Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) (16 page)

             
Ethan’s mask began to chip away in anger. “Those records are supposed to be sealed. That is my right to disclose that information.”

             
Keegan nodded in agreement, “It is but the fine print also states, any criminal record of a supernatural will remain open to one law division in Misery for the further safety of the community. As an officer in the SIU division I have access to those records Ethan.”

             
“So you just open which ever files you want and know everyone’s secrets? How is that right? It’s not.” Ethan spat out. “You’re just like Elaine, a no good bitch who doesn’t know when to keep your nose out of someone’s business.”

             
Keegan shared a look with Matt saying if she weren’t a cop and anyone spoke to her the way Ethan was she would have popped him one good by now. Keegan did the one thing that pissed known felons off. She went back to the law and shoved it right under their noses.

             
“That same law specifies if you are an active suspect in an investigation I have the right to pull that file,” Keegan shrugged. “It is all part of running background on a suspect Ethan. You should know that by now.”

             
“Plus we have to know which handcuffs to use,” Matt thought out loud with a smirk in place, “The iron ones, the silver ones, wooden ones.”

             
“Fuck you!” Ethan jerked up out of his seat but the restraints held him in place. “That is all bullshit and you know it. Tell him none of those fucking fairy tales are true.”

             
Keegan rolled her eyes. “So we know that you are a supernatural who could have committed this crime. You had the means and a motive to get rid of Elaine. What we want to know is why did you have to kill her?”

             
“What’s my motive?” Ethan snapped out. “She already got what she wanted! I can’t go near her unless I want to go back to jail. You and I both know that maximum security isn’t the best joint to be in even if I am a shifter.”

             
“See that’s the thing,” Matt tapped his fingers against the table top. “She got what she wanted. You didn’t. That probably pissed you off. Not that I can say I blame you. Girl like Elaine blew me off?” Matt shrugged and then dramatically smacked a fist on the table, “I’d have to show her a thing or two my self.”

             
“So where were you tonight Ethan?” Keegan slipped the question in hoping to catch him off guard.

             
“Doesn’t matter even if I did tell you,” Ethan kicked at the table leg. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

             
“Try us?” Keegan offered.

             
“I’m going home to be alone.” Ethan smarmily answered. “How you like that hot shot?”

             
“Okay,” Matt jotted that down. “Where were you last Wednesday night?”

             
“Last Wednesday night?” Ethan looked at them in confusion. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

             
Both Keegan and Matt stayed quiet wondering when it would dawn on the man what they were referring to. It took a moment before understanding spread across his face. “Oh, I see. As much as I’m glad someone had the guts to do them in, I ain’t had nothing to do with that family’s death. I might have it in me to kill a person but I’m not a baby killer.”

             
“So where were you? You tell us that maybe we can clear everything up and let you get back to being at home alone and stop bothering you.” Matt suggested.

             
“I was at home,” Ethan ground out from between his teeth, “alone.”

             
“Well,” Matt snorted as he stood up and gathered the pictures and papers that had started to cover the table in front of him. “That cleared matters up right as rain. I’ll send your paperwork down to booking and maybe you’ll get your bail hearing first thing in the morning. Otherwise you’ll be back in solitary until they get you to the big house.”

             
“This is bullshit!” Ethan slammed a closed fist down on the table and both Keegan and Matt flinched as the metal creaked then buckled underneath the force of his hand.

             
Matt backed up a step and gestured for the officers positioned outside the room to come in and take Ethan out of homicide and into booking. “You might want to tone that done Newton. You act too crazy they’ll skip bail and send you straight back to your favorite place.”

             
“Fuck you!” Ethan hawked a loogie and spat it right out on Matt’s shoe. “And your bitch too. Don’t think I can’t smell the two of you all over each other. It’s sickening. A human and whatever she is. Fucking disgusting.”

             
Keegan stepped up close to Ethan as the uniforms held him back. “You want to know what’s really disgusting? Supernaturals like you. Giving the rest of us a shit name and killing those who see that there is more to life than what blood runs through a person’s veins.”

             
Keegan slid back way from Ethan when she felt Matt rest his hand on the crook of her elbow and gently tug her back. They both stood still in the interrogation room until Ethan and the uniforms disappeared around the corner.

             
“You think he’s our guy?” Matt whispered.

             
“If he isn’t our guy then he knows who our guy is.” Keegan answered and glanced over her shoulder at Matt. “He’s hiding something.”

             
“What makes you think that?” Matt nudged her out of the interrogation room.

             
“There aren’t that many shifters that spend their time alone. Unless they’ve been exiled or lost their mate they typically don’t stay alone. It’s not part of their nature.” Keegan shrugged. “I don’t think he’s the one killing the leopards though. I think he’s covering for someone. We just need to figure out who he’s taking the heat for.”

             
Matt checked his watch and let out a sigh. “It’s almost three in the morning. Are you going to head home and catch a few hours of sleep? Or are you going to rough it out until day light hours?”

             
Keegan hesitated to answer. She didn’t really want to go home but she needed the sleep. She didn’t want to be alone after everything that had happened today. “I think I might see if I can stay a few hours with my Ma or something.”

             
“Really?” Matt rolled his eyes. “I’ve got a spare bag in the trunk of my car. If you have a couch I don’t mind keeping you company until the morning.”

             
“You really don’t have to.” Keegan ducked her head down in shame. She didn’t do well admitting when she needed help or wanted someone just to be near her so she wouldn’t be so afraid.

             
“I know,” Matt shrugged a shoulder. “But after tonight I really don’t care to be alone. Fucking cat scared the shit out of me. I’ve never heard anything like those growls before.”

             
“All right,” Keegan rolled her lips together understanding that he was taking the focus off of her and making it seem like he was the one who didn’t want to be alone for the night. “But you don’t have to take the couch. I do have a spare bedroom you can call yours for a few hours.”

              Keegan waited in the front seat of her car until a set of headlights pulled in behind her and flickered off before Matt slipped out of the front seat of his truck. Taking a deep breath Keegan got out of her car and clutched her keys tight enough to dig into her palm as she led him up the creaky front porch steps and into her house.

             
She could feel him looking at everything as he walked behind her. When she stopped hearing his shoes pad against the wooden floors she stopped to see what made him pause. He was staring at one of the only pictures that had her entire family together. The birthday before she told everyone what she could do and what it meant.

             
“Who are they?” Matt tapped against the silver frame.

             
“Well,” Keegan pointed towards her mother and began there. “This is my mom. Next to her is Sybil, we call her Cy. Then there, the one with long brown hair, that’s Elsie. Joan is next to her. I don’t ever think she has had a normal hair color in her life. Last but not least, Gordon the one unlucky boy of the group.”

             
“You guys looked happy,” Matt absently commented and Keegan felt her heart clench at the comment.

             
“Looked,” Keegan repeated softly to herself. “I haven’t really spoken with any of them since that was taken, except my Ma. She was the only one who accepted the things I can do and she didn’t care about what people thought about me for it.”

             
Matt rested a hand on her shoulder, “I’m sorry.”

             
Keegan shrugged, “It’s not a big deal. I’ve got my Ma. Let me show you where the room is and then I’ll give you the tour of the rest of the house just in case you get hungry or you can’t sleep.”

             
There was only one hallway that branched off from the kitchen and living room. Keegan pointed out her room and right across from it was the spare room, “You’ve got your own bathroom and it’s stocked with extras of nearly everything so you don’t really have to worry about any of those things. Uh, the room all the way at the end of the hall is my office. The living room and kitchen, you saw that on your way in. I’ve got an X-Box and a shit ton of zombie games if you can’t sleep. I try to keep food and stuff in the house so you’re welcome to any of it if you get hungry.”

             
Matt let a soft laugh escape from his lips before he grabbed Keegan’s arm to stop her nervous flittering. “Thank you Keegan. If I need anything I know where to find you. Just go get some rest okay? We both are going to need as much sleep as we can get for tomorrow.”

             
“I just,” Keegan shook her head, “I’m going to shower and hit the sack. I’ll try not to use up all the hot water.”

             
“You’re so kind,” Matt did something Keegan hadn’t expected of him. He paused before he turned and wrapped her up in a tight hug. She could feel how deeply he was breathing and she couldn’t help but hold him back just as tightly. “You scared the shit out of me today Morne.”

             
Keegan wasn’t sure what to say so she just went with the first thing that came to mind and spoke warmly into his shirt. “I’m sorry.”

             
“Don’t do it again,” Matt rubbed slow circles into her back before he finally stepped back and cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Get some sleep?”

             
“You too,” Keegan nodded before she disappeared behind the door to her room. She leaned against it for a moment and took a deep breath. She was slipping further into the attraction she had for Matt and she was afraid that it would cause more trouble then it would be worth.

              Even in sleep fear did funny things to a person. The sound of growls filled Keegan’s ears, the warmth of a leopard’s hiss misted across her face. Her body reacted before she woke. A surge of energy coiled through her. She jolted from sleep with a gasp and she stared at her hands in shock. They had begun to glow an eerie blue. The door to her room burst open and Matt stood shocked in a pair of sweat pants.

             
“Keegan,” His voice sounded like the voice he used when he encountered someone who had witness a crime. “Keegan, look at me.”

             
“Fuck,” Keegan whispered more to her self before she shook her hands out and the glow slowly dissipated. “Dreams should not feel that real.”

             
Matt broke down in hysterical laughter. He was clutching as his bare stomach and trying to catch his breath. Keegan stared at him in confusion before she realized that he was laughing at her. She grabbed a pillow and hurled it at him. “I had a nightmare and all you do is laugh at me? What kind of man does that?”

             
Matt’s smile was wide and bright. “You’re okay though?”

             
“No thanks to you.” Keegan gestured angrily at him before she couldn’t help but laugh at the moment her self.

             
“I was a bit worried there for a moment, you just kind of yelled and I panicked.” Matt toed at the floor.

             
Keegan rubbed the heel of her palms against her eyes and looked at the clock and groaned, “An hour of sleep and I feel like a zombie.”

             
“Look at it this way Morne,” Matt tapped a hand on the door frame as he turned to head to his room, “Another two hours and you’ll be back at the precinct working your ass off preferring that you were sleeping nightmares or no.”

             
Flopping back down across her pillows Keegan grunted out. “Please don’t remind me.”

              The morning dawned far too brightly for Keegan’s tastes. She didn’t waste time getting ready for work despite the fact she felt as though she had been run over by a Mac truck. With her gun and badge clipped in place on her belt Keegan tramped through the house and was taken aback at the sight of Matt sitting at the bar sipping on a cup of coffee looking like he belonged in her house.