Time was not wasted when morning broke. Keegan and Matt stood outside the doctor’s office that Elaine worked as an ultra sound tech for. The office had yet to open but by the hours posted on the door seven o’clock was only a few minutes away.
Matt kicked the toe of his shoe against the brick building, knocking caked mud off of his shoe. “Do you think they’ll actually know anything about her or do you think it will be like the people who thought they knew the Barr’s? The information they did give wasn’t really all that helpful.”
Keegan shrugged and pulled her coat tighter. “Maybe it was our questions that weren’t right. But at a doctor’s office this size and the amount of employees someone was bound to have heard or spread some gossip around the place. For all we know Elaine could have met her fiancé here.”
“Look at you, all positive and shit.” Matt chuckled as he mirrored Keegan’s stance.
“Places like this always give up some kind of information.” Keegan tucked her hands deeper in her pockets. “It’s like a grown up version of high school.”
Matt stood up straighter, unfolded his arms and plucked his badge from his belt. “Well I hope you are right Morne, it looks like the Calvary has arrived.”
A woman and a man walked bundled up in coats towards the door eyeing the detectives wearily. It took a few moments for Keegan to introduce them and it to dawn on the two employees why there were there waiting for them.
“You’re here about Elaine, aren’t you?” The woman’s voice was soft and she sounded exhausted as she unlocked the door ushered everyone in behind her and reset the alarm.
“That’s right Miss,” Matt prompted her for her name standing awkwardly by a children’s play station.
“My name is Olivia and that is Jesse. Everyone else will make it in by eight.”
“Do you mind if we talk to you while you’re opening up and hopefully get out of your hair?” Keegan rubbed her hands together and let out a relieved sigh when Jesse turned the thermostat so the heater would kick on faster.
“Sure,” Olivia nodded as she unwound the scarf around her neck letting loose a mane of long blonde hair. She led the detectives through the waiting area and into the nook that was used for reception. Both Olivia and Jesse went straight to work; pulling patient files and setting them in the correct bins and checking the answering service. Keegan and Matt decided with a quick look who they would speak with. Keegan would speak with Olivia while Matt spoke with Jesse.
Keegan pulled a rolling chair around a desk and sat down in it next to Olivia. “Did you know Elaine well?”
“She was my co-worker and sometimes we would hang out with each other side of work but I didn’t know she was a supernatural.” Olivia answered. “Not that it would really matter but I can understand why she didn’t disclose that working in a doctor’s office. Patients really can be jerks about that stuff. Jesse gets it because he’s gay and Elaine would have gotten trouble because she was a supernatural. You ask me she was good at her job and that’s what truly matters in a health facility.”
Keegan couldn’t agree with Olivia more. It didn’t matter that you were different. All that really mattered was that you did your job the best that you could. “So did she ever talk about having problems with anyone? Was she stressed out about something the last few days before her death?”
Olivia set the file in her hands down with a mournful sigh. Keegan watched as the warm hazel eyes filled with tears and immediately went for the tissue. “I knew something was wrong. She always came in impeccable you know? But lately she didn’t bother curling her hair like she usually did. She didn’t put on make up and she looked like she never got any sleep. She looked rough and once the patients start whispering you can’t really ignore it anymore.
“I tried to get her to tell me what was going on but she wouldn’t say anything. I thought maybe she was having trouble with her girlfriend but,” Olivia shook her head, “Mandy came in to have lunch with her a few times and left looking frustrated with the fact that she didn’t know what to do for Elaine. Whatever was bothering Elaine, she wasn’t telling anyone. I wish I could have just pushed her a little bit more so she would have talked. Maybe then I could have helped. Somehow, any way that I could, you know?”
Keegan passed Olivia a tissue and waited as she wiped her eyes and brushed beneath her nose and tossed it in the trash. “Do you know Mandy’s last name?”
“Brown,” Olivia supplied. “She works at Misery General as a Surgical Tech. She was always on Doctor Madsen’s surgeries. That’s how they met.”
“Things were good between the two of them?” Keegan asked already knowing the answer. If the leopard that was fighting to get to Elaine on the night of her death was actually Mandy then they were mates. Only someone like Keegan could have stopped the leopard from killing to get to her dead partner.
“They were so sweet to each other,” Olivia nodded. “I secretly think most of us wished we could be like them. You could see how much they cared about each other when ever they were around the other.”
“Is there anything else you can think of that might help us find the person who did this to Elaine?” Keegan asked already wrapping up the interview in her mind.
“I know this sounds really stupid but,” Olivia rubbed at her throat uncomfortably, “These last few months, after full moons she would be easy to anger.”
“And she wasn’t like that before?” Keegan questioned. Some shifters were always grouchy after a full moon. The pain that came with shifting back and forth between forms would account for the attitude. Others acted as if they were on a high, happy and excited.
“No,” Olivia shook her head. “She was always a sweetheart. I think that was the caregiver in her. She was always happy until lately. I don’t know what happened, none of us really knew but she hadn’t been herself. It’s like she was a completely different person.”
Jotting down the last few comments Keegan stood up from her seat and shook Olivia’s hand in thanks. “Thank you for your time Olivia. You have really helped.”
Keegan pulled out a business card with her work number scrawled across the front of it and placed it on Olivia’s desk. “If you think of anything, don’t hesitate to call me. Even the smallest of things can be helpful.”
Olivia tacked the card up to the stripe of cork board behind monitor and nodded. “You just find who did this to her. Elaine didn’t deserve to be killed. She was a good person and we don’t have enough people like her in the world anymore. She was something special.”
The rest of the office wasn’t as helpful as Olivia. Jesse barely knew Elaine having worked on separate ends of the office but he had heard that something had been going on with her and he tried to reach out to her according to Matt. Keegan had enough to confirm that Bryton was a legitimate suspect and she needed to dig up more evidence on him to get a warrant for his DNA. If they got a match from both crime scenes, hell even one of the crime scenes they would be able to put him away and be done with the entire thing.
“You and Hollis get anywhere this morning?” Leeroy asked as he dug through the mound of folders and papers on his desk.
“I’m pretty sure I know who did it.” Keegan shrugged, “But I don’t have enough evidence.”
Leeroy huffed out a frustrated sigh. “In other words, you do have enough evidence to go after the guy if he were a human. But since he’s a supernatural you need more because all the judges around here are jack holes.”
Keegan nodded, “That about sums it up. I figure we might try and see if Homicide can request the arrest warrant or the DNA warrant and maybe we’ll have better luck.”
“That isn’t a bad idea you know.” Leeroy leaned back in his seat. “Judge Malone might go for it if you have him file for it.”
Keegan rolled her lips together thinking it over. The sooner they filed, the sooner they could get this taken care of. Picking up her phone she dialed Matt’s direct line and asked him to just that. It took little convincing to get Matt to agree.
Keegan knocked lightly on the door to her mother’s house. She barely waited a moment before the door swung open and her mom gathered her into a hug. “If I ever have to hear that you were almost attacked on a crime scene from one of your co-workers again and not you, I will beat you senseless child.”
Untangling herself from her mother Keegan grinned. “I love you too mom but I didn’t get hurt so there is no reason for you to be so upset.”
“Uh, you try saying that when you have kids. Anytime anything threatens one of my babies I’m worse than a lioness.” Maria ducked into the kitchen and pulled out a Tupperware container of chili and set to heating it up. The house smelled like gingerbread and evergreen. The smells made Keegan want to cuddle up on the couch and doze off for the night. “I just worry about you, you know that Keegs.”
“I know Ma but I’m fine.” Keegan sat down at the bar. She smiled at the sight of presents hidden beneath the Christmas tree. There was probably a gift for each of Keegan’s siblings. The coziness of if all warmed Keegan and offered a comfort only being near someone she loved could offer.
“You could have come here afterwards,” Maria muttered. “I know when you get stressed out it’s hard for you to be alone.”
“I had a friend take my spare room for the night.” Keegan waved her mother’s concern off. “I was okay.”
“A friend?” Maria repeated incredulously. “And who would this friend be?”
“Detective Hollis from Homicide,” Keegan answered without thought to how her mother would interpret the situation. “He has been working the case side by side with me and he was probably as worried as you sound so I let him crash in my spare room.”
Maria’s brows shot up in surprise. “This Detective Hollis fellow he wouldn’t happen to be good looking would he?”
Keegan sat back shocked, “Ma!”
“Well,” Maria spooned chili in a bowl for Keegan and slid it across the bar before making her self a bowl. “You don’t have just any gentlemen over at your house or at least you don’t tell me if you do so there must be something special about him.”
Keegan took a bite of the chili trying to figure out what she could say that would put her mother off from asking anymore questions. Everything that came to mind though would make Maria believe that there was more going on between the two of them besides the friendship they had. It didn’t really matter that somewhere inside of her. Keegan wouldn’t have minded getting to know the detective more intimately. He was a good man. He might have his less than stellar moments but he always came around apologized for his stupidity and never made the same mistake again. He knew more about her now than anyone in SIU. He was the only man she actually let stay in her house or see the inside of it for that matter. Keegan trusted him.
“Oh,” Maria’s face softened with a tender smile. “You do enjoy his company.”
“Mom,” Keegan wiped a hand over her face embarrassed with how well her mother actually knew her. “I might just so happen to enjoy his company but nothing can come of it though. We are from two different worlds. He works homicide and I am on the spook squad. If we didn’t get enough flack from being co-workers who dated then we would get trouble from me being who I am.”
“Sometimes you have to take that leap.” Maria grasped Keegan’s hand in hers for a moment before going back to her dinner. “If he is willing to take that leap with you then you shouldn’t be so afraid.”
“I doubt he would be, Ma.” Keegan stared mournfully into the remnants of her chili. “I just don’t seem to have that kind of luck when it comes to men.”
“You know you used to be the most optimistic out of all my children. What happened? You even believed that you could fly when you were nine. Now though? You are the most pessimistic child I had the pleasure of giving birth to.”
“We both know when all that changed,” Keegan rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to risk messing up what I have with him anyways. He is a great detective and if I compromised what we had at work that could destroy the dynamic of SIU working with any department.”
“I wish you would just think about your self for once. Maybe then you will realize how happy you could be with someone close to you in your life.” Maria patted Keegan’s hand. “But if you are so determined to stay on your own then I won’t bother you anymore about it.”
“Thank you,” Keegan nodded before she glanced down at her watch. “Did you TiVo that fairy tale show? I never get to watch television anymore and I have a bit of time before I need to conk out.”
Maria rolled her eyes, “Did I TiVo the fairy tale show? Please. That is the event of my Friday evening that I do not want to miss. So yes I did record that fairy tale show. Would you like to watch it with your lowly mother?”
“I would indeed.” Keegan chuckled before wrapping her arms around Maria. “Thanks for being so awesome and not bugging me about things.”
“As much as mothers need to bug their children about things I don’t want to lose the precious little time I spend with you. I’d rather share that time laughing rather than fighting.”
“Me too,” Keegan curled up on the couch and patted the seat next to her, “Let’s watch some sappy fairy tales. They always make my day better.”