Life With A Werewolf

Unwelcomed Neighbors Part 3

          There wasn't much of a conversation for the forty five seconds it took to drive me to the police station. The cop, who I'll call Andy for the sake of this little blog, didn't give me much of a hassle. He was an older type, close to my own age in fact. From the way he acted, I could tell he had years of experience within the police department of our small town. His balding hair was cut military short, his hazel eyes had the thousand yard cop stare. The type of stare that said he'd seen too many bar fights and far too many hunting accidents.
         The car pulled up to a squat building that had parking places for about three patrol cars in the back. Lead inside handcuffed, I didn't complain any until he'd handcuffed me and set me down next to one of three scarred desks. "Sorry about the performance back there, but we got to keep up appearances."
         He logged into a computer and tapped at keys, filling out a report as he spoke to me. I stole a glance at it. It looked just like one of the fake forms that Crash had slid across my desk for me to fill out for him. Figures Crash would stick a real one among all the nonsense. "So, how long has this been going on?"
         I explained everything as best as I could to him. From the moment Garrett limped his way through the door, the half threats disguised as playful jabs. My outright threat, and every incident since. I tried backing up claims with date and times, and was able to use receipts a couple of times to do so.
         "Yeah," he muttered, tapping out keys. "They're trying to play you for something. All of this is going to your division, of course. Your boss will determine the next course of action. If it was me? I'd keep my head down and..."
         His words stopped when his radio squawked to life. It spoke of a 9-1-1 call about an address that was familiar to me. Elouise's address.
         Tell you the truth, I hadn't thought about her in the middle of all of this. Simply put, I didn't want to get her involved with Garrett again if we could avoid it. Figured the best way to do that was to simply not talk about Garrett to her. Besides, she had a life of her own. A small business that she ran out of her trailer on the side, and the almost relationship thing going on with Crash. If anyone told her, I guessed it would have been him.
         "I'm coming," I said, standing up.
         "No, sit your ass down," he growled at me. "Crash will be by to pick you up soon."
         If you thought I just politely waited for Crash, you'd be out of your mind. I half-walked, half-jogged to Elouise's place, limping part of the way. Crash pulled up in his car and growled at me "get in." We drove down to the site where Andy and an assistant of his were standing by, starting an investigation of their own already.
          "Rare treat for you boys to tag along," Crash said. I didn't say anything for a change. "I smell three humans, males. Adults, one older than the other two. Will need to shift to tell you more."
         "Shift," Andy asked.
         I nodded. "He's probably going to go inside first, don't worry."
         The front door had been kicked in. Not that it's terribly difficult to do that on a trailer. The bushes that Elouise had planted had been driven over with something. It looked as if they were trying to move quickly. A window was smashed out, an object thrown through it. Glass was all over the lawn. Inside was worse, with things strewn about and shattered, as if someone was searching for something. Whatever it was, obviously they hadn't found it cause Elouise was still alive.
         Stepping out a moment, I spent time with the two officers as Crash shifted. The conversation drifted from stories about military life to stories of their jobs. There is quite a bit of cross over between the two fields. Just as many stupid things we have to deal with from our superiors and from locals. And, just as many inside jokes.
         The type of humor that cops and military personnel use isn't the type of jokes that most people understand. To misquote Joseph Stalin, dark humor is like food, not everyone gets it. But the humor laid about those lines. It was the type of humor built from trauma and response. Joke built as a way of dealing with stress and horror. So, I won't go into the jokes we told there, or the stories that were shared.
         It was about ten minutes later when Crash came ambling out on all fours, nose to the ground, muzzle pulled back in a grimace. "I'm not taking you for walkies."
         "That's fine. I'll just mark your bed later."
         I eye-rolled as the cops chuckled at the inside jokes. "Okay, okay. What do you smell?"
         "Tire marks say sedan. The scent says VW, so probably a Passat. Built in the teens at some time, so maybe ten years old? It's burning oil, and leaking coolant."
         "That makes sense," Andy said. "They did say a silver sedan pulled up."
         "Unfortunately, no scent of anyone in my jurisdiction. Just two males, early twenties. Another male in his late forties."
         "What I don't get," I said, "is why would three humans kidnap Elouise?"
         Crash stood to his full height, something that caused the other two to put their hands to their pistols momentarily. "Garrett again. We're still off this case. Because it's human perpetrators, I can't interfere. Neither can you."
         "So, let me get this straight. They pick a fight in the police station hoping to get in trouble."
         "No," Crash said. "Knowing you'd respond. Which you did and got us both banned from investigating them."
         "They keep after me, you're forced to intervene. Then they take that moment to kidnap Elouise?"
         "No," Crash said. "They paid someone else to kidnap Elouise. I'm certain I can get evidence of this car and the wonder twins talking. But I'll have to investigate in this form, and there's no way I can do that in daylight."
         Andy smiled, then. And thank God for Andy for two things. One, he's got a hell of a cop mind on him. Two, he was willing to tell a werewolf, "It'll take me less than five minutes to get you a leash and collar."
         The look Crash gave him was priceless. "Absolutely not! No! I won't do that. You can't make me."
         I looked at Crash. "It'll give us the evidence we need to get out of the penalty box and get back on the ice for this case."
         "Fine," He grumbled. Then he looked at me. "You better not tell a soul."
         I pulled out my cell phone. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
         He took it away from me and threw it in Andy's car before I could start recording, the jerk. The deal was Andy could walk Crash around, with his partner in the patrol car. But I had to sit in the back. And wasn't allowed to get my phone until Crash had finished.
         Which I was getting nervous about. Cause, Crash was going to sniff out this car, possibly through downtown. After how many other cars had already driven over it. After how many other people and mythicals and dogs and what not had already walked by it. Even Crash's nose would get confused after that. Could he even do it?
         Could it be done in time? After all, Elouise had maybe hours before Garrett would kill her. He was going to want his money first. Then he was going to want revenge. Which he would have gotten in one fell swoop. Revenge on us, killing our unofficial pack member. Revenge on Elouise. And revenge on Crash.
         I wasn't certain how much more we could do at that point, but I did know that whatever we could do, our time to do it in was running out.