Smokestacks - Jughead Jones [1] ✔

Chapter Twenty-Three

SMOKESTACKS

CHAPTER | TWENTY-THREE

"Joaquin?" Savannah asked Kevin as he led her toward where Archie and Veronica were talking to his boyfriend. "FP called Joaquin? Why?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Kevin sighed, holding the door open for the girl.

Savannah moved to stand next to Archie, her eyes settling on the Southside Serpent that sat in an armchair before them.

"It was basically just a warning." Joaquin told them, his foot tapping nervously against the floor. "Said to lay low."

"No one uses their one call to say lay low." Veronica argued, her arms folded across her chest.

"Joaquin, do you know something?" Kevin moved closer to his boyfriend, eyes narrowed dangerously. "I'm not talking to you as your boyfriend. I'm talking to you as the Sheriff's son. Did FP kill Jason?"

Joaquin didn't say anything for a moment, letting out a sigh before uttering, "Yeah."

"Oh my god."

"I mean, I assume."

"Did you see him pull the trigger?" Veronica inquired, desperate to find out if her father was linked to Jason Blossom's death.

"No, no, God, no."

"Then why do you think he did it?" Archie frowned at the Serpent boy.

Joaquin closed his eyes for a beat, hands clasped together tightly. "On July 11th, I got a phone call in the middle of the night from FP. He said he needed help with some clean up job at the Whyte Wyrm."

"What job?" Kevin demanded, looking as if he were about to be sick.

"The basement of the Whyte Wyrm is off-limits to everyone. But that's where I met FP." Joaquin continued, wringing his wrists. "And that's where I saw... He'd been shot. I never asked FP if he did it, I just - I mean, I was terrified, I just assumed. We stashed the body in a freezer, cleaned up the mess, got rid of any evidence."

"You are a criminal." Kevin told him, his voice close to breaking.

Savannah didn't say anything, merely stared at the boy that had practically covered up the death of Jason Blossom. She thought that if it had been FP, this boy would have let him get away with it.

"You disgust me." Savannah snapped at the boy, Veronica slipping a hand into hers quickly, as if to calm her.

"Joaquin." She said, addressing the boy. "FP has done jobs for my dad, Hiram Lodge, in the past. Do you think killing Jason was one of them?"

Joaquin bobbed his head in thought, trying to recall a time when he'd heard the name. "There was one time I overheard a conversation between FP and Mustang."

"Who's Mustang?" Archie asked.

"He's another Serpent. The only other guy who knew about the cleanup. The guy you got into a fight with at the Wyrm."

"Yeah, thanks for that." Savannah turned her attention to Archie, "Dragging my brother into a bar on the Southside, just after he'd been beaten up. Don't think I've forgotten."

Archie shot an apologetic look in her direction before they looked back at Joaquin, focusing on the task at hand.

"Anyway," Joaquin continued, "I heard him tell FP something about some rich guy. I don't know who."

"Where is Mustang?" Veronica asked him.

"No, no, no." Joaquin shook his head, eyes wide. "You do not want to go see him."