"So, Ol One Eye, how did you get here so fast? This Faith girl just skipped this morning?" Lula asked as she dug into some donuts.
The guy grinned and said "Faith didn't check in with the council last night and when we gave her a call no one answered. In our line of work that's an immediate signal for someone to come out and take a look around. Since nothing needed to be fixed around the place and I get along best with Faith I got sent out. Faith is probably fine, she is more than qualified to take care of herself but better safe than sorry is our feeling. We prefer to leave a town standing."
Ok so this council they both work for must have been the one who called in Vinnie's favor. What in the world were they involved in? We got a one eyed fix it man, who it sounds like is also involved with the running of this council and looks like a serious fighter. Then they have a former murderer on the payroll and don't worry about her when she misses a contact but about the town still being here? Weird. Well if he knows her maybe he will know how to find her.
"Hey Xander, do you have any idea where Faith might be? My leads are looking pretty slim right now." I asked him.
"Hmm," he hummed. "She had finished the job here and was just waiting for the court case to be closed last time she called. Knowing her though she found a fight somewhere and got distracted. Did anything weird happen last night or any strange deaths lately?"
How did he know I wondered? It was all over the burg grapevine that 2 men had been found dismembered in the last two weeks at the Dive Pit.
"Yeah" I told him. "Once a week for the last two weeks a man has been found dismembered at the Dive Pit. Why?"
"Well our starting point should be the Dive Pit then. Faith always seems to end up mixed up in stuff like that." He smiled "She should be alright though. It takes a lot to put her down."
Figuring that was as good a starting point as any I suggested we head out there. Lula of course would be joining me. She refused too be left out of anything as interesting as this and Xander would follow me in his car to the Dive Pit. Hopefully someone at the Dive Pit would be able to send us in the right directions, if they weren't too drunk to remember Faith.
When we got to the bar I was stunned to find it closed. The Dive Pit was a legend in the Burg for the fact that it never closed. Christmas, 9/11, fights, nothing no matter how much damage it took closed it, and it had taken some serious damage in various fights according to the burg grapevine. The only way I couldn't have heard about this would be for it to have happened late last night.
"Yup, Faiths been here" Xander laughed as he got out of his car. "Fighting, destruction of property, mysterious deaths, there's definitely been a Slayer here."
Slayer? Now that's a new one for me. Just one more thing to add to the growing strangeness of this skip I guess. As I went about checking out the destruction. Hoping to find someone hanging around who could give me some info on what happened here, a familiar black Porshe drove up. I was surprised to see it here, since I thought he was still out of town. I wasn't going to give him this skip though. There maybe a lot I don't understand about this one but Faith Wilkins was mine now.
"Babe" Ranger murmured sending sparks straight down my spine. "What are you doing here? You didn't cause this did you?"
"No" I said as I gritted my teeth. "I'm here looking for info on a skip. Faith Wilkins, you know anything about her?"
"Faith Wilkins?" He said surprised.
"Yeah, Faith" Xander growled suddenly looming up from behind Ranger. "Where is she and who the fuck are you?"
Upon seeing that I definitely had to raise his threat level. I had only seen Ranger look that scary once before when facing down a serious threat to me. I wonder what Faith is to this guy really to cause that kind of reaction. He even startled Ranger which I thought was impossible.
Ranger reacted calmly, but you could tell he was surprised at having missed the threat this guy was when angered. "She's at my headquarters right now. I met her early this morning prowling around Stark Street looking for a fight and offered her a place to sleep. She was still sleeping when I left headquarters and headed here."
Why that caused Xander to smile and relax I don't know. Stark Street is one of the most dangerous area's in the Burg and for him to relax after hearing that she had been looking for a fight? Weird.
"Faith must have gotten too tightly wound from her fight here." Xander said happily. "She probably completely forgot that she had the appointment today or was supposed to have checked in last night with us. Well it's not the first time this has happened. Ranger was it? Why don't you take us to your headquarters. I wake up Faith, which is difficult job and Stephine here can take her in to the station to get rebonded and her court appointment if still needed rescheduled."