to get out of my squad room. Until you can respect the SIU and the work we do you don’t need to pay anymore visits to us.”
“Excuse me?” Matt’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
“I believe you heard me.” Keegan shook her head, “Any communication going on between the two departments are now limited to e-mails and phone calls. Any of your guys harass mine? Your ass is grass.”
She watched as Matt back pedaled and heading back up the stairs. His face etched with tension and anger. His steps were heavy up the stairs and the door separating the two departments slammed.
“Want to tell us what that was about?” Gary looked over the top of his glasses. His eyes were full of concern and the way he shifted awkwardly conveyed his worry.
“I’m tired of them screwing us over and treating us like shit.” Keegan rubbed angrily at her eyes. “And if he thinks he can disrespect me the way he did he has another thing coming. I’m not just someone he can push around and expect to follow along with whatever rules he puts in place. This is a team effort the last I checked.”
“Uh, baby girl,” Leeroy stood up and set his hands on her shoulders. He massaged at the tense muscles and grimaced with Keegan let out a hiss of pain from the action, “That was more than some jackass cop messing with your desk and treating us like the rest of the cops out there. That, what just happened, was personal.”
Keegan let out a sigh, “He just,” she gave an aggravated growl, “Gets under my skin.”
“You let him.” Melinda pointed out before looking down at the papers in her hands. “Anyways what did you find out on Mason Mills? He isn’t our guy?”
“Nope, he’s no longer a suspect.” Keegan stepped away from Leeroy and settled into her chair. “I have background from a friend that gave clear enough indicators that Mills has changed over time. He just kept up the persona. It also matches up to what Mills himself told me. The thing I wasn’t expecting was he and the Barrs were close to each other.”
“Huh,” Melinda scratched her head in thought. “Well who else would want the Barrs dead if we eliminated our main suspect? All that leaves us with are the wolves that supposedly follow Mills’ example. I can check them out and see what is really going on there later on tonight at the pack meeting but we’re hitting a dead end here.”
“Gary? Leeroy? Did either of you come up with something on that receptionist at Misery Real Estate?” Keegan pulled up her e-mail and started digging through the trash before she got to the meat and potatoes of it all.
“He only popped for traffic violations, a seat belt charge, so unless we find something else besides being a racist against him, we’ve got nothing on him.” Gary gave a hopeless shrug.
“Well Dr. Biggerson got an ID on what kind of creature left the bite marks on both of our victims.” Keegan pulled up the file. It showed the mold and compared it to a database picture of a skull of a leopard shifter. “And it looks like we were looking at the wrong type of shifter the entire time. It’s not a wolf that did this, it was a leopard.”
“At least we know where to start in the morning. Gary and I will hit up all of the recuperating shifters from the full moon tonight and see if we can get anything out of them.” Leeroy offered.
“Melinda, you keep at the wolves in your pack. Maybe something will stick out and we can go somewhere with that. If not, we’ll clear them completely and move on.” The phone on Keegan’s desk chirped obnoxiously and continuously as Melinda muttered out, “You got it boss.”
“Detective Morne, SIU.” Keegan answered snappishly. She nodded and hummed in acknowledgement before she set the phone back down in its cradle. “Dr. Biggerson said she was done with the bodies. I’m going to head over there and make sure the spirits stay at rest.” Keegan scooped up her bags and shouldered them.
“How about you do us all a favor? Go straight home afterwards?” Gary pouted a little and gave her his patented puppy dog eyes. “We all need some rest.”
“Promise,” Keegan squeeze his arm as she passed by him grateful for his concern. “Y’all do the same okay? Especially you Melinda. You do whatever you need to do with your recuperation