The Shadowhelm Wolves (The Moonlight Chronicles Book 1)

Chapter Fourteen: Foggy Memories

Brynn smirked, having absolutely none of this man's bullshit. She wanted everyone she encountered to know that she was in charge of the interrogation part of this investigation, whereas Rex was in charge of prepping and dissecting the corpses. "Just try it, I dare you. I can and will fire my gun in defense of myself if you do anything even remotely suspicious," she challenged the man as she drew her own firearm. "And trust me when I say that that is absolutely no way to greet a guest."

The man just smirked as Brynn spoke. "Well, how else do you expect me to act when I clearly have it posted that violators will be prosecuted, and yet people like you have the gall to fucking overstep that boundary?" He looked at her pistol. "Some guest you are, pointing a firearm at someone whose intentions you barely know - pure or not." He narrowed his eyes at her.

Brynn just scowled at this, taking out her police badge, holding it up to his face. "Unfortunately for you, I'm a police officer first, sir," she replied. "You see this shiny thing? Regardless of the town name, as long as I am here in Shadowhelm, I have the right to take any action I deem necessary when it comes to investigating the murders happening in this bizarro town. Especially if that action is protecting myself from crazies like you."

The man just eyeballed Brynn and Lyall, before responding and lowering the rifle he had seemingly had trained on them. "Alright, detective, do whatever you need to."

Brynn focused her attention on the man. "You never introduced yourself, so I'm going to assume that you're Aries Fitzgerald since Lyall said he was a recluse of sorts."

"Yeah, that's my name; wouldn't exactly say I'm a recluse, but I do like to keep to myself, most of the time," the man, who had revealed himself as Aries Fitzgerald, replied.

Brynn smirked and rolled her eyes. "That's exactly what a recluse is."

Aries shook his head. "Fine, Miss Dictionary, be like that," he said before walking back into the woods.

Brynn stood her ground and squared up her shoulders. "We aren't done yet. Where were you approximately 72 hours ago?"

Aries' face screwed up with a gruff frown. "Pardon yours truly for seeming sketchy, but I don't like where this is going."

Lyall watched Aries' every move and finally made the brave decision to comment, despite his obvious fear of the man. "Trust me, Aries, you don't wanna keep secrets from Brynn or her partner Rex. They'll find out sooner or later. It happened to Wulfric, and it happened to me."

Brynn nodded softly. "He's not lying. I wouldn't be a detective if I couldn't tell if people were lying to me through their teeth."

Aries smirked. "So whaddya need me to do? Come into town and answer questions or whatever? I've never been treated like this so this is honestly news to me, but do whatever you need to, Detective. If I must be questioned, then so be it." He closed his eyes in clear annoyance and stepped forward.

Lyall was silent, so Brynn spoke up again. "Shall we walk and talk?" she asked as she gestured for him to follow her and Lyall and began to walk out of the forest.

Aries followed Brynn after stashing his shotgun in a conveniently sized hole in a tree. "This had better be worth my time, and I'd rather this not take long if at all possible, Detective."

Brynn nodded. "Sure. It'll take however long it takes. And before you ask, no, you won't be cuffed unless you're unruly. As long as I can ask my questions with as little interruption as humanly possible, we'."

Aries huffed and sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's get this done. I wanna get back home ASAP, as I'm sure you well understand. I do appreciate the work you're doing, but at the same time, I'd really rather stay as I was - a solitary being with no need for social interaction." He closed his eyes and sighed with a small smile gracing his lips.