❝ SEASON ONE, EPISODE TWELVE ❞
⚰️ Anatomy of a Murder ⚰️

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"My dad's been lying to me his whole life, but he's never been any good at it," Jughead spoke as he leaned back against the desk in the Blue and Gold office. Betty and Isabella were in the room with him, Betty had her arms crossed as Isabella was seated by the desk. "I saw it in his eyes. He didn't do it," Jughead finished off with his brows creased like he was trying to find the answers with what limited information they had. "Well, then why lie? Who is he protecting?" Betty asked as she looked from Isabella to Jughead. The three of them focused on the "murder board" in front of them, Isabella rested her head in her palm; distracting her mind with the case.

"Okay. Who can we rule out?" Jughead asked the two girls, Betty stepped forward with him as Isabella mentally cheered that her parents never ended up on the board. "My dad," Betty voiced as she removed his photo, "We know why he was acting so shady." Isabella nodded as she reprocessed the new information about Betty's great-great granddad being a Blossom which meant that Jason and Polly were third cousins which explained why Hal wanted the babies gone and why the Blossoms wished to keep the babies due to their "pure Blossom blood" which still made Isabella shiver uncomfortably.

"Hermione," Betty said next before removing the photo of Hermione and Veronica from the board, "Veronica says she's guilty of plenty, but not murder." Isabella had to agree with that after learning that Hermione had paid off the Serpents to do Hiram's dirty work but that didn't involve Jason's murder. "Plus, she has an alibi. She was in New York," Isabella spoke up from her silence, Betty and Jughead looked at the brunette before agreeing with her. "I guess that just leaves Hiram Lodge--" Jughead began before Betty continued, "--And Clifford and Penelope Blossom." Isabella shivered as she remembered accusing Clifford before everything went crazy.

Alice made her way into the room and looked towards the teenagers, her eyes lingered on Isabella making sure she was okay before looking towards the board, "Well, what do we have here?" She continued walking towards her claimed desk with Betty watching her. "You three just can't leave well enough alone, can you?" Alice asked them causing Isabella to scoff. "Ironic coming from you," Isabella muttered despite them all hearing her, Jughead smirked slightly at his girlfriend's comment while Betty outright smiled at Alice's judgemental look. "Mom, we know what you're gonna say," Betty replied to her as she turned to her fully.

"The police found another dead body," Alice told them causing Isabella to stand up next to her boyfriend. "Okay, maybe not that," Jughead stated while Isabella continued, "Definitely not that." Jughead and Isabella looked at each other before Jughead slipped his hand into hers, he knew she was distracting herself with this case but he wanted her to know that he was always right there next to her. "A Southside Serpent. And Sheriff Clueless is convinced that he was working with your father," Alice explained as she walked towards the three, pointing at Jughead at the mention of his father.

"He allegedly committed suicide by overdose--" Isabella interrupted Alice with a raised brow, "--Or someone hot shot him." Betty glanced at Isabella while Alice tilted her head at the comment that Isabella made, the sentence could be a possibility and they all knew it. "And there was a bag of money on-site that links him to Hiram Lodge. Everything is tied up in a nice little bow. Too tidy, if you ask me," Alice continued glancing at each teen. Isabella clued on that even Alice was beginning to doubt the current story, the case was too clean to be this simple. Betty's phone ringing interrupted the four, she answered it after realizing it was Kevin.

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Jughead held Isabella's hand as he held the flashlight in his other hand, the couple and Betty had met up with Kevin who needed to show them something. "Whatever it is we're looking for, Joaquin didn't know if it'd help your dad or make things worse," Kevin explained to Jughead as they carefully walked over the terrain of the forest in the dark. "Well, I guess we're gonna find out," Betty replied to him as Isabella stopped Betty from tripping over a branch. "And why did he wait so long to tell us?" Betty questioned Kevin as she fell in step with him.

"FP called him from jail. Told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan. He said it was too dangerous," Kevin answered her question with the information that he knew. Isabella glanced at Jughead who was focused on finding whatever they were looking for, anything that stood out to them but she was focused on him. He had been reassuring her, checking on her, and making sure she was okay but she couldn't help the guilt that threatened to drown her knowing she hadn't done much to help him. She felt like she could do more but she didn't want to be a bother or burden; she knew Jughead had his own way to deal with things.

"Deja vu," Jughead spoke as they approached a worn-down sign with 'Blossom Maple Farm' written on it, Isabella shivered from the cold and pulled the sleeves of Jughead's hoodie down over her hands after Jughead let go. "Hey. Right here," Jughead announced after searching the area, he knelt down and pulled out a black duffel bag from the bushes. Jughead held the bag and unzipped it to reveal its contents, Isabella's eyes widened at the items resting within the bag and realized that this could possibly make the situation worse; Jason Blossom's Bulldog Jacket.

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The four teenagers headed straight to the Andrews household and called Archie into the garage where they laid Jason's jacket on the table. "This is meant to help FP?" Archie questioned them as Isabella shrugged. "I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me," Kevin replied to Archie's question, Isabella looked at Jughead who had been noticing her constant glances over the past few days. "Yeah. This just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car," Jughead spoke up while Isabella slipped her hand into his, Jughead looked at her but her eyes were focused on the jacket taunting them.

"And that his confession was true," Kevin added but Isabella shook her head. "It doesn't mean the whole confession is true, Kev. It may mean that some of it is but not all of it," Isabella countered as she let go of Jughead's hand and sat in the chair in front of Jughead. "Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous? What could that mean?" Betty asked no one in particular. The door behind them opened to reveal Veronica who made her way in, "I can ask my father. He would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason." Isabella didn't agree with Veronica, she knew Hiram was bad but it didn't add up.

"Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead," Veronica added as she stood between Kevin and Betty. "No," Isabella said as she stood up and looked at her friends. "Belle..." Veronica spoke but Isabella shook her head. "Ye have little faith," Isabella commented as she rolled her eyes. "How many times do I need to say this? FP may not be the father of the year or the most innocent person in this town but he is not a killer. He's protecting someone, maybe his family but I refuse to let everyone believe he killed Jason Blossom," Isabella snapped, she was getting tired of this whole thing.

Betty locked eyes with Isabella and she knew that the brunette refused to lose someone else, refused to watch her boyfriend lose his father. "Belle's right," Betty said with a determined expression, Isabella looked at the blonde gratefully while Jughead watched between the two of them. "We're not giving up," Betty added before grabbing the jacket and holding it up to Archie, "Put this on." Veronica looked from Isabella to Betty with a confused expression but both girls weren't backing down. "What?" Archie asked as Isabella walked over knowing what Betty was doing. "Just put the damn jacket on, Archer," Isabella said and he listened.

"Betty, this is weird," Archie said as he put his arms in. Betty and Isabella ignored him, Betty searching the left pocket while Isabella caught on and searched through the right pocket with everyone watching them; Archie with his arms raised and an uncomfortable expression on his face. "Nothing..." Betty said on her side while Isabella noticed something. "There's a hole in the pocket," Isabella told Betty, the blonde raised a brow at her. "Now we're just grasping at straws," Kevin said to the two girls but they were determined, Isabella searching through the hole.

"No. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a hole in my pocket, I always lose my ChapStick in the lining," Betty explained to them as Isabella finally felt something solid, she grasped it in her fingers and pulled it out. "Same issue," Isabella said as she held up a USB that rested in her fingertips, a smug expression on her face while Betty smiled proudly. "Nancy Drew and Georgia Fayne strike again," Kevin spoke receiving grins from both girls, the others looking at the USB stick with shocked expressions.

The group sat on the couch in front of the coffee table looking at the laptop as Betty put the USB in, Isabella let out a breath knowing that whatever was about to appear on the screen could be good or bad. Isabella sat next to Jughead on the back of the couch leaning forward through the gap between Betty and Veronica, she felt Jughead grab her hand and squeeze it. Isabella's eyes widen as they watched the screen, her heart was pounding like it was some horror movie but then it happened causing Isabella to jump before moving her head into Jughead's shoulder. The group was stunned by the footage they just witnessed.

Betty stood from the couch with her phone, she immediately clicked on a certain person's name and held the phone to her ear. "Betty, who are you calling?" Archie asked as Veronica cried, Isabella pulled away from Jughead and wrapped her arms around Veronica, the girl hugged her back as she cried; Isabella closed her eyes and gently ran her fingers through Veronica's hair. Isabella looked up at Betty as the blonde lowered her phone, she turned to Isabella and nodded letting her know that she had told Cheryl. Betty took the USB and gave it over to her mother, Alice took it to Sheriff Keller, and the truth was revealed.

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That night, Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoy saw what we watched in Archie's garage.
Jason... tied to a chair in the basement of a bar on the south side of Riverdale, while a Serpent, Mustang, taunted him.
Then the unthinkable.

Later, we would learn why my father confessed.
Because Clifford Blossom visited him on the night of his arrest with a threat.
That I, Jughead Jones... would suffer the same fate as Jason Blossom if my father didn't confess.

My dad was protecting me from a monster.

And the nightmare was far from over.
And our families... far from repaired.

And though one question had been answered that night, that it was Clifford Blossom who killed Jason, a new mystery loomed over Riverdale.

Why had he done it?
It was a question only Clifford himself would be able to answer.

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Rosemary Here!

So close to the end of season one aka my act one!

I will be taking a short break with this story at the end of act one as I will be working on my other books.

Also, I have released a book called Sparks which is an FP Jones book that starts in Season One with an adult OC who grew up in Riverdale. I already love her but you'll have to wait a little bit to learn about her; she is a sweetheart with a lioness prowling within her. So add that to your library for future updates if you wish! EDIT; THIS STORY MENTIONED HAS BEEN DRAFTED, I AM WORKING ON IT AND IT SHALL RETURN IN THE FUTURE!

Anyway, see you next chapter!