Detective Alsie and the Triplets ... the beginning

the next episode

Alsie POV-

My home is destroyed. I have to go stay at the packhouse. I can’t go back to my job until after my birthday. What is going on?

I have a wolf whose name is Rana, and I can only hear her when the triplets are in wolf form. She keeps calling the triplet’s “mate”. I can make any wolf shift on command. My mom wasn’t part human, she was a full wolf. I’ve been bound, twice. My home has been broken into. This is a lot to work through mentally.

I took stock of the downstairs; nothing seemed to be stolen. Most everything is broken and, from the looks of it, that was the purpose of all this. I found my laptop, keys, wallet, badge, gun, and cell phone on the floor, in the living room.

I made my way upstairs. My office was in bad shape, the desk drawers were pulled out and emptied on the floor, the desk itself was flipped over and one of the legs was broken off. My small file cabinet was on its side with my files strewn about. The landline phone that I forgot I had had been ripped out of the wall and snapped apart. As I gathered my files and tried to put them back into some kind of order, I noticed that my notes on an old case were missing. The case was closed years ago, all appeals had been exhausted, and the assailant was sentenced to life without parole. I don’t know why anyone would want my case notes. Weird.

I moved on to my bedroom, and it was in the same shape of disarray as everything else. Again, as I looked around, it appeared that nothing had been taken. The perpetrators just trashed the place.

I picked through the clothes strewn about the floor, I found a few pairs of jeans, some T-shirts, two zip-up hoodies, a couple pairs of yoga pants, undergarments, and a few other items. I looked under my bed and my “go-bag” was still there, undisturbed. I pulled it out, checked the contents, everything was accounted for. I added the clothes and other items I retrieved from the mess to my bag.

After I packed up what I wanted, I headed downstairs to find the triplets. As I was walking downstairs, I could hear them talking and attempting to clean up.

“Si, who do you think did this?”

“I don’t know Ev, this is crazy. We’ve never had anything like this happen on our lands before.”

“You’re real quiet Andrew,” observed Osiris.

Andrew growled and reset the chairs after righting the dining table.

I finished ascending the stairs.

“Oh, I see you guys are dressed. I guess those bags came in handy after all,” I joked.

“I got what I needed. Everyone ready to go?” I asked, more upbeat than I felt.

Andrew didn’t say anything, he walked over and gave me a tight hug. He then whispered in my ear, “I’m sorry this happened.” It was hard not to start crying. I took a few deep breaths and settled myself.

“It’s OK, it’s just stuff.” I replied with a small hitch in my throat.

“Humans did this,” stated Evander matter-of-factly.

“What?” I asked and pulled out of Andrew’s embrace. “Are you sure?”

“Yup. I can tell by the scent left behind.”

I looked over at Osiris, and he was nodding his head in agreement.

“I guess that makes what I found missing not so interesting.”

“What’s missing?” Andrew asked.

“A set of case notes from an older case. The case has been resolved, all appeals exhausted. From a quick inventory, it appears that’s the only thing missing.”

“Sweetness, are you sure it’s missing? That sounds pretty specific,” questioned Evander.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure. I’ve only had a few minutes to look around each room. But things like my wallet, laptop, gun, badge are all here. If this was an actual robbery, items like that would be the first to get snatched up. It also appears that the place has been staged to look like a robbery, but there is so much overkill.”

“What do you mean?” asked Osiris.

“Why break the leg off my desk? Why rip the landline phone out of the wall, then break it into pieces? The phone didn’t work. I don’t know if there is even a number assigned to it. Why destroy it? Why pull out all the dresser drawers, but not flip the mattress if you’re looking for something in the bedroom? Things like this don’t add up to what they were trying to make the scene look like.”

“OK, OK, Cop-Lady. I’m impressed,” said Osiris.

“What I’m trying to wrap my head around is, why take the case notes, but not the whole case file? I had a copy of the original file, with some things redacted. Anything in my notes from the actual investigation would be in the file and would have more background information. Such as ‘Johnny said he didn’t see’ would be in my notes. But in the file, it would say ‘Johnny stated he didn’t see the victim before the attack’. The case notes are just that, notes. Our investigative notes are subject to subpoena, and we use them throughout the investigation. If they were going to take something, they should’ve taken the whole file. It’s better detailed.”

“Osiris, it’s Detective Lady, not Cop-Lady, geez get it right,” I say sarcastically.

“What case was it?” asks Andrew.

“Nope, not answering that here. I will share that information once we are all present in the Alpha’s office.”

“Why the secrecy?” asks Evander.

“It’s not a secret per se. I just want to make sure that Alpha Kordell knows what went missing, what was in my cottage, and that I worked on this particular case. I’ve kept all my cases close to the vest and have never discussed them with the Alpha. I was given that latitude when I became a cop. But I was also told that if anything were to happen, I would come to him first before disclosing any information to any other pack member. This is the impasse that I’m at, as much as I want to tell you three everything. You three are still, technically, pack members, not Alphas, yet.”

Evander growls with his displeasure at this tidbit of new knowledge. “I don’t like it, but I respect it. Let’s go.”

“I agree.” The other two said in unison.

The four of us made our way back to the packhouse, back through the large door, back up the stairs, and back into the Alpha’s office. It was starting to feel very déjà vu-ish.

“Thank you for being prompt. I had Guesthouse 1 cleaned and made up for all of you. It is also fully stocked with linens, food, and needed staff.”

“Umm, how many bedrooms are there?” I asked.

“Five,” replied Alpha Kordell.

A loud knock was heard on the door to the Alpha’s office. All of us turned and looked towards the door at the same time. Alpha Kordell frowned and must have mind-linked whoever was at the door.

The door opened, and Beta Jacob walked in.

“I tried to warn you Alpha. I told you something like this was going to happen.”

“Beta, you did no such thing. You warned me about other things but not Alsie’s cottage getting broken into by humans. Let’s not be overly dramatic, that solves nothing.”

“About that. From the looks of the place, and it looks a mess. It wasn’t a robbery, or a burglary. Whoever it was, they appeared to be after one item and one item only. The location of the item was my office in my file cabinet, with my closed case files.”

“What was taken Alsie?”

“My case notes for the Williamson case.”

“WHAT?” boomed Alpha Kordell.

“You worked the Williamson case?” asked Osiris.

“Yes. It was my first case in which I was the lead investigator. It was my rookie year as a homicide detective. It was a huge, high-profile case, and I was so excited to work it. I damn near lived at the station while I worked that case. Solving that case has been the biggest accomplishment and highlight of my career so far.”

“Wasn’t that the guy who was killing red-haired women in their twenties and planting wolf hair on their bodies?” asked Evander.

“Yes. He killed four women, eight werewolves that we know of, and six gray wolves. He was found guilty of four counts of murder two, for the women he killed, six counts of animal cruelty and six counts of killing an endangered species for the gray wolves. No charges for the killing of the eight werewolves. No surprise there.”

“Why would someone want your case notes on a closed case?”

“I don’t know Alpha Kordell. I can’t make sense of it. This case has long been put to bed. There are other things I’d like to discuss about today, but I’m tired. I would like to hold off on those discussions until tomorrow if that’s ok. I’m hungry and would appreciate being able to get settled into the guesthouse.”

“Sounds reasonable to me, Alsie.”

“Thank you, Alpha… Oh, and one more quick item to discuss, or not to discuss, as I leave.”

“Yes Alsie, what is it?”

“All of you, Shift.” I said as a sly smile spread across my face.

Just like that, I am now standing in front of five large wolves. I laughed and walked out the door. I am so going to pay for that. It was so worth it.