head, “Like I said, they haven’t been all that present in prowl activities since they found out Alice was pregnant and even less so since Connor was born.”
Keegan was a little taken aback by what Bryton was telling her. She might not know much about shifters and specific group behaviors but she knew enough that something didn’t seem right. She knew that werewolves spent copious amount of time together. They thrived on it. Even from what she had learned about dragons from Gary, she knew that he needed to be able to spend time with other dragons. It calmed him. To have an alpha just be okay with two members of his prowl to drift away didn’t seem right to her.
“I see the wheels spinning detective,” Bryton smirked, “a prowl is nothing like other shifting communities. Leopards by nature, as you should know, are solitary creatures. Just because we are partly human that doesn’t make us all that different. There are some of us who thrive on community but some, like the Barrs, did better on their own. I am not going to take that from them. Especially when they are building their own family. Did I check in with them? Yes, that’s my job. Did they have friends within the prowl? Yes but they weren’t close enough to actually want to share their lives with anyone. Did they have enemies? What supernatural doesn’t? But whatever answers you are looking for, I am not much of a help because like I said, the Barrs were more solitary than the rest of us.”
Keegan rolled her lips together and nodded. She knew when she was being told to leave and she wasn’t going to push it in a coffee house full of shifters who were more upset than calm. She passed Bryton her card before she stood. “Well thank you for time. If there is anything else you can think of just give me a call. Any little detail can be of use in an investigation.”
Bryton stood and reached out to shake her hand. “I’ll call if I can think of anything.”
“Have a good day,” Keegan nodded before she turned to leave. Leeroy was already standing by the time she made it to the door. They didn’t speak to each other until Keegan was clear from the parking lot and had passed the next few blocks.
Leeroy was the first to speak. “I take it Bryton wasn’t helpful?”
Keegan shook her head. “I think I have more questions than I had before going in there.”
“Like what?” Leeroy prompted.
“According to Bryton, the Barrs weren’t as involved with the prowl as other members were. He claimed that it was because they were starting their own family but I get the feeling that something isn’t quite right with that. None of it seemed right.”
“And that didn’t look like a prowl in mourning. They just looked angry that someone would draw attention to them.” Leeroy added.
“We’ll have to do some research and see what we come up with. For now we have to keep interviewing and seeing if we can get any kind of information about who would want to do this to them.”
There were too many questions rolling around in Keegan’s mind to continue avoiding Detective Hollis. She needed to talk to him about the interview she had with Bryton Anderson and she needed to get any notes on what his mean might have gotten.
She might not be happy with him or his department but that didn’t mean she could keep avoiding him. They needed to get things figured out and they needed to do it before something else happed.
Putting on her big girl panties Keegan maneuvered her way through the bull pen in homicide. She ignored the stares she got as she made her way to the furthest back corner to where Matt’s desk was.
He was busy speaking on the phone, his pen moving furiously across the lined paper. Keegan pulled a vacant chair from the neighboring desk and set it in front of Matt’s desk. He glanced up and he froze. “Yeah, I got to go. I’ll call you back in a few?”
As soon as he hung up he closed his folders that had been lying open on his desk. “What can I help you with Detective Morne?
Keegan could feel the ice rolling off of him in waves. It felt just like she was dealing with the rest of the jerks who thought they were better than the members of the SIU. She didn’t know