The Teacher

Loose Ends

"Wait, so you do mercenary work?" Gloria asked as they left the lobby door to swish shut behind them. Louise raised a disapproving eyebrow at their conversation.

"No, I don't work like that. That let's someone else set the rules for my hunt. My father took on some mercenary work, and my uncles. My grandfather was locally famous in his day." Finn thought a moment, staring at the wall behind Louise, then she shrugged. She looked at Louise and smiled.

"I'm here to start asking questions."

"And what am I? Your secretary?" Louise spat out and Finn raised both eyebrows.

"Well, if you want to be I do pay well. But with that attitude I think we'll just start our interviews with you." Finn showed off her teeth and Louise made a disgusted face.

Finn had spoken to Clara and a timid gentleman by the name of Phinneas, who was the mayor of the small town, while she was at home trying to recover. They had made it clear that they had spoken to the entire population, that everyone was to make themselves available to Finn to discuss what had been going on. Clara was mostly to thank for that. When she'd been a child she had been involved in a situation with Finn, so she knew that Finn would talk to everyone, no matter if they felt they weren't involved or not. Sometimes it was the things you didn't know you had even noticed that answered the biggest questions.

Louise took a grand total of twenty minutes in an interview setting before she was happily chatting to Finn about her grandkids - two hours away with her only son - and her dog. Finn could see that Gloria was confused and would have questions about Finn's technique as soon as she was done.

"Well I think that gives me what I need." Finn said and smiled at Louise. "Now, I'd rather not be going around door to door so how do you feel about being organizing the rest of the interviews? You'll have to start by splitting everyone into a combination of who wants it to be scheduled and who could come in at a moment's notice. I'm not recovered enough yet to even try and keep up with a hard schedule."

"But you didn't ask me about the boys. Or the old man and his sons." Louise protested.

"I didn't have to." Finn answered and when Louise looked horrified she raised a hand to prevent any outbursts. "You told me that your dog always forced his way between you and the shifters before the kids showed up. That when the kids showed up, before you knew about them, the dog changed his routine for where he did his business on your daily walks. And that when you were introduced to the old man and his sons as werewolves it was the fact that your dog didn't go out of his mind that kept you calm."

Louise blinked, her mouth hanging open a moment before she closed it with a click of her teeth. After a moment she looked at her hands in her lap and mumbled an apology. "You aren't just some soldier following orders, are you?"

"I don't believe anyone is 'just' anything." Finn answered and stood. "Let me know about the secretary thing. I'll have an employment contract drawn up."

Finn led Gloria out of the hotel a few moments later, Gloria still trying to process the interview. They walked down the street and turned into an alley where one of the older werewolves waited impatiently.

"Dad says I have to be respectful. I don't think you have it in you to make me." He said as he stood. Whatever else could be said of him, he came from an older line of werewolves if they had learned to partially shift. Finn smiled calmly as Gloria tried to step in front of her as a shield and behind her to hide at the same time and instead just looked like she was trying to be a purse.

"Being respectful isn't the same as respecting someone." Finn answered. "It just gives me the opportunity to earn the respect, one way or another." She let her smile turn more feral. "As to whether I can make you do anything, would you like to find out?"

The werewolf eyed her, his own teeth extending somewhat, and after a moment he huffed out a growl and shook his head. "Maybe another time. Da's waiting for you." He led them out the other side of the alley to where an older truck was parked. Finn didn't even ask Gloria to sit in the middle, sliding herself across the seat and twisting so her legs weren't in the way of the gear shift. Gloria climbed in hesitatingly and probably would have jumped out when she realized there were no seatbelts, but the shifter had lurched the truck into motion.

"No first gear?" Finn asked curiously.

"Nah, needs a new tranny. Hard to buy shit like that when you are severely limited in the jobs you can get." He growled at a red light and it changed, making Gloria squeak.

"Was that-" she swallowed. "Do shifters have magic?"

The shifter burst out laughing and for a moment Finn debated taking the steering wheel, but he didn't seem to lose control of the vehicle, or his mental location of where they were on the road.

"They can, just like humans can." Finn considered explaining the trick, but in the end she left it for the girl to figure out on her own. For his part the wolf just chuckled for the rest of the twenty minute drive to the cabin the shifters lived in.

The cabin itself was dilapidated at best, and Finn couldn't see how they fit everyone inside unless it was spelled. Once the shifter opened the door the answer became a bit more obvious and she fought the frown that the narrow bunk beds and rank smell put on her face. Each bed had at least two sleeping bags on it, and they were all in need of being aired out, or washed. Dishes were in the process of being washed by two of the younger shifters and a few shirts were hung dangerously close to the fireplace to dry while a tub of tepid water sat with a sock poking above its surface.

"What jobs do you get?" Finn found herself asking as her eyes continued to take in the level of disarray the small abode was showing.

"Odd ones mostly." The older shift said as he shuffled into the cabin behind Finn. "Care to chat outside?"

Finn nodded and followed the older man back into the sunshine.