Remember Me

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Joss owns it all damn him!

Sorry for the delay! And I know this one is short but,
Ch 24 should be up by Monday.

***

Chapter 23 - Musings and Speculations

Spike chewed nervously on his bottom lip, a habit he'd unconsciously
acquired from Buffy, as both Joyce and Giles paced in front him.
They were going over every detail of his activities last night for about
the fifteenth time. Both lawyers were determined to find some small
detail that might have been forgotten, something that may prove or at
least lead to proof of his innocence.

The police had not yet made an actual arrest, but no one really
doubted that they would. Although so far all the evidence gathered
against Spike had been circumstantial, enough of it could still
guarantee a trial and possibly a conviction.

Spike was getting tired of repeating his story over and over again, but
he continued without complaint. He could tell that Giles was
extremely worried, which made his own worry double. Last night he'd
been lost in the bliss of having Buffy by his side and had thought that
they could conquer any obstacles together. But in the harsh light of
day, things seemed much bleaker. What would he do if they actually
convicted him?

Finally they took a short break, and Spike stepped outside to have a
smoke. It had actually been years since his last cigarette. He even
kept his older lighter with him as a reminder his resolve but the events
of the past two weeks had pushed him back into his old bad habits.
He'd pretty much begged Xander to buy him a pack at the shop
downstairs, trying his best to ignore Buffy's disapproving looks.

Thankfully the girls had insisted that Buffy join them in Willow and
Wesley's room while the boys were out hunting down clues, not that
there was much to go on. Buffy had hesitated at first, not wanting to
leave him, but Spike reassured her that he would be fine and that he
wanted her to have some time to decompress. After his promise to
call is he needed anything, she reluctantly agreed. So now Spike
was free to step out on the balcony and have a smoke.

Spike tapped out a cigarette from the newly opened pack and lit it
with a deep dragging breath. He held the smoke in his lungs, letting
himself feel the slight euphoria of once more taking up an old but
comforting addiction. He blew out the breath he'd held, letting the
smoke spill out of his mouth and into the salty air. He fiddled with the
matchbook he'd found in the bedside table as he pondered the events
of the past few days.

Glancing behind him he saw Giles and Joyce talking, their heads
bowed close together. For a brief moment Spike let himself wonder
whether their intimacy stemmed from more than just a casual
acquaintance in law school oh so many years ago. But then his
thoughts returned to his current predicament. How had he gotten
himself into this mess?

He shivered slightly at the breeze coming off the ocean, hugging his
arms around his own waist to ward off the chill. He still couldn't
believe that Angel was dead. Buffy had said she'd seen his lifeless
body with her own eyes, but Spike still felt as if the whole situation
was a bit surreal. Like something out of a Dali painting, where
everything is crooked and skewed.

He took another puff, exhaling slowly. Spike hadn't felt like he'd had
any time to think to reason out what he should do. He'd known the
moment Buffy had asked him what had happened the other night, he
should have told her the *entire* truth, but he hadn't wanted to upset
her. And now...now he wasn't sure what he should do.

"Will?" Spike was jolted out of his reverie when Giles poked his head
through the open door and bned ned him back into the room.

Spike joined them back in the main suite, once again flopping down
on the sofa cushions. For now he was just going to hope for the best,
it was too late to change his story now at least not without
repercussions he wasn't sure he was ready to face.

***

"Do you think Harmony could have done it?" Cordelia asked as she
munched on an apple from the room service cart they'd ordered.

"Done what?" Buffy muttered after swallowing a large gulp of her iced
tea.

"You know, Angel. Do you think she could have killed him?"

"What?!" Buffy was shocked, she turned to see what her other
friends thought only to find them all looking at her in silent
expectation. "No. You guys didn't see her. She was shocked,
devastated when we identified the body. There's no way she could
have been faking that reaction. And the whole way over there, I could
see how much she was hoping it wasn't going to be true. No. No
way." Buffy shook her head.

"What do you think happened?" Willow asked, nibbling at one of the
croissants while handing over another to Tara.

"I don't know. God, I wish we had some clue!" Buffy exclaimed. "I
hope it wasn't just some random mugging gone wrong or something.
They'll never find the killer then, and all they'll have is Spike." Buffy
looked up worriedly.

"Don't worry. The guys will find something. I'm sure they'll find
something that'll show that Spike wasn't the one." Willow tried to
reassure her friend.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, all four speculating on who
might have killed Angel. Doubtless he had many enemies, the guy
was a jerk and half, but how many of them had access to him here on
the island? How many people even knew he'd be at this conference?
When Buffy reached for her orange juice, she was so lost in thought
she fumbled the glass and ended up spilling the sticky fluid all over
her pants forcing her to make a break for the bathroom to wash out
what she could.

Tara turned to the other girls, wondering how she was supposed to
bring up the subject on her mind. Before she could speak, Cordelia
did it for her. "Do you guys think Spike *could* have done it?"

"Cordelia!" Willow was aghast.

"Hey! Look, I know he wouldn't have *planned* on killing Angel, but
you saw him while Buffy was missing. He would have done anything
to get her back."

Tara nodded at Cordelia's assessment. "And he did go a little
beserky at the courthouse."

"The jerk was leering at Buffy. He threatened her!" Willow exclaimed
surprised at her friends' doubts.

"Exactly." Cordelia pronounced. "Spike was the one who said he'd
kill Angel if he ever went near Buffy again. And there Angel was,
threatening her, goading Spike on."

Buffy stood just outside the main suite listening to her friends'
speculations. Did they actually think Spike could kill someone? Was
there any possible truth to what they were saying?

"But Angel was beaten *and* shot. Whoever did it must have planned
it if they brought a gun with them." Willow pointed out. "Do either of
you really think it could have been Spike?"

Buffy heard the hesitation in Willow's voice and decided that she'd
had enough. She reentered the room noticing that all three friends
were suddenly busy refilling their small plates with fruit and bread.
Her mind was reeling at the conversation she'd overheard, but she
was too chicken to bring it up. She didn't want to talk about it. God,
she didn't even want to think about it.

What if they were right?

***

"What exactly are we looking for?" Lorne asked, searching the
ground with his eyes.

"Anything." Xander replied absently.

"Uh, not much of a help there, Xan." Lorne answered still unsure
what a good piece of evidence looked like.

"Anything out of the ordinary." Wesley supplied. "Anything you think
doesn't belong. Or possibly anything that looks new enough to have
been dropped here within the past 24 hours."

"How can I tell that?" Lorne asked, now crouching low to the ground
and sifting through piles of debris.

"It's really just guessing. Anything that doesn't look like it's been
stomped into the ground by about 50,000 tourists. We can send
whatever we think is important to the labs for testing." Xander
replied. "Or if you want to find the killers wallet with ID in it, I wouldn't
object."

Lorne gave Xander a halfhearted smile, wishing it were that easy.
Lorne stood and surveyed the area. It wasn't a particularly popular
tourist spot, but it wasn't exactly remote either. They were in the
gardens in front of a small pool fed by a waterfall. It was less than
half a mile from the main road, but there was enough foliage to cover
whatever activities had occurred here the previous night.

The body had been discovered by a family of tourists early that
morning, and the area had been cordoned off. Lorne wasn't sure how
Xander and Wesley had gotten them past the patrolmen, but they
had. Since they hadn't found anything significant in the area closest
to the body, they decided to widen their perimeter. They were now
exploring about 500 or 600 yards from the actual murder site.

"Holy crap." Lorne's head snapped up at Xander's exclamation.

***

Spike was still ruminating on what Giles had told him about the
possibilities of a trial, when the guys strode into the room. He looked
up prepared to give a friendly greeting when he caught the look in
Xander's eyes.

"What is it? What did you find?" Spike looked at them all in turn,
hoping for some answers.

"Where's Buffy?" Wesley asked quietly, ignoring Spike's question.

"She's with the girls in your room, mate. What's going on?" Spike
asked, worried now.

"Good." Wesley answered, taking a seat next to Spike on the couch.
Xander sat on his other side, while Lorne took the chair next to the
small circular reading table.

"Tell us what really happened last night, Spike." Xander finally spoke.

"What do you mean?" Spike ld ard around nervously.

"You wanna know what we found? This." Xander thrust out his hand,
palm up.

When Spike looked down the knot in his stomach grew until he felt
like doubling over. In Xander's hand was a small sleek black lighter,
filigreed with vines that circled the base and two small letters carved
in it's side; W.H.

Spike paled at the looks his friends were giving him. "I - "

"Spike, man, none of us believe that you killed that guy. You could
have, yeah, while he had Buffy, but not like this. Angel was executed.
Shot in the head. We know you didn't do it." Xander emphasized
their belief in him. "But you have to explain this." Xander held up his
hand once again. "We can't help you unless we know all the facts.
Unless you tell us the truth about last night."

Spike opened his mouth to speak when he was once again
interrupted. "Spike?" Buffy stood in the entranceway face a mask of
confusion, expression one of bewilderment.