Mercedes woke the following morning to a pounding sound that resonated in her skull. Had she ever been hung over in her life, she might've assumed that that was the cause of her head throbbing with the sound. She opened her eyes, still groggy from sleep, and pushed the hotel covers off her body. After discovering Wayde body in her front yard, She'd decided that staying at a hotel might be a safer choice. Yes, they could've stayed in the library, but if another body ended up on her property, Mercedes didn't want to be anywhere near it. But tonight would be a different story. With the full moon, they couldn't be near anyone. They'd have to take their chances back at the house.
Another set of pounding from the door echoed into her ear drums.
"Mercedes Walker, this is Sheriff Stilinski. I want you to open the door."
Mercedes frowned. What was the Sheriff doing this early. "I'm coming." She stood up from the bed and made her way to the door.
"Mama?" Bentley called.
Mercedes looked back toward Bentley. "It's okay, sweetie." She turned to the door and opened it.
The Sheriff and several of his Deputies stood outside the door. Looking past them, Mercedes could make out four cruisers in the parking lot, and each officer had their weapon in their hands.
"Sheriff." she said.
"Miss Walker." Stilinski said.
"What bring you here this morning?"
"Tracy Hills." he answered gravely.
Mercedes frowned. "What happened to Tracy?"
"She's dead." he answered.
Mercedes felt her mouth drop opened. "What?"
"She was found dead in her home." Stilinski explained. "Found just like Wayde. Witnesses say they saw you leaving her house last night. Placing you as the last person to see her alive."
"I went by to pick up Bentley." Mercedes explained. She knew it was useless, but she couldn't go down without fighting. Metaphorically speaking, anyway.
Stilinski nodded. "I understand that, Miss Walker. The witnesses mentioned that. But, I still need to take you in. I'm hoping you'll do so quietly."
Mercedes nodded slowly. "I'll come Sheriff." She opened the door fully, revealing Bentley still on the bed.
"Social services can take your son-"
"My brother will be in town to pick him up."
"Deputy Parish can take him down to the station and your son can wait for your brother there." Stilinski explained.
Mercedes nodded. "Will you let me explain things to him first, Sheriff?"
Stilinski nodded. "Just be quick, Miss Walker."
Mercedes turned back toward the room. "Benny, mommy has to go with the Sheriff. Uncle Lincoln's coming in to pick you up for a visit with your cousins, but until he gets here, the Deputy's going to bring you to the station to wait for him."
"Are we in trouble mama?" Bentley asked.
Mercedes shook her head. "No sweetie, you're not in trouble. You just get to ride in the police car today. I bet the Deputy might even turn the siren on for you."
"Miss Walker." Stilinski called.
Mercedes turned and stepped out of the hotel room. "Am I walking with the bracelets?"
Stilinski held up the hand cuffs. "Just procedure."
Mercedes nodded and held out her wrists. The cold metal snapped tightly around her wrists. Everything seemed to crash through her mind at once. She was actually being taken in. It wasn't for questioning. She wouldn't have been handcuffed if it was for questioning. No, they had evidence on her and they were bringing her in for murder charges. Stilinski led her to the closest cruiser. Each step seemed heavier than the last one. Mercedes felt as if she were out of her body and she was watching the actions of an unfamiliar person being walked by an officer. Stilinski opened the back door and eased her inside. The door closed on her, cutting off the growing crowd. She looked out the back window, toward her room. Deputy Parrish came out of the hotel room with Bentley beside him. Clutching the blanket to him, Bentley watched as the Sheriff drove away with Mercedes in the back of his cruiser. When Bentley was completely out of her sight, Mercedes realized just how real the situation had become.
Hours of interrogation, repeated stories, and a nightmare headache later, Mercedes was seated in one of the county cells in the precinct. She had given her story in at least ten ways, never once leaving out any detail or name. She had been asked the same question at least a hundred times by the same officer that couldn't seem to understand anything beyond a secondary school critical thinking level. And certainly smelled like an attendee at secondary school as well. Mercedes couldn't understand how the Sheriff tolerated the man's complete lack of personal hygiene. But worse than her complete lack of rights being violated in several forms, no officer could be persuaded to give her any information about her son's situation. She hadn't been given an update after the Sheriff, and the Deputy that had brought Bentley in, had left several hours ago. That had been after the Sheriff had interrogated her. Every officer that had come in contact since then had regarded her as a guilty party and seemingly felt that she didn't deserve to be treated any different from one. No phone call for an attorney, no rights to the bathroom during her interrogation hours, no knowledge about her son, nothing.
Seated on the pitiful excuse for a bed, Mercedes took a deep breath and closed her eyes. At least there she could block out the disgusted looks of the deputies in the precinct. against the wall with her legs drawn up beneath her body, she grew completely still. It was so easy to simply be. To let the world pass around her. She'd never truly felt the need to be active, simply because she never had enough to be truly idle. But there were times, growing up in the caravan, that Mercedes could remember climbing on top of the caravan roof and just sit on top. She remembered how she could let an entire day pass away while she sat on the roof. And it never felt like a waste to her.
"Lincoln called."
Mercedes eyes snapped open. Her entire body turned toward the cell door, where Derek now stood. How Derek managed to get to the cell block without being seen was a question fro another time. She quickly stood from her bed and moved to the bars. "And?"
"The soonest he can get here is tomorrow morning." Derek explained. His back was against the wall so his attention was on the entryway. Not that he really needed to watch the opening. "Child services is putting Bentley into foster care until Lincoln gets to town."
Panic flooded Mercedes. She grabbed the bars and pulled herself into them. "They can't do that!"
"They've already taken him."
"When?" she demanded.
Derek was stunned by the sound of her voice. Had services taken her son without her notification? "Hours ago. They've already placed him with a family."
Mercedes shook her head. "He can't stay there."
"Stilinski doesn't have a choice."
"Derek, he could kill someone" she explained.
It took only a few seconds for Derek to realize what had Mercedes so terrified. "Full moon."
"Bentley hasn't learned how to control himself yet." she stated.
Derek rubbed his forehead. "He'll kill the foster family tonight."
"You have to get him out of there." Mercedes ordered.
That was an impossible feat. The house would most likely be on police watch, since Mercedes was his mother. The police would want eyes on him in case she broke out. Which was probably what they expected her to do by telling her that Child Services had taken her son. Bottom line, anyone who went to the house to get Bentley would easily get caught. It wouldn't be easy, but the pack had to get the boy out. "Child Services put officers on the foster home. Getting in won't be easy."
"And that's your problem." Mercedes spat. "All my son and I wanted was to find a quiet town to live in, but your pack just wouldn't leave us alone."
"We are not responsible for this." Derek replied.
"You didn't bother trying to help either." she stated. "All you've done is make things worse. Because you wouldn't trust me."
"How could we?"
"Because I never lied to you." Mercedes grip tightened on the bars. "Every time you asked a question, you know I never lied. You knew I was telling the truth, but you didn't do anything to help me. Because you risk being wrong."
"Being wrong means that someone dies." Derek explained.
"Your pack was wrong, again." Mercedes pointed. "So, if the pattern holds, that means someone's going to die again. And if it's my son, not even Deaton or Argent can stop me from coming after your pack."
Derek narrowed his eyes. He knew all too well what she was threatening. And he knew that if it came down to it, Mercedes was perfectly capable of taking down the pack on her own. He leaned toward her. "Don't go anywhere."
Mercedes released one hand from the bars and extended her middle finger.
Derek smirked. "Not this time." He turned before Mercedes could make anymore gestures. He did, however, catch a few Romanian words strung together. It didn't take a linguist to know she was cussing him out. Derek easily slipped passed the officers and out the back. He moved down the alley toward his Camaro and Stiles jeep, where Stiles and Scott were waiting.
"Well?" Scott asked.
"She is very unhappy." Derek stated, coming to a stop beside the jeep.
"Well who wouldn't be?" Stiles stated. "She got woken up at god knows what time this morning. Spent the morning in interrogation. Has had to eat the crap food. And just got her son placed into foster care. Who would be happy?"
"You missed having her rights revoked." Derek stated.
Stiles' eyes bulged. "Are you serious?"
Derek nodded. "Deputies even neglected to inform her that child services took Bentley into her custody."
Stiles was speechless momentarily. He couldn't believe the officers were complete assholes. He knew for a fact none of them liked Wayde and the second victim wasn't an officer. All he could manage to understand was that the officers must've felt disgusted by the discovery of the bodies conditions. Which still couldn't be proven that Mercedes had actually cut them in half.
"And Bentley?" Scott asked, disrupting Stiles' thought.
"We were right." Derek explained. "Bentley hasn't learned to control himself during a full moon yet."
"And child services set him up with a foster family." Stile stated. "It's like sending an alcoholic to a wedding with an open bar. The kid can't stay there."
"The house has deputies posted outside, we'd never get close during the day." Scott said.
"So we go at night?" Stile suggested.
Scott shook his head. "It'd be too dangerous then."
"We don't have a choice." Derek explained. "I'll get into the house and get Bentley out."
"Why you?" Stiles asked.
"He trusts me." Derek explained.
Scott nodded. "That'll help. You can try to keep him in control until you get him back to his house."
"He's not going back there."
"Why the hell not?" Stiles demanded.
"Because it's not safe." Derek explained. He watched the boys closely for a minutes. "There's still something out there using Beacon Hills for its hunting ground. And so far, that means Mercedes property and the properties around it."
Scott swallowed anxiously. "Will your loft hold him?"
Derek nodded. "Yeah."
Scott nodded. "Do. But watch your back."
Derek turned and climbed into his car. He revved the engine and took off around the station. Scott and Stiles climbed into Stiles jeep and headed out of the station lot. Scott stared out the window as they drove down the road, his head buzzing with all the information.
"Is Derek's right?" Stiles asked. "About things not being over?"
"You think Mercedes killed those people?" Scott asked.
Stiles took a deep breath. "Honestly, no. I don't think it was her."
Scott looked over at Stiles. Last night, Stiles had been on Mercedes case one hundred percent. "What made you change your mind?"
"It's all too convenient." Stiles explained. "That teacher, the one that Mercedes was the last one to see alive. Way too convenient that she was murdered after Mercedes left with her son. And if she'd done, Bentley would've given her up by now."
"That's his mom."
"I didn't say he'd give her up intentionally." Stiles said. "Kids talk. And with all this, he's gotta be stressed. Bentley would've said something hours ago and he hasn't."
Scott nodded. "Which leaves us with a very big question."
"What supernatural creature is using Beacon Hills as its hunting ground now?" Stiles asked.
okay so I know the first section was really lame. And I am not familiar with child services procedure, so cut me some slack. I'm getting chapters done for once. Anyways the next chapter is where the adrenaline really gets pumping. I know I always say that, but this time I REALLY mean it. I mean, come on, Mercedes is in jail and Derek is about to kidnap her son from foster care. Something interesting is GOING to happen.