Things seemed rather calm for the Charlestons as they came out from the Moon Lake Police Station. Vito and Marcus Gamboni were caught and likely with enough evidence to put them away for a lengthy period of time. Vito's might be more limited to whatever the police and FBI had picked up in their surveillance of the pair while waiting and looking for a way to avoid a shootout, and that could be limited, but then, Vito Gamboni wasn't the most immediate threat to them. The threat to them had been Marcus, who was likely to face stiffer penalties given his suspected involvement in the murder of a park official at Mt. Saint Helens. The capture of both was enough to give Moe the temptation to smile, though the report that the pair of mobsters had managed to tear gas their home and broken a window was enough to keep him rather straight faced for the moment.
"So... it's over," Karen said optimistically as she looked to her parents.
"The running part of it is," Moe said to her, "there will still be the trial, and depending on where they hold it, at least one of us may have to be there for that... witness for the prosecution and all that."
"Maybe they could let us do that by Skype," Nichole said slowly, "I'd rather not have anyone be in the same room as them... for all we know they have more "foot soldiers" out there waiting something big."
"Maybe," Moe said slowly, "though, I'd suspect most of them are back in New York and New Jersey. The Gambonis took most of their top guys with them... at least with regard to Marcus, Vito, and Albert... and that means their home turf would be left vacant, unless they get someone to defend the territory for them. Though for now there isn't much we can do about that..."
"Though we have a broken window and potentially a wrecked house to deal with," Nichole grumbled as they began to make their way up the street and toward where their new home was. They'd essentially loaned it to the Moon Lake Police and he FBI as part of their planned sting operation, which had ultimately worked, but not precisely in the way it was intended. They'd gotten the assurances that the damages would be covered and the number and addresses on who to send the bill to, and that was some good news, but Nichole knew enough that they'd need to see first hand the damage that the tear gas grenade had done. Moe might trust Daniel Brooks with just about anything, but Nichole knew enough about things that they would have to double check the damage before finding this "Jenkins Construction" over replacing the window and seeing what would be needed to clean out the tear gas residue.
The walk home wasn't too bad, as the three hadn't left in high priced footwear that would be uncomfortable to walk in, and in fact Moe and Nichole rarely ever wore anything fancy. And they only had a few modest travel bags with them, nothing like what they'd carried with them on the move to Moon Lake. Karen found it even easier as the bags she carried now felt even lighter, guessing that was another "effect" of becoming a weretiger while they'd been staying at Tara Strange's cabin while the "sting" operation was carried out. As they made their way up toward the house, the found one lone police car parked on the driveway and with Daniel Brooks standing guard beside it. He eventually looked to them as the got closer.
"Morning," Daniel said to them with a weak smile, "glad to have the main mess with the Gambonis done with? There will still be the trial, of course, but..."
"We are glad to be through with them," Moe gave a slow nod, "and glad you were able to keep your promise about protecting us..."
"I do my best," Daniel answered and shook Moe's hand and then Nichole's, "as you two are my best friends, Fran's too... I'm just sorry we couldn't prevent them from breaking your window..."
"It'll be okay, and besides the FBI has already promised to pay for any damages," Moe assured him.
Daniel nodded and then looked over to Karen who stood by nervously for a bit. She'd grown a bit more used to Moon Lake in some ways, at least given how limited she'd been able to be about before now and accepted things fairly well. Daniel's son Peter might end up being a good friend for the future and helping her get to know things, but Daniel Brooks remained something of an unknown to her. She'd known of him, but she and Peter had been infants when the two families had last been together and thus much of what she knew of Daniel Brooks was more by reputation than anything else.
"And you made your choice... I see," Daniel said slowly, catching the scent of weretiger on Karen.
"Yeah that was kinda where I was leaning to," Karen said slowly, "and there was a weretiger who lived near where we were staying who was willing to help... Though... some things feel a bit... tight."
"That happens with a lot of weres, male or female," Daniel gave a chuckle and particularly with the larger weres, which would include weretigers... too big in their wereform to were clothes and well muscled enough that much of their human clothing wouldn't fit them perfectly anyway."
"That'll end up being something that we end up dealing with once we can get the window fixed and get Moe's Pizza up and running," Nichole spoke, "and least with any full wardrobe change."
Karen pouted a bit at that, as some of her clothes did feel a bit tighter since her transformation. She could still wear them in her human form, but they weren't exactly as comfortable as they were before, though she had to admit that demanding a new wardrobe right now might not work out well. After all, her transformation had come as a result of going out in a bit of rebellion and somehow getting just enough "were" to turn but not enough to turn immediately and she was a bit embarrassed about letting herself go that far that fast. Fighting over clothes would only raise the risk of letting it slip that she'd essentially gone out without permission and broke promises she'd already made to her parents. Thus, she stayed silent and didn't challenge any delay in getting a new wardrobe.
"Well the Target on the east side of town should be able to handle all that you need," Daniel offered, "and their prices should be comfortable enough that you won't have a problem."
"Thanks, Dan," Moe said to Daniel.
"Has to be Officer Brooks when on duty," Daniel answered, "and anyway... I have my normal shift to get to, and now that you're here... I can return your house too you with the only real damage being the broken window."
"The FBI agents... they didn't?" Nichole began.
"They were very careful and we did our best to stay out of sight and way from anything breakable," Daniel answered, "the only real damage was the window. There might be some residue in places from the tear gas... but for the most part, the ventilation system probably took care of that over time."
"Good," Nichole gave a sigh, "and after all that's gone on... I'd think I can accept a busted window if it means we don't have to deal with the Gambonis again."
Daniel laughed and nodded as he moved off, returning Moe's house keys to him and allowing the Charlestons to return to the home they'd moved into only a few days before. Things didn't look too bad and Moe could see that furniture and other things that they'd brought would have the potential to be damaged seemed to be okay. The only one who'd had any real response to things on entering the house was Karen. She gave an almost pained grunt while cringing her lips as her nose picked up the scent of the tear gas lingering in the house.
"What is it...?" Nichole wondered.
"Just a remnant of the tear gas," Karen managed, "a lot of it may have been taken out by the air-conditioning... but there are parts of it that remains. That's what I smell..."
"Best to open the windows and get some fans going," Moe answered, "things have been fairly warm, so I don't think we'll have too many problems in that regard... and it'll help get some of the smell out."
That set about a frantic bit of work, as Nichole and Karen went about opening windows to help let fresh air in and help the scent of tear gas be taken out of the house. There didn't seem to be anything that was sticky or had stained the rugs, which Nichole took as a plus, but Karen could clearly tell where the gas had been thick based on how strong the lingering scent was. The hallway that lead toward the garage and went past her room and her parents room was bad, and it seemed like her parent's room was worse. That confirmed the report that it was the master bedroom that the Gambonis had thrown the tear gas grenade into. Even Nichole could pick up some of the lingering sent as she entered the room to find that the window that looked into the backyard was completely smashed in, as though the grenade shattered the entire pane when it was thrown through.
The broken glass was gone and the Moon Lake PD had put up a tarp that covered the space. It darkened the room considerably, though removing it didn't necessarily bring that much light in. Nichole sighed as she looked things over and was grateful that so far the scent seemed to be the worst of it. Things like clothes and bedding might need to be washed, but that wasn't too bad, though she hoped this Jenkins Construction could fix the window, or at least replace it. As she looked out, she didn't notice Moe coming in behind her and plugging in a portable fan. When he clicked on the fan, Nichole jumped a bit, but she did recover.
"Sorry," Moe apologized.
"It's okay," Nichole answered, "Just looking over things... and noting how some of the scent lingers here..."
"Makes sense since this was where they said the grenades were thrown in," Moe commented, "it'd take the brunt of the tear gas and thus its smell, regardless of how good the air vents are. I think with the tarp down and the fans going we'll get the scent out."
"What about everything else?" Nichole wondered.
"I'll measure the window, go down to this Jenkins Construction, and see if they can replace the window that was broken," Moe answered, "and then we'll handle that... Anything with Moe's Pizza that I'd deal with would either be something I can do here or by phone... maybe writing down the numbers I'd need to save, since my phone gets such poor reception here."
Nichole sighed and looked back to the window frame and the forest seen from the window. It was nice, but still served as a reminder of the hardships they'd gone through, thankfully the worst of it seemed to be over for now.