The next day Angel watched from across the road as John Lockwood worked. He was employed as a mechanic in downtown LA.

“It’s him alright.” Said Cordie.

The background search had found no current connection between him and his brother or father. It turned out he wasn’t Peter Lockwood’s natural son, rather his stepson who had taken his mothers new name. He had now reverted to Fox, his birth name.

Peter Lockwood was Dr Paul Lansing, the photo on Lockwood's file confirmed that. As far as they could trace he had changed his identity eight years ago when rape charges were pending against him. He and his family had moved to LA. They were unsure if he still had contact with his family in LA but one thing was certain, he had obviously used his position to protect his son from the authorities after Buffy’s attack.

He had no medical training but appeared to be bright and had an interest in medicine and psychology. Obviously he knew enough not to draw suspicions.

Angel was growing impatient. He needed to know what had happened to Buffy that night, John was the only one who might be able to answer that.

At 6pm he left work. Angel pulled out from the roadside and rushed ahead. They knew where he lived, they would now lie in wait for him.


John Lockwood didn’t notice anything unusual as he got out of his truck. He was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a cold beer. He didn’t get it though because before he could put his key in the lock, Angel and Xander wrestled him to the floor.

Angel had his revolver with him, to ensure cooperation although he hadn’t loaded it.

Angel took the key and opened the door while Xander bundled John inside. They sat him in an armchair and Angel began the interrogation.

They kept the room dark so he wouldn’t see their faces. They had a torch to show him the gun and shine in his face. His expression said he would cooperate. Angel turned the tape recorder on.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“I want to hear about your 15th birthday party.” Said Angel.

“What? That’s some kind of joke right?”

“No, tell me about it. Or more accurately, tell me what happened to Buffy summers at your 15th birthday party.”

Johns face dropped. “Oh god.” He put his head in his hands. “I didn’t know. Not then. I swear, if I’d know what they were I would never have had anyone over.”

“It’s OK, just tell me what happened.”

“I… I didn’t see anything but I found her. She was passed out, in the basement. Hurt. I went to a pay phone to call 911.”

“Why didn’t you use the house phone?”

“I didn’t know the bastard was a rapist but I knew he was scary. If he knew I’d called he’d have beaten me. He was in hiding so calling the police was a big no no.”

“OK, go on.”

John took a deep breath. “I watched as the ambulance took her away. I didn’t know what had happened. I waited until the police left. When I went back in I told Peter, or Paul as he was calling himself then, I told him I’d taken a friend home and saw the ambulance on the way back.” He swallowed. “He told me never to mention it again, he held a knife to my throat and said he was never there, if anyone asked he wasn’t in the house that night.”

He was visibly shaking at the memory. “He was a scary man, I believed him. He wasn’t big scary he was… was kind of cold scary, his eyes were blank, no emotion. I wasn’t in the house when the ambulance was there so the police never questioned me. Thank god. They asked Mom all kinds of questions though but she knew the drill. Said she lived there alone with us two. Told them she had been there all evening, and she’d seen us there all evening. She said she had no idea how Buffy got down there, or who had done it but that there were some older boys who crashed the party. She didn’t recognise them but thought they might have been from a gang. ” He swallowed again. “They believed her. I guess with Buffy incoherent they dropped it.”

“So what happened after they left?”

“I went in, Peter threatened me. I went to bed. Marty was there. He told me he and his dad had had a party. He told me… Told me…” John broke down and sobbed. “I swear I had no idea they were like that.”

“But you still didn’t tell?”

“I was petrified. After he got through with his story I believed even more that they wouldn’t hesitate to kill me.”

Angel made him go into detail about what had happened. Lorne said he needed it to treat Buffy. John couldn’t see it but both Angel and Xander were holding back tears behind the torchlight. John also sobbed. This was the first time he had ever recounted the story.

“Where there others?” Angel asked with a sinking feeling.

“Never at the house. But sometimes they came back together all happy and laughing. I eventually figured out it meant they had done something. Hurt someone.”

When he’d finished Angel asked. “What of Peter’s other life, as Paul?”

“We didn’t know much about it. We, well I was told to call him Paul in public, not that we ever went anywhere. If anyone asked I didn’t have a father or stepfather, we were a single parent family. I gathered from his talks with mum that he was working in a hospital. I thought he might be a lab assistant or something.”

“Where’s your brother now?”

“He’s living somewhere in southern California. Last I heard he was shacked up with some woman. That was years ago though. I was still at home. I ran away when I was 18. Haven’t seen any of them since. Including Peter or Paul or whatever he’s calling himself these days.”

“Do you have a picture of him?”

“I uh, I dunno. I have a few old pictures, mainly of mom and me. Check that draw in the dresser, on the right. If there is one it’ll be in there.”

Angel looked and found a picture of the four of them at a fast food restaurant. Smiling, happy. The camera did lie.

With everything they needed Angel stood up. “This isn’t over. The police will be contacting you soon. Cooperate with them. We’re going to bring him down and if you don’t cooperate, you’ll go down with him.”

“I… I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. I really am. I should have put a stop to it then. But I wasn’t strong enough. I was weak.”

Angel wanted to deck the bastard for his weakness but he didn’t, they would need him. “Just be strong now.”

“I… I will. I promise.”

Angel and Xander left to return to Cordie in the car. As they shut the appartment door they herd a broken man sobbing behind them.