Jump to new as of June 22, 2002
Prologue
With a cackle and an evil grin, the person in black looked over to their companion and said, "Ah, the unsuspecting people of Meryton. They have no idea what's about to hit them."
"Yes. They think that their lives are perfectly safe. They have another thing coming. This should be fun." Taking one last look at the town below, they turned and walked to their car.
Chapter 1:
Thomas Bennet looked up and gave a sigh when he saw his wife running towards him. 'Looks like she finally found out that someone bought Netherfield. Now she'll be talking my ear off for the next couple of hours.' Rolling his eyes and shaking his head to rid his thoughts, Thomas began to make himself comfortable in his seat as much as possible so he could endure his wife's raptures with some forbearance.
"Oh Thomas! Maggie just told me that someone has finally bought Netherfield!"
With a wry grin, Thomas thought, 'I should have guessed! Maggie Phillips is the biggest gossip in Meryton.'
"She also tells me that the person who bought it is Charles Bingley. He is single, rich, single, quite handsome, single, very nice, and did I mention that he's single?"
"What does him being single have anything to do with it?"
"Thomas! Sometimes you're so dense! With him being single, there's a very good chance that he'll take interest in one of our five girls!"
"Gwen, you have to remember, Kitty and Lydia are too young. They're not eighteen yet for crying out loud! And you know that Mary is only interested in Bill Collins."
"Even better! That leaves Jane and Lizzy. Everyone says they are the prettiest girls in the town, if not the country!"
Picking up his paper, Thomas tried his best to zone out his wife while she prattled on and on and on about Charles Bingley. He was very successful in ignoring Gwen, but a sudden outburst from her caught his attention.
"What do you mean you want me to visit Charles Bingley!?!?"
"You heard me! I said I want you to visit him. He is new to the neighborhood. Plus, William and Melanie Lucas are determined to visit him! Oh, to think! Those Lucas' are already trying to weasel themselves into his life, in order to marry him off to Charlotte no doubt!"
Muttering under his breath, Thomas said, "Like you have room to talk."
Giving her husband the evil eye, Gwen angrily spat, "What did you say?"
With a sigh of defeat, he said, "Nothing dear."
"Good. Now are you going to go visit Charles Bingley or not?"
"I already told you that I'm not going!"
"You are a cruel, unfeeling father! If you cared in the least for your girls, you would go and visit Charles Bingley!"
"If you are so dead set on someone from our family visiting Charles Bingley, tell me, why won't you be the one to go and visit him!?!?" Then, deciding to lower his angry voice, he decided to take on a mocking tone, in which he knew Gwen wouldn't realize that he was making fun at her own expense. "Surely, Charles Bingley would find you the prettiest out of the group if you took them. I say we just send the girls off by themselves. I wouldn't want this young fellow to take you away." He said this last statement thinking that he would not mind in the least if someone would come and take her away so he could have some peace!
Giggling, Gwen said, "Oh my dear Thomas! You don't have to worry in the least! No one will ever take me away from you! You have nothing to fear my dear! Oh look! I was a poet and didn't know it!" She began to laugh from her mirth, due to her being so poetic and never realizing it before.
'Ugh! What did I ever do to deserve this!?!? I'm stuck here with a woman who doesn't even realize how ridiculous she sounds!' Placing his head in his hands, Thomas sat in silence as he listened to his wife, while trying to rid all vile thoughts from his head.
Chapter 2
In truth, Thomas Bennet had been planning to visit Charles Bingley. Even though Gwen kept prodding him to go visit, he kept it a secret that he had already visited and welcomed Charles to the neighborhood.
Thinking to himself, a wry grin began to spread on Thomas's face when an idea struck him. 'Who says I can't have a little fun? Teasing Gwen a little has always been enjoyable enough.'
Eyes sparkling with mischief, he said, "I see that your tailoring talents are still as grand as they ever were Lizzy. I hope Charles Bingley will like that suit you're making."
Giving her husband a look to kill, Gwen sharply said, "How will we ever know what Charles Bingley likes since you did not do your job as a father and seek out an acquaintance with him!"
Gasping, Thomas said, "You said a three-word syllable! The apocalypse is upon us! It's the end of the world! We're all doomed! Doomed I tell you! Doomed!"
Trying her best to stifle her rising laughter, Elizabeth said, "Mom, you know that we will more than likely see him at the party being held in town." This seemed to soothe Gwen's scorn , but not by much.
Finally deciding to let the cat out of the bag, since he did want to sleep in his bed rather than on the couch, he said, "The truth of the matter is that I visited Charles Bingley last week, when he first started moving in."
For the first in their marriage, Thomas saw Gwen's jaw drop to the floor, staring at him in disbelief, and not uttering a single word! Thinking cheerfully to himself, he thought, 'Looks like I got the reaction I wanted out of her!' Deciding to make a quick exit, he got up, muttering something about having to go into town to get something, and left before Gwen could fully come out of her apparent stupor. Each of the five girls in the room decided to follow their father's lead and leave the room before their mother came out of it.
Grabbing her coat, Jane walked to the door, and yelled, "I'll be back later. I have to go into town. Does anyone want me to pick up anything?" But before anyone could answer, Jane was out the door and already making her way towards her car. She knew if she waited for a response, she could say goodbye to her paycheck.
20 minutes later, in town...
The sun was slowly setting, allowing the shadows to grow. The perfect way for someone to conceal themselves, if they so chose to.
Running from one shadowed area to another, the duo clad in black tried their best to remain unseen and unheard by anyone passing them.
Seeing that they had reached their destined location, The Meryton Hotel, the man in black pulled down the ladder of the fire escape so he and his female counterpart could get up to the room on the third floor. Seeing that their target was sleeping, they easily snuck into the room without worrying about him calling for help.
Pulling a pair of handcuffs and a gag out of the bag she was carrying, the two began to restrain their victim so he wouldn't be able to get away or alert anyone to what was about to befall him.
Groggily waking from his drunken sleep, George Wickham tried to scream when he saw the man and woman in black standing at the end of his bed, grinning lecherously at him. Realizing that he was gagged and that he could not escape, due to the fact he was bound to the bed, George began to plea for his life with his eyes.
He began to ease when he saw the woman smile sweetly at him, as if he wasn't going to be hurt. His sense of peace was gone at once when he saw the man pull out a knife. Watching the man in black walk slowly towards the wall, George began to understand what his fate was going to be. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he watched the man slowly cut the rope tied to the wall. Looking at the ceiling above him, he could see that the chandelier started to slowly lower itself before the rope finally snapped.
The woman casually walked up to George and felt for a pulse. She grinned evilly to her partner. This was enough for him to know that George Wickham was indeed dead and that they successfully committed their first act of murder.
Chapter 3
The sudden death of George Wickham had the whole town in uproar. Little else was spoken of. Not even the yearly Meryton ball or the prospects of getting involved with the new members of town could rally any kind of excited response.
Fluttering all over the room, Gwen screeched, "I don't see how this could have happened!!! Of all the places!!! Are we not safe any more!?!? Oh Thomas!!! You have to protect me!!!"
Rolling his eyes, Thomas said, "First of all Gwen, you're not the only person in this household. Secondly, you would drive any murderer to suicide with your talking."
Giving him an evil glare, she yelled, "Why do you continue to make fun of me at my own expense at a time like this!?!? Do you have no compassion on my nerves!?!?"
Deciding his best cause of action was to retreat, he stood and said, "My dear, I highly have compassion for your nerves, but for you, I'll have to think about it." With that he made a quick exit and locked himself in his library while Gwen sat there shell shocked.
That night...
"Girls! Will you hurry up! We'll be late if you don't hurry!"
"Gwen, leave the girls alone. There's still plenty of time to get there."
"My dear Thomas, I pity you. You don't know anything about these matters." As she continued to prattle on and on about how she felt sorry for him, he gave her a queer look and wondered whatever possessed him to marry such a twit. "And I don't see why this matter concerns you. You aren't even going with us!"
Rolling his eyes, he said, "Geez Gwen, you have me there."
Before she could make a fool of herself by gloating, the girls finally walked into the room, ready to leave. "Oh my dear! All of you back to your rooms now! I knew I should have helped you! Oh!"
"Mother, we don't need to go back to our rooms and change whatever you want us to change."
"Don't take that tone with me Lizzy!"
Thomas watched on in amusement as mother and daughters argued back and forth with one another.
One hour later, at the Meryton Hall...
There were few dancing, since most were too engrossed in the gossip about George Wickhams' murder. Elizabeth and Jane stood off to the side wondering how the gossips came up with some of the rumors they did. However, everyone stopped talking as soon as the Bingley party arrived. Everyone in the room knew who Charles Bingley was, but they were curious to who the two women and two men were.
Seeing this as his best chance to talk to the Bingley party first, William Lucas briskly walked up to Charles and said, "My dear Mr. Bingley! If you will allow me, I would like to be the first in Meryton to greet you to this little gathering."
"Please, call me Charlie or even Charles. Mr. Bingley was my father."
"Certainly! You may call me Ben."
Everyone unattached to the Bingley party watched the scene unfold in front of them. They were surprised by Charles's ease and unaffected manner. This only made everyone think highly of him, and the money and his looks helped his popularity as well. However, there is always a select group that goes against the crowd, and this group was the remaining members of his party.
Charles then went and introduced the members of his party to Ben. "I would like to introduce to you to my sister Caroline, my other sister Lois, her husband Keith Hurst, and William Darcy." As soon as Charles mentioned the name Darcy, the room erupted with hushed whispers. There wasn't an occupant in the room who didn't know of the Darcy's, and especially of William. He had been named the most eligible bachelor in numerous magazines during various times.
Feeling uneasy with all the attention and scrutiny the crowd was giving him, William went into defense mode. He plastered an aloof expression on his face and ignored everyone and everything. He already knew what people were saying. They were talking about his wealth, his property, his business, his looks, how to become related to him, but never about what the real William Darcy was like.
Oblivious to it all, Charles began to walk around the room, introducing himself to everyone. Then, he noticed a familiar face. He took in a deep breath and whispered, "Jane."
Maggie Phillips gave him a funny look and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch what you just said."
"Huh? Oh! Nothing. Nothing at all. Um, please excuse me. I have to, uh, well, I have to go."
Maggie gave him yet another peculiar look when he abruptly walked off and practically ran across the room to where... 'It all makes perfect sense now,' she thought with a sly grin spreading on her face.
"Jane!"
"Charles!"
Noticing this exchange, Gwen excitedly said, "You two know each other?"
Blushing, Jane said, "We went to Austen University together." Charles cheerfully and eagerly nodded his head in agreement.
"Jane! You never told me that you knew Charles Bingley."
"Um, it slipped my mind?"
"Slipped your mind!?!? For heaven's sake child! I would expect such an answer from Lydia and Kitty, but never from you!"
"I don't mean to interrupt ma'am, but I'm sure Jane had only the best intentions in mind when she chose not to tell you she knew me."
"Oh! To be sure! My Janey always has the best intentions in mind. And please call me Gwen."
Grinning, he said, "As long as you call me Charles."
Happy that everything was going well, Gwen decided that it would be better for Jane if she left them alone. Looking around the room, she spotted Maggie and said, "I think I'll be leaving you two to yourselves. I see Maggie Phillips over there and I haven't spoke to her yet." Without even saying another word, she quickly walked off.
Standing off to the side, Lizzy watched the whole scene in amusement. Naturally, she felt sorry for Jane, but when it came to dealing with their mother in public, it was every sister for herself.
Realizing that she hadn't introduced her sister yet, Jane said, "Charles, I would like you to meet one of my sisters, Elizabeth."
"Lizzy," she quickly corrected her sister.
"It's nice to meet you Lizzy."
"It's nice to meet you Charles, but I have a question."
"Which is?"
"Do you mind if I called you Chuck?"
Laughing he said, "Sure! Why not! This is a new one for me." Noticing his shy, recluse friend wandering around the room aimlessly, while trying to avoid everyone, he yelled, "Will! Could you come over here for a moment?" Shrugging, William made his way over to the small group.
"What do you want Bing?"
"Would you stop calling me that Darce!"
Putting on an innocent expression, William said, "Stop calling you what?"
"Never mind. And the reason why I wanted you over here is so I could introduce you to Jane and Lizzy Bennet. Jane, Lizzy, this is William Darcy. Will is my closest friend and Jane attended Austen University with me." Hearing that a waltz was playing, Charles asked, "Would you like to dance Jane?"
"Yes." Jane and Charles walked off, leaving both Lizzy and Will in an awkward position.
Not knowing exactly what to say, they just stood their in companionable silence. Both racked their brains for something to say to the other until their thoughts were disturbed when every light spontaneously went out, leaving the room in total darkness. There was muffled chatter but out of no where, there was a loud shriek of pain that could have only come from a woman. Everyone witnessed a gruesome sight when the lights came back on as suddenly as they had went off. The killer had struck again, and this time, they were confident.