Well, reader, last week ended with a kiss, and not between any of the people I hoped might smash their faces together this season, if we’re being honest. But we’ll just have to deal with that later, because THIS episode starts with the fearless Victoria Mars frantically searching an apparently abandoned home in the dead of night. At first it seems like she might come up empty, but perhaps remembering an earlier episode in her papa’s office, she ends up prying a plaque off the wall and pulling a pile of documents out of the hole behind said plaque. What are they? Well one of them is a form from an orphanage in Whitechapel, which is fun, and one is a letter, but we don’t get time to know much more because it’s at that moment that a man turns up looking for an intruder, and Victoria Mars has to beat a hasty retreat out a window.
We soon get a little more background info, because despite the late hour, Victoria Mars pays a visit to a young couple, who I’ll be calling Ginger Boy and Ginger Wife, and explains that she has important intel for them.
Victoria Mars: Do you know anyone named Sir Reginald Denning? He died a few years back, and tonight I was at his house. I found this: the letter Sir Reg got confirming your spot at the orphanage, Ginger Boy.
Ginger Boy: Huh? That makes no sense, my parents both died when I was a baby, that’s why I was at the orphanage in the first place.
Victoria Mars: Well. Turns out that wasn’t exactly true. I also found this letter from Sir Reg to you, which he never sent. It confirms that he was your dad.
Lady Ginge: So what about Ginger Boy’s mum?
Victoria Mars: Sir Reg and his wife were childless, so I think you must be the result of an affair. Here’s the thing: he died without naming an heir, and with no next of kin. When that happens, people get added to a public list of unclaimed estates. Sir Reg left behind 20k, and since you’re his kid… that cash is yours.
Folks, that’s the equivalent of over half a million dollars, which as you can imagine is a very exciting windfall for the young couple. Victoria Mars explains that she found them just in time, because the deadline for claiming the money is literally two days hence. They’ll have to go to a solicitor tomorrow to get it all sorted, and in a few weeks, the couple should get their cash… minus a 5% finders fee for our gal, naturally. Plans in place to meet the couple the next morning, Victoria Mars heads back to the office to celebrate with Ivy.
Ivy: Dude, that is SO much money. We should have a party! You can invite Duke Silver!
Victoria Mars, changing the subject: Oh, did I tell you how I found Ginger Boy?
Ivy: I was more curious about what the hell happened with your brooding friend, so —
Victoria Mars, steamrolling past that: It all started when I saw an ad looking for the son of Sir Reg, whose name I of course recognized from that unclaimed estates list, because I pay attention to these things. I knew there was a big ol’ reward waiting if I could just find the kid.
Ivy: Hey but for real when was the last time Duke Silver came over?
Victoria Mars, pretending it’s no big deal: I don’t know! Who cares? Let’s focus on all the fun stuff I can do with this money! Expand the business! Live it up!
Ivy: Oh, so you guys had a fight huh?
Victoria Mars:
The next morning, our friend starts making arrangements to update her office sign while she waits for her clients, who I’m starting to worry about because this all feels too easy, and I trust no one. Anyway, while she gets excited about seeing her actual name above the door, Duke Silver arrives to say hi.
Victoria Mars, frosty: Good morning. How can I help you today?
Duke Silver: Uh, I just came to say hi? Because we haven’t seen each other in a while?
Victoria Mars: Oh, weird, I didn’t realize.
Duke Silver: What’s up with the sign guy?
Victoria Mars: I’m about to get a windfall, so I’m making some changes.
Duke Silver: Exciting. Congratulations. How much are we talking about?
Victoria Mars: Enough that I won’t have to rely on certain individuals for help anymore.
Duke Silver: Ok, what the heck is wrong with you? You’re being weird, and you’ve been avoiding me! Did I do something?
Victoria Mars: I’ve just been busy. Anyway, gotta go, must meet my clients.
Duke Silver is willing to let the brushoff slide for now, but let’s be real: he’s going to have to deal with this sooner or later. Anyway, over at Scotland Yard, Baby Detective rolls into his boss’ office and says there’s been a stabbing they need to check out.
Duke Silver: Ok, let’s go. Hey, did you talk to Victoria Mars while I was out?
Baby Detective: Yeah, there was a whole episode about it.
Me: You’d know that if you weren’t so busy sucking face with our pal’s childhood enemy.
Duke Silver: And how was her mood?
Baby Detective: Oh, delightful as always! She’s great, huh?
Duke Silver: And did she say anything about me? Ugh, you know what, never mind, just tell me about the case.
Baby Detective: Uh, ok? Victim is a man of leisure, mid 40s, found by the maid. There was some kind of fight and he got stabbed.
Duke Silver: But what about Victoria Mars? What’s her DEAL?
Baby Detective:
Remember how I thought something might happen to Ginger Boy? Seems like I may have been right, because his worried wife Lady Ginge arrives at Victoria Mars’ office solo. Late last night, her husband went out to celebrate, but he never came home. And this morning, someone shoved a ransom demand under the door of their house.
Victoria Mars: Yikes. Did you guys tell anyone about the money?
Lady Ginge: No, but after you left last night a man stopped by; he called himself an heir hunter, and he gave us the same news you did. Ginger Boy told the guy that we’d already agreed to go to the solicitor with you, and then the guy said he’d help us for free. Ginger Boy said no, because we didn’t trust the guy.
Victoria Mars: I have a friend at Scotland Yard. He can help us.
Lady Ginge: We can’t! They said they’d kill him if the police get involved.
Classic. Anyway, Victoria Mars heads right out to talk to Moses, who she sends to find out where Ginger Boy is being kept. Well, she tries: he’s already on a job… for Detective Mustache!
Victoria Mars: UGH, I hate that guy!
Moses: HE has a lot of money though.
Victoria Mars: And I’m also about to have a lot of money!
Moses: Not if this Ginger Boy gets killed.
Victoria Mars: Yeah, exactly, but if we find him I’ll have an agency twice as big as Detective Mustache’s, and I’ll be able to pay you twice as much too.
Moses: You’re gonna need to put that in writing, pal.
Victoria Mars: Of course! But I’ll need your full name for the contract :)
Moses: It’s just Moses! Like Beyoncé. Or Banksy.
Across town, at the stabbing, Baby Detective explains that the maid last spoke to the murdered man this morning. Murdered Dude sent her out for the afternoon because he was expecting a visitor, which seems a little too convenient, imo. The maid also told Baby Detective that they’d had a lot of strange visitors over the last week, which was also weird. When she got back in the afternoon, the maid saw an old woman leaving in a hurry, but wasn’t able to catch any details.
Duke Silver: And you believe the maid?
Baby Detective: Oh yeah, she didn’t seem like a liar.
Duke Silver: Great, then we need to find the old woman and someone named M. Skelton - that’s the only name in the victim’s appointment book.
Meanwhile, Victoria Mars heads into the bar where Ginger Boy went to celebrate last night. Reader, it’s a pretty seedy place, so she gets a lot of catcalls and whistles from the clients, all except for a fairly fancy chap sitting at the bar.
Fancy Chap: Respect the lady! Anyway, ma’am, sounds like you’re looking for Ginger Boy, and I already paid off this guy for info on the kid. He was here alone last night, and left at midnight.
Victoria Mars: And who are you?
Fancy Chap: ‘Tis I, the heir hunter you heard about earlier. I’m wondering if you can afford to pay Ginger Boy’s ransom.
Victoria Mars: Ransom! I know nothing about that!
Fancy Chap: LOL, sure. He’s obviously been kidnapped; his wife was in a state when she came to see you this AM, and now you’re here.
Victoria Mars: So you’re a stalker? Gross.
Fancy Chap: If you can’t pay, I will.
Victoria Mars: That’s none of your business.
Fancy Chap: Well I want it to be.
Victoria Mars: K, don’t care, bye!
Fancy Chap: That’s a mistake.
Victoria Mars: Like your outfit?
I dunno, Vic, the orange handkerchief is kinda heinous, but I might not seek out more enemies at this juncture, but that’s just me. Anyway, our friend heads back home to find Moses chilling in the kitchen and enjoying a nice lunch courtesy of Ivy. He’s also enjoying hearing Ivy’s theory that Victoria Mars is in a bad mood due to a fight with Duke Silver. Alas, nobody has heard anything about this kidnapping, and unfortunately it doesn’t seem like Victoria Mars has enough cash to pay the ransom.
Victoria Mars: I’m assuming they’re after the inheritance. We’ll focus there.
Ivy: What about that ad you mentioned? You could see who put it in the paper, looking for Ginger Boy.
Moses:
Victoria Mars: I hate it when she’s right.
So obviously Victoria Mars heads right over to the home of the man who placed the ad, where she finds a cop posted outside. You guessed it: it’s the house of Duke Silver’s murder victim, Murdered Dude. She’s in the process of trying to talk her way inside when the man himself makes an appearance. Inside, they catch each other up on the situation.
Baby Detective: The ad would explain all the recent visits from strangers.
Duke Silver: Yeah, but this guy wasn’t an heir hunter; he mostly hung out at the club. Why was he looking for Ginger Boy? Anyway, why are you here, Victoria Mars, I thought you found your guy?
Victoria Mars: I did, but he’s since been kidnapped. I was trying to find out who else knew about his inheritance.
Duke Silver: You do know kidnapping is a crime, right? A crime which would usually prompt a visit to the police?
Victoria Mars: Yeah, but the ransom note threatened to kill him if I did that, duh!
Baby Detective: Huh, look at this — our victim knew about Ginger Boy. There was a page here with his info, but it’s been torn out. Good thing we ran into Victoria Mars so we could make the connection!
Victoria Mars, pointedly: Thank you! Nice that SOMEONE appreciates me!
Duke Silver: WHAT is WRONG with you??
Victoria Mars: I don’t know to what you are referring. Any other leads, Baby Detective?
Duke Silver: You can ask me! And I’ll tell you: no.
Baby Detective: Other than the appointment book. And the old lady seen leaving the crime scene.
Duke Silver, annoyed: UGH. When does the ransom need to be paid?
Victoria Mars: 4pm.
Everyone heads back to Scotland Yard, where Duke Silver preps a bag full of fake money for Victoria Mars, and talks her through a plan for the drop. She’s weirdly terse and distant throughout the whole conversation, of course, even when Duke Silver shares the new-to-us info that Ginger Boy’s dad, Sir Reg, was killed in a robbery gone wrong, a crime with which no one was ever charged.
Duke Silver: Look, you normally love talking about murders, so something is obviously wrong. What’s up?
Victoria Mars: Ugh, fine! I saw you and Arabella making out last week, and it’s really not my business, but also since we’re pretty close and she’s my childhood nemesis, it kind of feels like something you should have told me about.
Duke Silver: Ah. I was waiting to see if anything came of it before I said anything, but you’re right. I should have told you.
Victoria Mars: So… has anything come of it?
Duke Silver: Uh. Yeah.
Victoria Mars: Good. Great. Happy for both of you.
Yikes! Maybe not the best position to be in going into a hostage exchange, but do your thing, I guess. Anyway, she rolls up to the ransom location, surrounded by undercover cops, and who should be there too but Fancy Chap. Why? Well apparently Lady Ginge showed him the ransom note, out of concern that Victoria Mars might not be able to pay up.
Victoria Mars: You need to leave NOW.
Fancy Chap: Where did you get the money, anyway?
Victoria Mars: Seriously, go away!
It’s at that very moment, reader, that a strange man approaches and attempts to make off with our heroine’s bag of fake money. Naturally, the undercover team converges, and while they chase the suspect, Fancy Chap tells Victoria Mars off and then stalks off to the same dingy bar for a drink. Unfortunately for him, he won’t be drinking alone: Duke Silver’s waiting for him, and our friend has some questions. Specifically, where is this guy keeping Ginger Boy?
Fancy Chap: What?
Duke Silver: I think you arranged this kidnapping thing to get money from my friend. Your landlady was SUPER helpful, btw: she told me where you hang out, and that you’re a bad gambler who’s incredibly behind on rent. She also told me your real name, so… we’re going to talk down at the station.
On the way into Scotland Yard, they run into Baby Detective, who’s got bad news: they lost the guy who grabbed the bag, and have zero idea where he OR Ginger Boy are now. Inside the station, Duke Silver finds out that Fancy Chap pretended to be an heir hunter because Sir Reg owed him a LOT of money from a poker game, and defrauding his son seemed like a prime opportunity to get that money back. Fancy Chap’s main concern is getting Ginger Boy to a lawyer on time; if they don’t, the government gets the cash, and he’ll never have his payout.
Duke Silver: See, here’s the thing: we haven’t figured out who killed Sir Reg.
Fancy Chap, actually making a good point: Why would I kill him? His death only made getting my money harder.
Duke Silver, ignoring him: And there was another guy looking for Ginger Boy, but he’s dead now too. Where were you yesterday?
Fancy Chap: Oh, actually: I was sobering up in a cell over at Bow Street. Can’t claim it was a healthy coping mechanism, but there it is.
Meanwhile, Victoria Mars gets to explain to Lady Ginge why they’re now missing a giant bag of money AND failed to retrieve Ginger Boy.
Victoria Mars: I decided to call the cops. Sorry!
Lady Ginge: What if you’re wrong?
Victoria Mars: Duke Silver will get him back, don’t worry!
And then something strange happens: Ginger Boy just walks in off the street like he wasn’t kidnapped in the first place. He explains that two East London-accented guys grabbed him for the night. He’d been sure they would kill him, but they just dropped him off for some reason.
Back at the station, Baby Detective reports that he confirmed Fancy Chap’s jail alibi, and despite looking for their murder victim’s mystery visitor, he’s not had any luck narrowing down from a surname and first initial. Duke Silver instructs him to just follow up with everyone on the list, which honestly might be fun for our paperwork loving son.
Back at Ginger Boy’s house, Victoria Mars tries to stay on task.
Victoria Mars: I’m just glad you’re ok. Look, the solicitor’s office is obviously closed, but we’ll go first thing in the morning.
Ginger Boy: Will we?? Those guys are still out there, it might not be safe!
Duke Silver, arriving: Oh hi! Nice to see you’re not dead, Ginger Boy. I’m bringing you to the station for questioning, and then giving you police protection.
Victoria Mars: For how long??
Duke Silver: IDK. But we have to keep him safe! Those kidnappers are still out there, and when they figure out that money is fake, they might come back.
Victoria Mars: Come on, tomorrow is the last day he can claim his inheritance. You have to let him out for that, at least?
Duke Silver: Dude, someone was willing to do a murder to get that cash. Until we know more, Ginger Boy has to stay in one spot where we can keep him safe.
Victoria Mars: Are you just doing this to stop me from getting paid?
Duke Silver: What?? No! Why are you being so irrational? Is it because you don’t like my new girlfriend?
Victoria Mars: Now YOU are being irrational. And sexist. And if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go talk sh*t about you with my real friend Moses now. Goodday!
Honestly, a mood, and I respect it. After getting her complain on, Victoria Mars tells Moses the plan: solve the case before the deadline so Duke Silver will release Ginger Boy. Seems like a stretch, but I believe in them!
Reader, fun fact: Victoria Mars isn’t the only one who wants to complain about her work spouse at length, so next we get to see Duke Silver hanging out at Arabella’s house and talking smack about Victoria Mars. TBH, I think a lot of characters would be threatened by his fixation here, and Arabella doesn’t seem to be an exception. She’s not super buying Duke Silver’s “oh, I HAVE to work with her all the time, it’s SOOOO annoying” thing, but he, unfortunately, seems to fall for her “my day was fine,” like a real chump. Buddy, haven’t you ever been online? “It’s fine” never means “it’s fine.” NEVER!
The next morning, Victoria Mars wakes up to find Ivy quietly having a breakdown over the sad tale of Sir Reg and his wife: apparently, they were very much in love and desperately wanted a kid, but when the longed-for baby arrived, childbirth killed both Mrs. Sir Reg and the child. Victoria Mars is inclined to think the whole romance doesn’t count because Ginger Boy is probably the illegitimate son of a maid, and rains on Ivy’s parade about it.
Ivy: Huh, that actually would explain why the maid wrote a letter asking to see the baby.
Victoria Mars: And more importantly, the maid has the same surname as the person who visited Duke Silver’s stabbing victim! Ivy, you did it!
Kissing her friend on the cheek, she skips across town to talk to Duke Silver.
Duke Silver: Did you come to apologize?
Victoria Mars, FAKE: Yeah, I guess so. I think this heir hunting got to my head.
Duke Silver, falling for it: Well I’m sorry too. I was rude.
Victoria Mars: Hm. How’s the murder going?
Duke Silver: Ugh, it’s such a pain since we only have a first initial.
Victoria Mars: Bummer. In that case I’ll just go!
Duke Silver: Ok, weird? Bye?
Baby Detective: Hey boss, Victoria Mars was looking for you.
Duke Silver: Just saw her. Hey, I need the file on Sir Reg.
Baby Detective: I was thinking the same thing! It’s weird though — the file is MIA?
Me:
Duke Silver: Yeah, yeah, recapper. I should have known, I get it.
Whilst they, presumably, try to find a carriage to take them over to yell at Victoria Mars, she’s already looked over all the files and confirmed her hunch about Sir Reg’s maid, Maud. Next step? Pay Maud the Maid a visit. Sitting in her kitchen, Maud the Maid tells our friend that she liked her employer, though he’d been off after his wife died. She also explains that she kept tabs on Ginger Boy, so it makes sense when Victoria Mars calls her the kid’s mom.
Maud the Maid: Wait, what? No, I’m not his mom. Mrs. Sir Reg was — she went into labor early, and it happened so fast we couldn’t get a doctor. The baby was fine but his mom didn’t make it, and he looked so much like her that Sir Reg couldn’t handle keeping him. That’s why I took Ginger Boy to the orphanage.
Victoria Mars: But he was reported dead — who else knew?
Maud the Maid: No one. I promised not to tell.
Victoria Mars: And when did you last see Ginger Boy?
Maud the Maid: I lost track of him a few years back. It was awful. I miss him.
Victoria Mars: Wait, so why did you go visit that guy who placed the ad looking for Ginger Boy?
Maud the Maid: My daughter is super sick, and the only doctor who can help charges a lot. I figured I could use the reward money. I just told that guy Ginger Boy’s name, and his last address. He told me to come back for the money later; that’s when I found him dead.
Victoria Mars: Did you see anyone else hanging around the house that day?
Maud the Maid: Yeah, as I left I ran into someone who was arriving. Fancy clothes, orange handkerchief.
Reader, remember who else wears an orange handkerchief? Fancy Chap, that’s who. Duke Silver corners the man outside Ginger Boy’s house, and he’s not alone: the cop who arrested Fancy Chap the other day for drunkenness is there too. Except, fun fact: this guy doesn’t look anything like the Fancy Chap who the Bow Street cop arrested. He’s using an assumed name for his alibi!
Meanwhile, Moses and Victoria Mars are off trying to track down Fancy Chap at the gambling tables, with no luck, obviously. Moses did find out that Sir Reg owed other people money too, and had actually gambled away his whole estate in a card game. To whomst?
Moses: Come on, you already guessed it! Murdered Duy, who got knifed after putting out an ad looking for the heir!
Victoria Mars: Right, so both Murdered Dude and Fancy Chap needed to find the heir so they could get paid, but Fancy Chap couldn’t get his money if Murdered Dude got the whole estate, so… ugh, I should tell Duke Silver. He’s going to be all annoyed since I stole the file, but this proves stealing it was the right thing to do, so… but what if he won’t release Ginger Boy in time?
Moses:
Eventually, Victoria Mars decides to stop having a debate with herself and tips off Duke Silver, finally meeting him at the station and requesting permission to join in the questioning of Fancy Chap. Duke Silver seems reluctant, but he’s bluffing: they head inside and quickly trap Fancy Chap into admitting that yes, he was in league with Murdered Dude (easy enough: they have a letter to prove it). They had been planning to each claim half of what they were owed if an heir could be found. However, Fancy Chap is adamant: he wasn’t visiting Murdered Dude the day he was killed. Maud the Maid must have seen someone else!
Duke Silver: Look pal, you’re our prime suspect for two murders now. Talk.
Fancy Chap: That letter is a trap — Murdered Dude told me he found Ginger Boy, and I offered to approach him as an heir hunter and take him to the solicitor. But then Murdered Dude pulled out a knife and told me he was going to keep the money for himself!
Victoria Mars: And then you stabbed him?
Fancy Chap: He attacked me! I just defended myself like anyone would; I didn’t mean to kill him!
Duke Silver: I mean, that all makes sense, except you planned your alibi in advance.
Victoria Mars: There isn’t a jury in the world who will believe you went to Murdered Dude’s house for any reason BUT to kill him and take the money for yourself. Sorry.
Leaving interrogation, Duke Silver sums up: Fancy Chap probably was also behind the kidnapping. But what about the fake money? Victoria Mars doesn’t have time to care about that: they need to get her client to the solicitor, pronto!
Duke Silver: UGH FINE, you can have him.
Victoria Mars: I’m not sure I can get there in time, so…
Duke Silver: Just take my carriage. You’re the worst.
It works! They get there just in time, and Victoria Mars and Moses head out to celebrate.
Moses: Congrats! SO when do I get a new contract?
Victoria Mars: As soon as you tell me your full name!
Moses: Rude! And not gonna happen!
Victoria Mars: LOL, we’re friends, what’s the problem?
Still disinclined to answer, Moses laughs and saunters off, leaving Victoria Mars alone in her office to meet Ginger Boy. He’s dropped by to thank her, again, and to give her the first installment of her fee from his savings so she doesn’t have to wait. Awww! Does Victoria Mars drop the cash off at the bank? Obviously not: she and Ivy go shopping! Reader, my only regret is that we didn’t get to see them spending the day at the hat store, because as much as I don’t personally enjoy shopping, they clearly had an amazing time. Anyhow, they’re just starting to unpack their bounty when a cop arrives and tells them their purchases were made with counterfeit money!
Ok here’s the deal: Ginger Boy faked the kidnapping, and he had all the fake cash stashed at his place. But why, if he was about to come into so much money?
Ginger Boy, hauled into interrogation: Well, I knew there wasn’t going to be any inheritance. A week after my dad died, Maud the Maid visited me and told me the whole story about my birth, and also that my dad had gambled away all his money. If I claimed the money I’d just be hounded by people trying to get their cut.
Duke Silver: Why risk faking a kidnapping then?
Ginger Boy: I have a baby on the way, and I saw an opportunity. So I stopped by a friend’s house to hide out.
Victoria Mars: And then a couple of days later Murdered Dude was, well, murdered, and Fancy Chap was being charged for it… and the actual inheritance started to look awful good.
Ginger Boy: Well yeah. It felt like I was finally getting lucky!
So what happens with Victoria Mars’ fee? Duke Silver lightly teases her for asking, but let’s be real: it’s a lot of cash, and I’d want to know too!
Duke Silver: Well, he did do a fraud, which has a jail sentence, but two of the three targets are dead or in jail, and the third is you, so… wanna press charges?
Victoria Mars: … nah, I think I’ll let it slide.
She delivers this news to Ginger Boy and his wife in person later that evening, and gets called an angel by Lady Ginge for her trouble, which is nice. Lady Ginge heads off to lie down, leaving Ginger Boy to feel bad about himself with Victoria Mars. She tells him not to worry, and is JUST about to leave when she notices a picture frame on the wall that just happens to have Sir Reg’s family crest carved into it. Preternaturally unable to leave well enough alone, she takes it down to snoop, and finds a picture of Ginger Boy’s mum hidden inside.
Ginger Boy: You could just leave and pretend you didn’t see that?
Victoria Mars: Why do you have this frame and this photo? This frame and photo that were taken from Sir Reg’s house the night he was murdered??
Ginger Boy: I went to go and see him. He’d become angry, and drunk, and lonely. He told me it was my fault my mother died. He didn’t want anything to do with me and I…
Victoria Mars: … and you killed him.
Ginger Boy: Please, just go. If you walk away you’ll still get your money. Please.
Victoria Mars: I can’t do that.
Ginger Boy, sobbing: I want to meet my daughter. Please.
Unfortunately, the law is the law, and she can’t help herself. She takes Ginger Boy to the station, where Duke Silver takes him into custody, and then takes Victoria Mars to his office to commiserate: Ginger Boy can’t inherit money from someone he murdered, as it happens, so that fee of hers is also history.
Duke Silver: Hey, I want to clear some things up about Arabella. I know you guys haven’t always gotten along, but I don’t want my friendship with her to cause problems between us.
Victoria Mars: You know what, me neither. I’ll try and make an effort to be friends with her. It’ll be great.
Duke Silver: LOL you are SUCH a bad liar but I appreciate the effort.
The next day, Victoria Mars breaks the bad news to Moses, who is surprisingly chill about the whole thing (probably because he suspects, as I do, that Victoria Mars is doomed by the narrative to NOT come into a ton of cash). He also sees her fancy new sign with her name on it and asks if she’s going to hang it up.
Victoria Mars: I was, but the time isn’t right.
Moses: Then when will it be?
Victoria Mars: No clue.
Moses: Ugh, I can’t believe I’m doing this. It’s Valentine. Moses Valentine. A lot of people would pay a lot for that info! See ya later.
Anyway, Victoria Mars decides to head over to visit Arabella that very afternoon, and it’s... tense. They chat about how busy they are, how much they like hard work, and the one other thing they have in common: Duke Silver. They’re mid-giggle (forced, it must be said, on Victoria Mars’ end) when who should roll up but the man himself. Let’s cut to the chase: Arabella absolutely set this up on purpose, and seems positively delighted to have constructed a situation where Victoria Mars gets to be their third wheel. There’s just one problem: both of the detectives in the room seem to see right through her wee scheme. Will Duke Silver call Arabella on her nonsense? Will Victoria Mars ever catch a break, money-wise? What’ll happen next with Moses Valentine? We’ll just have to wait for next week’s season finale to find out!
