AUTHOR'S NOTES
Before we begin, a couple of friendly reminders.
1. The Tad story is still running hours ahead of the main Moon Lake thread. It is still late Sunday afternoon here and Saturday night there.
2. Since CYOC.net wisely does not allow fan fiction, the homage below is the closest we shall ever get to honoring a classic TV show of the 1970s.
NOW, ON WITH OUR STORY...
The reporter stood in front of his editor's desk, staring at his superior as the man read the story he submitted. The expressions on his face did NOT look good, and the editor's opinion when he set the copy down confirmed what the reporter feared.
"Do you really expect me to run this?" the editor asked, although he already knew the answer.
"But every word is factual. I checked and double checked my sources. Even the vest camera footage from officer's at the scene confirm it too," replied the reporter. "Lionel Ulysses, at one point, was literally running away from the police with his tail between his legs."
"I know all that. But if the Seattle Police Department isn't pursuing the matter, why should we?"
"Because it's news."
"Maybe, but the fact that someone knocked out the guard before killing Lionel Ulysses in his hospital room while he was recovering from emergency surgery is more important than the fact he and his gang had a weird fetish about the Rat Pack out of Las Vegas," explained the editor. "Besides, the police and the FBI already explained that Ulysses, a known drug dealer and user, carried his fixation a little too far by having a costume rat tail with him."
"If that's true, then where is the tail now?" asked the reporter. "The police have yet to find it."
"It probably got lost during the chase, and finding it isn't that high a priority compared to finding a killer. Now granted, it was probably a rival gang that killed Ulysses or, pardon the pun, someone who was afraid Ulysses would rat them out that did the deed. If you want to run with the story of finding out who killed Ulysses, then fine, go ahead. Just don't get yourself killed or this paper in trouble while you're doing it. But there is no story regarding a tail. This article you gave me makes it sound like Ulysses was some kind of... of..."
"Creature posing as a human?" suggested the reporter.
"Yeah. You're a good reporter, but you shouldn't let this... fixation you have with things unexplained and the weird risk ruining your career. Now get out of my office and get back to work before I forget we're supposed to be friends," said the editor, handing the reporter back the rejected story.
Back at his desk, the reporter sat down and stared at his story again, before putting it in the bottom of his desk drawer. Okay boss. I'll investigate the murder, but if I find evidence that Lionel Ulysses really did have a tail...