Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) (19 page)

“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 an
d 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.

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 h
ere afterwards,” Maria muttered. “I know when you get stressed out it’s hard for you to be alone.”

“I had a friend t
ake 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.”

Ma
ria’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 bit
e 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 fa
ce 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 l
eap.” 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 hi
m 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.”

Dropping her bag on her des
k Keegan looked between the two. “Do I even want to know why you two are camped out at my desk at seven in the morning?”

“Judge Malone granted us our
warrant for getting DNA samples” Matt started and Sarah broke in with a wide smile. “And he even is allowing us to take a mold of his teeth.”

Ke
egan felt her jaw drop in shock. “How did you manage that?”

“Judge Malone doesn’t like the fact an alpha could be using his status in order to hurt his
people,” Matt replied. “He’s got a soft spot for supernaturals ever since he found out his boy was a wolf.”

“Huh,” Keegan rubbed underneath her chin as she filed the information away for later use. She
scooped up her bag and grinned. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s get the bastard.”

Sarah let out a whoop of excitement as they all made their way up the stairs to grab Detective Cassidy and head over to
The Jumping Bean
where Matt already had officer’s watching Bryton to inform them if he was on the move and where he was going.

The Jumping Bean
was full of the morning commuters and college kids getting their fix before the day started. The group of three detectives and the medical examiner wove through the crowd and made a beeline straight for Bryton’s usual table. He was sharing a muffin with Ethan Newton, unabashedly bestowing his affections on the man who was shifting uncomfortably under the attention.

Matt sat across from the men with the biggest shit-eating grin Keegan had e
ver seen on the detective. She, Sarah and Cassidy flanked his back and stood tall as statues behind Matt.

Bryton froze with a piece of muffin halfway to his lips. His eyes narrowed and Keegan could see the way they flickered to the diamond pupil and back to the human roundness. “What was so important that the Misery PD decided that they needed to interrupt my breakfast with?”

Matt pulled the folded up warrant from his pocket and slid it across the table “We have a warrant to collect your DNA and a mold of your teeth.”

“Oh,” Bryton plucked up the paper and his lips curled with a silent growl as he read over the legalese. Keegan watched the anger flit over his face before it was replaced with a stone cold look of indifference. “Might I inquire as to why you deem it necessary to have my DNA? Last I checked I was not a person of interest in any ongoing cases in the Misery Police Department. What has changed since then detectives?”

“We have stumbled across some information.” Detective Cassidy shrugged and smirked down at the leopard.

“You don’t just
stumble
across information, someone provides it. As I am being forced into cooperation then I believe I have a right to know why you believe me to be the perpetrator behind the deaths of the Barr’s and Elaine Philips.”  Bryton slid the warrant back across the table and towards Matt. In the process he let it slid across spilt coffee and let the paper soak in it before Keegan reached over Matt’s shoulder and pocketed the damp papers.