Chapter 20
“We’ll catch this guy,” Seth says. He’s so angry at the thought that someone might be out there trying to kill shifters just because of what they are. He can’t imagine how angry Holden is.
They head for the car and then head for the police station. 4
It feels weird to walk into a police station. Holden has only been in one a few times. It feels even stranger to be back in vice, but this time he’s led by Seth, who takes him through to the break room and offers him a coffee.
“Thanks.” Holden smiles.
“So, can you just wait here while I get someone reviewing this footage? I’ll come get you when they want you to look at it. I’m going to look some stuff up on my computer and talk to my sergeant. Will you be all right here?” Seth asks.
Holden nods. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll try and be quick,” Seth promises.
“I’m on a couch, I have coffee. In a police station. I think I’ll be fine.” Holden rolls his eyes.
“Don’t get in trouble,” Seth jokes, and then he leaves to go to work.
Holden gets his cell phone out to check for messages. There are a few, different people checking in, asking about the hospital visiting times, asking how Dawn is, and how he is. Tobias and Zack both say he’s more than welcome to stay with them until Dawn is out of the hospital so that Holden doesn’t have to be alone. He’s tempted. He hates the idea of being in his and Dawn’s apartment and her not being there, but he doesn’t want to bother the couple. Having a guest over would be a total cock block.
He’s finished going through his phone, and he’s finished his coffee, when someone Holden recognizes walks into the break room. It takes a moment for Holden to place him, and then he realizes it’s Detective Howard, the one who arrested him last Halloween.
Detective Howard heads for the coffee pot, and then stops, looking at Holden on the couch. The detective looks him up and down, clearly trying to place him, and then Holden sees the recognition in Detective Howard’s eyes. Holden guesses that his tattoos make him memorable, even though he has changed his hair since then.
“Well, have you been busted again?” Detective Howard asks.
“No. If I’d been arrested I wouldn’t be in here, would I? I’d be in holding or interrogation, not in the break room.” Holden only just resists rolling his eyes.
“Then what are you doing here?” Detective Howard asks. He doesn’t look pleased to see Holden, like he’s offended just by Holden being here.
“I’m helping with a case,” Holden says shortly. He doesn’t want to start a fight. Seth said not to cause trouble, and arguing with a police detective, in a police station, would probably count as troublemaking.
“Did you get robbed by a hooker?” Detective Howard sounds amused by the idea.
“No. I don’t need to pay for it. Guys just love me,” Holden says, knowing it’ll offend the homophobic Detective Howard.
Detective Howard actually shudders, pulling a face, like the idea of Holden having sex is disgusting.
“What are you helping with then?” he asks.
“A possible hate crime.” Holden doesn’t want to say that his sister is in the hospital because if Howard says something bad about her, Holden will lose it. He can handle whatever he says to him, no matter how nasty, and he won’t react to it. But if he says something about Dawn, then Holden would probably knock the asshole out.
“Someone attacking queers?” Detective Howard sneers, and two cops at a table near by both look at him. They don’t look like they like him using that word, but they don’t say anything about it.
“No, shifters,” Holden says tightly.
“What?” Detective Howard suddenly looks different, worried. He’s not sneering now. Holden breathes in, and he can tell what he thought he knew, Detective Howard isn’t a shifter—but there’s a scent clinging to him. It smells like a lion shifter.
“At least two shifters have been drugged. One died, the other is in the hospital. We’re not sure if they just reacted badly to a drug someone’s using, or if someone is poisoning shifters,” Holden explains. He’s not sure what possibility is worse.
“Men, women? What’s your connection to this?” Detective Howard asks.
“Why do you care?” Holden asks, instead of answering.
“My wife is a shifter, so are my kids. So stop being a smartass and just tell me what’s going on,” Detective Howard snaps.
Holden still doesn’t like Detective Howard. The guy is a homophobe and an asshole, but he clearly cares about his family, and Holden doesn’t blame him for being worried about them after what Holden has said. But he doesn’t think he’s really been a smartass. Not really.