✿
The ride back to Riverdale was uncomfortable. Mickey, Archie, Veronica, and Betty rode back in their underwear and blood-stained skin. It was also silent. No one could come up with words for what they just did.
Mickey is grateful when her and Veronica are inside their apartment. She closes the door quietly, not wanting to wake up their parents.
That gratefulness is shredded when Hiram clears his throat, causing both girls to jump. Him and Hermione are sitting on the couch with glasses of wine. Candles are lit atop of the fireplace. "Mijas? Qué paso?" Hiram puts his glass down on the coffee table.
Hermione looks both of her daughters up and down, "And where are your clothes?" She's stunned that they're walking in this late with just their undergarments on.
All of Mickey's thoughts flush right out of her head. She stutters as she tries to answer. None of them talked on the way home, so they didn't plan on what they'd say to their parents or anyone else who asked questions.
Veronica speaks up, "Oh. Um, we got coaxed into an intense game of strip poker at that stupid Stonewall Prep party. Lost our shirts, as they say. Oh, well. C'est la vie."
Hiram and Hermione watch as Mickey drags Veronica toward their bedrooms. Then the two parents exchange looks.
As soon as Mickey closes her bedroom door, she leans against it and starts to cry.
✿
The next day, Mickey, Archie, Veronica, and Betty are in the back of the diner. Mickey has just found out what they all told their parents about why they came home practically naked. "Toga party, strip poker, and skinny-dipping. Those are three wildly different activities."
Betty says, "If our parents compare notes, we could be in deep, deep trouble."
Archie puts his coffee cup down. He needs the energy because he didn't sleep a wink last night. "I panicked, Betty. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind."
"Me too," Veronica frowns.
"It's fine," Betty assures them. "Me, three, but this is exactly the kind of mistake we can't afford to make. Charles made that abundantly clear."
"I keep thinking we should've called someone other than Charles," Archie admits. He doesn't know if he trusts the guy.
"No, Charles was the right call to make. He's had experience dealing with—"
Mickey cuts her off, "Bodies. Dead bodies."
Betty nods. "As a matter of fact, yeah. He's an expert. Without him, we would all be in jail right now."
Veronica furrows her brows, "For what? We didn't do anything, did we? Did we, Betty?" She glances quickly at Mickey before turning back to the blonde. "When we found you and Jughead—"
"I had just found Jughead, too."
"You were holding the rock."
"Yes, I-I picked up the rock. That was a stupid mistake. I played right into their trap. Those psychotic preppies are trying to frame us for murder."
Veronica questions, "Why us? They barely know us. Especially Archie and I."
Betty revised her statement, "Me, then. They're trying to frame me for Jughead's murder."
Mickey nods in agreement, cutting in again. "That has to have been their plan. They wanted Betty to be caught, red-handed, standing over Jughead's body, with her DNA smeared all over everything. It's the only thing that makes sense."
Betty takes a deep breath. "Okay, we have to be smart about this. We have to take them down. We cannot let them get away with this, with what they've done."
Veronica thinks of another question. "Why would they want to murder Jughead?"
Mickey suggests, "Maybe Jughead was getting closer to the truth about Chipping's death than they liked, or maybe..."
"Maybe what?" Archie pushes her to finish her thought.
"Maybe this is just a game to them. This whole thing is a game or an experiment to commit the perfect murder."
Veronica covers her eyes, inhaling and exhaling a couple of times. "If it's a game, then it's a sick one."
Then Kevin walks up to their table. "Hey, guys. What's up? Can I join you?"
Archie leans on the table, looking up at him. "Actually, Kev, we're kind of in the middle of something right now. Catch you later?"
Kevin seems hurt to be turned away. "Uh, yeah. Of course."
Betty whispers when Kevin starts to walk away, "Archie, that was exactly the wrong thing to do. We have to pretend to be normal. Everything is normal." She calls for Kevin, waving him over, "Come back. Archie's just kidding. Right, Arch?" She kicks him under the table.
Archie nods, "Yeah. Sorry, Kev. My bad."
Mickey scoots closer to the window to allow Betty to move over and give Kevin a space to sit.
"All good." Kevin sits at the end of the table, next to Betty. He notices Mickey leaning her head on the window and it makes him ask, "What are you guys talking about? Seems intense."
The three of them say some version of no and shake their heads.
Mickey sits up when Betty digs an elbow into her side. "How's everything going with the musical? Have you decided what you're doing?"
"Yeah," Kevin tells her.
"Oh, good."
✿
Mickey walks out of her room right in the middle of Veronica, Hermosa, Hermione, and Hiram bickering. "W-what's going on?"
Veronica stands from her seat at the dining room table, "Daddy wants to update his will. Without really talking about what's going on with him."
"Veronica," Hermione warns.
The four of them start to go at it again and Mickey feels like she can barely make out what they're saying. "I-I can't deal with this right now. I'm going over to Betty's."
✿
Mickey takes a deep breath before pressing dial. It rings three times before FP answers. "Mr. Jones? Hey, it's Mickey." She is reading from the prewritten script in front of her. She's so thankful for Betty for helping her with this part. "Um, I'm sorry to bother you, but I haven't heard from Jug all morning, and I'm starting to get a little worried. The only thing I can think of is that he went somewhere to write. I know he had to finish a draft of his novel."
"I can call Stonewall," FP says on the other line. "I'm sure he's got his nose buried in a book or his laptop."
"You know what, I can go to Stonewall Prep and see if he's there. I have to pick up some stuff I left in his room anyway. Thanks, Mr. Jones. I'll let you know if I hear anything." She hangs up and turns to face Betty and Charles. "How was that?"
Charles is leaning on Betty's desk. "Very convincing. You did exactly what you'd do if you hadn't heard from Jughead for a few hours. Are you ready to go into the lion's den?"
"Actually," Betty stands from her bed and takes the listening bug from Charles, "I want to go to Stonewall. I have to. They're trying to frame me. If anyone catches me, I'll just pretend I wanted to talk to Jug about Yale."
"Okay," Mickey says. "You can plant the bug."
Charles says, "And remember, besides planting it, our goal is to—"
Betty finishes for him, "Find out what they know, what they think happened, and what they thought was going to happen.
✿
Mickey is behind the bar at the speakeasy after an SOS text from Veronica. She pours herself a glass of soda, listening to Archie and Veronica debate the situation.
"Why was Betty holding the rock?" Veronica throws out the question that's been pounding in her head.
Archie shrugs, Because she picked it up."
"Why? Why would she do that? She knows about fingerprints and DNA."
Mickey leans on the bar and looks at her sister, "What do you think happened?" The thought of Betty actually trying to hurt Jughead didn't cross Mickey's mind until she overheard the conversation between Donna and Betty through the bug. Donna kept emphasizing that Betty was drunk and went into the woods with Jughead no matter how much Betty denied it. Bret even said Jughead told him he was going to meet with Betty last night.
"I don't know," Veronica sighs deeply. "Maybe she had an episode."
Mickey knows Veronica could be right. During Betty's confrontation with the Stonies, Betty said she went into the woods with Donna. When Donna asked what happened after, Betty paused as if she had no idea. It makes Mickey think maybe Betty did have an episode last night, and maybe she forgot a chunk of it.
Archie squints his eyes at Veronica, "Ronnie, come on."
"Archie, you didn't see her sophomore year with Chuck Clayton in the hot tub. She went full Sybil. She thought she was Polly and Chuck was Jason, and, I swear, for a minute there I thought she was going to drown him. It was terrifying. And even more terrifying was that the next day, she didn't even remember it. It was like she blacked out."
Mickey shakes her head. "No way. That was Chuck Clayton, this is Jughead." It still seems less likely that Betty would hurt Jughead.
"Really? Betty compartmentalizes a lot, Mick." Veronica says, "You took her boyfriend, who moved into her house with his entire family. She's pushed closer to the edge with every mystery in this town. And then Jughead got into Yale before her. He had to vouch for her. Maybe she was jealous."
"She would never," Archie settles on.
"What if she didn't know she was doing it? We saw her, guys. With the rock covered in blood." Veronica faces her sister again, "What should we do?"
Mickey says, "Let me talk to Betty."
✿
The next day, Mickey enters Betty's bedroom without knocking. She finds the blonde pacing in her room. "Betty, what did you do?"
Mary Andrews called Mickey to ask why her son would attack Bret at Stonewall. She also told Mickey that Archie was being held at the local jail for battery.
"I know I shouldn't have sent Archie to the school," Betty admits. "I wasn't thinking clearly."
Mickey scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not only did they catch on to the bug, but you sent Archie to beat up Bret and scream murder before Jughead even—" she stops herself. "Talk about making a scene, Betty. We are so screwed. W-why would you do that?"
"Because I needed proof! I needed them to confess so I could know if I—"
"If you what?" Mickey's eyes water. "Betty, we're all in this together, so you need to start talking."
Before she can say anything, Alice calls for Betty from downstairs. She wipes under eyes and pulls at the bottom of her top to straighten it. She probably still looks a mess, but she goes downstairs anyway.
FP and Alice are in the living room, sitting in the chairs opposite of the couch. They both watch Mickey and Betty descend down the stairs.
"Mom, what's going on?" Betty wonders.
"Should I leave?" Mickey asks.
"It's about Jughead," FP tells them. "Sit. Both of you." When they do, he says, "I got to admit, it was Jellybean's idea. We've been calling Jug's phone. Of course, no answer. It's been going straight to voicemail. But then Jellybean said that we should try to track it. That there's a way to ping a lost phone, so we did that. And sure enough, it started to ping."
"Where was it?"
FP stands and takes the phone out of his back pocket. He drops it on the coffee table that's in the middle of the four of them. "In Betty's jacket. So I guess I'm wondering, Betty, what the hell are you doing with my missing son's phone?
Alice cocks an eyebrow, "Well, Elizabeth? Explain yourself."
Betty intertwines her hands in her lap. "Okay. Uh The night of the party, Jughead was talking about losing his phone. He thought he had lost it in the woods, but I reminded him that he had just left it here to charge before the party. It was dead, so we plugged it in to charge it. And when we left for the party, we must've forgot about it."
"Forgot about it? All this time?" FP is not buying it. The looks on the girls' faces makes him very suspicious.
Alice asks, "How did it get into your jacket?"
"I must've picked it up at some point," Betty says.
FP copies her words, "'At some point?'"
It's Alice's turn to stand from her seat. "Elizabeth, Jughead is missing and you have his phone. You didn't think it was worth mentioning to anyone?"
"I don't know what to tell you, Mom."
Mickey says, "I'm worried here, but this isn't helping. Jughead leaves his phone around everywhere. This is the longest Jughead and I have ever gone without talking, even when we've been in a fight, so can we focus a little less on the phone and a little more on finding him?"
Betty starts to cry. "This is all getting very eerie so please forgive me if I'm not one hundred percent lucid about this."
"I think we should declare Jughead a missing person, Mr. Jones. Can you do that?" Mickey's eyes become glossy. "I'm losing my mind here. Betty, can you take me home?"
✿
Later that evening, Veronica and Mickey are called by their father into his poorly-lit study. The two girls stand in front of his desk where a couple candles burn to create a dim atmosphere.
"I'd like to talk to you girls," Hiram states.
"Where are Mom and Hermosa?" Veronica inquires.
"I sent them to the club." Hiram gulps visibly. "Mijas...I'm sorry. You deserved to hear the truth from me."
Mickey is shocked. It's very rare to get a direct apology from him. He either tries to apologize with gifts or with some idea that he thinks will glue the pieces together magically. "Why didn't you tell us?" she asks.
He answers honestly, "I didn't want the pity. I didn't want you to see me as weak ever." For a moment, he hangs his head.
Veronica moves to stand behind him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Daddy, all we want is to be a source of strength for you. I love you," she whispers as she wraps her arms around him for a hug. "And we're going to fight our way through this. Together. What can I do?"
Once him and Veronica are apart, he looks to Mickey, "Well It would give me peace of mind if you two would just try to get along with Hermosa. I mean, she's your family. Your sister."
Veronica locks eyes with Mickey in that moment. She speaks for both of them. "Okay, Daddy. We will."
✿
Mickey and Betty are sitting in the diner the following night. It's been a busy day for the two of them. It all started this morning when FP called Mickey to tell her about a tip the station got from a hiker. The hiker found a bloody rock in the woods where the Stonewall party was, but it couldn't be the rock Betty had because they threw that one in the swimming hole. The Stonies must've had a backup one with Jughead's blood all over it. FP was going to have it tested, and Betty's prints could be all over it too, considering she has no recollection of what she did or what she touched. Mickey then called Betty and told her to get Charles involved.
Betty is staring blankly at the table, thinking about the bloody rock in her bag. She was able to get Charles to FP on time to get the rock. All Charles had to do was convince FP to let him take the rock to FBI headquarters for faster testing results. In reality, he gave the rock to Betty and took another one that Betty slathered fake blood on.
"Why did you hesitate when Donna asked you to recall what happened after you got into the woods?" Mickey blurts out the question.
"You heard that?" Betty sighs. She's really battling inside right now. "I don't know why I don't remember, but I do know this is all the Preppies. They're—I didn't take Jughead's phone. I think Joan slipped it into my bag when I went to place the bug." Betty's frantically going on and on, jumping from one thing to another. She's practically exploding. "I-I see the way you guys look at me. You guys are afraid of me, and I think you have every reason to be."
Mickey places her hand on top of Betty's. "We are not scared of you. You're our friend."
"Will you still want to be my friend if I'm the one that hurt Jug?"
"There's no way you hurt him."
"Maybe I was more mad at Jughead for Yale than I thought—and everything else. It's called repressed anger, Mickey. It's totally possible and—"
"No! It isn't. You're being framed with all of this. You just said it. That's the only reason why they slipped you the phone so you'd doubt your innocence." Mickey squeezes Betty's hand, "Just think hard. Try to remember what happened that night."
"I don't know! All I know is that I was stupid enough to pick up the rock!"
"You wouldn't have picked up that rock. Not consciously."
Betty blinks and another stream of tears fall. "You're right. I would've—I should've been trying to keep Jughead's brains from falling out of his head. I think, maybe I blacked out."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I'm scared. I'm terrified that I might've done it. That I might be the one responsible for Jughead dying."
Mickey retracts her hand. A shiver runs down her spine. "We have to figure out what happened after your conversation with Donna and before you woke up next to Jughead's body."
Betty nods, "Okay. I think Donna might have said a trigger word that caused me to hurt Jughead."
"A trigger word? Like the kind they used at the Farm?"
"Yeah."
"Didn't Charles help you with that? Maybe he can help again," she suggests. "And we can all find out what happened."
"What about Archie and Veronica?"
"I will handle them. They know just as much as I do that you're innocent. Let's just call Charles and they'll meet us."
✿
"You think this will work?" Veronica glances into Charles office for the third time in the past sixty seconds. They're all at the FBI's headquarters after hours so that Charles can hypnotize Betty. Mickey, Veronica, and Archie are outside of Charles' office to talk without disrupting the process.
Archie asks, "You think it'll help Betty remember?"
"I don't know," Mickey admits to both of them. "I just hope it does because this is eating her up inside."
"It should," Veronica comments. "If she killed, Jug—"
Mickey gives her sister a look, "Can you not?" With that, she starts crying. "This is already hard enough, Veronica. We all tried so hard in the woods, but Jughead's gone. We're all under a microscope or we will be, and I don't need Betty losing her mind right now thinking she did this. We all have to stick together or I'm going to seriously freak out."
Veronica feels guilty. She hates seeing her sister cry. It's very rare that Mickey breaks down. "Okay. I'm sorry."
Betty and Charles walk out of the office together. Betty realizes all of her friends are looking at her expectantly. "I remember what happened before I lost time. Donna didn't say a phrase or a trigger word. She blew this white powder in my face and I inhaled it."
Charles adds, "As for the powder—it might be scopolamine."
Archie frowns, "What the hell is that?"
"It's commonly known as Devil's Breath. It's a potent drug that blocks certain neurotransmitters, affecting one's short-term memory, much like a blackout. When inhaled, it leaves a victim disoriented, but completely unaware."
Veronica inquires, "After inhaling the Devil's Breath, would Betty have been capable of delivering a killing blow to Jughead?"
"Doubtful," Charles tells them. "Much more likely, she put that rock in your hand herself, and spun you like a top."
Mickey wraps an arm around Betty's shoulders. "See? I told you you couldn't do this." She can feel the relief coursing through their group in that very moment.
✿
Mickey trembles as she, along with the rest of the search party, trudges through the muddy woods through the cold drizzling rain.
Veronica remains by her sister's side, holding an umbrella up for the both of them. "It'll be okay," she assures Mickey.
This was all Betty's idea. The point was to bring the Stonies' game to a head and blow it all up—fast track it, even. It makes Mickey feel very guilty because of how traumatizing this will be for FP, but it has to be him. It can't be the FBI, Stonewall security, or the local police.
Even with the barking dogs, everyone's still screaming out his name—hoping for a response.
"Jughead! Jughead! Jughead! Jug! Jug! Jughead! Jughead!"
Mickey sees Archie and Betty make a left and her breath catches in her throat.
A few moments later Archie is shouting, "Sheriff Jones, over here, I think I found something!"
The entire search party goes into Archie and Betty's direction. FP is the first to get there and he shouts to everyone, "Stay back!"
Mickey stands between Veronica and Betty. She watches FP point his flashlight over the edge and her heart sinks into her stomach. She knows exactly what he's seeing.
✿
Mickey and FP are standing in the dreary morgue. The cameras are still flashing in the hallway. She's sure they got a bunch of pictures of her and FP. Everyone heard about this. Even Donna and Bret are out there.
Their arms are locked as each others' support. The silence in the room is heavy as they stare at the sheet that's covering the body on the metal table.
She nods at the doctor. It's a silent way of telling the doctor that they're ready to see what's under the sheet.
The coroner pulls the sheet down and FP almost loses his footing. He covers his mouth and squeezes his eyes shut.
She hates every second of this. Tears shine in Mickey's eyes as she stares at Jughead's lifeless, bruised and bloodied body.
Then the door flys open and Bret and Donna enter the morgue with Jughead's body fully exposed. "What the hell are you doing?" Mickey screams at them.
FP tries to grab her before she does something she regrets.
"Get out!" Mickey pushes the two of them out and slams the door in their face.
✿
That night, Veronica walks into Mickey's room and closes the door behind her. She leans against the door, looking at her sister.
Mickey's sitting on her window seat, wrapped in a blanket. Her eyeliner has ran down her cheek from all the crying. She hasn't been able to sort any of her feelings. It seems as if they've gotten out of the scary part just to get into something else.
"Mom and Dad are worried about you," Veronica says.
Mickey doesn't say anything.
This is what worries Veronica. Mickey hasn't said anything since she got back from the morgue hours ago. "We haven't really talked about...—"
"And we're not gonna, okay?" Mickey snaps. "We're never going to talk about it. Jughead's gone, and I have to believe in the grand scheme of things."
"When did you become religious?"
Mickey narrows her eyes at Veronica. "Just keep them out of my room."
"What do we do now?" Veronica asks.
"We wait for the Stonies to make the next move and we try to get through this horrific time."