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CHAPTER 32: It's all a matter of evidence


Spike looked from the corner of his eyes discretely to assess the situation. The conclusion he drew wasn’t good at all. While the headmaster of this little ambush and his lackeys stood in front of him and Gunn, a few more guys surrounded them to keep them from running to safety. Not that he would have--a bloke had his pride--but it still would have been nice to have a back door in case things got too ugly. Affecting his usual nonchalant cockiness, he hooked his thumbs in the waist band of his pants and smirked.

“Anything we can do for you wankers, or is this a social call? Because I gotta tell you, I’m not really the social type.”

The inmate staring him down at the moment--Rick if Spike’s memory was right--just happened to be part of Parker’s regular entourage. The taller man cracked his knuckles in a show of intimidation that was too bloody typical for Spike not to snort in disgust.

“You made a mistake, Rayne. A big fucking mistake.”

Spike opened his mouth in shock, obviously mocking him. Gunn elbowed him in the side as a silent plea to not make the situation even worse for them, but Spike couldn’t help himself. “I did?” He gasped. “Gosh, I didn’t realize. My sincere apology. Not gonna bloody do it again, promise. Now bugger off.” He punctuated his sentence with a smirk.

“Don’t push me, Rayne. In case you haven’t noticed, you’re in deep shit right now. You pissed off a lot of guys when you decided to defend the Warden. We were about to get first class entertainment, but you had to get up and open that big fucking British mouth of yours. I spent the day under the fucking rain, chained to other guys in the middle of nowhere picking up trash from the side of the road thanks to the woman whose ass you saved. The way I see it, it’s all your fault. So tonight, you and your little buddy are the entertainment. You’re going to regret ever being born you fucker.”

“Do you kiss your mum with that mouth, mate?”

Rick opened his mouth to reply, but Spike used the distraction to his advantage and dove head first into the man’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

Gunn stood there for a second, as surprised as Rick by Spike’s move. But he recovered quickly enough and grabbed the guy closest to him and head butted him. “Dude! You could have given me some kind of warning!” He yelled indignantly at Spike.

“Sorry mate, thought you could handle yourself.” Spike mocked while kicking Rick in the stomach.

Gunn only groaned in response, too busy defending himself against three guys at once to think of a reply.

Spike usually enjoyed the rush of a good fight, but this time, the odds were against him and he knew it. He could only hope that the guards would interfere quickly and put an end to the fight.

He heard a guard saying something over the speaker and the doors being locked to contain the fight, but no one was trying to stop anything just yet. He didn’t know how long he could last. Most of the guys were just watching and cheering, forming a circle around them, but at least six convicts were attacking and that was too much for him. He saw that something was happening to the side, probably the guards trying to break their way through the crowd, but the moment it took him to notice that was enough of a distraction to make him lose the upper hand in the fight.

He felt his ribs crack under a vicious kick, then someone grabbing his arms from behind to immobilize him. Rick took the opportunity to work on his face, hitting him with a few solid punches. Then it stopped. Spike managed to shake the pain away long enough to see two guards dragging Rick away and a few more taking care of the other guys. He fell on his knees, and tried to catch his breath. Gunn walked up to him, holding his left arm that seemed to be hanging at a strange angle.

“You alright man?”

“Bloody great. Just feels like having been hit by a truck. I’ll live.”

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Buffy almost jumped out of her skin when she heard someone knocking at her door. She was expecting the private investigator who said he was going to stop by at seven o’clock and it made her jumpy all day. 7PM sharp. The guy was right on time.

It was their first face to face meeting even though he’d been working on the Liam/Darla case for a week now. They had agreed over the phone and she’d given him as much information about the two as she could which wasn’t much. Their names, address, and that she needed him to find some evidence of criminal activity and give her a detailed description of their whereabouts. He said that he would go in reconnaissance, to get and idea of who he was dealing with, and then they would meet at her place in a week to discuss the case. Which was today.

Buffy went to open the door. “Mr. Wyndham-Pryce?”

“Yes, but please, call me Wesley. Mr. Wyndham-Pryce makes me feel like my old man and believe me, that’s not a good feeling.”

She smiled at the man and let him in. He was good looking. Tall, dark, with three days beard that gave him a rugged look, and of course, the British accent. Buffy almost chuckled when she realized that she was surrounded by British guys.

**what’s up with that?** She thought, amused by the realization.

She shook her head and told him to follow her to the kitchen.

“We’ll be more comfortable here. I made coffee, would you like some?”

“That’d be fantastic, thank you.”

She poured the already brewed coffee in two cups and put them down on the table.

Wesley looked up at her. “Would it be too much to ask if you have some Irish cream by any chance? I’ve been up for twenty-four hours and I’m in much need of something to keep me awake right now.”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.” She hurried downstairs to get the bottle of Irish cream, mumbling under her breath that it would be about time that she’d stock her kitchen cabinet with liquor instead of having to go to the bar in the basement every time.

Buffy came back in the kitchen to find Wesley sitting at the table, files and pictures spread out in front of him.

“What’s all this?” She asked, taking a seat.

“A big pile of nothing, I’m afraid.” He answered, not showing any emotion as he pushed some pictures across the table so she could look at them.

She took the pictures in her hands to get a closer look and frowned.

“Angel roughing up his wife.” He explained. “His wife returning the favor. I refrained from taking pictures of the savage make up sex. Bad enough I had to see it, I didn’t see the point in immortalizing it for posterity. Then there’s some more pictures of him getting into bar fights. And Angel and Darla walking into a swingers’ club with another woman. Like I said: nothing that can be of any use to us.”

“But…” Buffy started saying hesitantly, her voice tainted with hope. “That was only one week. Maybe if you keep following him..?”

Wesley took a long, slow, sip of his Irish coffee, taking his sweet time to answer. “You’re absolutely right. I wasn’t expecting to find anything incriminating in only one week, although, with some luck it could have happened. What I did was familiarizing myself with the targets. But if we want our work here to be productive, I need you to be completely honest with me, Miss Summers and tell me exactly what is going on so I know what I’m looking for. I’m sure you’ll understand. All I know is that you want me to find something incriminating. That’s rather vague I must say.”

Buffy stared down at her cup of coffee, not sure if she should tell him everything. “What does it change if you know the story behind it or not?”

The man sitting across the table from her put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers, looking her straight in the eyes. “It changes everything. What I do here is all about trust. We need to trust each other if we want to be able to work as a team. In order to help you, I need to know every detail. You have to believe that my bread and butter depends on my discretion and I have never divulged information about my clients. My methods have been criticized in the past because I’m not afraid to bend the rules to get what I want, but it also means that if there’s a chance of success, I’ll make it happen. So now… Why don’t you tell me what’s at stake here?”

Buffy took a deep breath. “My career and the freedom of the man I love.”

One of Wesley’s eyebrows perked up at this. “All right. What’s the story, Buffy? I can call you Buffy, right?”

“Of course. Here’s what’s going on. I have reason to believe that one of the men in my prison is innocent of the crime he’s been accused of.”

“And you just happen to be in love with that man, correct?”

Buffy blushed lightly. “Correct. But it doesn’t change anything except that it makes it more personal. I would believe his story even if I didn’t have feelings for him. But I could lose my job over this so that’s why I was reluctant to give you all the details. If someone finds out I‘m involved with an inmate, that‘s it for Warden Buffy.”

“You can trust me, Buffy. I have no interest in making you lose your job. Like I said, my reputation depends on my discretion.” He rubbed his stubbled chin absentmindedly, lost in his thoughts. “And you believe Liam MacAlister and his wife are involved in this? Why don’t you tell me what happened to send this man to prison?”

“The man I’m talking about is William Rayne. He was sent to jail last May for the murder of Drusilla Blackwell. It was ruled to be a passion crime. He was lucky in his bad luck not to be sent to the gas chamber… but that’s beside the point. Angel and Darla set it up so he would get framed for the murder. Angel is the one who actually shot Drusilla while Darla watched. Angel and Darla both testified against William as the only eye witnesses and his hand prints were on the gun. Nothing could have saved him from being sent to jail. Now, I want to prove that he’s innocent and have the real murderers locked up in his place.”

“Sounds tricky. Do you have any idea how you want to go about doing this?”

“Well…” Buffy played nervously with her spoon, trying to hide the trembling of her fingers. “I had only one idea. I went to see a lawyer who works for a big law firm in L.A. Wolfram & Hart. Have you hear of them? They’re supposed to be really good.”

Wesley whistled under his breath. “Best bloody lawyers in town. Probably the best lawyers in United State if I may say so. Not always clean though. They’re renowned for keeping rich criminals out of trouble. But that only proves just how good they are. What did the lawyer say?”

“That she couldn’t help me, but if I could get a confession from the real murderer, it would be the only way to get William out of jail. So I thought… I thought maybe I could get close to Angel and Darla, win their trust and get something out of them. That‘s why I hired you. So I could find out more about them and figure out a way to approach them.”

Wesley nodded slowly, his expression dark and unreadable. When he spoke, his voice was neutral, but a sense of dread washed over her. “It’s not enough.”

Buffy’s head shot up to look at him. “What? But she said…”

“Whatever that lawyer told you, she probably just assumed you knew a bit more than you do about these things. You can’t just go in there wired, then bring whatever you got in front of a judge and expect them to take it as evidence. You need to be sanctioned by court order and prepped by authorities or else it won’t be considered as evidence.”

He saw the blood draining out of her face and quickly added:

“BUT. I can help you with that.”

Buffy let out a breath of relief. “How?” She almost whispered, her voice fearful.

“I have connections. I have a friend who works for the Sunnydale Police Department…”

“No! You can’t bring the police into this!”

“And may I ask why not?”

“Because. They’ll ruin everything. They’ll tell me not to get involved, they’ll bring Angel in for interrogation, he’ll tell them the same bullshit story he told them the first time and they’ll let him go. Then he’ll know someone’s trying to frame him and he’ll pack his stuff and leave Sunnydale with his skanky ho. I can’t let you do that.”

Wesley leaned over the table and put his hand over hers comfortingly. “My friend, Kate Lockley, is well known for overlooking the ‘book’, if you know what I mean. She’s a bit like me and she’s not afraid to bend the rules to get her man. She’s an investigator and if I tell her to reopen the case, she’ll find a way to justify it with her boss. I’ll convince her to stay on the outside and not get anybody else involved while you and I do the work. We’ll also contact your lawyer and ask her to do the paper work to make our evidence legit. How does that sound?”

Buffy finally smiled. “Sounds very good.”

Wesley stood up. “But keep in mind that we’re the one who will be doing the hard work. From what I’ve seen, this guy Angel is a bloody nut case. If you decide to go in, I’ll do everything I can to protect you, but you still might be in danger. Are you willing to take that risk?”

“Absolutely.” Buffy answered with conviction.

“Good. So I’ll make the phone calls. What’s your lawyer’s name?”

“Lilah Morgan. Here… Hold on, I have her card in my purse.”

She went to get the business card, and as she was coming back, there was a knock at the door. Wesley, who was putting on his leather jacket, froze.

Buffy looked at him nervously. “Is it OK if I answer?”

“Of course. I don’t see why not. It doesn’t say PI on my forehead. Besides, I was on my way out.”

She looked through the peep hole to see Giles standing there. She plastered a bright smile on her face and opened the door.

“Hey Giles! What are you doing here?.. Not that I’m not glad to see you or anything. I mean…”

Giles gave her a half smile and without a word, held up a box of Krispy Cream doughnuts.

“And you just said the magic word.” She laughed. “Come in.”

When he saw the man standing by the doorway, Giles frowned. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company. Would you rather I’d come back some other time? I should have called first.”

Wesley answered for her. “No, sir, I was just on my way out.” He turned to Buffy and she handed him the card as discretely as she could, hoping Giles wouldn’t ask any questions.

“All right. I’ll call you as soon as I have information. Goodbye Buffy.”

“Bye Wesley… and thank you.”

She shut the door and turned to where Giles was still standing. “Don’t just stand there. Let’s go in the kitchen, I still have some coffee left if you’d like.” He followed her, still carrying the box of doughnuts. He put it down on the kitchen table and took a seat.

“So,” Buffy asked cheerfully. “What brings you here? I hope it’s a social call ‘cause I don’t feel like dealing with prison issues tonight.”

“Buffy, care to tell me what’s going on here?”

She stopped what she was doing and faced him with a puzzled look on her face. “Huh? What do you mean? You’re here to ask me what’s going on? What’s going on with what?”

“I’ll get to why I’m here later. Now, I’m very curious to figure out what I just walked into a few moments ago.”

She turned her back on him to hide her face, busying herself by pouring the left over coffee in two cups. “You mean, Wesley? He’s… An old friend.”

Giles snorted. “I wasn’t born yesterday, Buffy. The unfamiliarity of your body language was quite obvious. This man wasn’t a friend of yours. Pardon me for insisting, but what’s going on? Does it have anything to do with William by any chance?”

Buffy almost dropped the cups on the floor. “What? How… I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He gave her a stern look.

“Fine! Damn I suck at lying. How did you figure it out?”

“Instinct. Do you have some sugar?”

She gave him a blank look before realizing he was talking about his coffee. “Oh. Yes of course.”

Buffy went to get the sugar container and watched as Giles put a few spoonfuls into his coffee.

“Is my coffee that bad? You know what, don’t answer that.” She tried to laugh to lighten up the mood but failed. “So, you’re instincts are that good, huh?”

“Sometimes. But I mostly figured it out because I was expecting you to do something like this. I could not imagine you just sitting back while William is in prison. That man was a private investigator I presume?”

“Right on.”

“Care to tell me what your plans are exactly?”

“So you can tell me how careless and idiotic it is? I’m thinking no.”

“Do you think I’d have a reason to believe that your idea could be careless and idiotic?”

“Careless, no. Not since I have Wesley working with me. He’ll make sure that everything is set up right and that everything is legal so that as soon as I have the proof I need, Spike will be out. But idiotic… You might think it kinda is, yes.”

“Are you going to put yourself in any danger, Buffy? That’s what I’d like to know.”

“It doesn’t matter, Giles. I’m a big girl, I can handle myself.”

“Bloody hell woman, will you tell me what you’re planning on doing so I can scold you properly and have something concrete to worry about?” Giles snapped angrily.

Buffy looked anywhere but at Giles when she told him the story. He listened to her intently, not interrupting, but she could tell he wasn’t taking it too well. “Dear Lord.” He sighed and took his glasses off to polish them with a handkerchief, seemingly lost in thought. The longer the silence lasted, the more nervous Buffy got.

“Say something, Giles.”

“You’re a grown woman, Buffy. There’s not much I can tell you to make you change your mind, is there? But I hope to God that your Spike is worth risking your life for.”

“I won’t be risking my life, Giles. I might be if I was going in by myself with no one to back me up, but Wesley knows what he’s doing. He’s getting the police involved.”

“Glad to know the Police force of Sunnydale is stupid enough to agree to send a young woman alone after a potential murderer. Makes me feel bloody safe to have another proof of how clueless they can be.”

“Please, Giles, I know you don’t agree with this, but I promise I’ll be careful and I won’t take any risk. At the first sign that Angel might suspect something, I’m out of there.”

“Try not to do anything foolish, that’s all I’m asking for.”

“I won’t.”

Giles smiled and pushed the doughnut box towards her. “Would you care for some artery clogging food?”

Buffy automatically wrinkled her nose in distaste. “No thank you. I think I’ll save mine for tomorrow morning. I’m not…”

“Feeling well?” He continued for her, frowning in concern.

“I was about to say hungry. I lost my appetite lately.”

“Yes, and it’s starting to show. You’re face looks thinner and you’re quite pale. Is there anything wrong?”

“Tired I guess. A good night of sleep and I’ll be fine.”

“Buffy, you should be careful. This could be the sign of something more important. You’ve been like this for more than three weeks now. I’ve noticed how you barely touch food. I assumed it must be stress over the William situation, but now I’m wondering if it could be something else entirely.”

“I know you worry about me, but don’t. I’m fine. See?” She took a doughnut and forced herself to take a bite. “Yum! Sugary goodness.”

She swallowed and smiled. Giles only shook his head, worry still obvious in his eyes. Buffy put the doughnut back in the box. Even if she wanted to put on a show for Giles, she still couldn’t force herself to eat it.

“Perhaps it’s none of my business, and I might be completely wrong. But please, humor me. Just go see a doctor. If you’re right and you’re just tired, he’ll tell you, give you some sleeping pills and after a few good nights of sleep, you’ll be back in fighting form. But if there’s something wrong with you, at least you’ll know and you can do something about it. Will you promise me?”

Buffy hesitated, but then gave in. “All right, I’ll go, I promise.”

He gave her a look that clearly meant ‘you better not just be saying this’. “Tomorrow morning?”

“But..”

“Take the morning off. You better not show up at work or I’ll be really disappointed.”

She sighed. “Fine. I’ll go tomorrow morning.”

Giles nodded, obviously satisfied. He decided against telling her that Spike had been in a fight. The girl had enough to worry about. It seemed best to wait until tomorrow afternoon when she got to work.

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A/N: Reviews, please? Wow, you managed to do the unthinkable, you got this proud girl begging! What a writer wouldn't do for some feedback ;) Seriously though, I was really happy with this chapter (ego much?) and I'd like to know what you think. Oh, and I'd like to thank the writers of 24 season one for enlightening me about the technicallities involved in making evidence acceptable legally. What? I did my research. OK, it wasn't so much researching, more like it hit me in the face, but it makes my story more realistic, so yay me.





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