"This is my school." "If you go here, your parents are either millionaires or your parents work for millionaires." "Neptune, California." "A town without a middle class." "If you're in the second group, you get a job: fast food, movie theaters, mini-marts." "Or you could be me." "My after-school job means tailing philandering spouses or investigating false injury claims." "Who'd that guy rat out?" "The bikers." "Why doesn't somebody cut him down?" "Yeah, I'll do it." "I wanna be the guy up there tomorrow." "Say cheese." "Smile." "Move." "Who died and made you the queen" "You are a freak." "You're new here, huh?" "Welcome to Neptune High." "Go Pirates!" "This is advanced placement." "We expect more." "It's called "An Essay on Man", but what Pope's really talking about is faith, right?" "Anybody?" "Did anybody complete the reading?" "Veronica?" "Veronica Mars!" "Congratulations." "You're my volunteer." "Pope. "An Essay on Man." Epistle one." ""Hope springs eternal in the human breast." "Man never is, but always to be blessed." "The soul, uneasy and confined from home rests and expatiates in a life to come."" "And what do you suppose Pope meant by that?" "Life's a bitch until you die." "Thank you, Ms. Mars, for that succint and somewhat inappropriate response." "I think what Pope's saying is the thing that keeps us powering through life's defeats is our faith in a better life yet to come." "Random locker searches." "It's the latest tactic the administration has adopted in their losing war on drugs." "Except the searches aren't really random." "I know when they're going to happen before Vice Principal Clemmons does." "Veronica Mars." "This should be good." "Veronica, will you please open your locker?" "Buster." "Wow." "This is a little embarrassing." "I used to sit there, at that table." "It's not like my family met the minimum net worth requirement." "My dad didn't own his own airline like John Enbaum's or serve as ambassador to Belgium like Shelly Pomroy's." "But my Dad used to be the sheriff and that had a certain cache." "Let's be honest, though." "The only reason I was allowed past the velvet ropes was Duncan Kane, son of software billionaire Jake Kane." "He used to be my boyfriend." "Then one day, with no warning, he ended things." "And let's not forget Logan Echolls." "His dad makes twenty million a picture." "You probably own his action figure." "Every school has an obligatory psychotic jackass." "He's ours." "You okay?" "What?" "You look, I don't know, hypnotized." "Did I say you could sit here?" "Wait a minute." "Of course you can sit here." "Sit wherever you want." "That was cool." "What you did, cutting me off of that pole." "Well" "My bitch!" "Weren't you supposed to wait for me at the flagpole?" "Not sure I could've made that any clearer." "Okay." "I get it." "Very funny." "I guess, we're even now." "You get what, boy?" "You get that you're a dead man walking, is that what you get?" "Leave him alone." "Sista!" "The only time I care what a woman has to say is when she's riding my big ole hog, and even then it's not so much words, it's just ooh's and aah's, you know?" " So it's big, huh?" " Legendary." "Well, let's see it." "I mean, if it's as big as you say, I'll be your girlfriend..." "We could go to prom together!" "What?" "What seems to be the problem?" "I'm on a schedule, here, Vato." "Dude, Weevil!" "Don't let Blondie talk to you like that!" "Sounds like your buddy here wants to see it, too." "Oh, hell, I'll show you mine!" "Felix Coumbs!" "What on God's green Earth is going on here?" "Alright, gentlemen, move along." "Veronica, why does trouble follow you around?" "So, what'd you do?" "What?" "Why are you a dead man walking?" "Oh, yeah." "I work at the Sac and Pac." "Last night I was working by myself and a couple of those guys came in." "They just walked right to the back of the store and start stuffing all these forties into their pockets." "So I hit the silent alarm." "Wallace." "I guess the dude thought a one dollar bill would cover it." "Keep the change." "That's when the police came." "We don't have police here, we have a sheriff's department." "You." "Come on." "What's up, snitch?" "Come here!" "They say they paid." " Well, did they?" " Yeah." "Like I said." "Shut up." "But you pressed the alarm anyway?" "It was an accident." "Jacks, get 'em out of here." "Get 'em out of here, we've got enough." "You need to go see the Wizard." "Ask him for some guts." " Go see the Wizard?" "He said that?" " Yeah." "Congratulations, sport." "In your short time here you've already managed to piss off a motorcycle gang and the local sheriff." "Hey, baby." "That's our song." "Happy birthday, Veronica!" "Are you surprised?" "Veronica?" "Mom?" "Veronica, it's me." "Honey, can you give me a hand." "Hey... who's a big boy?" "Good boy!" "I was shocked to discover Celeste Kane's car outside Dad's office." "Duncan's mom." "She hates me almost as much as she adores her son." "Veronica Mars." "My dad's with a client." "Apparently." "That's okay, I'm happy out here chatting with you." "Like I said, my Dad's with a client." "I heard you." "But your dad's out tracking bail jumpers half the time and yet, somehow, all the cases that come in here still get handled." "How is that?" " We're efficient." " Very efficient." "Hmm, look, I'm just going to leave this file here, open, on your desk and if you decide to take a look at it, cool." "One of my clients, Loretta Cancun, dances at The Seventh Veil." " Classy." " These are my people, V." "She was busted for vandalism, taking a baseball bat to the washing machine that stole her quarters at Suds and Duds." " And Johnny Cochran was booked?" " I make no apologies." "I like this case." "It's... tawdry." "Ms. Cancun says The Seventh Veil has an interesting way of keeping their liquor license despite their rather lax I.D. policy." "She wants to make a deal." "If your dad has time, he should look into it." "Don't get the wrong idea, Mr. Mars." "I don't like you." "I hate the fact that I'm here but I do know if anyone will be dogged and resourceful in this matter, it'll be you." "Don't call me at home." "I'll call you." "And I'll need it right away." "Hi." "Sure, she's a bitch, but can you blame her?" "After all, Dad did try to send her husband to jail for life." "How was school?" "If you think we're going to talk about my school day and not the fact that" "Celeste Kane was in your office ten minutes ago, you're deluded." "You're making good grades?" "Kane's got something on the side, doesn't he?" "You know, say what you want about real cheese." "I am a fan of the orange powdered packet stuff." "My grades are fine and I like the orange powder, too." "Now can we please talk about Mrs. Kane?" "Yes, she thinks he's seeing someone." "Late nights, motel matches, the usual." "Sexual appetite?" " It's gone." " Did you take the case?" " Well, we need the money, Veronica." " Good." "I would've been pissed if you hadn't." "Well, I wouldn't have cared if you were." "Gimme some of that apple." " Ah, don't" " Mars Investigations?" "Mmm hmm, just a sec." "Keith Mars." "How long ago?" "What's he driving?" "I got the 7:30 out of San Diego and I'll meet you by the thing by the fountain." "Good work, thanks." "That guy's on the move." "Andy picked him up in El Paso." "Another day, he'll probably drive across the border so I gotta head out." "You go." "I'll have a flight booked by the time you get to the airport." "Do you want a rental car in Texas?" "Yeah, nothing fancy this time, Veronica." "Seriously." "A Blazer is not fancy and we can bill it anyway." "Fine, I'll get you a Crown Vic." "Once a cop..." "Don't do anything on the Kane case." "I'll handle it." "Okay." " Given our relationship with that family" " Fine, I said okay!" "Okay." "If all goes well, I'll be back tomorrow night." "If not, the night after." "I'll call and I'll check in." "You always do." "And Veronica?" "Yes?" "When you go after Jake Kane, you take backup." "I always do." "By the time Dad's plane landed in El Paso I'd already picked up Jake Kane at his house and followed him to his office." "Streaming video was invented and perfected here at Kane software." "The day the company went public, Jake Kane made a billion dollars." "Everyone who worked for him in fact, right down the secretarial pool became millionaires." "He's beloved here." "Half the people in this town owe their fortunes to him." "And I knew the family well." "Jake's son, Duncan, was my first and only love." "His daughter Lilly was my best friend." "God, Lilly, I see the Prozac's working." "High on life, Veronica Mars." "I've got a secret." "A good one." "Girls!" "Less talk, more scrub." "Later..." "Those were the last words Lilly and I ever shared." "Later that night as I was driving home from picking up dinner with Dad a call came in over the radio." "All the dispatcher said was that there was a disturbance at the Kane estate." "Dad gave me specific instructions to stay in the car, but the moment that I saw Duncan, I knew that this was more than a disturbance." "What happened?" "Duncan, what happened?" "Where's Lilly?" "But everyone knows this story." "The murder of Lilly Kane." "It was on the cover of People Magazine." "It made Entertainment Tonight." "The town flooded with journalists." "Duncan, talk to me, please." "And of course, everyone remembers reading about the bungling local sheriff, the one who went after the wrong man." "That bungling sheriff was my Dad." "But if my Dad wasn't right about Jake Kane, then, it looks like Mrs. Kane is right about him now." "Not a lot of high-powered business meetings taking place at the Camelot at one in the morning." "They say the divorce rate is twice as high for parents who lose a child." "Lose a child." "Now there's a euphemism for you." "That hardly takes into account the way she was found." "What?" "You guys find a way to unlock the porn?" "It's the Lilly Kane video." "How do you think that family feels?" "Six weeks after Lilly Kane's death, someone from the Sheriff's Department leaked the crime scene video." "Within twenty-four hours, it was all over the net." "Streaming video made it possible." "Someone made a fortune while Dad took the blame." "So, does your uh, does your dad still think that Lilly's father did this?" "That's my girlfriend." "Your friend." "Duncan's sister." "Your dad is destroying the Kane family." "What's the matter with you people, huh?" "What's the matter with you?" "He did it, Lianne." "The man is a liar..." "My Dad's belief that Jake Kane was the murderer became a moot point." "An emergency recall election removed him from office." "Mom wanted to move out of Neptune." "The loss of status, the loss of income was too much for her." "We were going to move, alright, we couldn't afford our house." "But Dad wasn't going to be run out of town." "And neither was I." "Dad, come here!" "Hey, I'm sorry, honey." " Me and your mom, we're going to work this out." " Look." "...Abel Koontz, a disgruntled former Kane software employee." "Koontz, a software designer, was fired during the development stage of Kane Software's streaming video project." "Shoes and a backpack belonging to the deceased were discovered on Koontz's houseboat by Sheriff Don Lamb" "Well." "This can't be good." "Car trouble, miss?" "Yeah, as a matter of fact." "I think it might be a loose belt, but if you wouldn't mind checking under the hood." "Hey Weevil, who gets the first" "Get him off me!" "Get him off me!" "Call of your dog!" "Backup, chill." "I'll tell you what." "We'll call it a draw." "Lady, come on." "It's too late for that." "Here's the deal." "Leave that kid at school alone for a week and I'll make sure your boys walk." "Why you care so much for that skinny negro, anyway?" "Things I heard about you, you must really lay the pipe right, huh?" "Yeah, that's it." "Alright, alright, alright, Felix." "We get it, you're a badass, okay?" " But for once, don't be stupid!" " Not bad advice." "Alright." "One week." "After that, we come for you, your boy, and your little dog, too." "Backup, be cool." "You get lonely out here, remember," "Weevil love you long time." "Quite a reputation I've got, huh?" "You wanna know how I lost my virginity?" "So do I." "I went to a party at Shelly Palmroy's just to show everyone their whispers and backstabbing didn't affect me." "It was a mistake." "I don't know who handed me the drink." "I wish I did." "It turns out it was your basic rum, coke, and roofie." "I never told my dad." "I'm not sure what he would have done with that information, but no good would have come of it." "And what does it matter?" "I'm no longer that girl." "Alright, Lady, let's see ya'." "Hey, Ronnie." "We've decided that we'd rather surf than study today." "You wanna come with?" "Duncan will promise to take his shirt off, does that sweeten the pot?" "Does it make you horny?" " Hey, DK, flex for your ex." " Shut up, Logan!" "Alright, alright." "Hey, hey, hey." "What do say to a little hooch, huh?" "What's the matter, aren't you your mother's daughter?" "Now there was a woman who could drink." "Hey, what's she up to nowadays, maybe she'll join us." "You know where she is?" "Any clue?" " Leave her alone, man." " Ooh, chill pill, man." "Aw, she used to be fun, man." "It's been eight months since I've seen my mother." "A month after Dad lost his job, Mom split for good." "All she left me was a unicorn music box and a note saying she would be back for me someday." "Girl." "You should hear what people say about you." "So then what are you doing sitting here?" "You sat next to me!" " This is my table." " And what a fine table it is." "What do you suppose this is made of?" "Oak?" "Look, if people are saying such awful things" "Well, I figure I gotta choice." "I can either go hang out with the punks who laughed at me, took pictures of me while I was taped to that flagpole." "Or I can hang out with the chick who cut me down." "So, you wanna get the PCH Bike Club off your ass?" "This is SO twisted." "I love it." "Well can you do it, 'cause we need it fast." "Oh, hell yeah!" "For you, anything." "I'll even throw in the glazing gratis." "Go to town." "Thanks, Corny." "Oh, my god." "While Corny did his thing, I downloaded the pictures from the Camelot." "Every girl's gotta have a hobby." "Photography's mine." "And?" "Who's your daddy?" "Ugh." "I hate it when you say that." "You know what, this is important." "You remember this:" "I used to be cool!" " When?" " '77." "Trans-Am." "Blue Oyster Cult on the eight-track." "A foxy stacked blonde riding shotgun." "Racing for pink slips." "Oh, wait a minute." "I'm thinking of a Springsteen song." "Scratch everything." "I was never cool." "I don't know which bothers me more: foxy or stacked." "I nailed our bail jumper one hundred yards from Mexico." "2,500 bucks." "No sack dinners tonight." "Tonight, we eat like the lower middle class to which we aspire." "Fire up the bati." "For real, steaks?" "So Jake Kane went to the Camelot last night and hooked up with some hussy." "Didn't I say something about you not getting involved in that?" "I remember you saying something about taking Backup." "You get pictures?" "No money shot." "The woman in question never stepped foot outside, but I did get pictures of license plates." "I figured you could run them." "Let me see 'em." "You stay away from Jake Kane." "I don't want you doing anything else on this case." "We're gonna drop it anyway." "I'm gonna let his wife know." "What?" "We're dropping the case?" "Why?" "What's wrong?" "Who is it?" "Why don't you just tell me?" "Veronica, no!" "It's done." "It's over with." "You just stay away from him." "I had another case to occupy my brain:" "Loretta Cancun says the Seventh Veil has an interesting way of keeping their liquor license." "This was phase one of my plan to save Wallace." "Phase two would begin the next day." "Let's go!" "Hey, Flo-Jo, slow your ass down." "There you go." "Well, what's this, Logan?" "This would appear to be a device they use to smoke marijuana." "That's exactly what it looks like." "Let's go to the office." "This was you?" "Listen, I know it was you!" "This isn't over, okay." "Hey." "You're so cute." "Listen, I'll get you for this." "I will!" "Solid!" "You're right." "That was funny." "Meet me at my car after school." "Let's see if you've done your part." "After school, I drove Wallace to the Sherrif's Department." "This was phase three." "You know, we could get in a lot of trouble for this." " Give it here." " Wait." "I'm gonna do it." "Just thought one of us should state the obvious." "I wonder if it worked." "A fire!" "It worked." "Hey Adam." "Hey Eddie, is the Chief around?" "Well, if it isn't Smoky the Barely Legal." "I saw you in action today, Phil, you were very brave." "Did you make the switch?" "Fait accompli." "Thank you." "Plenty of people in this town still love Dad." "That comes in handy sometimes." "Other times, you rely on your own devices." "San Juan Capistrano P.D." "Tony, it's Inga." "Ah, guess what, our computers is down again." "Inga." "Upgrade already, this must be the tenth time." "You preach to the choir, Tony." "Listen, we had a hit and run last night." "Victim got the plates, but we need someone to run them." "No problem." "Hit me." "Ah, Arizona." "Four" " Victor" " Golf" " Zero" " Zero" " Zero" "Well, I'll be damned." "Some families." "What is it?" "That car is registered to one Lianne Mars." "Bored." "Wanna call it a day, maybe catch a movie or something?" "Explain to me again why we're dropping the Kane case." "Look." "I..." "I did run those plates and... it's what I thought." "Corporate espionage stuff." "And it's dangerous, you know." "We don't get paid enough, so..." "Let's just drop it, okay?" "Okay." " Movie?" " Can't." "Well maybe we can rent something." "What are you in the mood" "Veronica!" "Ah, little Veronica, how are you?" "How's your father?" " Fine, Inga, we're both fine." " I haven't seen you since..." " Since..." " Been a while." "Can you tell me where the Cortez/Winn prelim is?" " Courtroom three." " Thanks." "The last time I was here?" "Come on, Inga." "That's easy." "Veronica!" "What happened to you?" "I need to report a crime." "Is there anyone in particular you'd like me to arrest?" "Or should I just round up the sons of the most important families in town?" "I've got not a shred of evidence to work with here, but that doesn't really matter to your family, does it?" "Oh, look at this." "She cries." "I'll tell you what, Veronica Mars." "Why don't you go see the Wizard?" "Ask him for a little backbone." "When we find them, they've still got twenty bottles stuffed in their pockets." "They say they bought the beers, but we've got it all on tape, so..." " Your honor, can we show the tape?" " Let's see it." "Alright, what you're gonna see here are the two defendants over there." "They enter and" "What are we seeing here, Sheriff?" "Uh, Your Honor, I've" "Sheriff Lamb, is this one of your officers?" "Is this how you run your department?" "Ah, Your Honor, is this an appropriate time to ask for a dismissal in People vs. Loretta Cancun?" "Got a present for you." "I owe you, big time." "I had my own reasons for doing it, trust me." "Oh, no, you don't." "You really think I'm gonna let you get away with that?" "That might play with the masses." "But underneath that angry young woman shell, there's a slightly less angry young woman who's just dying to bake me something." "You're a marshmallow, Veronica Mars." "A twinkie." "Okay, how do I make it loop de loop?" "Uh, Veronica." "Yeah?" "Your car." "Hey." "Veronica Mars." "Do you know what your little joke cost me?" "Well, I'm pretty sure you won't be getting your bong back." "Wrong answer." "Would you care to guess again?" "Clearly, your sense of humor." "Nope." "You're usually so good at pop quizzes." "No, the correct answer is, my car." "That's right, my Daddy took my T-Bird away." "And you know what I won't be having?" "Fun, fun, fun." "Uh, Logan?" "What do we have here?" "Vandalism?" "No, no, no." "The only vandalism that happens in this town goes through me." "Listen, man, I don't have a problem with you." "That's where you're wrong." "Hey, yo!" "Is this O-Town any good?" "I mean, my little sister likes 'em, but she likes ponies and juice boxes, too." "I suddenly feel like I'm in a scene from The Outsiders." "Be cool, Sodapop." "Hey, that's not his car, that's my mom's car." "She can bill me." "That's it." "Head for the hills." "I'm not gonna say it twice." "Except for you." "You, say you're sorry." "Rub a lamp." "I said, say you're sorry." "Kiss my ass." " Now." " Let him go." "Are you sure?" "I could do this for a while." "I don't want his apology." "So that surveillance tape just, poof?" "That's fortunate." "My uncle has a body shop on the highway." "If you come in, you know, I could make sure your body gets the full service treatment." "Okay, now you apologize." " I'm sorry, was that too dirty?" "'Cause" " Not to me, dork." "To him." " Right." "No." " Fine." "He has the only copy of the Sac and Pac video." "Wallace, let's go decide what to do with it." "Okay, okay, wait, wait, wait." "Look." "I'm sorry, man, for taping you to the flagpole." "Alright." "Can I have the tape back now?" "Nope." "This morning when I woke up, I had one person in the world that I could count on." "But if there's something I've learned in this business, the people you love let you down." "Dad doesn't think I know where he keeps the combination to the safe." "He's wrong." "Of course, I've never needed to use it." "Oh, my God." "The Lilly Kane murder file." "What's Dad been up to?" "Some of these notes are less than a month old." "The confessed killer is already on death row, but Dad still hasn't given up on the case." "My surveillance photo from the Camelot?" "Why is it in the Lilly Kane file?" "What was Mom doing there, and what business did she have with Jake Kane?" "And the million dollar question:" "Why did Dad lie to me?" "What are you doing back here?" "I saw the light." "I forgot a few of my books." "So up and at 'em, Adam Ant." "Come on, it's Family Fun Night." "I called out to Mama Leone's." "I rented the South Park movie." "My favorite." "Hey..." "Who's your daddy?" "You are." "I have to make a stop, so I'll meet you at home?" "Okay." "Hurry up." "I worry about you." "Yeah, you do." "Okay, he lied to me, but I've gotta believe he has his reasons." "He's probably trying to protect me." "That's what dads do." "Still, I've got too many questions swirling around in my head to wait until he's willing to share." "These questions need answers." "That's what I do." "Okay, it's a long shot, but I can't help myself." "I used to think I knew what tore our family apart." "Now I'm sure I don't." "But I promise this:" "I will find out what really happened, and I will bring this family back together again." "I'm sorry, is that mushy?" "Well, you know what they say." "Veronica Mars, she's a marshmallow."