"You wanted to see me honorable one?" asked Daisuke Tachibana, as he approached his grandmother.
"Yes. Sit," requested Tachibana no Akane, pointing to an empty chair in front of her desk. "First, how's your arm?"
"Much better. I'll be back on full duty before the wedding Saturday morning*," he responded, referring to getting wounded earlier because of all the mess Dieter Wilhelm's henchmen were bringing to Moon Lake.
"Good. Now then, Megumi called."
"Is everything all right?" asked Daisuke.
"With her, fine. But she's worried about a friend of hers, Melissa Jenkins."
"Jenkins? Any relation to..."
"Not that we're directly aware of," said Akane, before telling Daisuke of everything leading up to Megumi's phone call earlier that morning.
"I only know the name Alice Decrux from what I have heard in the were news. Many say justice was not served after she escaped being found guilty of violating Statute 1A**," commented Daisuke, when the tale was finished.
"Yes," agreed Akane. "There have been several new additions to the were-raccoon ranks Decrux is personally responsible for. I do not think all those men were turned willingly, hence the accusations of violating Statute 1A**. And then to compound her sins by bringing children into the world, just to milk the fathers for support money so she can ship them off to private schools elsewhere in the world..."
"Abominable," agreed Daisuke.
"Yes. While we shall have to let the police and the courts sort out the mess between Decrux, Virginia McCoy and Harold Jenkins, Megumi is afraid Decrux might try to exhort some kind of vengeance by turning Jenkins' daughter into a were-raccoon, although Melissa's heart is leaning toward being with a werebull she just met at school."
"Why? Decrux has no history of sex with women that I'm aware of. After all, one lady cannot get another pregnant," pointed out Daisuke.
"True, and I know our resources are stretched at the moment with the impending Harper-Jenkins wedding*, but for both Megumi's and my own piece of mind, can we spare someone to watch over Melissa Jenkins until after this has been settled by the police?" requested Akane.
"It shall be done," promised Daisuke.
MEANWHILE...
Moon Lake Police Detectives Denny Miles and Miles Lukasky (make your own jokes about the names coincidence folks), were sitting in Police Chief O'Hara's office going over the latest on the Virginia McCoy/Alice Decrux investigation.
"Since our lab found traces of that aphrodisiac in the peanut brittle Decrux sent Jenkins, I'll make sure the DA grants your search warrants for her home and business, but I want you two to split up and serve them at the same time. Make sure whoever you partner with is a fellow were, because we certainly don't need Decrux creating any more were-raccoons right now," ordered O'Hara.
"Yes sir," said Lukasky.
"We're still waiting for the lab to complete their analysis of Harold Jenkins clothing from yesterday," continued Denny Miles. "Personally, I'm hoping that McCoy is innocent, although Jenkins said his daughter had a theory."
"Oh? On what?" wondered the Chief.
"Given what they know of the woman, he said she wouldn't be surprised if Decrux started to reach out to scratch her father, McCoy tried to stop her, but then Decrux used McCoy's paw to scratch Jenkins so she could get McCoy out of the way for at least a while and have him all to herself."
O'Hara thought about that for a moment and said, "Interesting, but how do you prove it?"
"We see what the warrants and the lab results bring us and go from there," replied Lukasky.
"From what I've seen of the files, McCoy has been an exemplary citizen up till now while Decrux gives weres a bad name. Personally, I hope McCoy is innocent too, but professionally we have to go where the evidence takes us," O'Hara reminded his detectives.
"True," agreed Denny, "which brings us to one more request," before asking the Chief to assign police protection to Melissa Jenkins.
"You really think Decrux would try to change Jenkins' daughter into a were-raccoon?" wondered the Chief.
"We'd be remiss in our duties if we didn't consider the possibility," answered Lukasky.
"Agreed, which brings me to the latest surveillance reports," said Chief O'Hara. "The unit assigned to Harold Jenkins says he's on his way to Moon Lake College right now for some reason. The unit assigned to watch Virginia McCoy says she's still in her house at last report, although when one of the officers checked the grounds to make sure, he heard crying from within the house."
"That doesn't sound like a scheming woman to me," commented Denny.
"True," agreed the Chief, "but the most interesting report came from the unit watching Decrux. They say she's at her candy store right now, but drove miles out of her way to pass Moon Lake High in route."
"Decrux was warned not to go near either Jenkins," said Denny.
"And technically, she hasn't, since Melissa Jenkins is in class right now and Decrux only drove past the building. But I will contact Principal Andrews and inform him of both our concerns and whatever security arrangement I can make for Jenkins' daughter immediately," announced O'Hara, as he reached across his desk for his telephone.
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*The main concern of the Moon Lake, Andersons thread at the moment.
**A were cannot turn a normal into a were against their will. If found guilty, they are punished by a minimum jail sentence of 50 years.—tmw.