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Thanks to all for the reviews, much appreciated
Chapter 21

Anya and Xander’s house, 1 hour and 45 minutes later………


‘DING DONG’ Anya snatched open the front door –

“Xander Harris where have you– oh, OH – Oh my God, what- What’s happened – is Xander okay?” There were two cops standing there

“I’m sorry? – Does a Mr Xander Harris live here?”

“Yes, well um yes, but he’s not in”

“He is the key holder for Giles’ Fine Art Gallery in the Mews, is that right? – We phoned the owner and got a recorded message saying all enquires were to come to this name and address”

“Yes – why, what’s happened? Xander’s at the gallery right now, I’ve tried to phone him a dozen times but I’ve got no answer” The two cops looked at each other

“I’m afraid that there has been a fire at the gallery”

“A fire – oh my God!”

“You say this Mr Harris is already there?”

“My husband, yes, he thought he’d accidentally locked somebody in and went back and checked”

“When was this?”

“About two hours ago – a fire did you say, how bad?” Anya clung to the front door, her knuckles going white. The one cop’s radio crackled into life and he walked off down the path, listened, spoke, and then came back

“Would you please come with us Mrs Harris”

“Why, what is it?”

“The fire department have found a body” For a second Anya’s eyes went huge, then they fluttered and she lost her grip on the door and swayed

“Oh hey there………I got you…come on………there you go………” The other cop caught her before she fell

“Xander? Not my Xander, please God, not my Xander!!!” Anya began to cry

oOo

“Where have you been – you only just made it!” Cordy hissed hauling Angel up into the plane

“Sorry, got caught in traffic!”

“He wanted to go ten minutes ago! – Luckily enough for us it’s the opposite direction of most of the commercial flights so he hasn’t lost his take-off slot!”

Angel sat down on floor

“No safety belts?” he asked with a grin

“Ew…what’s that on your hands….sticky – phew –it, yuk, it stinks too!” Frowning Cordelia looked for something to wipe her hand on, and settled for a piece of old tarpaulin hanging up

“Sorry…I was in the studio”

“Ready for take-off now?” the pilot asked Cordelia she nodded and gave him the thumbs up and then she said to Angel

“While we take off, we’re to assume the crash position, like this” She drew her knees up and rested her head on them, hands on top of the crown of her head.

“I see…then we do the Hokey cokey do we?”

“Angel! Be serious!”

Serious was the last thing Angel wanted. Serious meant that if he was ever caught for this thing he’d done, he’d most probably added murder to arson………and he DEFINITELY didn’t want to think about that………

oOOo

Getting into the town centre was a nightmare to say the least, backed up traffic – the police car wove in and out of stranded buses and cars to get as close to the gallery as possible.

When they got there, the paramedics were just closing the back of the ambulance doors. The cop ran over and spoke to the medic, then pointed to the police car. He came running over

“They think it is your husband Mrs Harris, they found his wallet in his jacket – but he’s alive, just, but they must get him to hospital – you can go with them”

Anya got out and ran to the ambulance. She glanced at the gallery – it was still on fire, flames shooting hundreds of feet up into the air – it looked pretty much burned out. She was helped into the back of the ambulance and saw a medic working on her husband. Xander had a bandage around his head

“Okay hold on, it might be a bit of a bumpy ride” the medic said and Anya watched numbly as the medic secured an oxygen mask over her husband’s black streaked face. The siren started up making her jump and the ambulance mounted the pavement to get past the traffic. Anya reached for her husbands hand and started to cry again.

ooOOoo

“What ever you do, don’t let me buy anything else; I must be waaaaaaaay over the luggage weight limit as it is!” Buffy said, trying to fit more packages into her case. Frowning, she took things out, put them back in a different order and so on again re-arranging them.

“You’ll be okay, I never bring much, just a few tee shirts, a sweatshirt, one woolly sweater and shorts, my cut-offs and jeans, and a couple of shirts and one decent pair of trousers does me here, so I can take one of your cases” William said

“Thanks. I packed warm stuff as everybody said England was cold and rainy!” Buffy said with a grin

“Well next time you see them you can tell them the average lunchtime temperature was 80 degrees – see what they know!”

“Where do you want to eat tonight?”

“Oh god! I’ve got to stop eating, my jeans are getting so tight!”

“Nonsense, you look as gorgeous as ever!” William stood behind her and slipped his arm around her waist, pinning her to him. He began to nibble the back of her neck making her squeal and wriggle, they both began giggling

“S-stop!! Oh god, I can’t breathe!” they fell on the bed, still laughing

“We shall go to the Chichester Arms, where I shall have a small prawn salad” Buffy stated matter of factly

“Yeah, for starters, then a dirty big streak with fries and all the trim-“ William teased, tickling her

“No, no, NO! JUST the small salad!” Buffy said trying to tickle him back.

“I know you young lady! It’ll be a small prawn salad now, but in a couple of hours, the prawn will have grown into a lobster!”

Buffy giggled and said ‘no!’ they both lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, panting from their exertions

“I don’t know how you can eat prawns” William said grinning

“Why, what’s wrong with them?” Buffy asked. She struggled to sit up, so she turned on her side and propped her head up looking at William, who turned and looked at her

“Nothing, nothing at all wrong with them, they’re delicious!” William said grinning

“Well then, why don’t you know how I can eat them?” Buffy was smiling too

“Ever see the film Shark Tale?”

“Uh huh!”

“Well, remember that bit when Don Lino tries to make Lenny eat a prawn cocktail, and the prawn pops up out of the dish and begs him, saying ‘no, don’t do it’, and then goes on to give a sob story about his sister having a deformed baby then dying so he had to work extra hard and long to keep their little mouths fed…you might be eating the daddy prawn, that’s why it’s a shame!” Buffy giggled and popped him one on the arm.

“Ow, cruel and heartless you are, eating daddy prawns!!” William tried to move from Buffy’s tickling fingers and he fell off the bed, they couldn’t move for laughing.

Meanwhile, unbeknown to William, on his switched off mobile phone, the first of many frantic messages were being left for him to urgently contact the Sunnydale Fire Dep.

oOo

“I told you – a small prawn salad!”

“But babe, don’t starve yourself – we can diet when we get back home where there’s none of this rich air sharpening our appetites” William cajoled. Buffy immediately weakened and said

“I’m glad you said that coz I’m starving!” Buffy said

“I’m going to have…the Howath Farm pork steaks in Calvados sauce” William said

“Hmm, what’s Calvados?” Buffy asked

“Apple brandy – remember when we went to the cider factory?”

“Oh yes of course…hmm…I’m going to have…the lamb – no the chicken Kiev – yeah, the chicken Kiev with salad and fries”

ooOOoo

“From what we can tell, he has what we call blunt force trauma to the back of his head, yet he was found face down so whether he hit his head on something, or, and this is the more likely scenario, he was hit with something large and heavy from behind. And of course he has smoke inhalation too” The doctor explained to Anya

“You think somebody hit him?”

“That’s what it looks like I’m afraid, yes”

“But why – Xander wouldn’t hurt………he (hiccup) he wouldn’t hurt a fly – why would anybody want to hurt my Xander? Anya broke down in tears again. Through the double doors came one of the policemen that had brought her from the house.

“I’m sorry to trouble you Mrs Harris, but could you please tell me what happened tonight – from when your husband got home”

oOo

“………It was a surprise to you, the way he stood up from dinner?” The policeman asked, writing it down

“Totally, he made me jump – he was panicking – he thought he’d lock Cordelia Chase in the gallery”

“Mrs Harris, I’ve got to ask you this, did you believe him?”

“What?”

“Did you believe him – did it seem genuine?”

“I don’t understand what you mean?”

“Was he panicking do you think, because he’d done something wrong?”

Anya looked blankly at the policeman and said,

“I don’t understand what you are trying to say”

“Is it possible that your husband could have started the fire?”

“WHAT – NO!” Anya stood up, bent over and hissed

“My Xander wouldn’t do that! He loves his job, he wouldn’t do that to William, he wanted everything to be perfect when William got home!”

“This Cordelia Chase, who is she, and why did he think he’d locked her in, do you know?”

“She’s Angel Stebson’s Agent and secretary. Xander said he’d driven passed her car when he left the gallery, look, he told me that Angel Stebson had come into the gallery twenty minutes before closing, wondering if there had been any enquiries about the exhibits……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………………Cordelia was a real cow to him when they were at school, he was frightened that he’d locked her in, he said he never checked the ladies toilets before locking up, that’s why he dashed back – that’s all I know - I was waiting for him to return home and you showed up”

“I’ve got to tell this Mrs Harris, if and when your husband wakes up, he’ll be under arrest for questioning about this fire, preliminary reports show that it might be arson”

Anya put her hand to her mouth and began shaking her head saying no, no, no! Over and over again

“Why aren’t you looking for them – that Cordelia bitch and Stebson – and whoever hit my husband on the back of the head!” Anya managed to spit out at last

“Somebody hit your husband on the back of his head?” the police man frowned

“Yes! That’s what the doctor told me, he has a …what did he call it? A force trauma thing on the back of his head”

“Was it a blunt force trauma?” The cop asked

“Yes! That’s it a blunt force trauma, the doctor just went to look at the x rays now” The other cop came through the doors with the doctor. Anya heard the term ‘blunt force trauma’ again and the doctor came over to Anya

“Mrs Harris – my suspicions have been confirmed there is a perfect semi-circular bruise on the back of your husband’s head, fire crews told me that lying near his body was an extinguisher, looks like he was hit with that”

“See – I told you – I TOLD you my Xander wouldn’t set fire to the place, he was trying to put it out!” Anya said to the cops.

ooOOoo

“Hmm God, I couldn’t eat another mouthful, I’m stuffed!” Buffy said sprawling back on the sofa when they got back to the cottage. They were going to have a walk, but it had turned chilly and it was raining in the wind.

“Well you relax, how about we watch a DVD and finish off that litre of Soave from the other night?”

“Sounds great to me…what do you want to watch?”

“Don’t mind…”

“I don’t mind scary…but I don’t want gunky-scary” Buffy said flipping through the titles

William came in grinning with two glasses and the wine and sat next to her and asked,

“What’s gunky-scary when it’s at home?”

“Yukky, body bits and blood and guts and stuff – yuk! – Oh this one, or this one?” She held out Shanghai Knights or Dodgeball

“I love Jackie Chan movies!” William said taking the first DVD off her

“Me too!” They settled down and watched the movie, both falling asleep near the end.





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