Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) (10 page)

She watched as Matt back pedaled and heading back up the stairs. His face etched with tension and anger. His steps were heavy up the stairs and the door separating the two departments slammed.

“Want to tell us what that was about?” Gary looked over the top of his glasses. His eyes were full of concern and the way he shifted awkwardly conveyed his worry.

“I’m tired of them screwing us
over and treating us like shit.” Keegan rubbed angrily at her eyes. “And if he thinks he can disrespect me the way he did he has another thing coming. I’m not just someone he can push around and expect to follow along with whatever rules he puts in place. This is a team effort the last I checked.”

“Uh, baby girl,” Leeroy stood up and set his hands on her shoulders. He massaged at the tense muscles and grimaced with Keegan let out a hiss of pain from the action, “That was more than some jackass cop messing with your desk and treating us like the rest of the cops out there. That, what just happened, was personal.”

Keegan let out a sigh, “He just,” she gave an aggravated growl, “Gets under my skin.”

“You let him.
” Melinda pointed out before looking down at the papers in her hands. “Anyways what did you find out on Mason Mills? He isn’t our guy?”

“No
pe, he’s no longer a suspect.” Keegan stepped away from Leeroy and settled into her chair. “I have background from a friend that gave clear enough indicators that Mills has changed over time. He just kept up the persona. It also matches up to what Mills himself told me. The thing I wasn’t expecting was he and the Barrs
were
close to each other.”

“Huh,” Melind
a scratched her head in thought. “Well who else would want the Barrs dead if we eliminated our main suspect? All that leaves us with are the wolves that supposedly follow Mills’ example. I can check them out and see what is really going on there later on tonight at the pack meeting but we’re hitting a dead end here.”

“Gary? Leeroy? Did either of you come up with something on that receptionist at Misery Real Estate?” Keegan pulled up her e-mail and started digging through the trash before she got to the meat and potatoes of it all.

“He only popped for traffic violations, a seat belt charge, so unless we find something else besides being a racist against him, we’ve got nothing on him.” Gary gave a hopeless shrug.

“Well Dr. Biggerson got an ID on what kind of creature left the bite marks on both of our vic
tims.” Keegan pulled up the file. It showed the mold and compared it to a database picture of a skull of a leopard shifter. “And it looks like we were looking at the wrong type of shifter the entire time. It’s not a wolf that did this, it was a leopard.”

“At least we know where to start in the morning. Gary and I will hit
up all of the recuperating shifters from the full moon tonight and see if we can get anything out of them.” Leeroy offered.

“Melinda, you keep at the wolves in your pack. Maybe something will stick out and we can go somewhere with that. If not, we’ll clear them completely and move on.” The phone on Keegan’s desk chirped obnoxiously and contin
uously as Melinda muttered out, “You got it boss.”

“Detective Morne, SIU.” Keegan answered snappishly. She nodded and hummed in acknowledgement before she set th
e phone back down in its cradle. “Dr. Biggerson said she was done with the bodies. I’m going to head over there and make sure the spirits stay at rest.” Keegan scooped up her bags and shouldered them.

“
How about you do us all a favor? Go straight home afterwards?” Gary pouted a little and gave her his patented puppy dog eyes. “We all need some rest.”

“Promise,” Keegan squeeze his arm as she passed by him grateful for his concern
. “Y’all do the same okay? Especially you Melinda. You do whatever you need to do with your recuperation time.”

“We
don’t mind picking up the slack.” Leeroy teased as Keegan disappeared up the stairs she listened to Melinda mumbling and the entire room bursting out into laughter.

That attitude was probably the only reason Keegan was allowed down in the autopsy suite to complete the death ceremonies she did in order to help the victims of violent crimes move on.

Knocking lightly on the door Keegan waited for Dr. Biggerson to finish dictating the last bit of her notes before stepping entirely into the room.

Sarah
pushed pause her recorder and stuck a post-it note to mark her spot before she stood up and stretched the kinks out of her back and gestured Keegan over to the cabinet she had kept most of Keegan’s supplies in. She unlocked the cabinet before digging out the bag and handing it over to Keegan.

They padded softly into the autopsy suite were the victims were waiting for Keegan. They were all three laid out on the cold steel tables, eyes closed and blue covering from their toes up to their necks.

“You know the rules.” Doctor Biggerson’s voice was a soft reminder as to what the department had set up. To disturb the bodies, in any way other than what the death ceremony required would result in her immediate termination.

“
These are not rules I would break.” Keegan glanced up at Sarah. “You know that.”

To desecrate a body before putting the soul to rest was almost as if she were tearing the soul to pieces and setting it on a darker path
. She wasn’t going to be the necromancer who did that. This ritual was something sacred. This moment, of letting the physical body be put to rest and letting the soul go should never have to be shared with the medical examiner and a detective. It should be shared with loved ones and a priest. Since a family ended up in Dr. Biggerson’s autopsy suite Keegan was the person who laid the souls to rest.

“I just have to remind you,”
Dr. Biggerson held up her hands. “Its all part of the rules like me overseeing the ritual.”

Keegan
began unpacking the bag of tools. She set the wooden bowl at the crown of Alice’s head and began mixing and crushing different herbs together. The herbs were used to protect and cleanse the soul was only the first step. Pouring rosemary scented oil into the mixture she mixed it together completely. She dipped her fingers into the oil and let her fingers trace patterns only a necromancer knew along the forehead.

Forgive the ill committed

Keegan traced the underside of the chin,

Forgive the mistakes made

Keegan let her fingers drag slowly at over the heart.

Protect the soul from the darkest of nights and deliver thee into safety.

Never shall we be alone. Brother, sister, father, mother. May these spirits guide you home.

The entire time she whispered her blessing for the spirit to move on, to find peace and continue their jo
urney into the afterlife, not to linger any longer.

She repeated the steps with Cody Barr. Her voice was barely above a whisper as her fingertips danced feather light against cold skin.
It was more difficult to repeat one last time on little Connor’s body but she did so.

Taking the last steps Doctor Biggerson blocked the smoke sensor with a paper cup they kept just for this reason. Keegan lit a bundle of sage, juniper and devil’s root waving the combination of burning herbs over the bodies. To cleanse, protect and keep evil away from the souls that were heading towards the afterlife.

As soon as she was done, Dr. Biggerson opened the autopsy suite doors and let the mixture of smoke mingle with the fresh air from her office. The smoke slowly dissipating as Keegan cleaned up her supplies and walked them back to cabinent that Sarah kept them in.

Sarah slouched in her chair and watched Keegan li
ke a hawk. As soon as the door was shut and locked up tight Sarah started in on the detective. “I heard you banned homicide from spook territory until they started treated the unit with respect. There happened to be any truth to the rumor?”

Keegan let out a groan before she flopped down on the couch that lined the eastern wall in Sarah’s office
. “I need a drink.”

“You’re preaching to the choir
girl. I say we bust out of this place and get our drink on.”

“Can’
t,” Keegan moaned mournfully. “I’ve got work in the morning and supernaturals to interview. I do not need some one deciding that I am doing my job impaired because they can smell alcohol on my breath from the night before.”

“Out of everything I know about you Spooks, that is the
only downside of investigating shifters. They always know who you have been with or around, what you just ate and how long it has been since the last time you have had sex. The nosey bastards.” 

Keegan chuckled at the joke, “But you have to admit, they are great in bed.”

“All animalistic and possessive.” Sarah mock shivered and grinned at the blush that she got out of Keegan. “Don’t pretend you aren’t into that stuff detective. Everyone has a wild side even they don’t show it.”

“Too true,” Keegan ran her fingers through her hair, “I’m tired of people.”

“Come work for me. You might be around people all day but they won’t talk back to you.” Sarah offered with a bright white smile.

“
Why do things have to be so complicated? Why does it matter what a person is or isn’t? Why can’t the world just get along?” Keegan shifted in her seat to look at Sarah. “It just baffles my mind that the smallest difference can change the way you treat someone.”

“Why
do I get the feeling that you are talking about what happened with a certain detective yesterday evening and not the rest of the world out side of Misery PD?” Sarah spun back towards her pile of paperwork and began scribbling out things that Keegan would need a medical dictionary to understand half of.

“He just made me so angry
last night I went off. I never do that. Ever. You know how I am.”

Sarah nodded, “You just bottle things up until you can rant to me or you beat the ever lo
ving shit out of someone at Diyo’s to feel better.”

“Let’s not let anyone ever he
ar you talk about the later.” Keegan stared up at the smooth tiled ceiling. “He has been so cold, uncommunicative and disrespectful since I think, key word, think he looked into my personnel files to figure out what I actually am.”

“Why didn’t you just tell him?” Sarah turned in her chair before toeing her shoes off and tucking her feet beneath herself. “Would it have caused that much trouble
if you would have just told him?”

“Let’s remember what you
said to me once you found out, “Don’t cut up my bodies, don’t walk out with one of them and we’ll be okay.” And that is probably the kindest reaction I have ever received when someone has learned that I’m a necromancer. Most of my own family still won’t talk to me.”

“
Well you’ve never cut up or taken any of my corpses so we’re all good.” Sarah grinned happily at how their friendship began; snarky bickering and full of sass. “So go home, have a drink or six and don’t give a shit about what everyone else is thinking about you. A girl deserves a little me time and I say after the past few days that you have had, you deserve a drink.”

“Amen,” Keegan rolled off the couc
h and squeezed Sarah’s shoulder. “Don’t work your self too hard.”

Sarah snorted in amusement, “How about you take your own advice Morne.”

Maria was camped outside of Keegan’s house in her running SUV when Keegan arrived home. Keegan smacked her head against the steering wheel letting out a frustrated groan. She could already hear the lecture she was going to get for not having any sort of holiday decorations up. Biting her tongue, Keegan shut off her car and headed towards her mother’s hoping that the lecture wouldn’t be too bad and there would be something to soften the blow.

“Are you coming in?” Keegan let out a heavy sigh when her mother turned off her own car and followed behind her into the house. Keegan dropped her keys on the counter top before she pulled her badge and gun off her belt and set them on top of the refrigerator. “What are you doing here?”

“I figured if you weren’t going to visit
me then I should visit you because of what happened at the house.” Maria moved towards the fridge and started pulling sandwich meat out and preparing dinner for Keegan. “So why did you really stop by before you jetted out of my house without your gumbo?”

“I’m ti
red of people treating me like I’m some kind of monster. I’m not something to be afraid of but everyone, even my own family, treats me like I am. If not like that then they treat me like I’m below them.” Keegan licked her lips and shook her head trying to fight the tears. “It’s just hard sometimes Ma. I wish we were all the same and people weren’t such jackasses. It would make life so much easier.”