Backtracking...
Detectives Denny Miles and Miles Lukasky, having gotten as far as they could talking to Megan Decrux after she received an anonymous phone call last night threatening her life because of the past exploits of her dead mother Alice, were walking Megan to her car.
"Where are you parked?" wondered Lukasky, since they had already passed their car.
"Around the corner here," replied Megan, taking her keys out of her purse. "The apartment complex's parking lot fills up pretty quickly at night, so a far away space was the best I could do last night when I got home from work," she added, pointing to a red car at the end of a row of empty spaces.
Megan Decrux pointed her key ring at the vehicle and pushed the door open button.
The car made a beeping noise in acknowledgement as it unlocked the driver's side door...
And that's when her car exploded!
Being trained police officers/detectives, both men instinctively turned to protect the civilian with them as the car blew up.
Megan, frightened out of her wits and scared shitless, trembled in fear and assumed her were-raccoon fursona in the process as part of a natural "fight or flight" response.
The officers wanted to naturally assume their own fursonas as well, both to protect the lady with them as well as to try to find whoever planted the bomb in case they were still in the area, but fought the urge to do so.
Instead Denny drew his gun and started scanning their surroundings even as Lukasky took off his outer jacket and threw it around Megan, both to shield her and keep anyone from seeing a were in public during the day.
Denny saw no one nearby.
His unique were senses could only smell the aftermath of the bomb explosion, for the ringing in his ears kept him from hearing any telltale noises that might indicate a possible suspect.
Being daytime, most of the apartment complex was empty, with the tenants at their respective jobs.
One elderly lady did come out of her unit to the trio's right to see what the noise was, but Denny raised his shield and ordered her back inside for her own safety.
"Are you all right?" Denny asked, looking at his partner and Megan Decrux.
Lukasky simply nodded affirmatively as Megan cried, "W-who..." and then fainted.
SOMETIME LATER...
Megan Decrux slowly opened her eyes.
At first she was uncertain of her current whereabouts, until she heard a friendly voice ask, "Are you okay?"
Megan turned her furry head and saw the Detectives looking down on her.
"I think so," she replied, starting to sit up.
"Not so fast madame," said a paramedic standing next to the other men. "Your vital signs are okay, and thankfully you were far enough away from the blast to be directly hit physically, but the event was still quite a shock so you might want to stay motionless for a while longer," he advised.
Megan looked around and saw she was laying on her own couch back in her own living room.
"Oh god..." she moaned, taking his advice and laying back on the cushion.
"Why me? Who?" she asked aloud, to no one in particular.
"We're working on it," promised Denny, as he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.
He turned and saw the Moon Lake Police Department's tech expert Tara Strange enter the Decrux living room.
Denny walked over and conversed with her in a low voice, although any were in the room who wanted to could still hear them.
"Well...?"
"As far as I can tell from what little's left of the detonator, the device was sound activated," revealed Strange, while holding up a plastic evidence bag. "Placed underneath the car on the driver's side near the gas tank. Once it registered the door being unlocked..."
"Was it set specifically for Decrux's car or..."
"Without more of the device to examine, I can't say. Why?" asked Strange.
"Decrux said the parking lot was pretty full last night when she got home, hence parking where she did. Depending upon when the device was planted..." said Denny.
"Another car might have set it off when that driver unlocked their vehicle," realized Tara. "It's possible, which would have put anyone parked near her at risk too. Right now I can't even say for certain when the device was placed, but if the culprit knew Decrux's schedule..."
"What was the actual explosive?" wondered Denny.
"The Crime Lab's preliminary report says a couple of sticks of good old fashioned dynamite. That plus the gas in the tank..."
"Yeah," said Denny. Dynamite wouldn't be hard to trace, per se, but it wasn't as closely watched as C4 and other more modern explosive material. They would find the source in time, which would hopefully lead them to the bomber, but it would take longer. Depending upon how old the sticks were...
"Tell everyone to do their best and keep us posted. Lukasky and I will be back to the station as soon as we get Decrux moved to a more secure location."
"Okay. Are you and Lukasky all right?" Tara asked, looking at her friends and colleagues.
"Yeah. Just a bit shaken. Decrux was still about 20 feet away from her car when she hit her key fob. Why?"
"It's just, the way Miles keeps looking at her..."
Is Tara jealous? Denny wondered. She was one of the few normal humans the department employed, and while Strange didn't have an anti-were bone in her entire body, she had also always said she wouldn't join were society until she was certain of both what and who she wanted to be with.
"I'll talk to him," promised Denny, as he turned to look at his partner.
There was no denying Megan Decrux was beautiful, in or out of her fursona, which at the moment was barely contained within the outfit she was wearing. If not for the skirt, her were-raccoon tail would be mighty uncomfortable trapped within clothing.
Why do our cases always get more complicated before we solve them? Denny wondered, as he walked back toward Lukasky and Decrux.
TO BE CONTINUED...