CHAPTER THIRTEEN

UNMASKED

"I didn't do it, Kat." Jughead bit down on his lip, not daring to look the brunette in the eyes,
"You believe right?"

"Of course I believe you, Jughead!" She exclaimed. But her answer still didn't make him look at her. So instead, Katherine grabbed his face between her hands and turned the boy's head towards her,
"Hey, Jug, look at me. You're going to be fine, okay? I'll fix everything."

And with that, she left, leaving the dark haired boy worried for his life as his hands shook from either fear or just because he was nervous of what was coming next...

Katherine walked along the halls of the police station, trying to find the sheriff.

"Katherine," she heard her name being called behind her back,
"Just the person we were looking for."

"I'm not telling you anything!" The brunette scoffed as she turned to Sheriff Keller.

"Well, as long as you're here, your friend Jughead Jones will be stuck in that room," the sheriff explained,
"You're gonna have to talk to us someday, Katherine. We know where you really were on July 4th."

"Fine..." She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose,
"But if I tell you everything, you have to promise to let Jughead go."

"This isn't how it works," Sheriff Keller spoke,
"The two of you are standing on quicksand. The more you struggle, the faster it's gonna pull you under."

"Sheriff Keller!" Katherine jerked her head towards the shout. She saw Archie and his dad rush in to the police station.

"Jughead's not helping himself in there." The sheriff pointed out,
"I asked him for an alibi, and he just gave me lip."

"He was working for me." Fred Andrews spoke in hesitation as both Katherine and Archie glanced at him in confusion,
"Yeah, the week of July 11th, was it? Yeah, I had him tear down some drywall for me."

"You can provide me with documentation to support that?" Sheriff questioned.

"I have to check my time cards."

In all honesty, Katherine knew that a fake alibi wouldn't be enough to to bail Jughead out, but instead, her and Sheriff Keller had made a deal: she tells him everything she knows and Jughead gets released without the sheriff checking the alibi twice.

Just as Katherine was about to enter the interrogation room with Sheriff Keller, she saw Jughead being led by the two Andrews men. The dark haired boy glanced over at the brunette and frowned,
"Kat? What's going on?"

"Don't worry," she quietly said,
"I'll be fine."

And with that, the girl entered the interrogation room. Jughead kept on walking, following the brunette with his gaze. Archie put a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure the boy that Katherine was fine.

Just as the three of them went outside of the police station, they were met by FP himself,
"Jughead! I'm sorry." The dark haired boy's father apologized,
"I came as soon as I got your messages. My phone, the damn battery. I forgot to plug it in last night. What the hell happened?"

"Nothing." Jughead managed to say through gritted teeth,
"It's fine now. Mr Andrews took care of it."

"What jacked-up crap did they accuse you of in there, huh? Those bastards trying to throw you in jail like they did your old man?" FP spoke in rage,
"Well, screw that! I will rip Keller a new one for trying to pull--"

"FP, settle down." Fred Andrews tried to console the man.

"Hey! This is my son, he is my son, Fred! You'd do the same for your boy."

"Dad." The younger Jones said as tears dared to spill from his eyes,
"Don't make things worse, please..."

"Yeah, all right, then." FP seemed to settle down as he stood opposite to his son with the two Andrews men watching them talk thing out,
"You, uh, coming home with me?"

"He was staying with Katherine, Mr Jones, but she's being questioned right now," Archie chimed in,
"He can stay with us, though. We already offered."

"Is that what you want?" Jughead's father asked as his son nodded, not daring to glance up,
"Maybe that's for the best. If you don't mind, Fred."

"Whatever you want, FP." Fred Andrews replied,
"It's between the two of you."

"I'll go with you, dad." The dark haired boy mumbled, however, his father stopped him.

"Son, listen to me." FP sniffled,
"I'm gonna do what you want, get my act together. I'm gonna get your mom and Jellybean home m, so we're all under the same roof, I promise. But I I just need a little time to do that. Not a lot, not long, a month, two at most. And then we'll be back on track, all right? You believe that, don't you?"

"Yeah, I believe you, Dad." Jughead sobbed as he pulled his father in to a hug. Then, the two let go of each other and went their separate ways...

♢♢♢

Meanwhile, Katherine had just started being questioned by Sheriff Keller,
"So, on the 4th of July you were with Jason and Cheryl Blossom, correct?"

"Yes," the brunette replied, trying to seem unbothered by the sudden interrogation.

"Cheryl told us that she heard you and Jason argue about something. Is that true?" Sheriff Keller asked again.

"Me and Polly are leaving, alright?! The blackmailing and the threats stop, is that clear?!"

"I'll have to think about it, JJ"

"It was just a misunderstanding." The girl lied, trying to seem innocent.

"Really?" Sheriff Keller narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing the girl's face, trying to see if she would crack under the pressure,
"So, tell me, why would Jason want you to come in the first place?"

"Because I knew about his plans." The brunette blurted out,
"I lied to you at first, because I didn't think that it would matter. I mean, Cheryl had already told you--"

"Katherine!" Kevin's dad snapped, but then seemed to calm down due to the girl flinching from his sudden outburst,
"We are trying to help you here. I didn't want to tell you this, but... You are the number one suspect in this murder investigation. We already know that the charity you were supposed to be at during the time Jason actually died, was fake, so you've got no alibi. If the police find any more clues, there won't be anything stopping you from going to jail, do you understand?"

"I'd like to leave now, please." Katherine managed to croak out. All she wanted, at that exact moment, was to go back in time and don't make the mistake of getting rid of her pills. In fact, she'd rather go back in time and stop herself from blackmailing Jason...

She stood up and started walking. Surprisingly, Sheriff Keller didn't stop her. Kat was a very secretive girl, so getting just a few answers from her was enough. As soon as she passed through the door of the interrogation room, she started to run... Katherine ran like hell because all she wanted to do was, at some point, to run into the arms of a person who loved her. And it didn't matter who the person was...

As soon as the girl ran back to her house, she rushed upstairs to her room and closed the door behind her. And just then, she slid down the wall, bawling her eyes out. The crying soon turned in to hysterics. At that moment, it was hard for the girl to breathe, move, or even feel anything other than guilt.

"It's all your fault!" The voices rushed though her mind, making the poor girl's head hurt,
"Jason wouldn't be dead if you weren't so selfish and stupid. You made him leave town!"

"I'm so sorry Jason..." Katherine screamed as the tears stung her face,
"It wasn't supposed to end like this! This isn't what I planed!"

The voices were so loud, she couldn't hear the door to her room being opened,
"Katherine!"

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her. The next thing Kat knew, she was being picked up and carried to her bed,
"Hey, Katherine, it's me," the brunette slightly opened her eyes. And even though her vision was still blurry from the hallucinations and the tears, she could still tell it was Jughead. His voice seemed to be the only thing to calm the girl down,
"Calm down... What happened?"

"It's all my fault, Jughead!" Katherine raised her voice again as she buried her face in the crook of his warm neck,
"I killed Jason. I'm a murderer, he's dead because of me!"

"No, Katherine, no," the dark haired boy whispered as he stroked the brunette's hair,
"I know you didn't kill him, you would never do such thing."

"I made him leave town..." At last, Katherine was finally ready to tell the truth. The tears had almost dried on her face. The girl breathed in and out before she could continue,
"I have to tell you the truth, Jughead. Because if I don't, it would mean that we will never have a chance to be together."

"You can tell me anything, Katherine."

And as the brunette finally felt safe in his arms, she told him the truth about what really happened...