Chapter 15: The Stalker III

The girl in front of her smiled nervously. Even though she reached several inches taller than Joe, she hunched her shoulders in an attempt to make herself smaller. Her long dark hair was halfway pulled away from her face — Joe had no trouble seeing the family resemblance. She had the same strong jawline like Kate had. Joe also had no trouble seeing why Scott was head over heels for this girl.

"So, uh, is Scott home?" Allison Argent smiled with closed lips and raised her eyebrows in a hopeful expression.

Joe considered her options. Normally, she would have given Scott a heads up that there was a young pretty teenage girl heading for his room unexpectedly. Normally, she would without a doubt have checked with Scott first if she should invite his ex-girlfriend — who had dumped him — into their house. Normally, though, she wasn't pissed off at Scott.

He'd arrived home and much like his mom, sprinted upstairs while shouting "Not now, Joe!" over his shoulder when Joe tried to call his name.

"Yeah, he's in his room," Joe said with a friendly smile and opened the front door wider to let the girl inside. "Come on, I'll show you."

"Thanks," said Allison with another tight smile and fidgeted with her long necklace that reached halfway down her chest. First Joe just noticed it briefly, but recognition sent alarm bells ringing in her head. Joe stared at Allison's necklace, the pendant especially, and a tight core of ice began forming in her stomach.

"That's a really interesting necklace," she said, hoping it would come of as normal girl talk. She gestured for Allison to ascend the staircase.

"Oh, thanks." Allison smiled and grabbed the larger pendant to hold it up as they walked. "It's a family heirloom. My aunt gave it to me."

The hunted wolf, the spears, the arrows and the silver. Joe licked her lips and nodded. "It's very...unique." The drawing she had seen of the crest hadn't shown its strange shape. It almost looked like it had been made out of impure silver, maybe re-melted at some point. Of a silver bullet, maybe?

The storytelling ape, Joe reminded herself. But her own mind wouldn't listen to her. That used to be Kate Argent's necklace. Stiles and Derek had called it a clue, but a clue to what?

"It's the last door on the right," Joe said when they came upstairs. Allison thanked her and seemed to steel herself before knocking on the door to Scott's room.

Joe rolled her eyes when Scott yelled: "Not now, mom!" She went back downstairs to give the teenage lovebirds some semblance of privacy. Aunt Mel probably had not heard the doorbell, too busy changing outfits every three minutes in between doing her makeup. To be fair, Joe could not even remember the last time Aunt Mel had gone out on a date. Between her work and Scott, there wasn't too many hours in the day left for herself. Hopefully this sales representative who'd smooth-talked her today would show her a good time.

Aunt Mel used to joke that she wouldn't mind living vicariously through Joe, but Joe's own love life had never been exciting enough to warrant any attention. After that disastrous first year at Berkeley with Alex, she'd stayed away from the dating scene. If she tried to, she could convince herself that it was on purpose.

Back in the kitchen, after making sure the rest of the household remained upstairs, she called Jimmy's cell-phone.

"Delgado, you're alive."

Joe rolled her eyes. It was less than twenty-four hours since they last talked. After he had driven her home, she'd given him the entire stack of case files for Laura Hale's murder. She'd thought that would be enough to occupy him for a while at least.

"Hello to you too," she mumbled into the receiver. "Listen, did you find anything on Kate Argent?" The deafening silence on the other end was answer enough. "Jimmy?"

"Not really, but that's the interesting part. She has absolutely no online presence. No social media accounts, no current address, no listed vehicles — nothing. So what does that tell you?"

"She doesn't want to be traced," Joe murmured softly. Only undercover cops or criminals took such care in covering their tracks. "She said she went to college in Portland. Art history major."

Some rustling on the other side, as if Jimmy shook his head. "Not in any enrollment records."

Of course she'd lied about that. There was probably nothing Kate had told her that would stand the light of day. Except the part about Derek. It was a strange thing to lie about. Joe almost got the impression Kate was bragging about it.

"When was the last time Derek lived in Beacon Hills?"

"What?"

Joe repeated her question slowly. "When was the last time Derek was in Beacon Hills?"

"Uh...Hang on." More rustling, shuffling of paper, tapping on a keyboard. "I can't be positive, but I don't think Derek's been back here since the fire. He moved cross-country from what I've been able to find."

The lump of ice in Joe's stomach grew in size. That meant that if Kate had a thing with Derek when he was last in Beacon Hills, she would have been here at the time of the fire. And the clue...

"Jimmy, did Laura ever mention anything about a crest to you? Like a coat of arms, with a wolf-"

He interrupted her before she could finish the sentece. "And the spear and arrowhead?"

"Yes! Jimmy, listen, that crest is an Argent family heirloom. Previous owner: Kate Argent."

Another long silence with only Jimmy's breathing coming through the earpiece. When he spoke, it was in an awed whisper. "Mister X."

"More like Miss X," Joe corrected and went to the hallway to get her coat. "I'm heading over to yours, we need to gather what we have and take it to the police."

She barely heard the beginning of a protest from his side, but already cut the line. He would just have to get over his paranoia. If Kate had conspired to kill an entire family, she deserved justice at the hands of her peers. Jimmy could write his book about it afterwards. Hopefully, in-between his research and the latest events, they could gather enough circumstantial evidence that would convince the police to look further into it. Maybe even get a search warrant for Kate's car, Joe was sure she had plenty of firearms stocked after their last run-in.

The doorbell rang as she was in the middle of lacing up her winter boots.

Aunt Mel shouted downstairs: "Can someone get that please?"

"I got it!" Joe called back. It had to be her date and Aunt Mel was running late because of her many dress-changes. Trying to put on a normal smile for her aunt's sake, she opened the door.

"Hi," said the handsome middle-aged man on their doorstep. He had slicked back dark hair and wore a sombre, but respectable outfit in a mix of gray and black. His voice was really soft. "You must be Joe."

"Yeah," she said and furrowed her brows at the sight of the man. "Sorry, have we met? You seem kinda familiar."

"I suppose I would," he said in an almost excessively sweet voice. She kept squinting to see if any of his features stood out enough to place him. "Did Derek have the talk with you today?"

Joe's smile slid off her face. "W-what?"

Behind her, she heard the rumble of Scott throwing himself down the stairs. He pushed Joe to the side in order to slam the door shut. Or at least he tried. The man outside shot his foot out to stop it and pushed it back open with seemingly little effort despite Scott keeping his whole weight on it.

"Really?" the man said and gave Scott a pitying look. "Slam the door in my face? Come on, Scott. Take a second to think that through."

"You need to leave or I'm calling the police," Joe said and tried to step in front of Scott, even if he wouldn't let her.

The man tilted his head. "And tell them what? That I'm taking your aunt out on a date?"

They all turned as Aunt Melissa appeared at the top of the stairs in the middle of putting on ear-rings. "Just-just half a second. Sorry!" She disappeared from sight.

"You have really smooth skin," the man said to Joe and she found herself taking a step back. "I bet a bit of sun really brings out those freckles." He smiled again, a sardonic expression that never reached his eyes. "You know, I read that all skin-types benefit from using SPF all year round." Joe leaned backwards as the man leaned forwards to whisper: "Just a little F Y I."

He pronounced the three letters with dark intention. FYI. For your information. Unable to form any words, she stared at what had to be the benefactor behind those police files. Scott looked seconds away from throwing a punch and Joe wondered if she should stop him or help him. Who - was - this -guy?

"Joe? Joe, can you give me a hand?"

Aunt Melissa's voice rang out and Joe stared wild-eyed at Scott. He gave her a pleading look. While he nodded his head for her to go, he also mouthed: "Don't say anything."

"Joe! Please!"

In a daze, she stumbled up the staircase, moving backwards to avoid turning her back on the doorway. The man seemed relaxed in his posture, unlike Scott who's shoulders were tensed through his sweater. He had not exactly threatened them, not directly, but nothing about the man gave her any semblance of good vibes.

She found Aunt Melissa in the bathroom where it looked like a makeup case had exploded over the sink. Aunt Mel stood hunched over grasping at her left ear. "Oh thank God, hi, please, help!" Joe wordlessly helped her untangle her dangling ear ring that had caught in both her top and her hair. Scott hadn't wanted her to say anything.

"Okay, how do I look?" Aunt Mel said breathily when her ear was free and she'd switched to a pair of studs instead. "Does it look like I'm trying too hard? Or is that not necessarily a bad thing, right, it could be a compliment." Joe stared blindly as Aunt Mel twirled in a brocade suit that accentuated her womanly figure. "Oh God, you're not saying anything. Is it that bad?"

"No, no," Joe said through the lump in her throat. "No, you look great."

"Thank God." Aunt Mel clasped her hands together. She checked her watch that was a permanent fixture on her wrist, a side-effect of her profession. "Okay, we need to leave if we're gonna make that reservation."

In almost juvenile giddiness, Aunt Melissa bounced down the stairs to where Scott and the man stood in an obvious impasse at the door. Joe drifted down after them, almost tempted to shout out a warning, but Scott shook his head behind his mom's back.

"I'm ready, I'm ready," Aunt Mel said triumphantly while snatching her purse from the dresser by the stairs. "Sorry again."

Her date smiled amiably and made room for her to exit the door while simultaneously offering her his arm. Joe gripped the bannister so hard her fingers were straining white. Scott felt the same tension, he had to, as he made a last ditch effort:

"Mom!"

Aunt Mel turned with raised eyebrows and bit out: "Yes, sweetheart?"

Joe slumped back to sit on the steps and Scott's courage failed him. "Have a good time." Aunt Mel nodded and her date gave Scott a last look before swinging the door shut. Scott stared at it like an abandoned puppy and Joe tore down the stairs to glare at him.

"Who the-" Joe let out a choice selection of curse words "-was that?"

"Derek's uncle," Scott said, not looking away from the door.

"What, the catatonic one?"

Scott's puzzled expression snapped to face her. "How do you know all of this?"

"Nevermind that," she mumbled, churning over this new revelation. Derek's uncle. No wonder he'd looked familiar. "That explains where Derek gets his creep-gene." Joe blinked and hit Scott in the shoulder. "Wait, he's the only survivor from the fire!"

"How do you...How do you know this stuff?" Scott stuttered at her while throwing his hands up.

"Scott, is he..." Joe couldn't bring herself to say it. Apart from Laura and Derek, who else had any kind of motive for going after the arsonists? Laura had a solid alibi in being dead, and Derek...okay, Derek didn't really have any alibis, but he had been right about one thing earlier. Joe really did not believe he was the killer.

"I need to go," Scott said, not acknowledging her question.

"Scott, your mom is on a date with-"

"I know!" Scott shouted at her. His eyebrows were drawn high, obviously stressed out and in a hurry. "I know, Joe. Don't worry, I got a plan!"

"We should call the cops!"

"No!" Scott stopped halfway up the stairs. "If we don't have solid proof, Mom is gonna think I'm sabotaging her date. She deserves to be happy, for just a little while at least."

"Okay, fine, but what's your plan then?"

Scott made a face. "I'm gonna sabotage her date."

Rain poured onto Joe's windshield. Her wipers went berserk back and forth, trying to clear it enough for her to drive. For once, she parked in front of Jimmy's apartment building and ran to the front door, hitting his buzzer repeatedly.

Scott had promised and pinky-sweared to keep her posted on Aunt Mel. He seemed to have a plan of getting her home discreetly without letting on that the first date she had agreed to in the last few years was with a probable mass-murderer. Joe kept wondering about Derek — if Scott knew about his uncle, Derek had to too, right? So why wasn't he trying to clear his name and get his uncle arrested?

"I don't think we have enough to go to the police," was Jimmy's first words when she entered his apartment. He gave a pointed look to the puddle of rainwater she left on his carpet.

"We don't need to have enough to get her arrested, just to re-open the case," Joe argued and stalked to his conspiracy-board while shrugging off her coat. More notes and pictures were pinned up, many of them from the police file. Why had Derek's uncle given her those? It was like he wanted her to look into Laura Hale's murder for some reason.

She relayed the information about Derek's allegedly catatonic uncle walking around like nobody's business. Jimmy prodded her for questions before he disappeared into some filing cabinet in deep thought, sometimes whispering to himself.

Joe focused on the red yarn linking the different parts of Jimmy's map together. Motive, opportunity and means. That's what you needed to get someone convicted. Derek's uncle's motive was easy as ever: revenge. She was a bit iffy about means or opportunity, if he actually had been comatose or somehow faked it since the murders began. Also, many of the murders were ruled as animal attacks — how had he made them be so convincing?

And Kate...She had a gang of arsonists as her means and her past with Derek revealed an opportunity. But what was the motive? Jealousy, maybe? If Derek broke things off with her, could she have snapped completely and suffered a pychotic break? Kate definitely seemed like the kind of girl to key a guy's car over the slightest misunderstanding.

But it was a big leap from ruining someone's paintjob and committing homicidal arson.

Joe checked her phone every few seconds. Finally, Scott sent her a confirmation that Aunt Mel was back home, without her date. Thank God. One less thing to worry about. Why had he even bothered to go after Aunt Melissa? Did he know Scott and Stiles were looking into the murders and using Scott's mom as blackmail?

Jimmy finally looked up from his notebook that was filled to the brim with inserted photos and post its. "I think Peter killed Laura."

"Who?"

"Peter Hale, Laura and Derek's uncle," Jimmy explained and Joe raised her eyebrows. First time she'd heard the name. Jimmy came over with the book, pointing at his own crooked handwriting. "If you can try to keep an open mind for half a minute, I think I can explain why."

Joe squeezed her eyes shut. She knew where this was going. "Fine."

"Okay, from what I've researched, the Alpha-title is passed down in succession." He saw her expression and rolled his eyes. "Open mind, Joe, please! Okay. So this means that the old Alpha has to die for the new one to inherit its status. This can either be done by choice or...force."

"Suppose for the sake of argument that I'm willing to spend half a brain cell on this," Joe said and shrugged off the dirty look Jimmy sent her. "What exactly is an Alpha?"

"Pack leader. Stronger, bigger, mysterious powers-"

Joe rolled her eyes.

"-probably including full shapeshifting."

"As opposed to the regular run-of-the-mill partial shapeshifting?"

Jimmy glowered until Joe mumbled an apology for interrupting him. "I have every reason to believe that Laura inherited her Alpha status from the original Hale Alpha." Joe closed her eyes to suppress the urge to roll them again. Jimmy talked about this stuff like other people discussed pizza recipes. "Peter might have killed Laura to gain her Alpha-powers."

He delivered the final line like he was Sherlock Holmes revealing the murderer's true identity and awaited her reaction. She had pushed her palm against her mouth to avoid making any faces at Jimmy. He had just used the words 'Alpha-powers' completely without irony. "Okay, yeah, I guess that makes as much sense as a motive as anything else."

If you subtracted the part about it making no sense at all! Wolf packs did not even have that hierarchical system of alphas, betas and omegas — the theory was debunked by the same man who first came up with it! And Jimmy apparently thought that Derek, Laura and Peter Hale were all werewolves! Did they vouch for the family special at some point?

She was going to comment on this, just as she found the right words without offending Jimmy so much he kicked her out, but then her heart stopped.

Without any pre-warning, the sensation of a skeleton hand squeezing her heart filled her body. Unable to even scream, she toppled forwards on her knees, then her face with limbs shaking. "Nngh!"

"Oh no! Not this again!"

Joe barely heard Jimmy's panicked words through the buzzing of her own pain. Face down on the floor, she spasmed and shook as harsh tendrils of agony crunched at her nervous system. Her body flopped around on Jimmy's carpet, teeth gnawing together, eyes rolling back in her head. Fingernails tried to find grip in the carpet fibers, to find any solid holding point, to confirm she was actually still alive and not already dead, burning in the flames of Hell itself.

Her head lolled sideways as Jimmy turned her over, trying to get her twitching limbs laying in a stable recovery position. For some reason, she focused on Jimmy's dining table, while the seizures made her jerk around without control. Through a haze of pain and fear, the dining table was something real, tangible, harmless.

Then, as suddenly as it came, it stopped.

Already lying sideways, Joe pulled together in a fetal position while taking such a big gulp of air it sounded like a scream. She whimpered and now trembled — not from pain, but from fear of the pain returning.

Jimmy wordlessly put a blanket over her body and she dug her fingers into the fabric while pulling it closer around her. "What's happening to me?"

He sighed and sat down next to her head. She was grateful he refrained from touching her, her insides still felt raw and sore. "I think the correct question is, what's happening to Derek?"

Derek. Even the thought of him made her shut her eyes, trying to prevent a tear from escaping. Derek. The name brought some semblance of comfort and her primal brain, in charge of emergencies, shut down any misgivings of how it simply did not make sense. Derek. Derek with the sun in his hair. Derek with a light reflected in his eyes. Derek with the edge of his lip pulled slightly upwards.

"What...what did it feel like?"

Jimmy's voice sent her daydreams crashing again. Her throat tight, she asked: "What do you mean?"

"Was it like a gunshot? Arrow wound? Poison?"

What did it feel like? What had it felt like? It felt like fire inside her skin, burning at her nerve endings, scorching her lungs and heart. Joe swallowed, not wanting to think about it. "It felt like being struck by lightening. Over and over and over again."

Just as she said it, it came again. She had just enough breath in her lungs to scream.

You guys, I have no shame in admitting it, reviews make me post faster. Also, I'm very eager to move the story forwards since I'm now heavy into writing the second season (spoiler: It's gonna be a lot more Derek). But now finally Peter is here! And, unfortunately, that's not so good news for Joe and Derek.

I'm glad you guys liked the interaction between Derek and Joe in the last chapter. Yes, she's stubborn, and they're both drama queens tbh.

We're getting closer to the season finale and I'm honestly so excited! Two more chapters to go. I'm gonna continue the second season in this same story, because Joe's arc isn't done yet.

Thanks for reading and thanks for leaving reviews! Let me know what you think of this chapter please :)