Police Chief O'Hara was at his desk reading over the reports that he received over the course of the day. He could feel the headache growing as he read through them. First there was this issue with Deiter Wilheim and the Harper/Jenkins wedding. To be sure, he would send a small police force due to the threat that Deiter posed on the town. Then there was this murder up in Seattle and one Dynaximous...or whatever his name was...who was being investigated last he checked. And now there was this Statute 1A investigation that involved a certain wereraccoon by the name of Alice Decrux. Not only was he watching Alice, but also the victim's daughter, Melissa, who very well could be the next target. He leaned back in his chair and sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. It was at that point that the phone rang. He sighed and picked it up, saying, "O'Hara."
"Chief?" said the voice on the other end, "We did the analysis on those pants like you requested, and well, you're gonna want to come down to see this yourself."
"This better be good," O'Hara said as he stood up from his desk. "I'll be down in a few."
Chief O'Hara made his way down to the crime labs were a couple of technicians were examining the claw marks on Harold's pants. "I heard you had something interesting to show me. I've got quite a bit on my plate, so if you've got something that could help, I'm all ears."
"Ah, Chief," one of the technicians started, "Glad you could make it down. We found something rather interesting about these claw marks." The two of them walked over to a table where they were examining the claw marks. "Now, just to be clear, the victim wearing these pants was scratched by a weretiger, correct?" O'Hara nodded his head indicating agreement. "Good. One of the interesting things that we found about these pants is that the claw marks don't exactly line up right."
O'Hara looked at the claw marks and then asked, "What do you mean exactly?"
"Well," the technician started not exactly sure where to begin. "Felines, including tigers, have retractable claws. This means that they generally aren't out unless pushed out, generally by the cat."
O'Hara continued to study the claw marks on the pants before he said, "And what does this mean for this case?"
"When a cat extends its claws, there are several ways it could do that. One way is sort of balling up the fist, crooking the fingers so that the claws reveal themselves. This usually occurs when the cat is grasping on to something. The claw marks in question don't do that, though. They're too far apart."
"I see. And what's the other option?"
"The other way is for the paw to be spread out and extended so that claws pop out longer than the fingers, if you will. This could happen naturally or be forced by someone by putting pressure on the right spot on the paw. The problem is that most cats, if they want to scratch someone, generally don't do that. It's rather uncomfortable for them."
O'Hara looked at the lab technician and asked, "What does this mean for the case?"
The lab technician looked down at the claw marks on the pants and said, "Sir, it appears that whoever made these claw marks were doing so either unnaturally, or they were forced to by someone else." O'Hara emitted a low growl when he heard this. So far, everything was matching with what McCoy had said.
At that point, the phone rang, and Chief O'Hara picked it up. It was the DA on the other end indicating that he got the search warrants for both the DeCrux shop and her home. "Thank you sir," O'Hara said with a smile. "I'll be sure to let my detectives know." The noose, it would seem, is slowly tightening around Alice's neck, and there was no way she was going to get away this time.