Chapter Six
Rawlings was in full steam as Dutch and Claudette led Danny and Julien along with their two prisoners into the barn.
"What the hell happened?" she demanded.
"Girl got away from us," Dutch said.
"How?"
"Somehow she got into her backyard without Danny and Julien seeing her," Wyms explained. "She got up into her brother's treehouse."
"Funny part is there was no ladder to get up there," Dutch added.
"Those two showed up while we were interviewing the family," Wyms continued flashing her partner a look. "Abbott said she knew Lucy was there. She headed out back and called up to Lucy in the treehouse."
"How did Abbott know Lucy was there?" Rawlings asked.
Dutch just shook his head. "No clue," he replied. "Abbott went up to the treehouse and brought Lucy down. We took her into custody. She was calm until we tried to get her in the car. That's when she exploded. Knocked Claudette and I to the ground. Abbott tried to get her under control, didn't seem to do any good. When Julien tried to grab the girl Abbott pushed him away. That's when Lucy got the upper hand on her and flattened her. Lucy … she … she jumped over our car and ran off."
"She jumped over your car?" Rawlings said in a controlled voice.
"Captain," Wyms interjected. "I've seen junkies strung out on every kind of drug imaginable. Whatever the hell that girl is on she was faster and stronger than anything I've ever seen before."
"Do we have any idea where the girl disappeared to this time?"
"No," Dutch answered. "She took off too fast for us to follow. One other thing Captain."
"What?"
"Her arms," Dutch said.
"What about her arms?" Rawlings asked.
"The girl jumped through a window this morning," Dutch explained. "She was wearing short sleeves. She should have had cuts and bruises all over her. There wasn't a mark on her. No cuts, no scratches. That's just not possible."
Wyms nodded. "He's right. Not a mark on her. Come to think of it. Abbott took a hit to the face. I don't see any sign of a bruise developing."
"Where was Kate when all this was going on?" Rawlings asked looking over Wyms' shoulder as Danny and Julien were putting Kate and Amy in the cage.
"She was helping Danny keep the family from getting involved," Wyms replied. "How do you want to deal with them?"
"Let them stew for a bit," Rawlings said. She led the pair back to their desks and motioned for another detective to join them. "Lemansky, tell these two what you've got the on the Jenny Calendar Foundation."
"Not much," Lemansky answered. "I talked to a couple of guys I know up in the precinct where they're located. They opened a little over a year ago. Ten or eleven employees. Two guys the rest are women. A couple of them look like part timers. They have other jobs. They run self defense and martial arts classes. The woman who came in with Lockley, Abbott, she teaches a dance class once a week."
"That's it?" Dutch said. "They teach martial arts and dance. Why the hell would they be interested in Lucy Sutter? Any indication they're involved in anything illegal?"
"Not that I could find," Lemansky said. "The local precinct's never had any problems with them."
"There's some kind of connection between them and Lucy Sutter," Dutch said. "That Abbott girl, I don't know how but she was able to keep her calm."
"What have you found on Abbott?" Rawlings asked.
"She's got a couple of speeding tickets. Other than that her record's clean," Lemansky said. "She grew up in some town in Colorado. Ran away from home when she was sixteen. Reappeared in Cleveland Ohio 'bout a year and half later. After she turned eighteen. Moved to Los Angeles about a month before the Foundation opened. She's taking classes at UCLA."
"Neither the mother or the brother have ever heard of the Jenny Calendar Foundation," Wyms said. "Amy claimed she's never met Lucy before today."
Julien and Danny walked up to the group.
"Captain," Julien said. "Lockley is insisting she be allowed to contact her office. She knows we don't have anything to hold the two of them on."
"Amy Abbott attacked you," Dutch said.
Julien shook his head. "She was trying to protect me from Lucy. The only reason she went down is because I got in the way."
"What are you saying Officer Lowe?" Rawlings asked.
Julien looked around. "I know how this is going to sound. But you all saw that girl. It was like she was possessed. Her eyes they … they … they didn't look human. Abbott was the only one even keeping up with her."
"Captain," Danny said. "Julien's right. Those two girls both dropped from twenty feet like they were jumping off a stepladder. The only reason Abbott's in custody is because she decided not to fight us."
"Detective Scully strikes again," Dutch said.
Rawlings scowled at Dutch. "Damn it," she paused to collect her thoughts. "Alright, let Kate make her call. Do we have any idea where Lucy is now?"
"We've got a unit on the house," Dutch said. "We put out an APB for her. We'll start calling her friends. Maybe we can figure out what she got herself into."
"Keep on it," Rawlings said. "After Kate makes her call, bring her up to the interrogation room."
Julien nodded and headed back to the cage.
"Captain," Lemansky broke in. "I know you asked for my help. It's getting late and I know a couple of places Angie use to hang out at night when her mother got high."
Rawlings nodded. "Alright Lemansky. Thanks for the help on this. Go find Angie."
"Ms Lockley," Julien said motioning her to the door of the cage. "Captain says you can make your call now."
Kate nodded and walked up the door. Julien let her out and handed her her cell phone. Kate opened it up and hit the speed dial.
"Phil," she said. "It's Kate. We're at the Farmington Police Station … Good idea … Have Barb get on it and tell Amy's group they're on their own tonight … Amy says to call Willow and have her set up a conference between the two of them and Faith … She said Willow would understand … Do it now … We'll be fine. The charges won't stick … Thanks Phil," she hung up and handed the phone back to Julien. "You can put me back in the cage now."
"Captain wants to talk to you," Julien said. "Upstairs."
Julien led the way. He led Kate into the interrogation room where Rawlings was already waiting. She was holding a manila folder stuffed with paper.
"Have a seat Kate," Rawlings said.
Kate nodded and took a seat.
"I can handle it from here," Rawlings said to Julien. He nodded and left the room. Rawlings walked over to the camera in the room and pulled out the wire for the video feed. She sat down opposite Kate. "Ok, it's just you and me now. What the hell is going on? And don't give me any shit about private study programs."
Kate paused trying to decide how best to deal with this situation. "Monica, they're really isn't any way I can explain this to you. Not in any way that'll either like or believe."
"Then just listen," Rawlings said. "I've been trying to figure out what you've been doing for the past couple of years. It's not easy Kate. You did a good job dropping off the face of the Earth. So I decided to look at some of your old cases. Back from your 'Detective Scully' days. Imagine my surprise when I bumped into this one," Rawlings opened the file in front of her. "Do you remember the name Faith Wilkins?"
Kate took an involuntary breath. Damn, she thought. She'd underestimated how thorough a check Monica would do. She nodded. "I remember her."
Rawlings continued. "Faith Wilkins. Resident of Sunnydale California. She was a suspect in the murder of the deputy mayor when she was involved in some kind of accident that left her in a coma for nearly a year. She came out of her coma, committed some assaults, breaking and entering, escaping police custody and then fled to LA. When she got here, she busted up a nightclub. Put over a dozen people in the hospital. You were the primary on the case."
Again Kate nodded. "We caught her."
"She turned herself in and confessed to everything," Rawlings continued. "After three years in prison she escaped and disappeared. That is until about two years ago when she was issued a full pardon from the Governor. Some crap about her status as a minor when she committed the original crimes. The really interesting part is that she's now a resident of Cleveland Ohio and employed as the Deputy Director of the Jenny Calendar Foundation. She's your boss."
"I don't report to Faith," Kate snapped.
"Out of control teenage girl, who exhibits abnormal strength and endurance who now has a connection to the Jenny Calendar Foundation," Rawlings noted. "I don't like coincidences Kate. What happened to Lucy Sutter? What makes her, Faith and your friend Abbott out there different?"
Kate glimpsed up at the camera. They were alone and she knew Monica. "Amy's going to kick my ass for this," Kate said. She took a breath. "Monica none of this can show up in any report."
"I can't promise that Kate," Rawlings said.
"No one is going to believe you if you put it in a report," Kate said. "You'll just get pushed aside like I was. I read the papers. You're already getting pressure over the seizure policy. Weird shit will give them an excuse to pull the trigger."
"What the hell is going on Kate?"
"Like I said this morning, Lucy's special," Kate answered. "There are very few people like her in the world. The Jenny Calendar Foundation finds them and trains them. Just back off and let us deal with Lucy. We can help her. You can't. Your people will just make it worse."
"You're not answering my question Kate," Rawlings said. "What makes them special?"
"Monica this is LA," Kate said. "We've all run into cases that we just knew we didn't want to chase down. The body that turns up drained of blood. The bodies with lacerations that we know weren't caused by any knife even as we watch the ME write it up that way. The cases that are reassigned into limbo. We just learn to let those things go."
Rawlings nodded. "Ok, maybe I've seen a couple of things like that. But what does that have to do with this?"
"Someone has to chase those cases down," Kate replied.
"And that's what you do," Rawlings said. "You're playing vigilante now. Like that private investigator you got mixed up with. Angel."
"It's not that simple Monica," Kate said. "The things that go bump in the night. The stuff we don't talk about. The streets we don't go near. The bars we know better than to go into. Not because of gangs but because of … well … just because."
"Kate, what the hell are you talking about?" Monica said.
"Think about it Monica," Kate said. "You've seen it. You just don't 'see' it. Because you don't want to. I didn't want to see it either. But I didn't have a choice."
"Kate?" Rawlings didn't know what her friend was talking about.
"Just walk away from this one Monica," Kate said. "Put your detectives on a leash. I don't want to lose your job the way I did."
"Kate, do have any idea how ridiculous you sound right now?" Rawlings said.
"Amy and Lucy are like nobody else you're ever going to meet," Kate said. "They're stronger, faster and more powerful than you can realize. Lucy came into her power today. She doesn't know how to control it yet. She doesn't know what she is. We need to find her and help her. Your people won't be able to help her. They'll just make things worse. Back off. Let us handle this."
"Kate," Rawlings said. "What are you saying? I'll grant you I've seen some weird shit on the streets. But I can't back off on your say so."
"Then promise me you'll keep this out the paperwork," Kate said.
"No way," Rawlings responded.
"You don't want to listen Monica," Kate said. "Like I said, I didn't see it the first time I came face to face with it."
Rawlings face tightened. "Kate, you're not giving anything I can use."
"You've got nothing to hold us on," Kate responded. "Nothing that will stick anyway."
"Maybe not," Monica replied. "But I can keep you out of the way for a while," she stood up and knocked on the door. Julien opened it. "Take her back to the cage. She and her friend are going to be spending the night with us." She turned back to Kate, "It will take at least that long before whoever your lawyer is to figure a way to get you out. By then you'll be in central booking. And you know how the paperwork gets down there. Officer Lowe."
"Yes ma'am," Julien replied.
Faith hated planes. Cramped, surrounded by annoying chattering people. Slayer senses didn't help matters. A couple of hundred bodies crammed into a small space produced some … interesting smells.
She shook it off and tried to read the book Buffy had given her for the trip. Some silly mystery book. She was having a hard time focusing on it.
A rogue Slayer. It didn't happen that often. But it did happen. So many girls suddenly getting superpowers, Faith was always surprised this kind of thing didn't happen more often. She figured it was probably just the initial rush that set the girl off. Hopefully they'll be able to find her and sort out it all out. Hell Amy may even have everything handled by the time she got there. LA for a couple days would make for a nice vacation.
Faith's head snapped up. She felt a little tingle in the back of her skull. She closed her book and leaned back in her seat. She closed her eyes and focused on the tingle. She heard a voice echoing in the back of her mind.
"Faith?"
"Red?" her mind answered.
"Yep, it's me," Willow replied. "Amy needs to talk to you. Now. You ok with a quick telepathic conference call."
"No," Faith answered. "Voices in my head give me the willies," she felt a touch of amusement from Willow. "Alright Red, go get Aim. Something must of have happened."
"Just give me a second to find her," came the response.
A few moments later Faith heard another voice in mind. "Faith you there?" she recognized Amy's voice.
"Hey Aim," Faith said. "What happened?"
"We found our Slayer," Amy answered. "Her name's Lucy. It didn't go very well. Let me show you."
Faith saw the images of what happened play through her mind.
"Shit," she said. "Do you know what set her off?"
"I'm not certain," Amy said. "She was pretty much in control until they tried to get her in the car. She kept saying something about 'the walls.'"
"Sounds like claustrophobia," Willow chimed in. "You found her outside. She retreated to someplace where she wasn't closed in."
"Sounds good to me Red," Faith replied. "Amy?"
"Good a guess as any," Amy said. "She totally lost it. I blew it Faith. I let her get away. I could have stopped her. I just..."
"You didn't want to go full out against a sister Slayer," Faith said. "Plus cops and family right there. It's ok Amy. I understand. Tough call in a tight spot. You did the right thing. So what's going on now?"
"Kate called the office," Amy replied.
"They called me next," Willow said. "According to Phil, Barb's team is heading down to Farmington to look for Lucy. Tam and Lori still have to take care of a couple of vamps that have been poking around the rubble of Wolfram and Hart's old offices."
"Three Slayers to cover Farmington," Faith said. "That's not a lot."
"There are only six of us in LA," Amy pointed out.
"I know," Faith replied. "I should be landing in about an hour."
"Phil said Darlene will be there to pick you up," Willow said.
"Ok," Faith said. "Given LA traffic it might almost be faster for me to go on foot. Amy, how are you and Kate doing?"
"We're fine," Amy answered. "Kate's pretty certain she can talk us out of here. The charges are pretty bogus and she knows the Captain. She's talking to her now."
"Funny how you guys managed to get into trouble with the law before I even got there," Faith said. "I'll call in some legal help. I've always wanted to call someone from an airplane. Even if you two are ok, we'll need a good lawyer when we find Lucy."
"He'll say no," Willow said.
"He'll say no if it comes from the Council," Faith said. "You're the ones who turned your backs on them. He'll say yes to me."
"Fine," Willow said in a resigned voice. "You got everything you need. Maintaining a connection like this is a bit draining."
"I think we're covered Red," Faith said. "Amy I'll see you in a couple of hours."
"See you then Faith," Amy said.