Fang and Claw

by Markie Madden

  “On what charge?”

  She considered carefully. “He’s a person of interest in an assault case. Well, actually a suspect, like you told Linus. We could detain him for 72 hours, then after that charge him with evading IIRD registration. It might be fun to let the Registry Department get their hands on him for a while.”

  “Hey, I’ve got a family friend over there. If we do end up detaining him, I can have him tied up over there for hours. Maybe more!”

  “Okay, so that’s the plan. At least, until the evidence gets here.”

  “Better put a rush on that processing.”

  “Linus will.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  There was nothing more frustrating, in Lacey’s opinion, than waiting. Waiting for evidence to be processed, waiting for a warrant, even, in some cases, waiting for the perpetrator to commit another crime. She sat at her desk, wishing for something new to come in, or something, anything, to pop out of her screen that would give her grounds to arrest Blyge on the spot.

  She had sent Colton home, as they had both clocked on duty early for their meeting with the DA. Of course, if something broke, the administration would be okay with a few extra hours.

  At the moment, though, she had to review a couple reports of some simple cases involving Immortals that the regular officers had picked up while she and Colton were busy with their investigation. And she had to finish the report on the stabbing she and Colton had dealt with a few days before. Lacey doubted that she’d be called into court for that case, as it was a cut-and-dry situation with the suspect admitting to having committed the crime. But she needed to be prepared just in case she did get a subpoena to appear in front of the judge.

  So, she got the reports entered and cleared through the computer network. If she had a proper aide, she might have left those duties to him. But David was very slow to learn new things and could barely keep up with the filing of standard reports that the Major Crimes unit was putting in on a day-to-day basis. Lacey knew better than to try getting him to file and clear her own reports. And, she supposed, it was one of the reasons why the commander had promoted her and put her in charge of the unit. She was a stickler for paperwork.

  Shaking her head, she corrected the spelling on yet another report. How can these people not know how to spell? They speak English, don’t they? It was fortunate for her that the reports were all digital; Lacey remembered all too well the days of having to hand write reports, with a pen!, and when she was still a beat cop, she had felt sorry for her superior every time she’d submitted a report.

  Once her paperwork was completed and her desk was clear, she took her shoulder bag and headed to the parking lot. She was going to make one more stop at the lab just to make sure nothing else was pending, then she would head home.

  Linus was just shutting down his station when she arrived.

  “Hey, Lace.” He closed the lid of his laptop and turned to face her. “I don’t have anything new.”

  “I was headed home anyway, thought I’d stop by just to see.”

  “You really want to get this guy, don’t you?”

  “Yeah, it’d be nice to put him away, get some closure not only for our vic but for his other ones as well. Some of those cases are pretty old.”

  “Any word from Louisiana?”

  “Yeah, they’re shipping us some reports and preserved tissue samples. I don’t expect them for a day or two though.”

  “So, you’re pretty well stuck spinning your wheels.”

  “It sure seems like it,” Lacey agreed.

  “Why don’t we go over to the Goblet for a drink? It’s not like you’re expecting anything to break any time soon.”

  Lacey considered. It would certainly be more enjoyable than sitting at home in front of her screen. And might just be enough to distract her from a case that seemed to be going nowhere in a hurry. “Sure, sounds good.”

  Her sensitive hearing was good enough that she heard the whispers as she left the lab with Linus. From the gossiped conversation, it was obvious that everyone in the lab thought she was sleeping with him. It didn’t bother her any, but might put a kink in the man’s love life if everyone thought he was dating a vampire.

  The Goblet was already hopping by the time Lacey arrived, but she found a small booth off to one corner and claimed it. A perky, blonde waitress came over almost immediately, and Lacey ordered herself a scotch. “I’ve got company coming, though, and I’m not sure what he’ll want.”

  “Just give me a wave when he gets here and I’ll get you, honey!” The young woman bounced away. Karaoke night seemed to be in full swing, and Lacey watched in amusement as a trio of drunk 20-somethings took the stage to belt out the lyrics to a popular rock song. They butchered the song, with much giggling and swaying, but they looked like they were having fun. Then, she winced as a young man began to sing of lost love in an off-key tone, and with more than a few of the words missing.

  Lacey was spared hearing the rest of the song as Linus slid into the booth across from her. “I’d forgotten it was karaoke night.”

  She laughed. “You just missed a good one,” she commented as the music wound down. Glancing around, she caught her waitress’ eye and waved. After Linus had ordered a house beer and a round of chili cheese fries, she asked him, “So, other than my stuff, what’s going on? Anything new and interesting?”

  “There’s nothing as interesting as what you’ve handed me,” he commented with a twinkle in his eye. “Believe me girl, I’m loving the fact that you brought me this one. I’ll probably end up with a paper after it’s all said and done. But let’s not talk about work, I’m so tired of work!”

  Again, Lacey laughed. “But I’m not interesting unless it’s about work!”

  “Of course you are, darling! Tell me something I didn’t know.”

  “My partner’s family killed my family.” She regretted saying it the moment it was out of her mouth, but there was no taking back the dry statement. I don’t know where that came from! Maybe Marcell is right; I need to get it out in order to get over it.

  Linus had just taken a swig of his beer, and his eyes widened in surprise, while he choked and coughed and tried to swallow the liquid. When he’d recovered his breath, he gasped, “What?”

  “You heard me right.” Lacey resigned herself to a conversation that she did not care to have. “He dropped that little bomb on me the other day, thought I already knew.”

  “Oh my God!” The man exclaimed. “What--well, how--”

  “I’d rather not think about it, much less talk about it, if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, sure. But you know, if you do, you’ve got my number.”

  “Actually,” and her voice was rueful, “the commander’s making me see someone. Marcell Dilorenzo.”

  “Vampire shrink extraordinaire?”

  “Yeah, imagine that.”

  Linus seemed to sense that she was getting uncomfortable, so he turned the conversation to one of his favorite topics: sports. Though Lacey wasn’t much of a watcher of sports, she did enjoy watching Dallas’ hockey team, and the talk was high about them making the playoffs this year. Lacey appreciated the effort, though, and so they finished a couple more drinks, then called it a night.

  19

  “People can be divided into three classes, the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the overwhelming majority who have no idea what has happened.” ~~Unknown

  Lacey hadn’t slept much during the past two nights. Her brain would not stop thinking, running evidence over and over again from different angles. She was also on edge expecting reports from the uniforms she’d ordered to shadow their suspect, calling to say that they had caught Jason Blyge trying to leave town and had detained him per their orders. Nothing new had broken in the case, and waiting was always the hardest part.

  She was a bit surprised, and therefore suspicious, that Blyge hadn’t tried to leave town, knowing that he was now a suspect in their assault and ho
me invasion cases. She had sensed Blyge’s intelligence when they interviewed him, and knew that he would be good at disappearing and reappearing somewhere far away with a different name and appearance. In her own experience, it had been all too easy for her to do the same. Any Immortal a few hundred years old would have the necessary knowledge.

  So she walked toward her office with a sense of expectation; she was certain the new evidence would be arriving from Louisiana and she was eager to get on with it. Lacey imagined her partner was wound up the same way. The previous day, Colton had paced around the bullpen like a dervish until she had sent him home early out of a desperate need for some quiet time. She was certain she would have gone crazy had he whipped by her office door one more time. Lacey told him that they might be running some overtime once they had enough evidence for an arrest warrant on Blyge, and the reason seemed to satisfy him.

  But this was a new day, and Lacey hoped they could make some real progress on their case today. She was somewhat relieved to find that Colton wasn’t in the bullpen waiting to pounce on her, but before she could even think about closing the office door, he popped into the doorway, his usual mug of coffee in hand. As if he needs any caffeine to wire him up!

  “Anything new?”

  She suppressed a sigh. “I just got here.” She let a bit of frustration seep into her voice. “You know we won’t get any mail until a little later in the morning.”

  “I know, I know.” He dragged a hand through his unruly hair and started pacing. I don’t have the patience for this today, she thought, annoyed to be starting her day with Colton still just as keyed up as he had been yesterday. “So, what do we have planned?”

  “Why don’t you give Mr. Colby a call, show him the pictures we have of Jason Blyge. Maybe he can give us a positive ID. In that case, we could go pick him up right now.”

  “Yeah, and the evidence coming in would just be another nail in his coffin, so to speak.”

  At least that gets him out of my hair for another few minutes. Though Lacey had no idea if she’d be able to keep her partner occupied until the mail came in. They were pretty much up to date on their case book, at least until any new reports came in. She needed some sort of busy work to keep her partner’s attention. But something that he can’t know is busy work, or else he’ll just whine and complain!

  ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

  Colton was complaining, if only under his breath. What difference does it make if our witnesses can ID him? We’ll have this new evidence soon anyway! He just knew that the DNA evidence was going to be all that was necessary to grant them an arrest warrant. He couldn’t imagine it going any other way, he was that sure of Blyge’s guilt. He was still cursing as he sat down at his desk and pulled his tablet from his pocket.

  Pulling the phone closer to him, he lifted the receiver and started scrolling through the case notes on the tablet until he found the phone number Dennis Colby had given them. The other man answered on the third ring.

  “This is Detective Colton. I have a picture that I’d like to show you, see if this is the guy who beat you up. Is this a good time to talk?”

  “Yeah, man, you interrupted advanced algebra. You can take all the time you need!”

  Colton shuddered at the memory of his attempts in algebra classes. Thank goodness I didn’t have to take it to work here! Colton activated the messaging application on his tablet and punched in Colby’s number. In an instant, the device had sent the ID photo of Jason Blyge to the victim’s phone. “Is this the guy in the bar?”

  “Give me a second, let me look.” Colton could hear the faint beeping sounds from the phone as Colby shuffled through it and pulled up the photo. “I don’t know for sure. I mean, he looked similar to this guy. But his hair was different. He was kind of clean-shaven, not shaggy like this photo. I can’t say 100 percent.”

  Colton gave an inward curse. “Is there anything else about this photo that seems familiar? The suspect may have altered his appearance.” It was the closest he could get to telling the other man that the suspect may be a Skinwalker. He and Lacey were under orders from the commander not to reveal that bit of information before they made an arrest.

  “Well, the square jaw might be the same.” Colby’s voice was muffled and far away, and Colton imagined that he was talking while looking at the photo. “But man, it was kind of dark in the parking lot, and it all happened so fast!”

  “Thanks,” Colton said, defeated. “Thanks for your help. We’ll be in touch.” He hung up the phone and deactivated his tablet. He barely resisted the urge to throw the phone across the room. Instead, counting to ten, he approached Lacey’s office. She was just hanging up the phone as well.

  “Did you talk to Mr. Colby?”

  “Yeah, for all the good it did,” he replied sullenly. “It ‘might’ be the same guy.” He mimed air quotes. “But his facial hair has been shaved, and the only other thing the wit said could resemble the suspect was the square jaw.”

  “That’s not going to get us a warrant.” He could hear the frustration in her voice.

  “No, not if what we suspect about this asshole is true. Damn it!” He snarled. “DNA is going to be the only way we can get this guy!”

  “I know. That was Linus on the phone. He said you had the evidence officer in Louisiana ship the samples directly to him. That was good thinking on your part.”

  “Well I know how the mail can get lost around here. Anyway, it would just take us extra time having to drive it over there, and the lab maintains chain of custody and all that crap.”

  “That’s true as well. Still, good job.”

  He beamed with the compliment. “So, now what?’

  “Now? We wait.”

  20

  “Punishment is the last and least effective instrument in the hands of the legislator for the prevention of crime.” ~~John Ruskin

  By the end of the week, the DNA evidence was in. Late Friday afternoon, Lacey and Colton were scheduled to meet with Joe and Janessa at the DA’s office. Linus had sent his findings directly to Janessa, so Lacey and Colton were still in the dark as to whether Louisiana’s DNA sample matched Jason Blyge. Colton was wound tight as a spring, and Lacey feared that, had the tests not been concluded when they were, he wouldn’t have made it through the weekend without bursting.

  It was with mixed feelings that Lacey took a seat next to her partner in the DA’s plush conference room. On the one hand, if the results were in their favor, they would soon be on their way to arrest their prime suspect. However, if it went the other direction they would be fresh out of leads. Lacey declined refreshment when Joe offered, though Colton asked for coffee, and seemed happy to have something to hold. He passed the mug from one hand to another restlessly.

  Jenessa arrived, passed Joe a paper file, and sat, pulling her glasses from her pocket and settling them on her nose. “Good afternoon.”

  “Good afternoon, ma’am,” Colton answered. Lacey nodded in acknowledgment.

  “I take it neither of you have seen these results?”

  “Not yet, we haven’t.” Lacey answered for them both.

  Joe flipped open the file and scanned it. “According to Linus, the sample from Louisiana and your suspect’s DNA are...” He paused for effect. “It’s a perfect match.”

  Lacey had been unaware that she was holding her breath until it whooshed out in a relieved gasp. She exchanged glances with Colton. He broke out in a wide grin.

  “Excellent,” Lacey said, looking from Joe to Jenessa and back again. “So, what’s the next step?”

  Jenessa peered through her glasses. “I’ve submitted all the information to the judge. He should be in the process of clearing your warrant. I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t sign it. But I think you should wait here until it comes through.”

  Colton looked confused. “But if you don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t sign it, why wait?”

  “I understand.” Lacey spread her hands to placate him. “If we don’t wait for the warr
ant to come in, and something happens to delay it, or if they judge doesn’t sign it, then we’ve tipped him off even more. And this way, it can go down by the book.”

  Colton gnashed his teeth in frustration. Lacey understood the emotion, but she had more practice at patience. She placed her hand on his arm with a touch that was light as a feather. Over the course of this investigation, Lacey found herself adjusting to his presence, and accepting him as her partner. Though she told him it would be difficult to trust him, it seemed she was heading in that direction.

  Jenessa pushed back from the table and crossed her legs. “So you have experience with one of these Immortals?” She asked Lacey.

  “A little,” Lacey admitted. “It was a very long time ago, and most of the time, it was my mentor who had dealings with it.” She gave a brief explanation of how she had come to know the Skinwalker. Jenessa seemed ready to press her for more details, but Joe’s tablet gave a soft chime, and he quickly read the message.

  “Your warrant’s in,” he informed the two officers. “Go get this guy.”

  Colton was on his feet before the other man finished speaking. Lacey was right behind him. She, however, remembered her manners. “Thank you.” She shook both attorneys’ hands, and left the conference room with her partner.

  “It’s a bit late in the day.” When Colton spoke, she realized that in her excitement her stride was making it hard for him to keep up. “You think he’s still at work?”

  “I’m not sure. Why don’t you call McCormick when we get to the car? I’m not sure if he’ll still be at Bank of America, but his apartment is closer. I’ll head in that direction while you make the phone call.”