Chapter Twelve: Anatomy of a Murder

ARCHIE: Previously on Riverdale...

The story is about a town, once wholesome and innocent, now forever changed by the mysterious murder of Jason Blossom...

FP: This is our insurance.

In case everything goes to hell.

Stash it. Keep it safe.

I talked it over with Mrs. Cooper.

She's a part of this?

She's gonna keep FP busy while we search his trailer to find anything that links FP to Jason.

Or, more importantly, FP to my dad.

We went to your dad's trailer...

- Why would you guys do that?

- We were wrong.

We didn't find anything.

- You went behind my back, Archie?

- Jug...

My dad just told Mayor McCoy about your dad.

- What about my dad?

KEVIN: He was just arrested. For the murder of Jason Blossom.

Someone planted the gun...

Jason's murder weapon, in a closet in FP's trailer.

It wasn't there when we searched for it. He's being framed, Betty.

Well, maybe you didn't see it.

We're not talking about the Vogue closet here, Bee...

Well, maybe you looked in the wrong one.

It's a trailer with literally one closet.

There was no lockbox. No gun.

Whatever Sheriff Keller is saying he found, it wasn't there.

Look, we need to tell Jughead his dad's innocent. Where is Jughead?

I don't know.

I tried calling him. I left him messages. He's not answering his phone.

In the meantime...

- Should we talk to Sheriff Keller?

- ARCHIE: No.

Not until we tell our parents.

That we broke into FP's trailer?

My dad will know what to do.

You did what?

We had to make sure FP wasn't involved in Jason's murder.

And now we know the truth. He was.

What? Mom, no. We just told you.

- The gun was planted.

- By whoever killed Jason.

Couldn't you have just missed it?

Yeah, excuse me if I trust the detection skills of an officer of the law over three amateur sleuths.

Mom, you're the one who asked Veronica to break in!

- Excuse me?

- What!

- Alice?

- VERONICA: Actually...

I approached Mrs. Cooper.

I had to know if FP was involved, and if he was connected to my dad.

A gun was found.

FP is the killer. Case closed. We're leaving.

There was no gun!

Son, this isn't petty theft or a bar fight we're talking about, Archie.

This is murder.

Okay, fine. Then we'll go to the sheriff without you.

Archie, you entered FP's residence illegally.

So whatever you did or did not find there

would be inadmissible in a court of law.

I don't care what happens to me.

I do care. FP may have ruined Jughead's life, I'm not gonna let him ruin yours.

[CELL PHONE CHIMES]

[CELL PHONE CHIMES]

_

Hi, Mom.

Hey, guess what?

I got a bus ticket to Toledo.

Yeah. I thought I'd come see you and Jellybean for a while.

I could crash on the couch.

Yeah.

Mmm-hmm.

No. I...

No, I understand.

Look, I...

Forget I said anything, okay?

All right. Bye.

[SOBS]

I changed my mind about Toledo.

Can you just put me on whatever the next bus out of town is?

I don't even care where it's going.

Citrusville, Florida. Leaves tomorrow morning at :.

Great.

Lobby closes in fifteen minutes, reopens at :.

VERONICA: Mom? What are you looking for?

- Our passports.

- Why?

Because Lord knows what FP is going to say, now that he's behind bars.

So, you do think Daddy hired him to kill Jason?

Honey, I don't know.

But, regardless of that, we are known associates

of the man who killed Jason Blossom.

Your father may have had something to do with that.

Maybe not. But either way, we need to be ready.

Ready to do what?

Run away? Like we ran away from New York?

- We're gonna look guilty.

- Baby, we are guilty!

I'm guilty.

I bribed the Mayor to get the drive-in land, forged your signature, paid off the Serpents.

If that comes out, just...

Pack a bag, okay?

Just in case.

Come on.

From what he said in the hall, it seems like he wants to get to his mom in Ohio.

- Anything?

- No.

Maybe his phone died.

Or maybe, the only friends he has just completely betrayed him.

[CELL PHONE RINGING]

- Is that him?

- No, it's Veronica.

Hey. You okay?

Not really. My mom's spiraling, and I'm on the verge.

I just wanted to talk. Where are you?

I'm with Betty. We're looking for Jughead.

Wait.

You and Betty went on a manhunt without me?

I'll come meet you.

ARCHIE: We're at the bus station,but it's shut down for the night.

What's the one place in town that's open hours?

Hint, we were just there.

[DOOR BELL CHIMES]

- VERONICA: Told you.

- ARCHIE: Jug.

Jug, we're so sorry...

About everything.

Juggy, we screwed up. We all did.

Breaking into your dad's trailer was wrong, but at least some good came out of it.

Pretty sure my dad was just arrested for murder.

That gun wasn't there when we searched his trailer.

Someone put it there after we left.

What are you talking about?

The gun we found in your trailer matched the bullet that killed Jason Blossom.

So, did you know him well, or did you just do it for kicks?

Last summer,a redhead kid comes up to me at the bar,the Whyte Wyrm.

Said he was planning to run away with his pregnant girlfriend.

- Polly Cooper.

- So I would learn.

He asked me to set him up with a getaway car and some cash.

We made a deal.

In exchange for some wheels, and a tidy sum, he would make a delivery for me.

- SHERIFF KELLER: Drugs?

- FP: Mmm.

FP: I got him a station wagon,stashed some weed in the back.

Then...

I put two and two together.

Realized he was Cliff Blossom's son.

I thought...

Kid like that has everything.

Why in the hell does he need a guy like me?

Then he told me his plan.

On July th, his sister was going to row him across Sweetwater River, tip the boat, and say he drowned.

Once he made it across the river, I grabbed him before he reached his getaway car, which he'd stashed I don't know where.

And then, I took him to the Wyrm... Held him in the basement.

I kept him tied up and worked out my plan.

Which was?

Get word to Cliff Blossom that his son was alive, and being held for ransom.

Set up a drop-off point for payment to get him back.

Before I sent word to Blossom, the kid got loose.

Tried to escape.

And that's when you shot him and stuffed him in the freezer.

Once things quieted down, and your guys were done dragging Sweetwater River for his body, that's when I dumped it.

The only place we'd already looked.

You break into my house and steal my files?

Yeah, I did.

I even followed my son and Betty Cooper to Jason's getaway car, and torched it.

SHERIFF KELLER: You must've thought you're real smart.

Now, I wanna hear you say it.

Did you kill Jason Blossom?

[SNIFFS]

ARCHIE: Excuse me, sir.

We need to see Sheriff Keller.

There's been a huge mistake.

Sheriff, we need to talk to you about FP Jones.

- What about him?

- He's innocent.

He's being framed.

Then why did he just confess?

Polly, the most incredible thing has happened.

POLLY: He killed Jason, not...

I went to the station.

I looked our son's killer in the eye.

Finally, we'll have peace.

Jason will have peace.

And we... We can all start over.

All of us.

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

The police report said FP worked alone.

No mention of your dad, Ronnie. That's good news, right?

VERONICA: I can't stop thinking that...

Maybe my dad hired another Serpent to plant that gun.

It's surreal, isn't it? How's Jughead doing?

Not good.

He's not coming in today.

He's at the station.

- Being grilled by your dad.

- Who's just doing his job.

I mean, of course he's gonna ask Jughead questions.

Okay, well, he's wasting his time, Kev.

Because FP didn't kill Jason.

- Betty, he confessed.

- Or he was coerced.

Or he's protecting someone, maybe a Serpent.

My mom saw him and Joaquin together...

Don't! Do not drag my boyfriend into this.

- [HUFFS]

- What're you...

- Oh, no.

- What?

What happened to him not coming in today?

[SNIFFLES]

I'm sorry, Cheryl.

[SOBBING]

- WEATHERBEE: Enough!

- [CRYING]

Mr. Jones, you need to come with me. Right now.

He was apologizing. He didn't do anything wrong!

[SOBBING]

- Cheryl?

- I barely touched him.

[CHERYL SNIFFLES]

It's not his fault, Cheryl.

Even if his dad did do it, it's...

CHERYL: Everybody keeps coming up to me, and hugging me, and telling me that I must be so relieved that my brother's killer has finally been caught.

That this nightmare is over.

Then why doesn't it feel that way?

What happened in there?

My second interrogation of the day.

Don't know who's more of a dick, Keller or Weatherbee.

Don't listen to them.

Everyone else is wrong.

Your dad's innocent, and we just need to prove it, Jug.

Who killed him, then, Betty?

Tell me.

If it wasn't my dad, who killed Jason Blossom?

He said he did it, and you know what?

I've been waiting my whole life for that man to do the right thing, and I'm done.

- You should be, too.

- Jug.

Yes, I... I appreciate it.

That was Weatherbee.

He's concerned for Jug's personal safety.

After what happened with Cheryl, he's worried about the other students' reaction to it.

Thinks Jughead should finish the semester from home.

Jughead's getting kicked out because Cheryl pummeled him.

How is that fair?

It's not.

Well, can we call, I don't know, the school board?

Son, FP may spend decades in prison, potentially the rest of his life.

We gotta think of a long-term solution.

We are the long-term solution.

That's not how it works, okay?

I'm not his legal guardian.

Oh, good thing mom's a lawyer.

Archie, my priority is keeping you safe.

Keep me safe from who? Jughead?

Are you kidding me, Dad? [SCOFFS]

No, from whatever trouble seems to follow the Jones' around, wherever they go, whatever they do.

Hell, maybe you should go to Chicago and live with your mom.

It's not even something I was considering, Dad.

But you know what? Maybe I should.

Hey, if it'll keep you out of trouble, I'm all for it.

Hey, Jug.

I'm gonna sleep in the garage tonight. Okay?

Jug...

[DOOR CLOSES]

[MUFFLED THUMPING]

[DISTANT BANGING]

[BOTH GASP]

- Did you hear that?

- [SHUSHING]

Mom, what are you doing with that?

[WHISPERING] Get behind

me. Be ready to dial.

[PAPERS RUSTLING]

Don't move.

Hands where I can see them.

Don't shoot, Alice.

- Dad!

- Hal!

These are Sheriff Keller's files about the Blossom murder investigation.

How did you get these, Dad?

HAL: I broke into his housethe night of the last drive-in,and I took them.

Well, that's impossible.

FP Jones already confessed to that.

Well, I have no idea why he would do that, because it was me.

That's why I'm here.

To destroy any evidence that could lead back to me.

Wait, that doesn't make any sense.

Why would FP fess up to something he didn't even do?

Yeah, I'm not thinking about FP right now.

I'd like to know why your father is stealing and destroying evidence in a murder investigation.

Look, I was worried that the investigation would get back to Polly, somehow. To us.

And somehow Sheriff Keller would figure out the connection between our family and the Blossoms.

And he would think that there was some kind of motive.

Wait, you mean about Great-Grandpappy Cooper being murdered by a Blossom?

Betty...

Your great-grandfather wasn't just murdered by a Blossom.

He was a Blossom.

After the murder, our family severed ties with the Blossoms and their name, and we took a new one. “Cooper.”

BETTY: I'm... A Blossom?

Polly is a Blossom, which makes her and Jason relatives by blood.

- Which is why you wanted to...

- Yeah.

Alice, that's why.

Oh, my God, Hal.

If you're willing to send our daughter away to keep her away from Jason...

How far would the Blossoms go to keep them apart?

We need to get Polly out of that house.

Don't bother calling the cops. We're not staying. Polly!

What the hell is going on here, Alice?

It's the middle of the night.

Oh, sorry to disrupt the witching hour at Thornhill.

Polly, honey, are you okay?

Yeah, I'm fine. Betty, what's going on?

We're here to bring you home, Pol.

She's not leaving us.

She chose to live here, remember?

With a mentally stable family.

Oh, I know all about your family, Penelope.

- And the incest.

- What?

What incest?

Hal's grandfather wasn't just your grandpappy's murder victim.

They were brothers, which made him a Blossom.

Just like Hal.

- Yeah, so what?

- "So what?"

So, everything, starting with FP's confession, has a few gaping holes in it.

He's being used by someone with a crazy motive, for example, hiding incest.

You were disgusted that Jason and Polly were dating because they were related.

Nothing could be more purely Blossom than those babies.

Okay, what is wrong with you people?

Will you just spare us the middle-class morality.

It's not like they were brother and sister.

They were, what, third cousins.

You think I killed my son?

That's it. Polly, we are out of here.

Enough of this Doctor Moreau experimentation in breeding and eugenics.

It's over!

HAL: Betty, let's go.

You've made a grave error, little girl.

No, I don't think so.

And I'm not gonna stop until I prove it.

ARCHIE: Juggy. Jug. Wake up, we gotta go to Pop's.

MARY: Archie asked me to look into your father's case.

I went down to the station, and passed myself off as his attorney to try to get as much information as I could.

How's it looking, Mom?

Well, unfortunately, between FP's list of priors, the anonymous tip, and the possession of the murder weapon...

Don't forget that pesky confession.

Things look pretty bad.

I was with him all night, and he never once budged from his story.

[SIGHS]

Well, if nothing else, at least he's an honest murderer.

- Jug...

- Right?

Oh, also, who is Joaquin DeSantos?

Joaquin? As in Kevin's boyfriend?

He was FP's one phone call.

Jughead, my advice to you is, go and see your father.

Tell him everything you wanna say.

Once he's arraigned, things tend to move pretty quickly, and there won't be anything left to do.

So, this might be your last chance.

When Archie told me about his little plan to help you, get you on your feet, and working with Fred, deep down, I knew it was a mistake.

Should have listened to your gut.

You really had me.

[EXHALES]

Cleaning the trailer.

Convincing me that you had quit drinking.

I was so happy, for the first time in so long.

You paid attention to me.

Let's be honest.

The only reason you even read my manuscript about Jason's murder, was to make sure I wasn't onto you.

And you didn't want to take me to Toledo to get the family back together.

You wanted to get away.

You wanted to run away.

I did what I had to do! What I always do!

Are you even sorry?

Sorry I got caught.

We done?

[HUFFS]

Look at me, Jughead!

Never come back here!

Understand?

Got it.

[DOOR SLAMS SHUT]

He called Joaquin?

Why not Jughead?

Or your dad? Or a lawyer?

- It's weird.

- What does Betty think?

She thinks it's weird.

Joaquin might know if FP was hired to kill Jason,

if it was my father...

I need to see this through to the end.

ARCHIE: We know FP used his call from jail to get in touch with you.

What did he say?

It was basically just a warning.

Said to lay low.

No one uses their one call to say “lay low.”

Joaquin, do you know something?

I'm not talking to you as your boyfriend, I'm talking to you as the sheriff's son.

Did FP kill Jason?

Yeah.

- I mean, I... I assume.

- Oh, my God.

Did you see him pull the trigger?

No, no. God, no...

Then why do you think he did it?

On July th, I got a phone call in the middle of the night from FP.

Said he needed help with some clean-up job at the Whyte Wyrm.

What job?

The basement of the Whyte Wyrm is off limits to everyone, but that's where I met FP, and that's where I saw...

He'd been shot.

I never asked FP if he did it. I just...

I mean, I was terrified.

I... I just assumed.

We stashed the body in the freezer,cleaned up the mess, got rid of any evidence...

You are a criminal.

Joaquin, FP has done jobs for my dad, Hiram Lodge, in the past.

Do you think killing Jason was one of them?

There was one time I overheard a conversation between FP and Mustang...

- Who's Mustang?

- He's another Serpent.

The only other guy who knew about the clean-up.

The guy you got into a fight with at the Wyrm.

I heard him tell FP something about some rich guy.

I don't know who.

- Where is Mustang?

- No, no, no, no.

You do not want to go see him.

Yes, I do.

And you're going to take us. Or...

Or I'm going to tell my dad about your little clean-up job.

BETTY: I'm so glad that you're home, Pol.

And that you're safe.

And that the babies are okay and healthy.

[SIGHS] But God, everything else...

Is the worst.

[PHONE RINGING]

Betty, I saw my dad.

You were right.

He's hiding something.

Not that much money in local crime and villainy, huh?

This is him, here.

[BANGS AT DOOR]

Mustang? You here?

Oh, my God.

- I can't... I can't be here.

- Let's go.

Call my dad.

- Son...

- I'm okay. We both are.

What were you doing here in the first place?

We knew Mustang was a Serpent.

We just wanted to talk to him, to see if he knew anything about FP.

Veronica, this has to stop.

- Why are you doing this?

- Mom.

What do you think happened in there?

Likely an overdose.

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.

And how'd you know he even lived here?

Sheriff...

Found it under his bed.

SHERIFF KELLER: Hermione Lodge?

Mind explaining to me why your initials are on this bag?

Not Hermione Lodge, Sheriff.

- Hiram Lodge. My dad.

- Veronica!

Mom...

He was doing business with the Serpents.

And that's all we're saying until there's an attorney present.

This is exactly what I didn't want to happen.

If you stay on this path, you will end up dead.

Just like Jason Blossom.

You gotta believe me.

Okay? When I tell you I'm trying to protect you.

That is my job.

It's the only one that counts.

- Do you got that?

- Yes.

[ENGINE STARTS]

Mom! Mom... Mom!

[SOBBING]

It's okay. It's okay.

You gotta tell your friends to stop before they get hurt.

You really don't know them at all, do you?

Just like I don't know you.

- Joaquin?

- Yeah?

I'm gonna miss you, Preppy...

Look, I didn't want to say this in front of your friends, but there's something else.

My dad's been lying to me his whole life, but he's never been any good at it.

I saw it in his eyes.

- He didn't do it.

- So, why lie?

Who is he protecting?

Mommy, that last morning, before Jay-Jay and I went to the river...

Why were he and Daddy arguing?

We've been over this.

Your father dedicated himself to grooming Jason to take over the family business, but in the end...

- He couldn't stomach it.

When, really, I should have been nurturing you.

Because Jason never had the stomach for any of it.

But you... You're a Blossom.

I remember. He told me.

But why? What couldn't he handle?

So many questions, Cheryl...

Okay, who can we rule out?

My dad.

We know why he was acting so shady.

- Hermione.

- JUGHEAD: Yeah.

BETTY: Veronica says she's guilty of plenty, but not murder. Plus, she has an alibi.

She was in New York.

JUGHEAD: So, that just leaves Hiram Lodge...

BETTY: And Clifford and Penelope Blossom...

I think something happened, Mommy.

Whatever do you mean?

If Daddy wasn't mad at Jason about Polly, it must have been about the business.

I don't know if he heard something he shouldn't have, or he saw something he didn't like...

You don't know what you're saying...

What was Jay-Jay running away from?

The business?

Daddy?

You?

Ow!

PENELOPE: You think your father killed your brother?

You think I did?

You think we murdered him and threw him in the river, because Jason knew some deep, dark, horrible secret about our business?

You want answers, Cheryl?

Are you ready?

There it is!

There's the sticky, dark, dirty truth.

Maple syrup!

Drown in it, why don't you?

Well, what do we have here?

You two just can't leave well enough alone, can you?

Mom, we know what you're going to say.

The police found another dead body.

Okay, maybe not that.

A Southside Serpent and Sheriff Clueless is convinced that he was working with your father.

He allegedly committed suicide by overdose, and there was a bag of money on-site that links him to Hiram Lodge.

Everything is tied up into a nice little bow.

Too tidy, if you ask me.

[PHONE CHIMING]

Kevin?

Oh, okay. We'll meet you there.

Whatever it is we're looking for, Joaquin didn't know if it would help your dad, or make things worse.

Um, guess we're going to find out.

And why did he wait so long to tell us?

FP called him from jail.

Told him to forget about their plan, some contingency plan. He said it was too dangerous.

Deja vu.

Hey, right here.

[SIGHS]

This is meant to help FP?

I don't know. Looks like more incriminating evidence to me.

Yeah, this just confirms that my dad torched Jason's getaway car.

And that his confession was true.

Why would FP say Jason's varsity jacket is dangerous?

What could that mean?

I can ask my father.

He would know, considering we found concrete proof that he hired the Serpents to kill Jason.

Which probably means that your dad pulled the trigger, Jughead.

I'm sorry.

No. No!

No, I'm not giving up yet.

[SIGHS]

Put this on.

- What?

- Put it on.

Betty, this is weird.

There's a hole in the pocket.

Okay, now we're just grasping at straws...

Okay, no. I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a hole in my jacket pocket, I always lose my chapstick in the lining.

VERONICA: Or my Montblanc?

Hold on.

What the hell?

[SCOFFS]

Nancy Drew strikes again.

[CLICKS MOUSEPAD]

Oh, my God.

[GASPING]

[CRYING] Oh, my God.

- [SOBBING]

- JUGHEAD: Betty...

Betty, who are you calling?

[SOBBING]

You have to get out of that house. Listen to me...

I understand.

Thank you.

Cheryl, what is it?

You did a bad thing, Daddy.

And now everyone knows.

Sheriff. Your office told me that I would find you here.

You need to see this. Both of you.

JUGHEAD: That night,Sheriff Keller and Mayor McCoysaw what we watched in Archie's garage.

Jason, tied to a chair,in the basement of a bar,on the Southside of Riverdale,while a Serpent, Mustang, taunted him.

Then, the unthinkable.

Oh, my God.

[ALL GASP]

[CRYING] Oh, my God.

[SOBBING]

Later, we would learn why my father confessed.

Because Clifford Blossomvisited 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.

Charged with tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, mishandling a body, perjury, and that's just off the top of my head.

He's not getting out any time soon.

[INAUDIBLE]

I'm sorry, Mom, that I ever thought that Dad...

Shh, mija.

Everyone makes mistakes.

I have good news.

Very good news.

Your father's coming home.

JUGHEAD: And our families, far from repaired...

I'm sorry, Mom, but my friends need me.

You should come for the summer, maybe?

That'd be great.

- You be careful.

- I will.

You better.

I love you, Archie.

I love you too, Mom.

JUGHEAD: 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 questiononly Clifford himself would be able to answer.

[SIRENS WAILING]

♪ ♪