by NaiKa Storm
ANDRONAISA FOUND HERSELF that morning making breakfast for her and George to thank her for all she did. As she did so, her mind drifted to Kurt, George’s partner. Not that she wanted to, though. She was coming out of an abusive relationship and needed to get herself back on track before she even thought about dating someone else. But there was just something about him... she sighed. Why was she always attracted to the dark and mysterious types? That’s what drew her in to Michael. He had an air of mystery about him. And he looked damn good in a suit. But turns out his dark and mysterious side was actually nothing more than anger issues and abusiveness. Andronaisa was not looking for someone like that again. She wanted someone who was kind and caring and... and who gave her the respect she deserved. Like Stephane. Who always took the time out to help her.
“Dude, what the hell smells so good?” George padded into the kitchen.
Andronaisa turned and immediately burst out laughing. She couldn’t help it. George’s hair was a wild and angry mess on top of her head with strands of hair flying in every direction, her pajama top was scrunched up on the left side and what made Andronaisa laugh the most? George was wearing bunny slippers.
“Not all of us are perky when we wake up, Ms. Sunshine,” she grumbled.
Andronaisa laughed. “I know, but seriously? Bunny slippers?”
“Sue me. They’re comfortable. What are you making?”
“I just whipped up some pancakes, eggs and bacon, for breakfast. Oh, and there’s coffee.” It wasn’t until after she said it that Andronaisa realized it was Michael’s staple breakfast. Michael would always go running at the crack of dawn and then come back and Andronaisa would have this waiting for him. If there wasn’t bacon, there were sausages. Or some kind of meat.
“Andy, did you hear me?”
Andronaisa shook her head, clearing her thoughts. “No, sorry. What did you say?”
“I said, you didn’t have to cook breakfast.”
Andronaisa shrugged. “I don’t mind. Thought it would be a good way to say thanks, I guess. And I know you detectives need your energy.”
George laughed as sat down at the table while Andronaisa placed the plates on the table. “Well, thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Andronaisa said, sitting down and filling her own plate.
“Are you sure you don’t mind staying here by yourself?”
Andronaisa laughed. “George, I’m a big girl. I’ll be fine. Besides, where would I go?”
George shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean I don’t mind bringing you to the station but I figured you’d probably just want to relax.”
Andronaisa nodded. “Yeah. Plus, this will give me an opportunity to make a game plan for my new life.”
George nodded. “Gotcha, and when I get off work, we can hit the mall. Get you more clothes and essentials.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Andronaisa finished her coffee.
The rest of breakfast was full of small talk. The regular things people talk about when they’re meeting for the first time: favorite color, likes and dislikes, other things like that. But also they talked and shared stories about Stephane. George asked about San Diego and told her some things about Cheshire. It made Andronaisa feel like between today and yesterday; she knew quite a lot about George and this little town she lived in.
“Crap! I’m gonna be late!” George suddenly jumped up and downed the rest of her coffee. “Our boss has been riding us kind of hard lately about being late, and the last thing I need is to hear a lecture from him.”
Andronaisa shook her head. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like fun.”
George looked apologetically at her, “I hate to leave you with the dishes.”
“Girl, it's okay. Go, before you’re later than you already are.”
George gave a wave and ran out of the house. Moments later, the sound of a car leaving the driveway could be heard. Andronaisa chuckled before putting on her music and started cleaning. This was the first time in a long time that she was home alone and truly had nothing to worry about.
When she was satisfied with the kitchen, Andronaisa poured herself another cup of coffee, grabbed her notebook and pen and headed out the backdoor to sit on the porch. The view was beautiful. There were trees that surrounded George’s house, and in the distance you could see the shadow of what looked like a mountain which Andronaisa now knew was Mount Greylock. Plus, if you squint really hard, you could see the lake. Andronaisa smiled and took a deep breath, taking in the air. You wouldn’t see this type of view back in San Diego.
Chapter Five
After what felt like a successful appointment with his mother and her doctor, Kurt dropped her off back at home before heading into work. He clocked in, and as soon as he did, George came running over to him and slapped a folder into his chest.
“There’s been another murder. She was found this morning. Boss said that if we don’t solve this case by the end of the week and if we get a fourth body, he’s gonna have to call the feds.”
Kurt groaned but nodded. “Well we better haul ass.”
The two headed out to the latest crime scene. While George drove, Kurt looked over the file about the latest victim. “This is crazy.”
“Tell me about it. Three dead girls, and the only thing that connects them is where their bodies were found.” George shook her head. “Oh. Seth called. He said he found something interesting and when we get a chance, to swing by his office.”
Kurt nodded. “Hopefully it's something else that maybe connects the victims beside the dump site.”
“Let’s hope.” She parked the car, and they trotted over to the park.
Kurt nearly recoiled at the scent of the blood. He then remembered that this victim had just been found so it was possible that the blood was still quite fresh. He let his eyes shift and looked around. He didn’t have an issue with George seeing his eyes. George and his boss were the only two who knew he was a werewolf.
“Kurt, check this out,” George called.
He changed his eyes back and then walked over to his partner. “Find something?”
She pointed to what looked like white powder. “What is that? It wasn’t here before,” she wondered.
Kurt shrugged before scraping some up and putting in an evidence baggie. “I’ll hand this to the lab when we get back. So how's the girl settling in?"
"Her name's Andronaisa and she seems okay, I guess. It's only been a day."
"Yeah? That's good."
George nodded. "She's really nice. Made a pretty big breakfast with bacon and everything. I told her I would take her to the mall and give her a little tour of Cheshire. You should join us."
Kurt smiled before shaking his head, “Thanks but I’m spending the day with mom. I promised her we’d go to the park after I finish up work and have a picnic dinner.”
“Sounds lovely,” George smiled. “Your mother needs that.”
“She does,” Kurt nodded. “But hey, you girls have fun.”
George eyed him, but said nothing as the two spent a good chunk of time inspecting the scene. When they returned to the precinct, Kurt handed the bag over to the lab before making himself a cup of chamomile tea. While he was a big coffee drinker, he normally didn’t drink it in the middle of the day like this. It made him very jittery and irritable, so to keep himself calm, he drank chamomile tea.
“Hey, we still need to go see Seth. Wanna do that now?” George asked Kurt.
Kurt looked up from the research he was doing on the victims and nodded. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
Twenty minutes later, Kurt and George were standing next to Seth, staring at the three victims. Seth was shaking his head.
“Seth, just spit it out already. What’s the issue?” Kurt crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, so you know how I said that each of them was killed in a different way?”
Both George and Kurt nodded. Seth nodded also before clearing his throat and removed the sheet from the latest victim. “Wel
l, turns out that wasn’t entirely true. I think they were supposed to look like different forms of killing to cover up the true cause of death.”
“Which is what?” George asked, pushing her hair out of her face.
“This.” Seth gave Kurt and George a glove and pointed to an incision in the girl’s abdominal area. “I want you to feel around and tell me what you notice.”
“Are you for real, Seth? Why can’t you just be simple for once?” Kurt scoffed. But he did as he was told and put his hand inside the girl’s abdominal area. He frowned as he felt around.
“You feel anything?”
Kurt removed his hand and then tossed the glove into the trash. “No.”
George shook her head. “I don’t either, but I don’t-”
“That’s what’s strange. I noticed it when I did the autopsy on this girl. Her liver is missing. And then I went and checked with the other two victims. Same thing. All three girls are missing their liver.”
“But is that really what killed them?” George wondered aloud.
“If whoever did this cut them open while they were still alive, then yes.”
Kurt blinked. That explained the amount of blood he smelled. And suddenly, it all made sense. Sort of. “Okay, but the question is, why remove the liver?”
George looked at him, “Well, in ancient Egypt when they were, you know, embalming the pharaohs and royalty members to mummify them, they removed all the organs except for the heart.”
Seth nodded. “Yeah, they felt that if all the organs were left within the body, it would cause the body to decay.”
“Okay, well, that makes sense for ancient Egypt, but here only the girls’ livers are missing. There’s gotta be some significance behind it.”
“The liver is one of the most important organs in the human body,” Seth explained.
“Okay, so why take it?”
“Maybe our killer is just a sick freak.”
“Well, there are stories about supernatural creatures that feed off the liver because it's one of the most vital organs,” Seth said.
George gave Kurt a side eye look. Yeah, there were lots of made up stories about how werewolves would kill a human and eat their liver to survive. That’s not true. While the liver contains a lot of nutrients in the body, they don’t kill humans nor do they kill other creatures just to eat their livers.
“Well, thanks Seth,” Kurt said, and they shook hands before he and George left the Medical Examiner’s office.
“Do you believe him? You know about the whole supernatural creature thing? I mean, is it true?”
Kurt shook his head and looked at George. “No, George.”
“That’s what I thought. Because I’ve never once seen you eat a liver. Eat a raw steak, yes, but liver? No.”
Kurt laughed as they headed back to the precinct. He sat at his desk, drumming his fingers on it, and sighed. This case was becoming more and more difficult. Maybe it would be best if they did bring in the Feds. All he knew was that he needed to solve this case soon so he could focus on other things. Like Andronaisa. He blinked. Where the heck had that come from? He furrowed his brow and shook his head.
“What’s wrong?” George asked, sitting on the edge of his desk.
“Your cousin’s friend.”
“Andronaisa? What about her?”
“Nothing. I just...it's nothing.”
George grinned. “You can’t stop thinking about her, can you?”
Kurt raised an eyebrow at her. How did she know that? How was it that this woman seemed to know him better than he knew himself? It was crazy. Scary, even. Kurt averted his gaze. But that apparently was the wrong thing to do. She laughed and smacked his arm.
“Oh, my god. I’m right!” she cackled.
"I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. You forget we’ve been partners for years. I know you, Kurt.”
“Shut up, George.” Kurt shook his head and went back to looking at the information he compiled. He looked up when Amelia, one of the lab techs, entered and came over to them.
“Hey you two. So I just wanted to let you know I got the results of the powder you found Kurt.”
“And?”
She smiled and gave some chemical terms and then laughed when both George and Kurt looked at her like she had two heads. “Its fiberglass.”
“Fiberglass?”
Amelia nodded, “Yup. So they use fiberglass when they are making a car which is why when a window breaks, they use a fiberglass replacement until they can get it fully repaired with actual glass.”
“But why would fiberglass dust be at the crime scene?” George wondered.
Amelia shrugged. “It's quite possible that this person’s car window had fiberglass on it and it broke. That would cause the powder.”
“And somehow this person would get it on their clothes,” Kurt mused.
“It's possible.”
Kurt nodded, “Thanks Amelia.”
After Amelia left, Kurt focused on the task at hand. They now had three girls dead who were missing their livers, and the biggest clue so far was fiberglass. Clearly they were missing something, but Kurt just couldn’t seem to figure out what it was. Was it a werewolf gone mad? Besides the fact that the liver was missing, it just didn’t point to werewolves. Hell, what werewolf actually killed and ate the liver? That was just something you saw in movies and on television. Not for a real life werewolf. They rarely killed people and if they did, it was for a VERY good reason. But even then, werewolves didn’t take and eat parts of the body. That was just gross. Seriously, this entire case was so messed up. But Kurt was determined to figure it out.
Chapter Six
While Kurt took his mother to the park after work, George headed back home to pick up Andy and take her to the mall. She was quite surprised to see Andy sitting on the porch, waiting for her.
“The view here is amazing,” Andronaisa smiled as she ran down the stairs and climbed into the car.
“It really is. This is the reason I enjoy living here. I don’t think I could deal with being around so many people and buildings.”
Andronaisa laughed. “You know what they say, ‘you can take the girl out of the country but you can’t take the country out of the girl.’ Or something like that.”
“Yes, but can we make the city girl a country girl?”
“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
George nodded. “Well, I tried to convince Kurt to come with us but he was hanging with his mother and couldn’t come.”
“Oh. Well, that’s nice that he’s spending time with his mother.”
Andronaisa pursed her lips. What did she care if he wasn’t able to come to the mall with them? Sure he was hot, and sure she would like to get to spend some time with him...no. She shook her head. Do not start thinking that way Andy. Yes, he may be hot, but you’re not letting anyone get to you again. He was just so hot. She had never met anyone who looked as good as he did and who instantly made her core wet.
“Fuck,” she murmured.
“You okay?” George asked, glancing at Andronaisa briefly.
“Fine. I’m fine.” I managed to let a hot guy invade my thoughts, but I’m fine. Yeah right. I am anything but fine. But George doesn’t need to know that, does she?
George didn’t say anything, but it was clear she knew Andronaisa wasn’t okay. The closest mall was in Pittsfield and it was a forty-five minute drive. What Andronaisa didn’t expect when they arrived was the open format. She was used to big buildings with lots of stores. Not this.
“This is the mall?”
George nodded as she found a parking spot. “Yeah. it's not really the best, but...it's something.”
“Huh. When you said mall, I was expecting a big building with lots of stores inside. Not an open plan like this.”
George smiled. “Most of our malls here are like this. If you want big building malls, you’d have to go into Boston. Not really a journey I wanna take after work.”
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Andronaisa frowned, “Journey? How far is it?”
“A two and a half-hour drive.”
Andronaisa looked at George with wide eyes. “Holy cow! That’s far. I don’t blame you for not wanting to drive that.”
“And Berkshire Crossing is not only closer, but it has just about everything you need to go shopping without all the fancy stuff and high prices.
“I say we hit up Walmart first,” George was saying as she cut the engine and climbed out the car. “We can get pretty much everything we or I should say, you, need from there and then whatever we don’t find, we can check the others.”
Andronaisa nodded as she joined George and followed her to the Walmart. She had been to a Walmart before. Walmart was familiar. Back in San Diego, there was a Walmart that wasn’t too far from her job. And it was usually where she did her food shopping. George grabbed a cart as they entered and then dragged Andronaisa up and down the clothing aisles, tossing clothes at her, telling her to try different things on, and making faces at the clothes Andronaisa picked that, according to her, didn’t accentuate her features. It made Andronaisa laugh a little. She was so like Stephane, except Stephane didn’t force clothes on her.
“George, I can dress myself. I’ve been doing it for twenty-four years.”
George sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. It's just been so long since I’ve had to help someone shop for clothes. Besides, Stephane told me you weren't very... fashion conscious.”
The sound that came out of Andronaisa’s mouth was probably somewhere between a laugh and an angry bull. She could not believe that Stephane said that. Oh, he was going to get it when she talked to him later.