"I look back over the past week and wonder if things could've turned out differently." "If I hadn't met the girl, if I hadn't initiated the case, if I hadn't interfered, would tonight be just another dull, quiet night in our apartment complex?" "Miss, get out of the way." "Is it my fault a horrible crime played out its final chapter here?" "Or was what happened inevitable?" " Hey Rocky." " Hey Veronica." "Hi, Neighbor." "Oh, hey Veronica." "Are you okay?" "Yeah." "Fine." "Oh, your Snow Patrol CD!" "I'll get it back to you, I swear, I've just been so into it." "I know." "I can hear through the ceiling." "Oh, god, you can hear us fighting, can't you?" "I'm sorry." "What was the fight about?" "It was nothing." "You're right, it's not my business." "No!" "It's just stupid, I..." "My journal's missing." "I think he took it." " Really?" " Yeah." "He somehow got it into his head that I have a thing for my boss." "Suddenly, the journal disappears." "Sort of my diary-slash-sketchbook." "But it's got some way personal stuff in there." "I hope it turns up." "Hey, Killer!" " Do you mind if I?" " No, go ahead." "He lives for the attention." "You are so lucky he's your dog." "I would immediately put him in a little sailor's outfit." "Veronica, can I ask you a favor?" "I have a doctor's appointment Tuesday morning." "I'm getting some test results." "Do you need a lift?" "Maybe some hand-holding." "Of course." "Mr. Echolls." "I was wondering if I could have a word." "Anthropomorphic." "All yours, big guy." "Your father has generously offered to donate a pair of boots for a school fundraising auction." "Not the ones made for walking." "God, I love those boots..." "Ah, the pair he wore in "Hair Trigger"." "They're a big ticket item." "We're hoping we'll be able to pay for our new scoreboard with what we make off of them." "Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reach your father." "I was hoping you could remind him." "I'll have my assistant call his assistant." "...Carrie Ann Wesley went on to be Miss California, of course, then she went on to gain forty pounds." "Oh, and Jake Kane!" "Big computer mogul and I sat next to him in typing." "Surprisingly slow, typing-wise." "He's a brilliant man." "Ronald Tuler, of Tuler Motors -- are you married?" " because I hear he's seperated now..." "Veronica!" "Just the girl I was looking for!" "I'd like you to meet Evelyn Bugby." "Oh, aren't you cute?" "Evelyn is from the Alumni Association and she's looking for some help putting together a photo display for a class reunion." "Oh." "If only I had the spare time." "Oh, Pat, is that you?" "Class of '79." "Think of all the bad clothes you can mock." "Velour shirts." "Platform shoes." "Um, okay." "I'll do it." "Great!" "Your first assignment is to scan and print all the photos Mrs. Bugby tagged." "And please." "Keep her away from me." "Somewhere amidst the "most likely to succeed" and "class sweetheart", my mom, Lianne Reynolds." "Most likely to disappear off the face of the earth." "They teach you manners in ESL?" "If I was gonna cheat, don't you think I'd pick somebody smart?" "If you was gonna." "Ah, alas." "You both get zeros." "No talking during tests." "I guess Mrs. Daniels ain't giving it up at home, huh?" "You know, the glow of your father's welcome celebrity may be enough to sustain you through high school, Mr. Echolls, but do you know what it will get you in the real world?" "Please say "high school English teacher"." "Please, say "high school English teacher"." "Mr. Navarro." "I wonder if you'll find Mr. Echolls so amusing ten years from now." "When you're pumping his gas." "See me after class, both of you." "I'll tell you where to report for detention." "You know what I love?" "I love that I get a zero for talking when you were the one who was talking to me." "You get detention for dissing the teacher in front of everybody." "And I get detention for laughing." "Let me ask you something, man." "Is this detention or hell?" "How do you people not make yourselves sick?" "I mean, it's like you walk on water in this school." "For what?" "It's nothing that you do." "I mean, all that matters is who your parents are, and the zip code your mom shot you out in." "If I donate to the United Latino Pain-in-the-Ass fund, will you shut the hell up?" "You like playin' wit' yourself?" "Huh?" "Or you wanna make things interesting?" "What did you have in mind?" "You're almost as bad a actor as your father." "You know that you don't need a diploma to steal hubcaps, right?" "I mean, why do you even show up here?" "I promised my grandmother." "I don't break my promises." "And I mean this:" "Aww." "Is this Reno or detention?" "Would you believe the best of both?" " Aw, come on, man!" " What the hell?" "We were playing a game, here." "This is punishment, gentlemen, not party time." "Well, that would explain the absence of balloon animals." "You know, the two of you may not have learned respect in the home, but you are going to learn it here." "And you now have a full week of detention for me to teach you without luxury time for playing cards." " Why'd you tell her?" " I assumed she already knew." "God, she's your mother." "She is the last person I want to know about the baby!" "I can't believe you told her where I was!" "You're just being hormonal." "Shut up!" "Why don't you go spend the night with Joanna?" "Maybe then she'll stop calling here all the time!" "Get over it, Sarah!" "Grow up!" "You hear something last night?" "What kind of something?" "Like a loud thump from upstairs." "Well, no, but you know me." "I could sleep through an earthquake." "Why?" "I don't know." "It sounded like a falling body." "It really freaked me out." " Falling body?" " Yes." "A falling body." "Would you describe the sound as "Hitchcock-ian"?" "I'm glad you're able to entertain yourself." "Oh, sweetie, don't sell yourself short." "I find you completely entertaining." "You're dressed awfully early." "I'm taking Sarah to a doctor's appointment before school." "Oh, well that's mighty neighborly of you." "Well, I'll see you back at the ranch, partner." "Sarah?" "Sarah, it's Veronica again." "Please give me a call when you get this, I'm just getting a little worried." "The people that say high school years are the best years of your life are usually on the yearbook staff." "I just pray that bake sales and pep rallies aren't as good as it gets." "And that the prom isn't the most magical night of my life like it was for this golden..." "Oh, my god." "So, how's life with the movie star's kid?" "Ugh, he makes Juvie Hall seem like vacation." "Yeah?" "You should tell him you spent some quiet time with Lilly Kane, his precious girlfriend." "I'd love to see the look on his face when he finds out you tapped that fine, white ass." "Hey!" "You shut your mouth with that, man!" "You don't know what you're talking about and it wasn't like that, alright?" "What?" "What'd I say?" "Hey." "Hey, what's up?" "I've got a little Neptune High trivia for you." "Yeah?" "Did you know that your Dad and my Mom were King and Queen of the prom?" "Which, I guess, means they were like a couple or something." "Did you know about that?" "Uh, no." "That's weird, huh?" "The boy does have a gift for evasiveness." "Last year, he broke up with me without so much as an "it's over"." "What's going on?" "What's going on is I had lip gloss on my teeth for, like, all of first period." "Why is Duncan pretending I no longer exist?" "Hmm... because he's a freak." "I don't know." "I'm his sister, not his shrink." "It's like he's broken up with me, but hasn't gotten around to telling me yet." "He has been weird the past few days." "Maybe his right hand finally said no." "Can you not see I'm really upset about this?" "God, Veronica, please." "Will you stop, okay?" "He's going through like a phase or something." "You two are meant for each other." "He's not that stupid." "Fine." "I'll talk to him." "Thank you." "You know, I don't know what you people would do without me." "Is this a joke?" "No, Mr. Echolls, this is detention." "I meant the car." "Oh, my God!" "It's not yours, is it?" "Seriously, I don't think it's school policy to have students do chores." "Seriously, would you like to hear the school's policy on gambling, Mr. Echolls?" "It's considerably detailed." " Hi, I'm looking for Sarah." " Me too." "She didn't show up today." "I'm her neighbor and she's been missing since this morning." "I'm getting really worried." "Might wanna check with her boyfriend, Andre." "Do you know him?" "I feel like I do." "She talks about him ad-nauseum." ""He's such a great artist." "He's so down to earth." "He has magic hands."" "I'm sensing you don't like him very much." "They fight all the time." "And I know for a fact the guy's got a temper." "A couple weeks ago she spent the night at my place." "It was storming out, she didn't wanna drive." "Andre absolutely flipped out." "They fought on the phone like Sid and Nancy." "Thanks for the info." "This isn't like her, you know." "She hasn't missed a day of work since she started here." "Do you know where I can find Andre?" "Hello?" " What are you doing here?" " Have you seen Sarah?" "Not since this morning." "Why?" "Well, I was supposed to take her to the doctor this morning, but she wasn't around." "She didn't show up for work, either." "She'll turn up." "You're not concerned?" "This is what she does." "Things get a little rough, she runs." "What was the fight about?" "I told her I found her friends annoying." "Something about you telling Sarah's mom she was pregnant?" "Well, if you know the answer, why ask the question?" "Sarah's mom didn't know she was pregnant?" "They hadn't spoken since Sarah left Ohio." "I told her that Sarah was pregnant, she said she wanted to come be with her." "Sarah freaked." " Freaked and ran off?" " Yeah." "So get these dark fantasies out of your head." "She'll come back as soon as she's processed it all." "It's her way." "I heard a noise come from your apartment last night." "A loud thump." "Thump." "Hmm." "Well, that must have been when I cracked her head open with a candlestick and she crumpled to the ground." "No, wait." "That was Professor Plum in the study." "I am seriously worried." "You are seriously paranoid is what you are." "I didn't hear a thump." "Maybe I slept through it." "Look, why don't you go back to playing field hockey or whatever it is you usually do after school." "I can handle this." "Actually, what I usually do after school is work at my dad's detective agency." "You remember, he used to be Sheriff?" "He still has a ton of contacts in law enforcement." "Well, la-di-da." "Who's the girl?" "She's the head of our neighborhood watch program." "I wasn't aware this was clothing-optional!" "Let me know when you're ready for me, Picasso." "See ya', Neighbor." "Thanks for dropping by." "Dogs." "Nature's psychic detectives." "They know it in their bones when something is wrong." "Now I've got the corroboration I need." "Hey, Killer." "Killer?" "Killer, where are you, bud?" "Oh, hi." "What the hell are you doing in my apartment?" "I couldn't study." "The little guy was barking his head off, and I tried the door, it was unlocked so I figured I'd come in and check on him." "I never leave my door unlocked." "Oh, well then Sarah must have done it." "That's possible, right?" "Possible." "Yeah, that's possible." "I don't know who you think you are, but you need to stay out of my business." "Am I being clear?" "Crystal." "Nice chatting with you." "Well, we definitely don't need this one." "I have no idea who this is, so what does that say?" "Oh!" "Perfect, we have to have Doris Landers, she was Class Sweetheart." "In more ways than one." "But a very nice girl." "What about Lianne Reynolds?" "She's my mom..." "Oh my god!" "Of course!" "Look at you." "I thought you looked familiar." "You look just like her." "How is she?" "I love this picture of her." "Oh." "She was just gorgeous." "And Jake." "They were a beautiful couple." "So they were a couple?" "No, they were the couple." "Very lovey-dovey." "Practically connected at the mouth in the hallway." "I'd always thought they'd get married," "I mean, everybody thought they would but obviously everything worked out for the best." "Otherwise you wouldn't be here, right?" "Right." "They were something, though." "Like a couple in a movie." "Oh, Aaron Stallon." "I think he went to jail." "It's just high school." "What happens here doesn't mean anything." "I was part of a perfect couple." "It was part of my perfect life." "It's amazing how fleeting perfection can be." "Yesterday you said we were made for each other." "I don't" " I don't really want to be in the middle of this." "What is this?" "I just think that maybe you should just move on." "What?" "!" "I can think of a half dozen guys off the top of my head that would be a better match for you than Duncan." "What did he say to you?" "Did I do something?" "No, it's not you!" "It's just... he needs some time alone for a while." "Would you stop walking?" "What is so horrible that you can't tell me?" "Can you trust me?" "It's for the best, Veronica." "I know that it doesn't seem like it right now, but it is!" "You deserve better." "Alphabetize by author and then by title." "For example, Shakespeare would come after Poe and before Wordsworth." "And within Shakespeare, MacBeth after Hamlet." " Should I draw a diagram?" " Please." "That would be helpful." "If you get this wrong, I'll simply have you do it again." "Well, amigo, let's get to it, huh?" "Oops!" "Heads up!" "My bad!" "You obviously have no appreciation of literature." "Would that it were Mr. Daniels' head!" "I was thinking more like that scene in Casino." " With the vice grip." " Ah, see I'm more of a purist." "You know, less blood, more emotional distress." "I'd rather see him locked in a room, padded, cramping himself in the corner." "You know." "He's an English teacher; he'd appreciate the poetic justice." "I think I've got your poetic justice." "Meaning?" "Meaning I've got a plan." "Tick tick." "Losing interest..." "If I thought you had the cojones to pull it off, I'd tell you, but..." "Never underestimate the size of my cojones." "Whoa." "Where the" "Do you know how to get back to your hotel?" " Yeah, I just" " We're fine." "I have one more thing." "Where do you think she is?" "No idea." "Look, I have your number at the hotel, so if I hear anything," "I'll give you a call." "Thank you." "Sure." "Excuse me, are you Sarah's mother?" "Yes." "I'm Emily, and this is her stepfather, Randall." "Um, my father's a private detective." "And he's really good at finding missing people." "I can give you his card." " Come on, man, check it out!" " Thanks again for the ride, Lisa." "Let me know if you need me to take you home." "Okay." "Ah, geez." "What's the problem now?" "Alright, people break it up!" "Break it up!" "What's the big attraction?" "Son of a" "Get back to class." "Go on!" "Move it!" "Go to class!" "Go to class, people!" "Mr. Navarro!" "Interesting artwork you left at the flagpole this morning." "Artwork?" "It looks to me like Mr. Daniels has a little drinking and driving problem." "Spare me your indignation, Mr. Navarro, we have a witness." "Yeah, sure you do." "The only thing that's going to make this easy on you is if you tell us who helped you." "Alright." "You guys wanna know who helped me?" "Ask your witness." "You believe this?" "Tell us who helped you!" "Tom!" "Easy." "I called your grandmother." "She's been informed that as of today, you are expelled from Neptune High School." "You are no longer a student here." "And you had so much potential." "Okay, then." "A security guard will escort you to clean out your locker." "Wait." "Does this mean I can't try out for the soccer team?" "I didn't even know they expelled people at our school." "Well, not our people." "They expelled him?" "They had security escort him off the grounds." "I was in the office getting my schedule changed and you could hear Daniels just blowing a fuse." "Tell us who helped you!" "Tell us who helped you!" "If he starts selling orange juice in front of my house, I'm gonna be pissed." "She was a very sweet girl." "Light-hearted." "An angel." "And then around her senior year, I saw a change." "She was secretive, always picking fights with me." "Thank you." "I think she was angry because I remarried after her father died." "I don't know." "She had a knack for attracting troubled young men." "Come on, Emily." "You make her sound worse than she was." "She was a teenager, they have moods." "We shouldn't kid ourselves, Randall." "Then one day, last year, she took off." "Didn't finish high school, never even said goodbye." "Emily, she's only been gone a couple of days." "We'll find her." "That's why we're here." "I'll do my best." "So, here's what I'm thinking." "The boyfriend, Andre, he knows something and if we lean on him a little bit, put the fear of god in him" "Veronica, I'm handling this case from here on out." "I know." "That's why I brought them here." "So you could be involved." "I'm handling this case without you." "No, Dad." "She's my friend." "No, she's a girl you talked to in the laundry room from time to time." "Look, sweetie, young, attractive girls who take up with troubled men?" "Disappear without warning?" "I've handled a hundred of these cases in my life and they often end badly." "Prepare yourself." "I convinced Dad to let me keep working on the case if I stayed away from Andre." "Hi, this is Sarah Williams." "I'm just wondering if I can get my test results over the phone." "Right, the DNA test." "Could you explain to me what that means?" "Sarah's baby, it wasn't Andre's." "You got a sec?" "Mr. Echolls." "What can I do for you?" "Man, I tell you Mr. Clemmons, I am pissed off!" "I need for you to use appropriate language in here, Mr. Echolls." "Now, what's got under your skin?" "It's, uh, it's that Weevil kid." "He is no longer a student here." "Yeah, I know." "But the problem is, he's getting all the credit for sticking Mr. Daniels car on the flagpole." "All of the sudden, he's like the biggest badass... rad dude here at Neptune." "People are gonna be talking about that punking for years." "I don't think I understand." "I mean, I want my share of the credit." "You're confessing to helping Eli Navarro?" "You can't just get away with this, young man." "Yeah, I didn't think I could." "So, what kind of punishment are we talking about?" "I'm not really understanding your question." "Well, if Andre's not the baby's father, do you know who is?" "It's not mine, if that's what you're suggesting." "No, I'm not." "But you work with her every day." "I thought you might have picked up something." "I hate to even think this, but maybe the guy that raped her is the baby's father." " She was raped?" " Yeah." "It's one of the reasons she left her hometown, followed Andre here." " She told you that?" " Yeah." "Like you said, we spend a lot of time together." " Did she say who it was?" " Never." "I should get back to work." "But if I think of anything else, I'll be sure to give you a call." "You stole the diary!" "What?" "How did that work?" "She was sleeping at your house that stormy night and there it was, just poking out of her bag." "You couldn't resist." "You had to find out if she had a thing for you, too." "You realize you're paranoid." "I do." "Everyone reminds me." "But it doesn't mean I'm not right." "I want the journal." "It's gonna help me find her." "I told you." "I don't have it." "Hmm." "Looks like we're in a bit of a standstill." "Looks that way." "Excuse me?" "Hey, it's Veronica." "Hear you have some free time on your hands, you wanna do me a little favor?" " We heard there was sale!" " Yeah!" "Everything's on clearance!" "What, what do you guys want?" "I don't know." "Sometimes the girls get put off by this whole motorcycle jacket thing." "Do you think something in suede might make me seem more accessible?" "Could you, could you please not do that?" "Looks like the new Prada line came in." "Guys!" "Remember:" "No white after Labor Day!" "Nathan." "Did you happen to find that journal?" "What the hell?" "You going somewhere?" "What's it to you?" "Seems like a strange time to be taking a trip with your girlfriend missing." "And how is this your business?" "I was hired by her parents to find her." "Something tells me they wouldn't be too keen on the idea of you skipping town right now." "Well, that's just it, pal." "I'm not 'skipping town'." "I'm just dropping off a friend." "Can I go?" "They're boarding now." "I appreciate you humoring me." "Go board your train." "I'll be right here waiting for you." "Well, I'll be right back." "I would like to take this opportunity to remind you both that you're getting off easy." "This will go on your permanent record." "And you're supremely fortunate that you're not being suspended or expelled." "Um, does it go on my permanent record that I was un-expelled?" "Don't push your luck, Eli." "I'll take this one." " Hey, man, what are you doing?" " What the hell is that?" " It's my arm, dawg." " What-- why do you have Lilly's name on your arm?" " You really wanna know?" " Yeah!" " You really wanna know?" " Yeah, I really wanna know!" "Lilly's my little sister's name, man." "That okay with you?" "Put your hands on me like that again, you'll lose on of 'em." "Yeah, I think I just peed myself." "I guess if you keep a diary, you have to consider the possibility that someone could find it and be privy to your every intimate secret." "At least, that's what I told myself as I pored through Sarah's private thoughts." "There were no details of a sexual assault, only its aftermath." "Sarah didn't handle it well." "She felt she couldn't talk to her mother." "She couldn't relate to her friends." "She ran away from home and started sleeping in her car." "Bingo." "The one bright spot was Andre." "She met him in an art class and followed him to Neptune." "Sarah?" "You found me." "Everyone's worried about you." "Are my parents here?" "Yeah." "They're back at the apartment." "I'm gonna miss all this." "I found her." "I know." "Word's out in the complex." "They're very impressed." "Think I've got a future in the biz?" "I think you've got a future as a highly-paid, Ivy-League educated, executive of some sort who never thinks about private investigation again in her perfect life." "Now, let's do something normal fathers and daughters do." "Buy me a pony?" "I was thinking I'd watch TV and you'd rub my feet." "Hmm." "Yeah, that's normal." "Have you seen my keys?" "You're not leaving, are you?" "No, Sarah." "I'm not the one who's always running." "Look, I spent the last two hours making small talk with your parents." "They didn't come two-thousand miles to see me." "I told you, I don't wanna deal with them." "Yeah, well, you're gonna have to deal with them sometime." "You're right." "I'll take Killer for a walk." "Be right back." " I love you." " I love you, too." "I have to say, I still really don't trust Andre." "I don't know." "He knows about the DNA test, the baby's not his." "He said it didn't matter." "Which in itself is all sorts of freakish." "Well, it's a testament to how much he loves her." "A man's gotta be pretty committed to a woman to agree to raise another man's child." "You know who the real father is?" "Hello?" "Earth to Mars!" "What?" "Where did you go just now?" "Nowhere." "What'd you just ask me?" "Who the father is." "Sarah!" "What's wrong?" "Mom, there's something you should know." " Why didn't you tell me she was raped?" " I just found out." "He raped me!" "He raped me!" "You are a liar!" "You want to hurt me!" "Shut up and listen to me for once!" "Your husband raped me!" "You stay here." "No, I'm done keeping quiet." "That's enough." " Sarah!" " You're not gonna hurt me again." "Open up!" "Randall!" "No!" "I'm sorry." "How is she?" "She's resting." "She's gonna be okay." "So, I guess I'm grounded." "I'm gonna let you slide on this one." "But can I let myself slide?" "Sure, the real tragedy happened long before I came along." "I just brought it to the surface." "But are some things better left buried?"