the exception | jughead jones

40. maple syrup

joaquin was now leading kevin, veronica, andrew and archie to mustangs apartment

veronica looked around seeing how messy it was

"not much money in local crime and villainy huh?" veronica said to andrew

"he lives in here." joaquin said knocking on mustangs door

once he got no answer joaquin decided to open the door and walk in

"mustang? you here?" he asked as the whole group entered the house

veronica grabbed andrews hand as they walked further into the house

andrew let out of her hand to walk into the bathroom only to see mustang in the bathtub with needles in his arms. he was dead

andrew slapped his hand over his mouth and archie looked and saw the same thing

"oh my god." archie let out

veronica looked over and let out a gasp then grabbed andrews hand and gave it a squeeze

"i can't- i can't be here." joaquin said

"let's go. call my dad." kevin said

once sheriff keller arrived the three teens were asked to leave

fred, raymond and hermione had showed up for their kids

"son." fred said getting out of his truck being the last parent to arrive

"dad i'm fine." archie said

"what were you doing here in the first place?" sheriff keller asked them

"we knew mustang was a serpent. we just wanted to talk to him to see if he knew anything about fp." archie told him

"okay veronica this has to stop why are you doing this?" hermione said to veronica

"mom." veronica replied

"i'm with hermione son, you can't keep doing this." raymond said as andrew let out a sigh

"what do you think happened in there?" fred asked sheriff keller

"likely and overdose. we're waiting to see a time of death. but it wouldn't surprise me if someone involved in jason's murder was drilling the heat." sheriff keller said to fred

"how did you know that he lived here?" sheriff keller asked the teens

the conversation was cut short since another deputy came out with a bag of money and the bag had the letters H.L on it

"hermione lodge, mind explaining to me why your initials are on this bag." sheriff said as hermione looked shocked

"not hermione lodge, sheriff, hiram lodge my dad-"

"veronica." hermione said grabbing her daughter

"mom. he was doing business with the serpents." veronica said

"and that's all we're saying until there's an attorney present." hermione said

-

"my dads been lying to me his whole life, but he's never been any good at it. i saw it in his eyes. he didn't do it." jughead said

"then why lie? who's he protecting?" betty asked

"that's what we need to find out." madison said

"okay. who can we rule out?" jughead said looking at the board

"my dad. we know why he was acting so shady." betty said taking his picture off the board

"hermione." madison said

"yeah." jughead said in agreement

"she's guilty of many things but not murder. plus she has an alibi. she was in New York." madison added

"i guess that just leaves hiram lodge-" jughead trailed off

"and clifford and penelope blossom." madison said

"well, what do we have here?" alice said walking into the room

"you three just can't leave well enough alone, can you?" alice said

"mom we know what you're gonna say." betty spoke up

"the police found another dead body." alice said

"okay maybe not that." jughead said

"a southside serpent. and sheriff clueless is convinced that he was working with your father and your sister. he allegedly committed suicide by overdose, and there was a bag of money on-site that links him to hiram lodge. everything is tied up into a nice little bow. too tidy, if you ask me." alice said

bettys phone started ringing and she saw it was Kevin

"kevin?" she asked answering the phone

"uh.. okay. we'll meet you there." betty said hanging up

"whatever it is we're looking for, joaquin didn't know if it'd help your dad or make things worse." kevin said as the four of them walked through the woods

"guess we're gonna find out. but why did he wait so long to tell us?" madison asked

"danielle called him from jail. told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan that fp set up. they said it was too dangerous." kevin explained

"deja vu." jughead said as they saw the old maple syrup sigh meaning they were in the same spot that jason getaway car was previously stashed

"hey. right here." jughead said finding a bag in the bushes

inside the bag was jason's varsity jacket

i finally updated hey! leave some questions for the characters, book or me cause i'm thinking of doing a Q&A soon