Lilly Kane
By Misha

Disclaimer and Rating in Chapter One.

Part Three- The Murder of Veronica Mars

/"It was interesting, tailing your own father. Not that Jake Kane had been much of a father to me. He had turned his back on me a year before, unless you count giving me money every month being a father.

Keith Mars had become more of a father to me in one year, than my own had been in sixteen. Still, it was weird to tail the man who was genetically responsible for me being alive.

I picked up dear old Dad at the house that I had once lived in and followed him to his office. Kane Software: where streaming video was invented and perfect. Daddy dearest made a billion dollars the day that company went public. Everyone who worked for him in fact, right down to the secretarial pool, became millionaires.

He was beloved in Neptune; half the town owed their fortunes to him. For years, I lived the good life as his daughter, until one night when everything changedÖ"/

Lilly sat in her car, watching her father with binoculars. As she sat there, tears began to run down her face.

She couldn't help, but thinking back to that day a year ago when her world had changed. She had gone from being the Spoiled Kane Princess, to a rebel and outcast, sitting in a car tailing her own father.

All because of one awful nightÖ

/"The reason Keith and I became so close was that we bonded over someone we both loved. Even before I moved in there, I saw a lot of Keith.

After all, Keith's daughter, Veronica, was my best friendÖ/

Lilly didn't let herself think about Veronica all that often. It hurt too much.

She closed her eyes and she could almost hear Veronica's voice in her head, could almost see her as she had been on October 3rd 2003.

"You seem cheerful." Lilly commented to Veronica, a little surprised. Veronica had spent the last few days in the dumps since Duncan had dumped her. "Did Donut finally come to his senses?"

Veronica just smiled secretively. "I'm not the only one who's happy." Veronica commented, not answering Lilly's question. "You seem more peppy than usual. Did you get into the Prozac?"

"High on life, Veronica." Lilly told her with a giggle. "I've got a secret. A good one."

Those had been the last words she had ever spoken to Veronica Mars.

A year later, Lilly couldn't help but wonder if those words had been why Veronica had been at her house that afternoon, had she come to figure out Lilly's secret and met her fate instead?

/"I never saw Veronica alive again. That night, her body was discovered by my family's pool and my life was separated into before and afterÖ"/

Lilly remembered that day. She had come home from her tryst with her lover, god she had been a fool, to find cops around her house.

She'd had no idea what was going on, not until she'd seen DuncanÖ

Lilly spotted Duncan sitting by the entrance to the pool, looking completely out of it. He was rocking back and forth, starting out into space.

"Duncan!" Lilly cried out. "What's going on?"

She ran towards her brother and knelt before him. "What happened? Duncan, what happened?"

Duncan didn't respond. Lilly couldn't figure it out, but she knew it had to be bad. "Where are Mom and Dad?"

Duncan didn't answer, so Lilly started to look around and then she screamed when her eyes fell on the sight by the pool.

Her best friend's lifeless body.

Lilly started crying, as she remembered that night.

Even if she lived to be a thousand, the sight of Veronica's lifeless body staring up at her would still haunt her. She had lost so much that day.

But most of all, she'd lost her best friend.

/"But everyone knows that story. The murder of Veronica Mars.

It was all over the news. The Sheriff's daughter found dead at the home of the software billionaire.

It was on the cover of People magazine. It made "Entertainment Tonight". It was the newest murder to capture America's interest.

The town flooded with journalists."/

Lilly hated thinking about Veronica's murder. She had the People magazine cover in a box in her room, along with tapes of all the TV specials and all the other newspaper articles.

She knew it was morbid, but she kept it all. But it was like reading about a stranger, like it wasn't her best friend they were talking about.

/"If everyone knows about the murder, then they know about the rest of the story as well. About how the grief-stricken father tried to go after the wrong man and ended up losing his job over it.

Keith Mars believed my father had something to do with Veronica's murder and so did I, it was why I had left home.

Still, it was one thing to believe it, another prove it."/

Lilly often thought about her conviction that her parents had something to do with Veronica's murder.

It wasn't an easy to think, no matter what their relationship had been like, but it was what she felt. That conviction had led to her moving out of her parents' home and in with Keith Mars.

/"But even if we couldn't nail dear old dad for murder, it looked like I'd be able to nail him now.

It seemed Mommy Dearest was right about him. There aren't a lot of high-powered business meetings taking place at the Camelot at one in the morning."/

Lilly sat and watched as her father knocked on the door of Room 6 and was let in. She should be surprised, but she wasn't.

Her father had always struck her as the type who would stray given half a chance. Not that she could blame him, her mother wasn't exactly the warm, cuddly type.

More like ëicy bitch'.

/"Keith Mars wasn't fired from the Sheriff's department, but he did end up resigning because of mayoral pressure.

That and he just didn't want to work in that department anymore, not after that video was released.../

Lilly froze, remembering that afternoon in the school. It was the beginning of the end of so many things...

Lilly was using one of the computers in the library. In theory she was researching an assignment, in actuality she was looking up fashion tips. Nearby, she saw two boys staring at the screen of one of the other computers. "

What?" Lilly asked with a grin. "Did you guys find a way to unlock the porn?"

One of the guys shot her a hostile look. "It's the Veronica Mars video."

Lilly froze, staring at the computer screen. There, head wound in full display, was Veronica's body.

Lilly shook her head. She would never forgive who ever it was that had leaked that video and allowed the whole world to see her best friend, laying dead on the ground with her head bashed in. Keith Mars had felt the same way.

/Six weeks after Veronica's death, someone from the Sheriff's Department leaked the crime scene video. Within 24 hours it was all over the net. Streaming video made it possible, thanks Dad.

Someone made a fortune and it was Keith Mars' last straw. No one thought that he was responsible for releasing that video, but it was what made him decide to follow the mayor's advice and resign./

Lilly took a deep breath, as she continued to stare at the door of the Camelot. She had ended up moving out about that same time.

She'd had nothing left in her old life.

Nothing.

Lilly tore her eyes away from the sight of Veronica's dead body and quickly turned to rush out of the library, only to run straight into Logan.

"So do you still think that your dad did that?" He demanded of her. "That's our friend, Duncan's girlfriend. Do you really think your father could do that? What's the matter with you?"

Lilly sucked in a deep breath. She knew that Logan hadn't agreed with her when she had confessed that she thought her parents were hiding something, but she had hoped he might be able to support her.

Apparently not.

Lilly smiled sadly. She and Logan had split for good at that point. They had been on and off for a while, but that had been the end. There'd been no going back after that.

Hell, they didn't even talk these days.

/After Keith resigned from office, his wife, Lianne wanted to move away from Neptune. The loss of status and of income was too much for her.

It didn't even look like they'd be able to afford to keep their house, but Dear Old Dad came through from then. It made him look even more generous, paying off the mortgage of the man who had accused him of murder, saying he was doing it because the Mars' had lost their daughter, they shouldn't lose their home too.

It was a bitter pill for Keith to swallow, but he did, because that was the home where Veronica had lived and he couldn't give it up.

He also wasn't going to leave Neptune, no way.

Three days after Keith resigned, Sheriff Don Lamb arrested the man responsible for Veronica's murder. Or at least, that's what the world believes, Keith had his doubts and so did I.

A week later, I moved out of my parents home and in with Keith, Lianne had taken off by then, unable to handle the memories and the pity.

So it was just Keith and I and our search for justice... Both of us believing that Veronica's real killer was still out there somewhere.../

Lilly knew that most people thought she was delusional in believing that Abel Koontz didn't kill Veronica, or worse, that she was just being the rebellious daughter, but it was more than that.

The pieces didn't fit, t here was something missing, some vital clue that would lace the story together and tell her what had really happened to Veronica and somehow, someday, she'd figure it out.

Lilly was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of motorcycles filling an air.

"This can't be good." She muttered to herself, before rolling down her widow to face Weevil and his gang.