The Wild Hunt

Part 20 Sheriff Mitchel

The sheriffs department was a somewhat modern looking building, compared to the rest of the town. It had most likely been built back in the early nineties, but the rest of the town had a seventies look, so the building stood out. There were a few brown patrol cars out front, the department badge and name printed in a dull gold colour on their doors. We walked up the three steps in front and went through a set of double glass doors that had the same branding as the patrol cars. In the front area of the building there was a single desk with a woman sat behind it, reading something on the computer screen in front of her. She wore a thin cardigan and had a dark pixie cut, and thick round reading glasses, it was like the Janine Melnitz school of fashion, I half expected her to pick up the phone and say, 'Ghostbusters, what do ya want?'

There were an open box of doughnuts on the edge of the desk and Scout nudged me with a little grin.

After a second or two waiting for her to notice us, Laynie cleared her throat.

"Jane, were here to see Mitchel."

Jane looked up over the rims of her glasses, then smiled sweetly.

"Laynie, I've missed you! Sheriff Mitchel is on the phone right now, but I'll let him know you guys are here, take a seat." she said pointing to a pair of old looking chairs behind us.

I suggested that Liz and scout take them, Liz had shot someone, and Scout was supposed to be injured so it seemed like the most logical choice. We waited for around ten or so minutes, nobody talking. There was something about a waiting room, that seemed to make normally talkative people clam up. I found myself looking down at the mustard coloured carpet at what were hopefully just coffee stains, then up at the foam tile ceiling, which also had some peculiar looking stains. Government building 101 was what sprang to mind.

Once he had finished with his call Mitchel walked through a doorway just to the right of the reception desk, and gestured for us to follow. We walked through a room with three desks, one of them had recently been cleared out, I saw Laynie glance in its direction as we passed, and knew it must have previously belonged to her. The other two were occupied, one by Patrick Putnam, who seemed to still be a little shaken and one by a pudgy, dark skinned Deputy I didn't recognise.

Through the next area was a pair of small cells, Mitchel directed myself and Scout to enter the first, then took the women to the other.

"Really Dean, is this necessary?" Laynie said as she was led in after Bonnie.

Mitchel sighed as he stopped Liz from entering.

"I'm not locking you up, just wait here and I will talk to you all one by one, starting with Liz." he said in a somewhat condescending tone, leading Liz through another door labelled 'interrogation.'

They were gone for no more than ten minutes when they returned, he put Liz in with Bonnie and Laynie, then opened the door to our Cell and waved for Scout to follow. It made sense for him to talk to them first, they had looked like victims when Putnam had surprised us and his report to Mitchel would have reflected it. another ten or fifteen minutes passed while we waited, we kept quiet, not wanting to say anything that might make us look guilty. We just had to pass the time in the until they returned, it was just a shame the Cell's smelled like stale piss and puke, most likely from locking up locals that were far too drunk. Scout looked a little irritated when they returned, but otherwise fine. After scout it was Laynie, then Bonnie, until finally it was my turn. I glanced at Bonnie as I passed their cell and winked, she smiled and any nerves I had about the situation melted away.

The interrogation room itself was cold, the walls were grey, there was a window but I could see the silhouette of bars through the set of horizontal blinds that had been closed. On the opposing wall there was a large rectangle mirror, which was obviously two-way. At the centre of the room was a silver table, cheep looking with two matching chairs, one on either side. Mitchel told me to sit in the chair facing the mirror, then sat in the one opposite. For a few moments he sat there, quietly looking in my direction, yet not quite directly at me. eventually he took a deep breathe and spoke.

"So your friends have all told me the same story, and I think some of it might be true, but the rest is just what I said, a story." he said, finally meeting my eye, but only for a second.

I didn't say anything, unless he was going to ask me a direct question, I had no plans of giving him any ammunition he might try to twist for his own benefit.

There was a few moments of silence again, then he continued.

"I need you to be straight with me. something happened in that Diner and I think you have something to do with it. you and the rest of that club." he said almost spitting the last word.

I held my tongue, I wanted to defend the Club, to defend Michael and Kelly and the rest of the pack, but he was baiting me and I couldn't fall for it. I stayed quiet, waiting for a question.

He sighed, then sat forward in his chair, his elbows resting on the table.

"What was that thing?" he said quietly, almost in a whisper.

There was something in his eyes, though I couldn't tell whether it was fear or something else. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know, I thought it was a bear at first, maybe some kind of mountain wolf, it all happened so fast. They came into the diner, the wolf/bear thing first, followed by the two guys we knocked out. The wolf/bear thing, saw Liz and went right for her, Scout has always had a bit of a crush on Liz, so he jumped at the thing. They tangled for a second until the wolf/bear thing got back to its feet. We stood to help, but the two guys came at us. we were struggling with them when the shot went off, the wolf/bear thing went flying, we subdued the two guys in the confusion and went to check on Scout, that's when your man came in pointing his gun." I said.

It was the truth, just not the whole truth. It's not like he would have believed the whole story even if I could have told him. Chances were if I told him I was a werewolf in the middle of a pack war, he would have just had me committed. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, I could tell he was tired, it was likely he had just heard the same story, almost word for word from the others. He got up from the table, walked to the door then opened it.

"Come on." he said, and he led me back to the cell's.

Rather than putting me back in, he opened both, and told the others to follow. We walked back through the station, passed Laynie's old desk, and out to reception. Then he turned to me.

"I know you're keeping something from me, and I won't let it go. You tell Michael that if this shit lands on my doorstep again, I'll run you all out of my town, and put a bullet in anyone that try's to stop me."

There was an aggression in his voice that told me he believed what he was saying. Rather than trying to defend the club, I simply turned around and walked out of the front doors.

We walked Liz home, she and Scout said their goodbyes, and he promised to come back into town and see her then next day. Then we went back to Marys where we had left our bikes. We rode back to the Den and told Michael what had happened. He wasn't really surprised by Mitchel's threat, they had been butting heads for a while. Mitchel hated the Club though nobody was really sure as to why.

Later that day I asked Michael how he knew about Liz's grandfather, it turned out they had been part of the same pack when they were younger, the same pack my father had left all those years ago. He recognised Liz back when he had first met her, he hadn't wanted to mention her grandfather, just in case she had never been told what he was. I fell asleep that night, with Bonnie on my chest, wondering what my life would have been like if my father had never left. Whether I would have been told what we were a part of.