Author's notes: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter posted, I've been really busy recently then when I finally got round to writing, the evaluation version of the word processor I was using expired. Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad everyone's enjoying it. Just to let you all know though, the new Harry Potter book is released soon, so I'll be busy reading that for a while. However I do plan to continue this story, so please bare with me. Thanks.

BatistaRKO, thanks for the review, glad you like it and I'll try to update faster next time.

Disco Inferno1I'm glad the re-write went so well and I'm glad you liked it. Thanks so much for all your help, especially with chapter 6. Glad you approve of the reason for Wanda stopping at Batista's, I really wanted them to have some 'alone' time together and get to know each other and I think that worked well. Yeah, I was tempted to kill off 'Poochie' but when it came to it, I just couldn't! I'm pleased you liked the penthouse description, I remember my mom buying loads of cartoon fish bathroom decorations, like a loo seat, so that's what gave me the idea. Glad I've got you interested in the fire, there's still along way to go with that and obviously Batista and Wanda getting closer.

shady-angel821, thanks for the review.

Chapter Seven: Shocking news and devious plots.

Waiting in the hotel lobby the harsh realization that she had to be at work in an hour hit Wanda. She grabbed her phone and called Mr.Rodriguez.

"Hi, it's Wanda. I'm really sorry but I'm not going to be able to make it into work today... My apartment burned down last night... Yeah, I'm fine. Luckily I was out at the time and stayed with a friend last night... Yeah, I've got to speak with the fire department today. I'll call you again later to let you know if I'll be in tomorrow... Thanks so much for being so understanding... You, too. Bye," then she hung up. Wanda was so relieved Mr.Rodriguez had been so understanding; losing her job was the last thing she needed. She really did owe him a lot. Wanda then remembered that she hadn't seen or heard from Emily since their fight at the bar last night and she reached for her phone again.

"Emily..? Thank god, where have you been..? Where have I been..? I really don't think it matters where I've been. Did you know our apartment burned down last night..? Yes, Poochie is fine but he's with Mrs.Walker. I've got to go to the fire department soon, but I'll see you later. Bye

Wanda hung up, with the knowledge that Emily had stayed with Randy Orton last night. Wanda could hardly believe Emily's cheek,--she showed no concern over the apartment burning down, didn't really care how Wanda was and was more interested in any possible gossip, showed no guilt in staying with Randy Orton and did not even bother to call her. Wanda was annoyed at how irresponsible Emily was at times. At her age, Wanda was studying hard and doing dead end jobs just to support herself whilst Emily didn't really care about university and still had everything handed to her on a silver platter from her parents.

She was glad to arrive at her apartment and not have to think about Emily any longer. The apartment looked just as bad from the outside as it had from the inside last night--the windows were broken and boarded up and black smoke and ash lined them. As she walked up the stairs and neared her door, the smell of smoke still lingered. The yellow fire line tape she'd broken through last night still lay hanging, leaving her apartment open for not just her but anyone. On entering the apartment, Wanda was greeted by the harsh reality of the devastating effects of the fire. The kitchen was covered in ash, the door had almost burnt away and the carpet was ruined. The rest of the apartment was the same, humps of blacked furnishings lying everywhere. The effects of the fire and the fact no one else's apartments had been affected worried Wanda a little. Some thing seemed not quite right and her mind went back to the phone message on her machine last night before she left for the bar. Wanda shuddered, thinking 'no, that couldn't be possible.' Her bedroom was the worst. Absolutely nothing was recognizable, it was all just ash. Her lap top was totally destroyed but luckily, though, most things were backed up on disk and her P.C at work. Sadly, she wasn't so lucky with her photo albums--nothing but melted clumps of plastic remained of her last 30 years of memories. Suddenly her mobile phone rang and Wanda answered the call from an unknown number a little cautiously.

"Hello, Wanda Ravenmoon speaking."

"Hello Ms.Ravenmoon, this is Sergeant Phillips of the New Orleans police department. We spoke briefly last night. I was wondering if you'd be able to come down to the station so we could have a little chat with you about the fire."

"Yeah, sure. I'll be about half an hour. Is that alright?"

Agreeing that that would be no problem, Sergeant Phillips hung up. Wanda then made her way down stairs to Mrs.Walker's apartment.

"Hello, dear. Have the police department been in touch yet?" Mrs.Walker asked.

"Yeah, I've got to go down there in half an hour."

"Have they got any idea what might have caused it?"

"I don't think so. They just wanted me to come to the station as soon as possible. I'll probably be staying in a hotel whilst the apartment is refurbished. Is it alright for you to keep Poochie until then? I'll pay you for the trouble," added Wanda.

"Of course, it is ,dear. He's a lovely little dog," replied the greying woman.

"Thank you. Is it alright if I go in and see him?"

"Yes, dear, go straight ahead, he's just in the living room. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you."

Wanda walked through to the living room and, as soon as Poochie saw her, he ran over wagging his tail and barking around Wanda's legs for her to pick him up. She bent down and scooped the mass of white fur into her arms.

"Hello sweetie," she cooed, "are you alright? Is Mrs.Walker looking after you?"

The little dog yapped as if to say 'yes.'

"I'm not abandoning you, darling, but you've got to stay here for a little while. But don't worry, it'll be like a holiday and I'll come and visit you every day," Wanda cooed.

Poochie yapped again as if he'd understood what Wanda had told him. She kissed his wet black nose and put him back down on the floor. He ran around her feet for a few seconds and then returned to his place on the couch. Wanda then made her way to the front door.

"Thank you for taking care of him, it means a lot to me. Please take this," Wanda told Mrs.Walker as she handed her $50.

"No, no, keep your money, dear. It's no trouble really," replied Mrs.Walker at Wanda's offer of money.

"No, I insist, it's the least I can do to say thank you."

Mrs.Walker took the money and then Wanda made her goodbye and left. She was soon in a cab and on her way to the police department. When Wanda arrived, she asked at the main desk to see Sergeant Phillips. The receptionist informed her that Sergeant Phillips was expecting her and to take a seat as he'd be out in a few minutes. Within two minutes, the sergeant emerged from a little room to the side of the reception. He greeted Wanda then asked her to follow him into the room he'd just came from. She entered the room to see a small table set in the middle with two chairs facing another opposite. An old blonde haired man, in a navy suit with a fire department badge on, sat in one of the two chairs that were placed together. On the other chair hung a cream jacket that matched the trousers Sergeant Phillips was wearing. The table had two paper cups and a pile of papers on it. Wanda sat down in the third chair, opposite that of the policeman and the unknown blonde haired man. Sergeant Phillips took his seat and took a sip from the paper cup in front of him then spoke.

"Good morning Ms.Ravenmoon, this is Sergeant Grey of the New Orleans fire department. He'll be conducting the interview with me this morning," the balding policeman informed her.

"Good morning, ma'am," said Sergeant Grey .

"Morning," Wanda replied to both of them.

"We'd like to have a little chat with you about the fire that broke out in your apartment yesterday evening. Our teams have been looking into the possible causes of the fire and we have reasons to believe it may have been arson."

"What? You think someone may have done this purposely? You don't think it was me, do you? I wasn't in at the time the fire started and only found out about it when I returned home and found a fire truck outside," Wanda protested.

"No, we have no reason to believe the culprit was you, but it would be helpful to our enquiries if you could give us details of your whereabouts and movements yesterday," Sergeant Phillips replied, looking directly at her, without blinking.

"Errrm…. I went to work as normal until lunch time, went home for a few hours and changed clothes. At home, I saw my cousin Emily, who also lives there, then I went and collected my boss' son Mikhile and we went out for dinner. After that, we returned home to collect Emily and we all went to the WWE show 'Raw', which lasted about four hours. After that, we met with the WWE CEO Vince McMahon and he introduced us to some of the wrestlers. We were there for about two and a half hours. Myself and Emily were than invited to go to a bar with a few of the wrestlers, so we took Mikhile home, returned home to change, then headed for the bar. It's called Bar Phoenix; it's a few miles from where I live. Here's the card with its details on it," Wanda explained and handed Sergeant Phillips the card Stephanie McMahon had given her.

"Whilst at the bar, me and Emily had an argument and Emily left. I found out today that Emily didn't return home after our argument but stayed at the Prytania Park hotel. When the bar closed, I returned home. Upon discovering there had been a fire, I spoke briefly with you and my neighbour, Mrs.Walker, before staying at the Prytania Park hotel myself.

"O.k., and you'll be able to give me names and contact details for everyone to verify this information?" Sergeant Phillips asked.

"Yeah, of course."

Wanda could see that the policeman had written down the names of people and places she'd just mentioned.

"And did you make any phone calls during the course of yesterday?"

"I made a lot of business contacts and one to Emily just before I left work," the black haired woman replied.

"And I'll be able to verify all this with your boss?"

"Yes, they should all be listed on the next phone bill from work. I'm sure Mr.Rodriguez will be happy for you to take a look at it."

"Did you receive any phone calls other than work ones?"

"No, but when I returned home from the WWE event, before we left for the bar, I had a phone message on the answering machine."

"Who was the message from?" questioned the greying officer.

"My ex, Max."

"And what did he say on the message?"

"I don't know, I didn't listen to it all. He said 'Wanda, are you home?' and then I deleted it"

"Why was that?" queried Sergeant Grey.

"I didn't care what he had to say."

"Does Max call you often, Miss Ravenmoon?" Sergeant Phillips asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, I haven't seen or heard from him for about 6 or 7 months."

"Okay, has anything out of the ordinary happened to you recently? You know, like the phone call, but there's no one there when you answer, that type of thing."

"Errrm, yeah, actually there's been a few things, but I just put it down to over tiredness and forget about them. It's nothing really."

"No, go on," prompted Sergeant Grey.

"Well on Saturday afternoon, during my usual walk in the park with my dog, I could have sworn I heard rustling in the bushes and someone following me, but when I looked round there was on one there. When I returned home, the phone rang a couple of times, but every time I answered the line was dead. "

"Right, and when you returned home yesterday, was there anything missing from your apartment?"

"When I popped home after the WWE event to get changed to go to the bar, everything seemed in order, but I wasn't there that long really. When I returned home and discovered the fire, I only went in to look for my dog, although everything did seem too burnt to tell."

"And have you been home since?"

"Yes, I went home for about half an hour this morning to see what was left and if my computer was ok, but everything was too burnt and ruined to tell if there was anything missing."

"Right, that's fine, and you say you haven't heard from Max for about 6 or 7 months? Is that right?" asked Sergeant Phillips, double checking the information he'd just written down.

"Errrm yeah, why?"

"Well after Mrs.Walker called the fire department and we questioned her, she said she saw someone that she described as being an ex-boyfriend of yours named Max, hanging around the apartments at about 12.20 that night."

Wanda went pale. The thought of Max hanging around her apartment creeped her out a little, but then she remembered something.

"Oh yeah, I thought you should also know that Max never gave back his spare key when we broke up."

"Right, that's something we'll have to look into and I suggest you get you locks changed."

"Could Max be a suspect then?" Wanda asked, feeling very worried.

"Possibly, there are the facts that Mrs.Walker thought she was him around the apartments at about 12.30am and our team believe the fire may have started at about 1am. He still supposedly has a spare key to your apartment and, when the fire team arrived, there was no sign of a break in."

Wanda felt her throat tighten. The thought of Max being involved sent chills through her.

"Oh, Jesus, he can't have done some thing like that, we haven't spoken for months," exclaimed Wanda, mostly to reassure herself.

"It's nothing to worry about yet, Ms Ravenmoon. Our team is still checking to see if there were traces of any unnatural substances in the apartment. The fire still might have been caused by something simple like a pair of straightening irons left on. But we will be speaking with Max during our investigations. Do you have a contact number where we can reach him?" Sergeant Grey added.

"Errrm, yeah, I have his mobile number, but I don't know if it'll be any good to you. He may have changed it since we last spoke."

"We'll let you know as soon as we find out anything else," Sergeant Phillips said, ending the interview.

"Thanks," Wanda replied, not feeling anymore reassured. Then she left the police department.

Wanda jumped into a cab, feeling very shaken. The mere thought of Max's possible involvement in the fire made her head spin. Trying to calm herself down, she directed the driver to the Prytania Park hotel, where she was meeting Emily. Wanda then called Mr.Rodriguez to let him know how the meeting with Sergeant Phillips had gone, although she left out the details about Max. Mr.Rodriguez gave Wanda the remainder of the week off to sort out her insurance and find some where to stay during the refurbishment of her apartment, which she was very grateful for. Despite the fact she had nowhere to live and the possibility that her ex-boyfriend caused this situation, Wanda was very happy with her job. Mr.Rodriguez had told her the WWE deal had gone through with no problems and that, when she returned, she'd be doing the majority of the work for it and dealing directly with the WWE wrestlers and workers. This news was much to Wanda's delight, as it meant she'd be earning a lot more, would be moving up in the company and she might also run into Dave Batista again. The latter of which she really hoped for. Wanda arrived at the Prytania Park hotel and went to the reception desk to ask for the room number that Emily Rose was staying in. The receptionist informed her that Miss Rose had left a message for her to meet her by the pool. Wanda headed to the pool area to be greeted by the sight of Emily dressed in nothing but a skimpy bikini.

"Hey, how did it go with the fire department ? Do they have any idea what might have caused it?"

"Not really. They think it might have been a simple accident caused by some straightening irons left on, but they need to look into it more," Wanda lied, not wanting to disclose the details about Max, as Emily had never liked him and had always disapproved of their relationship.

"Ah, right, so it's probably just a bad accident?"

"Yeah, something like that. So what are we going to do? Shall we get a double room whilst we wait for the apartment to be refurbished?"

"Well actually, there's something I wanted to tell you, I've decided to chuck University in and go on the road with Randy," Emily proclaimed, with a smile like the Cheshire cat's.

"You're doing what?" Wanda asked, totally stunned by this news.

"Well I'm totally bored with Uni and Randy and I have a really good connection. So when I told him how bored I was with my life, he suggested I joined him on the road."

"And what are you going to do for work?"

"Randy said he earns enough money for it to be no problem."

"You stupid, irresponsible cow! You're just going to throw away your whole education for a man you've known all of five minutes and sponge off him like you haven't got a care in the world!" Wanda shouted, filled with annoyance over Emily's behaviour ever since she'd come to New Orleans and the worry of the fire. She almost felt as though she could break down.

"Well, you almost did the very same thing with that loser Max, so what's the problem.?"

"The situation with Max was completely different. Besides he's ancient history and has nothing to do with this at all !" Wanda bellowed, the mention of Max's name had sent her into a rage.

"Whatever, you just can't handle the fact someone likes me and not you," Emily retorted.

"Grow up for god's sake. You do know he'll get bored of you in a few weeks and dump you for some other bimbo. Then what will you do? Because I won't let you come crawling back to me for help."

"Fine, be like that, see if I care. Me and Randy have an amazing connection and I know we were meant to be, even if you don't.

You can stay here with your non existent social life, microwave dinners for one and little dog, like some sad old woman. I'm going to enjoy my life!" Emily shouted back, before walking off without even looking back.

This was the last time Wanda would hear from Emily for quite some time. Her comments had left Wanda feeling jaded and depressed. It troubled her that Emily may be right about her life. Suddenly, the joy from the news about the WWE deal had left her and Wanda was totally alone. She headed for the hotel bar, no longer wanting to think about the facts that her ex-boyfriend may have burned down her apartment, or about her selfish spiteful little cousin, or that she didn't have much in her life because she'd worked so hard on her career. Wanda was on her fourth neat shot of Jack Daniel's when she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking around she saw Dave Batista standing before her, dressed in cream cargo pants and a tight fitting black t-shirt.

"Hi Wanda, what are you doing here? Do you fancy some company?" he asked.

To be continued…..