Author's Note: Since it's concert day again tomorrow, an early update :) Enjoy!
As expected, the spot where the corpse had been found was a narrow side alley, the pedestrians kept from going there with bright yellow police tape; a chalk outline on the ground showed the position the woman had been in when she had been found, the curled up way she had been lying making it quite clear that she had been in great pain when she had died.
"The poor woman", Willow mumbled, looking left and right to make sure nobody was watching before she ducked beneath the tape; Pat did the same, and together, they moved closer to the chalk outline, not sure what they were looking for, the demon saying out loud what the witch had been pondering as well. "I wonder if the police took anything away from here, they might have ended up taking something important for us."
"Indeed", the redhead grimaced, looking around, "I'll try to hack into the police database and see if I can find anything on this, usually, they have lists with what they collected from crime scenes."
"You do that", Pat agreed, looking at the ground intently; she moved a few steps past the chalk outline, then stopped at a large dumpster and crouched down next to it, frowning as she studied the objects that had caught her attention.
"Hey, look", she called out to her girlfriend, making her move over to her side, "I think they missed something." With those words, she gestured at a smile pile of cigarette butts, looking too neat to just have accumulated there accidentally; frowning, Willow crouched down as well, studying the cigarette butts for a few moments before she looked at her girlfriend again, sounding curious when she replied. "This looks as if someone waited here for her, right?"
"Yes", the demon immediately agreed, "so she wasn't killed randomly, she was singled out."
"Maybe", Willow gave back, straightening up again, "or maybe whoever did this was just waiting for the right person, it's hard to tell from that chalk outline, but I don't think that woman was very big or strong."
"Good point", Pat had to admit, "but not as good as it could have been, because if it was the way you said, it'll be harder to figure out who did this."
"I know", Willow sighed, "but first, we'll have to figure out who she was, maybe that will help… If she had enemies or something…"
"Would've been quite the screwed up person, burning her to death", Pat muttered, looking at the chalk outline again, then straightening up as well and walking over to it, studying the concrete around it.
"I don't think this was done with mundane means", she then let the witch know, turning to look at her, "there are no stains around here which would suggest that she's been doused in gasoline before she was burned, so…"
"So you think it was magic?" Willow demanded to know, grimacing; the thought of fighting a being skilled enough with magic to burn people to death wasn't very appealing to her, but on the other hand, possibly battling a human who'd be deranged enough to pour gasoline over a girl and set her on fire wasn't nice, either.
"Magic, or a demon", Pat sighed, looking at the chalk outline once more, "which is a thought I don't like at all. It's no fun to go up against someone who's just as immune to fire as I am."
"And if it's a witch or a warlock, he's very powerful", Willow helped to make her feel even unhappier about the whole situation; she let out a dismayed grunt, then glanced around once more before she focused on her girlfriend again. "Want to look around once more? I don't think there's anything else interesting here."
"Me neither", the witch agreed, glancing at the chalk outline once more, "we better go back home so I can call Giles and then look into the police database. I wonder if they already know who she was…"
"You think it's Jane, right", Pat stated matter-of-factly, surprising the redhead with her insight; she was honest enough to nod, the miserable look which appeared on her face prompting the demon to put an arm around her and pull her closer again.
"You don't know that yet", she tried to calm the witch down, not sure what else she could say; forcing herself to smile, Willow nodded, throwing one last glance at the chalk outline before she finally started to walk back to the main street, once more looking around to make sure no one was watching before she ducked beneath the crime scene tape, Pat doing the same a moment later, taking her hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze as they started to walk back home, the redhead despite her girlfriend's quiet reassurance not able to shake off the thought that the so far unknown victim had been the girl she'd been working with not all too long ago.
Once they had arrived at the apartment, Willow made her way to the phone the moment after she had taken off her shoes and jacket; again, Giles took the call after the first ring, listening intently to what she had to say, agreeing that hacking into the police database would be a good idea.
"Call me again once you got done there", he then almost ordered, "and maybe you should also look for similar cases, it's quite possible that this wasn't the first victim."
"Will do", Willow promised, then asked if he had found out anything; it didn't surprise her when he told her he hadn't, after all, they hadn't gathered much information so far, and his research had basically been a short into the dark.
"I'll get to work right now", she reassured him, promising him once more that she'd call him the moment she'd get done; then, she said goodbye and hung up, briefly wondering where her girlfriend had gone before the sounds coming from the kitchen gave her the answer.
A minute later, Pat joined her in the living room, carrying two cans of cooled coke; the witch gave her a grateful glance while she took the one the taller woman held out to her, opening it and taking a long sip from it before she sat down on the couch and pulled her laptop closer, Pat sitting down next to her while she started it up.
"I can't help you with that, right?" she demanded to know, even though she already knew the answer, and thus wasn't really surprised or disappointed when Willow shook her head, then smiled at her, a hint of mischief in her voice when she replied. "Well, you can cuddle with me and thus, give me the motivation I need to hack into that database. I think they increased their protection since I hacked into it the last time, at least they are learning when it comes to that."
"Yeah, but they're useless about everything else", Pat muttered, making the redhead giggle and nod; the couple smiled at each other, then the demon moved closer to her girlfriend, making it possible for her to snuggle up to her, making herself comfortable after she had put the laptop on her upper legs for easier access.
"Alright", she mumbled, more to herself than to her partner, her fingers moving over the keyboard with a speed that stunned Pat every time she had the chance to witness it, "now let's see how long it'll take me to get in there."
Curiously, the demon watched how she typed away on the laptop, not able to make much of what the screen was showing; clearly, Willow was doing quite well though, the small smile that started to form on her face being an obvious sign for her progress.
"They did increase their security", she let her girlfriend know after just typing and clicking away in silence for a while, "but it didn't do them much good, I'm in. Now I just have to find the right file…"
"You're awesome", Pat declared in reply, making her giggle; she took the time for a quick kiss, then focused on the screen again, quickly scrolling through the list of files her successful hacking had made available to her.
"I wish they'd give their files more sensible names", she muttered to herself after opening three wrong ones, then finally found the one she had been looking for after two more false tries; the moment she started reading, her face fell, the file confirming what she already had been fearing.
"They already identified her", she let Pat know, the sound of her voice immediately making the demon look at her in concern, "it's Jane…"
"Oh jeez", the black haired woman gave back, "I'm sorry, Sweetie… Are you sure you should go on looking at this then?"
"I have to", Willow replied at once, a strange mixture of sadness and determination in her voice, "I owe it to her…"
With those words, she focused on the file again, grimacing when she read about the fact that Jane had been identified with the aid of her dental records, knowing very well what that meant; next to her, Pat swallowed with an audible click, signalling that she just had seen the same thing and had come to the same conclusion.
"The poor girl", the demon muttered, showing surprising sympathy for someone she only had met once, "no one should die like that…"
"You never killed anyone that way?" Willow wanted to know in reply, not sure if she should be surprised or glad when immediately, the taller woman shook her head, still sounding bothered when she replied. "No, well, at least not humans, I won't count in the demons and vampires I killed that way since I started dating you. But never a human, you know, the point of being an assassin is to kill the victim quick and killing them that way… Well, it's not quick."
"Poor Jane", Willow sighed as an answer, then focused on the file once more; nodding her agreement, the demon fell silent as she watched her work, her mind running well as she tried to figure out how they could find the one responsible for this – and how hard it might be to stop the culprit, if he was just as immune to fire as she was.
After Willow had gotten all the information possible from the file, she called Giles once more, telling him what she had found; it wasn't much, since the stuff the police had taken from the crime scene hadn't been all too unusual, consisting of pieces of clothing and other, uninteresting stuff they had found scattered around the burnt corpse.
"Did you find anything?" she demanded to know after she had given the Watcher the few small pieces of information; to her dismay, he told her that he hadn't and that he needed more information, then asked Willow to put Pat on the phone, the demon accepting the receiver when the witch held it out to her.
"Yup, what?" she asked the moment she had held it to her ear, not all too polite, the Watcher not minding much though.
"I'm afraid this won't be the last victim", he repeated the concern he had voiced earlier, "so I'd like you to focus on the area where the poor girl was killed during tonight's patrol. Can you do that?"
"Sure", Pat shrugged, "if you think whoever did this will go back there…"
"It's worth a try", Giles sighed, having to admit that he had no other leads and hating it, "demons who act like this often stick close to one… hunting ground."
"Good to know", the demon mumbled, then promised Giles that she'd go there later that night; clearly glad about this, the Watcher thanked her, then told her to be careful, well aware of the culprit's fiery nature and about the fact how this immunity might make fighting it much harder for Pat.
"I'll take care", the demon reassured him reply, then asked if he wanted to talk to Willow again, smirking when he said there was no need to and added a goodbye, prompting her to say the same before she hung up and looked at her girlfriend.
"I'll hang around close to that spot where Jane was killed tonight", she informed the witch, the curious look which had been on her face being enough to make her answer the unspoken question, the redhead's expression immediately changing to concern when she heard those words.
"Are you sure it's wise to do that alone?" she then demanded to know, frowning, "if this demon or whatever it is really fights with fire, you might have a hard time killing it. And if it's a witch or a warlock…"
"I'll be fine", Pat reassured her, taking her hand and giving it a tender squeeze, "I'm not even sure that whoever did this will show up there again, Giles thinks so, but, well…"
"I don't like the thought of you doing that alone", Willow sighed out in reply, "what if… something happens to you?"
"I'll be fine", the demon tried to reassure her once more, "really… I know what I'm doing, Sweetie."
"I know", Willow mumbled, closing the laptop and putting it on the table so she could get into a more comfortable position in her girlfriend's arms, "I'm just worried… I know it's silly, but after what that assassin did to you two weeks ago, and I thought you're dead…"
"I know what you mean", Pat let her know, "but I promise you, I'll be fine. In fact, it'll be easier for me to be fine if I go there alone than if you're going with me, because if you're there as well and that thing does come back to burn some more people, I'll have to worry about your safety, I'll be distracted and thus, there'll be a higher chance I might get hurt."
"Good point", Willow had to admit, another sigh escaping her afterwards before she finally gave in, looking at her girlfriend pleadingly as she spoke on. "But promise you'll be really, really careful, and bring your cell phone! If anything happens, call me, alright? And if you do run into that thing and it turns out to be stronger than you think, don't be reckless, run away!"
"You know I hate running away", Pat grimaced, the stern look she received in reply making it her turn to sigh – before she nodded grudgingly, prompting Willow to give her a happy smile.
"Alright", she then stated, "now I feel a bit better about you going there alone. Now, you should get that calm time you mentioned before you go out, so you'll be fit and rested and ready to kick some ass."
"Language", the demon smirked in reply, relieved when it worked just the way she had intended it to – after Willow just gaped at her for a few seconds, she started giggling, relaxing into her girlfriend's embrace afterwards and making herself comfortable, her worries about Pat going out to possibly face whatever was responsible for Jane's death at least for the moment subdued.