Tad walked Amy and her brothers back to the front door of the Decker home. Seeing her and dating her made him happy and he looked forward to having a happy life with her. There were some things to be nervous over, particularly as he thought over the report that Lionel Ulysses might have transformed during his arrest and thus potentially exposed weres to the world and not to mention the murder of Lionel Ulysses that came later which might make people come looking deeper into what had happened in Ulysses. It would be like any good conspiracy theory in which the odd circumstances of Ulysses' death would make the earlier odd circumstances a sign of something more that was being hidden.
Now normally, there was nothing hidden, but Tad also knew that in this particular case there WAS something being hidden. The fact that there were people out there who could transform into anthropomorphic animals at will and that at least one town in Washington State was a sanctuary for them. That would be something that would make many weres nervous, even if Moon Lake had plans to deal with these sorts of issues and that Agent Green could convince his superiors from digging further into things. If not, Tad feared that some of Jay and Leon's fears could come true. Secrecy was why his parents had always taught him to be careful.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow!" Tad called to Amy as she lead her brothers to the sidewalk.
"You said that already," Amy laughed.
"I meant it," Tad answered, "and don't worry, I'm sure everyone will be fine."
The last part was more for Leon and Jay, who seemed to be smile and nod. They did seem like good kids and he hoped that the Howler family would be able to either find someone to be with for their first transformation when it came or at least that the Howlers would be able to talk with their sons and be with them, just the way his parents and particularly his father had been there for him when he had his first transformation. As he shut the door, he turned to find his mother standing there with a warm smile on her face.
"You really like her, don't you, son?" Jen asked him.
"Yeah, mom," Tad answered, "she's nice and has been helping me get used to being here."
"I heard," Jen commented, though also privately remembering all the times she'd been able to be with Jeff and missing them greatly.
Tad only blushed as he was fully certain that his mother knew what sex was. Thankfully, his mother didn't pry into too many details, as that wasn't really her business. Just as it wasn't his business to mess with Jen after he had his welcome into Austin Perry's pack and she joined her new pride. He did detect some female scents on his mother and knew that she had had a good time, but he didn't need to pry. That was her business and hopefully business that made his mom happy.
"Just remember what we taught you," Jen commented as she turned and headed for the kitchen to get started on their own dinner, "You want to be a gentleman at all times. I don't want her breaking your heart, but you don't want to break her heart, either."
"I will, mom," Tad answered.
"So... what would you like for dinner?" Jen asked, "we're fully stocked now... We have beef, pork, fish, chicken, some cold cuts..."
"How about some lamb and mac' and cheese," Tad commented.
"An excellent choice," Jen smiled.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"You're really pursuing this?" the reporter heard his editor ask him as he drove home.
"There is something too odd about all this," the reporter answered with some frustration, and thankful that his car had a hands-free device, "that tail... If it's a costume, why has no one found it? And why was he killed so quickly afterward? If the guy was such a big crook that the FEDS were after him, wouldn't they have had tighter security? And more importantly WHO could have wanted Ulysses dead?"
"The police have their list of suspects, Tom," his editor answered.
"Well, from what I've found so far, I'm not sure they're on the right track," the reporter, Tom, answered, "but you said you wanted undeniable facts, not just speculation. Well... I'm doing just that. I'll get undeniable facts and we can make it a special article. Once I get everything... it'll be the story of the year."
"Fine," his editor answered with some frustration evident in his voice, "fine... I'll give you a week to get a rough draft of your story. I want it on my desk by next Sunday morning. If you got facts, we'll go from there... if not, you drop this, deal?"
"Deal," Tom answered, and with that the call ended.
He had a bit of frustration there as he was fairly certain that the Seattle Police and the FBI probably wouldn't give much with regard to their story. It would probably remain what it originally was and that they were doing their best to hunt down the guy who killed Lionel Ulysses. He might talk to them at some point, but that'd wait until AFTER he had more to work with. So far, he had some facts that would show that things might not be as simple as the official story claimed, but not enough to prove how odd things were with regard to what happened with Lionel Ulysses. For the moment, the hospital and the security would be his best option, which had given him some leads, but not a lot of them. The best one now would be the officer who was supposed to guard Ulysses that had been attacked and suspended. However, it was starting to get late. He would try and talk with that man tomorrow.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Across the country it was already night and Teddy and Marci Green were retiring to the bedroom for the night. They had enjoyed a good spaghetti dinner while talking what had happened over the course of the two days that Agent Teddy Green had been on his assignment to catch Lionel Ulysses. The news reports had so far had only been local and what had gone on in Seattle hadn't made it to the national media, yet,and Teddy privately hoped that things could be kept quiet enough so that "tailgate" would calm down and let things get back to normal.
"It was a nice little town," Teddy commented, "clean... many of the buildings looked like they were built in the eighteen hundreds but were kept clean and gotten periodic technical upgrades, that sort of thing."
"Well... according to what my moms told me... a lot of the buildings that were built to last were built in the 1800s," Marci commented, "so it'd make sense that they have some old buildings there."
Teddy nodded and looked toward his wife. She was wearing green satin slip nightgown and carefully climbed onto the bed beside him. He smiled to her, but he also had his own case of nervousness and Marci soon picked up on it.
"Are you okay?" Marci asked him and reached out to touch his shoulder.
"I'm fine," Teddy answered, "just concerned over a few things."
"The fact that the guy transformed?" Marci asked slowly, "but you said you did convince the police that it wasn't real."
"Yes," Teddy nodded, "and with that... that can give us the option for a vacation so that we can finally be together in EVERY possible way... and a place to retire to."
He watched Marci smile at that. That was something that he knew that both he and Marci had been hoping for. They had loved each other deeply, but Teddy knew he could never be with her in every possible way until he himself was a were, and since werecats were all female and their specific strain of the were-virus would kill him, he would need someone else to transform him. He and Marci had tried to find someone, but until now had had no luck. Moon Lake would provide just that.
However, the fact that Lionel Ulysses likely transformed out of reflex when shot and was then murdered himself created the risk that weres could be discovered if someone really went digging, and that raised the old fear he might lose Marci.
"But the murder... and the odd things that went with it," Teddy said slowly, "I may have convinced the Seattle PD, but that doesn't mean that some local news guy may not notice some of the oddities and chase into it because of the oddities in his arrest and his murder."
"I'm sure you'll find the guy who did this," Marci commented.
"I can't," Teddy sighed, "MY case was to get justice for Major Jeff Decker. And in a sense, I did catch him, which was all my assignment was. Whoever killed Lionel Ulysses... finding HIM will fall under the Seattle Field Office if the FBI claims the murder of a suspect already under Federal jurisdiction comes into play...more than likely it'll fall to the Seattle Police."
"You did your best, dear," Marci said to him.
"It wasn't enough," Teddy said slowly, "I didn't get justice for a murdered military officer... I couldn't make the arrest in a way that would avoid the risk of exposing weres... I couldn't even protect the guy to make sure there is justice..."
"You couldn't predict what this vigilante has done," Marci hugged him, "and you did your best. Things may be nervous for a while, but things will cool down eventually..."
Teddy looked to her and sighed.
"And you also told me that Moon Lake does have plans to protect its own secret, so while you may not have brought Ulysses back for trial," Marci assured him, " you did your best and did a good job at keeping an official investigation from coming. I'm sure the town can keep a snooping reporter at an arms length and that the suspicion will hopefully go down."
"And if not?" Teddy asked, "Suppose some reporter figures out the truth and exposes weres? I'd lose you... and... and..."
"If it happens... we'll show everyone that normals and weres can live together with nothing to worry about," Marci promised him, "and take it from an attorney. There are ways we argue in defense of a were's rights to be under the law. It may take some lobbying and some major court cases, but the Reconstruction Amendments to the Constitution and the 1964 Civil Rights Act would be a pretty good legal start..."
"Well... hopefully things go smoothly and without problems if it does," Teddy looked to her, "because I fear that things won't go well..."
"Oh, I have the same fears two," Marci commented, "but ever since we met... I've felt safe with you."
Teddy felt Marci lean over to hug him.
"And THAT makes me confident and hopeful that things will work out," Marci continued, "It make take time... but it'll come."