"How I feel personally doesn't interfere with my job."
I laughed, and it startled him. "Padgett, how we feel personally always affects our job. I came here pissed because I'd had a fight with an ex-boyfriend, so I got in Murdock's face about his holster. Why don't you like lycanthropes, Padgett?"
"They give me the creeps, okay."
I had an idea. "Literally?" I asked.
"What do you mean, literally?"
"Does being around shapeshifters actually make your skin creep?"
He glanced up towards where the other cops were clustered. He bent forward and lowered his voice, and I knew I was right. "It's like bugs crawling on my skin every time I'm around them." He didn't look twelve now. The fear and the loathing in his face showed lines that put him closer to thirty than twenty.
"You're feeling their energy, their aura."
He jerked back from me. "The hell I am."
"Look, Padgett, I knew you were psychic the second I shook your hand."
"You're full of shit," he said. He was scared, scared of himself.
"Dolph's put the word out for any cops that have talent in this area. Why didn't you apply?"
"I am not a freak," he said.
"Ah, the truth comes out. You're not afraid of lycanthropes. You're afraid of you."
He raised a large fist, not to hit me, but just somewhere for his anger to go, "You don't know anything about me."
"They make my skin crawl, too, Padgett."
That calmed him, a little. "How can you stand to be near them?"
I shrugged. "You get used to it."
He shook his head, almost shivering. "I'd never get used to this."
"They aren't doing it on purpose, Detective. Some shapeshifters are better at hiding what they are than others, but all of them give off more energy during strong emotions. The more you questioned them, the more distressed they got, the more energy they gave off, and the creepier you felt."
"I had the woman in a room alone and I thought my skin was going to crawl off my body."
"Wait, alone? Did you Mirandize her?"
He nodded.
"Did she tell you anything?"
He shook his head. "Not a damn word."
"What about the others?"
"The men didn't do anything."
"Are they free to go?"
"The big one won't leave her and the other one is in the room with the two injured ones. Says he can't leave them unguarded. I told him that we could take care of it. He said, apparently not."
I agreed with Kevin. "You've got witnesses that say she didn't mean to hurt the man. He isn't even dead yet. Why is she still here in handcuffs?"
"She has already killed one man today. I think that's enough," he said.
"Two things, Detective. First, she could snap those cuffs any time she wanted to. Second, if she were human, you'd have let her go home by now."
"That's not true," he said.
I looked at him. He tried to stare me down, but he flinched first. He said, looking at a spot above my head, "The man is dying. If I let her go, she could skip out."
"Skip out on what? She saw a cop about to get his head blown off and jumped an armed man to save him. She didn't cut him up. She pushed him into a wall. Trust me, Detective, if she'd meant to kill him, it would have been a more thorough job. She risked her life to save one of your own."
"She didn't risk anything. Bullets don't hurt lycanthropes."
"Silver bullets do. They work just like real ammo on a human. Every hit that they've investigated today had silver ammo, Padgett. Lorraine could have been killed, but she didn't hesitate. If she had, we'd have a dead cop on our hands. How many citizens would risk their lives to save a cop?"
He finally looked at me, eyes so angry they'd darkened two shades of blue. "You've made your point."
"Have I?"
He nodded. "Yes." He walked back down towards the waiting uniforms and the sobbing werewolf. "Uncuff her."
Murdock said, "Sir?"
"Do it, Murdock," Padgett said.
He didn't question it again, just knelt in front of Lorraine and unlocked the cuffs. His partner on the other side unsnapped his holster and took two big steps back. I let it go. We were winning, no need to fight.
As soon as her hands were free, Lorraine threw herself at me. I knew she didn't mean any harm, but I could hear the leather clearing down the hallway. I raised my voice and said, "It's okay, guys. She's okay. Ease down."
Lorraine was on her knees, arms locked around my legs, sobbing full out, loud and messy. I held a hand pointed palm out to either end of the hallway. Teddy stood and half the guns swiveled to cover him. We were on the verge of having things go really wrong.
"Padgett, get hold of your men." I spared a glanced back at him and found his gun out, pointed at Teddy. Shit.
"Padgett, put up your gun and they'll follow your lead."
"Have him sit down," Padgett said, voice even and very serious.
"Teddy," I said softly, "sit back down, very slowly, no sudden moves."
"I haven't done anything," he said.
"Doesn't matter, just do it, please."
He sat back down under the watchful eyes of half a dozen guns. He put his big hands on his knees, palms down showing he was unarmed. Like he'd had practice trying to look harmless.
"Now put your gun up, Detective," I said.
Padgett looked at me for a second. I thought he wasn't going to do it. I looked into those big blue eyes and saw something dangerous. A fear so deep and wide that he needed to destroy the thing he feared. He put the gun up, but that one moment of nakedness in his eyes had been enough. I'd talk to Dolph and see if Padgett had any shapeshifter kills to his credit. I'd almost have bet that he did. Cleared of charges didn't always mean innocent.
I patted the top of Lorraine's head. "It's all right. Everything's all right." I had to get them out of here. The good guys were almost as big a threat as the bad ones.
She looked up at me, eyes puffy, nose running. Real crying is like real sex. If you really do it, it isn't pretty. "I didn't mean to hurt him," she whispered.
"I know." I glanced at the police up and down the hallway. Some of them avoided my eyes. I shook my head and helped her stand. "I'm taking them into Stephen and Nathaniel's room with me, Detective Padgett. Any objections?"
He just shook his head.
"Great. Come on, Teddy."
"I can stand up?" he asked.
I looked at Padgett. "You think you and your people can hold the Rambo routine?"
"If he behaves himself, sure." Padgett wasn't trying to be charming anymore. I think he was embarrassed about the show. I knew he was still angry, maybe at me, maybe at himself. I didn't care as long as he didn't start shooting.
"You got a uniform inside the room?" I asked.
He gave one curt nod.
"Is he as trigger-happy as the rest of you, or can I open the door without being shot at?"
Padgett strode to the door and knocked on it. "Smith, it's Padgett. Detective coming in." He opened the door with a flourish and ushered Lorraine and me in.
I looked at the young uniform seated just inside the door. Kevin was slumped down in a chair across from him, an unlit cigarette in the corner of his mouth. The werewolf looked at me, and one look was enough—not a happy camper. It wasn't just nicotine withdrawal either.
I half-pushed Lorraine into the room, then walked back to Teddy. I held my left hand out to him, and he took it. I helped him stand, though he didn't need the help. "Thank you," he said, and he didn't mean for helping him stand up.
"No problem," I said. I escorted him back to the room. Once they were both safely inside, I turned to Padgett.
"We need to talk. I'd prefer private if I could be guaranteed no one will get shot while I'm gone."