When Keegan made it to the morgue Detective Hollis was already there with his arms folded against his chest and watching Dr. Biggerson document the wounds on Alice’s body. She set the elbowed ruler against the claw marks and photographed them.
The lithe blonde looked up over her goggles with piercing gray eyes. “So nice of you to pencil us in to your business schedule Detective Morne.”
“Well I had to be here anyways to pick up the results of Cody’s autopsy, so I figured that I might as well be here for Alice’s.” Keegan shrugged before she pulled a stool out from beneath a counter and perched on top of it.
Keegan kept her eyes focused on the progress that the doctor made. She ignored the presence of Detective Hollis. She would rather not know if he had actually done what he threatened to do. If he found out she was a necromancer and spread it around the precinct there would be hell to pay.
When a particularly nasty looking bite mark to the throat was being documented, Keegan stood up and hovered over Dr. Biggerson’s shoulder to get a better look. She leaned closer and stared the flesh. It looked like a shifter’s teeth.
“I’m so glad you are comfortable enough with me to be pressed against my shoulder Keegan but you’re blocking my light.” Dr. Biggerson grinned over her shoulder at Keegan. “Is there anything you would like me to do?”
“Can you make a cast of this,” Keegan pointed to where the punctures from the teeth were most prominent. “Half of this wound is undecipherable but the top most spot, you can probably get the canines and we can determine what type of supernatural did this and possibly get a match later on.”
“That’s going to take some time, isn’t it?” Hollis looked down at his watch and up at back up to Sarah.
“Yes detective,” Sarah rolled her eyes. “It will take a few minutes to do this. Are you in a rush?”
“I’ve got people I can be interviewing when I can come back later and get the results.” He kicked off the counter he was leaning against. “I’ll see you later doc.”
“You might want to check in on Craig Bryant, the receptionist at Misery Real Estate – he isn’t the most receptive towards the SIU and maybe one of your guys can get more information out of him.”
“You might want to check out their alpha, you know if that hadn’t crossed your mind yet.” Hollis threw over his shoulder. Keegan let the comment slide not wanting to create anymore tension between the two of them.
Sarah set the casting mold down on the counter behind her and went back to documenting the wounds and writing down her findings on the metal clipboard she had setting near the head of the table. “You want to explain what that was about?”
“He asked me what I am and I don’t think he enjoyed visiting Diyo’s.” Keegan explained as she pulled her stool closer.
“Uh huh, and that would get my feathers all in a ruffle,” Sarah rolled her eyes. “It isn’t any of his damn business what you are or what you aren’t. It isn’t like someone tried to molest him in the club, did they?”
“Diyo teased him but I was not going to leave him all to himself in a bar full of supernaturals itching to get a piece of him.” Keegan groaned. “It was bad enough being sent to work with the mundane squad on a case but now? It’s even worse since he got a glimpse into our world.”
“Your world,” Sarah brandished a scalpel at Keegan. “I’m as human as they come.”
“If I didn’t know any better by the stories you tell I’d think you were a succubus.”
Sarah cocked a brow. “Just because I enjoy my husband to the fullest extent does not make me any different from the rest of them.”
Keegan grimaced at the first incision. “While you’re doing that do you mind if I review Cody’s results?”
Sarah nodded towards the computer behind her. “I’ve got almost everything for him. I’m still waiting on toxicology to see if there was anything out of the norm. I don’t think there’s going to be anything strange show up but you know how it goes.”
Keegan hummed saying she heard the medical examiner as she scrolled through the report. There were a few broken bones that had been documented, all of them from past injuries. The ultimate cause of death for Cody was severe blood loss from the wound at his throat most likely. The defensive wounds on his forearms and hands suggested his was fighting back before he gave up and curled protectively around his son.
There had been a total of four bite marks. One on his arm, two to the throat and the last one was located on his ankle. From that bite his mobility became limited due to a torn ligament. Whoever was after Cody wanted him to hurt and they wanted him dead.
Claw marks were present across the chest and down his abdomen. His flesh was torn to ribbons in some places. The only thing not making sense was why he was injured as much as he had been. If Alice was home then she would have put herself in between Cody and the attacker. It would have been natural for her to need to protect her mate.
Glancing over at the autopsy table at Alice Keegan wondered why she hadn’t received most of the injuries. Cody took the brute of the attack and Alice, it could come down to the fact that she had begun to shift so some of the wounds had healed but as the supernatural she wouldn’t have let Cody get hurt as badly. Not if he had Connor in his hold.
“This is starting to not make any sense, at all.” Keegan murmured as she started to read through the report again.
“It hasn’t made sense for the past hour.” Doctor Biggerson agreed.
Keegan was going to follow Matt’s waspish advice and was heading through homicide when detective Cassidy stopped her before she could leave.
“The parents are here. I figured you would like to get a chance to talk to them and maybe answer any questions that they have that I couldn’t answer for them.” Cassidy rubbed a hand over his head and waited for Keegan to decide whether or not she’d accompany him.
“Lead the way,” Keegan gestured for Cassidy to show her where she needed to be. They walked on the outskirts of the homicide desk area and she ignored the stares she received from the other detectives. What ever Matt told them or didn’t tell them shouldn’t matter to her. All that mattered was they worked together when the cases required them to and got their jobs done.
Cassidy knocked on one of the conference rooms before stepping through and holding the door open for Keegan. Keegan could pick out Alice’s parents without having being introduced to them. Alice definitely resembled her mother more than her father. The other gentleman in the room had to of been Cody’s father. His fingers were gnarled with arthritis but he sat quietly waiting for whatever information they would give him.
“Mister Barr, Mister and Missus Hathers, this is detective Keegan Morne. She’s the detective partnering up with homicide from the supernatural investigative unit. She’s here just in case you have questions I can’t answer for you.” Cassidy took a seat across the table from them and Keegan took the empty seat next to him.
“Do you have any idea of who did this to our children and grandchild?” Mr. Barr asked. His gray hair looked like he had been tugging the strands with his hands and couldn’t bother to straighten it out afterwards.
“We’re following a few different avenues,” Cassidy explained. “We were hoping you might some insight as to who they had been having trouble with?”
Mr. Barr shook his head as did Mr. Hathers. Mrs. Hathers on the other hand, Keegan felt that she knew or felt like there was something that they should know.
Stepping in Keegan asked, “Did they have any complaints about anyone? Even if it seems small to us it could have lead down this path.”
Mrs. Hathers frowned and her hands clenched into fists. “It’s that alpha of hers. She hasn’t said a good thing about him for the past year and they basically left the prowl. That’s not normal. Something isn’t right with him.”
Mr. Hathers covered his wife’s hand with his own. “Every pack is different. You know that.”
“But that isn’t right!” Mrs. Hathers wailed before she covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m so sorry detectives but I know that man had something to do with their death. When a shifter pulls away from their pack it’s the alpha’s responsibility to bring them back into the fold but he hasn’t. Something isn’t right there.”
“Honey,” Mr. Hathers started but his wife held up a hand to show she wasn’t having any of it. There wasn’t a need to comfort her.
“Did you have any questions that we could maybe answer for you?” Cassidy asked them.
“When can we bury them?” Mr. Barr asked.
Keegan glanced over to Cassidy before she answered them. “It’ll be a little more time. I’ll e-mail Dr. Biggerson and get into contact with you as soon as you’re able to have services for them.”
“I just don’t understand why this happened. It doesn’t make any sense.” Mrs. Hathers mumbled to herself as Cassidy took their details down. He reassured them that if they had any questions they could call either homicide or SIU and they would be glad to answer them.
Keegan watched as they all left the conference room before turning to face Cassidy. “If you get that to Dr. Biggerson she’ll get into contact as soon as she’s done.”
He nodded before standing, “You think she might be onto something? Talking about the alpha and the prowl like that?”
“I think that no alpha would let his members start to leave the prowl like they were. The more people you have the more power you hold. He wouldn’t let them go that easily.” Keegan explained.
“You’re going to talk to him, right? I don’t think he’ll be too happy talking with any of us.” Cassidy pointed out.
“That’s where I was headed before this. I’ll e-mail you whatever details I come up with as soon as I can.” Keegan told him as she straightened out her jacket. She was about to leave the room when Cassidy grasped her elbow.
“Matt told me.”
Closing her eyes for a moment Keegan took a deep breath to keep her cool. “He tell anyone else?”
“No. And for what it’s worth, I may be an a*shole but I know you aren’t like that. You’re a cop. I might not understand how you work but you get shit done and you put the bad guy away. That’s all that matters to me. Got that?”
Keegan smiled at him, “Thanks. Let me know if you come up with anything.”
“Will do,” Cassidy ushered her out of the room, “Now go get some work done. We don’t need lazy people in the building. It makes the rest of us look bad.”