Not knowing that the chartered flight with his nephew* had arrived in Washington State and a rented limo was driving Darrell Cooper and his caretaker/other mother Joan the weretigress** to Moon Lake, Sheriff Douglas Cooper was driving back to town with his cousin's friend Betty Van Rosenberg, a material witness in Alyssa Cooper's death.
"Well?" began Sheriff Cooper.
"Well what?" asked Betty.
"Do you have anything to say about the illegal relationship between you, my cousin, and Brian Walker?"
"What was illegal about it?" asked Betty in return. "As far as I know, despite the fact that Walker is only 14, he is an active were already past his first transformation so, at least within the Moon Lake town limits, the sex between us was legal."
"I'm talking about the part where you and Alyssa were grooming the kid to become a gigolo. You do know prostitution IS illegal, right?"
"Look Sheriff," began Betty, thinking fast, "I make no excuses for being in heat, a lot. It's part of my nature as a werecat. When Alyssa called me about Brian, all she said was she had met a talented kid who could really scratch a lady's itch, but I'd have to come to Moon Lake to see for myself."
"So the audition was Alyssa's idea?" asked Cooper angrily, glancing between Van Rosenberg and the road.
"Audition?" asked Betty in return. "What are you talking about? The three of us had sex, yes. That Walker kid was everything Alyssa said, and a whole lot more. Whoever winds up marrying him will be one lucky lady. But that was it. The one night. I didn't see Alyssa again until yesterday when she suddenly showed up on my doorstep with Julie Stovall, and you already know what happened then," she protested, trying to keep from crying over the loss of her friend and paramour again.
"So you never paid Alyssa to have sex with Brian Walker. Or never paid Walker for having sex with you?" Cooper demanded to know.
"What? NO!" she shouted, as Betty adamantly denied the accusation. "You see how I look?" she asked in return, posing as sexily as she could in the front passenger seat of the Sheriff's cruiser with her seat belt on. "I look even sexier furry," purred Betty. "I may be perpetually horny, but I'm not stupid! I've never paid anyone for sex. Ever!" she said, lying through her teeth.
Sheriff Cooper took a stern look at Betty Van Rosenberg and then turned to face the road as he thought things over.
Between the shock of finding out Alyssa's dead and left a child motherless, I can't say for sure whether or not Van Rosenberg's lying about the Walker situation, he complained to himself. Other than my suspicions, I have no proof money exchanged paws, and I certainly can't get a court order to check her phone, phone records, or anything else on just a suspicion.
Then he sighed, thinking about the bad actions in his cousin's life, and the wasted time that could have been spent better.
"Okay," Cooper reluctantly said, staring at the road ahead. "This is beginning to look like another of Alyssa's hare-brained schemes, so unless I ever discover any evidence otherwise, I'm willing to take your word for it."
Betty Van Rosenberg felt herself beginning to relax, not realizing how tensed up her body had become over the last couple of minutes because of this conversation.
Then, after making sure they were on another straight stretch of empty road with no one ahead of them, Sheriff Cooper suddenly turned to face his passenger again and said, "But Brian Walker and any other minor are off limits from now on! ESPECIALLY within the Moon Lake town limits! If I ever have a reason to suspect you might be trying to contribute to the delinquency of a minor, I will come down on you so hard and so fast you won't know what hit you!" he growled angrily, doing his best to keep from shifting into his were-grizzly fursona.
"Yes, sir," replied Betty, doing her best not to wet herself.
"Good. Now let's get on to Moon Lake. The sooner the Luna Brotherhood's trial is over, the better. I still have a funeral to plan and a relative I didn't know about to meet," said Cooper, facing the road again while wiping a hand across his face to keep from crying. And a young were otter to straighten out when I get the chance, he silently added, noting that they were still about an hour away from their destination.
I'm glad I left Moon Lake when I did, Betty Van Rosenberg thought to herself. I've got the number memorized and always delete the messages afterward, so Cooper wouldn't find any evidence on my phone; but the first chance I can safely do so, I'm telling Otter Boy it's over between us professionally and otherwise. Then, when I get back to Seattle, I'm never setting paw in that hick town ever again!
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*Or whatever the proper relationship is between a surviving cousin and their child.
**Who Franknfurter69 hasn't given a last name yet.—tmw.