clean sweep (Abel, del)

Del had been laying low waiting on the hammer to fall yet as always it was a waiting game. He’d gone about the details of dotting his I’s and crossing his T’s insuring everything was so clean you could eat off the mess. From the confidential information and the attributing call logged on the tip line to the ‘mistake’ that had Public Health and RPIT called in initially instead of Drug and Vice or TAC. Itw as a nice piece of fiction that resulted in some good police work. There of course were holes but there had to be if there weren’t someone would smell a cover-up. So far the Chief of D’s had been avoiding him and Internal affairs had been over everything with a fine tooth comb. He wasn’t on administrative leave but he acted as if he was. He kept office hours religiously so they knew where to find him. He’d secured a phone that was not registered to the NOPD and had been conducting calls and saving information on it so when they confiscated his laptop his phone and launched the full investigation he would be in the clear and have backups for his defense.



Going through the basics was fine even everyone looking at him as if he was a dead man walking was fine he could take it. Then the phone rang. A call from the Emergency Relay came through. Someone saw a muscular dark haired white male trashing a gang not far from Storyville. He wasn’t in the clear but he couldn’t let his men go into that situation he had three cars rolling before the operator had concluded her relay. The EMT’s were on the scene when he got there. A few quick questions and coordinating a door to door search as well as another BOLO issued and he was walking the scene.



There was a stench in the air. He trailed it back to what he hoped wasn’t the source and sure enough there was a body in the trunk. Not just any body it was Madam Estelle’s body. If not for the stench oit would be easy to believe she was just sleeping. The bruising on her neck told a story he’d seen countless times but never with a lycanthrope as the victim. It would have taken a hell of large amount of strength to do that and live. He pulled on some nitrile’s and did a cursory exam Finger eyes teeth and clothing nothing stood out yet he as curious as to what the ME would conclude.



Calling a meat wagon he again reinterviewd the krewe that had been dropped low before the EMT’s rushed them off to the hospital. A white man with a rough voice who tried to disguise his identity with dark glasses and hat roughed them up because they were trying to help him with his car. He made short work of them acting like he was in a roid rage and then took off. As they were on the ground they didn’t know which way. He chuckled he knew it wasn’t quite as simple as they made it but he was sure it was close enough to count.



Eric was just dumb enough to attempt to lay low in the city even after all this time of the entire NOPD looking for him. Previoously it was in connection with his associates and what they had been up to. There was no conclusive proof he had been involved yet this this was enough if he had been human to insure he never saw the light of day. As a known lycanthrope he would be KOS no trial just a warrant to bring him down like a rabid animal.

He wasn’t as good at reading people as Samuel but he a talent that had never failed him. Partially because as good as those reads were he decided where a person would fit in his life. Once he did he held them to the standards of that assignment. He literally pigeonholed people into roles that in some cases were too small for hem but never too large that he couldn’t drop them or their entire families if he had to. It was the reason he hated Denver the Exauda had gutted the entire criminal organization there. He could not go any place in the city without memories of his time spent. It would have been easy if he were an evil man. He wasn’t he was aas pragmatic as Samuel and far more thought out and purposeful in his actions.

Samuel could take chances he had other talents and benefits that aided him but even he occasionally over believed and under accounted for the facts of their lives. It was why Abel could not allow his guard to drop. He couldn’t never had never would.

As they pulled to the stop to send her on her way to accomplish her errands she finally spoke again. He sighed. He had hoped to avoid this conversation as one thing he’d learned from his time with Samuel it was to lie as little as possible. To deal with a thing as directly and win not just the engagement but every one that would come after. Set terms and stick with them. So he did even as he knew she might be able to or willing to grasp what he was setting before her. “I agree you have done quite a lot to earn his trust. To prove yourself by your definition of what a relationship would take. But he will outlive you. He will outlive me and then where will he be. He has not been a man of outward displays of emotion and yet you have made it past his defense so you are here. I like you I do but I know that this is a bad thing. In the end by opening himself to emotion to you he will be hurt when something takes you from him even if that something is just time."...

Del stepped away form the crime scene he would be here another few minutes yet something troubled him about the scene. Eric wasn’t a thinker and most lycanthrope kills he’d dealt with generally showed signs of consumption. Especially with the larger predatory types. It was almost as if the animal took over and couldn’t stand to see the meat that was once a living person go to waste. Yet Estelle had no signs. In fact she didn’t show any signs of trouble aside from her tongue. It was bitten nearly clean through. She would have had to been in the fight for her life to do so. He didn’t like where his head was pointing but he had to check and find out.



Sighing he pulled off the nitrile’s and opened his phone. Dialing the number he was hoping to get an answer that would lay his thoughts to rest. “Monica,” he said as the phone picked up. Try though he might he couldn’t turn off the cop as he intuited the sounds in her background. He didn’t hear hospital sounds so she wasn’t with her partner. It was loud enough that he knew she was in public and that was a good thing he supposed but wasn’t sure just yet. He knew what he would do if anyone vicariously hurt his partner. Selfish as he was it was why he didn’t allow himself one not that his rank would allow it. Things would certainly change once he was busted down to a parking meter but for now he enjoyed his autonomy and need to not avenge his partners.

He listened and yet everything sounded not only above board but perfectly aboard. That made him horribly suspicious. All the same he smiled as he heard her voice. She was good and he had to slow himself down. It was rarity for him. He normally slow rolled the world getting to the point ahead of most as they overheated themselves and sputtered out while he had more than enough juice to run a few more laps.



"We’ve found Estelle."



He spoke low and easy insuring no one could overhear what he said. This was a violation of protocol unless he wanted to claim he was broadening the scope of his investigation. "That’s good the services start at noon. Are you tow going to make it to the wake tonight it’ll be good to see you in person. We haven’t talked since the conference."



Packages ruffling he could gauge how accurate was in her location but he knew that there were no better crime scene manipulators than cops. It was a small thing but there very few signs of a struggle. She was a lycanthrope and that didn’t add up. There were not many that would have been able to get the drop on her let alone once clamped on not be beaten to hell at the very least.



As thought provoked as he was he wouldn’t ask any questions that would force her to lie to him. He would give her a chance to tell her what was going on or not at her own pace.

"Not ‘tall somebody done hone and gift wrapped her for us."



Del nodded to the bodybaggers as they motioned to move Estelle’s cold corpse. It was nice of them to be respectful consider most of the times they trampled a scene and had the dicks involved need to take exclusionary information from them. He knew from that detail that they knew who she was and had visited her comfort house. He hated how many of the city workers had been linked to her. She was menace in a way that was so prevalent it would be hard to convict her of anything if he hadn’t gotten Public Health involved.



“If ya ain’t too busy why’don’t ya come down to the scene and take look I could use another pair of eyes. Oh Shit!!!” Del yelled a little too loud as he spotted a hit car rolling. Seems the Krewe taken to the hospital were trouble makers. Dropping prone he had drawn and was returning fire as they were unleashing hell from a zip gun. It would be hard for anyone to know who fired first. While they had more ammo Del had expertise and drove two up through the undercarriage into the passenger and three through the open window. Sadly the driver wasn’t hit and the car sped past him too fast to do anything other than get the license plate.

Del couldn’t fir and hold his piece and hadn’t realized he’d dropped the phone as he took off after the car. He wasn’t attempting any heroics but of the four in the car he knew he’d hit three. That left the driver. Del was pissed which was his normal state yet in this moment he’d let the top off. This wasn’t a vent this was a full fledge eruption he was focused on bring each and every one of them in. They would pay. They would be an example to anyone else who dare draw down on a cop specifically anyone in RPIT.



He was in his challenger and in hot pursuit before hey bent the corner. Fast as the driver was trying to be they had chosen the wrong time to act a fool. Del hit the corner waiting until he was lined up with their bumper. Once he was in as clear a line as he could manage he dropped the nox and rammed into their bumper nearly tear it off. He stayed on the gas his foot pressed to the floor board. Strapped in as he was he would survive the crash along with most of them. He would excuse their lack of appearance in court if they were meeting their makers.