Suspect | Jughead Jones.

03

I think many of us, maybe the entire town, had been hoping against hope that somehow Jason Blossom hadn't drowned on July 4th. That we'd come to school Monday morning, and there Jason would be. Or that we'd see him and Cheryl in a booth at Pop's. But that was before the undeniable, irrevocable fact of his bloated, water-logged body, a corpse with a bullet hole in its forehead, and terrible secrets that could only be revealed by the cold, steel blade of a coroner's autopsy scalpel, or the telltale beating of a guilty heart.

"I was right. I was right. I was right. Holy shit, I was right." The words kept playing on repeat in Natasha's head. She had always been figuring cases out in her head, but those were cases like Law and Order Special Victims Unit, not actual cases. And easily, she had figured out the biggest mystery that had existed that far. She was freaking out.

And now, she wanted to figure out the next biggest mystery.

Who did it?

•••

"Ronnie? Are you ever going to forgive me?" Natasha pleaded with her sister as they walked into the school.
Veronica huffed, "I will forgive you when Betty forgives me! How could you tell Cheryl something like that?"
"I know and I'm sorry, I was wrong. But Ronnie, I was right." Tash stated, already having shared with Veronica everything.

"And it's werid, yes, but move on. It was a fluke Tash, you need to stop focusing on Jason Blossom and make friends," Veronica said and Tash huffed, annoyed. She zipped her mouth shut and sped past her sister, leaving her behind.

As she passed a bunch of lockers, she caught sight of the red haired Archie Andrews and instantly felt a wave of guilt. However, she couldn't help but smile as she heard someone say, "Do you think I can use Jason Blossom's death as an excuse to get out of PE? "Sorry, Coach, I'm just too depressed and freaked-out right now to do pull-ups. "

Tash laughed, "Already tried that. Say you have Palinopsia- afterimage," she suggested as she walked past.

"I know what Palinopsia- is!" Was called after her, but she didn't turn as she continued to the library. As she neared closer she seemed to be losing her breath, overwhelmed with the fact that a few quick minutes in the library the day before had let her make a conclusion police hadn't made after two months. She wasn't sure if she was more shocked at her being right, or the sheer idiocy of the sheriff's department in Riverdale.

Pushing the doors to the library open, walking inside she felt herself calm. She heaved herself over to a table and urgently pulled her notebook out. She had spent the entire night scribbling down theories and it was time to add some facts in.

She started with Cheryl, who must have been the last known person to see Jason. She took him across the river, and must have staged the incident. Cheryl was a major bitch, but Natasha didn't believe she was capable of murdering her twin brother. Tash had come to the conclusion that he didn't drown the day before. Was it possible Jason didn't even die on July Fourth? if Jason didn't die that day. It seemed unlikely that Jason would have staged it without his twin being in the know. Otherwise he would have just disappeared. That meant that he must of needed the people of Riverdale to believe he was dead.

"Was he running from somebody? Or something?" Tash asked herself in a whisper, almost terrified of the puzzle pieces she was putting together. Before she could go further, the P.A. system went off, calling out her name to be reported to the office.

Natasha hastily packed her things up and quickly ran down the halls to where she recalled the main office being. She entered quickly and approached the Secretary's desk, "Hi. Um, I'm Natasha Lodge? I was called down?"