Anatomy of a Murder // Part One

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Archie seemed confident in his father's help so, we believed him

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Archie seemed confident in his father's help so, we believed him. We all left Pop's and rushed to the Andrews house. After brief introductions with his mother, Archie dove into the backstory of our situation.

"You did what?" Fred sounded pissed.

"We had to make sure FP wasn't involved in Jason's murder." Archie crossed his arms.

Alice spoke up from her spot on the couch, "And now we know the truth. He was."

I sighed and threw my head back against the wall. Betty told her mom she was wrong while Archie and my sister insisted that the gun was planted.

"Couldn't you have just missed it?" Mom tossed a hand up in the air.

"Yeah," Mrs. Cooper added, "Excuse me if I trust the detection skills of an officer of the law over four amateur sleuths."

Betty rolled her eyes. "Mom, you're the one who asked Veronica to break in!"

Now all the parents turned to Alice in rage. Ronnie pulled the blame on herself as Mom tried to get my sister and I out.

"A gun was found, FP is the killer. Case closed. We're leaving." Mom grabbed my arm.

"The hell we aren't!" I pulled my arm back for the millionth time tonight. "My boyfriend is missing and if you think for a second that I'm going to leave him out there-"

"Savanna. You are coming home, right now." Mom grabbed my arm and squeezed it. My mind went blank at her action.

Not this. Not again.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't do it!" I stepped out of her reach, holding my arm close. The room was dead silent at my outburst. I looked around the room, panicked, before turning on my heels and sprinting out the door.

Forget my family, forget my friends, forget that Jason Blossom got murdered. For once, everyone needed to shut up in this town. Friends betrayed friends, parents lost children, and yet this town was still determined to drive themselves crazy.

My boots crunched rocks neath me as I rubbed my hands on my arms. Since I moved to Riverdale, everything seemed to collapse. Even before we moved here, my life split apart. I lost my family, my mom, my brother. I lost everything I loved and I'll be damned if I lose Jughead too.

Hours passed as I checked every place Jughead would hide at. Pop's was a no, his dad's trailer was blocked off with caution tape, and the school was empty. I didn't know where he could be if he wasn't there. Archie would've texted me if he showed up at his house. Same with Ronnie or Betty. I found myself curled up on a bench, my knees to my chest, just as a familiar car pulled up.

"Savanna!" Archie's head popped out of the window. "Come on."

I didn't waste a second to climb in the backseat of Betty's car. It was so much warmer in here than outside. Our blonde friend waited to hear the seatbelt click before pulling away again.

"What are you guys doing?" I rubbed my numb hands together.

Archie turned in his seat, "We're going to find Jug." He smiled sadly. "Are you okay? With everything that happened with your mom?"

I sighed and looked out the window as lights flew past. "Yeah, just had a moment, I guess. Do your parents know you're out here?"

Betty chuckled as she stopped at a red light, "I wouldn't be here if they knew."

"Guys." I wanted to smack myself for this whole situation. "I have no idea where he is."

Archie shrugged. "Neither do we, but he's probably freezing."

I bit my lip and looked away from him. I tried retracing our steps today to think of anywhere else he would go.

Toledo. His family. Moving.

"The bus station!" I shouted.

Betty swerved slightly, "Oh, my God. He's going to get on a bus to Cleveland for his mom." She turned a corner a little violently. I watched out the window, hoping to see a beanie wearing dark haired teenager. I came up empty handed the entire time. Betty pulled in the bus lot and we all flung our doors open.

"No, no, no." I knocked on the door of the dark station. The sign said closed in the window. I pulled out my phone to see if he responded.

"Anything?" Archie asked as he looked over my shoulder.

I shook my head, "Nothing."

"Maybe his phone died?" Betty suggested.

"Or, maybe the only friends he has just completely betrayed him," I shot. Archie's phone started ringing. "Is that him?"

"No, it's your sister." He slid his finger across the screen. "Hey, you okay?" He didn't speak for a minute and I assumed she was talking. "I'm with Vanna and Betty. We're looking for Jughead." More of Ronnie talking. "We're at the bus station, but it's shut down for the night."

Ronnie spoke again and I saw Archie's eyes light up. He quickly said goodbye to Ronnie before sprinting back to the car.

"Archie, what did she say?" I pulled my seatbelt over my chest as Betty pulled out of the parking lot.

"Pop's." He turned to look at me. "It's the only place that's open 24 hours. I can't believe we didn't go there first."

I shook my head, "I already checked there. He wasn't-"

"But," Betty cut me off, "Was that the most recent place?"

I groaned and threw my head back. "I hope he's okay."

The ride should've been a lot quicker than it felt. As soon as Betty turned the car off, we were tripping over rocks to get inside. Ronnie caught up to us as soon as I pushed the door open. I almost slid across the floor as I saw the familiar dark hair of Jughead Jones.

"Told you," My sister smugly commented.

I slid into the booth next to my boyfriend, relief flooding through me to see he was okay. "Babe." He turned to look at me before leaning against the window again.

"Jug, we're so sorry," Betty whispered. She and Ronnie were kneeling in the booth behind us as Archie stood above me. "About everything."

Archie placed his hands on the table, "Juggy, we screwed up. We all did. Breaking into your dad's trailer was wrong but at least some good came out of it."

"Pretty sure my dad was arrested for murder," Jughead replied coldly.

"That gun wasn't there when we searched his trailer," Ronnie said, "Someone put it there after we left."

Jughead turned his head to look at my sister, "What are you talking about?"

"It was planted there. Someone's framing your dad, Jughead." Archie stood up fully.

"You mean he's innocent?" Jughead looked at me when he asked this. I nodded. "We need to talk to Sheriff Keller."

It was unanimously decided that yes, we did need to talk to Sheriff Keller. We all squeezed back into Betty's car and made our way to the station. Archie instantly went up to the desk.

"There's been a huge mistake." Just then, Sheriff Keller walked passed us. "Sheriff, we need to talk to you about FP Jones."

"What about him?" Sheriff Keller looked at Jughead who was attached to my side.

Ronnie stepped forward, "He's innocent. He's being framed."

Sheriff Keller looked confused. "Then why did he just confess?"

Jughead's eyes widened as he locked on his father's form. FP was being lead away as we all watched. He made eye contact with Jughead for a brief moment before he disappeared around a corner, Sheriff Keller with him.

What the hell just happened?

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