Chapter 19
Sorry, I've been really slow lately due to tons of schoolwork, college apps and my club. I'll try to type faster.
Eliza groaned as Jose kept watching the surveillance tapes over and over again. Unfortunately there was only a surveillance camera watching the hallway and nowhere else. The garbage chute, where Stephanie was killed, was just around the corner at the end of the hallway.
The tape always showed Stephanie walking out of her apartment with a garbage can and then returning. No one was in the hallway at all for hours before that and no one was even near the end of the hallway during the time of Stephanie's murder.
Eliza shook her head, "Look Jose, whoever killed her was probably hiding around the corner for a long time."
Jose narrowed his eyes as he watched the camera frame by frame for the umpteenth time. "It just doesn't make sense, we would have seen who was waiting there for her. Every person who threw away their garbage always came back and there was no one walking in the back of the hall, or else we would have seen them."
Eliza rolled her eyes, clearly sick of this case. "Look, we're both tired and it's 3 in the morning, we'll come back to the tapes tomorrow."
Jose shook his head, "No, tomorrow we go check out the apartment."
~~~
"Buffy, I think Wesley should watch you."
"No!" Buffy snapped at Angel over the phone. "I don't want my sister getting all paranoid over this. It'll go away."
"Buffy please!"
"I'll be fine, besides I'm the slayer. I can take care of him."
"We don't even."
Buffy cut him off, "No, stop. We'll be fine."
A groan came from the other end of the line followed by a string of curses.
"Angel, just don't worry. Look, I'll go talk to Spike and get this straightened out."
~~~
William looked up at Sharon with violet eyes as she handed him a stack of papers, "There you are William. As much information I could find on Buffy Summers."
William nodded as he leafed through as few pages.
Sharon put her hands on her hips, "Quite a colorful history this girl has, setting schools on fire and getting arrested nearly twice. What does she have to do with you?"
William straightened the papers and looked indifferent, "Oh, I saw her snooping around my penthouse the other day and got suspicious."
"Do you want me to call security?"
William shook his head, "No need. If there is a problem, I can take care of her."
Sharon shrugged and shook her head, "I hope that cocky attitude of yours doesn't get you into more trouble than you can handle."
William laughed, almost sinisterly, "Why Sharon, I thought you had more faith in me."
Sharon walked out of William's office without another word. There was no point in provoking him when he was being such a jerk.
~~~
Jose looked into the garbage chute a few times and muttered to himself. It didn't make sense. If Stephanie was killed before being thrown into the chute then there would have been some sort of trace of a struggle. But what if the attacker caught her unawares?
Okay. so assume that Stephanie was caught unawares and was bashed on the head with a typewriter. Then there should have been a trace of blood around the ground or in the chute, right? Jose stuck his head down into the chute and called out to Eliza, who was standing at the bottom of the chute. "Anything?!"
Eliza shook her head as she stuck a flashlight up the chute and looked around inside. "No! There's nothing, not even a trace of blood."
Jose shook his head and called back down, "Fine! Meet me up here."
As Jose stuck his head out of the chute, he gasped as the spring suddenly sprung back hard and nearly threw him in. He used all of his strength to keep himself from being thrown in and then struggled to pull out. Then he landed hard on the floor as he panted fearfully, "Geez, that thing almost killed me."
Jose's eyes widened. "Oh my god."
Eliza called down the hall, "Hey Jose! I'm up!"
Jose gathered his bearings as he stood up and brushed himself off, then he ran down the hall to Stephanie's room.
Eliza looked at Jose curiously, "Are you okay?"
Jose came back out with a small trash bin and stuck it into Eliza's hand. "Here."
Eliza looked in the trash bin with two scraps of paper in it. "Okay? Jose? You aren't tripping on acid are you?"
Jose shook his head frantically as he studied Eliza's petite figure. "Hmm. You're about the same height and size."
Jose grabbed Eliza's hand and led her to the garbage chute, then he pointed his hand at the chute. "Throw the garbage away."
Eliza raised her eyebrows, then looked down at the trash bin and shrugged. She opened the garbage chute and used her hips to hold it open as she dumped the pieces of paper in. Suddenly, as she tried to pull out, the spring sprung out hard again and she screamed as she felt herself being pulled in. Jose quickly shot his hand out and pried the garbage chute open as Eliza scrambled away from it. Then she turned to Jose and screamed, "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill me?!"
Jose rolled his eyes, realizing that Eliza didn't understand why he had her simulate what Stephanie did. "No. Eliza, don't you realize how Stephanie was killed?"
Eliza's eyes widened, "oh.. OH~!"
Jose nodded, "So assuming that Stephanie fell into the trashcan. But I'm still not sure how this typewriter killed her."
"Maybe she fell on it?"
Jose shook his head. "No, the wound would have been different looking. I think someone on the upper floor must have been throwing away their typewriter and they unknowingly killed her."
Eliza rubbed her bruised ribs. ". and I used to never believe in chaos theory.poor gal."
Jose looked at the paper folded away in his pocket and sighed, "We have to exonerate Mr. Dale now."
Eliza winced visibly. "Do I have to come along? I don't think I want to be there when the lawsuit is being filed against us."
~~~
William hummed to himself as he got out of his car, stepped out into the parking lot and started to walk toward the elevator. Suddenly Buffy ran out in front of him and stopped him. William's eyes narrowed; apparently the Shadow hadn't done his job thoroughly, "Yes Mrs. Summer? How may I help you?"
" Call off that stalker you sent after me." She said angrily.
William's violet eyes looked down at her haughtily, "Now why should I do that if you're such a threat to me?"
"I am not a threat."
"I guess attacking someone in their own home has a different definition these days."
Buffy screamed at William, "What the hell is wrong with you?! What did you do to Spike?!"
William looked at her, unfazed by her outburst, "I didn't do anything to Spike. In fact, I'm the only reason why he's alive and sane."
Buffy glared at William, "You're not Spike."
"Bravo, you just realized that?"
"Who are you?"
William shrugged, "Find out on your own, you're a smart girl. I mean you did manage to get into a highly secure building without setting off any guards or the guy who I sent after you. Actually, I'm quite surprised at the moment. You really should be dead, my terms were to have you killed if you even tried approach me."
Buffy looked at William in horror. "Why are you doing this?"
William laughed as she walked over and invaded Buffy's personal space, "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm Michael. as in the archangel and I despise you with every fiber of my being. Spike may love you, but he won't. As long as he doesn't remember who you are, he can't love you and he can't protect you from me. I've seen what you've done to him. You're the reason why he's so f*cked up at the moment. Don't worry, I'll manage to kill you pretty soon, before he can remember who you are. I'll be doing him a favor."
Buffy shrank as she backed away from him. "Get out of his body."
"No can do. I need it."
Buffy suddenly jumped up and tried to spin kick him in the face. But the way Buffy moved instantly gave away what she was going to do. William took advantage of Buffy's unbalanced state in the air and used her momentum to slam her into the concrete ground. Buffy whimpered as he head collided sickeningly with the hard ground and knocked her out.
William looked down at her disheveled body in distaste and speed dialed security. "Hello? This is William Dale, there's a unconcious psychotic girl here in Parking lot A who tried to attack me. Yes, I'd like you take her down to the police station. Make sure she's locked away for good."
~~~
***Nemi and Will secretly watched Michael and Buffy's interaction in the parking lot. Nemi was suddenly very sick as he watched Michael unfeelingly harm the beautiful blue-green eyed girl. At the moment, William was going upstairs to his penthouse. As William entered the penthouse safely they noticed that Michael was pulling out of his control state and they suddenly rushed to the side and pretended to be asleep. Michael looked at their prone figure and relaxed. Good, they hadn't seen what happened. Then Michael quietly walked into a more secluded spot of the dreamscape to take a break.
Nemi and Will looked at each other after Michael left. Nemi murmured to Will, "I think I might know who this Buffy is."
Will started to quietly sob, "Oh god, I hate him. I hate him."
Nemi touched Will's shoulder, "What's wrong kiddo?"
"I remember who Buffy is."
~~~ (the next day)
Nemi approached Michael, determined to give him the tongue lashing of his life. "Michael."
Michael held out his hand as he approached the spot he usually used to take control of William, "Wait. I have an important errand to run at the moment."
"It's really important."
Michael's eyes begged Nemi to let him go, "I really need to go. Can this wait until I come back?"
Nemi sighed as he looked away, frustrated. " Why have you been lying to us?"
Michael's tensed visibly, "Now is not the time."
Nemi growled, "No, we deal with this now."
Just as Michael was about to retort, he could sense Lucifer's presence nearing, " I need to go. We'll deal later."
Nemi lunged at Michael. But Michael was faster and he froze Nemi in his spot, midair. "I'm sorry I had to do that. But I have a more important thing to deal with."***
William 'woke up' just as Lucifer materialized in the room.
"It's time." Lucifer said as he touched the obsidian sword at his waist. William nodded as he retrieved the crystal sword from a secret panel behind his bed.
"Are you ready?" Lucifer asked with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.
William sighed, his violet eyes a little distant and his brows knit with worry. 'Stop thinking about what Nemiphoren said. Like you said, we'll deal later.'
Then William looked up at Lucifer with stern eyes, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
Lucifer nodded and the two powerful being disappeared from the room. ~~~
Jose tapped his fingers against the rails in the elevator nervously as Eliza fidgeted next to him. They were on their way up to William Dale's penthouse. A million thoughts raced through their heads as they tried to prepare themselves from the billionaire's wrath. They approached the door with trepidation and knocked. But never in a millions years had either of them expected William to have mysteriously disappear and William's manservant hysterically trying to find him.
Cont.
Sorry, I've been really slow lately due to tons of schoolwork, college apps and my club. I'll try to type faster.
Eliza groaned as Jose kept watching the surveillance tapes over and over again. Unfortunately there was only a surveillance camera watching the hallway and nowhere else. The garbage chute, where Stephanie was killed, was just around the corner at the end of the hallway.
The tape always showed Stephanie walking out of her apartment with a garbage can and then returning. No one was in the hallway at all for hours before that and no one was even near the end of the hallway during the time of Stephanie's murder.
Eliza shook her head, "Look Jose, whoever killed her was probably hiding around the corner for a long time."
Jose narrowed his eyes as he watched the camera frame by frame for the umpteenth time. "It just doesn't make sense, we would have seen who was waiting there for her. Every person who threw away their garbage always came back and there was no one walking in the back of the hall, or else we would have seen them."
Eliza rolled her eyes, clearly sick of this case. "Look, we're both tired and it's 3 in the morning, we'll come back to the tapes tomorrow."
Jose shook his head, "No, tomorrow we go check out the apartment."
~~~
"Buffy, I think Wesley should watch you."
"No!" Buffy snapped at Angel over the phone. "I don't want my sister getting all paranoid over this. It'll go away."
"Buffy please!"
"I'll be fine, besides I'm the slayer. I can take care of him."
"We don't even."
Buffy cut him off, "No, stop. We'll be fine."
A groan came from the other end of the line followed by a string of curses.
"Angel, just don't worry. Look, I'll go talk to Spike and get this straightened out."
~~~
William looked up at Sharon with violet eyes as she handed him a stack of papers, "There you are William. As much information I could find on Buffy Summers."
William nodded as he leafed through as few pages.
Sharon put her hands on her hips, "Quite a colorful history this girl has, setting schools on fire and getting arrested nearly twice. What does she have to do with you?"
William straightened the papers and looked indifferent, "Oh, I saw her snooping around my penthouse the other day and got suspicious."
"Do you want me to call security?"
William shook his head, "No need. If there is a problem, I can take care of her."
Sharon shrugged and shook her head, "I hope that cocky attitude of yours doesn't get you into more trouble than you can handle."
William laughed, almost sinisterly, "Why Sharon, I thought you had more faith in me."
Sharon walked out of William's office without another word. There was no point in provoking him when he was being such a jerk.
~~~
Jose looked into the garbage chute a few times and muttered to himself. It didn't make sense. If Stephanie was killed before being thrown into the chute then there would have been some sort of trace of a struggle. But what if the attacker caught her unawares?
Okay. so assume that Stephanie was caught unawares and was bashed on the head with a typewriter. Then there should have been a trace of blood around the ground or in the chute, right? Jose stuck his head down into the chute and called out to Eliza, who was standing at the bottom of the chute. "Anything?!"
Eliza shook her head as she stuck a flashlight up the chute and looked around inside. "No! There's nothing, not even a trace of blood."
Jose shook his head and called back down, "Fine! Meet me up here."
As Jose stuck his head out of the chute, he gasped as the spring suddenly sprung back hard and nearly threw him in. He used all of his strength to keep himself from being thrown in and then struggled to pull out. Then he landed hard on the floor as he panted fearfully, "Geez, that thing almost killed me."
Jose's eyes widened. "Oh my god."
Eliza called down the hall, "Hey Jose! I'm up!"
Jose gathered his bearings as he stood up and brushed himself off, then he ran down the hall to Stephanie's room.
Eliza looked at Jose curiously, "Are you okay?"
Jose came back out with a small trash bin and stuck it into Eliza's hand. "Here."
Eliza looked in the trash bin with two scraps of paper in it. "Okay? Jose? You aren't tripping on acid are you?"
Jose shook his head frantically as he studied Eliza's petite figure. "Hmm. You're about the same height and size."
Jose grabbed Eliza's hand and led her to the garbage chute, then he pointed his hand at the chute. "Throw the garbage away."
Eliza raised her eyebrows, then looked down at the trash bin and shrugged. She opened the garbage chute and used her hips to hold it open as she dumped the pieces of paper in. Suddenly, as she tried to pull out, the spring sprung out hard again and she screamed as she felt herself being pulled in. Jose quickly shot his hand out and pried the garbage chute open as Eliza scrambled away from it. Then she turned to Jose and screamed, "What the f*ck is wrong with you?! Are you trying to kill me?!"
Jose rolled his eyes, realizing that Eliza didn't understand why he had her simulate what Stephanie did. "No. Eliza, don't you realize how Stephanie was killed?"
Eliza's eyes widened, "oh.. OH~!"
Jose nodded, "So assuming that Stephanie fell into the trashcan. But I'm still not sure how this typewriter killed her."
"Maybe she fell on it?"
Jose shook his head. "No, the wound would have been different looking. I think someone on the upper floor must have been throwing away their typewriter and they unknowingly killed her."
Eliza rubbed her bruised ribs. ". and I used to never believe in chaos theory.poor gal."
Jose looked at the paper folded away in his pocket and sighed, "We have to exonerate Mr. Dale now."
Eliza winced visibly. "Do I have to come along? I don't think I want to be there when the lawsuit is being filed against us."
~~~
William hummed to himself as he got out of his car, stepped out into the parking lot and started to walk toward the elevator. Suddenly Buffy ran out in front of him and stopped him. William's eyes narrowed; apparently the Shadow hadn't done his job thoroughly, "Yes Mrs. Summer? How may I help you?"
" Call off that stalker you sent after me." She said angrily.
William's violet eyes looked down at her haughtily, "Now why should I do that if you're such a threat to me?"
"I am not a threat."
"I guess attacking someone in their own home has a different definition these days."
Buffy screamed at William, "What the hell is wrong with you?! What did you do to Spike?!"
William looked at her, unfazed by her outburst, "I didn't do anything to Spike. In fact, I'm the only reason why he's alive and sane."
Buffy glared at William, "You're not Spike."
"Bravo, you just realized that?"
"Who are you?"
William shrugged, "Find out on your own, you're a smart girl. I mean you did manage to get into a highly secure building without setting off any guards or the guy who I sent after you. Actually, I'm quite surprised at the moment. You really should be dead, my terms were to have you killed if you even tried approach me."
Buffy looked at William in horror. "Why are you doing this?"
William laughed as she walked over and invaded Buffy's personal space, "Fine, I'll tell you. I'm Michael. as in the archangel and I despise you with every fiber of my being. Spike may love you, but he won't. As long as he doesn't remember who you are, he can't love you and he can't protect you from me. I've seen what you've done to him. You're the reason why he's so f*cked up at the moment. Don't worry, I'll manage to kill you pretty soon, before he can remember who you are. I'll be doing him a favor."
Buffy shrank as she backed away from him. "Get out of his body."
"No can do. I need it."
Buffy suddenly jumped up and tried to spin kick him in the face. But the way Buffy moved instantly gave away what she was going to do. William took advantage of Buffy's unbalanced state in the air and used her momentum to slam her into the concrete ground. Buffy whimpered as he head collided sickeningly with the hard ground and knocked her out.
William looked down at her disheveled body in distaste and speed dialed security. "Hello? This is William Dale, there's a unconcious psychotic girl here in Parking lot A who tried to attack me. Yes, I'd like you take her down to the police station. Make sure she's locked away for good."
~~~
***Nemi and Will secretly watched Michael and Buffy's interaction in the parking lot. Nemi was suddenly very sick as he watched Michael unfeelingly harm the beautiful blue-green eyed girl. At the moment, William was going upstairs to his penthouse. As William entered the penthouse safely they noticed that Michael was pulling out of his control state and they suddenly rushed to the side and pretended to be asleep. Michael looked at their prone figure and relaxed. Good, they hadn't seen what happened. Then Michael quietly walked into a more secluded spot of the dreamscape to take a break.
Nemi and Will looked at each other after Michael left. Nemi murmured to Will, "I think I might know who this Buffy is."
Will started to quietly sob, "Oh god, I hate him. I hate him."
Nemi touched Will's shoulder, "What's wrong kiddo?"
"I remember who Buffy is."
~~~ (the next day)
Nemi approached Michael, determined to give him the tongue lashing of his life. "Michael."
Michael held out his hand as he approached the spot he usually used to take control of William, "Wait. I have an important errand to run at the moment."
"It's really important."
Michael's eyes begged Nemi to let him go, "I really need to go. Can this wait until I come back?"
Nemi sighed as he looked away, frustrated. " Why have you been lying to us?"
Michael's tensed visibly, "Now is not the time."
Nemi growled, "No, we deal with this now."
Just as Michael was about to retort, he could sense Lucifer's presence nearing, " I need to go. We'll deal later."
Nemi lunged at Michael. But Michael was faster and he froze Nemi in his spot, midair. "I'm sorry I had to do that. But I have a more important thing to deal with."***
William 'woke up' just as Lucifer materialized in the room.
"It's time." Lucifer said as he touched the obsidian sword at his waist. William nodded as he retrieved the crystal sword from a secret panel behind his bed.
"Are you ready?" Lucifer asked with a slight bit of nervousness in his voice.
William sighed, his violet eyes a little distant and his brows knit with worry. 'Stop thinking about what Nemiphoren said. Like you said, we'll deal later.'
Then William looked up at Lucifer with stern eyes, "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."
Lucifer nodded and the two powerful being disappeared from the room. ~~~
Jose tapped his fingers against the rails in the elevator nervously as Eliza fidgeted next to him. They were on their way up to William Dale's penthouse. A million thoughts raced through their heads as they tried to prepare themselves from the billionaire's wrath. They approached the door with trepidation and knocked. But never in a millions years had either of them expected William to have mysteriously disappear and William's manservant hysterically trying to find him.
Cont.