Chapter 28 The Investigation
Detective Sarah sat in her unmarked car outside the clinic and watched wolves come and go for the third day in a row.
Not wolves, not people, not patients.
But her gut told her something was wrong. Five years in homicide had taught her to trust that feeling.
Jenny Murphy came out at five carrying a bag of trash to the dumpster. Sarah rolled down her window.
“Ms. Murphy. Can I ask you a few more questions?”
Jenny froze. Then turned. “I already told you everything.”
“I just need clarification on a few things.” Sarah got out of the car. “About the injuries you have been treating.”
“I can’t discuss patient information without a warrant.”
“I have a warrant.” Sarah pulled it from her jacket. “Medical records. Which I already collected but I want to understand what I’m seeing.”
Jenny’s face went pale. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Wolfsbane poisoning. That is what you called it in three separate charts, but wolfsbane is a plant. Poisonous to humans, it causes respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.” Sarah stepped closer. “Yet your patients survived with treatment protocols I have never seen before.”
“Dr. Monroe developed them. She has done extensive research…”
“On a poison that is almost always fatal? Why would she research that?” Sarah flipped through her notes. “And the silver bullet wounds. You documented that the wounds wouldn’t heal properly. That tissue around the bullets died and had to be removed, but silver isn’t toxic to humans.”
“Some people have sensitivities…”
“This wasn’t sensitivity. This was tissue necrosis. Like the silver was burning them from the inside.” Sarah watched Jenny’s face. “What is really going on here?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“The truth, because I’ve got twelve bodies found in the woods over the past six months. Most with animal wounds. Some with silver bullets. Some with traces of wolfsbane in their systems.” Sarah’s voice hardened. “And every single one has connections to people who visit this clinic.”
Jenny backed toward the door. “I need to get back to work.”
“You are protecting someone or something.” Sarah followed her. “And when I figure out what it is, you are going to be charged as an accessory.”
Jenny went inside and locked the door.
Sarah stood there for a moment. Then got back in her car.
Her partner Mike called. “How did it go?”
“She is scared. Hiding something.” Sarah started the engine. “I’m heading to that address Riley Morgan was spotted at. The one in the woods.”
“Sarah, that is private property. We can’t just…”
“We can observe from public land. I just want to see what is out there.”
She drove forty minutes to the coordinates. Parked on a dirt road and hiked into the woods with her camera.
Pack territory was a mile in. She could hear voices and movement.
She crept closer staying hidden, she got to a ridge overlooking a clearing.
At least thirty people were down there. Some were exercising. Some were talking. It looked like a commune or compound.
Then she saw it.
A woman stripped off her shirt. Her body rippled and changed in seconds. She was a wolf.
Sarah dropped her camera. It clattered against the rocks.
The wolf’s head snapped up. Staring right at her.
Sarah ran.
She heard howling behind her. Fast footsteps
She made it to her car and peeled out, she didn’t stop until she was back in the city.
She sat in a parking lot shaking, trying to process what she had seen.
It wasn’t possible. People didn’t turn into wolves. That was myths. Stories.
But she had seen it, clear as day.
She called Mike. “We need to talk in person. Now.”
They met at a diner, Sarah showed him the photos on her camera. Blurry but visible. Someone mid-shift.
“This is a hoax,” Mike said. “CGI or something.”
“I was there, I saw it with my own eyes.” Sarah’s hands shook around her coffee cup. “People turning into wolves. It is real.”
“Sarah, you sound insane.”
“I know but look at the evidence. The animal attack wounds. The wolfsbane. The silver bullets, it all makes sense now.”
Mike stared at her. “You are saying werewolves are real.”
“Yes.”
“And they are in Seattle.”
“Yes.”
“And we have been investigating them.”
“Yes.” Sarah pulled out her notes. “The clinic treats them. Kade Blackwood runs them. They are organized like a gang but they are not human.”
Mike was quiet for a long time. “If this is true, if you are right, this is the biggest story in human history.”
“It is not a story. It is a threat.” Sarah leaned forward. “We need to raid that compound, arrest them, figure out what they are and how to contain them.”
“We can’t arrest werewolves with regular cops. If they are as dangerous as you think…”
“Then we bring in federal agents. Homeland security. The military if we have to.” Sarah’s voice was urgent. “But we have to do something before more people die.”
Mike nodded slowly. “I will make calls. But Sarah, if you are wrong, if this is some elaborate hoax, we will lose our jobs.”
“I’m not wrong.”
Meanwhile Sage was at the clinic when Jenny came in crying.
“The detective knows,” Jenny said. “She asked about wolfsbane, about silver bullets. She knows something is wrong.”
Sage’s blood went cold. “What did you tell her?”
“Nothing, I swear, but she has the medical records. She is putting it together.” Jenny grabbed Sage’s hands. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know.” Sage pulled out her phone and called Kade. “We have a problem. Detective Chen knows about wolves.”
“Are you sure?”
“Jenny said she was asking specific questions. About wolfsbane and silver. She has figured it out.” Sage paced. “What do we do?”
Kade was quiet. Then: “I’m calling an emergency pack meeting. Everyone needs to be careful. No shifting where humans can see. No violence in public. We go completely underground until this blows over.”
“What if it doesn’t blow over?”
“Then we deal with it but carefully. We can’t kill a cop. That brings federal investigation.” His voice was tense. “Just stay at the clinic. I’m sending Riley and Beth to watch you. Don’t go anywhere alone.”
He hung up.
Sage looked at Jenny. “This is bad.”
“How bad?”
“If Detective Sarah proves werewolves exist, the council will blame our pack for breaking secrecy. They could disband us. Kill the leadership.” Sage sat down heavily. “We would all be targets.”
“There has to be a way to stop her.”
“Not without breaking more laws.” Sage rubbed her face. “We just have to hope she can’t prove what she saw. That no one believes her.”
But even as she said it, Sage knew that was unlikely.
The modern world meeting the supernatural.
And there was no good way for this to end.