Part 8

Willow turned a bright smile at Nick as he pulled up in front of Xander's house, "Thanks for the almost breakfast and bringing me here."

Nick inwardly sighed. He'd hoped to be able to talk Willow into meeting him later for lunch, but it appeared he was getting the polite brush off. Not that a polite brush off ever stopped him before. "Willow, how about making the almost breakfast a lunch?"

"Rain check? I'm not sure how long I'll be."

He nodded, "Rain check."

Willow reached over and gave his arm a squeeze, "Thanks and I'll see you at work later tonight."

Nick watched as Willow stopped next to the driveway as a car pulled up. He idly observed as Willow greeted the driver, a man in his forties, and moved to help an older gentleman get out of the passenger side of the car. He narrowed his eyes as he watched the trio make their way to the door. The older gentleman looked familiar to Nick but he couldn't place where. He mentally shrugged and reached down to slip a CD in the player. A flash of white caught his eyes and he grabbed the piece of paper Catherine had given him earlier.

Damn! That's why that old guy looked familiar it was Benjamin McKim. Nick replayed the scene of Willow greeting him in his mind's eye. She hadn't seemed to know him but she was definitely friendly with the driver of the car. It wasn't like she was hiding a fugitive from justice but she was definitely hiding something.

Nick drove around the block and pulled his car behind the other one blocking its exit just to be on the safe side. He debated about half a minute about whether to call Catherine to meet him here but finally decided against it. Willow wasn't technically doing anything wrong and he didn't want to get her in trouble.

He made his way up to the front door and rang the bell.

~~~~

Xander, Willow, Buffy and Giles all froze as Xander's doorbell rang.

"Are… are you expecting anyone, Xander?" Giles asked as he handed Benjamin a glass of orange juice.

"Nope, I called in sick so no one on the crew is looking for me."

"I pulled an all-nighter last night and I'm off for two days, so no one at the precinct is expecting me. Besides they'd have no idea where I was."

Willow bit her lip and closed her eyes. NONONONONONONONO the fates COULD not be that cruel.

Buffy noticed her friend's agitation, "Willow?"

Willow sighed, "I was with Nick when I received Giles' beep."

Buffy waggled her eyebrows at Willow and gave her the 'you are SO going to tell me about that' look. "Maybe you forgot something in his car and he's only returning it."

Willow snorted, "And just what are the odds of that happening?"

"Well someone better answer it before he gets suspicious."

Willow opened the door just as Nick rang a second time. "Nick! Hey! So, umm, did I forget something?"

"You could say that." Nick tried to look over her shoulder and into the room beyond but Willow had only opened the door just enough to squeeze through.

"Really? I can be so scatterbrained sometimes. What'd I forget?" Willow looked but didn't see Nick carrying anything.

"You forgot to tell me why you were meeting Benjamin McKim."

Willow debated the merits of losing her job for not telling anyone that she knew the whereabouts of Benjamin or telling Nick about the mystical side of Vegas and their cases.

Willow's decision was taken out of her hands when Buffy pulled open the door.

"You may as well let him come in, Wills." Buffy had remembered the heartache she'd gone through keeping Riley in the dark about her Slayer activities. It had made it ten times worse when he'd found out about it accidentally and it wasn't like they were going to give away their Slayer Secrets, anyway. They would just tell him the mystical facts that pertained to the necklace.

Willow stepped aside and indicated that Nick should follow her into the house. With a half smile she turned to Nick.

"Nick Stokes, these are my friends Xander Harris and Rupert Giles." She pointed to the older gentlemen, "This is Rupert's friend, Benjamin McKim and this is Buffy Summers."

Nick smiled widely at Buffy, "Now I know why Warrick wouldn't shut up about you."

A faint tinge of pink stole across Buffy's cheeks and Willow raised her eyebrows at it. She gave Buffy her own version of the 'you are SO going to tell me about it' look.

Nick nodded to Willow's friends and sat in the chair that Xander indicated.

Giles turned his attention to Willow's co-worker, "How much do you know about the case involving Benjamin?"

"Only that he's wanted for questioning about the Pawn Shop burglary. Not as a suspect but as a possible witness."

Benjamin stiffened. "I wasn't even there when it was robbed."

Nick turned calm eyes toward him, "No, but you're a frequent customer."

Benjamin's shoulders slumped as Giles gave them a reassuring squeeze.

"Something of Mr. McKim's was stolen that night but it's not listed on the list of items stolen given to the police."

Nick sat at attention with that little bit of information.

Buffy took over for Giles, "Mr. McKim went to the Joker's Wild Pawn shop to retrieve a family heirloom but had been told the store was closed due to the recent robbery. He immediately contacted Giles as the heirloom was very valuable and certain people had shown an unhealthy interest in it. Giles later called me to see if I could find out any details regarding the heirloom.  I contacted Robbery and was able to access their database and saw his necklace was not listed on the list of possible stolen items."

Nick ran all that information through his mind but he still didn't understand why Benjamin didn't go to the police to report his necklace stolen OR why Willow's friends were gathered here.

"Okay, his necklace was not at the Pawn Shop nor was it listed as possibly stolen. I still don't understand why he didn't go to the police and why he went into hiding."

All eyes turned to Giles to gauge how much they should tell Nick. He gave a small nod to Willow who took a deep breath and continued for Buffy.

"Nick, do you believe in magick? Real magick, not the Siegfried and Roy type of magic."

Nick blinked at Willow's seemingly nonsequitur question. "Magic is fun, Willow but it's not real."

"Never rule anything out, Nick no matter how improbable. Just like spontaneous combusting elderly or vampire raves for teens… or an old family heirloom that is a key ingredient for a spell. It's used to suck the life force out of the victim and in turn prolong the wearer's life."