Veronica Mars is a marshmallow (ronmars) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-02-04 18:30:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | !complete, joe hardy, veronica mars |
Who: Joe Hardy and Veronica Mars
What: Veronica tells Joe she looked into his past
When: Recent
Where: Random restaurant
Rating/Warnings: Pretty low. Talk of murder.
Status: Complete!
Veronica was a skeptical person in general. It took a lot to gain her trust, get her to let down those walls, and become a friend. But once someone did Veronica was fiercely loyal. While she wouldn’t exactly consider Joe a friend, he was an acquaintance at the very least. One that Veronica could possibly work with. But that meant that she of course needed to know more about the man.
After a quick Google search Veronica learned that Joe’s fiancé, Iola Morton was killed in a mugging three years ago back in New York. However, it seemed like there was a hell of a lot more to the story to Veronica. Especially since the mugger didn’t seem to take much. Of course Veronica had to do some more digging, using her PI database she was able to find that Joe actually found the murderer but when it came to the trail his credibility was called into question and the murderer was acquitted. While Veronica might not have experience with something like that first hand she did in the dreams.
In her dreams Veronica Mars had caught her best friends murderer. He tried to kill her even, and her father. Setting them on fire. But when it came to the trial her sex life came into question. The key piece of evidence against Lilly’s murderer was a sex tape. One that went missing. Veronica had to testify to what she saw. It brought up questions of how much she knew about sex and her STD. Because of that among other issues he walked free. Going through all that in the dreams was bad enough. She couldn’t imagine having to deal with something like that in the real world. It gave her a new appreciation and understanding of Joe.
Today she was meeting the man for lunch. Veronica wasn’t sure how to bring up the subject. But she knew she had to at least let Joe know that she knew. It wouldn’t be fair otherwise. The pair were already at the table, their orders in - a bacon cheeseburger and curly fries for Veronica. She wasn’t the type that cared about counting calories or watching every little thing she ate. It wasn’t until the waitress left to put their orders in that she brought it up. “Here’s the thing,” Veronica said getting straight to the point, she was usually on the blunt side. “I’m a PI. I look into the people I associate with.” She wasn’t sure if the explanation was necessary, but she wanted to give a bit of pretext. For Joe to know it wasn’t just him she did this to. “I know about what happened in New York. And I know it’s not fair of me to not at least let you know that I looked into your past and found out what I did.” She paused, her face softening, a rare occurrence for Veronica Mars. “It pisses me off when the justice system doesn’t work. I’m sorry that’s how it went for you.” She knew her saying sorry didn’t do much, or anything at all. But it was genuine.
Joe’s face darkened in reaction to Veronica’s admission. “You’ve been doing some digging on me,” he stated flatly. He wanted to be angry about that, but as Veronica had so nicely reminded him, she was a private investigator. Digging was what she did. Besides, Joe couldn’t say that if in her position and meeting him as she had, that he wouldn’t have done the same thing.
However, angry just happened to be Joe’s default emotion whenever Iola, her murder, or her murderer came up in conversation. He’d lost count the arguments he’d had with Frank over the subject. Frank tried, and tried, and tried to help his younger brother get past what had happened or, in the very least, come to some kind of peace with it. And time and time and time again, Joe fought him on it. He was doing better than he had been three years ago. Hell, he was doing better than he had been when he and Frank had moved out here. As much as Frank probably wouldn’t have believed it, he did have a lot to do with that. And, in some kind of twisted way, so did Orange County. Orange County had literally rubbed Joe’s face in what had happened. It did so with the Dreams, with reliving Iola’s death, with bringing her soul back (or at least a facsimile of it), to speak with him over the phone. And, the latest: showing Joe just what would happen if he allowed his anger to continue to consume him.
It was this last event that had forced Joe to quell that urge to give into red vision whenever Iola’s name was even mentioned. He forced his shoulders to relaxed and let out a breath. “Of course you’ve been digging,” he said with a shake of his head. “Considering how we met, I’d have been surprised if you hadn’t done at least a Google search.” He reached for the water the waitress had brought over to them before taking their orders. “The justice system did more than not work,” he said. He may be doing a lot better at controlling his anger, but the bitterness in his voice was still clear. “It down right stalled out. The shithead is 100% guilty. I did everything by the book, but it wasn’t good enough. In fact, it was the exact opposite. I let the man who murdered the woman I love get away.”
He leaned back against the booth, arms folding lightly over his chest, “and that, in case you were wondering, is why I’m now a mechanic in Southern California.”
Veronica watched as Joe seemed to tense for a moment. She couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t like people liked having their past dug into. Veronica was definitely a hypocrite in that she would have been pissed if someone had done that to her. PI or not. She braced herself, ready for Joe to chew her out. But then he seemed to calm himself, a look of relief washing over Veronica.
Part of her wanted to tell him that it wasn’t his fault. That if it wasn’t for him the murderer might not have even been found in the first place. But Veronica was good at reading people. She could tell this was not a subject to argue with Joe on. Even if she was just trying to help ease his guilt.
“You know, I figured as much.” She was a PI after all. And even if she wasn’t, it wasn’t a difficult conclusion to jump to. “Can’t say I blame you. I’m not sure I’d want to stay in our line of work if I experienced everything you did first hand.” Hell even when she had caught Lilly’s murderer in the dreams she quit the whole PI thing. That of course was until someone blew up a bus full of her classmates and she got sucked right back in. But while Veronica knew how real the dreams felt, they weren’t real life and she was not about to compare her dreams to Joe’s real life. Even if it meant some level of understanding. “As long as you like the whole mechanic thing.” And didn’t miss being a Private Investigator. Which, given how they met, Veronica had a feeling he might.
“No?” Joe seemed genuinely surprised. His posture relaxed a little more and his arms fell away from his chest with a sigh. “You’d probably be the only one who doesn’t,” he said. Then he sighed, “that’s not fair. It’s not as though my brother or my father blame me for giving up detective work. My dad -- Fenton Hardy -- was a detective with the NYPD first. Then after getting wounded in the line of duty retired and opened his own agency. When my brother and I were kids, Dad used to tell us all kinds of stories about how he would catch the bad guy.” Joe shrugged, “I wanted to be just like him. So that’s what I grew up to be. My brother did too. He became a journalist.”
Joe’s hands had moved back to his glass. “He’s been trying to help me the last two years. It was his idea that we move to California. He’d gotten a job out here and he said he wanted me to come with him to help split living expenses, but we both knew it was to get me out of New York. But since we’ve been here,” Joe sighed. “I think he thinks I’m giving up my life’s passion.”
“Funny how that works,” Veronica commented as the waitress brought over their order. She popped a curly fry into her mouth before continuing. “My dad’s a cop too. Sheriff.” In the dreams he was a sheriff turned private investigator when the town turned on him and voted him out. All because he thought Jake Kane might be responsible for his daughter’s murder. It turned out not to be him, but he was hiding details about that night and even paid Abel Koontz to take the blame. Something Veronica discovered later on. But right, not the point. This was not dream discussion time. This was real life. “I guess it runs in out blood,” she offered. Both her’s, Joe’s and his brother’s.
“Are you? she questioned, brow raised as she popped another fry in her mouth. “Giving up your life’s passion,” she clarified. Veronica didn’t know Joe well enough to know if that was truly the case or not. However, it did seem like he missed it. But she also knew life went on, passions changed. Hell, her original passion had been to be a lawyer. Even went to law school and became one for about a year before realizing there was no escaping the detective biz. Her dad’s influence had a stronger hold on her than she thought. As it seemed, did Joe’s.
Joe surprised himself when he didn’t answer Veronica right away. Their food had been delivered, but Joe had uncharacteristically not dived in and devoured half the hamburger within five minutes. He looked at it now, his appetite suddenly not quite what it had been when he’d ordered. “I like being a mechanic,” he said finally. But it was not the answer to the question Veronica had asked. She could easily assume he liked being a mechanic. He wouldn’t have bought Rainbow Motors with Stephan if he didn’t. Duh.
He sighed and finally reached for one of the fries, just to have something to do with his hands. “Maybe I did give it up,” he admitted, “You’re right. It definitely runs in our blood. All I ever wanted to be was a detective like my dad. Out there catching bad guys. But things don’t always work out the way we planned or want them to.” He looked across the table at Veronica. “Even if I wanted to get my P.I. license again, with my history who the hell would hire me? Would you want to work with me knowing what you know?”
While it was good that he like being a mechanic, it didn’t necessarily mean it was his passion. Veronica could tell he still wanted to be a P.I. There was just something about this life. You could never escape the urge to uncover the truth. She knew that all too well
“Yes,” Veronica answered his question not even needing to think about it. “If you ask me, it will just make you better at your job. I know you didn’t make any mistakes.” It was the fucked up justice system. “But something like that. It will make you extra cautious that it never happens again.”
Joe was honestly surprised by Veronica’s response. He’d heard her words before, spoken almost verbatim by Frank. Not that Frank didn’t mean what he said, or that Joe didn’t believe Frank meant it either, but Frank was his brother. He was supposed to say things like that. He had always supported Joe, ever since they were kids. But hearing his words echoing from someone like Veronica, who had only known Joe for a few months meant something different.
Even if both Veronica and Frank were convinced that Joe would only be better at being a private investigator, Joe himself was still cautious. He still wasn’t sure if he deserved the second chance. “Thank you, V,” he said with a small smile. He finally turned his attention to his burger and started eating. “I’m not sure if I’m meant to go back, but it’s nice to know that you at least would back me up.”
Joe may still be on the fence about whether or not he was meant to be a P.I. again, but if you asked Veronica the answer was a definite yes. Especially given how they met. It was just in his blood. Something that would always be part of him. Still given the events that made him leave that career behind Veronica could understand why he was hesitant.
“Well if you ever want to get back into it. You know where to find me,” Veronica offered taking a bite of her burger. “Hell, I’d rather work with you than Logan any day.” Not that she didn’t love the guy. But part of her was worried that if he did quit his job at the PD and start working with her, well that was just a little too much time together.
Veronica wasn’t wrong. It was in Joe’s blood. He had a natural inclination for it, and there were times in which that inclination couldn’t be ignored, no matter how hard Joe tried. Maybe someday. But right now…
“You’d rather work with me than Logan?” He raised a brow and then laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’d be a little too much together time for you two, wouldn’t it?” He started eating his burger a with a bit more interest. “Thanks for telling me that you took a peek into my past. I guess if our roles were reversed and I met you the way you met me, I’d have a lot of questions and want to take a look too.”
“Yeah. Living with him is enough.” Veronica was usually hard on her boyfriend. But she did love him. She just wasn’t the mushy sentimental type. And definitely not the type to want to spend twenty-four hours a day with the guy.
“Least I could do,” Veronica said with a shrug. “If it was reversed I’d hope you’d tell me too,” she added. “But enough about that. If you ever want to get back in the P.I. biz you know where to find me.” With that she picked her burger back up ready to fully enjoy her meal.