Fifteen minutes later, the sheriff and many other professionals had arrived on the crime scene, as well as Hermione Lodge. Fred Andrews pulled up a second later, immediately making his way over to the kids. "Son," he called, getting the attention of Archie.
"I'm okay," Archie assured his father. "We all are."
The sheriff got to the group at the same time Fred did. "What were you doing here in the first place?" He questioned.
Archie took this question. "We knew Mustang was a serpent we just wanted to talk to him to see if he knew anything about FP," he explained.
"Okay, Veronica, this has to stop!" Hermonie chastised her daughter. "Why are you doing this?"
"Mom!" Veronica exclaimed.
"What do you think happened in there?" Fred questioned the sheriff.
"Likely an overdose," Keller answered. Caia had been right. "We're waiting to see a time of death, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if he was somehow involved in Jason's murder, and was feeling the heat." He turned back to the teenagers. "How'd you know he lived here?"
Nobody responded. They didn't want to get Joaquin in trouble. They just stared at the Sheriff.
The question was forgotten as someone called for the sheriff. He turned to an approaching officer, who was holding a matron bag. She opened it to reveal hundreds of stacks of money, all in bills over the value of 100. "Found it under his bed," she informed.
The bag was closed to reveal initials on a silver accessory on the outside of the bag. H.L. "Hermonie Lodge," Keller observed. "You wanna explain to me why you're initials are on this bag."
Veronica looked to her mother, who looked stunned. "Not Hermione Lodge, Sheriff, Hiram Lodge. My dad-" she began to inch forward but was cut off and held back by her mother.
"Veronica-"
"Mom!" She exclaimed, fed up. "He was doing business with the serpents."
Hermione grabbed her daughter's arm. "And that's all were saying until there's an attourney present." As she finished, she turned a disapproving gaze towards Veronica.
Both Fred and Hermione took their children and went off to their cars, leaving Caia standing alone. "May I ask, Miss Sinclair, where is your father?"
Caia sighed. "That's a good question, sheriff. Unfortunately, it's also one that I don't have the answer to."
*
Later that night, a meeting of the group was called to order once again. Betty, Jughead, and Kevin had found Jason's jacket in a bag by the woods. They had laid it out on a speaker in Archie's garage and were now staring at it intensely, as if looking at it would make the answers appear.
"This is meant to help FP?" Archie questioned, confused.
"I don't know," Kevin replied honestly, shrugging. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me."
Jughead nodded. "This just proves that my dad torked Jason's getaway car," he stated.
Kevin turned his gaze from the jacket to Betty. "And that his confession was true."
Caia bit her lip. An idea was forming in her head. "Not necessarily," she refuted. "Just because he set that car on fire and cleaned up the body, it doesn't mean he killed Jason. Nobody ever actually saw him pull the trigger." She leaned back and sighed. "But it's starting to seem more and more like he did."
"Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous?" Betty contemplated. "What could that mean?"
"If you ask my father, he would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the serpents to kill Jason." She stated, entering the room and joining the group. She looked down at the jacket. "Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead. I'm sorry."
Caia didn't know what it was, but something was eating at her. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. "God," she exclaimed in exasperation, rubbing her temple with her fingers.
"What?" Archie questioned.
"Something just does not seem right to me!" She exclaimed. "It's all too perfect. All the loose ends are tied in this pretty little bow and something feels wrong."
Betty was thinking as well. "Caia's right," she exclaimed, looking up from the jacket. "And I'm not giving up yet." She picked up the jacket from where it had been placed. She stared at Archie for a moment before speaking. "Put this on," she commanded, setting the jacket on his shoulders.
"What?" He asked, clearly a little weirded out.
"Put it on," Betty repeated. Archie complied and stuck his arms through the sleves of the jacket.
Once he had it on, Betty began circling him, looking at the jacket. "Betty. This is weird," he complained.
She stuck her hands in both pockets. Once in the left side pocket, her eyes grew wide. "There's a whole, in the pocket," she exclaimed.
"Okay, now we're just grasping at straws," Kevin stated. Caia kinda agreed. What could a whole in the pocket tell?
Betty was still searching through the pocket. "Okay, I don't know about you guy," she began. "But whenever I have a whole in my jacket pocket, I always loose my chapstick in the lining," she finished.
It finally dawned on both Veronica an Caia what Betty was going on about. "Or my Mount Blanc," Veronica added.
"Yeah, yeah or my mascara!" Caia contributed.
Betty began searching through the lining. "Hold on," she commanded. After a few seconds, Betty pulled an USB out of the pocket.
"What the hell?" Veronica exclaimed, furrowing her eyebrows at the small object.
Everyone stared it awe at what Betty had found. Kevin scoffed in disbelief. "Nancy Drew strikes again."
Betty handed the USB to Archie who stared at it with a mix of awe and confusion on his face.
Betty grabbed her lap top and the whole group assembled around the small screen. Betty plugged in the USB and the file popped up on the screen. She clicked play and they began to watch the video.
It was a black and white video, one that most likely came from a security camera. It showed Jason Blossom tied up in a chair in the basement of the Whyte Wyrm. Mustang, the serpent found dead only hours before, stood before the young boy, taunting him. Then what no one had ever thought could happen.
Clifford Blossom appeared on the screen.
"Oh my god," Roni exclaimed.
The Six teens watched in terror and complete surprise as the events unfolded in front of their young eyes. Clifford and Jason appeared to have a conversation before Clifford leaned forward and took something out of Jason's shirt pocket. It was a ring. Polly's ring.
He pocketed the ring and backed up, pulling out a gun. The same one that had been planted in FP Jones' trailer. He pointed the gun straight at his son's head and without hesitation, he fired.
Everyone in the little room jumped. Jughead, Kevin, and Archie covered their mouths in disbelief as Caia, Betty, and Veronica began to cry. Betty shut the laptop, having seen enough.
She stood up and pulled put her phone. "Betty," Jughead called.
"Betty, who are you calling?" Archie questioned.
Betty put the phone up to her ear. "You have to get out of that house, listen to me," Betty commanded in warning. She then went on to explain what had happened. Caia couldn't bear to listen. This was all just so horrible.
How could someone kill their own son? Their own flesh and blood. She didn't get it.
She hoped she never would.
*
Later that night, the USB was transferred to the Mayor and Sheriff via Alice Cooper. There they watched the same video that had been watched, in Archie's garage.
It soon became apparent that killing his son was not the only crime Clifford had commited. On the night of FP's arrest, he had visited him in jail with a threat. If he didn't confess, his son, Jughead Jones, would suffer the same fate as Jason.
Clifford Blossom deserved a life in prison. But his sentence would never be served. For as in most cases, there was an eye for an eye. A tooth for a tooth. Or, as in this case, a death for a death.
For that night, Clifford Blossom would be found hanging from the rafters in his barn, dead.