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Part 2 of Angie meets Angel
As the prison doors clanged shut behind her, Angie felt a sense of despair and desolation, just as she had the last time she'd been in prison. Well that time it had taken her six weeks to escape, but it had seemed like a lifetime. They would be more careful with her now. It could take longer.
There were two bunkbeds against opposite walls in Angie's cell, and she was the third occupant. She sat on the bottom bunkbed and looked through the small pile of clothing she'd been given. A large girl with red hair and matching reddish cheeks plonked down next to her on the bed.
"What have you got?" the girl asked with a wide grin. "Any ciggies?"
Angie sighed. Did every prison cell come with a resident bully or did bullies just tend to end up in prison? Last time she had been in prison it had been in New York, now she was in Los Angeles, but it really was no different. This girl was an almost identical clone of Angie's last cell-mate, even down to the sweaty armpits.
The big girl tossed Angie's clothes aside and looked annoyed.
"I don't own anything," Angie said in a tired voice. "Sorry to disappoint you."
"Well I'm sure you'll find a way to make up for it," the big girl said before standing up. She turned her attention to the young woman lying on the top bunk opposite. "You got anything for me Mel?" It was more of a command than a question.
"N-no," the girl on the bunk stammered. "I'll try and get some for you Bella, I promise."
"Yeah, you're always promising. I try my best to look after you, keep you safe, and this is how you repay me."
Angie was finding the girl's voice more and more irritating. All she wanted to do was be alone, and think about Jason and what had happened. She turned over in the bed and pulled her pillow over her head, but she could still hear the annoying big girl's voice.
"That's not good enough!" the big girl spat reaching up and grabbing Melanie by her hair. "You give me something now!"
Angie sighed again and turned back, throwing her pillow in disgust onto the floor. Even solitary confinement would be better than listening to this. A moment later she was on her feet. "Let her go!" she said.
The big girl spun around releasing her grip on Melanie's hair and faced Angie, looking down at her. "What do you want?"
"A week or two in solitary, so I don't have to listen to your stupid irritating voice," Angie said.
The girl laughed. "You looking for a fight?" She made a grab for Angie, and a moment later Angie had slammed her into a door. She came back swinging, but Angie ducked and dodged every blow before retaliating with a volley of punches and kicks of her own.
Angie was sitting naked in a freezing cold cell wrapped only in a thin blanket when McFarlane came through the door.
He swore when he saw her shivering, then ran his fingers through his thinning hair. "Can't you stay out of trouble for five minutes?"
"I needed some peace and quite," she replied, grateful to see a friendly face for the first time since she'd arrived in prison.
"I'm sorry we lost your friend," McFarlane said, sitting down next to her on the wooden bench.
"It wasn't your fault. I only had one chance and I blew it. Penissi's man was holding Jase with a gun to his head. I could have got the bastard."
"Sounds a bit dicey to me," McFarlane noted.
"I should have done it. I had a window of opportunity. It was only a small chance, and then it was gone. Now Jason's gone too. He's dead because I couldn't make the decision."
"He would probably have been dead anyway from the sound of things."
"At least I could have tried!" She bit her lip fighting back tears.
"So who was this guy helping you?" McFarlane asked.
"Some sort of thing called Angel. I don't know. I thought he was a friend but he turned out to be a coward."
"Well not everyone wants to die a hero. Hey I heard about Finlay's visit. Got a tip from an anonymous caller."
"Guess that's why he suddenly packed up and left me alone."
"They found our friend Finlay in the parking lot beaten to a pulp."
Angie smiled for the first time that week. "They did? Is he dead?"
"Sadly no."
"Well I put in my usual statement about him," she said. "And as usual, no one saw him enter or leave the station."
"Did he hurt you much?" McFarlane asked.
"It was nothing compared to the pain here," she said touching the left side of her chest. "Jason was just nineteen. Just an innocent boy. His only crime was dating me, and now he's dead."
"You've got to stop blaming yourself Angie. It wasn't your fault."
"He was depending on me."
"You did your best."
"I wish I could believe that."
McFarlane shivered even in his suit. "God it's cold in here. They trying to freeze you to death?"
"Feels like it."
"I'll see what I can do."
"It's okay, I don't mind. Really. Don't go to any trouble over me."
"Well you never know when we might need you in a hurry for some undercover work. Don't want to have to spend too long defrosting you beforehand." He stood up and banged on the door to be let out.
McFarlane has a lot of influence, Angie thought as she was taken out of solitary confinement half an hour later.
"Hi guys," Angie said to the three girls as she was brought inside her cell. The cell doors were all left wide open at this time of day and a prisoner from another cell was sitting next to the big girl.
Melanie gave Angie a cheerful greeting whereas the big girl, her face still bruised even after three days, turned away towards her friend, pretending Angie wasn't there.
One of the guards handed Angie a parcel. It had obviously been checked then crudely rewrapped. "Someone dropped this in for you," the guard said before walking away.
Angie looked at the cover:- Dr Miller's Treatise on Vampires.
She frowned. Angel had obviously sent it.
"What have you got?" Melanie asked.
"Just some crappy book on vampires," Angie replied.
"Vampires? Sounds cool."
Angie threw it to her. "It's yours."
Melanie examined the book. "There's a note inside the cover saying read page twenty-three," Melanie turned to the page. "Oh this is interesting. If vampires come into contact with..."
Angie didn't hear the rest of the sentence as she'd walked out. She needed a gym workout. Anything to take her mind off what had happened to Jason, and the guilt she still felt.
"Angie, do you want your little vampire book back?" Melanie asked that evening after lockdown.
Angie lay back on her bunk under the big girl looking at Melanie on the top bunk opposite. "Nope."
"Well it's a very interesting book. Did you know you can keep a vampire at bay with a crucifix?" She closed the book and put it under her pillow. "So what are you in for?" Melanie asked.
"Assualt, GBH," the big girl on the other top bunk above Angie said answering for Angie before she could open her mouth.
"That's one of them," Angie admitted. "Mostly stealing. What about you?"
"Shoplifiting," Melanie said.
"They put you away for shoplifting?"
"Cause I kept doing it."
"Oh."
"Hey you know I'd like to give you something in return for your book."
"No, thanks anyway, it's okay."
"No I want to. How about a ciggy?"
"Thanks, but I don't smoke."
"Hey Mel," the big girl said. "You didn't tell me you had ciggies. Throw them here."
Angie got out of bed and stood, looking up at the big girl. "Touch her and I'll break both your arms."
The big girl turned over and faced the wall.
"Well I'd like to give you something," Melanie said. She undid the chain around her neck. "Here, have my crucifix, it might protect you from vampires." She held out the silver cross for Angie.
"I'd like it," Angie said, thinking it could maybe come in handy if she ever bumped into that cowardly creature called Angel. "But it depends where you hid it during the search."
Melanie laughed. "No, nothing like that. I just told the screw it was a present from me mom on her death bed. They let me keep it."
"Was it?"
"No," Melanie said, still holding her arm down over the bunkbed. "I just thought it was pretty."
Angie took it from her. "You stole it didn't you?"
"May've."
"Thanks."
"I never used to believe in vampires until I read your book," Melanie said.
"I believe in them," Angie said, putting the necklace on. "I just don't like them."
The bully girl and her friend got up and left Angie and Melanie alone.
"You know," Angie said thoughtfully, "Maybe you shouldn't steal all the time and you could just try and stay clean."
"It's all very well for you to say that. You don't need to steal anymore, you've got pots of money. You'd have more than a million in the bank."
"Well not necesarrily in the bank," Angie said grabbing the rail of the top bunk and swinging herself up like a gymnast until she was sitting next to Melanie. "I'd give it all away to not be on the run anymore."
"But you're not on the run...oh you mean if you escape like the other times."
"It's not a matter of if, just a matter of when. When I escape I'll still be on the run. I would give anything to be just a normal person and have a normal life. I dream about it night and day."
"Why don't you just do your time?"
Angie looked at Melanie. "How long have you got? One year? Two?"
"I've done three months, only three more to go."
Angie sighed. "I could probably do that. But not years. I would go insane. I have to get out of here. Anyway, I've got enemies. When I'm in jail they know where I am. I'm a sitting duck here. I don't want to die. I'm only eighteen."
"These enemies would really kill you?"
"They'd prefer to capture me alive and torture me for awhile first, but yes they'll kill me if they catch me."
"What did you do to make them hate you so much?"
"It's a long story, and not one I really want to talk about. So anyway Mel, why don't you go straight?"
Melanie shrugged. "I always intend to, but then I'm out and about and I see things, and you know, without even thinking about it I just grab something and put it in my pocket."
"Oh," Angie said, not really understanding why someone would have urges to take little things which didn't belong to them. Surely if you were going to take something you'd make certain it was something worthwhile?
"How long are you in for?" Melanie asked Angie. "I mean, if you were going to stay."
"Dunno. Never stay long enough to be sentenced. Somewhere between ten and twenty I think."
"That seems like a very long time."
"Basically forever," Angie said.
Angie was in her cell the next morning doing fifty pushups when a guard appeared at her door.
"Your lawyer's here to see you," the woman said.
"I thought they were sending someone next week," Angie said getting up and straightening her blue prison dress.
"The state appointed lawyer has been cancelled by the new firm you hired."
"I didn't hire any new firm," Angie said following the woman out of the cell.
"Someone has. You've got Wolfram & Hart. The most expensive and the best."
"It doesn't make any difference to me," Angie said as she silently thought, I won't be staying here that long anyway.
A few minutes later Angie was standing at a wooden table opposite a young man.
"Hello Miss Ryan," he said extending his hand and getting up.
Angie noticed his hand was in a leather glove and didn't feel normal. Perhaps the result of some kind of accident.
"I'm Lindsey McDonald," he said before sitting down again.
"Whose paying you to represent me?" Angie asked.
"No one. We're doing it as a free service because we believe you're innocent."
"But I'm not innocent."
"Well innocence is a legal term. A man called Morgan is trying to kill you?" He didn't wait for Angie to answer. "Your crimes were all committed basically in self-defence to stay away from him. Self defence is a valid defence in a court of law."
"I don't need lawyers. I'm not staying here that long."
"Even if we can get you out of jail legitimately?"
"You mean no jail time at all? I'd be like not on the run anymore?"
He nodded.
"Why are you doing this?"
"I've told you, because our firm wants to help. We believe you've been victimized by the law. Victimized by US Federal Marshall Finlay in particular. We want to help you."
Angie regarded the good looking young lawyer in a suit with suspicion. "What do you want in return?"
"A little bit of information."
"Oh?" I knew this all sounded too good to be true, she thought.
"A Mafia group kidnapped and murdered a friend of yours. Jason Parker."
She nodded.
"There was a...man, with you during your rescue attempt. I'd like to know how you met him and what happened."
Well if that's all she had to do to get these lawyers to represent her it wasn't much. Normally she didn't care who represented her, as she always inteneded to escape. But what if she could be released? Legitimately released? Her pulse quickened.
"Well I was at a party. It turned out all the guests were Vampires."
McDonald didn't even blink so she continued. "He said he was a good one, unlike the others and that the others were trying to open some Hellmouth thingy. He told me his name was Angel, but the other vampires called him Angelus. Anyway we stopped the vampires, and he offered to help rescue my friend Jason. Only thing was, at the critical time I needed him, he turned and ran away. And...and," she looked down. "Jason was killed. Then he sent me a book on vampires yesterday, but I gave it to someone."
"You haven't read it yet?"
She shook her head. "No."
"Our firm know Angelus well," Lindsey said. "He's one of the most evil vampires on this earth."
"Then why did he stop the other vampires?"
"He would have had his own reasons and they'd be nothing to do with helping mankind I assure you." Lindsey opened his briefcase and removed a book. As he opened it and passed it to Angie she noticed it's pages looked old and dusty. Inside was a drawing of a man who looked like Angel, and a story about the havoc Angelus had caused and the evil he had done. "He's been around for hundreds of years," Lindsey said. "And he's tortured and killed thousands of men, women and children. You can help us save more lives, help us stop him."
"So you won't defend me unless I help you stop him?"
"Not at all. I said we'd represent you if you told me about your meeting with him. That's all we wanted from you. If you feel like helping us afterwards that's fine, if not, we don't mind."
"I can't understand why you're helping me."
"I did law because I wanted to help people," Lindsey said. "And anyway I think you're a very nice girl."
Angie looked down blushing. "You don't know me very well then."
"No, apart from this file whcih I've spent the whole week reading," he said, taking out a large manilla folder. "And of course my first impression of you today."
Lindsey spent a long time discussing and explaining the ins and outs of Angie's case.
When Lindsey's visit was over, Angie was taken back to her cell.
"You still got that vampire book Mel?" Angie asked.
"No, sorry I swapped it for some ciggies today. I'm sorry, shouldn't I have..."
Angie shrugged. "It's not important."
That night Angie lay on her bunk thinking about what had happened. Was it really possible Lindsey McDonald could help free her? It didn't seem likely, and yet she couldn't help imagining what it would be like. She could walk around without fear of being arrested. She could get a job, maybe even get married one day. Live a normal life. Well she'd still have to steer clear of Morgan. Her mind was racing as fast as her heart. One day when she finally found her dad, maybe he would be happy to see her. At least she wouldn't be a criminal anymore.
The next day Angie was released from prison on bail. It was unbelievable, that it had happened so fast, and even more unbelievable it had happened at all. Now, dressed in her everyday clothes she went through the gates to be met by Lindsey. She ran up to him and gave him a big hug. "I didn't think you'd be able to do it!"
"Well we've still got a long way to go," he said, as he opened the door of his sport's car for her to enter. "But I have no doubt you'll be completely free in a few weeks. Where to?"
"Now don't leave the country," Lindsey said as they stood in the doorway of her house. "Wolfram & Hart have paid a lot for your bail."
"I won't go anywhere, I promise," she said opening the door.
"I know this isn't very ethical," Lindsey said, looking for once, slightly less confident than usual. "And it won't affect your defense of course if you say no, but I was wondering if you'd have dinner with me tonight."
He saw Angie hesitate. "I mean just dinner, that's all."
"I'd love to," Angie said. "Thanks."
"See you tonight at six," he said before turning to walk back to his car.
Oh my God, Angie thought, after he'd left. Lindsey had actually asked her out. Her life was changing so rapidly it was hard to believe. She went into the bedroom, pulled open the wardrobe doors and looked inside, wishing she had something nicer to wear than just jeans. Then she looked in the mirror and ran a comb through her long dark hair. Well perhaps it wouldn't hurt to go out and buy a dress.
The date with Lindsey was more fun than anything Angie had done in a long time. First they went to dinner at one of the best restaurants in town, then Lindsey took her dancing. Initially Angie was very reluctant to step onto the dance floor, but with Lindsey's encouragement she soon felt confident and was able to relax and enjoy the night.
Arriving back home after midnight, Angie closed the door, and smiled. She could still feel that last kiss lingering on her lips. She savored the feeling for a few seconds before turning on the light. There in her living room stood Angel.
"What are you doing here?" she asked stepping towards him. "You're not invited!"
"Didn't you read the book I sent you? You can't uninvite a vampire." His eyes penetrated hers. "I heard you were out on bail. What do they want in return for taking your case?"
"Nothing."
"They always want something. So did you have a nice time with Lindsey McDonald tonight?"
"None of your business! Get out!" She yanked off her crucifix breaking the chain in the process, and held it up in front of Angel's face. "Begone evil thing!"
He walked closer to her and snatched the crucifix out of her hand. There was an audible hiss, followed by smoke and the smell of burning, before he tossed the crucifix into the corner. "You really should've read the book. Next time try some holy water with that." He held his own wrist with his other hand staring at the burn mark on his palm.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"To warn you about Wofram & Hart."
"Warn me about what?" she asked angrily. "They're helping me. Lindsey thinks he can have me freed with no jail-time at all."
"I believe him. They're a very successful firm. They bribe those they can, murder anyone who stands in the way of their objectives, and with their help I'm sure you'll soon be permanently out of jail. You want to buy your freedom with other people's blood? Don't you think it's strange that Judge Everton conveniently had a heart attack before your trial."
Angie knew of Everton's reputation. He was a very tough judge, and he would have been trying her case if he hadn't died. "So you're saying Lindsey killed him?"
"Not necessarily Lindsey, but certainly Wolfram & Hart."
"You're lying! Wolfram & Hart are good people. They're helping me."
"They'll help you to an early grave," he said. "They're evil. Total evil."
"Like you then," she said. "Lindsey showed me a book chronicling the exploits of a vampire called Angelus over the centuries. There was a picture of this Angelus, and guess who he looked like? You going to tell me you aren't evil?"
"Yes that was me. In the days before I had a soul. I'm different now."
"Yeah, so different you let a teenage boy get gunned down in front of you and did nothing to help him."
"I can explain."
"I don't want to hear your excuses Angelus."
"The name's Angel, and you can go to hell!" Without saying another word, Angel turned and left through the front door."
Angie locked the door behind him, then picked up the charred crucifix from the floor.
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