While Theodore Green was a loving husband who enjoyed every moment of the quiet dinner with his wife, Agent Green of the FBI couldn't help thinking back over his last hours in Seattle.
He had managed to convince the Seattle PD not to pursue investigating what he privately called "Tail Gate", when suspect and actual wererat Lionel Ulysses accidentally let his rat tail slip when wounded while trying to flee arrest.
There was still the unanswered question of how long the media might try to cover the "story", but Green's biggest concerns involved Ulysses' impending trial and subsequent sentencing when found guilty.
There was no way Ulysses would have been able to escape justice for the multitude of crimes he had committed, up to and including murder. In fact, it was the murder of Jeff Decker that had put Green on the case, trying to figure out who would kill a soldier who survived active military duty overseas just to be killed on home soil.
However, while trying to figure out who had judicial jurisdiction for which crimes would have been a logistics nightmare to begin with, the risk of anyone discovering Ulysses was a were with a long life span would have been even more dreadful if the suspect had only gotten a "life" sentence when found guilty.
Yet the news Green got when he returned to the local Seattle Police Department was the last thing he expected to hear.
"What do you mean Lionel Ulysses is dead?" Green asked Detective Smith.
"Someone killed the suspect while he slept in the recovery room, handcuffed to his hospital bed. Knocked the guard on duty out cold too, although he will recover," replied the officer.
"So who did it?" asked Green. On one hand, with Ulysses dead, that greatly reduced the risk of further exposing weres in general, let alone the Moon Lake sanctuary specifically. Yet despite the resolution's results, Green still couldn't condone outright murder, and thus was duty bound to find the killer.
"We're not sure," admitted Smith. "Rival gang? Angry drug kingpin afraid Ulysses would roll over on him? Your guess is as good as ours right now. But since he hadn't been officially arraigned into the Federal judicial system yet, my superiors are considering it a local matter unless any evidence turns up that says otherwise, so you can go on home to your loving wife... Mary?"
"Marci," Green corrected her. On one hand, Green had no idea how adamantly the police would try to get justice for a known criminal, yet with Ulysses out of the picture weres everywhere, including Marci, were safe once more.
After finishing up the last of his paperwork and saying goodbye to the Seattle PD, Green paused in his borrowed Bureau car, and activated the scrambler on his cellphone to call Samantha Twist one more time.
"I can absolutely assure you it was no one here in Moon Lake," swore the Town Chancellor, after hearing the news about Ulysses.
"I never suspected anyone there at all, but thought you should be aware of this new development. Tail Gate, as I call it, will probably be overshadowed by who killed Ulysses, if that gets any coverage at all. But even if Ulysses' death had absolutely nothing to do with him being a rogue were, that still leaves an unsolved homicide here in Seattle."
"I understand, and leaves us with a serious puzzle if his murder was because of him being a rogue were. Yet other than Officer Connor, who's been with us after helping you out and our mayor, who's on his way back from California after checking on his sick mother, everyone in Moon Lake is present and accounted for, as far as I know," swore Samantha, not knowing anything about any dragon clans.
"Well, Marci's living proof that weres are all over the world. Here's hoping that if Ulysses killer turns out to have been one, that fact doesn't expose the species, let alone runs the risk of endangering Moon Lake," prayed Green.
"Something we all hope for," agreed Samantha.
"Honey? Can you hear me?" asked Marci Green, back in the present.
"Oh, sorry dear," apologized her husband, staring at his wife. "Just thinking about the after action report I still have to right for the Bureau and how I'm going to leave out any mention of weres."
"That's important," agreed Marci, taking Theodore's hand in hers. "But since I have yet to visit the place myself, I was asking you how was Moon Lake, and how soon before we can arrange a vacation there so you can join were society so we can truly consummate our marriage?" she asked with a loving smile.