Nighttime at the Mars apartment. Veronica, Keith, Cliff, and a number of other people are watching the election results, and Keith is trying to keep everyone's spirits high even though things aren't going well. Cliff, who is drinking heavily, asks for another.
Meanwhile, at the sheriff's office, the mood is considerably more festive; Lamb especially is enjoying the moment. A man comes up to him, claiming to be the person who made the anonymous call from the bridge about Felix's murder.
Meanwhile, Duncan's throwing a party inside his hotel suite. Dick and Logan spot each other, and there's an uncomfortable moment between them because of Logan's sleeping with Kendall, but Dick shrugs it off, admitting he had similar fantasies about Logan's mother. Logan tries to laugh it off, but doesn't entirely succeed.
Back at the Mars Apartment, the news anchor announces Woody Goodman as the official county supervisor (or mayor of Neptune), while Lamb is declared the winner in the sheriff's race. Keith thanks everyone for their support, while Veronica looks both despondent and pissed. She tells Keith they should have released the voicemail from the bus crash, but Keith tells her it was for the best, and sends her off to Duncan's party...
...where Gia approaches Dick. She asks him about his father, and playing it cool, Dick says he's not at liberty to discuss where his father is, but is concentrating on being the man of the house. Gia sees Veronica walk in and, excusing herself, walks over and commiserates about Keith losing the election. Veronica, in turn, congratulates Gia on being the "First Daughter" of Neptune. As she asks Veronica about Dick, Deputy Sachs comes in to arrest Logan for Felix's murder again. Logan insists they make it official and lead him out in cuffs, which they do as the others look on, concerned.
Back at the Mars apartment, Keith calls Lamb to congratulate him on his victory, but gets Sachs instead, since Lamb is in a meeting. Sachs promises to pass along the message and lets slip the fact they've pulled the bus out to inspect it, which Keith finds interesting.
Over at Mars Investigations, Veronica unlocks the door and muses at how she'd like to avoid another unpleasant surprise. She sees a man lying in the doorway; to her shock, it's Abel Koontz. She has to carry him into the office, and he asks her to help him find Amelia. As they walk into the office, Veronica inadvertently sets off the balloons that were supposed to "surprise" Keith if he won the election.
A little later, Abel is lying on the sofa and telling Veronica about how Amelia received $3 million from the Kanes, but has disappeared since. He begs Veronica to find Amelia because he won't live to see her 22nd birthday. Veronica calls the hospital to tell them she's bringing Abel in, and grudgingly agrees to help.
At the sheriff's department, while in a Police Lineup, Logan pretends to be accepting an award and vamps it up, while Lamb looks on, amused. A little later, they're both in the interrogation room, and Logan acts unconcerned even though Lamb claims he can get Logan held without bail.
The next day, Veronica goes to Loyola University to visit Mike (Greg Baine), Amelia's boyfriend at the time. In his room, Mike tells her after finals, Amelia took him to Europe because of the money she had (Veronica explains it was a complicated "patent settlement"), they ended up in Ibiza, and then one night, they were at a club which dropped foam at you at midnight, and when the foam cleared, she had disappeared, and he had to get his parents to fly him home. Veronica is sympathetic, but surprised Mike is so blase about it; he explains Amelia also took his phone cards, so she could call if she wanted, but hasn't. Veronica wonders if maybe Amelia's old roommate Dawn would know more...
...and she's walking on campus with Dawn (Lisa Terry), who admits she doesn't know anything. Dawn, furthermore, is surprised Amelia even went to Ibiza, as Amelia wasn't the party type. After Dawn leaves, Veronica is walking off campus when she sees a man at a pay phone, and it gives her an idea. She goes back to Mike's room and asks if he copied down any of the numbers from his phone cards.
Back at the Mars apartment, Veronica finds an Ibiza forum on a world party website, and posts a message asking for anyone who's seen Amelia or knows her whereabouts to contact her.
Meanwhile, at the sheriff's department, Cliff visits Logan. He wants to know what Logan is trying to prove, having him as his lawyer, when Logan can easily afford a real attorney. Logan points out the witness is lying, and Cliff reads the witness statement, which claims Logan called Felix a racial epithet and stabbed him. Before Cliff gets too far, his phone rings; it's Veronica, asking a favor. Cliff points out he's busy, but Veronica eventually prevails on him, and asks him to call World Telecom and pretend to be looking for Amelia. Cliff hangs up, motions to Logan that he'll just be a minute, and calls World Telecom. He gives them Veronica's e-mail address to contact if they turn anything up. As Cliff hangs up, Logan notes his "daughter" sounds like a handful. Cliff admits he's good at what he just did, but not murder cases like Logan's, and tells Logan once again to get a real lawyer, especially since Lamb will keep Logan in jail as long as he can just because he can.
Back at the Mars apartment, Veronica reads the e-mails about the phone calls, but sees nothing new until she recognizes a phone call from Neptune the week before.
Back at the sheriff's department, Lamb puts Logan inside a cell. Turns out Aaron is in it too. They greet each other warily. Aaron mentions he was transferred out of county jail that morning. Logan brings up Aaron sleeping with Lily and then killing her; Aaron admits sleeping with Lily and then confronting her about the tapes she took, but he denies killing her, claiming it was Duncan who did it. Logan doesn't believe him, and brings up Aaron trying to kill Veronica. Aaron sighs and admits defeat, but says Logan shouldn't throw his own life away just to spite his father, and offers to call for a lawyer. Cliff shows up, says he's gotten Logan out on bail, and says Aaron is right about Logan needing to get a real lawyer. Logan admits Cliff may have a point.
Veronica finds out the number in Neptune on the phone card was the same as a pay phone just outside Kane Software. Inside Kane Software, Clarence Wiedman comes back to his office to find Veronica waiting for him, having sneaked in while his secretary thought her car was being towed. Veronica asks if Clarence knows where Amelia is; Clarence says he doesn't, and orders Veronica to leave.
In the hallway at Neptune High, Dick is telling Duncan about his shirt when Weevil and the rest of the PCHers interrupt them. Weevil tells Duncan about Logan being back in jail. Dick makes a crack about killing Mexicans, but before Thumper (James Molina), one of the PCHers, can strike back, Duncan leads Dick away. Weevil sees Hector, who tells him Logan's been bailed out. Both Hector and Thumper think Weevil needs to do something about Logan, and Weevil admits they have a point. Meanwhile, Veronica catches up to Duncan and Dick, who tell her about a plan to get fake IDs. Veronica gets an idea, and tells Duncan she'll catch up. She calls Dawn and asks if they use a fake ID when they went on a "booze cruise". Turns out Amelia used her cousin's name; "Margot Schnell". Back at the Mars apartment, Veronica discovers "Margot" rented a car from the airport the week before.
That evening, Lamb is driving Logan back to the Echolls house when they notice flames coming from that direction. Turns out the house has been set on fire, and by the time Lamb pulls the car up, the flames have spread all over the house. Logan looks devastated.
Meanwhile, Veronica visits the rental agency, and finds Douglas (Joss Whedon), an agent. She claims her friend "Margot" rented the coolest car, and she wants to find out what kind it was to go to a concert. Douglas is able to find out the car in question is a white LeSabre, but it's currently rented out.
A little later, Veronica changes jackets, lets her hair out (it was in a ponytail), puts on glasses, and after Douglas finishes chewing out his employee Stacy (Kim Stolz), goes up to her. Veronica, playing on Stacy's sympathy, says she has a jerkass boss just like Stacy does (she points to Douglas' photo for comparison), and says she needs to recover a laptop that she left in the white LeSabre. Even though it's against the rules, Stacy agrees to track the car by its satellite tracking system. Turns out they can't currently get a signal from the car, but they do know it was last in Waverly. Veronica thanks Stacy and leaves.
Later, at the sheriff's department, Keith asks Lamb what he found when he searched the bus. Lamb thanks Keith for calling to concede, but tells Keith to butt out of the case. Keith points out they never would have pulled the bus out of the water if he hadn't turned over the voicemail. Lamb brings up Curly Moran winding up dead with Veronica's name written on his hand, and tells Keith he should worry more about Veronica and less about the bus crash. Keith is stunned.
That night, Veronica pulls in front of a motel where Amelia's car was last at. It's a backwater motel in a backwater town. Inside the lobby, Veronica finds the manager (Tracey Walter), and asks him if he's seen Amelia. He admits she was there a couple of days ago and rented a room, but when Veronica asks to see the room, he tells Veronica it's $30 a night. Veronica reluctantly pays.
Inside the room, Veronica looks around, trying to figure out why Amelia would be there, when her phone rings. It's Keith, who wants to know where she is right then. Veronica lies and says she's at an art gallery; Keith tells her to take a picture and send it to him, and brings up Curly Moran. Veronica admits she didn't want Keith to worry, especially when she brings up Curly's connection to Aaron, and the possibility Aaron might have wanted to get rid of her. Keith tells her to send the picture and they'll talk when she gets home.
Veronica arranges all the framed pictures in the room to make it look like it could be an art gallery, takes a picture with her posing by them, and e-mails it to Keith. She then gets a notice that Amelia's Palm Pilot is sending a signal from near the room. She doesn't find the Palm Pilot in her room, and is forced to pay for two more rooms to search them, but finds nothing. As she walks out of the second room, she hears the ice machine churning. She opens the door of the ice machine and searches for the Palm Pilot, but gasps in fear and shock when she discovers a hand instead. She runs into the room she first rented and starts to call the police when Clarence suddenly appears behind her, shuts the door, and says, "I thought I told you to mind your own business."
Veronica, freaked, tells Clarence that Keith knows where she is, but Clarence admits he wasn't upfront with her about Amelia. Apparently she called Kane software to extort more money, and the call from the payphone Veronica had noticed was to arrange the pickup. Clarence also tells Veronica the money he paid was in marked bills, and he had tracked them to this motel. They both go to the motel lobby. Veronica asks if anyone was with Amelia when she checked into the motel; the manager ducks the question until Clarence threatens to break his fingers, after which he immediately admits she came with a brown-haired guy of medium build wearing a T-shirt. Veronica and Clarence leave, and she tells him she knows someone fitting that description. Veronica wonders about Amelia's body (it is her in the ice machine), but Clarence says he'll take care of it, and they need to track down the guy Amelia was with.
Meanwhile, at the sheriff's department, Aaron is led into an interrogation room, where Keith is waiting. After the deputy leaves, Keith tells Aaron as far as anyone else is concerned, he was never there. He also tells Aaron he wants Aaron to know how easily he can get to Aaron in case Aaron has any thoughts about trying to get to Veronica, including the bus crash. Aaron denies involvement in the bus crash, but looks worried when Keith leaves.
The next day, at Loyola. Mike answers the door only to find Clarence, who grabs him and starts pushing him back towards the window, over Veronica's protests. Clarence asks Mike if he's seen Amelia, if he conspired with her to blackmail Kane Software, and if he killed Amelia, all of which Mike vigorously denies. Outside, in the hallway, Veronica and Clarence congratulate each other on how well they played Good Cop/Bad Cop, and Clarence admits Mike was telling the truth.
A little later, in the Neptune High lunch area, Logan is eating pizza with other 09ers and showing off his Lojack when Weevil and the other PCHers come up, and Weevil angrily shows him a paper and asks what's going on. Turns out Logan has bought Weevil's grandmother's house, and is turning out Weevil and the rest of his family. Weevil responds by shoving a piece of pizza into Logan's face, and the two are about to fight when the gym teacher interrupts them, and Weevil storms off.
That night, at the Mars apartment, Veronica is e-mailing Wallace about all that's happened when she gets a message from someone with the screen-name "EnriqueFreaque69". Veronica answers, and it's a video chat with a girl who asks if Veronica is still looking for Amelia. She brings up a photo of Amelia with several guys and a few women. Veronica is about to thank her and tell her Amelia's been found dead when Enrique asks if Amelia's still with "that boyfriend", and mentions he's a liar. Veronica realizes who he is; she calls up the motel manager, and he confirms one of the guys in the photo, but not Mike, is the guy Amelia was with. Veronica confirms this with Enrique...
...and calls Clarence, telling him the guy's name is Carlos Mercado, and he's a diplomat's son. Clarence thanks her, and tells her Carlos has been tracked to Vegas, and he's going to take care of it; he adds, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
That night, at the hospital, Veronica lies to Abel, telling him Amelia is stuck skiing and couldn't get back in time, but is happy.
Later, she goes to the Neptune Grand, and Duncan's room. She sees what looks like Duncan lying on a couch and reading, but when she lies on top of him she's startled to discover it's actually Logan. Logan tells her he's staying there now; Duncan, who has come in, looks sheepish, while Veronica looks pissed.
Later, Keith sneaks into a garage where the bus from the bus crash is being held. He gets on the bus, searches throughout, and discovers a dead rat taped under one of the seats.
This episode contains examples of:
- All for Nothing: Koontz is terminally ill and wants the money for his beloved daughter Amelia - who is murdered by her asshole boyfriend.
- Back for the Dead: Abel Koontz and Amelia DeLongpre.
- Call-Back: Amelia DeLongpre, Abel Koontz, Clarence Wiedman, Felix's murder, and Logan's dalliance with Kendall.
- Foreshadowing: The man who claims to have witnessed Logan murdering Felix becomes very important later.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: Veronica and Clarence Wiedman.Veronica: Wow. Where'd you learn that interrogation technique?Clarence Wiedman: Harvard. That's a pretty convincing hysterical routine you got. Where'd you learn that?Veronica: Watching cheerleader tryout results.
- Lawful Stupid: The hotel manager is a private sector version of this trope.
- Let Them Die Happy: Why Veronica lies to Abel about Amelia at the end.
- Literary Allusion Title: The title of the episode comes from a young adult novel Rob Thomas wrote called Rats Saw God, though the only thing it has in common with the novel is the part about a teenage boy being estranged from his father.
- Noodle Incident: Okay, we know when Veronica had fake IDs that Cliff returned, but the Lincoln, the lien against Lee's Wok and Donut, and the color-blind stripper are all left unexplained.
- Papa Wolf: Keith.
- Shout-Out: When Logan is in a police lineup, he (mis) quotes Sally Field's acceptance speech for her second Best Actress Oscar; "You like me, you really like me!"
- When trying to convince Cliff to help her, Veronica says no one can do a Fred MacMurray concerned parent act like Cliff can.
