Caesar rested his eyes on Lionel who lay sprawled out on the floor, his arms and legs spread out. His neck had been ripped open. His opened night dress revealed a wide gape in his stomach, exposing his dark blue spleens and guts, his opened eyes were sightless and his face was congealed in a death mask of terror.
“That bloody werewolf did a nasty job,” Hatton said grimly. “Ripping him out like this! Lionel looked like a damned carcass.”
“Save the details, sheriff,” Caesar said icily. His eyes regarded the body for a long moment, then he turned to Dean Andrews. “I know a werewolf did this. There’s no doubt. But just for the sake of procedure, is there any foul play in this?”
“Actually no but there’s something I could say we can link to this murder,” the deputy answered. “Though it might not really mean anything but we could still say it’s something worth checking out”
Caesar ’s interest was arrested.
“What is it?”
“He had a fight with his sales girl at his store yesterday. Selena Charlton.”
“What?” Caesar said, his face screwed up. “What happened?”
“According to Lionel’s maid and butler, when Lionel came in yesterday from the store, he looked like hell. Blood was all over his shirt and looked like he had been in a fight or something. I think the maid and the butler were curious about how their boss looked and Lionel, knowing how nosy house-servants could be, he told them the sordid details. Lionel told them that he had caught Selena stealing from him. Her sales record figures were not adding up. He had confronted her about this and they got into an argument, a tough, violent one and in the process, he had slapped her and she hit him with something hard. Then she left the store in anger.”
“Is there any one who saw all these?” Caesar asked stupendously.
“Nope! Just only the reports gotten from the maid and the butler. You see, we interrogated the maid first, and the butler corroborated her story. So it’s safe to say they are the two witnesses we have for now,”
Caesar drew in a long, slow breath. Selena! Was she capable of fixing a man as big as Lionel? It was a tough question to ask. Of course, she didn’t kill Lionel. That fact was certain but the story that had happened in the store? That was too good to be true. He turned to Hatton.
“Selena stealing? Hitting Lionel on the face? You actually ate up this cock and bull story?”
Hatton shrugged indifferently.
“Lionel told these two what happened to him. We recovered a blood stained shirt from the washing machine in the bathroom. That’s evidence 1. Evidence 2: if you check Lionel face, it looked kind of puffy and also there’s a mark on his temple which reaches to his nose. This confirmed that he had been in a fight before all this,” he pointed to the lifeless body on the ground.
Caesar scoffed and moved towards the body on the ground. He bent and regarded the face of the dead millionaire. Of course, he could see a deep gash on the bridge of the man’s nose. Only something sharp and hard could have caused that kind of wound. He turned to look at Hatton and Dean Andrews.
“Yeah, he was involved in a fight alright,” he declared. “Has anyone been to Selena’s house? Anyone talked to her?”
“We are doing that once we are done here,” Dean replied. “we are taking her to the station for questioning,”
Caesar rolled this in his mind. Then that moment, a wicked, sinister idea dropped into his mind.
“I want you to bring Selena to me,”
Hatton and Dean’s face went up into a deep frown.
“Why? What for?” Hatton demanded blandly. “You know she’s an accessory to this whole murder rap. Of course, it ain’t farfetched that a werewolf did this. But still, the reason why she had a blow out with Lionel is still a vital detail to this whole thing. So what do you need her for?”
“Sheriff, I want you to bring her to me,” Caesar said, his anger rising. “Also I want you to understand this. This whole thing has got to be hushed up. I don’t want this news flying around the town. Can it! Shut down any rumor that might be licked out. The butler and the maid talked to them. If they mention anything they have seen or heard to anyone, I will make their lives miserable in this town. Woodman will handle the Fur Hunter assigned to Lionel,” he paused and went on. “It would be bad for us, really bad if the folks in this town got to know that a werewolf killed a Fur Elder who has a Fur Hunter to protect him. They would eventually get to to know Lionel was killed but not by a werewolf,”
“But that’s crazy,” Dean blurted out. “The people of this town have the right to know the truth. Questions would be asked, suspicions would be raised and telling a lie would make things worse for the Sheriff’s department image.”
Caesar 's face lost color.
“You will do what I demand of you both or so help me God, I will make sure I end both of your tenure in your offices. I will give you lot of hell till you have no choice than either to get the hell outta this town or blow your brains out in frustration,”
“You wouldn’t do any of those things, Caesar,” Hatton said thickly.
“Wanna bet?” Caesar fired back.
A heavy silence that could sink a cruiser hung around the room. For a moment, they all stared at each other, no one moved, no one talked.
“We’ll bring Selena to you and shut down this whole thing,” Hatton said evenly.
“That’s a good call, Sheriff,” Caesar beamed at Hatton, then he raised his eyebrow at Dean. The black man gave a wane smile.
“You are the boss. Fuck it, whatever you say,”
Caesar inclined his head.
“Good we are all on the same page,”
“Do you still wanna talk to the maid and butler?” Hatton asked.
Caesar shook his head.
“Nah, I don’t need to talk to them.” He heaved heavily and grimaces. “I guess I’ll have to call Ara. She needs to know her old man is dead.”
Hatton beamed happily for the first time.
“Thanks Caesar , better you than me,” he said, a look of relief on his face. “I been worried like hell how I’m gonna break the news to that sweet girl,”
Caesar inclined his head, thinking: there’s nothing sweet about Ara, you constipated love smitten camel. “I guess I’m done here. You guys should take care of this. No one must know jack about what really happened here. This stays with us, got it?”
Hatton and Dean Andrew nodded vehemently. Caesar moved towards the door, then he seemed to remember something and turned around.
“I’m having a feeling about what happened here. It’s a weird one alright but it's something really worth basking on.” He paused, and went on, his voice taking on a grave note. “There’s an outsider in this Lionel and Selena problem and I’m gonna find out who it is.” and he gave Lionel’s body one last look and walked out of the room.