"The Girl Next Door" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American mystery television series Veronica Mars. Co-written by Jed Seidel and Diane Ruggiero and directed by Nick Marck, the episode premiered on UPN on November 9, 2004.
The series depicts the adventures of Veronica Mars (Kristen Bell) as she deals with life as a high school student while moonlighting as a private detective. In this episode, Veronica looks into the mysterious disappearance of her neighbor, Sarah (Jessica Chastain). Meanwhile, Logan (Jason Dohring) and Weevil (Francis Capra) have to deal with each other in detention.
Synopsis
The episode begins in medias res. Veronica sits outside of an apartment building, and we see a stretcher being carried off. Through voiceovers, Veronica tells that she was in some way connected to the crime. The episode then flashes back to one week earlier. Then, Veronica meets Sarah, a heavily pregnant neighbor, who asks her for help with a missing journal that she believes her boyfriend stole. In newspaper class, Mallory Dent (Sydney Tamiia Poitier) shows a woman, Evelyn Bugby (Bonita Friedericy) to Veronica and asks for her help with a project on the class of '79. She eventually agrees to help with the project. Veronica looks through the old yearbook and sees a photo of her mother, Lianne. During a test, a teacher, Mr. Daniels (Steven Williams) fails both Logan and Weevil for talking. They are placed in detention, during which the two bicker and eventually play poker. The teacher comes in and sentences them to a full week of detention. Veronica returns home and views Sarah and her boyfriend, André (Adam Kaufman), arguing. That night, Veronica is awakened by a woman's scream overhead and a body falling. The next morning, Veronica goes to Sarah's door to take her to a doctor's appointment, but there is no response. She looks through the window to see the room in disarray, and Sarah's dog alone, barking.
In the bathroom one day, another student talks to Weevil, and it is heavily implied that Weevil was carrying out an affair with Lilly Kane. Veronica talks to Duncan (Teddy Dunn) about something she found in the yearbook—that Veronica's mother, Lianne (Corrine Bohrer) and Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) were once a couple in high school. A flashback details Veronica's breakup with Duncan, which was abrupt and mystified Veronica. At Sarah's workplace, her boss says that he doesn't know where Sarah is either. He also gives Veronica the information that she fights with her boyfriend a lot. Veronica goes to find André. She questions him, but he dismisses it as a simple fight and nothing serious. She doesn't believe him, and these suspicions are heightened when it turns out that André is painting a portrait of a female nude who is not Sarah. Veronica sneaks into Sarah's apartment and finds some mysterious things, including Sarah's phone and a gun. André comes in and finds Veronica. She manages to escape with minimal conflict. In another flashback, Veronica asks Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried) why Duncan broke up with her, but she is vague and unspecific. In detention, Weevil states that he has a plan to get the teacher back, which involves stealing the teacher's car and putting it on the flagpole.
Weevil is told by the principal that he is expelled in the aftermath of the prank. After Veronica gives Sarah's parents Keith's card, they visit Keith. Afterwards, Keith tells Veronica that he does not want her on the case. However, she convinces him otherwise as long as she stays away from André. She finds out that Sarah's baby is not André's. Logan confesses to the prank as well. Veronica visits Sarah's boss again, and she finds out from the boss that Sarah was raped and that the baby might be the child of the rapist. Veronica calls Weevil's motorcycle gang, and they come in order to convince the boss to give Veronica Sarah's journal, which he stole. This works successfully. Weevil is un-expelled and they are both sentenced to a punishment of removing graffiti. Logan notices that Weevil has a tattoo with Lilly's name in it, but Weevil claims it is not because he was involved with her before her death. Veronica reads Sarah's notebook and upon visiting a beach highlighted in the journal, finds Sarah there near her parked car. Sarah goes back to André.