Death Angel

Chapter 21: It All Goes Down

I stayed with Daniel for at least a couple of weeks. Daniel wanted to immediately go out and tell everyone he was with Haley Wellington. He spoke of renewing our engagement.

"Daniel, you're going too fast," I said. "How the heck did you even know it was me?"

"I knew it was you the very first day I met you at Steven's party. There was something about you that was so familiar," he said. "You said everything exactly the same."

"Guess I gave myself away," I said.

"But I had to know for certain," said Daniel. "So I followed you after Steven's dinner." He raised his hand in front of me, "I know how creepy that sounds Vanessa, believe me, but what would you do if you lost the only woman you ever loved, and realized that she came back?"

I smiled. The earnestness in which he said it and the handsome look on those blue eyes was priceless.

That's my Daniel.

"I guess that explains why you were there when I fought with Rina."

"Yes. I saw everything."

"You saw me fight?"

"Yes. There is still so much I don't understand Vanessa, but I would imagine that coming back from dead doesn't come free. I won't press you for answers. For now, I am just happy I have you back. Well, somewhat, that is."

"Okay, Daniel."

"But what made me sure about all this, was the test."

"The test?"

Daniel nodded. "The night I found you all bloodied. After we had treated your wounds, I decided to place you in Shelly's room."

"Ah," I said. "I was wondering about that. Vanessa Hunter was the only other person who's been allowed into that room."

Daniel smiled. "Exactly. And the way you looked around Shelly's room, at her trophies. Your eyes went from trophy to trophy, your eyes had a far-off look, like you were lost in memory. Your eyes went from her swim medals in order of when she won them. You weren't reading what each trophy was, you were remembering them. When you did that, I was convinced it was you."

"Even when you were trying to hide it, you were obvious," he continued. "Ordering the Broiled Redfish at Broussard's was completely something you would do to be mean to me," he said with a smile."

"Oops," I said smiling at him sheepishly.

I deeply enjoyed those precious few days I spent with Daniel. We took time to catch up with each other, even taking time to frequent old haunts. We steered clear of both Broussard's and The Old Absinthe House however. We didn't want to draw unwanted attention to ourselves. Mostly, we stayed home and just spent time with each other.

So I almost regretted it when the day finally came for me to deal with a situation I had been hoping would come a lot later.

"Vanessa!" Daniel's voice startled me awake one morning. I bolted upright, wondering what it was that made him so anxious and looked around. The rays of the sun filtered through the windows of the room we shared.

"Vanessa, this is bad, your face is all over the news."

"My what?"

"Actually, it's both your faces."

"Come again?"

Daniel threw the paper at me. "Read," he said. "And while we're at it, let's turn on the television."

Daniel was right. The paper had my face as the recently deceased Chair of Hunter Robotics. The paper was sensationalizing it of course. It talked about my death, about how Vanessa Hunter had struggled to maintain control over the company. It spoke of rumors of insider trading and possible criminal connections. No outright accusations of course, but just enough to be able to say it.