The review of images caught on the officers body cameras eventually did come back with images that saw a clearly defined hairless pink tail stretching through Lionel Ulysses' pants. Teddy even thought he saw something that might look like fur when Detective Smith showed him the photos in the Seattle police station.
"If that was a costume, it's a damn odd one," Detective Smith said in a low voice, "and if so... we couldn't find it."
"It is certainly odd," Theodore said slowly, "though I don't think it relates to the case that we have. My hunt is for a murderer, not to draw attention to an oddity."
"It's too odd to just ignore," Detective Smith answered, "we can make it a footnote in our statement to the press, but it's not something we can ignore. Suppose there's something wrong with him medically? I'm sure he may be facing the death penalty for what he's done, counting today, but we can't just ignore a problem if he has one."
Teddy found himself nodding. The Seattle detective did have the right point of view if he was dealing with a normal case. The issue that made things frustrating was that the case was decidedly not normal for most of the country. Lionel Ulysses was a were and having a tail was perfectly normal for him in his were form. The issue was that he was caught in an area where his being a were would make him decidedly not normal and thus a potential target. It could raise the same old fears among normal humans that weres were mindless beasts and respond with the sort of hunts that went on in the middle ages. It made Teddy nervous, as he thought of Marci and what would happen to her if that happened. He eventually shut those out of his mind when they grew to horrific for him. In the end the truth might be any were-beast's only escape, but it would need to be handled well and in a way that made it clear that they weren't mindless beasts.
“Hopefully places like Moon Lake have a plan for this,” Teddy thought to himself, “a way to let the world know and show that they aren’t any different from the rest of us… I don’t know what I’d do without Marci…”
He couldn’t help but worry about his wife as things continued to move forward. His suspect wasn’t out of surgery, yet, but was under heavy guard and he was finishing up the last things that he had with the Seattle PD before their mission for the day was concluded. In that, there wasn’t much to do and probably less that he could do. That brought his thoughts back to his wife and what might happen in their future. Did Ulysses’ actions risk him losing his wife to some sort of “were-prison cam” for the rest of his life? He truly hoped not.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Samantha was less than pleased when she made it to City Hall to find both the Deputy Mayor and the Chief of Police waiting for her as she entered. Her Sunday had started rather tame, but now seemed to be expanding into a whole royal mess, among plenty of other things that had the potential to go wrong but shouldn't. As if the Jenkins/Harper wedding didn't have enough pressure looming over Moon Lake, possible exposure of weres to the world had to be added.
"Sorry to bring you both in," Chief O'Hara said slowly, "but I called the Stovalls... and apparently Martin is still out on whatever personal business that he had to attend to."
"If what you say true," the deputy mayor answered, "I don't think we really have an option of not coming."
Samantha nodded at that. Exposure was not something that anyone in Moon Lake wanted. The fears of "the inquisition" was something that weres generally feared, particularly among the older generations who grew up during times when things people in the 21st Century wouldn't accept were the norm. However, since the 1980s, Moon Lake had been putting together plans for such an eventuality that either weres in general or Moon Lake specifically were exposed. Samantha wasn't in office then, but there were a few meetings in which the plans were reviewed.
"Is there any indication that this could blow over?" Samantha asked as the three of them began to walk further into City Hall with the intention of getting to a conference room.
"Not from what Officer Connor reported when he arrived back from Seattle," Chief O'Hara answered, "now... thankfully I don't think this is going to lead into Moon Lake itself... BUT it's likely that the Seattle PD will issue some report that Lionel Ulysses transformed on reflex when he was shot in the ambush they and the FBI made this morning."
"Exposing weres," the deputy mayor gave a low sigh. "even if Moon Lake isn't exposed, it could very well reveal were-beasts to the world, which is our worst nightmare."
O'Hara nodded.
"Did Officer Connor give any indication on what the report will be?" Samantha asked, "Plan Reveal and its various sub-plans that will depend on the specific nature of what will need to be done?"
Chief O'Hara shook his head with a heavy sigh, and opened the door to the conference room, "No. We have no idea on what the report will be. The FBI agent has promised Officer Carter that he'd do his best to minimize the damage, but admitted that he might not be able to prevent things from going as they are..."
"An FBI agent is helping us?" the deputy mayor asked in surprise and shock, needing to sit down due to the surprise.
"He said he's married to a werecat," Chief O'Hara commented, "and there was the hint of a werecat's scent on him when I talked with him. It wasn't strong enough for the agent to be a werecat, but it was enough to know that he is close to a werecat. He eventually told me he was married to one."
"Thus why he had a few questions for regarding joining were society," Samantha commented as she thought over the interactions she'd had with Agent Green. While the man carried himself professionally, it was fairly clear that he knew about weres and was at the very least supportive. However, that and the fact that Ulysses arrest would surely come as good news to Jen, wouldn't offset the potential consequences that Ulysses had created through his actions.
The deputy mayor blinked, but Chief O'Hara did nod. Eventually the deputy mayor did find his voice.
"Regardless of this agent's personal standing... we're still in a tough position, particularly if the end report says were-beasts exist and shows them the proof," the deputy mayor commented.
"And we may need to respond to it, given whatever the reaction is," Chief O'Hara warned, "even if not for us here in Moon Lake, but for all the weres outside of Moon Lake who may face worse because they're more at the mercy of whatever prejudices or fears humanity will have."
Samantha and the deputy mayor both nodded. Things didn't look great, but they were still needing to know what the full report was and what the reaction would be before they move on.