{{CONTINUITY CORRECTION: While it's difficult for multiple authors in an ongoing round robin story format to always keep continuity straight, long time readers of any Moon Lake thread know that Frances and Samantha Twist are a happily married lesbian couple with no sexual interest in the male gender.}}
The reporter* had lived and worked in Seattle long enough to make friends in both high and low places.
One of those in the "lower echelon" happened to work for the morgue within the hospital that Lionel Ulysses was treated and killed in.
Sneaking through the corridors, the reporter made his way to the basement and found his friend on duty, since the man always seemed to prefer the night shift.
"There isn't really much I can tell you," began the morgue attendant. "Somebody clobbered the guard on duty, which wasn't difficult considering the man had his head up his rear playing with his cellphone; then killed the patient."
"I heard the guard's been suspended without pay pending further investigation of the incident, but how did Lionel Ulysses die?" asked the reporter.
"It appeared as strangulation, since Ulysses was found dead with his pillow over his face and the killer was in and out of the room so fast, according to the security footage, despite the fact you never see the guy's face," replied the morgue attendant. "However, while a postmortem examination of the body found a stray needle mark where there wasn't one before, the toxicology screening showed no sign of any poison."
"Interesting, but why was that specific needle mark singled out?" asked the reporter.
"It was new and very recent. You didn't see the dead guy's left arm. Needle marks all up and down it. He was definitely a heavy drug user. But I can tell you one other thing that won't be in any news report unless you blab it. Whoever killed Lionel Ulysses did the guy a favor."
"Oh, how?"
"The man was well past being HIV Positive and into full blown AIDS**," revealed the morgue attendant. "Doubt he completely realized it yet, since there were no indications of any treatment regime in his system. Might of started wondering why he was getting sick, provided he ever had his head on straight long enough to think properly, but anyway, because of that, the medical examiner said Ulysses wouldn't have lived more than another 18 to 24 months at most."
"Fascinating. Did the toxicology reports or other tests turn up anything else interesting?" wondered the reporter.
"What do you mean?" asked the morgue attendant in return.
"Come on. You saw the story on the news. The police vest cam footage. Did the man have a tail or not? Was he even human?"
MEANWHILE...
The watchers sat within the nondescript car within the hospital parking lot, close enough to keep an eye on the reporter's car, but far enough to not be noticed unless the reporter knew who he was looking for.
Waiting for the reporter to come out of the hospital, for it was deemed to risky to follow him inside, the driver turned as the passenger's cellphone chimed.
Scrolling through the incoming data, the passenger turned to the driver and said, "It's confirmed. The man is a reporter," before giving a brief summary of his background. "Our orders are that unless he actually finds concrete evidence that Lionel Ulysses did indeed have a tail, we're to leave him alone."
"And if he does?" asked the driver.
The passenger simply smiled menacingly.
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*Thus named because this is the closest we can come to homaging a classic TV series of the 1970s since CYOC.net wisely does not allow fan fiction on this site.
**While weres are immune to many diseases, those from sharing dirty needles, like HIV and AIDS, isn't on the list.—tmw.