The news that there was nothing more they could do with regard to Dieter Wilhelm or his agent legally was frustrating and the fact that Jennifer Harper was suffering mental stresses from it only made it worse. It made Martin slouch back in his chair and sigh heavily while rubbing his temples.
"You're certain this metal detector will work?" Martin asked.
"It's the same portable system we have at the station with regard to special events and so forth," Chief O'Hara nodded, "and while the alterations to the church may be an inconvenience for the church, they will allow us to make sure that no one, aside from the Skulk's security forces or any Moon Lake PD that attend either ceremony, is armed."
There was a silent as the weredog Police Chief looked between the weremer Mayor and the werecat Town Chancellor. After a few moments he managed a sigh.
"And if anyone asks, we can run with the suspicion of possible terrorist activity in the general area, particularly after the incident in Seattle," Chief O'Hara finished.
The others were to nod on that front. The incident in Seattle over the past weekend was still a good enough incident at least state concern over potential "terrorism." Any sort of issue that might expose weres would be an issue of terror for Moon Lake. However, that larger issue was something that would have troubles all its own. Eventually Martin sat up and looked to his police chief.
"If you wouldn't mind staying with us chief, we may need your input on Plan In the Open," Martin said slowly and with a very serious look on his face.
Chief O'Hara's eyes widened as Martin said those words. Plan in the Open was something that Moon Lake had as a plan ever since it was founded and according to some stories went back as far Colonial America before US independence and Moon Lake's eventual founding. Over the years as technology advanced or the US border moved westward the plan was updated to account for that. It was a plan that Martin had a copy of in his office, as did Samantha, Chief O'Hara and Katherine Chambers, Moon Lake's Deputy Mayor, also kept copies in their offices and she would handle the plans to upgrade the plan with the City Council when upgrades were needed.
"You think it'll come to that?" Chief O'Hara said nervously.
"At present I don't know enough about what happened in Seattle to say how close we are to actually using it," Martin spoke, "which means, we at least need to be ready to use it, even if we don't need to launch it yet."
Chief O'Hara looked over to Samantha who looked back to him with a heavy sigh as well. Dealing with that issue was also something that Samantha felt to be frustrating in that it was something big and was going on while they were wrestling with the other issues in trying to get ready for Jenny and Harry's wedding. The frustrating thing on their end was that if things progressed to the point of exposure, Jenny and Harry's wedding would have to lose a lot of the promised support from the city as they would have bigger issues to deal with.
"For the moment we don't have that much to worry about with things actually going toward exposure," Samantha spoke carefully, "it doesn't look like anyone's immediately jumped to exposure and that most of the media has written the tail off as a prop piece, as the FBI Agent involved tried to imply that would "
"And tell me again... he knows about weres... how?" Martin asked.
"He had a werecat's scent on him," Chief O'Hara commented, "Not enough that would indicate that he was a werecat, obviously, but that he'd been with one and he ultimately said that he was married to a werecat."
"And he could potentially be coming back when all things die down looking to become a were," Samantha spoke to Martin.
"Well, hopefully things calm down," Martin said slowly, and then looked between the two sides where Samantha and his Police Chief were seated, "and in the meanwhile... we can make sure that the preliminary efforts are ready for Plan in the Open."
"Well, if it comes to that, hopefully that can wait until AFTER the wedding," Chief O'Hara commented, "I'd rather not have to deal with panicked and nervous reporters wandering around asking questions based on assumption while at the same time having to try and protect a young woman from her own family and suitor she doesn't want."
"For the moment, things look that immediate exposure isn't a threat, as I said," Samantha commented, "most of the talk that I've seen that would really be questioning the story of the tail are all on the internet and on sites that either A) focus on conspiracy theories to begin with or B) are on some fantasy websites..."
"Fantasy?" Martin asked slowly.
"Either people who've seen werewolf movies and think it "cool" or those who are simply into science fiction and fairy tale type stories," Samantha explained, "with some, we might have an opening for a positive response... but so much of it is still more in the belief that the tail IS fake and that, and I quote, "sadly, humans are not able to grow tails." That sort of thing."
"That could mean that things might fully blow over and blow over quickly," Chief O'Hara spoke optimistically and sat up in his chair, "Then Plan In The Open won't be necessary."
"So we can lay that to bed?" Martin asked as he glanced to Samantha.
"I wouldn't think so," Samantha sighed, "at least not yet... Things may be quieting, but one paper's response to the incident has confirmed the report of the fake tail, BUT the way the article was written.... it reads as though the editor wanted one thing and mandated it while the writer of the story was far more questioning of the report and wanting to dig deeper but couldn't. Which means that issue or threat will remain until at least that paper stops reporting on it completely and enough time goes by that nothing brings them back into it..."
"And how much time are we talking about here?" Martin sighed, "I'm sure everyone's taken the precautions needed to make sure this scare doesn't carry... but even they can't go on forever."
"I would say we need to be on alert with regard to that issue and be ready for Plan in the Open for the rest of this week and at least all of next week, just to let the news cycle simmer down and let the police find all the evidence they need on the murder of Lionel Ulysses," Samantha answered, "which is the bigger mystery. If it turns out another were killed him... that could cause even more trouble."
Martin slowly nodded and looked down at the table they were at. It was clean and well polished. At some angles he could even see the outline of the reflections of himself, of Chief O'Hara, and Samantha in the table's finish. He could accept that gang related killings could and did happen, it was just an odd thing that for the moment that he was having to hope that evidence turned up that it was a simple gang related murder and nothing more than that. After a moment he glanced back to Chief O'Hara, who looked back and then quickly spoke.
"We did send a liaison officer at the FBI Agent's request for the capture of Lionel Ulysses," Chief O'Hara spoke, "but once he was captured and taken into custody and he and the agent had worked out the cover for Ulysses' tail, he returned here. He wasn't in Seattle when Ulysses was murdered and thus we have no jurisdiction on that case."
"And what if Ulysses killer was another were?" Martin asked.
"We might have to protect him long enough to get him to go quietly and to NOT expose weres when caught by those looking for him," Chief O'Hara stated, "as justice is a thing that must be served and even criminals, no matter HOW vile we think them to be have a right to it."
Samantha and Martin both nodded as they prepared to move on with the discussion.
"So... if things do turn to Plan in the Open..." Martin said slowly.
"We have one normal officer who can provide direct security for whatever outside news team you call in," Chief O'Hara spoke, "we commonly keep him on desk duty, just in case someone gets violent during an arrest... but in this situation he would be available to provide security."
Martin then slowly nodded. Plan in the Open was a sort of desperation move that was to be used if either weres were exposed in general or if someone was able to leak out proof that not only did weres exist but that Moon Lake was a were sanctuary. It involved bringing in a news crew for an exclusive interview report and broadcast that was to last a few days in which the reporter would be given a full tour of Moon Lake and shown everything. It would effectively reveal Moon Lake to the world, but would hopefully give Moon Lake a shot at making sure that all the press was GOOD press.
"The tough thing will be justifying keeping them here for several days and not actually broadcasting until the end of the report," Chief O'Hara spoke, "in that it might be easier to deal with our own city reporters..."
"That would create the image that we could have doctored what we reveal as a sort of gimmick," Samantha pointed out, "IF we come to this, we need to make sure when we come into the open, there is complete transparency. As for keeping the reporter here and making sure the broadcast isn't live, we will have a specific waiver for that and the reporting team will sign it before we begin. If need be we'll even provide the cameras they can use. All we'll need is to make sure that we have a Normal officer that the news crew can feel safe with."
"You'll have him," Chief O'Hara nodded and then looked Martin as he stood up, "Just let me know if Plan in the Open has to be launched so I can brief him on what he will need to do."
Martin nodded, "Hopefully though, that need never comes."