There were times when the only person you could go to that would understand you or pretend to was one of your parents. So what if Keegan was running home to her mom for a little bit of support, everyone did that at some point? Right?
Despite the bright cheery Christmas lights her mom had hanging around the house, along with the blow-up snow man she had sitting in the yard, Keegan didn’t have the same holiday cheer everyone else did. She let out an audible growl as soon as she pulled into the driveway of her mother’s house. By the looks of the banged up and rusted four by four Gordon was already visiting. Tapping her fingers on the steering wheel debating whether she should risk it or not Keegan unbuckled her seatbelt and headed towards the front door. She wasn’t letting Gordon and his girlfriend get the better of her. She wanted to have ten minutes where it didn’t feel like someone was breathing down her neck in disapproval because of what she is or need to get things done faster than possible. If that place was at her mom’s, then that is where she was going. Sibling rivalry be damned.
She smacked her palm against the screen door a few times before trying the door and finding it unlocked. She hadn’t even made it out of the foyer when Gordon rounded the corner leading from the kitchen. Keegan focused on the garland that was wrapped around the stair rail dotted with little ornaments all the way up. She was not feeling holly or jolly with facing her brother, even if it was Christmas time.
“Keegan?” He stood dumbstruck. His dark curly hair sat askew and his eyes a bright hazel. He shoved his hands in his pockets and then his eyes locked on to the sight of her gun at her hip and the badge clipped next to it. “You have a gun.”
“It is part of my job to have one Gordon.” Keegan brushed passed him and plopped down at the kitchen counter. She eyed Jaime distastefully before she focused on her mom who was blinking rapidly trying to clear her vision. Perhaps she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, Keegan willingly being in the same room as her brother and his girlfriend. “Can you just tell me that it’s not wrong to be who I am and that it is perfectly okay to be different? Because I don’t feel like it right now mom.”
“You know that you are perfect the way you are and if anyone and I mean anyone disagrees,” Maria slid an evil eye towards Jaime. “Then they don’t know what they are missing out on.”
“Do you really have to wear your gun in here?” Jaime’s eyes were glued to the weapon just like Gordon’s had been in the hallway. “It isn’t as if there is going to be someone jumping out to commit a crime in your mother’s kitchen.”
“Do you really have to be here?” Keegan shot back and looked straight at her mom. “Can I just pick up that gumbo that you promised me and I’ll get out of your hair.”
“What’s wrong honey?” Maria asked softly as she moved to the freezer to pull out the food she had prepared a few days earlier.
“One of the guys at work found out what I am. Nothing big, you know. It just divided the SIU and homicide even further than the two were originally.” Keegan rubbed at her eyes.
“Well you’re not really a detective Keegan. You just consult.” Jaime interjected and Keegan saw red. She pulled her badge off her belt and set it on the counter.
“Do you see what it says on there?” Keegan pointed at the blue banner across the shield proclaiming her a detective. “It says detective because that is what I am. I went through the same training and the same tests that every other detective went through. So don’t you dare assume that I am not a detective just because I’m not like you.”
Keegan snatched the badge back up and ignored the sting of tears behind her eyes. “I shouldn’t have even bothered coming. I had a feeling this wasn’t my best idea. I’ll talk to you later Ma.”
She didn’t even remember to grab the plastic bowl filled with frozen gumbo. She left it sitting on the counter along with twin stunned looks from Gordon and Jaime.
Rather than going into work the next day, Keegan did a bit of background checking at her house before hitting the streets. She didn’t get much out of the neighbors about the Barrs. All she could wrangle out of them was general information that any neighbor would tell the police that lived in a suburb.
The Barrs were a wonderful couple. They never disturbed anyone. They kept their lawn clean and they waved to any neighbor passing by. Other than that? The Barrs kept to themselves. For good reason too. Subdivisions didn’t typically allow supernaturals to move in unless they agreed to disclose the nature of their abilities. Sometimes you just got lucky and there wasn’t a requirement to do so but the home owner’s association was a bitch about the tiniest of details.
Her first stop after checking in on the neighbors and getting nowhere was to head over to talk to Mason Mills. The sub shop that he frequented, Tanked, was nearly empty. The staff puttered around trying to find something to occupy their time with and Mason sat with a beer in hand staring up at the television mounted above the counter replaying last night’s football game.
“What can I get you Miss?”
Keegan sat down and eyed the waiter’s name tag, “I could use a cold glass of water and a roast beef hoagie, Tommy.”
“Coming right up,” Tommy squirreled away to the kitchen and Keegan used the fact that it was just Mason and her self sitting a seat away from each other to her advantage. If you sit close enough to a person they’re bound to take notice of you and that’s exactly what she wanted to happen.
It wasn’t long before Mason shifted in his seat uncomfortably after he scented her. He turned to look at Keegan before he gave up with trying not to look to obvious and turned completely towards her. “What’s a necromancer doing around these parts?”
Keegan pulled her badge off her belt and slid it over the counter to where he could see it. Mason started to stand but Keegan laid a hand on his wrist. “I’m Detective Keegan Morne. We can sit here and talk or you can deal with the boys from homicide. Believe me when I tell you it’s better to deal with SIU than it is to deal with them.”
“Damn it.” Mason growled out before he sat back down.
“I take it you know what this is going to be about?” Keegan murmured her thanks as Tommy slid a glass of water towards her. “So where were you three nights ago?”
Mason licked his lips before he started tearing a paper napkin up into tiny pieces. “I spent the night with Tiegs Holderman.”
“You didn’t go out anywhere with her? Stayed in?”
Mason pieced up his beer and took a gulp. “We spent the night at her studio.
“I didn’t do anything to them. You’ve got to know that. Cody and Alice are dead, Conner…” Mason rubbed a hand across his forehead. His shoulders tensed up and his hand shook as he reached out to take a sip of his beer. When Keegan finally looked up to meet his eye, she saw tears shimmering against the deep amber eyes. “I can’t even think about what happened to Connor without feeling sick.”
“I don’t get it.” Keegan narrowed her eyes at the wolf before her.
Mason cleared his throat and looked up to meet Keegan’s suspicious eyes. “You don’t get what?”
“Almost everyone that my squad has spoken with said you and the Barrs didn’t get along. It has even been mentioned that you think people of mixed heritage shouldn’t be part of the world. So why are you sitting here about to cry about their passing?” Ignoring the more positive stance Mason Mills had taken on recently Keegan went for the uncomfortable topics. If he got riled up maybe she would get some kind of information out of him he wouldn’t have otherwise parted with.
“Everyone makes mistakes at some point in their lives, Detective. I was young and stupid when I got that reputation. After awhile, I learned that it was the best way for me to keep going was to keep up with the pretense. People will leave you alone if they think you’re nuts. I let them believe whatever the hell they wanted to believe because I didn’t need people snooping around in my business. I let them think whatever they would like to think about me and look where that’s gotten me. As for Cody and Alice? It took one run in with that man, a few years ago, to set me straight. He might be a human but he grew up in a mixed family and knew how to get the upper hand on a wolf. After a while of really understanding how stupid I was, he and Alice, they taught me what it meant to see others for who they truly were not just to see their bloodlines. You’re blood doesn’t determine who you are. You do and it took a long time for someone to actually teach me that.”
Keegan tilted her head in thought before summoning up the courage to ask the next question. “So him breaking your nose and arm, that was because of what? That’s not rough housing while you’re drunk. It takes a lot of force to actually break a shifter’s bones. Especially, if the person doing said damage is a human. He would have been hurt also.”
Mason shook his head in amusement. “You have to remember that I was drunk at the time. Do you know how much liquor I had to actually drink in order to get drunk?”
“Quite a bit I assume.” Keegan nodded.
“Well I was drunk enough that the brain to mouth filter characteristic that is phenomenal during my sober hours was nonexistent. I didn’t much care what anyone thought or did to me at the time.”
“What did you say to make him so mad?” Keegan asked curiously before biting into her own sandwich. With each bite she tried to process all the information that she was getting from Mason.
“It’s all stupid to think on it now. Me? The most bigoted of them all and they finally figure out my dirty little secret because I can’t shut my mouth when I’ve been drinking. I think it was more shocking than anything. Cody called it my security blanket, hiding who I really am from my Dad. The night he beat the snot out of me we were shooting the shit you know? Somehow it got to the subject of who we would want our seconds to be if it were a possibility. Of course he said some celebrity but I said Alice. He decked me not even a second after the words were out of my mouth. I think he was more shocked rather than upset about it.”
Keegan dipped a fry in ketchup trying to not to let the shock show on her face. “So you would have had sex with Alice if you could have?”
Mason snorted, clearly amused by Keegan’s assessment. He stole a fry off of her plate. “No. See, the thing about shifters is the fact that once they mate it’s for life. Even if you are human, the instinct does take over. So anyone or anything that remotely threatens what is established will be hurt or if it comes down to it, they will get killed. What I really wanted, and I clarified before he went all hulk smash on me, is the way he and Alice supported and cared for each other. I wanted that if it were ever possible for someone like me.”
“I don’t mean to sound so critical but that’s pretty convenient to say that now after they have both passed and can’t back that story up.” Keegan let out a long breath waiting for Mason to give up more information.
“Look if you really want to know if I’m one hundred percent reformed then ask Tiegs. She’s a half demon, half leopard. I met her because of Cody and Alice. Collectively they all made me a better person. Tiegs is at work right now but the idiot probably needs a break right about now. She forgets to take care of herself while she’s painting.”
The words weren’t spoken in malice. They were soft and filled with a fondness only lovers could convey. Keegan pushed her plate away from her before she pulled her notepad out and slid it over to Mason. “Just jot down her studio information so I can double check everything and rule you out as a suspect.”
“She’ll be home around six if she doesn’t get lost in what she’s working on, so you can stop by then if you haven’t gotten a chance to stop by her studio. Uh,” Mason scratched his forehead, “Please don’t let the wolf you work with know where I live. Tiegs and I, we live on the outskirts of Misery for a reason and it’s not the need to be near the wilderness. It’s for privacy. I don’t need any of the pack finding out that one of their alphas, even if I’m considered the trash of the pack, is with a leopard. That would bring as much trouble down on me as you probably get for being a necromancer.”
Keegan stashed the notepad in her bag before tossing a few bills on the countertop. “I’m only getting the first taste of what it is like having other people know what I am. So I understand your need for discretion.”
“I’m sorry that you have to know what that’s like” Mason whispered.
“It’s not your fault, so there is no need for apologies. Just stick around Misery for awhile okay? I’ll try to keep homicide off your back in return if your story checks out.”
“Thanks Detective.” Mason rubbed at his eyes. “Just please, find out who did this to them. None of them deserved to go out like that. And Connor, just do this for him. He was just a baby.”
“I’ll see you soon Mr. Mills.” Keegan waved good-bye before stepping out into the harsh glare of the sun and pulling her coat tighter. Mason Mills wasn’t at all who she expected. If anything he was the exact opposite. Also, if what he were saying were true, then where did that leave them in the investigation and where the hell did they go from here?
Loud music had the windows to a run down shack vibrating. Keegan banged a closed fist against the metal door and waited a few moments before she gave up and slid the door open herself. The inside didn’t look anything like the outside of the place. It was immaculate. There were easels holding up canvases splattered with paint and half finished images. The woman in question, Tiegs Holderman, was doing a shimmy of a dance in front of a canvas that nearly topped Keegan in height and definitely doubled her width if not tripled it. She pulled her badge out and held it in her hand as she moved beside her. It took a moment for Tiegs to realize that she was no longer alone. She pressed a hand to her chest before she ducked over to the stereo and turned the music down.
“Who are you and what are you doing inside of my studio?” Tiegs swiped her bangs from her forehead tucking it behind her ear and wiped her hands clean on an already destroyed tee-shirt.
Keegan held out her identification for her to see before she answered. “I’m Detective Keegan Morne with Misery’s SIU. I needed to talk to you about Mason Mills?”
“Oh god, please tell me he’s all right?” Tiegs wide brown eyes started to turn a bright blue as the demon part of her rose to the surface.
“Mason is perfectly fine. I actually just spoke with him at Tanked.” Keegan edged around to a table and planted a hip against what was hopefully a clean surface.
“Oh thank goodness. When the cops come it isn’t usually with good news and my mind immediately jumped to the bad.” Tiegs set down her paint brush and folded her thin arms over her chest. “If he is okay then why are you here? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“I just needed to verify a few facts that Mr. Mills gave me.” Keegan flipped open her pocket notepad, mostly as a prop for Tiegs’ benefit. She already knew what questions she wanted to ask but it was always good to be prepared rather than not.
“Okay, shoot.”
“He said he was in a romantic relationship with you?” Keegan clicked her pen ready.
“Yes.” Tiegs nodded slowly. “We’ve been together ever since we were introduced a few years ago.”
“Can you verify his whereabouts three nights ago?” Keegan asked and watched as Tiegs face turned to a startling red.
“I, well, uh, he was with me, here at the studio.” Tiegs coughed into her hand.
“All night?”
Tiegs scratched at the back of her neck. “Yeah, we didn’t get much sleep that night if you know what I mean.”
Keegan nodded not wanting to embarrass her any further. “He also alluded to you two being good friends with Cody and Alice Barr?” This was the question Keegan was most interested in. If Tiegs said otherwise, she would be kicking her self for not setting Leeroy on Mason to make sure he didn’t skip town.
“They introduced us.” Tiegs’ lips curled into a happy smile before she shook it off. “It’s horrible what happened to them. They were such a happy family, especially since they had Connor. It seems like the little guy just brightened their days.”
“They looked like a happy family.” Keegan commented softly remembering the bright smiles in the portraits that were hanging haphazardly on the wall as she made her way through the crime scene. Getting back to the matter at hand, Keegan switched gears. “Mason wasn’t known for being the nicest guy around. What, with his aversion to anyone who was of mixed heritage. It’s surprising to find the two of you are so happy with each other.”
“People change detective. I’m sure you have seen that at some point of time in your career in law enforcement. Cody, Alice and myself helped him see that there is so much more about a person then what they physically are. The soul, the life they live, that is what really matters. It may have taken Mason a little longer to get over the prejudices that he grew up with just like it would with anyone else. But Mason did change and he turned out to be a better man for it. He became a man someone like me could fall in love with and finally feel safe.”
Keegan held her hands up to fend off the onslaught of outrage Tiegs was emitting in effort to defend her mate. “I have to ask questions like this to rule Mason out. I do not like asking them but they are necessary for the investigation.”
“I don’t like it but I understand.” Tiegs picked at the dried out paint on her knuckles. “Is he still considered a suspect?”
“I don’t believe so,” Keegan shook her head. “He’s probably angry or shaken up by me showing up at Tanked earlier. Why don’t you go home and spend some time with him?”
“I think that is the best idea anyone has had all day, detective.” Tiegs began packing her supplies up and she paused. “I hope you find out who did this and you treat them exactly how they treated the Barrs. They do not deserve the kindness the law will afford them.”
Keegan rolled her lips together in effort to not say anything that would come back and bite her on the ass later on. She agreed full heartedly with Tiegs. Whenever they caught the killer, he shouldn’t be spared any amenities.