Denny Miles and Miles Lukasky were both looking over some of their notes in their office area of the Moon Lake Police station when there was a knock on their door. They both looked up to see Chief O'Hara enter holding three of slips of paper. One had to be the lab reports and the other two had to be the warrants they needed.
"Well, I have some updates for you," Chief O'Hara said to the two detectives and handed the papers over to Lukasky, the senior detective on the team.
"The warrants and the lab work, I take it?" Lukasky asked which O'Hara nodded in response to.
The two detectives looked them over and traded them off between them. It was ultimately Denny Miles who spoke first.
"Well... it looks like progress," Miles spoke.
"That's what I was hoping for,"Chief O'Hara nodded, "and would be enough look into both. I want you both to look into both the sweets shop and Decrux’s home to confirm a few things."
Both detectives nodded.
"Lukasky, you check the shop," Chief O'Hara instructed, "Miles, you check Decrux's home."
Both detectives then nodded and were soon on their feet.
++++++++++++++++++
Lukasky and Miles were quick to move on to carry out their search per the search warrant they had received. As per the earlier instructions, the two did divide separate teams so that they could investigate Alice Decrux completely. Lukasky lead the team that was to take the lead and move to investigate Alice Dexcrux directly as he moved with the warrant to search the sweet-shop that Alice Decrux ran. The shop was a fairly decent looking shop in Moon Lake's downtown and also remembered what would look like an old sort of candy-shop that resembled something from the late eighteen hundreds and had been upgraded over the years so to keep things functioning well with new equipment and new power sources over the years. And he found himself lucky as he and another weredog officer, though this one uniformed, came into the shop, as he found Alice Decrux approaching it, and likely getting ready to lock up for the night.
"Can I help you, officers?" Alice spoke carefully as she looked to them, "It's about my shop's closing time..."
"You can and will provide us with full access to EVERYTHING in your shop," Lukasky spoke as he handed a copy of the warrant to Alice, "This is a copy of the search warrant that gives us permission to do so. And this..." Lukasky then presented the original in his other hand, "is the original. You can keep the copy for your records or for any complaint you may wish to make."
Alice looked it over for a moment and then sighed, "is there to be a reason for this?"
"A couple," Lukasky answered as he and his escorting office moved across the shop floor. He ignored the sugary scent of many of the candies that were wrapped in plastic and in glass jars on the shelves in the main shopping area of the shop. He noted some mass produced candies were also there in metal racks near the front counter, but most looked to have been home made type snacks of various kinds.
Alice followed after them, doing her best to hide her irritation at this, but she also knew not to cause a scene. Particularly while they were checking out potential Statute 1A violations. Because of the historical fears of "were-hunts" over the actions of the occasional rogue in the Middle Ages leading to countless innocent Weres and Normals often being killed under the mere suspicion of being a were, Moon Lake's police were often at their most "aggressive" with regard to law enforcement policies when it came to catching potential violators of Statue 1A, as it was a means to protect the secret. Alice knew this well and thus knew not to cause a scene.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Alice spoke, "If this is a reference to Harold Jenkins... correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't he a weretiger at present?"
"He is," Lukasky answered, "but there are a couple of things that leave us with suspicions... First was a container of peanut brittle laced with "Love Potion Number Nine." A shipment that was sent by you to Harold Jenkins."
Alice had privately wondered about that. Her idea had originally been that the peanut brittle would serve to make Harold Jenkins very much aroused, even to the point where his mourning heart couldn't resist his erect penis. The aphrodisiac she had used, nicknamed "Love Potion Number Nine" after the song by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, was strong and had been proven to effect anyone, be they Were or Normal, and neither was it a illegal drug, thus she figured she'd find Harold ready and eager for something and thus she could claim her "mate." Finding him with Virginia wasn't planned and the fact that he WASN'T aroused was a further surprise, but it wasn't until later that she guessed that he hadn't eaten the Peanut Brittle.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Alice asked, "Love Potion Number Nine isn't illegal under either Federal or even Moon Lake Law."
She then gestured to a long board across the top of the wall behind the counter and pointed to a spot that included "Extras," and Lukasky soon saw that "Love Potion Number Nine" was among those extras that could be added to any possible snack ordered at the sweet-shop.
"It's legal to buy and use it, yes," Lukasky answered, "but it IS illegal to give it to someone who doesn't know the drug is there. The peanut brittle you sent had no indication that it was laced with a powerful aphrodisiac that would send any were into a near uncontrollable lust and would still arouse normals to the point where saying "no" is difficult."
"It didn't?" Alice asked, playing innocent, "I could have sworn I included a note with the peanut brittle. He'd seemed rather sad to me with regard to many things. I figured he needed something to get him in a better mood."
"And there was never any intent try and turn him into a wereracoon?" Lukasky asked.
"No," Alice answered.
Lukasky and the officer began looking through a the things in the shop. Ultimately looking for any records of the supposed note that Alice made mention to, but they did have consider that it might have been written at home and brought to the shop for packaging. Alice followed behind them and intently watched them as they searched her shop. She noted that they did find her source of "Love Potion Number Nine," but without proof of intent, that really wouldn't matter all that much. And at worst, she could potentially face a fine for attempted drugging, but since "Love Potion Number Nine's" only affect was to arouse someone, they couldn't shut down her shop or imprison her for it. As even if drugged, Harold Jenkins could have just as easily met with another Normal in Moon Lake and if truly determined, as a Normal, he might have said "no" and controlled himself, as the drug affected Weres more fiercely than Normals.
"So other than exaggerating over something that is perfectly legal, what else are you claiming was a crime committed by me?" Alice asked, "as I said before... I am trying to close up..."
"There is also the lab's analysis of Harold Jenkins' pants," Lukasky commented, figuring that while things they had for the moment were more circumstantial than anything else, he might be able to at least let Decrux know that they were finding more and more information that didn't make things look good for her and thus frighten her into a mistake. "While it is clear that the claw marks are those of a weretigress... something in the distribution of the fingers that made it look as though Ms. McCoy wasn't consciously extending her claws. You had a grip on her palm and applying enough pressure to press on the tendons that pulled her claws forward. Which would look suspiciously like you were trying to frame Ms. McCoy. Perhaps you'd like to explain."
"Well... I can't really say where my hands were," Alice answered, "I'll admit that we were fighting, but she is bigger than me and stronger than me. I had to do what I could to keep myself from getting mauled. If I grabbed her by a paw, I didn't notice."
"And so it was all an accident?" Lukasky asked.
"Yes," Alice insisted, "I assure you that Harold Jenkins being scratched was the last of my intentions. Things between me and Virginia simply got out of hand."
Lukasky and his officer both sighed and continued through with their search. They ultimately found no evidence that Alice had written her note there, which was in the end a bit of a defeat for them, not even on the computer in Decrux's office. All of what they had and did find were purely circumstantial in nature and didn't confirm anything at the moment. Lukasky figured they'd need to re-question the werecat delivery boy to see if there was a note with the peanut brittle that made the mention of a aphrodisiac being in it and to sweep the house for any sign of a handwritten note or if there was any sign of the note written on a home computer and printed there. Miles would have figure out things there. Hopefully he'd have more luck than Lukasky.
They eventually made their way out with what evidence they were able to gather, as while it might be circumstantial at the moment, there was the potential that some things could turn up. If no note turned up, they could hit Alice Decrux on attempted drugging charges, though the punishment for drugging with Love Potion Number Nine would be lease than Statute 1A, it might at least give Decrux enough of a "scare" that she'd change her ways. As Lukasky exited the sweet-shop, noting that the sun was starting to go down he pulled out his cellphone and called his partner.
"How's it going?" Miles asked him over the phone.
"Mostly circumstantial stuff," Lukasky answered, "and Decrux claims that what else we've found was either an accident from the fight or an innocent welcome designed to make Harold Jenkins feel more at home here."
"Anything that proves Decrux guilty?" Miles wondered.
"Nothing," Lukasky answered, "though given some of her answers here... we might have an alternative route."
"Oh?" Miles asked.
"See if you can find any sign of a note telling Harold Jenkins that the peanut brittle was laced with Love Potion Number Nine," Lukasky instructed, "If you find none... we can hit her with drugging... and that's assuming you haven't already found anything that would point to her being guilty beyond what would be considered circumstantial."
"Right," Miles answered.
"How are things on your end?" Lukasky asked.
"Pretty much just getting started," Miles answered, "apparently the Jenkins girl paid Ms. McCoy a visit after school over something... and well... to say McCoy was irritated at first was an understatement."
"Did McCoy attack the girl?" Lukasky answered.
"No, once she realized who was at the door, she backed off and according to the monitoring officers seemed a bit heartbroken," Miles answered, "not what you'd expect from a rogue."
"Yeah... and I'm of the opinion that the restrictions on Virginia McCoy can be lifted," Lukasky answered, "what we've found may only be circumstantial... they do only point Alice Decrux and not to Virginia McCoy. We've proven that much so far... Though, that suggestion can be made AFTER you've completed your search and the evidence is evaluated."
"Then I'll get to it," Miles replied.
"Good," Lukasky nodded, though Miles couldn't see him nod through his phone, "and for word of warning, Decrux has closed her shop for the evening and is on her way home. So be prepared for her to be looking over your shoulder."