oooooooooooooo

Chapter 4

oooooooooooooo

After much debate Pete decided to tag along with Myka who had insisted that they start with witnesses. As the old story went, five people could view a single criminal act at the same moment and yet still come up with five different descriptions and interpretations of said crime scene.

That didn't deter Myka who just wanted to hear the stories and see if anything was out of place beyond the obvious 'wild-animal-roaming-the-streets', which was not a typical occurrence to begin with.

"Oh yeah, it was horrible," the pale and frail looking teenager named Brittany told the agents while sprawled on her mother's floral patterned sofa. She flicked shockingly St. Patty's day green hair out of her eyes and gave an appraising and approving look in Pete's direction. Myka, already seated next to the girl, leaned back. She was more than willing to let Pete work his magic on the girl though she suspected that her story had already been told in detail to every cop, reporter and friend for miles in any direction.

"We were, ya know, out on the street. Things were getting, um, a bit, uh, hot and I really wasn't paying attention, like he's a good kisser and I didn't care who saw that. It wasn't like we were doin' "it" in the street or anything. Just kissing, so I figured what the heck. It's not a really bad part of town. No reason to watch our backs, ya know?"

She paused long enough to take a sip of iced tea. The neon kelly-green hair tossed again. "And then I heard this noise. Brad turned to check it out and there it was." This time she stopped and a far away look flitted across her features. Her eyes unfocused as if she were there and seeing it again. "My God, it was awful. I mean, not, like, the wolf itself, I've seen photos, it was like just a wolf, but the look in its eyes. You could almost imagine…well, it seemed to be 'thinking', you know, and I could see the white teeth as it snarled at us. Even under the street lamps. Came on us slowly. Brad moved back from me..."

This time the expected tears did fall, slowly down one flawless satin cheek. Her enormous blue eyes clouded again with the memories.

"I-I panicked. Okay, I admit it, I freaked. Happy?" Brittany threw her face into her hands and a strangled sob escaped through her fingers.

"No one is condemning you," Myka said softly, almost tenderly, and she gave the girl's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She gave Pete a 'get in here and work some of your magic' look. Not missing the hint, he sat opposite the girl, parking himself right on the sturdy coffee table, and took one of her hands in his, clasping it comfortingly.

The warm contact seemed to work. Brittany looked through shimmering eyelashes and red-rimmed eyes at him. "I know that. No one is condemning me but I'm not liking myself much right now. You probably know I hopped in the car, locked the doors while that thing tore into Brad. I've never seen anything so vicious. So…bloody. Brad fought back but not for long. The wolf tore into his throat first chance it got. I was in the car, like, screaming my head off and it just turned to look at me like I was not important, and started to—"

She made some retching noises and Pete instinctively backed up but it wasn't far enough. Whatever she'd eaten previously ended up, more or less in his lap. He looked down, stunned, and looking a bit green around the gills himself.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Brittany bleated, horrified with herself. "Mom!!! A little help here."

The girl's mother had obviously been nearby, listening to the conversation, something Myka didn't fault her for. And in this case it was handy because she took in the scene in one glance and led Pete off to the bathroom to clean up as best he could.

"Brittany," Myka took over the questioning once the girl had calmed down a bit. "I know it's painful to think about this, but what happened after, um, the wolf finished what it was doing?"

The girl shrugged one bony shoulder. "Took off, I guess. Just ran back the way it came. I stayed in the car until the police finally showed. Maybe twenty minutes later. I guess one of the people living there called the cops because of all my screaming. If they hadn't, I'd probably have stayed in the car until daylight."

By the time Myka and Brittany had finished some of the less painful topics connected with the assault, Pete had rematerialized, cleaner but still wet from washing down his suit. They both thanked the girl and her mother and get back into the rental.

"You stink," Myka informed him with a wrinkling of her nose as they drove back across town. "Back to the room for a change. I think I saw a dry cleaner nearby where you can drop that off."

Nodding and flinching at the awful smell still lingering in the material, he replied, "Good idea."

A shower and quick change later, and they headed out to talk to the other witnesses and victims. It turned into an all day affair, though they ended up with a common denominator. All the animals weren't typical city dwellers and the attacks were sure and swift and usually for food. Only the bear victim turned up mauled simply because the beast liked it that way. Overturned garbage pails in the area indicated that it had probably fed on garbage prior to the attacks.

"Time to get some dinner. I'm famished." Pete held his hand out for the car keys. He'd let Myka do all the driving but he was growing weary of being just a passenger. She relinquished them willingly enough.

He got in, closed the door, belted in, and inserted the key in the ignition. It cranked once and died. He tried again. Nothing this time. Tried a third time. Less than nothing. No hums, no clicks, no dings of alarms. Just…silence. He sighed.

"Care to let me try?" Myka asked with a huge smile. "This car likes me better than you."

Heaving himself out of the seat with a frustrated groan, he went around to the passenger side and got in. Myka repeated the whole process and instantly the car roared to life with a contented and almost silent thrumming of a well-tuned engine.

"Damn!" Pete growled. His brows folded the skin between them into a deep crevasse. "How'd you do that? Let me guess. Somehow you rigged it so only you can start it, right?"

"Pete, you are sounding so paranoid. How could I possibly do that?"

He waved his hands in a vague gesture of confusion. "How the hell should I know! You're pretty sneaky when you want to be. Did Artie put you up to this? Payback for me bringing him back the Dieter's Delight platter instead of the Tacos with extra sour cream he ordered?"

"No. No paybacks."

"Claudia then. Of course, it had to be Claudia. She's certainly clever enough for this sort of thing."

"Pete. Pete. PETE! Forget it. It wasn't Claudia and it wasn't Artie. You were the first one to get to the other car when we landed and it wouldn't start for you then either." She smiled beatifically at him. "Try loving it, stroking the dash. Maybe it'll work better for you." She demonstrated, not looking like as much of a fool as he knew he would if he did the same thing.

"Alright, forget I said anything." He crossed his arms and slumped back in his seat.