The evening at the Moon Lake Police Station was relatively quiet, which proved beneficial for Denny Miles and Miles Lukasky. There wasn't even any one poking fun at Denny's last name being the same as Lukasky's first name, though the two detectives had gotten used to that by now, and it wasn't as if the other officers meant any harm by it. It was all in good humor. Their work, however, was completely serious and running into a few snags.
While they could get some patterns at Alice Decrux's behavior, that wasn't something they could use to charge her in the present altercation. And even if they could get a new trial on the old charges they couldn't use the old information. Her lawyer was confirmed to be on his way and both of them knew that he would jump on the point that the only thing that they could charge Alice Decrux on at the present time was creating a public disturbance and transforming during the day without just cause. That was generally a few jail sentence with a moderate to heavy fine, depending on how much the action risks the secrecy of the existence of weres. For the moment, things appeared that the secret was safe, with regard to this incident, so they couldn't legally do much with Decrux in the long term. They could keep the present case open with regard to checking Decrux's actions and determining whether or not she had any "intentions" toward Harold Jenkins that would violate Moon Lake's laws, but they didn't have enough to hold her for long.
The other problem that the situation they were dealing with was that Alice Decrux hadn't actually turned the victim in the present case. That happened to be another neighbor of Harold Jenkins, Virginia McCoy. Both detectives have gotten the respective stories from both Alice Decrux and Virginia McCoy on the incident in question, and while it had helped in some regards, it didn't answer everything. Decrux claimed that McCoy clawed Harold Jenkins on purpose trying to claim him for himself while McCoy admitted claiming him, but that it was an accident brought on by Decrux starting the fight and Harold Jenkins trying to break it up. They asked the college dean, who had also been present at the scene for what he saw, which in theory backed Virginia McCoy's account, but couldn't give any insight into what was going on inside either the wereraccoon or weretiger's heads and thus couldn't fully prove either account. They might tend to believe McCoy over Decrux, but that didn't mean they could just ignore that the present case had two potential perpetrators and two ways it could go.
"This isn't going to be easily cleared," Detective Miles said to Detective Lukasky with heavy sigh, "We'll need to talk with people who are familiar with both..."
Detective Lukasky nodded as well, "Particularly when we don't have enough information to hold either Decrux or McCoy for long."
"I wouldn't tend to think that McCoy really is guilty," Miles answered, "or at least I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt given that she doesn't have Decrux's history."
Again Lukasky nodded at his desk, "I understand... but that's not the point of our job. We're supposed to make sure the laws are enforced, and as bad as it may be... if the facts prove that Decrux is innocent and McCoy is guilty, we have make the right arrest."
"Do you think that's the case?" Miles questioned, somewhat suspiciously.
"Honestly... no," Lukasky admitted, "but again... we've only just gotten started on this case."
Miles nodded and looked down at some of the old files he'd been looking over. They all related to the old cases on Decrux in which there had been no proof of intent in Decrux's actions and thus they only gained further reason to be suspicious of Alice Decrux, but Lukasky was right. They couldn't completely ignore McCoy's involvement.
"So... how are we going to handle the release?" Miles asked.
"Well... Dean Myers was released an hour ago with his fine paid for transforming in daylight," Lukasky answered, "the only ones left are Decrux and McCoy."
"Uh-huh, and how do you want to handle it?" Miles asked for clarification.
"We'll hold onto Decrux until after her lawyer makes us let her go," Lukasky answered, "with the warning that she is not to set one paw on the Jenkins property... and make sure she knows WHICH Jenkins we're talking about here... until our investigation is concluded."
"And the same would go for McCoy?" Miles asked as he stood up.
Lukasky stood up and nodded, "If we do it to one, we do it to both. Until the investigation is concluded, McCoy isn't to go near the Jenkins home, either. Especially since most of the evidence that would say "Statute 1A" points to here. If we find enough that proves that her clawing Harold Jenkins was something other than an accident, then we don't want anything close to Stockholm Syndrome developing in which the victim defends the perpetrator..."
"Especially since both of them have voiced some attraction to Harold Jenkins," Miles nodded.
The two quietly made their way from the main office are of the station and into the cell-block area where the prisoners were held. It wasn't terribly large, as no police station's jail would be very large. Prisoners that would be looking at lengthy sentences would be sent to a separate building, known as Moon Lake Detention Facility. The prisoners in the jail were only held there as long as the Moon Lake Police Department could do so. Both detectives made their way to the last cell where Virginia McCoy was presently seated on a bench with her head in her hands. She actually looked up as they opened the door.
"Okay, Ms. McCoy, you're clear to go for now," Detective Miles spoke politely, "the ticket for transforming in the day and creating a public disturbance will arrive in the mail in a day or two. But we're at a point where we can't hold you here any longer."
Virginia stood up and quietly made her way toward the two detectives. They didn't budge as she approached.
"This won't end up on my record?" Virginia asked.
"If it stays at this, this should be a misdemeanor and nothing will be on your permanent record," Lukasky answered, "however, because a potential Statute 1A is involved in all of this, you will be aware that we will be asking around to try and verify as much as we can what you and Decrux told us."
"I understand," Virginia answered.
"This will mean that you are to have no contact with Harold Jenkins until we can conclude the investigation," Lukasky spoke.
"What?!" Virginia gasped.
"As we said, you are not to have any contact with Harold Jenkins until our investigation is concluded," Lukasky answered, "As hanging around with him right now could potentially raise the possibility of his opinion being influenced... which we can't allow."
Virginia didn't respond to that.
"And the same will also go for Ms. Decrux," Detective Miles added, "She is also to leave him alone until we can interview all available witnesses and participants in your little scrap and close the case. Once the case is closed... and you're cleared of any possible Statute 1A charge, then you may interact with him, but not before we close the case."
"And how long will that take?" Virginia asked.
"That we can't tell at the moment," Detective Miles answered, "as we have a lot to go through... but then... or duty is to serve the city of Moon Lake and preserve its laws. We aren't tasked to suit the schedules and interests of private citizens... particularly when Statute 1A comes into play."
Virginia only looked down.
"As we said, this condition will apply to Ms. Decrux as well," Lukasky added, "If she tries anything, she'll add more suspicion against her."
Virginia nodded and then proceeded to walk forward toward the exit to the cell-block area. Both detectives followed her to walk her out. As they passed the cell that Decrux was in, they ignored the very sour look on the wereraccoon's face.