Alyssa Cooper was strangely silent as the Sheriff drove back to Moon Lake, which was fine with him. His cousin was in enough hot water (no pun intended, since she is a were-mermaid) and he still had investigating to do that might make her situation worse.
Once reaching the station, the Sheriff ushered his cousin inside as if she was any other criminal he ever encountered.
"Book her on trespassing as well as breaking and entering charges. One count of each," said Cooper, handing Alyssa off to a deputy.
"Sir, isn't this—"
"Yes, but no one is above the law. I'll finish my end of the paperwork when I get back. Right now I have to go talk to a witness and see if there might be more charges to file against her," said the Sheriff, looking at his cousin with great disappointment before turning around and leaving the station.
Brian Walker sat by himself during the bus ride home, thinking over what he would say to the Sheriff and his mother. The fact that she texted him during lunch to announce he was grounded for the rest of the calendar year (which wasn't too bad considering it was already December and winter was starting to arrive) did not surprise the upset were-otter.
But the text Brian received during the ride home made him smile, and slightly change his plans as he deleted the message.
As the school bus dropped him off in front of his house, Brian was shocked to see his mom home from her day job so soon. The look of anger on her face told him things were not good between them.
But before Emily Walker could say anything, Sheriff Cooper's cruiser parked at the curb.
"Emily. Brian," said the Sheriff, while tipping his hat to the lady. "Let's go inside."
"Now then, before we begin, Brian is not in any additional trouble. At least not with me or the law," said Sheriff Cooper, while taking the offered seat on their meager living room couch. "He came to me to report the situation, and I'm just here to get some more information so I can figure out how to proceed."
"Okay," said Emily, while still staring angrily at her son. She was sitting on the other end of the couch, while Brian stood facing them.
"Now then Brian, who was the other lady?" asked the Sheriff.
"I never saw her before that afternoon or heard her name, although your cousin obviously knew her, for Alyssa wasn't surprised to see her show up at the motel room she rented here in town. Brown hair, green eyes, and some type of werecat, but I'm not sure of the exact variety," answered Brian.
"Now then, did any money exchange hands?" asked the Sheriff.
"Not while I was there," replied Brian, lying through his teeth. "As far as I know, it was some kind of an audition. If she liked me, she would have told her friends and things would have gone from there."
"I see," said Sheriff Cooper. Like he told Alyssa, Douglas Cooper was not a poker player but in this case, while Brian might have been lying, he wasn't sure, because the kid kept fidgeting standing there staring at his mother, who kept staring at him in return; so the Sheriff chalked any possible doubts about Brian's statement to nervousness.
"Why Brian?" his mother demanded to know. "Why would you have agreed to or even wanted to become a gigolo for that woman?"
"Because I like sex and we need the money mom. You bust your butt trying to hold down two jobs. You're barely ever home and hardly ever get any rest when you do. What little is left at the end of each week trying to keep us afloat gets wasted on those do-nothing private detectives who have never found my dead beat dad and your lousy husband. You won't let me get a traditional after school job like bagging groceries or delivering newspapers because you say school's too important. What else can I do to help you besides what I'm able to do of the housework?" replied Brian, which shocked his mother.
"That leads me to my next question. Did Alyssa ever say why she wanted you to use your computer skills to get Mayor Stovall declared legally dead?" asked the Sheriff.
"No," replied Brian truthfully. "I originally was just going to tell her it wasn't possible, because the Mayor was too well known locally for it to work, but then I saw you at school and..."
"I get the idea. Okay. I have all I need. Emily, could you please see me out," requested the Sheriff.
"Okay. Brian, go to your room and start your homework. We'll talk later," said his mother.
Brian Walker simply nodded at her and complied.
"Well?" asked Emily, as they stood at her front door.
"Brian's a good kid just caught in a bad situation, so don't be too hard on him," suggested Sheriff Cooper. "Like I said earlier, he's not in any trouble with the law, and my cousin can be quite a handful to deal with as it is. Brian wasn't going to do what she wanted, he never got paid, and he did voluntarily tell me what was happening."
"But why..." began Emily Walker.
"Think about what your son said before you talk to him again, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me," said the Sheriff, before leaving.
With that, Emily Walker went back to her couch, sat down, and began to cry.
Meanwhile, with headphones on so he never heard his mother's tears, Brian Walker started preparing to do his homework, but first he had to reply to the text message he received on the bus ride home.
HEY OTTER! HORNY AGAIN! CAN U SCRATCH MY ITCH?
It was signed "Betty". Even if that wasn't her real name, it was definitely the black haired beauty he shared with Alyssa in that motel room.
Having remembered the number the message came from, Brian thought about what to say. The last thing he wanted to admitted to was being grounded, so instead his response was BOOKED 4 THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS. PLEASE TRY AGAIN THURSDAY. I LOOK 4WARD 2 FUCKING U AGAIN!