Molly and I enjoyed the Animal Tales episode with the family of Cheetah people. The four cubs all looked very cute and reinforced Molly's excitement about becoming a mother. We'd still have to wait a while for our cubs to arrive, but there was obviously some excitement related to that. And the episode did have some plus sides to it. Based on Moira's description of when she and Rowan were able to learn the genders of their four cubs until after four months had passed, it seemed that an Animal Person's pregnancy did follow many of the developments of a a human's pregnancy. Which meant that things related to gender wouldn't become apparent in that direction for another two months.
"I can't wait," Molly spoke sounding rather giddy as we went upstairs toward our bedroom.
"You're going to have to," I quipped, "our cubs won't grow any faster then they are now."
"I know... but..." Molly shrugged, "they were so cute! Little bundles of fur... true they have spots, but not everyone can be perfect."
I slowly nodded and gave her a friendly nuzzle. It was a sign of how much things had changed. When Changes had first victimized Molly at the state fair in Peoria there had been a great amount of fear over what would happen. And as she first dealt with being a three hundred ninety pound tigress, she seemed practically broken in the sense that she wanted to be as she was before her transformation. But in time, she had come to accept her new form and merely wanted to be treated as she was before her transformation. And her acceptance of all the changes grew, particularly when I was transformed.
I know she didn't want to transform me, but that was largely unavoidable. No one knew yet for sure that the Animatrix Serum would transfer over to other people through sexual interactions, and so when Molly and mated for the first time on our wedding night, the tiger population in Columbia Falls doubled. I did okay with it, as I mostly wanted to make sure that Molly didn't slide back into some depression after I transformed. Thankfully, she didn't and her acceptance of the changes in her form and life continued. By now, that acceptance had come full circle. The last line she had said would seem to indicate a preference for a tiger's stripes to a cheetah's spots.
And some of that would, of course be necessary. As far as Molly and I knew, Leon was still working on finding a way to "cure" and reverse the effects of the Animatrix Serum, in addition to added testing to reduce its infectious qualities. And originally, Molly and I had hoped for a cure. A way for Molly to be physically human again. But that hadn't appeared and Molly's and my life moved on. And now, with Molly pregnant, neither of us would be taking any cure, even if one was produced. Unlike Molly and I, our cubs would not have a past as humans to return to. They, from the moment Molly and I conceived them, and from the moment of their coming birth this summer, would be Bengal Tigers. And Molly and I had agreed long ago that should Molly become pregnant before a cure was found, we would stay as we were. Our cubs would grow up with parents that loved them and that they didn't need to constantly explain details for. We would be tigers for the sake of our cubs.
"I'm sure our cubs will be just as cute," I told her as we began to prepare for bed.
"And she said their eyes were open!" Molly moved on to her next topic, "Did you see, their eyes were open."
"Yes, I saw," I nodded, "but she also said that she gave birth four months ago. That would be more then enough time for their eyes to open."
"So when do you think our cubs' eyes will open?" Molly wondered, "One month after being born? A few weeks? A few months?"
"I don't know for sure," I sighed, "Among mundane tigers, it takes only a few weeks for the eyes to open... but their lifespan and development is much shorter then a human's... while ours is. From what Clemens told us, you'll give birth early as part of some compromise to keep in hunting form..."
Molly slowly nodded. It was a topic that couldn't be ignored and something that we did think of from time to time. How long would it take for our cubs' eyes to open... but that was a question that only time will answer. And there were still plenty of other developments that were to occur before Molly even gave birth to the twins growing inside her.
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The next couple of days went fairly quietly. Officer Barnes and I continued our search for the two Black Rat burglars, continuously hopping that something would turn up that would lead to their capture. But so far, nothing had turned up. I was beginning to think they had left the area and we'd need to pass the information on other law enforcement agencies that there were two Black Rat people out there burglarizing people. Until on the Friday after the Animal Tales episode with the Cheetah People, a burglary related call came in from dispatch.
"Burglary, again?" Officer Barnes answered into the car's radio.
"Yes," the dispatch officer answered, "the guy is a rancher and was out in his fields when it occurred. He came in for an early lunch and found several things gone. Some of it money... the rest appears to be antiques."
"Are they still there?" I asked from the backseat.
"Not that the caller has reported," the dispatch officer answered after Officer Barnes relayed my question through the car's radio.
"And so they're gone again," I sighed, "Think it might be the same guys?"
"The two rats... wouldn't surprise me," Officer Barnes answered me and then turned to the radio, "we're on our way."
Officer Barnes and I made our way out to the house that had been burgled. It took us out onto the area where Beauregard's massive ranching operation had been. Since Beauregard was convicted, his ranch was divided up and auctioned off. Some other ranchers that had been "old guard" in Columbia Falls had bought some pieces, and some other new ranchers had bought land in the area. Interestingly enough, the home that had been robbed had been Frank Rhoer's home when Molly and I had first moved to Columbia Falls. By now, they had moved and to Michael York's old home and it was the new residents of what had been the Rhoer home that had been burgled. A young man was waiting for us as we arrived.
"You guys the officers they sent to investigate all this?" the man asked.
"Yes," Officer Barnes answered, "this is my partner, Officer Wayne."
"Garret Nien," the man answered, "thank you for coming out so quickly."
"You're welcome... I guess," Officer Barnes shrugged, "why don't you tell me what was stolen and how you noticed that something was stolen?"
Mr. Nien began to lead us in. As he he did so, I checked the scent around the driveway and leading up to the small wooden porch in front of the door. Mostly checking for scents. They hadn't done anything to mask or hide their scents after the last burglary, and I was gambling that they had made the same mistake again. To me it was another sign of stupidity on their part. They had become Animal People, certainly they had to know how important scents were to nearly every animal species... either that or they didn't realize that they were burglarizing a town where one of the local officers was also an Animal Person.
"Most of it was money," Mr. Nien answered, "I had about two hundred fifty dollars in mad money in a small safe under my bed... that safe is gone."
"You checked under your bed during lunch?" I asked.
"No, whoever this burglar is, he also took an antique clock that's been in my family for years," Mr. Nien answered, "had it appraised once at twenty five thousand dollars."
"That's a pretty expensive clock," Officer Barnes commented.
"Yes, and surprised me... anyway, I've kept it on the top of a stand in my living room," Mr. Nien answered, "I can see it from my dinner table and when I saw it was gone... then I checked."
"I see," Officer Barnes nodded and then glanced to me, "Pick up anything, George?"
"Yeah," I gave a sigh, "it's the same crooks as before. The rats."
"Rats?" Mr. Nien asked.
"Yeah, a pair of Black Rat people, burgled a house in town close to a week ago..." Officer Barnes answered.
"Damn," Mr. Nien then cursed, "a couple of black furred Rat people came around a couple of days ago... offered their help with the ranch doing odd jobs. Did a few things over time... but they didn't come back yesterday or today when I started."
"Did you give them a key?" I asked, glancing to the front door and the front of the house, which again showed no signs of forced entry.
"I had them make a copy once a couple of days ago," Mr. Nien spoke.
"And they made extra," Officer Barnes sighed, "We'll need to dust a few things off for prints to see if they're the same as the first burglars... but in all likelihood... they are."
"Can you get my things back?" Mr. Nien asked.
"We'll try, but we can't guarantee anything," Officer Barnes sighed.
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We concluded all our business at Mr. Nien's home as quickly and efficiently as possible and then began to make our way toward the station. I couldn't tell for sure if the prints were the same as those at the previous burglary, but given the scent the two Rats had left, I was fairly certain they were. And that meant there was a second burglary.
"And the dirty rats, strike again," I grumbled as we rode back toward the station.
"Yep," Officer Barnes grumbled in the front seat, "and they'd have to have a vehicle if they'd carted away a safe."
We returned to the station to find Officer Howard waiting for us in the main front desk area of the station as we came back in.
"Another burglary, sir," Officer Barnes answered, "based off of the scent, we believe it was the same pair of rats as before."
Officer Howard gave a sigh and shook his head. Clearly it was a report that he didn't want to hear.
"Well, I suppose we have something that could amount to good news on this issue," Officer Howard answered with a sigh, "the results on the fingerprints you collected at the first burglary site came in."
He then held up a sheet of paper that he had been holding in his other hand.
"And we have names for these guys?" Officer Barnes asked, "other then calling them dirty rats?"
"Yes," Officer Howard nodded, "one is Hank "sticky hands" Grabar and the other Louis "Louie" Larceny."
That made me silently grumble to myself. The second thief's surname essentially meant thievery.
"The two have been partners for years and have been in and out of various prisons and jails for burglary," Officer Howard continued, "nothing more then that. And according to what's come in, they're also wanted for questioning for a series of burglaries running from here to Washington State... all within the past year."
"Do you think they took the Animatrix Serum before this latest scheme?" Officer Barnes wondered.
"We can check if we don't already know," I commented.
"We may not need to," Officer Howard said slowly, "because they're wanted in Washington State and Idaho as well, this could be an FBI case..."
"So we turn things over to them?" Officer Barnes asked.
"Not to turn things over, cooperate with," Officer Howard sighed, "they're sending an agent that's been following Grabar and Larceny's case since they left Washington... from what I've been told we're to expect him tomorrow morning."
Officer Barnes and I nodded and gave a heavy sigh. We finished out the day checking over the prints we'd taken at Mr. Nien's home and compared them with the prints we had from the first burglary. Both sets of prints matched each other. That further confirmed that it was the same pair of thieves.
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The next morning, when Officer Barnes and I made our way in to the station for the day, Officer Howard was there and waiting for everyone as they came in for the day. Officer Jenkins took her seat at the desk as this conference concerning Grabar and Larceny had more to do with the patrol officers then it was for the desk officers. Officer Barnes and I signed in and then made our way into what was the station's conference room where the rest of the patrol officers were waiting. As we entered, I noticed that the man who was there from the FBI was not one of the local FBI office agents that we had met with before. He was a new man in a pair of khaki pants and polo golf shirt. He glanced to me, said nothing and then waited patiently for Officer Howard to come in a few minutes later.
"Okay, we're all here," Officer Howard spoke to him.
The FBI agent nodded.
"Thank you," he nodded, and then introduced himself, "I am Agent Hermann Heer. Within the FBI I hold a rank equivalent to a Detective within most local police units and I'm normally assigned to cases that will revolve around a lot of local police work to actually apprehend the crooks in question. I am not here to take over your jobs or to tell you how you do your jobs. I am here to assist in the current hunt for Hank "sticky hands" Grabar and Louis "Louie" Larceny."
Agent Heer then moved to a map he had put up on a stand that covered everything from Seattle, Washington to Great Falls, Montana.
"To start with, I will tell you a bit about the men you are after," Agent Heer answered, "Grabar and Larceny have the record of small time crooks. Nothing more then burglary or petty theft. In fact they've never committed any sort of violent crime..."
"Doesn't mean they can't start," one of the other officers pointed out.
"True, and that will be something to look out for, but for the most part, it isn't expected that they would escalate their crimes beyond burglary and petty theft," Agent Heer, "After earlier arrests and incarcerations, they were questioned as to why they did it. They told the people that questioned them that it was for the love of the money. It's getting their hands on someone else's money that they get a kick off of. Not a confrontation. In fact the arrest that lead to their questioning came from botched timing on their part."
"Botched timing?" Officer Barnes asked.
"They had gotten into an apartment in Olympia, Washington and the resident returned before they could leave," Agent Heer explained, "They had apparently see the resident leave the building and then went in, thinking they had more time then they did."
"So, they actively case out areas before going in," a third officer spoke.
"And they're also adept at either getting keys to the residences they burgle or picking locks," Agent Heer nodded, "they study things and do as much as possible to make it look like no one has broken in until one discovers what's been taken..."
"We've seen some of that already," I interrupted, "if you're saying they've done those things in the past, their MO hasn't changed."
"Which may be a good thing," Agent Heer gave a sigh, "It will mean that he'll be in this general area for a while, yet."
"The general area..." Officer Howard began to wonder.
"While their chief goal is money, they don't always get money," Agent Heer explained, "in the first series of thefts and burglaries they committed, they occasionally took things that were simply valuable or could be pawned off at fairly large sums of money. By what we've been able to trace, things would be burgled in Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, or Bremerton and if they had valuables, but not money, they'd gone as far as Mission City, Canada, British Columbia Province to the north or to Longview, Washington State and Portland, Oregon to the south. Some of what they stole was recovered, the vast majority though, was gone and untraceable before the pawn stores realized that what was being "sold" to them was stolen."
I heard a few hushed whispers among some of the other officers while Agent Heer continued his explanation.
"They were released from prison about one year ago," Agent Heer answered, "and they also quickly caught on to the use of the Animatrix Serum to aide in the careers as burglars. The first in what has been a series of burglaries occurred in Yakima, Washington State, and at the same time pawn stores in Richland and Kennewick had two Black Rat people begin to sell to them some items. At first this issue had been left to local police in the area, but when these reports began to match the MO of Grabar and Larceny... one burglary... wait a few days... and then another... I was called in to assist in the pursuit of these two... and it is from there that I found about where they were going to sell them. Though, mostly all we managed to get on them were a few witness statements... which made that much tough."
"I take it they were a bit more careful then they were in the past... at least in the sense of knowing that they were being "hunted"," I commented.
"I believe so, yes," Agent Heer nodded, "the two carried this series of burglaries and pawning off other valuables all the way to the Spokane area. Then the trail went cold for awhile... but then a rash of similar burglaries occurred in Oregon, where the officers weren't as familiar with Grabar and Larceny's actions and it became a cycle. They'd burgle someplace, move and then come back again some time later... and then move their sphere of operations when the "heat" seemed to get close to them. After moving through Oregon... they made their way into Idaho with the first burglary there being at Grand View... and it would appear that since then he's moved his operations here."
"And you believe they'll operate in this area?" one of the other officers wondered.
"For awhile," Agent Heer spoke, "the best to do would be be to step up you're patrols for a vehicle being driven by two Rat people... based off of what we know the two rarely part company. It sounds like singling someone out, BUT if we can contain them into this area... we'll be able to catch them... if not here in this town then somewhere else in this area."
"Or they could flee further away to where the police won't be as alert and where you won't suspect them of being," Officer Barnes commented.
"Not if you can keep a sharp eye out," Agent Heer answered, "Grabar and Larceny aren't full fledged masterminds. For the most part in this latest string of burglaries, they've gotten extremely lucky. And sooner or later, their luck will run out."