The SIU squad room was quiet compared to the buzz of activity going on in the homicide division upstairs. Melinda’s desk was empty, save for a few holiday candy tins. She was more than likely still sleeping off the moon. Both Leeroy and Gary’s desks were covered with tinsel, holiday cards, and little knick knacks for Christmas. Settling down behind her desk, Keegan plucked up the note that had been taped to the computer screen.
Leeroy and Gary had gone down to track down another lead on an old vandalism case. Hopefully this time they would catch the kid who was destroying ghoul property before the ghouls got to them. They wouldn’t be as kind as the police would.
But who knows with the two of them. They could have just disappeared to go get breakfast and left the note to cover their asses. They had done it before. Packing her bag, Keegan grabbed her car keys hoping to finagle some information off of sleepy wereleopards to see if they had any thoughts on the Barrs’ death.
She pulled up outside of The Jumping Bean and she could feel the residual energy of last night’s run pouring out of the building. Her visits to Diyo’s actually got her an in with the local leopard prowl. Helping an alpha out of a sticky situation is always a good thing for the person who could lend a hand.
As soon as she stepped into the coffee house she felt every eye on her. She didn’t shrink into herself nor did she pay any attention to any of the occupants except for Bryton Anderson. Bryton was the alpha and probably the oldest supernatural in the area, even if he still looked like he was forty Keegan knew he was pushing eighty at least.
Keegan stood at the foot of his table ignoring the glares she was receiving from his companions. “I’m sorry for disrupting you, especially after a full moon but do you a moment so I can ask you a few more questions about the Barrs?”
“Anything for you Detective Morne.” Bryton rubbed a hand over the scruff left over from the day before and he ushered everyone from the booth to make room and provide privacy for Keegan. She watched as he licked his lips and sprawled back in his seat. “So what can I help you with?”
“Does anyone in the prowl, did anyone in the prowl,” Keegan corrected herself. “Did they have a problem with either Cody or Alice that you know of?”
“I believe you asked me this question already but I’ll answer you again. No one had issues with Cody. Though some of the prowl didn’t like the fact that he was a human that had mated with a shifter.” Bryton answered with a shrug. “I think it was more jealousy rather than murderous rage if you know what I mean. A lot of people don’t think they can handle mating with a human but Alice and Cody? There was no separating the two of them once they got together.”
“Do you mind letting me know who exactly didn’t like the fact that Alice mated with a human?” Keegan pulled out her notebook and rolled her eyes when he shook his head before he grabbed the notebook and jotted names down himself.
“You know me better than that Detective. As much as their deaths have shocked the supernatural community my first priority is protecting my people and I will do that until I have no other choice to do so. So no, I can not give you their names.”
Keegan understood his game and played along to make it seem legit. “I could get a warrant for the information if it really came down to it.”
“I sincerely doubt that detective. What evidence do you have that could persuade a judge, even one supernaturally inclined, to grant you a warrant on just trying to suss out information? I cannot think of one.”
“See the thing is,” Keegan knew this was going to be like a punch to the gut, or would have been if Bryton hadn’t given her the names willingly. But she still needed to be sure that he knew that the prowl wasn’t in the clear and there was a murderer in their mists and she was going to find them one way or another. “We do have enough evidence.”
Bryton sat up straighter in his seat understanding what she was saying and he nodded respectively. “Well once you have that warrant I will part with the information. Until then, I haven’t much to say to you.”
“Well thank you for your time and I apologize for crashing your morning.”
“Not a problem detective. You be careful out there.”
Keegan took that as the warning that Bryton had intended it to be. Now that the entire prowl knew that the police had evidence directing them in the direction of the leopards anyone investigating the deaths would be at risk. What they didn’t know was that if they came after any of SIU they could hold their own. It was homicide that needed to really worry about protecting themselves.
With the list of names propped up against the monitor, Keegan began the background searches on the four names that Bryton had scribbled down for her after she had shown back up with a warrant. She was chewing on the clip of her pen when Matt showed up across her desk. “What’s up detective?”
“I just got Biggerson’s report on some molds you asked her to make?” He tapped the file against the edge of her desk. “I thought you would want to head down to speak with Bryton Anderson and see if he has anything to say about Cody and Alice’s deaths.”
Keegan pointed towards the screen in front of her. “Early bird gets the worm, Hollis. I’m working background on a few people who he thought might have had issues with them.”
Matt dragged a chair around the corner of her desk and settled in beside her. “You work fast Morne.”
“What can I say? I’m just that good.” She grinned over her shoulder at him and let out a sigh. “So far I haven’t come up with anything on them. I’ve got local addresses on each of these guys but they’re going to know that we’re going to show up on their doorstep because I was at The Jumping Bean after the morning of a full moon. All SIU cops know that right after a full moon shifters are most likely to give up more information because they’re recovering.”
“You think we can trust Bryton?” Matt grabbed the papers Keegan had printed out and started scanning over them.
“I believe we can. He wouldn’t have pointed out his two right hand men if he didn’t think something was going on and needed to be taken care of. He probably didn’t want the blood on his hands if anything but he’s legit.” Keegan snagged two sheets of the papers Matt was holding. There were driver license headshots and basic background information listed. “These two, Newton and oh my, Billy Ray, were sitting at Bryton’s table before I got there. They’re going to be problematic.”
Matt looked up curiously, “Why do you think that?”
“They are his guards and executioners of the prowl.” Keegan supplied with a grim frown.
“Executioners of the prowl?” Matt repeated with a raised brow. “Do you think maybe Alice did something to garner the attention of the executioner? And that’s what landed her and Cody in the morgue?”
Keegan tapped her fingers against her desk and hummed in thought, “That is a possibility but from everything I have heard about the two of them I doubt they would have done something that demanded execution. To receive that punishment you would have either killed someone in your prowl, or turned someone without permission from the alpha.”
“Do you think she was going to try and change Cody the night they were murdered?” Matt pointed out.
“Doc Biggerson should still have the bodies. I don’t think they’ve been released to the families yet.” Keegan picked up her phone and dialed the ME’s office. She waited three rings before Sarah was snapping into the phone. “Hey, you still have the Barrs’ bodies correct? Good. I need you to run one last test on Cody. I need to know if he was in the process of changing. Yes, like from a human to a leopard. Thanks, the end of the day will be fine.”
“So you want to check those guys out together or split them up?” Matt offered and Keegan grabbed the strap of her bag.
“Together,” She answered as she led the way up the stairs. “But we work together. If you see something I’m missing? Go for it and I’ll do the same with you.”
The first name on the list was Clay Newton. He was a burly guy with bright blue eyes and a salt and peppered beard who worked on the county construction crew. It wasn’t hard to track him down after Matt made a call to his younger brother as Keegan drove.
“Clay is currently on the clock on South Madison. They are repaving the road out there so I hope you didn’t wear your favorite shoes today Morne.” Matt commented as he tucked his cell phone back in the holster on his belt.
“I never wear my favorite shoes to work.” Keegan grumbled under her breath as she slowed through the construction zone and edged her way to the side of the road and parked. “I hope you are up for walking, because it looks like it’s going to a long one.”
Both Keegan and Matt rested against the car and stared down the length of the road being worked on. It looked like they had gotten done with stripping the road down and laying the tar and now they were on the furthest end waiting to start the actual process of repaving it.
“Can I help you two?” A scrawny boy, barely out of high school by the looks of how his highlighter orange safety vest hung from his frame stepped up with his caution sign in hand.
Both Keegan and Matt pulled out their badges and showed him. Matt introduced them before going after what they really wanted. “We are looking for Clay Newton? Is he on the clock today?
“Yeah.” He nodded in excitement before he turned to point Clay out. As soon as Clay noticed them he dropped his shovel and took off for the woods. The kid stood confused by Clay’s action. “What the heck?”
Keegan took off a second later, not caring if she kicked tar up onto her slacks. She yelled over her shoulder to Matt, “Don’t let him get into the woods. We’ll lose him if he manages it.”
She dodged tools that had been left abandoned on the side of the road and jumped a particularly large barricade that had seen better days. She pushed her legs harder and faster than she had thought possible. Shifters were extremely fast in their human form but even faster after they had changed forms. Neither Keegan nor Matt could afford to lose him.
“Doesn’t look like we’re catching up.” Matt spoke between panting breaths as he caught up with her and tried to pass her up.
Keegan took a deep breath and wondered how much she would regret using her abilities in front of so many civilians and decided it didn’t matter. If Clay Newton was running, he was running for a reason and she wasn’t going to let him get away.
“Clay!” She hollered and she watched as he turned to look over his shoulder and she had her chance. Their eyes connected for barely a second but that was all she needed. She felt the power pull up from her chest and hurled it all out at him. She watched as he stumbled in confusion before she could see out of his eyes. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins and could see how close he was to shifting. “Stop!”
His reaction was immediate. He sprawled out onto the ground from the momentum. Matt looked over at Keegan with shocked eyes as they both slid to a stop right next to Clay. Matt grabbed his handcuffs and clicked them on over Clay’s wrists. “Clay Newton, you are under arrest for hindering a criminal investigation.”
Keegan barely heard Matt reciting the Miranda Rights to Clay as she rested her hands on her knees gulping down as much air as she could manage as she tried to put her power to rest. She could feel it running through her blood with a red hot intensity that urged her to keep going.
“Morne,” Matt had started walking Clay back towards the cruiser and he looked at her concerned. “You okay?”
She waved him off. “I’m fine, just needed to catch my breath. I’ll meet you at the car.”
By the time they got back to the precinct and dragged the growling form of Clay Newton into homicide’s largest interrogation room, Keegan could still feel the tingles of magic slowly dissipating.
“What’s this about.” Clay growled out and rubbed his forehead against his shoulder.
Matt grinned over at Keegan as he took a seat next to her. “I don’t know Clay. Why don’t you tell us why you decided running was a better idea than waiting to see why we were actually at the site?”
“A cop and a spook show up somewhere together they’re after one thing. A supernatural.” Clay shrugged as if that explained everything. “I don’t need the entire crew knowing I ain’t one of the guys.”
“That still doesn’t explain why you ran Mr. Netwon.” Keegan raised a brow. “All that tells us is you are guilty of something. So what are you so worried about us finding out about you?”
“I know what this is about.” Clay folded his fingers together and stared down at his hands. “Alice and her family is dead. But I can tell you one thing, I didn’t do it.”
“Oh yeah?” Matt dropped his notepad down on the table, “So where were you Wednesday night? I suppose you have an alibi.”
“You’re damn right I do.” Clay smacked his hand against the table top. “I was with my old lady all night. We were having a date night. Things got a little wild if you know what I mean. The missus is more than a wild cat at times.”
Keegan ignored the need to gag. There were certain details she would rather not know about a suspect’s personal life. Even if it meant they had an alibi. “So we talk to her she’s going to agree with what you are telling us?”
“She might blush about it but she will.” Clay’s lips curled upwards. “She ain’t much for the kiss and tell kind of talk.”
“Good to know.” Matt rolled his eyes and passed a piece of paper and pen over to Clay. “Write down her information and the sooner we can let you get back to work.”
As soon as the name and phone number was scribbled out, Keegan made her way out the room and headed for the closest phone to call Melissa Newton. It didn’t take much persuasion to get the information out of Melissa Newton. Unlike what Clay had said about not being one to kiss and tell, Keegan held the phone against her shoulder as the leopard continued on and on about their sexcapades from the night that went well into the morning.
Keegan let out a huff of annoyance that sent her hair spiraling up in the air before it lay tickling against her forehead. Out of all the names Bryton gave her, each of the men ended up having an air tight alibi. She was back at the beginning wondering who would have killed such a quaint little family and what they did to deserve to be killed in such a spectacular fashion.
“You keep staring at the computer like that I wouldn’t doubt it demanding some form of payment.” Detective Matt Hollis was leaning against the stair rail with his bag crossed over one shoulder and his suit jacket draped over an arm.
Keegan tossed her pen down and smiled across the room at him. “It’s been how many days and I still feel like we haven’t managed to get anywhere. Usually if you guys don’t pick up on something then my guys do and we figure everything out. I mean, at least that is how Misery cases seem to go. They get wrapped up in a nice and tidy bow within a week. But this? A week has gone by and we haven’t gotten anywhere.”
“Maybe it’s because other than the night of mass apologies, you have yet to take a break and really relax.” Matt shrugged before he took the final two steps down the stairs and headed towards Keegan’s desk. “You aren’t cutting out early, as the rest of your squad is gone for the evening, and for a detective to do their best work they need to be able to focus.”
“And where do you suppose I go so I can let my hair down?” Keegan leaned back in her chair and rested her hands behind her head looking up at the soft smile on Hollis’ face.
“I may know a place.” Matt offered and he extended a hand towards Keegan and waited expectantly for her to take it. With a roll of the eyes Keegan dropped her feet to the floor and let him pull her standing.
“What is this special place you know of?” Keegan asked as she wrapped a scarf around her neck and pulled her jacket on.
“It serves the elixir of life.” Matt grinned as he shouldered one of Keegan’s bags without her asking.
“Coffee or hot chocolate?” Keegan asked suspiciously as he let her through the precinct and towards his car.
“Both,” He smirked. “I know you have an aversion to coffee but The Grind also has the best hot chocolate in the county.”
Keegan smacked him on the shoulder, “It also is in the supernatural district and a favorite place of shifters.”
“I figured we’d head into your territory for awhile and, well, if anything pops up when we get there to give us a lead, then what does it matter?” Matt clicked the button on his key fob unlocking the truck and Keegan climbed in. He set their bags in the back of his truck before he cranked the engine over and turned the heater up.
“Leeroy, Gary and Melinda haven’t come across anything useful?” Matt asked trying to start up some kind of conversation.
“Well, they are mainly focusing on their own case load. They have been helping whenever they can or where ever they think they might have some information they will go for it. As of now I can tell you that Melinda is still recovering from the full moon. She was supposed to check out the wolves but now that angle is a bit out of date and pointless. Leeroy has been checking out places in the SD and he isn’t coming up with much. The only thing Gary came up with related to Mason Mills and we have already cleared him. So I’m afraid the spook squad is not going to be much help to you as of right now.”
“At least we have a focus now.” Matt shrugged. “If you wouldn’t have pushed for the molds and found out that we needed to look for a leopard then we wouldn’t be passed checking into the local wolves. We might have been stuck. So if anything the SIU has done plenty enough. We just need to nudge the right person to get the right information and then we’ll have the direction we need to head in.”
Keegan bit into her lip in thought. He was right about what they had found. It narrowed down the list of suspects significantly. Bryton’s information didn’t even help and he probably never intended for it to help. More than likely he tipped off the leopards he thought might have something to with the death of Cody and Alice Barr and they were long gone by now.
“They are probably long gone by now.” Keegan mumbled out loud as she rested her forehead against the cool window.
Matt glanced out the corner of his eye at Keegan. “Who?”
“The monsters that did this.” Keegan turned to watch him as he pulled into the gravel parking lot. “The names Bryton gave us didn’t end up going anywhere. He probably gave us what people expected him to but really what he was doing the whole time was buying time for the people who did this.”
“Then we go and bother him again tomorrow.” Matt pocketed his keys before he opened the car door. “Until then stop thinking about the case Keegan.”
“It’s kind of hard to think about anything else at the moment.” Keegan whispered to herself as she followed Matt into the coffee house.
Matt held the door open and nudged her through the entry way with a hand to the small of her back. “Try?”
“If you’re buying, I suppose I could.” Keegan grinned as she plopped down and sprawled out in a wide leather chair.
“I guess since you offered me no other choice.” Matt shook his head as she strolled up to the counter and paid for their drinks and two muffins. Keegan was on her feet helping him maneuver back to the chairs before he could manage to drop anything.
They sat in the comfort of the low playing jazz as they sipped on warm drinks. Keegan felt the muscles in her back and shoulders loosen with every sip of hot chocolate. The energy that had been zipping through her veins since their afternoon chase, finally slowed and she could feel exhaustion setting in.
“What you did earlier, with Clay Newton,” Matt’s voice was low and cautious as he finished the question out. “What was that exactly?”
“I,” Keegan licked her lips trying to find a better way of putting what she actually did. No matter what way a person looked at it, she pushed herself into his mind and took control of him for a few moments to get him to stop. If someone already had problems understanding and accepting what a necromancer was then this would push them further over the edge. “I manipulated his mind to get him to stop running from us.”
“Do you do that a lot with suspects?” Matt picked at the cardboard holder on his coffee cup.
“I try not to.” Keegan answered honestly and she scrunched her nose up. “I feel guilty about it if I do but we both know he was going to lose us if I didn’t do something. He won’t even remember or know that I did that to him. If anything he will be a bit fuzzy about how we caught up with him.”
“You don’t have anything that says you can’t actually do that to a suspect?” Matt sounded more curious then condescending for the use of her abilities on a suspect.
“The rules that govern the SIU are completely different then the rules you abide by Matt. It’s almost as if we are a separate entity from the police department. We do follow a lot of your rules, there are inalienable rights for every person no matter if they are human or supernatural but we are allowed to use our abilities in order to apprehend a suspect or someone wanted for questioning.” Keegan took a sip of her hot chocolate, “But if I were to use my power to get someone to confess that would jeopardize everything SIU was set up for. I have to think about using my abilities like this, anything I can do can be used against me and the squad in court. It could put a murder back on the streets able to kill again and it can cost all of us in the SIU our jobs. That is why we try to stick to being a human as possible during investigations and while working with suspects.”
“It doesn’t seem like it’s worth it to be part of SIU if you have to consciously think to not do something that would be so familiar to you outside of work.” Matt commented as he slid down lower in his seat causing his knees to knock against Keegan’s.
“I don’t really use my abilities that often Matt.” Keegan ignored the warmth that flooded through her chest from such a casual touch. She shook her head clear thinking about what she had just said. She did use her powers more often than she had originally thought. “Well I guess I do.”
“Yeah?” Matt raised a brow in askance.
“It’s hard to explain. Mostly it’s me trying to keep myself aware of what I can do and to keep myself in practice.” Keegan shrugged. “I do a lot of warding for the clubs around here. If they have had trouble with a certain customer I can make it so they won’t ever be able to come back to the club. I am all about keeping the peace and making sure people stay safe no matter what or who they are.”
Matt chuckled. “I know there’s a heathen somewhere inside of you Keegan. You just kept your self so locked up so tight you are going to go wild one of these days.”
Keegan’s mouth dropped open in shock. The statement from Matt was full of innuendo and it flustered her far more than it should have. “’Scuse me?”
“I’m just saying,” Matt held his hands up in surrender, “If you don’t let loose then when you have the chance to you are going to end up going crazy.”
She grinned at the chance to tease him back. “Oh, so you are speaking from experience are you?”
He choked on his coffee. He grabbed a napkin and dabbed at the drops that hit his pants and wiped his mouth. “I’ll never tell.”
Keegan let out a hearty chuckle. She missed moments like this; hanging out with a friend and letting things just go for a few minutes just to relax. Everything felt lighter then it had in a long time.
“Thank you for this.” Keegan rested a hand on his arm. “I really needed this after everything this week at work.”
Matt grasped her hand for a moment. “I know.”
Keegan stared into his dark eyes, wanting more then what he was offering at the moment. She felt her entire body pull for it but she brushed the feeling off as best as she could. She ignored the pangs of need for more than a simple touch the entire drive back to her car and home. It took her a few days but she finally understood why she was so upset when Matt disappeared off the face of the earth earlier in the week. She wanted him and it hurt to see him afraid of who she was. But now? Now the lines were getting blurred and she wasn’t so sure she minded that they were becoming blurred.