The Last Blue Rose// Reggie Mantle (1)

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Fifteen minutes later, the sheriff and many other professionals had arrived on the crime scene, as well as Hermione Lodge. Fred Andrews pulled up a second later, immediately making his way over to the kids. "Son," he called, getting the attention of Archie.

"I'm okay," Archie assured his father. "We all are."

The sheriff got to the group at the same time Fred did. "What were you doing here in the first place?" He questioned.

Archie took this question. "We knew Mustang was a serpent we just wanted to talk to him to see if he knew anything about FP," he explained.

"Okay, Veronica, this has to stop!" Hermonie chastised her daughter. "Why are you doing this?"

"Mom!" Veronica exclaimed.

"What do you think happened in there?" Fred questioned the sheriff.

"Likely an overdose," Keller answered. Caia had been right. "We're waiting to see a time of death, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was somehow involved in Jason's murder, and was feeling the heat." He turned back to the teenagers. "How'd you know he lived here?"

Nobody responded. They didn't want to get Joaquin in trouble. They just stared at the Sheriff.

The question was forgotten as someone called for the sheriff. He turned to an approaching officer, who was holding a matron bag. She opened it to reveal hundreds of stacks of money, all in bills over the value of 100. "Found it under his bed," she informed.

The bag was closed to reveal initials on a silver accessory on the outside of the bag. H.L. "Hermonie Lodge," Keller observed. "You wanna explain to me why you're initials are on this bag."

Veronica looked to her mother, who looked stunned. "Not Hermione Lodge, Sheriff, Hiram Lodge. My dad-" she began to inch forward but was cut off and held back by her mother.

"Veronica-"

"Mom!" She exclaimed, fed up. "He was doing business with the serpents."

Hermione grabbed her daughter's arm. "And that's all were saying until there's an attourney present." As she finished, she turned a disapproving gaze towards Veronica.

Both Fred and Hermione took their children and went off to their cars, leaving Caia standing alone. "May I ask, Miss Sinclair, where is your father?"

Caia sighed. "That's a good question, sheriff. Unfortunately, it's also one that I don't have the answer to."

*

Later that night, a meeting of the group was called to order once again. Betty, Jughead, and Kevin had found Jason's jacket in a bag by the woods. They had laid it out on a speaker in Archie's garage and were now staring at it intensely, as if looking at it would make the answers appear.

"This is meant to help FP?" Archie questioned, confused.

"I don't know," Kevin replied honestly, shrugging. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me."

Jughead nodded. "This just proves that my dad torked Jason's getaway car," he stated.

Kevin turned his gaze from the jacket to Betty. "And that his confession was true."

Caia bit her lip. An idea was forming in her head. "Not necessarily," she refuted. "Just because he set that car on fire and cleaned up the body, it doesn't mean he killed Jason. Nobody ever actually saw him pull the trigger." She leaned back and sighed. "But it's starting to seem more and more like he did."

"Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous?" Betty contemplated. "What could that mean?"

"If you ask my father, he would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the serpents to kill Jason." She stated, entering the room and joining the group. She looked down at the jacket. "Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead. I'm sorry."