Season 2, Episode 4 -The Town That Dreaded Sundown- [Part 2]
Jughead and i sat in the Red and Black room listening to music and reading the books that we checked out at the library this morning. I was reading about the Phantom Killer. I had a book in on hand and was also reading some articulate off of my computer.
"So, you know how Moose and Midge were shot at lovers lane? Right?" I asked, turning towards Jughead.
"Yeah."
"The Phantom Killer, most of his victims were killed at a place called Lovers lane, it could be a copycat." I said, turning back to my book, "Our killer also wears a mask, we the cut outs at the eyes, but the difference is the Phontom Killers mask was white and the Black hoods, hood is black."
"What's up, Lovebirds." Toni asked, walking into the room with coffee.
"Reading." I answered, as Toni handed me some coffee.
"About?" Toni questioned further. Jughead flashed his book up, showing Toni the cover of his book. "Ah, beware of the zodiac. It's decent, though i prefer Robert Graysmith's definitive books on the subject." She stated, then turning to me, "What about you, y/n/n? What are you reading?'"
"The Phantom Killer." I said, raising up the book for her to see.
"You know, if serial killers are your move, i suggest Ted Bundy, Albert Fish, Aileen Wuornos." Toni shrugged and listed.
"They don't fit the profile." I stated.
"Right. I guess."Toni said walking around the room. "And unlike most serial killers, our guy wears a mask. Well, more of a hood, when he kills."
"Correction, when he try to kill someone. Also the phantom killer wore a mask." I said closing my book.
"We are looking for someone who most likely is combed with self-loathing." Jughead said.
"conversely, he sends letters and cryptos to the press." Toni said throwing a news paper on our desk.
"You think he is narcissistic, or a Batman villain?" The three of us chuckle.
"I'm a true crime junkie." Toni shrugged with a laugh sitting down with us.
"True crime is my crack."
"As it is for everyone." Mila laughed, "what do you need, Toni? You seem a little off."
Toni sighed, pulling out a cipher from her bag and placing it in front of me.
"The hell is this? A cipher?" I asked scanning though it.
"Yep, The Register took a break from bashing the Southside to run the cipher. They have the whole town trying to crack it." I picked it up and looked over it on more time. "Wanna help me crack it?"
"Is that even a question?" I said laughing.
"Why not?" Jughead said.
At Seven thirty in the morning, Jughead and i were fast asleep in the jones' boy trailer. It was on of the more quieter mornings, we only heard a couple of motorcycles and a couple drunk serpents coming home from the bar. Then our very peaceful morning was wrecked by a very loud bang on the trailer door.
"You go get it." I grumbled coving my head with a pillow and pulling more of the blanket on to my cold body. Jughead sighed and threw the covers off of him. He didnt even try to fight it. I started to fall back into my sleep when the room door opened again.
"It's Betty, come on, get up." Jughead sighed, pulling at my arm.
"No. What time is it even?" I groaned, pulling more of the blanket onto me again.
"Seven thirty." Jughead said. I still sat the under the covers trying to go back t sleep again, until jughead pulled off all the covers and i was left with no warmth.
"So that is how you want to play?" I say getting up for the first time this morning. "For that i am not getting up at all." Jughead then decided to pick me up and throw me on the couch.
"Can i at least have a blanket? Please?" I said starting to get cold again.
"No because the you will fall asleep again." Jug said going to put on pot of coffee.
"Jokes on you i will fall asleep regardless." I said trying to get comfortable to go back to sleep again. Betty stood there laughing at me. I was not a morning person.
"What do you want anyway Cooper? I am losing my sleep because of this." I asked, my eyes still closed as i leaned on the side of the couch. Betty chuckled seeing me like this.
"I was on my way to the library , I asked Ms. Paroo to set aside anything and everything on Cryptograms and ciphers. I think that it will help us crack the cipher the black hood sent in. I wanted to see if you two wanted to help me solve it."
"We are already working on it." Jughead said walking over to me and handing me a cup of coffee, "With one of Mila's friends Toni. They got pretty far, so far." Betty frowned slightly at the jug and I.
"It's kinda confusing i have some letters down. But it's not making any sense yet." I sighed, taking a sip of my coffee.
"Toni?" Betty asked questioning, the two of us nodded and Betty huffed, "And she like serial killers too? Or something?"
"It seems so. She does have an affinity for the darker side of thing." Jughead nodded. "She is also a family friend of Y/n's and they are very close."
"Why? Is there a problem?" I asked, taking another sip of my coffee and looking at Betty.
"No, no not at all." Betty said trying to play it off cool, "Uh, n that case, how about we all work on it together? You guys, Toni, me and Kevin."
"Kevin?" The jug and I asked in sync.
"You guys are friends again?" I asked.
"Yep, but it'll be fun. Like a little, decoding party. You can host." Betty said quickly, "Or y/n can, which ever. Sounds good?"
"Yeah, sure." I nodded, "We'll do it at mine. Bigger house, better food."
"Great!" Betty beamed, "I'll see you guys later." She left the trailer and then jug and i looked at each other.
"That was... quite strange." Jughead mumbled.
"Indeed it was Juggie."
Jughead and I sat pressed against each other on the floor of my room. I had a box of Thai food in hand, and a copy of the cipher in my other hand.
"These symbols look so... familiar to me. Like i've seen them before and it's driving me insane." Betty said throwing the paper down.
"Ciphers use the same symbols usually, it's probably that." I told her.
"No, no that's not it. It's these symbols, these exact ones. I've seen them before, i just can't put my finger on where they are from."
"Maybe if you loosened that ponytail." Toni mumbled, i laughed slightly, looking up and shaking my head. Everyone else looked up to Toni like she was crazy.
"What? It was a joke you guys." I said still laughing.
"Betty's ponytail is iconic and beyond reproach." Kevin scoffed.
"Oh my god. It was a harmless joke." I muttered, rolling my eyes once again.
"Kev, it's fine. You can let it go." Betty assured, "I'm willing to try anything at this point." Betty slid the hair tie out of her hair and shook it out. Jughead awkwardly cleared his throat and then picked up the book.
"Um, per Mrs. Paroo's books, I've been looking for common letters, like T-H, A-N, I-N-G." Jughead stated.
"I'm looking for doubles, like double L. Four letter words like 'Kill'." Toni stated, flipping through another book.
"He's killed people with the major sins so far, so i'm looking for anything that can be associated with that, or three letter words that go with sin." I said grabbing another book.
"We don't even know if it's in English. What if it's an anagram?" Jug said stealing some of my food.
"It's literally on the top of my brain." Betty whispered to herself.
"We need to look back at the basics, What do we know about him? Who is he?" Jug said.
"He's most likely a white male, mid forties, He wears a black hood and goes after sinners, He see's himself in a god form, He believes he's cleansing the town." I said looking around the room.
"Okay, but why? Why is he killing people? Or at least why now?" Jug asked.
"Actually he's not even technically a serial killer. He only killed one person." I said, "Harasser, maybe. But not a killer, he's only killed one person, he's targeted three others but has been unsuccessful. It's pissing me off. If this is what you want to do, do it right. It is really pathetic."
"He wants to cleanse the town, but he's only targeting specific people, Sinners and hypocrites." Jug said.
"He's attacking people that seem to be associated with the Northside." Betty said.
"Here we go again with the Northsiders fake news." Toni scoffed, "You Northsiders and your privilege, all you do is demonize the Southside, of course you'd think the hoods from here."
"It's not demonizing, it's stating facts." Betty defended.
"But they aren't facts, we don't know who he is. It's an assumption. Yes, four people from the Northside were attacked, but just because of that, doesn't mean he's from the southside." I stated, slightly glaring.
Betty shook her head, "It doesn't make sense though.There are way more drugs and gangs on the Southside than on the Northside."
"Drugs that are sold to the Northside crackheads." Toni stated. "And the red circle, which started on the North-Side? More like the red psycho's. I'm shocked you haven't said it yet."
"Said what?" Betty said.
"That you think the Black Hoods a serpent." Toni glared, "We all know how much you hate the serpents."
"What? I don't hate the serpents."
"Really?" Toni challenged, "So why did you and y/n get into that big fight after you found out she was a Serpent?"
"The day you found out you attacked me. Slapped me in front of everyone." I said glaring at her.
"Or why can't Jughead tell you about him sitting with us at lunch?" Betty's gaze snapped over to us as a look of betrayal fell over her face.
"I'm, uh, i'm gonna go." Kevin said, uncomfortable.
"Yeah. i'm gonna get out of here too." Toni said, picking up her things. Kevin sighed and nodded.
"Okay, i can walk you home." He smiled, Toni quirked an eyebrow and he sighed, "Or you can walk me home." Toni nodded looking to the group of us sitting on the floor.
"I'll see you two later, Yeah?" Toni asked, heading towards the door. I nodded and Toni and Kevin walked out of the door. The three sat there in awkward silence until Betty spoke up.
"You've know her all of a month and you trust her way more than me?" Betty asked, slightly hurt.
"I've known her my whole life Betty, and this isn't about trust." I said looking up. "It's about solving the cipher, so can we please get back on task?"
"Y/n right, anyways, this could honestly just be a journal entry and nothing serious."
"But it could also be his kill list." Betty stated, pursing her lips.
I groaned, rolling over further into Jughead's chest hearing a phone ring.
"Turn it off. It is to early for this shit." I grumbled. Suddenly a large thud was heard, i snapped my head up seeing Betty on the ground, grabbing for her phone. Jughead looked up as well, groaning and wrapping his arms around my waist.
"What the hell's going on?" I yawned, running a hand through my hair.
"We fell asleep..." Betty mumbled, worry laced in her voice.
"Obviously, we were exhausted." Jughead stated, eyes still closed.
"She's gonna kill me, oh my god."
"Who? Who would possibly kill you?" I asked sarcastically.
"It is to early for your sarcasm. But my mom is going to kill me." Betty said rushing around the room grabbing everything, "I-i have to go. I'll see you guys later." Th betty ran out of the room.
"Can we stay like this all day?" I asked with my eyes closed.
"I wish, but we do have things to do. Come on." Jughead said, sitting up and pulling me with him. "Coffee?"
I looked up to him with a knowing look and he laughed. "Forget i asked."
I slid of my bed making my way to the bathroom to go clean up. After I cleaned myself up, i started cleaning my room, putting books away, extra ciphers away as well.
"I think Betty left some of her books here." I called out, flipping through them. I shrugged to myself, moving them to a different place instead of the floor, i picked up another and then a piece of paper flew out. I picked it up and unfolded it. I dint fully read it but is scanned it and my eyes widened.
"How much of her stuff did she leave?" Jug asked, walking into my room with two cups off coffee. "Hey, are you okay? Y/n/n? What is it?" He grabbed the piece of paper from my hands and his eyes skimmed over it as well. "Holy crap..." He mumbled.
"This is why she wanted to finish the cipher. We have to help her, the Black Hood's watching her." I said frantically still trying to proses everything i just read.
"Okay, okay yeah, come on." Jug and i quickly raced out of my house and hoped into my Jeep and sped off.
I banged on the door, waiting for the blonde to open it. Finally the door opened and Betty looked at them with a frown. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" Betty asked looking around.
"Can we come in?" Jughead asked with a small smile. Betty nodded, opening the door wider and letting us in.
"So uh, when you left this morning, you forgot some of your books." I said handing her the books.
"Is that what you guys came all the way over here for? Books?" Betty asked with a small chuckle taking them from my hand.
"No, i read something pretty... strange. Let me read it to you." I said, pulling out the paper from my pocket. "'Betty, your words at the Jubilee inspired me, the towns sinners must show their contrition. If not, there will be more suffering and bloodshed, enclosed is a cipher. It details where i will punish the next sinner, It's a test. Only you may solve it, Betty.'" I read out, looking up at the blonde.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Betty suddenly grabbed the paper from my hands. "Why didn't you tell anyone." I repeated, trying to get answers.
"I did, i told Kevin." The blonde said looking down. "And i didn't tell you guys, cause... i don't know, you guys don't tell me everything."
"What is there to tell, Betty?" I asked, shaking my head. "Jughead sits with the serpents for protection. And that doesn't change who he is. And ten there is me who has a lot of shit to hide but that is besides the point."
"So why haven't you told us?" Jughead asked.
"You read it, did you not see what it says!" Betty exclaimed. "Because he said i 'inspired' him. I inspired all the chaos."
"And? He still makes his own choices, people can't and won't blame you for it. He's the psychopath, not you. You are just a girl who did a speech at a town event." I explained to the cooper girl.
"I don't care what everyone else thinks, it's about what one person thinks." Betty said, her eyes becoming glossy with tears.
"Archie?" Jughead asked with a frown. Betty nodded slowly and then turned around and sat on one of the chairs. "He can't blame you for writing a speech, a good one in fact, and a lunatic twisting it? You're not the bad guy."
"The who really is?" Betty asked. "Who even am i?"
"You're Betty Cooper, Riverdales own Nancy Drew. You've done so much for this town, that they can't even pin anything on you." Jughead said trying to calm the blonde down.
"That's it...." Betty whispered.
"What's it?" I asked.
"In his letter, The Black Hood said i was the only who'd be able to solve it. He created it just for me, what if he's using one of my old touchstones?" Betty explained, "If that's it, I know how to solve it."
"So... why are still standing here?" I asked. "To my car."
I drove the group of us to the library, way over te speed limit i might add.
"I used to check this book out vigorously, I was obsessed with it." Betty explained, pulling out a small book. She flipped the cover that read, 'Nancy Drew's secret code''. Betty started flipping through the book.
"This is it!" She exclaimed, pulling out the cipher and leading them to the table. "Do you have a pen?" She asked looking up, i grabbed on out of my pocket and handed it to her. Betty started to quickly solve the cipher and then she laid the pen down with a gasp.
"Oh my god..."
"What does it say?" Jughead asked.
" 'I will strike next where it all began' " Betty read out. I looked down at the table confused and then her eyes widened.
"Town hall, Betty your speech. There's a meeting there tonight." I stated worriedly. "Come on, we have to go." I drove to the Town Hall, way way way over the speed limit this time.
We all entered town hall. "Everyone needs to leave, right now." Betty demanded.
"The Black Hood's on his way here. It's his next target." Jughead explained further. Alice Cooper stood up looking to the three.
"What are you three going on about?"
"We solved the cipher, it said he'd be coming here." I say.
"What?" Alice gasped, a hum was heard through out the room and then the lights cut. Jughead reached for me, pulling her closer to him.
"Everyone stay calm and in your seats! We'll figure it all out." Mayor McCoy announced. No one made a move and Betty groaned, running to the wall, pulling the fire alarm. Everyone started to rush out of the building.