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CHAPTER TWOAngel almost dropped the phone onto his desk. His face went pale and he thought his heart had just stopped beating.
"Angel, I have to hang up because I am driving. I will be there in twenty minutes. And Angel, let me just say, that I hope to God that I am wrong and this is just some sick copycat. But everything about this murder points to him. I will see you soon Angel. Bye." And with that Kate hung up the phone, turned on the lights and sirens that were built into her car and sped towards Angel's.
She knew that Sara would be at the restaurant and Emily would be in school so there was no need to worry about either of them finding out anything about the true matter of this case. The case had been given to her due to the nature of the murder. The body had been found in a back alley with two puncture wounds to the neck and a Christian cross carved into the body's left cheek. They didn't give her the case because of its weirdness, but because Kate had already handled a case with this exact same MO. And, because of that, the department figured that Kate would be able to catch this killer quicker than anybody. Kate had regained her respect in the department after years of being criticized as being crazy and delusional. She told the department that she needed time off because she had been going through a very hard time because of the death of her father and had fallen into a depression she didn't want to admit. They gave her the time, made her go to a therapist and she was now back on the force.
As Angel waited for Kate to arrive, all he could do was pace in the lobby. He couldn't believe what he had just been told. Kate thought Penn was alive. Angel knew that he couldn't be because he had seen Kate run him through with a 2x4 years ago and had felt him turn to dust behind him. He knew that the only way that Penn could be back was due to interference from someone like Wolfram & Hart. But he also knew that W & H had been taken down. As he thought about things he wondered what he really knew any more. He never went on any patrols any more because he thought they were fruitless. He had drifted away from knowing the things that were happening in the demonic underworld. He wanted nothing more to do with that life and was going to do everything to stay out of it. But this news had thrust him back into that world quicker than he thought possible. He hoped that Kate was wrong. He hoped that it was, indeed, just a copycat killer who had found out about the particulars of those murders that had happened years ago. He hoped that he would not have to look Penn in the eyes and see that disappointment and hatred that he had seen all those years ago. He hoped he wouldn't have to kill him, again.
The sound of the door opening brought Angel out of his thoughts and made him jump a little.
"Jumpy I see. I don't blame you." Kate said as she closed the door behind her and looked around the hotel.
"Just a little. My mind has kind of been elsewhere ever since you called." Angel said feeling very guilty at the moment for some reason.
"Angel, look, I hate to do this but on the way over I got a call from my boss saying that he wanted me to brief the team he had set up to work on this case, as well as the chief himself so I have to go. But here is a copy of all of the photos and all of the reports. Look them over and tell me what you think. I will be back later on tonight to go over it with you. If you don't want to meet here I would certainly understand and you know Sara would too."
"No, that's ok. Just come over here at around 8pm and we will go over all of this. I will look it over and try to find any differences in this killing and the ones that Penn committed. We will find whoever is doing this and we will stop him."
"I didn't bring the old case files because I figured you didn't need them. But if you want them I can have them faxed over."
"I don't need them. I know the way Penn used to…be. I don't need the files. But thanks. See you tonight Kate and please, be careful."
Kate said goodbye and walked out the door. Angel didn't even watch her go. He just sat down on the couch and put the file on the table. He hesitantly opened it up and started going over what was inside of it. After a few hours of going over and over everything that Kate had given him, the only conclusion he could come to was that his prodigal son was back in LA some how. There were absolutely no differences in this murder and the ones Penn always used to do. Angel knew that if this was, in fact, Penn as he thought it was, Penn was only doing this to draw Angel and Kate out. They would both have to be very very careful until this matter was resolved.
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