Always Watching

Chapter 1

          "He…He was in my hotel room," Lita whispered, shell-shocked, a half an hour later.  Stacy sat next to her on the bench, soothingly rubbing her hand over the redhead's back.  Chris Benoit stood with two uniformed officers, watching as several others methodically tore apart the locker room, aiming to collect every shred of evidence.

            Chris rubbed his neck as he talked to the two officers.  The first one, Captain Trevor Moceri, kept one eye on the people taking the evidence away in carts as he asked the Canadian a barrage of questions.  Captain Moceri was a decorated officer with a pot-belly, balding head of brown hair, a large, bushy mustache, and a sharp mind for details.  Beside him was Lieutenant Jason Porter.  He was a black-haired man with olive-colored skin.  The Italian air set by those and the rest of his features were offset by his ice blue eyes.  He was tall and muscular, his eyes assessing.

            "Let's go over this again," the captain said, his tone patient.

            Chris rolled his eyes and sighed heavily.  "Lita and I were walking down the hallway.  I was trying to convince her to come out to party with a few friends tonight to get her worries off of this asshole."

            "What friends?" Lieutenant Porter interrupted.  When Chris looked at him, he elaborated.  "We may need to talk to them too.  In this investigation, everyone is a suspect."

            "Right," Chris said simply.  "There's a bunch of us, but it's usually me, Chris Jericho, Edge, Stacy—she's the blonde over there—um…" he shrugged.  "Rob Van Dam…  I can't think of everybody.  Talk to Edge and Chris, they're the ones who parade everyone together."

            "Did the victim-Lita-accompany you on these outings?" Moceri questioned.

            "Yes-that is, until she started getting those pictures.  Then she stopped."

            "When you entered the room, how did it look?"

            "The four vases were lined up on the desk, full of flowers.  There were flower petals spread over the desk, roses, I guess.  I don't know much about flowers.  I didn't see it until Lita pulled it out, but there was a large manila envelope resting in the middle."

            "You say she picked up the folder?"

            "Yes.  She walked into the room and picked up the folder, undid it, and pulled the letter out."

            "Just the letter?" Porter asked.

            "Yes."

            "Not the pictures?"

            "No," Benoit replied, his tone irritated at all of the questions directed at him.  "The pictures were still in there.  Lita read the letter, and then tilted the envelope so all of the pictures spilt out over the floor.  She started crying, and I went over there to comfort her."

            "Is that everything?" Captain Moceri asked, his tone implying that he'd left something else.

            "Yes, and if I miraculously remember a detail, I'll tell you," Chris retorted.

            "We're going to go question her.  I think it would be best that no one else is there with her," Moceri told him.  "You stay here, and we'll send the Keibler woman over as well."

            When the two men approached, Lita instinctively trusted Captain Moceri.  Perhaps it was the homely, father-look about him, but she wasn't sure.  Lieutenant Porter, however, was an entirely different matter.  The way he looked at her put her at unease.  The redhead pushed some of her hair behind her ear and wiped her wet cheeks as Stacy disappeared from her side.

            "We need to have your version of events for us on record," Captain Moceri said, his face apologetic.  "So if you would…" he motioned with his hand.

            Lita concentrated on making her voice steady.  "Chris and I were walking to the locker room after the show ended.  He was trying to get me to go out to a club like we usually did with the guys, but I didn't want to go, what with this stalker and all.  We walked in—Chris followed me—and the flowers were there.  I grabbed the envelope, read the letter, and spilled the pictures onto the floor."

            Throughout her explanation, Lieutenant Porter had scribbled down her words, and now his pen was poised over the yellow notepad.  "How did you feel when you saw the photos, ma'am?" he asked her.

            Lita met his eyes and shook her head disbelievingly.  "How do you think I felt?  Some deranged stalker got into my room last night.  I had all of the doors bolted shut, and there were two cops posted just outside, but he managed to get in," she covered her face with one hand.

            "Those officers received a strict warning for their lack of attention," Moceri told her.

            "They were watching me carefully," Lita told him, her voice muffled from behind her hand.  "I set the alarm to wake me up every two hours.  I peeked out the curtains each time, and they were still watching me," she shifted in the chair and looked at the two officers.  "My point is that whoever this guy is; he can reach me whenever he wants."

             Moceri shifted, his jaw clenching.  "Not if I can help it.  I'm proposing to put a guard in your room," he told her.

            The redhead paused, obviously uncomfortable with the proposal.  "I don't want a stranger in my hotel room."

            "Stalker or bodyguard," Moceri countered, "Your choice."  Lita sighed and looked away.

            "I'll do it," Chris Benoit's voice cut through the conversation.  All three turned to face him.  "We all know Lita needs a bodyguard, and she doesn't want to have a stranger with her 24/7."

            Lieutenant Porter eyed Chris Benoit.  "No offense, but you don't have the proper training to be a bodyguard," he said, his tone spiteful.  Chris took a threatening step forward, but the captain stepped between them.

            "How about this…  Chris, you can stay with Lita for a week.  If there is no positive progression, we'll try one of our bodyguards," Captain Moceri said, extending his hand to Benoit.  Benoit took it in a handshake.

            "Deal," Chris said.

            "I want to go to the hotel," Lita announced suddenly.  Chris inwardly winced when he saw her.  Her knees were curled into her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around her legs.  The lost look on her face burned into his memory, and he curled his fists.  If he got his hands on that son of a—

            "Very well," Captain Moceri said to the redhead, interrupting Chris's thoughts.  "Take care, and I'll call you when we have any more leads."

            "Any more?  Last I heard you didn't have any," Chris said.

            "Not any that is likely to lead to the stalker.  When you're in this kind of business, it could be just about anyone.  We're looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack."

            Chris's eyes blazed at his pessimistic statement.  "Lita," he said, his voice flat as he tried to keep the anger out of his voice, "Go and wait for me out of the room.  I want to talk with the kind officers," he told her, the last couple words of his sentence lined with sarcasm.  The redhead, not in the mood to argue, and visibly shaken from it all, left the room.

            Chris Benoit stepped up to the captain, tilting his head slightly.  "I don't care if the chance of finding this guy is the size of the tip of a pin; I want you to work 24/7 on this case.  You're being paid good money, and I want it put to use."  After a few more moments of speaking to them, Chris turned around and headed for the door, thoroughly satisfied.  He stepped out of the room to see Lita leaning with her back to the brick wall, her eyes staring off into space.

            "It could be anyone I know," Lita whispered, and let her eyelids fall.  "They could be right here, consoling me and putting on a faux show," mortified, she burst into tears.

            Chris was at her side to comfort her, but he did not say anything.  He couldn't.

            Because she was absolutely right.

            ----       ----       ----       ----       ---        ---        ----       ---        ---        ---

Author's Note: Relatively fast update!  Hoorah!  I hope you guys like and please review!