| Chapter Three "He just left, no more fight, nothing." Cordelia spoke first. "Oh this is just *not* good." "He's not going to kill us, is he?" Gunn had watched the interaction in wonder. Sure he had seen Angel mad, scream, shout, break things. But it always ended in the same result. Angel always won. But him turning and leaving without a care sent chills down his spine. " Of course not," Wesley told Gunn. " If that were Angelus we wouldn't be living." Walking over to the left, he poured himself a shot of tequila and slammed it back " What do you mean we wouldn't be alive? At one time or other, these two girls were around Angelus. They're not dead." Grabbing the bottle from Wes, he took a shot for himself. � Those girls had protection from the slayer and...� Wes stopped with shock, forgetting Lindsey was still in the room. " And well um...I really don't think that this has anything to do with ... um." Taking another shot, Wes left the subject go. " I thought you said LEGAL problem." Lindsey accused Cordelia. " Douglass." Willow whispered. They had forgotten the reason for all this, " Delia, you call 911, Spike, you check on Douglass." Turning to Lindsey she gathered her slipping courage together. " Mr. McDonald, I'm Willow Rosenberg. I wish we could explain everything to you, but we're running out of time. We understand if all this is to weird for you, you can walk away. If you want to help us that's fine as well, I'll explain things on the way to the hospital." With that Willow went to check on Douglass. For the first time in two weeks Cordelia smiled. " Now that's the Willow I know and love." " I always saw here as shy and quiet." Wes muttered "No, that was her resolve face." Cordelia turned to Lindsey, watching him as he considered what to do. " Maybe you should see Douglass first before you make up your mind." Cordelia told him. " Who's he?" " She. Douglass is a she. And part of our long story." Motioning him to follow she led him to Douglass. Lindsey didn't know if he should follow the Seer or grab his stuff and haul ass. It was one thing to piss Angel off, but he didn't want anything to do with Angelus. His curiosity getting the best of him he followed. Stepping into the dimly lit room he gasped in shock. ~~~~~~~~~ "Is she alive?" Lindsey walked closer to the girl. " Yes, but not for long." Spike commented from the shadows in the corner of the room. " How do you know?" Lindsey didn't tear his eyes from the girl. He had been staring at the fading bruises and healing cuts on her face, but turned his attention to watch the raising and fall from her chest. Lindsey went to feel the pulse on her jugular when he noticed the gauze wrapped around her neck, her arms were out of the covers and lying at her sides. They were also covered in fading bruises, and there was gauze at her wrists and he was sure that if he were to pull down the covers he'd find the rest of her body cut and beaten. " When did this happen?" Lindsey asked the room, not really caring who answered. " About two weeks ago." Willow had whispered. " Seems a lot happened two weeks ago," Lindsey snorted, pulling his gaze from the unmoving form in the bed to look at the young redhead. She's one of the kids from the picture in the living room. Lindsey was annoyed with himself that it had taken him that long to realize it. " Lindsey you have no idea who this girl is do you?" Wes stunned. Lindsey took another look at the girl, but he didn't recognize her. " No, should I?" " Well yes," Wes stammered, " you do read the paper, perhaps watch television, listen to the radio?" " I've been busy with other...projects." Lindsey shrugged. Wesley left the room only to have him return moments later, newspapers in hand giving them to Lindsey to read. Looking at the first one it took him a moment to find what he should be looking for. There was a picture of a young beautiful woman, next the caption `Metro resident missing from ICU'. Skimming through the article it went on to say how a Douglass Maureen MacArthur was missing from Swedish Medical Center, taken in the middle of the night. A Willow Anne Rosenberg had found her. MacArthur's roommate, had been murdered, looking at the next paper, he saw a picture of the redhead. It seemed that they had caught her on the security surveillance on the night Douglass came up missing, the rest of the papers went on to say pretty much the same thing. " This is pretty bad, not only were you the one to find the crime scene, you were pretty much caught taking her from ICU." Lindsey watched the expressions wash over the young woman's features. " What made you take her from medical help? By the looks of her, it looks like she really needed it." Hearing the faint sound of sirens he stopped his questioning. " Okay, this is what we're going to do. Willow and I are going *now*, so she can fill me in. No one is to answer *any* questions from the police officers without telling them you want your lawyer present." Looking to Willow to follow him, he turned to leave. Walking to the door Willow turned to Spike. " You need to stay by her side Spike. Tell them you're her husband, fianc� anything. Just protect her please." Everyone saw the look pass between the witch and the vampire and was shocked to see him engulf her into a tight hug, kissing her on her head. " No worries witch. I've got it covered." Turning her towards the door he gave her a little shove. ~~~~~~~~~~ Taking Willow by the elbow, Lindsey hurried her out of the apartment before anyone could see them leave. He needed time to figure out a game plan, walking her towards his silver Mercedes, he opened the passenger door and nearly shoved the young woman inside. He barely got inside before the police car and ambulance stopped in front of the apartment building, they both sat watching the uniformed officers and emergency personal run up the steps. " From the beginning Ms. Rosenberg," Lindsey pulled from his parking spot and turned towards the direction of the nearest hospital. " And I'm expecting you to stick with the one guideline I asked the others to agree to. Honesty. I need to know it all and I don't want any surprises." He could see her biting her lip from the corner of his eye. " I really have no idea where to begin." Stalling for time Willow tried to pull her thoughts together. She wasn't lying when she said she had no idea where to start. It was all so complicated, like having three different stories that had little to do with one another and fit them all together, plus filter through what she really needed to keep from Lindsey. Legal help was one thing; just handing over information that needn't be was something all too dangerous. Since she was having a hard time getting the words out, he changed his tactic. "What is Douglass to you, friend, relative, coworker?" " Friend. We met on the Internet when I was back in high school. She and I share the same interests," " Why were you in Denver?" " To go and visit her." " Did you go alone?" " No Spike and I went. We rented a van, and drove." " Who's Spike? Your boyfriend ?" " GODDESS no. He's a friend. I didn't want to go alone, everyone else had plans." Liar, Willow thought. The others hadn't a clue. " He said something to Angel about being a Grandsire. Did I hear him right?" ".... Yes..." Willow looked out the window. " What's his real name?" " William-." Lindsey's head swung towards her in disbelief. " Are you saying that I was in the same room as William the Bloody? Do you make it a habit to befriend all vampires?" " I could ask you the same," Willow shot back. " Okay so you and Spike go on this road trip." " We got to Denver at about four in the morning, and headed straight to Doug and Tori's apartment, because of the sunrise, when we got there no one answered the door." " It was four am..." Lindsey started a tart reply, and had to remind himself to keep his thoughts at bay. This would never work if he let his feelings get in the way. " Spike could smell the blood coming from inside..." Willow had paled, and started to shake, tears were threatening to fall, taking another breath she continued. " After pounding on the door, he just kicked it in. There was so much blood, and...And it was everywhere." Images that she had kept locked away started to rush to the surface. Holding them back, and locking them away again Willow went on, she didn't need to go into detail now. Just outline the basics. "They lived in a loft apartment. Douglass was at the bottom of the stairs. She had a rope tied around her neck and wrists; she was covered in blood. I couldn't find Tori right away, until I tripped over something near the couch... This is too much. I can't go into anymore detail." Willow put her head in her hands, and started to cry again. " How old are you?" Lindsey turned the questions to a less gruesome nature "Twenty." " How old is Douglass?" " Twenty-three." " What made you take her away from medical attention?" " I didn't know what was after her or who was responsible. But Spike was attacked outside the hospital when he went to have a cigarette and usually that's a big clue that something is amiss." " What aren't you telling me?" " Huh?" " I'm not stupid; there's something you're leaving out. I've seen the people you're associated with in action. Protecting one person in serious need of medical attention is a walk in the park. So what is it? What are you leaving out?" |
|
|