A call to Fred

"Hello, Angel Investigations," said Winifred "Fred" Burkle, the shy young girl who filled in for Cordelia on the reception desk when Cordelia was away.

"Hi, Fred," said Cordelia. "Can you please go to my apartment, get some clothes, and then come down here to the coffee shop on the corner?"

"Er, sure, Cordelia," said Fred. "But why can't you get them yourself?"

Cordelia mumbled something.

"I'm sorry," said Fred. "I didn't quite hear that."

Cordelia mumbled something a little louder.

"I'm sorry to say this again, Cordelia," said Fred. "But I still didn't quite hear that."

"I'm naked, Fred," said Cordelia.

"At the coffee shop?" asked Fred. "How did that happen?"

"It's a long story," said Cordelia. "Just go get my stuff. I'll be hiding -- er -- waiting in the ladies' room for you to arrive."

"What happened to the clothes you were wearing?" asked Fred.

"Like I said, it's a long story," said Cordelia.

"Okay, I'll be there as soon as I can," said Fred.

And with that, she hung up.

Back at the coffee shop, Cordelia hung up her cell phone and looked around to see if anyone else had entered the ladies' room while she had been on the phone. She saw no one.

Good. That meant the strange lady was still outside.

Apart from her purse and her phone, Cordelia could find no other trace of her clothes. She did not even remember what she did with them. Did she burn them? Throw them away? Rip them up? What?

She stepped out of the restroom stall and stared at the bathroom mirror as if staring at the glass would give her some clues. But there was none to be seen.

However, there was her face to be seen in the glass. As well as more bare skin than she normally saw when she wasn't undressing to take a bath or a shower.

And then the restroom door opened and another face appeared in the mirror. A familiar face.

It was way too soon to be Fred and it was obvious from the image in the mirror that it wasn't. Indeed, the person in the mirror was probably the last person Cordelia wanted to see right now -- apart, of course, from the stranger in the corner booth.

"Cordelia," said the person behind her, "what are you doing here? And why are you naked?"