Chapter 8 - Suspects

Everett found them at breakfast the next morning in the dingy diner. John was dutifully finishing a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast under his mate's watchful eye. Everett sat down next to Joss in the booth and looked at John's hearty breakfast.

"Fueling up for the day ahead?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

John sighed a long suffering sigh, "My mate likes to keep me well-fed."

Joss folded her arms, set her lips in a hard line, and arched an eyebrow at Everett, "He doesn't like to eat during a case. But you can't live off coffee and doughnuts, so I have to be firm."

Everett, sensing that this was a long running argument between them, wisely decided to steer the conversation to the case. "The fingerprint results came back from Tacoma. You were right. There were some matches between the ones from your parents' house and the Hunters. At least some of the same people where at both crime scenes. Now the question is who are they? We ran the prints through IAFIS. No matches, so these guys have never been arrested for another crime."

"Do you have any suspects in the Hunter's murder?" John asked as he finally finished his breakfast and pushed his plate away.

Everett looked at the table and Joss sensed that he was very upset by that question. Both she and John waited while Everett struggled with what he was about to say.

"The main suspect was my father. He argued with Dave at Pack Night right before they were killed."

John leaned forward, "You said he was a suspect? He's not anymore?"

Everett shook his head, "He has a partial alibi. Mags says he was at the Den for at least part of the time-frame we think the Hunters were being murdered. You know how Mags feels about my dad; she wouldn't give him an alibi if she didn't have to."

Joss sipped her coffee thoughtfully, "But his whereabouts are accounted for only part of the time. Have you taken your dad's fingerprints?"

Again Everett shook his head, "Nope. I asked him if I could take them, just to rule him out, and he told me how far and how fast to shove it. Quite graphically." Everett's lips were pressed together and the lines around his eyes were tense; it was obvious that the estrangement with his family was taking a toll on him. Joss felt bad for him. It had become obvious to her that Everett was a good man and a good cop. He deserved better from his father.

John smirked at his friend, "Don't worry, we'll take care of gathering fingerprints."

Everett's brow furrowed and he looked rather confused, "Just how are you going to do that?"

Joss rolled her eyes, "It's best if you don't ask too many questions. Trust me on this."

John and Joss spent the morning watching Matt Ellison's shop. It was slow. Matt had a Dodge truck in for an oil change and tune up, but that was about all the work he seemed to have this day. He was done by lunch and he locked up the shop and left.

John turned to Joss, "Follow him; I'll catch up later."

Joss paused with her hand on the door handle, "Do I want to know what you're going to do when my back is turned?"

John gave her his best look of wide-eyed innocence, "I don't know, do you?"

Joss gave him her best Mom Look. "No," she said in a long suffering voice and got out the car, following Matt down the street.

John watched her in his rearview mirror until she turned the corner, his eyes glued to her backside. He thought pleasurable thoughts about taking that shapely ass into his hands and grinding himself into her until she was out of sight. Then he threw some mental cold water on himself; he had a job to do.

He got out of the car and casually strolled to the end of the block. Looking around to be sure no one was watching, he ducked down the alley that ran behind the shop and rapidly picked the lock on the back door.

Matt hadn't even bothered to shut off his office computer before he left. John sat down and swiftly checked the books on the business, confirming what Finch had found in the tax records earlier. Matt should have been out of business a long time ago. The shop was bleeding money to the tune of a couple of thousand a month, and had been for some time. But there was no indication as to where the money that was keeping the business going was coming from.

John took a flash drive out of his pocket and plugged it into the computer. He launched the program it contained that would sniff through all the files on the computer and send them to Finch for analysis.

While the program was running, John searched the small shop thoroughly. He found a poorly maintained handgun in the file cabinet; the gun had not been fired or cleaned for some time. John frowned and stuck it in his pocket. He doubted Matt would miss it, and people who kept guns for "protection" who obviously had no idea how to handle and maintain a deadly weapon, annoyed him to no end. With Matt's volatile temper, the last thing the town needed was an armed and dangerous Matt Ellison.

John didn't find anything else of interest during his search. The shop was orderly and the search went quickly; John didn't find anything suspicious. There were no drugs or any other kind of contraband at all. There was nothing that could have been smuggled over the border by a Wolf carrying a pack.

The computer beeped to let him know that Finch's program was done with its work. John pulled the flash drive and returned it to his pants pocket. Taking a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket he grabbed the cardboard box that he had seen Matt carrying the previous day, taking care to not get any of his fingerprints on it. The last thing they needed was for Everett to find redacted prints on the box. John couldn't help but smile a tiny bit at the look that would be on Everett's face if those results came back.

John locked the back door of the shop and casually strolled back to the car. He tossed the box in the back seat and was just settling into the driver seat to go join his mate when he got a call.

"John," his earpiece cracked with Joss's voice. "Ellison finished his lunch at the Den and is on his way back to the shop. Whatever you're doing, you'd better stop."

"I'm hurt, what makes you think I'm doing anything? I'm just sitting here in the car," John said in a mock-wounded tone of voice.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you?" growled his mate.

John smiled, "Let's just say I have a box with Matt's fingerprints all over it and the contents of his computer are winging their way over the internet to Finch."

"I did not hear that. But if you are done kicking sand in the face of the laws of the state of Washington, you had better get out of there before Matt sees you. Your old friend Mags would like us to return to the Den and have lunch with her."

John laughed, "I'm going to stop at the Sheriff's office and give the box to Everett. Then I'll meet you at the Den."

Everett called them a few hours later as they were finishing up lunch with Mags, "The prints are not a match. Not to either murder scene."

"Thanks Ev," John hung up disappointed.

"Bad news?" Mags asked.

John looked over at Joss, "Our suspect has just been cleared."

Joss could feel John's dejection. He still didn't know who killed his parents and he had no suspects.

Joss laid a hand on his arm, "We'll figure this out John."

"I know," he said softly placing his large hand over her much smaller one. "I just don't know where we go from here. Matt was our only real suspect."

She tugged on his hand, "Let's take a walk, clear our heads."

John smiled up at her stood up. They said good bye to Mags and John let Joss pull him out of the Den. They strolled down the street hand in hand, lost in thought, trying to decide on their next move.

Joss broke the silence first. "I think Sheriff Berke is right; someone in the pack knows something. Has Everett checked on alibis for all of them for the time the Hunters were killed?"

"I don't think so, we can talk to him about it when we see him later," John said. "I can ask Finch to hack the GPS on all their cars, see who was out by the Hunters' at the right time, but not all the Pack members have cars with GPS."

"We'll just go old school, then John," Joss said confidently. "We'll get them, you know that right?."

John smiled tenderly down at his mate. He was so glad he had her by his side right now.

He glanced up just in time to see Matt Ellison's truck drive by, but it wasn't Matt driving it; it was a younger version of Matt. He stopped dead in his tracks as he stared at the large vehicle. "Joss," he said, "We have been so busy looking at Matt, we never thought about anyone else who might have access to the truck."

Joss looked up at her mate as he stared at the taillights of the truck as it made its way down the street. "Who was that driving Matt's truck?"

"That was Mark."

"Everett's little brother?" Joss stared at him with wide eye while she absorbed the implications of what John had just said.

John tapped his earpiece, "Finch I need you to find out everything you can about Mark and Marie Ellison, Matt Ellison's younger children."

"Of course Mr. Reese, I take it that Matt Ellison is no longer a suspect?"

John's face was hard. "I wouldn't say that just yet, but Mark and Marie just moved to the head of the line."

John pulled Joss back to the Den. "Couldn't stay away, eh?" Mags looked up from wiping down the bar and smiled at her friends.

John and Joss sat down on stools at the bar where Mags was working. "Mags, what can you tell us about Mark and Marie?"

Mags's eyebrows shot up and she looked surprised, but then got a wolfish grin, "Well, they are both as mean as their daddy and would do anything for him. Everett is the odd man out in that family."

"What do they do for a living?" Joss asked.

"They own a couple of businesses around town. They started with a small gift shop, and that did well enough that they were able to buy a Laundromat, then a gas station, then a small apartment building. I hear they are in negotiations to buy a bar on the other side of town. They tried buying this place a few times, but I ain't selling. Seems like everything they touch turns to gold…" Mags stopped what she was saying and looked at John and Joss wide-eyed, as if the pieces had just fallen into place for her.

John leaned forward over the bar, speaking urgently, "Mags, keep this conversation under your hat. I don't want them finding out that we suspect them. Not yet."

Mags licked her lips and swallowed hard, "Got it, John. Oh my god, I never thought about it before. The answer was right under my nose the whole damn time."

"Don't jump the gun here," Joss cautioned urgently. "We don't know anything for sure yet."

Mags nodded her understanding, "I get it; my lips are sealed." She looked at John with tears starting to form in her eyes, "Does Everett know? This will kill him."

John looked grim, "No, and that's why I want some hard evidence before I tell him. I don't want to hurt him if I don't have to."

"Well I'm not going to hurt him," Mags said fiercely. "That poor man has had enough shit in his life."

John winked at her, "Thanks, Mags."

John and Joss left the bar. "What's the plan John?" Joss asked.

"We need to get fingerprints for Everett to compare to the crime scenes."

"Do I want to know how you're going to collect those fingerprints?"

John gave her a boyish grin. "Probably not."

Joss sighed.

Author's Note: 3 more chapters to go! Thanks to everyone who left a review. You guys are the best. :)