Alpha Micah Black: Werewolf Detective (Complete)

Chapter Twelve

Hanna makes it back to the biology lab in time to assist the first-year students with their assignment—learning to distinguish which animal is which via their scat. Disgusting, right? After the assignment is complete, both Elizabeth and Hanna gather the papers, clean, and put away the equipment used. Hanna places the papers into a file folder to be handed off to Professor Bryant in the morning. Tomorrow is her paper grading day for him. Yay her.

Elizabeth and Hanna make their way out of the science building waving to the security guard. Elizabeth heads toward her dormitory and Hanna her Corolla.

“See you tomorrow, Miss Grimm,” Elizabeth yelled to Hanna.

“Have a good night Miss Knight. Be safe,” Hanna sincerely replied back. Rumor has it that some of the students have been mysteriously disappearing. She hopes that Elizabeth doesn't become one of them.

Hanna in her Corolla makes her way back through the streets of Wolfdale City. She heads towards a run-down-looking building. Yep, that is the sad residence in which she currently lives. Obviously, the owner is somewhat of a slum-lord. The brick facade has areas that have crumbled exposing the cinder-block beneath it. Decorative shutters with broken slats and peeled paint barely hang on to their rusty hooks, ready to fall at any time. The windows, those that aren't broken and covered with plywood, are filthy on the outside. Dead shrubbery line the sad building.

Hanna sighing heavy pulls her Corolla into her parking spot. She grabs her camera bag and purse, and heads towards the building, locking her vehicle behind her. It's been a very long day, all she wants to do is to get off of her feet and fill her belly. Remembering that the only meal she had today was the pizza she had with Mitch. She's glad he made her finish eating, that was a good pizza.

Entering the building she slowly climbs the three flights of stairs to the floor where her apartment #312 is located. It is like the exterior of the building suffers from a lack of maintenance. Chipping paint, peeling wallpaper droop at various spots throughout the small space. Faucets dripping into rusting drains. The smell of mold and mildew permeates her nose every time she reaches her door. No matter how many times she tries to clean everything it stays the same grungy way. Someday, she'll make enough money to move out of this unsanitary one-room abode.

Entering her room, she tosses her keys and purse on the countertop to the left. Her camera bag she places within a hidden safe inside of a foot-chest at the end of her lumpy bed that she keeps an old worn-out quilt on. With her camera secured, she meanders over to her fridge to see what she can find. She finds half of a large shredded roast beef sandwich from her girls' day out with Tiffeny and Key, and some things to make a small accompanying salad with. With dinner decided, Hanna goes to her tiny bathroom to change into her pajamas. After she eats, Hanna decides to Mitch a call. He said she could. So she fishes her phone out of her purse, takes a deep breath, and dials Mitch's number. He picks up on the third ring.

“Hey,” Mitch answered surprised.

“Hey,” said Hanna.

Next Morning

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

I begrudgingly turn off my alarm. Surprisingly no nightmare last night. However, it still was fitful. Someday, I'll have a good night's sleep. I force myself out of bed to get ready for work. I showered and got dressed properly. Hey, I'm trying here. My hair, still in need of a haircut, is at least combed and somewhat styled with what little bit of styling gel I could find. It must be at least five years old. I'm still not shaving though. I actually like this look. Mayor Jabberwocky will just have to deal with it. It doesn't hinder me from doing my job.

I make my way down to the kitchen to ready my frozen waffles and the coffee maker. While both are warming, I decide to straighten the kitchen table up a bit. I grab the empty pizza boxes and the known junk mail and toss them into the trash bin. At least that much is done. I wash a plate and a coffee mug for my breakfast. Getting low on dish soap, add that to the shopping list as well. I sit down at my somewhat cleaned-off table and devour my breakfast. One beer for dinner doesn't go far. My cup of coffee however hits all the right notes.

As I re-wash my breakfast dishes, I see George standing on my stoop ready to knock. I open the door just before his fist hits the door.

“Good morning, George,” I say startling him.

“Uh, morning, Mike,” he spits out. I let him enter. It's early. I'm not too ashamed of my place, George is a bachelor too. He gets it.

“I just need to brush my teeth, then I'm ready to go,” I say running back upstairs to the bathroom to do what I just said.

Five minutes later we are on our way to the Police station. Another fun day for both of us ahead. George parks his vehicle and we both head inside and go our separate ways. He to the locker room to change into his blues, and myself towards the stairs up to my desk.

As I step out of the stairwell onto the fourth floor, Captain Winston standing in his doorway holding a mug of coffee notices my appearance.

“Well?” I gesture in his direction.

“Better,” he nods back. I'll take what I can get.

I make it to my desk, and no gift is waiting for me. Yes! No distractions. I log in to my terminal and proceed to finish the past entries that need to be tended to. Cassidy walks in and sits down at her desk. She looks tired today. Very tired. She's sporting the dark circles under her eyes today. And she's grouchy. I look at her with an eyebrow arched up.

“What?!” she snaps. “Rocky was up all night sick with a fever.”

“Poor kid. I hope he gets better real soon,” I sincerely replied.

“His fever was high, Mike. He was rambling on about there being someone else in the apartment. Both Tom and I checked, there was no one. No signs of entry and all. Nothing was out of place either. But he kept on insisting. I was so scared for him.”

“Did you take him to the ER?” I asked.

“No. Thankfully, we didn't have to. His fever just suddenly broke and he fell to sleep peacefully. It was too long of a night.”

I know exactly what she means. Long nights and hardly any sleep.

“So, I'm going to contact the Chronicler and see if we talk with whoever was Peter Bryant's supervisor at the paper.” Cassidy stated quickly switching from her tired “Momma-mode” to her bad-ass detective self.

“Great. Sounds like a plan. I'll check on anything else I can find in his background.”

“I think someone in narcotics may have started that already,” Cass casually stated.

I start to get up from my desk when Cass begins, “You could check on the autopsy report and the forensic team for any other leads.”

“I was just about to do that,” I grumble to myself and head towards the stairwell again. This time I head all the way down toward the basement. A great place to keep the morgue. Creepy, I agree. One half of the basement is dedicated to the Medical Examiner's team and the other half is for forensics. Both areas are separated by a hallway.

“Where's Doc Jacobson?” I asked his assistant, barging through the doorway.

“He's back out at the crime scene. Apparently, another 'you-know-what's-it' corpse showed up while Sanitation was emptying the dumpster.” he answered.

“Do you know if any cell phone was found?” I inquired.

“Nope. Technically, that's not my department. Check across the hall,” he retorted in a smart-ass tone while he pointed his pen in the direction of the forensic's lab.

“Thanks.” I acknowledged. “Tell Doc Jacobson that I'll speak with him later,” I said exiting his domain to head across the hallway.