Loading ...Veronica has been re-entered into the Hearst Free-Press freelance photographer pool now that Nish has been removed from her post and her first assignment is to take shots of a board reception. The trustees intend to vote on whether or not to ban Greek society from the campus the night after, but Veronica’s mission is [...]
Veronica has been re-entered into the Hearst Free-Press freelance photographer pool now that Nish has been removed from her post and her first assignment is to take shots of a board reception. The trustees intend to vote on whether or not to ban Greek society from the campus the night after, but Veronica’s mission is to get a picture of Selma Hearst-Rose, granddaughter of the founder of the school. Before she can make it to the board reception, Veronica runs into Logan, who tells her to stop investigating the rape case after her close call with the date-rape drugs. The request quickly becomes a shouting argument, which causes Keith to intervene and Logan to leave in a huff.
At the gala event, Veronica makes the rounds with her camera, but at the time that Dean O’Dell introduces Selma Rose to the rest of the trustees, Rose has disappeared. The sheriff is called and is typically useless, which causes the Dean to go to Veronica instead. Lamb sees this and is none too happy. She brings the Dean back to he can lay out the details and formally hire Keith to find her.
Veronica gets busy on the legwork the next day, where she finds out that Fern was the only waitress working the event that night. Fern claims that she was only relaying a phone message and had nothing to do with the disappearance, but that doesn’t stop Veronica from putting Fern together with the motive for kicking the fraternities off campus. While she questions the wait staff, Keith visits Budd Rose, Selma’s husband. He suggests that Keith talk to Selma’s brother and the dog walker, who conveniently has a Hearst College bumper sticker on her car.
At Hearst, Veronica follows up on something Fern said about the Pi Sig “sex quest” starting up. The day before, the Pi Sig president was found mostly naked with his head shaved on campus. According to Dick, an egg with a roman numeral on it was used as a suppository on him too. Dick can’t remember what the number was, which forces Veronica to go dumpster diving. While Veronica is hunting for Easter eggs vicariously through a homeless man, Keith questions Selma’s brother and discovers that the company stock has been skyrocketing because of her disappearance. She intended to shut down cheap labor factories in Asia, which would have caused a great deal more cost to the company.
The egg that was “inside” the Pi Sig president had several scrabble pieces in it which translated to a date from nearly three years ago. In the library, Veronica pours through back-issues of the Hearst Free-Press to find that on that date, a pledge for the Theta Beta fell off the roof of the sorority. The next day, she questions Hallie about both Patrice (the victim from 2003) and the dog walking for Selma Rose. She points the finger at Budd’s assistant, Brant. From there, the two devise a wholly different theory involving Budd keeping Selma hidden in order to keep a large portion of her money. The two sneak into the Rose estate to see if Selma is being stashed with her dogs. They find her right where they expected, but to their surprise, she doesn’t want to be rescued.
Selma explains that she’s being blackmailed by her husband, who discovered her extramarital affair. Because of the blackmail, she has been hiding out in the guest room until after their 10th anniversary so that Selma’s brother can lock the company into a lucrative (but unethical) business opportunity. Keith suggests that Selma get a lawyer so that she can divorce him over the infidelity, but that isn’t in the cards; Budd has pictures of Selma kissing Hallie (who was hired to seduce her for a cut of the money). They devise a plan that will get Selma out from under the shadow of blackmail and implicate Hallie. Hallie points the Sheriff towards Budd and his guest house, where they find Selma Rose. She serves Budd with early divorce papers and he won’t be sent to prison for kidnapping and blackmail. The next day, she thanks Keith and the dean before going to vote the Greeks off campus.
Meanwhile, Veronica discovers that Logan hired a bodyguard to tail her during a brawl in the food court. She confronts Logan about this and the two have a fight but make up quickly. Finally, Veronica manages to track Patrice back to Claire, who happens to be with Fern and Nish in her apartment. Claire explains again about the “two-way mirror” room and tells her that Patrice was a victim of the room. Chip Diller led the mockery against her and, eventually, it led to a mental breakdown and her suicide attempt by leaping off the sorority house. Veronica asks them if any of the rapes were real (other than Chip’s), but they just stare blankly at her as she leaves.
