Descent - 7/16
Wesley was standing on the doorstep, with both arms full of books. Kate ushered him in, and Cordy followed sharply on his heels with a large box of donuts and a tray of coffee.
"You're sure you weren't followed?"
Wesley shook his head. "I gave mine the slip in the subway this morning. Cordelia says her's is still asleep in his car. I think we're OK. Gunn's going to keep watch outside just in case."
"Did you get anywhere with the research?"
Cordelia indicated a sheaf of notes tucked amongst the books. "The executive summary is: it looks like a real company. Offices downtown, bright shiny brass plaque. All above board."
"But?"
"Then you realise they lease their premises from a prominent firm of lawyers."
"Wolfram and Hart?"
"The very same." Cordy frowned. "Is Angel here?"
Kate indicated the living room and they all paced in. Cordelia continued her explanation.
"So we checked, and a company by the name of Capsicum Holdings acquired 51% of Familiarity five weeks ago. After the take-over Familiarity's general manager took early retirement and was replaced by one Lilah Morgan. Turns out that Capsicum is a wholly owed subsidiary of Wolfram & Hart."
The presence of his friends seemed to calm Angel, and he slipped easily into conversation with them as they spread out their research on Kate's dinner table. Amongst the pile of papers was a large file of clippings.
"There's nothing new about the murder in there," Cordy said as Angel took them up. "We've checked. It's mostly background stuff about Eddie and Shawna."
"What about the murderers?" Kate paced the room. "If Wolfram & Hart are really behind this, they must be hired, or..."
"They could be using their own." Wesley explained. "We know they execute their own staff with impunity. The question is, why would they want these people dead?"
"So the finger would be pointed at Angel?" Cordy suggested. "They planted the evidence, the photo, the business card, so the police would come and arrest him."
Kate shrugged. "Why?"
"Well, obviously, they want him out of the picture!"
"Then why don't they just stake him?"
Wesley nodded. "It's a fair point Cordelia. If they wanted to get rid of Angel they could. This seems like a very risky and complicated way to go about it. And in any case, we know they want Angel for their own ends. He's part of their long-term plan."
"And," Kate continued, "if the point of all this is to frame him for murder, any old victims would do just fine. They've gone to considerable trouble and expense to make it these two victims. Why? Why Shawna and Eddie?"
All three looked hopefully in Angel's direction. He shook his head. "I don't know. I've racked my brain but I don't know why they would be trying to contact me. I just can't think of anything. They mean nothing to me."
"Yes, they do." Kate took the file of clippings from him. "They must. None of this is random. Wolfram & Hart brought them here. There has to be a reason." She opened the file and started to spread out the pages in front of her. "I think maybe we should forget the murders. We should focus on finding as much as we can about the victims, and finding that reason."
"Pardon me for bringing this up," Cordy drummed her fingers on the table. "But isn't the important thing to stop any more murders?"
Kate looked up. "How do you propose we do that, other than by finding out why the existing victims were chosen?"
Wesley recognised the signs of conflict and retreated to the sofa with the donuts. The debate continued.
"Well I think we should..."
"With respect, you don't know anything about detective work..."
"Excuse me, Angel Investigations is..."
"And I've worked on more murder cases..."
"We need to identify the potential victims."
"Cordelia, at the moment, we're completely in the dark. They've brought these people to LA from the edges of the known world. We have a whole planet of potential victims to choose from!"
Cordy was about to retaliate when two small gasps distracted them. Angel was clutching a large centre-spread from one of the broadsheets, and Wesley had dropped his donut on the carpet and was extracting a small volume of notes from his jacket.
"What?" Cordy and Kate asked together.
"I've got it." Wesley flicked through the notebook's closely-written pages. "It's here somewhere. Kate - say what you just said again."
"I said, 'we're completely in the dark'."
"No, no, after that."
Cordy interjected, "She said, 'we have a whole planet of victims'."
"You said, 'the edges of the known world'. It's a prophecy - I know I have it here - it's..." he turned towards Angel and said quietly "...a shanshu prophecy, actually."
Kate frowned. "What's shanshu?"
Wesley was still looking guiltily at Angel. "I've been collecting them. In a separate notebook. You know, just in case."
"God!" Cordy exclaimed, "I thought that was, you know, your little black book."
Wesley chuckled, "It's a little too well-used for that. I'm sorry Angel, most of the prophecies are so vague they could mean anything. I would have told you if I'd found something concrete."
Angel looked up from his newspaper, vacantly. "What?"
"So this edges-of-the-earth thing," Kate reminded Wesley, "What does it say?"
Wesley placed the book on the table in front of him and the two women crowded round.
"I'm afraid it says there will be a third victim."
