LAST SUMMER [ARCHIE ANDREWS] - DISCONTINUED

twenty-one

a/n: i am astonished. 121k mother-trucking reads. thank you so much.
-/-

"ARCHIE ASKED ME TO TAKE A LOOK at your father's case," Mary Andrews told Kara, Jughead, and Archie the next morning at Pop's, "I went down to the station and passed myself off as his attorney to try to get as much information as I could..." She dragged open the tan folder that sat on the table in front of them, reading from her notes.

"How's it looking, Mom?" Archie asked, clasping his hands together on the table. Mary sighed sadly. "Well, unfortunately, between FP's lists of priors, the anonymous tip and the possession of the murder weapon-"

"Don't forget that pesky confession," Jughead added sourly. Archie gave him a look. Mary sighed again, tapping her long nails on the table lazily. "Things look pretty bad," Kara muttered, scratching the back of her neck.

"I was with him all night, and he never once budged from his story," Mary told them, and Jughead grinned dryly. "Well, if nothing, at least he's an honest murderer."

Archie and Kara shared a look, sighing frustratedly. "Jug..." Archie said, and the boy raised a sardonic eyebrow in his direction. "Right..."

"Oh, also," Mary began, squinting down at her papers, "Who's... Joaquin DeSantos?"

Kara frowned, glancing at the paper. "Joaquin? He's Kevin's boyfriend, I think," she told Archie's mother, looking at Jughead and Archie for confirmation. "He was FP's one phone call," Mary informed them, shrugging. She placed her hand over Jughead's. "Jughead, my advice is go see your father, and tell him everything you want to tell him. Once he's arraigned, things tend to move pretty fast," she said, "This could be your last chance."

-/-

"He called Joaquin? Of all people?" Veronica asked, her face shrewd up in a frown. "Why not Jughead? Or your dad?" She motioned to Archie. "Or a lawyer?" Kara shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms. "It's weird."

"What does Betty think?" Veronica asked. "She thinks it's weird too," Archie commented.

Veronica gave a determined look. "Joaquin might know if FP was hired to kill Jason. If it was my father..."

"I need to see this through to the end."

-/-

"We know FP used his one call from jail to get in touch with you," Archie said to Joaquin, narrowing at the unsettling-eyed boy sitting in his garage. "What did he say?"

Joaquin shrugged. "It was basically just a warning... He said to lay low." Kara rolled her eyes slightly, blurting, "No one uses their one call to say 'stay low.'" Kevin stepped up from his spot cowering behind Betty and looked his boyfriend in the eyes for the first time that night. "Joaquin, do you know something?" When Joaquin said nothing, Kevin's voice got firmer. "I'm not asking as your boyfriend. I'm asking as the sheriff's son."