Disclaimer: I do not own Moonlight. I wish I did.
Thank you for reading. You have all been very kind.
Chapter 28
While Granny spoke with Charity and Anthony, Beth leaned over Mick, her arms comfortably resting on his shoulders as she listened to the others plan. Trying to create a plausible story for what had happened in Savannah's apartment was not easy. As a homicide cop, Savannah was very aware of the questions her fellow officers would have and that covering up the events would be tricky. She outlined what things they would have to cover and Mick and Tyson filled her in on what they had learned from speaking to her captain and to Scott.
"The best thing you can do is sick as close to the truth as possible, you are less likely to trip up," Mick advised.
"Well it seems I have a few questions for Chaz as well then," she sighed. "We need to know what he knows." She looked at the others as she nervously chewed on her lip. "I hope I can pull this off. Do you think I can fool them?" she asked in concern.
"You have been covering for us ever since you met me," Tyson said with a wink. "They'll believe you."
"Are you calling me a good liar?" Savannah asked with raised eyebrows.
"One of the best," Tyson confirmed with a nod. "Chaz will never see through you." He took one of her hands in his and looked at her seriously. "I'm sorry sugar, I'm afraid lying will become second nature in your new world."
"Don't think of it as lying, think of it as self-preservation," Josef added.
"I always said that vampires were really bad liars," Beth giggled. "But I think Mick just had trouble lying to me." Mick grinned over his shoulder at her.
"Just remember you are not circumventing justice in this case Savannah," he told the brunette. "Cassandra paid for her crimes. Any lies are just protecting the humans from a reality they are not ready to face."
"We have our rules and they aren't always contrary to human justice," Beth added.
Savannah nodded, seeing the wisdom in their advice. Tyson was correct; she had reconciled herself to hiding things from her superiors ever since she learned the truth about him. She had always soothed her conscience by knowing that keeping the existence of vampires was necessary and now she was protecting herself as well. One doubt still nagged at her.
"I'm not worried about fooling the others but Chaz is smart and very observant. It will not be easy to hide things from him, he knows me pretty well," she worried. Partially vamping in her agitated state, she cut her lip with one fang. Licking the blood away she looked embarrassed. "Oops."
Tyson laughed and squeezed her fingers.
"Easy cher, calm down. It gets easier," he chuckled. "And I cannot imagine the situation where you can't outwit Chaz Dupree. He is a very good cop but you are more than a match for him."
Savannah ducked her head, smiling as the others laughed.
"I appreciate the vote of confidence but let's not underestimate Chaz. If we keep the meeting short I should be able to pull it off though," she said determinedly.
"It won't hurt that you will be in bed and bandages will be involved," Beth put in. "It is important that Chaz believe that your injuries are severe. He will be distracted by that."
Savannah nodded thoughtfully; then her eyes went wide. Dismay was written all over her face as she glanced at Beth and then looked over at Rayna.
"You two cannot be seen by Chaz," she exclaimed. "He saw you at the Avery LaRue crime scene and I said I had just met you. Oh man, I messed that up and now it is so complicated," she groaned.
"Maybe he won't remember us," Beth suggested.
"Oh believe me, he'll remember," Savannah said dryly. "Chaz is a connoisseur of beautiful women and he did notice you. I didn't know how to explain your presence at the scene."
"You couldn't have known how this would play out," Tyson comforted her. "I am sure that in a house this size Beth and Rayna can avoid running into Dupree. Since he's met Josef and Mick, we will be the ones to deal with him."
"What if he is curious about you two?" Beth asked Mick. "We all had our photos in the paper at Rayna's book launch."
"He has no reason to look into our backgrounds," Josef growled. "If he goes digging he will have to be dealt with." He gave the newest member of the tribe a meaningful stare.
"Josef," Savannah started to protest.
"IF…that becomes a problem we will discuss what is to done then," Granny interrupted firmly. "No judgments will be made until we must make them."
Josef dipped his head in acquiescence at Granny's statement. This was Moriah's town and he would not oppose her wishes. It was not his place to deal with Savannah's partner.
"Just don't give him a reason to look into our lives further," Rayna commented favoring her man with an understanding smile. "I'm sure he'll be more concerned with the murders and Cassandra, along with your health to look too closely into our backgrounds," she added to Savannah.
The sound of car doors slamming had everyone looking toward the entry foyer. Rayna hurried to the door and opened it to admit Scott and Shani. The couple followed her back into the parlor and Shani rushed to Savannah, who had risen to greet them. The dark face of the Cleaner lit with a smile as she hugged the newbie tightly.
"You had me so worried," Shani said keeping her in the hug. "I should have been following you. Are you okay?"
"Yes Shani," Savannah laughed, using her new strength to loosen the woman's tight grip. "I am fine."
"I've told Shani that this was not her fault," Scott explained. "We all underestimated Cassandra. None of us suspected that she would threaten Savannah's partner."
"I should have known," Tyson growled. "I am just grateful that Granny finished her and it is over." The pain of not avenging his lady was clear in his voice.
"Scott, what do the humans believe about Cassandra's death? Do they believe she is really dead?" Moriah asked, wishing to change the direction the conversation was taking. She did not want everyone blaming themselves for what could not be changed.
"They are satisfied that the body that was burned is Cassandra's," Scott told the older woman. He was relieved to change the direction of the discussion as well. "How it happened is still being considered."
"Teresa had a body from one of our clean ups that closely resembled Cassandra's body type. With Scott doing the autopsy and with no records on Cassandra, he just confirmed it was her. We left cigarettes in her car to imply she did smoke. We rigged the house to have a break in the gas main," Shani informed the group.
"Even if no one ever witnessed her smoking, setting the car up like that leads everyone to believe she was a secret smoker," Scott added. "This was Shani's suggestion." Pride glowed in his eyes.
"Well done," Granny approved. "We must deflect them from Savannah and concentrated on Cassandra. Shani you are a great help to the community."
"Thank you, it was a team effort. Teresa is a great leader, she was prepared," Shani said diplomatically but she beamed at the praise Granny had given her.
"You have a great Cleaner crew working here," Mick commented as he pulled Beth into his lap.
"We are very proud of this city's crew," Robert said seriously. "And you can be sure that the community is appreciative."
"Thank you sir," Shani said in a quiet voice. She smiled proudly at Scott.
The ringing of Tyson's phone interrupted everyone. He answered and rolled his eyes as everyone in the room with vampire hearing could tell who it was.
"Yes Dupree, I understand the need for you to see Savannah soon. I spoke with Dr. Moore and he believes she is strong enough to see you. How about ya'll come by tomorrow at four…all right, three," Tyson responded to the human's demands. "I am sure she'll be able to give you answers if she can."
They could all hear Chaz stating several questions that he demanded answers to.
"Hey, Dupree," Tyson cut him off. "Savannah wants to help but you had better remember she is still recovering. Come tomorrow and she will answer what she is able to."
Savannah covered her mouth to prevent laughing out loud. She knew the zeal with which her partner did his job but it was funny how he was silenced by Tyson's words. She felt much more confident about seeing the human now.
Tyson hung up and put his phone away.
"Okay, let's make sure we have our stories straight. Savannah's right, he will be suspicious," he said shaking his head. "Stubborn human."
"It makes him a good cop," Savannah stated quietly.
"Just do as we discussed; tell him how Cassandra was looking to punish Tyson, took you back to your place to lure him in and attacked you. You fought back and she sliced you up and you lost consciousness from the blood loss. You have no idea how Tyson ran her off and that is all you can tell him," Mick told her.
"I can do that, but it is still rather difficult to tie in the dancer's deaths to this jealous rage," Savannah commented. "It is a tough story to sell."
"She needed something to get you alone," Tyson said. "She had you doing your job to get to you. You will do fine."
"And I will be back here tomorrow to take care of your bandages," Scott said. "We will have him focused on your health and not the story you are telling him. I will make sure he doesn't question your injuries."
"Thank you Scott," Savannah said hugging him. "I appreciate all that you are doing."
"Glad to be of help," he answered. "You are one of us now. We look out for our own."
"Okay….enough of the hugging…." Tyson growled as he took Savannah by the arm and tugging her away.
"He'll grow out of that possessive sire stage," Scott grinned. "Someday."
End chapter.
Thank you for reading. Please feed the muse, I appreciate it.
