Murder in Misery (Spook Squad) (20 page)

“Let me put it this way,” Keegan flattened her coat back out fr
om where she pocketed the paper. “You are the prowl’s alpha, it isn’t any secret around here. So when members of your prowl start showing up dead and you act like it is not a big deal there is enough suspicion that a judge will grant us whatever we need to close the cases.”

Bryton licked his upper teeth, showi
ng a bit of fang in the process. “Well if it will eliminate me from the suspect pool then by all means, take what you need and be done with it.”

Sarah began digging through her bag and pulled on a pair of gloves, “You try anything funny you won’t be walking out of here with all your teeth Mr. Anderson.”

“Now why would I do anything to you.” Bryton opened his mouth allowing Sarah to scrape the inside of his cheek. She capped off the sample and tucked it into an evidence bag before she sealed it.

“I don’t know,” Sarah murmured, “But one can never be too careful.”

The detectives were all silent as they watched Sarah dart into dangerous territory as she placed the metal mould into Bryton’s mouth and instructed him to bite down. Keegan felt the heat of his gaze on her skin. She didn’t like the way he was looking directly at her. As if he were delving into her mind and picking out the most important pieces of her life.

After Sarah packaged up the mo
ld and tucked it into an evidence bag Keegan ignored the wicked smile that curled around Bryton’s mouth. He waited for the detectives and medical examiner to leave before he spoke directly towards her, “The person who should really be worried knows it. Don’t you Keegan?”

Keegan swallowed down the anger and fear he elicited from her as she leaned acro
ss the table and into his space. “Your threats don’t scare me Bryton. If anything they show me how guilty and terrified of being caught you really are. I want you to know something. If you hurt any of my people, you will not make it to see another sunrise.”

Bryton clucked his tongue.
“Threats like that cause people to lose their jobs detective. You might want to be more careful with what you say and who you say it around. There’s no telling when a cat will be over protective of their alpha.”

“An alpha who need
s protection isn’t a true alpha.” Keegan shot over her shoulder as she ducked through the now thinning morning coffee crowd and out to the SUV.

During this time there was more than just previous evidence that weighed on an investigator’s mind. This was the time when suspects attempted to flee if they hadn’t already been taken into custody. This was the time when a terrified murderer would kill once last time before it wasn’t possible for him to kill again.

No matter how many sets of eyes or how many police officers followed and watched a suspect there was still a chance for them to disappear and to never be heard from again. That is what really bothered Keegan more than anything. A suspect being able to evade them and be free to continue killing like they had before.

“I can hear you thinking upstairs.” Matt muttered as he rubbed a hand at his tired eyes. “You need to stop that. It can really drive a guy crazy.”

“Oh yeah?” Keegan leaned back in her chair with a
yawn. “What am I thinking right now?”

“That a bed would be nice.
” Matt grinned when Keegan’s eyes minutely widened in surprise. “I think everyone who has been working this case besides Doc Biggerson is thinking that right about now. I haven’t gained any otherworldly abilities since we’ve last spoken. So I have a proposition for you.”

Keegan tilted her head and narrowed her eyes, “I don’t know if I’m going to like your idea.”

“Coffee,” Matt shrugged, “Maybe dinner, which ever you would prefer so you can unwind for the night.”

“I don’t want coffee,” Keegan let out another jaw popping yawn. “I want sleep.”

“Well dinner then, my treat and then you can crash and hope that Sarah can come up with something that we can use to arrest that bastard with tomorrow.”

Keegan shook her head, “My treat. My Ma made me some gumbo and
I have a feeling it finally made its way into my refrigerator from hers. I still haven’t gotten the chance to eat it. I don’t want it going bad before I can eat it all. Meet me at my place and we can eat dinner and what ever the heck else.”

“Sounds like you are asking me out on a date Morne,” Matt commented playfully, “
I didn’t figure you for that kind of girl.”

Keegan smacked Matt over the back of the head not sure what to say to him as she shouldered her bag and led the way up through homicide. Sometimes it was better to let things play out rather than try to figure out what was happening before something actually did happen.

The gumbo was tucked away in her freezer. Keegan supposed it was because she laid her heart out to her mother and this was her mother’s sign of approval for doing so. It took about an hour to get the gumbo how she wanted it before she served it.

Gumbo with broken off pieces of French bread soaking in the roux was enough to let Keegan kick off her shoes, eat while sitting on the couch and listen to Matt’s running commentary on a made for television horror film. The two beers she had already gulped down helped too.

That might be why the words came tumbling out of her mouth when under normal circumstances she would not have dared let anyone else know what had been on her mind. “I just don’t understand it. Why would he kill them? I know it’s because they had the things he didn’t have. The Barr’s had a family, although what Bryton considered a mix family – that is no reason for him to actually murder them. And Elaine? She wasn’t interested in him but that doesn’t mean that she should have died for that.”

“He isn’t right up here,” Matt offered as he pointed to his forehead. “Someone is going to try and blame how he was brought up for the reasons he committed these crimes but that doesn’t excuse him at all. You and I both know he is a monster and deserves to be locked away for the rest of his life. Once we get the bastard it isn’t up to us anymore.”

“And that’s the scariest part,” Keegan whispered as she looked over at Matt. “We know he killed these people out of cold blood. A jury might be more sympathetic than you and I would be. If he doesn’t go to prison, well I don’t even want to think of what he is possible of doing.”

“They won’t let him free Keegan,” Matt grasped her hand in his. “He killed a baby. He killed a mixed couple and a woman who loved someone else. If he doesn’t end up in a maximum facility prison or get life then I don’t think I’ll be able to work or live in Misery any longer.”

Keegan sobered at his confession.
Matt leaving Misery, even if just in thought left her not knowing what she would do.

“Oh no,” Matt leaned over and tapped Keegan on the nose as if he were disciplining a cat who had just jumped on the counter, “Stop that.”

Keegan batted his hand away when he went in for another flick, “Stop what?”

“
You’ve got that look on your face.” Matt huffed out before he leaned back against the couch, his head tilted back towards the ceiling. “That one that says you didn’t like what you heard. You need to just let go for one night and breathe.”

Keegan rolled her head along the couch
to stare into never ending eyes. “That is easier said then done.”

“We
’ve got the bastard,” Matt tangled their fingers together. “We are this close to and we’re rounding third about to slide home. Getting the last pieces of evidence in order to make sure he is put away for a long time. He isn’t ever going to kill another person. Not on our watch. He is going away for a long time.”

Keegan wanted to look down at their hands to see if what she was feeling was really happening but she focused on Matt and the warmth of his breath,
the heady scent of his cologne. “I can’t stop thinking about all of the what-ifs, you know? What if he turns into a runner? What if he knows he is caught and tries to get out of it?”

“Then we hunt him down.
” Matt’s voice was hard and sent a shiver down Keegan’s spine. “We hunt him down and we don’t give him another chance to escape.”

Picking up the remote Keegan flipped
the television on to a rerun of a reality show, not really caring what was playing just wanting something to be playing in the background to keep her darker thoughts at bay. They might be detectives but they were human.

“We are going to get him Keegan. He isn’t going to be getti
ng away. Not this time.” Matt whispered as he let his eyes drop shut.

Keegan waited until the grip on her hand loosened and she heard his breathing even out into sleep. She nudged him to his side before unlacing his shoes and pulling them off. Tugging the throw off the back of the couch Keegan draped it over Matt and started to clean up the mess of beer bottles and the bowls of eaten gumbo.

It was nearly six am the next morning when Keegan’s cell phone and Matt’s cell phone ringing across the house. Matt’s phone cut off as soon as Keegan had picked up her cell phone, “Morne.”

Keegan sat shell shocked in her bed at what one of the foot officers were telling her. Bryton Anderson had slipped off the radar between shift changes. Keegan let out a frustrated growl as soon as she
got off the phone and threw it across the room. She ran her hands through sleep mussed hair. She looked up when Matt knocked on her door and his face was grim. “I guess you got the news?”

“I knew it,” Keegan whispered.
“I knew he would find away to get away from us.”

“We’ve got an alert out over t
he tri-county area and every available unit is out looking for him Keegan. He isn’t going to get away that easily. We’re going to get the son of a bitch and we’re going to get him tonight. We’ve got a few places to check out that we know other supernaturals hide out. We are going to get him.”

Keegan threw back the covers on her bed and headed for her dresser. She froze when the warmth of Matt’s hand soaked across her back.

“What happened?” His voice was raw as he traced over the dark lines that spread out across her back. They originated from her heart and stretched out.

“It’s the mark of a necromancer.
” Keegan answered her eyes meeting his in the mirror above her dresser. “It starts showing up when you hit puberty. The more strength you have the darker and thicker the lines get.”

“It looks like,” Matt shook his head and stepped back from her, “It almost looks like you were struck by lightening, only worse.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” Keegan set her clothes out on her bed. “I just, I’m careful with what I wear so people don’t see them. It’s not the kind of attention I need. Anyways, I need to change my clothes and then we can be on our way to the precinct to see what we can do to find Anderson.”

Matt no
dded and backed out of the room. “I’ll get some coffee ready.”

Coffee always
the key to ending any awkward situation in the Morne household.

“We got a line on where Bryton might be hiding out. Ethan Newton has a piece of property that was foreclosed on but
no one has bought the land. It’s on the outskirts of Misery and there has been a lot of odd activity according to one of the nearest neighbors.”

Keegan took the proffer
ed papers and scanned over them. “Then what are we waiting for? We need to get down there and get him before we can’t.”

“We need confirmation and Biggerson almost has
the DNA typed out.” Leeroy shrugged, “Boss said we don’t make a move until we know that we have the right guy. Biggerson said she’d have results read for us in an hour or so and if any one tries to rush her then she could and I quote, ‘fuck things up and no one wants that’.”

Keegan ran her fingers through her hair in frustration, “So we wait.”

“And we find out that Mr. Anderson,” Gary snickered under his breath at the Matrix reference, “Is indeed out on abandoned property thanks to yours truly. Just took a quick fly over in my favorite form and he’s holed up by himself for the time being. Melinda is out there with a couple of the homicide guys keeping watch on the place.”

Keegan felt a wave of relief pour across her chest
. “We need to make sure he stays alone and no one spots our guys. We don’t need to loose the little momentum we have.”

“Judge M
alone granted an arrest warrant.” Matt jumped the last step on the stairs waving a piece of paper in the air. “Apparently he thinks we have enough even without the DNA evidence. The teeth molds proved to be just enough I guess. We’re getting the task force team together and planning how to go about getting him. Leeroy, Gary, Melinda and your self are going to be split across the four entry teams.”

“Four?” Keegan repeated as they all headed up the stairs and towards the group of detectives and officers who were standing waiting for instruction.