Episode 15: The Quick and the Wed
Keith is still reeling from the news that his client (Terrence Cook) might actually be guilty of causing the bus crash. Veronica found C-4 in a storage locker in the hangar where Terrence keeps his fancy cars. Keith realizes he has to do the right thing, so he goes to tell Sheriff Lamb about the explosives. Lamb is skeptical, but agrees to post a guard outside the hangar until he can get a search warrant. Meanwhile, Dick and Logan are watching a sordid expose about Logan’s dad, Aaron on TV. It details Aaron’s life (showing old photos of Harry Hamlin, including one from Clash of the Titans) and his being accused of killing Lilly Kane. The show also gets into Lynn, Trina and Logan’s private lives, making the whole family look bad. Dick is totally sympathetic, of course. (“Dude, your dad’s really leaned out since he’s been in the big house; must be all those tossed salads.”) But Aaron insists he didn’t kill Lilly and tries to blame it on her brother Duncan, since he has a history of mental and emotional problems.
Veronica watches the same show while waitressing at the coffee shop and is disgusted by Aaron’s lies. Wallace’s girlfriend Jane is at the coffee shop with her sister (Heidi), who’s having a bachelorette party. Heidi finishes singing “I Want You to Want Me” and shows off her gigantic diamond ring. Apparently she’s marrying into the Mann family, one of the richest in Neptune, and not some nouveau riche clan either … this is old money. Keith goes out to the hangar when Lamb searches it (Keith heard it on his police scanner), but Lamb won’t confirm whether they found C-4 or not. Keith notices a truck from an auto-detailing company pull up and leave when the driver spots the cop cars.
At school, Jane tells Veronica that Heidi is missing. They’ve looked everywhere and she isn’t answering her cell. Wallace mentions that Heidi can be a bit impulsive—and scatterbrained—so Jane asks Veronica to find her before she screws up her future with her fiance (Paul). But Veronica has to work fast, since the wedding is in three days. Lamb gives a press conference about the explosives found in the hangar and says there’s now an arrest warrant for Terrence, charging him with the deaths of the students on the bus. Veronica calls her father and asks him to run Heidi’s credit cards, phone records, and bank card.
Logan is still canoodling with Hannah, whose father is the fake witness against Logan in his murder trial. Veronica gives him shit for using Hannah, but Logan doesn’t seem too bothered by it. After school, Veronica talks to Heidi’s bridesmaids, trying to figure out where she might have gone. She gets more information than she bargained for, mostly about the sordid night the girls had (which included male strippers, one of them losing her phone, and a disposable camera that prints photos with dicks around the border). There was a guy who seemed to be bothering Heidi and was tossed out of a club by the bouncers, but none of them know who he was. She also hears more about Heidi’s impulsiveness, like how she got her first boyfriend’s name tattooed on her ass after seeing him for a week, then had to have it removed before banging her current fiance.
Veronica gets Jane to let her into Heidi’s place to look for the camera. It looks like a hurricane hit it, but Jane says that’s normal. They can’t find the camera, but they do find Heidi’s cell phone charger and a couple of wine glasses, one of which is broken. Elsewhere, Beaver and Kendall are talking business. Cassidy has bought up a bunch of properties for his Phoenix Land Trust, but he’s pretty much out of money to get more. Kendall tries to offer suggestions (like buying the Kane house), but Beaver tells her he didn’t hire her to think. She reminds him her name is actually on everything to do with the business, which doesn’t seem to bother Beaver; I’m thinking he’ll leave her holding the bag if he ends up swindling a bunch of people.
At Logan’s place, Cliff tells him he can get him a plea bargain for four years, which might get knocked down to two if he behaves himself in prison. Logan doesn’t want to do any jail time, but Cliff reminds him there’s an eyewitness and nobody in town likes him much. Logan still says no deal. Veronica takes the info her father got about Heidi’s ATM card and follows the trail. Heidi took the maximum amount from three different ATMs, which makes Wallace think maybe someone was forcing her to withdraw the money. The last place is a roadside cafe and they find Heidi’s car abandoned in the parking lot. Veronica breaks in and finds the disposable camera.
Keith talks to the detailing guy who works for Terrence and learns that he details all Terrence’s cars once a month. The guy says there were no explosives in the cabinet last month, and if he’d been able to do his work yesterday, he definitely would’ve found them. Veronica has Jane look at the photos from Heidi’s camera while she tells her what she’s found. Heidi got two phone calls and her ATM withdrawals started about twenty minutes later. The calls can’t be traced because the phone number is no longer in service … and apparently never was. Jane picks out the guy who was bothering Heidi in one of the photos, but his face is cut off. His body can be seen and he’s wearing a pretty distinctive bowling shirt.
Kendall goes to see Aaron in prison to ask him to invest some money in Phoenix Land Trust, implying that Beaver’s dad is still puling the strings after fleeing the SEC investigation. Aaron is intrigued (especially when Kendall pulls out the big guns … by which I mean her breasts), but he wants something in exchange. He asks her to drop by Logan’s hotel room some time. Meanwhile, Logan’s getting treated like shit by all the Hispanic people in town because they think he killed Felix. Hannah notices his bad mood and tries to cheer him up but her mother interrupts them. She’s not thrilled her daughter is dating an accused killer, so she takes Hannah into the kitchen for a chat. Logan gets on her computer and sends her ex-husband (Dr. Griffith, the fake witness against him) an email from her address warning him that she found rubbers in Hannah’s room. Logan overhears Hannah’s mom saying what a scumbag user he is, but Hannah defends him.
Veronica checks various bowling alleys until she finds the guy in the photo … who turns out to be sleazy P.I. Vinnie Van Lowe. Veronica figures the groom’s family hired Vinnie to do a deep background check, but Vinnie won’t tell her anything. Hannah apologizes for her mom’s rudeness and offers to bang Logan back at his place. He doesn’t turn her down. Keith talks to Lamb about the explosives, suggesting that they were planted in the cabinet since Terrence knew the detailing guy was coming soon. (And why would he keep such damning evidence anyway?) Lamb doesn’t believe him and mentions that Terrence was shot by Ms. Dumas’ (the obsessed teacher Terrence had an affair with who died in the bus crash) father because he tried to break into the Dumas home.
In Veronica’s future businessman class, the teacher talks about Neptune’s plan to incorporate. He cites Palo Alto as an example; they were a diverse community (like Neptune) until incorporation created a rich centre surrounded by a cesspool of crime in the unincorporated poor neighbourhoods. He says land values in the city went way up, while it bottomed out in the surrounding unincorporated suburbs. I assume that’s what Beaver is trying to duplicate with his Land Trust scheme. Keith lets Veronica know that Heidi’s phone is active again. She made a couple of calls to her fiance Paul. Veronica wonders if she’s just avoiding her family and tries calling her, thinking she might pick up for an unknown caller ID.
All she gets is a fax tone, so she heads over to Heidi’s place and finds Heidi’s phone and fax are on the same line. Veronica figures the two calls Heidi got were faxes; she would’ve switched over for the second one. Veronica uses the fax machine’s memory to print the last fax, which is a band flyer from the band Heidi’s ex (Nick, the guy whose name she had on her ass) plays. There’s a note scribbled on the flyer asking Heidi to come see Nick right away. Veronica tracks the band to San Luis Obispo and finds Heidi hanging out on the band bus with Nick.
Turns out Veronica’s a little off about what’s going on. Heidi came to see Nick because his mom is sick and he needed moral support. Her car wasn’t abandoned, it was just parked near the bus stop, and she had two wine glasses out because she broke the first one. Veronica gives her shit for not telling anyone where she was and Heidi says the wedding’s off anyway. She got a text from her friend saying she saw Paul coming out of his ex’s place early in the morning, so she’s done with him. Veronica asks Nick how he managed to send a fax from a number that doesn’t actually exist and he admits he didn’t send it. He was so happy to see Heidi again, he pretended he had sent the fax. Veronica realizes Vinnie must’ve sent the fake fax and the fake text from Heidi’s friend (who lost her cell the night of the bachelorette party).
Heidi and Veronica show up for the wedding, but Paul’s not too happy about it. He calls Heidi a groupie slut (which she owns, although she does have standards … she’d never bang a drummer) and wants to call off the wedding. Paul’s father doesn’t like that idea; turns out high society people have a rule where if the bride backs out (or doesn’t show) she has to give back the ring, but if the groom calls things off, she gets to keep it. Since Heidi’s ring is a family heirloom gigantic diamond, Paul’s father would prefer not to lose it. Heidi says if Paul had just told her he wanted out, she would’ve given him the ring back, but now she’s keeping it as compensation for the time she wasted trying to convince Paul she was worthy of him. Veronica figures Paul’s dad hired Vinnie to check Heidi out, but Paul’s the one who couldn’t live with what he found out.
Kendall asks Logan to invest in Phoenix Land Trust, but he’s not buying. It’s really just a ruse so she can go into Duncan’s shower and collect some hair from the drain. Dr. Griffith comes over to tell Logan he’s won; Griffith will withdraw his testimony (and deal with the Fitzpatricks) if Logan stays away from Hannah. Logan agrees, although he doesn’t look thrilled. At the coffee shop, Vinnie gives Veronica shit for costing him a bonus and he gives back the cell he stole from Heidi’s friend. Veronica says Vinnie would be a pretty good P.I. If he wasn’t such a dick. Jane tells Veronica that Heidi hocked the ring and joined Nick on the road. Logan comes in and tells Veronica he’s done something horrible.