Young Gods || [Not Updating]

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[chapter twenty eight]

The night before Hiram returned to Riverdale, Hermione gave her daughter a phone number and a name.

The conversation was short, as most things were between Veronica and her mother, and made up if exactly three facts. One, Hiram Lodge is a dangerous man with dangerous friends. Two, women in their positions didn't make it to the end of the story. And, three, that the man at the other end of the phone would not ask questions.

Then, they moved on, as if the conversation had never happened.

Veronica considers calling the number many times. Riverdale is a constant stream of reasons. Fred's shooting. Black hood murders. Drugs, gangs, cults. But she never does. Instead, she takes self defence classes, buys sharp key rings and cans of high grade mace.

A gun, she tells herself, is asking for trouble.

But the night at the party puts a new fear into her. She will never be helpless again.

So, she gets into a taxi and reads the driver the address the man has given her. The car drives slowly and the driver, a friendly old man, asks her what business she has on the Southside. "Shopping," she says and changes the subject.

The man on the other end of the phone had reminds her, exactly once, that he can have her killed if she tries anything. It is offhand. An afterthought. He also asks to be paid more for a 'short notice purchase'.

"Here we are."

Veronica pays the driver and gets out of the car. It's cold out. She pulls her sleeves over her hands and bites at her lips. The streets of the Southside never look amazing, but this street in particular looks awful. Litter on the street. Smashed windows and broken locks beside doors. Police tape blowing in the wind, only attached by a single string. The taxi pulls away from the kerb beside her and Veronica feels completely alone. 

The building in front of her looks normal enough. A large glass window with bright stickers, each offering different sales, and a shelf of dusty stock. The sign, half flashing and half smashed, advertises 'brgin uys' and 'ow rices'. She opens the door, flinching at the chime, and forces herself to keep her head up as she walks to the counter.

"Hello," she says to the bored teenager behind the counter. "I called earlier-"

"-storage room." The girl says, scrolling through her phone. "There." She adds when Veronica doesn't move. Her bony hand guides Veronica to a door labelled 'Staff Only'.

"Thanks."

On the short walk from the counter to the door, Veronica thinks of the thousand and one things that could go wrong if she goes through with this. She thinks of her name on the news and her friends in all black. Except this man, she thinks as she curls her fingers around the door handle, would never be careless enough to leave a body in the first place.