You know," Jughead brought up after a minute, "I do have an idea of someone we could talk to who might be able to give us dirt on David. The only caveat being he's tried to kill me." Betty and Aminity scrunched their eyebrows and glanced at each other.

***

"Well, well, well," Bret let out as he looked at the three through the glass separation in the prison. "Never thought I'd see you three again. What brings you around these parts?"

"Look, Bret," Jughead cut right to the chase, "we know you sold your sex tapes to Blue Velvet Video. Now the owner, David, keeps coming up in an ongoing investigation that we're conducting, but he's not talking to us."
"We need a way to get him to talk. Some sort of leverage," Aminity told him.
"Yeah. I know David. But if he's not talking, why should I?"

Jughead smiled. "See, Aminity and I happen to have a friend in there with you."

"Ever heard of War Baby?" Bret's smirk fell. "Ah, so you have," she smiled.

"Do you know who he hates more than anyone? Preppies."

He looked down. "What's the investigation?" Jughead, Betty, and Aminity shared a victorious look.

"Someone is making videos of us and our friends doing disturbing, violent things," Betty said. "We think this David person is connected to them."

"Did he ever mention or host any screenings with the videos in stock?"

"Some of David's customers prefer... shared experiences," he told him. "Underground, immersive, red-band screenings."

"If we wanted to attend one of these screenings, what would we need to do?"

"You'd have to be on a list. Or you'd have to prove to David that you're the real deal. Bring him a tape. Something to make him sit up or take notice." He looked at Betty. "Like, say a snuff film?"

***

"Okay, I know this is Riverdale, but where do we get a snuff film in which someone gets murdered on screen?" Betty asked as they sat back at the Blue and Gold. "But those are just urban legends, I thought."

"Well, not according to Nicolas Cage movies."

"We could make one," Aminity said after a minute.

"A snuff film?"

"Well, not a real one," she told her.

"A facsimile of one," Jughead nodded. "It just has to be convincing enough for David to let his guard down. We could even borrow the equipment from the AV club."
"I think Toni has some fake blood left over from Halloween. I can ask to borrow it."

"Okay, then who's our murderer? Who's our victim?"

"We just need a brute and a scream queen," Jughead told her.

It's late, so this is unedited. Happy Valentine's Day everyone!