Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) (12 page)

“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 sa
ying 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.”

“Wha
t 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 h
ave 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 re
paving 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 goin
g 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 Keega
n 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 a
s 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 an
d 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 yo
ur 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.