The KnightShift: Call of the Moon (Wattys2019)

Chapter 2:

Elfrida

Most of what I had told Emersyn was true. The security guard at the women's shelter did confirm that there had been disappearances from the shelter, but it had been a natural hawk that originally told me about women being kidnapped. Syn never took me seriously when I told her that some of my sources were actual animals. Eventually I stopped telling her when they were.

So, when I told her about the guy from the shelter it was because that was the only way to get her to sign off on me following this story. As much as Syn loved to help people, she was more about the ratings, readers and hard-core facts. This was somethings I had to do, so I fudged the truth a little.

All the way up to 2020, the Tosa area was considered one of the nicest areas in Milwaukee County. After the 2021 Race Riots spurred on by President Trump, now in 2049 it was one of the worst and only a few major businesses had even stayed open here. One of them being the Preternatural Women's shelter and the other was the Froedtert Hospital/Medical College of Wisconsin campus, though it was nothing like the thriving hub of activity it used to be.

I shifted into my eagle form and flew toward Wauwatosa. I landed near the side of the women's shelter and shifted back to human form then walked around the side. A gust of wind greeted me, and I was glad that I had worn my long leather duster over my wool pea coat. I flipped up the collar of the duster as I walked down the block to the double doors. I walked inside and waved to the girl behind the desk as she buzzed me in.

As usual the place was full now that winter was in full effect. Some women and their children huddled together in the main room and tried to pretend that they would have a happy Christmas. Other women were in their dorms reading books or magazines, talking with fellow residents or crying softly into their pillows. I noticed more than a few empty beds on my way up to the director's office. Director Donna de Luca was on the phone when I knocked on her open door.

"Captain, I don't care how many men you have already working the case. I've had 4 more residents disappear since you began investigating these disappearances. Now either you do something about it or I will go to a private company and have them find these women. I know you don't care about Preternaturals and even less about homeless preternatural women, but I do. So, get on it or I'll have my reporter friend down at the station asking why no one seems worried about this," Donna said and slammed the phone down. "Elfrida, come in," she said noticing me standing in her doorway.

I walked in and sat down.

"Hello, Donna, I was wondering if I could talk to a few roommates of the women that have gone missing. I was told by one of your security that only 1 or 2 women have gone missing, but I just heard you tell Captain Harris that four more women have disappeared. How many is that now," I asked, my stylus and tablet in my hand, ready to take down everything she said.

"Elfrida, you know you can talk to whoever you want around here but nothing I say will ever be on the record for you. Emersyn Inouye is a vulture who preys on other people's pain," she said with a fake smile.

I fought to hold my tongue. Syn was my best friend and this Were-tiger didn't like her because she had discovered Donna's father's dirty little secret. I shook my head.

"You just told Captain Harris of the Tosa police that I was your friend. Now you can't even go on record and tell me how many preternatural women have disappeared from the shelter alone. Maybe you have something to hide," I said snidely.

"Fine. 8 women have disappeared from the shelter over the last 3 months," she said.

"Any connections between them other than the fact that they are homeless and supernatural?"