"Where have you been?" Derek asked to which Stiles let out a huff.

"At the cabin," he answered. "Can you believe it? One from the Hale pack tried to dump a body in my cabin. A body! In my cabin!" Stiles himself still couldn't believe it. "He ripped off the door, too."

Thinking about it, he should have made him pay for the door. And for emotional trauma or something.

"Did you get rid of him?" Derek asked, already looking in the direction of the cabin as if he was considering going there to take care of things himself.

"He left and he took his trash with him." Stiles put a calming hand on Derek's shoulder. He wasn't a fan of the Hale pack and neither was Derek but they hadn't been bothered by the werewolves in years so it did come as a surprise that one of them had been suddenly at their shore so to speak.

"Are you going to tell John?" Derek asked but for now, he seemed content with letting Stiles deal with the situation.

"And tell him what?" Stiles made a wide gesture to demonstrate the big pile of nothing he had on this.

"I might if it turns out that this is just plain old murder," Stiles mused after a moment but he doubted it.

Sure, John would take his word over the Hale's but he was pretty sure that there wasn't even a body to find at this point. Besides, he doubted that this was some upstanding citizen of Beacon Hills the werewolf had killed just because. Better not get caught in pack business, Stiles had meant it when he'd said that he didn't want the whole pack poking around this side of town.

However, seeing John brooding over unsolved cases never sat right with him so if pictures of the werewolf or that dead guy showed up on his desk ...

Derek just nodded to that, he didn't care what was going on in town.

"But I should visit John tomorrow," Stiles decided. Maybe he could get some information that way.

If he was honest, the werewolf with the dead body had been the most exciting thing that had happened around here in years, Stiles would be stupid to not look into it.

"Don't get in trouble," Derek said, looking not in the slightest surprised that Stiles wanted to make a surprise visit.

"You know me." Stiles gave him a grin.

"That's why I'm saying it."

"You know that it doesn't change a thing if you say it or not," Stiles reminded him. "Besides, the werewolf didn't try to kill me in the middle of the night at a remote lake so I doubt he'll do anything in town in broad daylight."

"Don't poke the werewolves." Derek gave him a stern look.

"You think I'm not ready to deal with a poked werewolf? Please." Stiles huffed out a breath. "What are they going to do? Kill me?"

"Just don't draw attention to us." Derek turned to leave. "And don't get John in trouble."

"I would never." Stiles grasped his chest in a fake outrage but it was only partly fake. Derek knew that he would never get John in danger, that he even suggested that much ...

Over his shoulder, Derek gave him one last look before he left.

The next day, Stiles returned to his cabin where he inspected the damage to his door.

"You owe me a new door, you know that? Asshole."

Stiles managed to get the door closed behind him without ripping it off the hinges completely but that was only a temporary solution. He would have to ask John to come out here to fix it because Stiles was more likely to maul his hand than to repair the hinges, he was well aware of that fact. And asking Derek would just be as useless. Derek had never really grasped the concept of doors, he would just tell him to leave it as it was.

Inside the cabin, Stiles stripped off the wet pants and put on some dry clothes. Then he grabbed his wallet and keys and one struggle with the door later he was on his way to where he had parked his jeep. Well, technically it was John's but he had given it to Stiles years ago when he'd gotten sick of picking him up at random places. Stiles loved that jeep and the mobility that came with it. He'd never known what he'd missed until he'd gotten this jeep.

He got behind the wheel and eased the car onto the road. It was a few miles into town but there was no traffic on the back-roads at this time of the day.

In town, he stopped at his favorite burger joint before he headed towards John's house. This wasn't their usual day but Stiles knew his schedule and if nothing had come up, like a dead body in a ditch somewhere but he really hoped the werewolf had found a better hiding spot for that, the sheriff should be home any minute now.

Stiles parked the jeep in the driveway with enough space next to it for the Sheriff's cruiser. Then he let himself into the house and set the paper bags on the kitchen table. Already munching on some curly fries, he set the table and laid out the food. He was just helping himself to some coke, no need in letting the ice melt, when the front door opened and the sheriff came in.

"Didn't expect you today," John greeted him but caught him in tight hug nevertheless. Then his eyes fell on the take-out bags.

"What did you do?" He asked with a groan which didn't stop him from snatching some of the fries Stiles had already opened.

"Can't I just come by for a friendly visit?" Stiles asked innocently and nudged a burger in John's direction which got him another suspicious look. Not that John said no to the burger, though.

"You come by for dinner three times a week and you drop by at the station whenever you feel like it." John peeled the wrapper back to have a look at the burger. "So no, you don't just come by for a friendly visit. What did you do?" He repeated the question.

"Nothing, I swear." Stiles raised his hands to show how innocent he was. It was the truth, he hadn't done anything. He wasn't the one who had murdered somebody to death.

John narrowed his eyes on him.

"What do you want, then?" He asked and took a bite of his burger. "You didn't butter me up with unhealthy fast food for nothing."

He might have a point there, Stiles had to admit.

"I need to have a look at your file about the Hale pack," Stiles said with his mouth full of curly fries. Those were just too good. He would get them daily but John was right with the unhealthy food. It wasn't good, at least for John. And getting them just for himself to eat them all alone was just sad. Junk food was meant for people to share otherwise it was just something a sad and lonely person did. And Stiles was not sad and lonely. At least not sad and lonely enough to stuff himself with curly fries and ice cream while he was all alone.

"What makes you think I have a file about the Hale pack?" John pulled him off his train of thoughts. "Officially werewolves don't exist and even more officially I don't know that they exist and are living next door."

"Next door is living Mrs. Chandler," Stiles corrected him. "I'm lucky her little rat of a dog didn't notice me when I got out of the car, that's a biter no matter what she says. Those are not playful nips. The pack lives out in the preserve."

"The dog just doesn't like you." John shrugged. As far as Stiles knew that little hell beast had it out for him but only him. To others, it was just a barking nuisance but to Stiles, it was an ankle biter. Something in his scent, Stiles guessed, the dog probably knew that there was something up with him but that was still no reason to bite him every chance he got.

"The point is that I need to know about the pack." Stiles brought them back on topic.

"Why?" John asked, now full in sheriff mode.

"Had a run-in with one of them last night," Stiles admitted because he knew that he would have to give him something. Not the whole story, of course, he had no intention to mention the dead body at this point but something.

"What happened?"

"Nothing really." Stiles swirled a fry between his fingers. "One of them came out to my cabin last night."

"Did he ..." John made a vague gesture at Stiles. "You know ... notice something about you?"

"Not sure." Stiles let out a sigh. Maybe he should have kept his mouth shut. "But he knows that I know about werewolves."

"How did he take it?" John asked carefully. They both knew that werewolves kept their very existence a secret, something both of them could understand, but it raised the question of what they would do if somebody found out.

"He tried to threaten me but he backed off when I mentioned that I'm friends with the sheriff." He winked at John. "Then he left."

It was the truth, more or less.

"I just want to be prepared. Just in case," Stiles said.

John nodded to that.

"I have the file in my safe, you can have a look after dinner."

Not that Stiles hadn't known where said file was and he even knew the combination to the safe, Claudia's birthday. As a sheriff, John should know better than to use his dead wife's birthday for his safe but Stiles wasn't complaining.

There were other files in there along with a gun and wolfsbane bullets. When John had found out about werewolves, he had done his research and he was prepared. As far as Stiles knew, the gun and the bullets had been sitting in the safe since John had bought them years ago. Stiles was no fan of the Hale pack but he had to admit that they did keep a low profile. Some might even call them pillars of the community.

"Who are you looking for?" John asked when he got the manila folder out of the safe.

"He didn't tell me his name. Do you have pictures in there?" Stiles made grabby hands at the file.

Over the years, John had built up an impressive file on the Hale family with a dossier about every member but leaving through the pages Stiles found it rather boring. It was a big pack with fourteen members living permanently in the main house. They had property all over the town where some of the extended family lived but the notes on those were more sketchy. Not that it mattered, Stiles was pretty sure that he had met one of the inner circle last night. Not the alpha, the man's eyes had been blue not red, but close. He had carried an aura of authority.

"Talia Hale is the head of the family." John pointed out the pages about her. "Most likely she's the alpha. Her brother Peter is kind of a trouble maker, got arrested a few times when he'd been younger but it looks like he's calmed down." He paused for a second, thinking. "Or he just got better at hiding his tracks."

"That's him." It had been dark but Stiles would have recognized him anywhere. And what John had just said erased all doubt. Peter had moved on from juvenile vandalism to murder but he was better at hiding his tracks. The lake and the cabin were good places to get rid of a body, Stiles had to give him that. It was just that it was his cabin and his lake, well, Derek's lake actually but that was not the point.

"Can I borrow this?" Stiles asked, he wanted to read the file in peace. He had avoided the Hale pack for years but now he had the feeling that it was a good idea to get up to date with them. Just in case. Who knew what Peter Hale would do? He had murdered someone and Stiles was a witness after all.

"You can read it here but I don't want to give it out of my hand," John said with a stern look. "How long can you stay?"

"Not long enough to read it all." Stiles made a face.

"You're coming by for dinner tomorrow anyway," John reminded him. "You can read the rest then. One day doesn't matter, right?" That was the sheriff speaking.

"No." Stiles shook his head. He doubted that Peter would do anything right now. He was probably waiting if Stiles made a move.

"I left my laptop at the cabin can I use your computer?" Stiles made himself more comfortable in the chair, looked like he was staying here for a while. "I'd like to take some notes."