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Chapter Seven

Lindsey ducked as the book barely grazed his head, slammed against the wall behind him, and fell to the floor. " It's the wrong book. You pathetic fool. One book was all I asked for. Was it too hard of a job for you Lindsey? I asked for the book of Ansuz. What you gave me was some wretched rambling from a family of healers." Lindsey gritted his teeth, holding back a sharp reply to the seething bitch. Being at her beck and call was taking its toll on his nerves. Her requests were usually Angel related her wanting her `boy' back.

Then there was that loon Drucilla. Constantly swaying back and forth, blabbing about talking stars. Mumbling nonsense, he could never figure out. There were times he didn't blame Angel for not reuniting with his vampire family. Living eternity with the two would make anyone run in the opposite direction.

" How do you know it's the wrong book?" He growled back, " You had no idea what the book was pertaining to."

" Lindsey, you are slow, aren't you?" Darla purred as she sauntered toward him. " I told you that the book was bonded to the owner." She started to explain to him as if he were three, "Now why would anyone bother to do this?" Reaching out she ran her finger along his jaw line, "Not just to keep some cough elixir a secret from the world." Pulling back her hand she slapped him hard across the face, nearly dropping him to his feet. "Either the person you hired took the wrong book, or they have it for themselves." Turning her back on him, she strolled toward the door. " Fix it Lindsey. And soon."

Pulling himself up straight, Lindsey took several deep breaths to calm himself. Finding some book, which Darla had a fancy for, was the last thing he wanted on his to do list. She had no idea what was in the book. She believed that some family of witches had been passing it down for the last hundred of years or so. Bonding it to the oldest daughter when she reached womanhood. He truly doubted the book existed.

The leather bond book was still lying on the floor, almost taunting him at his failure. He had hired his usual contact to locate, and get the book. It had taken a few months, but the job was done. Lindsey had used the same contact on several occasions, always without incident.

Walking over to the offending book, Lindsey picked it up, and started leafing through it. Darla was right about the book not holding anything interesting. The pages contained herbal remedies, and a few pages of some forward thinking midwives. Snapping the book shut, he tossed on his desk, forgotten for the time being.

Instead he sat back and gazed at the files, pictures, and yearbooks spread before of him. The files consisted of five Sunnydale residents, Willow Anne Rosenberg, Buffy Anne Summers, Alexander Harris, Riley Finn, and a Rupert Giles. Three LA residents Cordelia Chase, Charles Gunn, and Wesley Wyndham-Price. Two Vampires Angel and Spike. And a very intriguing Douglass Maureen MacArthur.

The case he agreed upon was a walk in the park. He bought a few witnesses, fed the touching tale of Willow's finding and helping her friend from danger. When Ms Rosenberg and Ms Chase couldn't get into the apartment he pulled a few strings, much to Detective Lockley's dismay. All that was needed now was for Douglass to wake up, and make a statement.

Douglass MacArthur, picking up her file, he read through it again. Douglass Maureen MacArthur, born June 21, 1977, in Glasgow Scotland. Her Mother's name was Nessa MacArthur, who died in 1995 of cancer. No record of her father. When Douglass was two, her Mother moved to the states, where they seemed to move around quite a lot until finally settling down in Littleton Colorado in 1983. Her school records showed that though she was intelligent, she had little interest in her academics. Various teacher comments basically stated the same thing. Highly intelligent, just no ambition to apply herself. In the fall of 1994 she attended CU in Boulder Colorado, for a year. Leaving for a few years to kick back, she returned to college in 1997, but this time to Metro Community College.

Her previous medical records showed several visits to the emergency room. Broken leg from a skiing accident, numerous sprained ankles from sport related incidents. In 1996 she in a car accident, that left her with a broken rib. Just to name a few.

Various pictures came from her high school yearbook. Lindsey still couldn't get over the fact that the girl in the pictures was the same he saw lying in Ms. Chase's guest bed. Most were the standard yearbook pictures, bunch of innocent teens smiling for the camera. There was one of her where she was covered head to toe in mud. The caption read it was an annual mud/flag football tournament the school held in the fall. Another with her lying over a book asleep, her strawberry-blonde curls in a riot around her face.

The other pictures were from the crime scene. He hated these. He had never seen so much blood. The floor, walls, and furniture were splattered with it. Tori Anderson, Douglass's roommate, had been slaughtered, her body parts were found scattered around the apartment. This is what Ms Rosenberg, and Spike had walked in on. She must have tripped over Tori's arm near the couch.

Evil people did this, and he was on the evil team. This picture represented him, and what he stood for. How many people had suffered similar fates because of his clients? Feeling nauseous he put the pictures away.

`So now what?" He thought, `I started all this to piss Angel off. To humiliate his former employees. How am I going to use this for my advantage? It can't be anything too atrocious. They would just rebel, choosing to face the repercussions. It has to be something to keep the wedge between them all."

"Lindsey, I heard a certain blonde vamp is enraged at you." Lilah smirked as she walked into the office. "I'd hate for anything to happen to you."

" I've got it handled. Leave," Lindsey gritted out.

Ignoring his request, Lilah strolled over to his desk, picking up the discarded crime scene photos. "That had to hurt." She chuckled as she leafed through them. " Have you decided what you are going to do with Angel's friends? If you havenďż˝t I have a few ideas of my own."

Lindsey grabbed the photos back, " Lilah, don't you have some intern to sexually harass?"

"Well I can see I'm not wanted here." Lilah headed for the door, "By the way did I tell you what a smashing success the Logan Project turned out to be? Me one you zero."

Grabbing the empty glass on his desk Lindsey stalked over to the wet bar to pour himself another well-needed drink.