"Rat Saw God"
A bunch of people, including Veronica, Keith, and Cliff are gathered at the Mars’ apartment, waiting to hear whether Keith will be the sheriff again. Veronica is disappointed that her plans for the evening have changed so dramatically, especially since Wallace is still gone (see “Blast from the Past”). Cliff asks for more alcohol just in time to learn that Lamb seems to be getting a lead in the polls. At the sheriff’s department, everyone seems confident that Lamb will win. A man arrives and tells Lamb that he was the anonymous source who called about Felix’s death (see “Normal is the Watchword”). At the Neptune Grand, Dick seems impressed that Logan was able to bed Kendall. He notes that he had a few unhealthy thoughts about Logan’s mother before her death. Back at the Mars’, the group learns that Woody is the new county supervisor and Lamb is officially still the sheriff. Keith tries to remain upbeat and Cliff points out that 49 percent of Neptune still likes him. Veronica tells Keith that they should have come forward with the tape about the bus crash (see “Blast from the Past”), but Keith thinks that that wouldn’t have helped the investigation. At the hotel, Dick chats with Gia, trying to make himself look good for being the man of the house now that his father has run off. Veronica arrives and congratulates Gia on becoming the new first daughter of Neptune. Gia wants to know what she thinks about Dick. Sacks shows up and arrests Logan, who puts on a show.
Keith calls the sheriff’s department to talk to Lamb, but he’s busy interrogating Logan about Felix’s murder (again). Sacks tells Keith that they’ve brought up the bus and are checking it out. Veronica goes to Mars Investigations and finds a man who appears to be homeless outside the office. She’s surprised to see that it’s Koontz. He tells her that Amelia (see “Kanes and Abel’s”) is missing and he wants Veronica to help him find her before he dies. He explains that she signed settlement papers with Kane Software, then ran off somewhere. He missed her 21st birthday and he doesn’t want to miss her 22nd. Veronica agrees to help but wants to get Koontz to a hospital first. At the sheriff’s department, Logan continues hamming it up while participating in a lineup. Lamb takes him aside and tells him that he should get a lawyer. Logan isn’t concerned and tells him to find him a public defender. Lamb warns that he won’t get bail without a hearing and he’ll probably be considered a flight risk. Veronica heads to a college campus, remembering that Amelia has a boyfriend and would probably still be in touch with him. She finds the boyfriend, Mike, who is wearing a T-shirt that says “France.” He tells her that he last saw Amelia in Ibiza, where they went after the settlement. She disappeared in a club and he had to find his own way home. Mike isn’t worried, since she ditched him and has his phone cards, so she could call if she needed help. Veronica talks to Amelia’s roommate, who thinks it’s strange that she would go to Ibiza, since she’s not the partying type. Veronica goes back to Mike to get the phone card numbers.
Back at home, Veronica finds an Ibiza website and posts a notice that she’s looking for Amelia. Cliff heads to Logan’s interrogation room, introducing himself as Logan’s “if-you-cannot-afford-an-attorney attorney.” He wonders what Logan is trying to pull, since having a public defender represent him makes him look arrogant. Logan doesn’t care, since he knows that the witness is lying, despite the fact that he supposedly doesn’t remember anything that happened. Veronica calls Cliff and asks him to help her trace a phone card. He calls the company and pretends to be a man whose daughter has disappeared. Logan doesn’t realize who he’s helping until Cliff gives Veronica’s e-mail address. “That daughter of yours sounds like a real handful,” he comments. Cliff tells him that Lamb is keeping him there so that people in Neptune won’t get riled up, and also because he’s mean. He suggests that Cliff uses his family’s money to get a real lawyer. Veronica does more phone card investigating and discovers that one of them was used recently to make a call from Neptune. Back at the sheriff’s department, Lamb puts Logan in a new cell that happens to be occupied by Aaron. Aaron doesn’t understand why Logan hasn’t visited him; he seems to be forgetting that he killed his son’s girlfriend. Actually, Aaron claims that though he followed Lilly home after they fought (see “Leave it to Beaver”), Duncan was the one who killed her. Logan notes that he did try to kill Veronica. Aaron admits that he did make a mistake, so Logan should learn from him and get himself a good lawyer. Cliff stops by to tell Logan that he made bail.
Veronica learns that the pay phone the Neptune call was made from is across the street from Kane Software. She heads in to see Wiedman, taunting that he’s not very good at his job if she could get into the building without him noticing. She asks if he’s seen Amelia, thinking that he bribed her to disappear. Wiedman claims not to know where Amelia is or care what she’s up to now. He offers to have her seen out and she tells him, “No need to call yourself to escort me out.” At school, Duncan and Dick discuss plans to eat shrimp and are bothered by Weevil, who loves that Logan is in jail. He and the other bikers are disappointed to learn that Logan is now out on bail. One notes that the bikers have become laughingstocks, so Weevil decides that they should retaliate against Logan to get back their reputation. Veronica joins Duncan and Dick, who discuss fake Ids. This gives Veronica an idea; she calls Amelia’s roommate and learns that Amelia got a fake idea from her cousin. A search on the cousin’s name reveals that she rented a car at the San Diego airport recently. Lamb drives Logan home, but it won’t be his home for much longer - the house is on fire. Veronica goes to the car rental place (which is run by a character played by Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon) and gets more information on the car. After he leaves, she asks another employee to track the car, since her laptop is inside it. She learns that two days earlier, the car was in Waverley, California.
Keith goes to Lamb’s office at the sheriff’s department to ask if the forensics team has found anything out about the bus crash. Lamb tells him that he should worry less about the bus and more about Veronica because of her connection to Moran (see “Driver Ed” and “Cheatty Cheatty Bang Bang”). Keith is not happy to hear this news. Veronica finds the car at a motel in Waverley and has to pay the manager in order to do some more investigating. Keith calls, demanding to know where she is, and she tells him she’s in an art gallery. He tells her to take a picture and send it through her phone. Then, when she gets home, she can tell him about Moran. She fills him in on Moran’s connection to Aaron, pointing out that the bus crash may have happened because of her. Veronica sets up a bunch of paintings on a wall and takes a photo to send to Keith. As she does, she gets a signal from Amelia’s palm pilot, indicating that she’s nearby. After some more payments and snooping, Veronica tracks the palm pilot signal to the ice machine. Unfortunately, a dead Amelia is also in there. Before she can tell anyone, Wiedman arrives and admits that Amelia calls him in an effort to extort money from Kane Software. He gave her the money under the condition that she disappear until the Kanes’ legal problems were worked out. A week later, some of the money was spent at the motel. The two confront the manager, who admits that Amelia was there with a kid in a T-shirt.
Keith meets with Aaron in an interrogation room and lets him know that he’s on to him. He warns that if anything happens to Veronica for the rest of her life, he’ll blame Aaron. He notes that he can get to Aaron easily. Veronica and Wiedman head to Mike’s dorm, where Wiedman grabs him and holds him out a window. Mike claims that he hasn’t seen Amelia in the past two weeks and didn’t try to extort money from Kane Software with her. Afterwards, Veronica and Wiedman, who planned the interrogation session together, agree that Mike wasn’t involved. At Neptune High, Weevil attacks Logan (who has a lovely new ankle bracelet) upon learning that Logan has bought his grandmother’s house and evicted his family. Their fight has to be broken up by a teacher. At home, Veronica e-mails Wallace, whom she still hasn’t heard from, and gets an invitation to a video chat from someone who saw her post about Amelia. The girl sends her a photo from Ibiza and tells her that Amelia’s boyfriend is a liar. Veronica calls the manager of the motel and sends him the photo; he recognizes another guy in the photo as the one who was with Amelia. Later, Veronica informs Wiedman that the murderer is Carlos Mercado, the son of a diplomat. Wiedman tells her that some of the money turned up at Caesar’s Palace and he’s heading there to take care of Carlos. Veronica goes to the hospital to visit Koontz; she decides not to tell him that Amelia is dead. Afterwards, she goes to the Neptune Grand and mistakes Logan for Duncan, leading to some awkwardness. Logan tells her that he’s moved in. Keith checks out the school bus and discovers a dead rat taped to the bottom of one of the seats.
THE SCHOOL BUS CASE: A dead rat was taped to the bottom of one of the seats on the bus.
THE FELIX TOOMBS CASE: Someone supposedly saw Logan kill Felix on the bridge.
MEMORABLE QUOTES: “Oh, wow, I’m stunned. You like me! You really like me! Well, first, I’d just like to say the other, uh, nominees are all such wonderfully gifted criminals. And I wanna thank my agent and my publicist for always shooting me from the left side.” - Logan, in a police lineup
Logan: “Where were you, getting thirds at the Crazy Girls lunch buffet?”
Logan: “And what exactly did I say, huh?”
Veronica: “Cliff, come on, you owe me.”
Veronica: “Where’d you learn that interrogation technique?”
Written by John Enbom and Phil Klemmer; directed by Kevin Bray
Cliff: “Actually, they discontinued the buffet. Some health code thing.”
Cliff: “The expletive racial expletive had it maternal expletive coming.”
Cliff: “I owe you? Who unconfiscated all your fake college IDs?”
Veronica: “Who got the Lincoln out of your ex’s name?”
Cliff: “Well, who helped put that lien against Lee’s Walk-In Donut?”
Veronica: “And who proved that stripper was colorblind?”
Cliff: “Okay, who am I calling and what am I giving them?”
Wiedman: “Harvard. That’s a pretty convincing hysterical routine you got. Where’d you learn that?”
Veronica: “Watching cheerleading tryout results.”