Siren's Secret

6. Return to the Precinct

Jason snickered as he grabbed his plate and started loading it with food.  Damian's stormy blue eyes rolled with annoyance as he pulled a sleeveless shirt over his head.  Once he was more suitably dressed, his eyes landed on Rieka, "Ri? Is that you?"

Rieka smiled, "Little D! You're not so little anymore!" They hugged briefly.  They had grown up together, but she did not expect him to grow from a goofy, red headed prankster to a very attractive, and toned, man.  It was a little strange that he became so attractive as she always saw him as another brother.

"Neither are you." Damian smirked back as he looked her over.  Was he... flirting? Uh-oh. 

"Well, I better get going," Rieka said quickly, "I have a 3 hour drive back to the city and I need to start working on the club lead you found."

"Make sure to drop by your apartment first dear," Mrs. O'Malley chimed in, "I loaded up a bunch of food for you that you can freeze so you'll have plenty of delicious food to keep you strong and healthy during the investigation. I've had the Omegas pack it in your car in a cooler already. And I added a few extra treats for you as well." 

Rieka beamed and kissed her on the cheek, "You're the best mama O'Malley."

Rieka gave all of her family warm hugs and Jason walked out to the car with her. 

"You know, if you need non-human back up just call me. If I can't make it I'll send some of my warriors to assist." Jason said as he opened the car door for her. 

"Careful now," Rieka laughed, "You're offering assistance to a rogue. You better be careful or the council will come." 

"Let them," Jason said with a shrug, "You're my sister and there's nothing saying we can't ally with rogues on an as needed basis. It's harboring fugitive rogues that have done massive crimes against the community that they don't like." 

"Thanks Jason. I'll definitely keep that in mind." Rieka gave a short nod and got into the car and drove towards the city.  Once she was about an hour out she gave her partners a call. 

They picked up on the second ring, "Detective Johnson speaking."

"Johnson, it's Rieka, I'm on my way back into town. I'm going to head to my apartment real quick then head to the precinct.  Make sure you and Patrovsky have everything put together and we'll update each other on what we've found and plan our next move." 

"You got it. See you in a bit."

Rieka hung up and a few minutes later pulled into her apartment.  When she went to open the trunk she laughed. Mrs. O'Malley had given her enough food to last two months at least.  She was happy she lived in an apartment with an elevator or this would've been a lot of work to bring up. 

Rieka unlocked the door to her modest one bedroom apartment.  She shuffled in with a backpack laden with breads, sweets and snacks and pulling the two coolers from Mrs. O'Malley behind her.  After sitting on her worn leather recliner taking off her shoes, she looked at the ridiculous amount of food that was waiting by the door and chuckled.  The visit home had been far more positive than she ever dreamed.  

It was a strange realization that after all these years, her family was not angry or repulsed by her. Being a rogue has a certain stigma within the supernatural community and to know that her family didn't see her as a wild mongrel was comforting.  

Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, Rieka rose and started organizing and putting away all the food she brought from the pack. 

After all her food was put away and she donned a new set of clothes for the day, Rieka grabbed a pack of cinnamon rolls from the food Mrs. O'Malley packed her and headed to the police station. 

She walked into the police station and saw Johnson and Patrovsky looking over a whiteboard that showed all the info they had on the case so far taped up on it. 

"I brought you two a present." Rieka announced, setting the cinnamon rolls down on her desk. 

They each grabbed a cinnamon roll and turned to look at the board. They both took a bite and Patrovsky groaned appreciatively, "Oh my god Rieka...did you make these? If you did, I think I just fell in love..."

Johnson punched him in the shoulder, "That was creepy dude... But Rieka, he is right about these cinnamon rolls. They are by FAR the best I've ever had."

"An old friend made them for me. She's the best cook I've ever known," Rieka smiled, "Sorry Patrovsky, she's married with kids and is the same age as your mother."

Patrovsky grabbed his heart in mock despair, and Rieka turned the conversation back to the case, "Ok, now that we have that cleared up, What do you have for me on our victims?"

"Daniel Wong and Jeremy Smithton," Johnson stated pointing to their respective pictures on the whiteboard, "Neither have any priors other than Wong's attempt to bribe a cop to get out of a speeding ticket. No connections to any criminal organizations that we could find.  In fact, Jeremy Smithton is ex-Army. Just got out with an honorable discharge eight months ago which is when he started working at the Sailing club as security."

"What about their financials? Anything weird or out of place?" 

"Nothing stuck out to me," Patrovsky said, "No large sums of money going in or out, no connections to known criminal businesses, and no offshore accounts. These guys are about as average as you can get." 

Rieka stared at the crime scene pictures deep in thought, "What about their personal lives? Did they have any family? Friends?  Did they frequent the same restaurants, bars or- clubs perhaps? Is there any charges on their statements that were at the same date and time that could connect them other than work?"

Patrovsky started typing on his computer, "I can run it now, give me a few minutes." 

Johnson piped in, "As far as family and friends go, we didn't have much to go on.  Jeremy has an ex-wife, Marissa- married for 3 years then divorced while he was still in the service, no kids. Parents are deceased and has a younger brother who is an insurance salesman out of New Jersey- he's flying out to ID the body in the next day or so. Daniel has a mother, Lee, whom we spoke to yesterday evening when she came to ID Daniel's body.  She said that as far as she knew, Daniel had no enemies and no significant other that she knew of.  She confirmed what Mr. Henries told us that Daniel had started working at the club a few months ago, and that he seemed to really like his work- it gave him a sense of purpose." 

"Hey, I got something!" Patrovsky pointed to his screen, "About two weeks after Daniel Wong started at the sailing club, both of them spent money at a club called Club Crimson- an exotic dance club in town."

Rieka sighed in relief, "Great. Just for grins, run financials on all employees and clients of the sailing club and cross reference them to see if any of them went to or frequented the same club. Maybe we can find our connection." She turned to Johnson, "Head back to the sailing club and speak with the other employees. Ask about them attending the club as well. I want to know if what they say matches with what Patrovsky finds. I need to know if anyone is lying. I'm headed to Georgia to see what she has for me." 

The guys nodded and got to work. Rieka took a last look over the board with the crime scene pictures and sighed. She was missing something, she just didn't know what.  

"Hopefully the witch will have something for us," Rayna said in Rieka's mind. "Let's find out..."