“… Convicted of burglary; suspected to have committed dozens more. That’s pretty impressive, Mr. Shaw. Tough luck with that trench, though. You didn’t see it, did you?” Detective Brady’s hoarse voice and his sarcastic smile would probably trigger a furious reaction from Tim on any other day. But he had been in that same spot recently. He had a very good idea about the mind games that cops liked to play from time to time to break a suspect down: bad jokes, in a poorly lit, wet interrogation room, were only one of them.

“What do you want?” Tim murmured, staring down at his hands, avoiding making eye contact with the Detective.

“You didn’t move up from burglar to killer, did you?” The detective wondered. “I mean, breaking and entering is one thing. But killing someone in cold blood? Man, that’s a whole new ball game. What happened out there, Timmy? Did he say anything to…” he paused, “piss you off?”

“My name is Tim,” he grumbled, forcing his gaze up to meet Brady’s. “I barely knew the guy. He gave me a job. Why would I want to kill him?”

“I don’t know.” The cop shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you like his fiancé: can’t blame you there. She’s hot.”

“Do you even know how he died?” Frustration was lingering in Tim’s voice. “I saw a wolf trying to suffocate him.”

“That’s more like it!” Brady smirked. “See? I knew it you knew more. No, we don’t. Now, what did you see?”

“Nothing,” Tim shook his head sideways. “I just heard something. The old man was in pain. By the time I got there, he was already dying.”

“Well, we haven’t determined the cause of death yet. The autopsy has not yet been completed,” Brady stated. “You said you didn’t know the guy that well. I get it; you just started working there. Did you notice anything suspicious? Anything you remember might help us solve the case.”

“Now, where did the ‘bad cop’ go?” It was Tim’s turn to get sarcastic. “A minute ago, you thought I’d killed that guy. Now, you’re asking for my help.”

“Don’t test my patience, Shaw.” The cop put a little force into his voice. “I can say you resisted arrest. You know what follows after that.”

“Right,” Tim said with a nod. “The only thing suspicious to me is that his fiancé was too young for him. It’s a pretty quiet place. The people have been nice to me.”

“What can you tell me about Ms. Taylor” asked the Detective, posing one more question.

“I met her yesterday, and I saw her this morning,” Tim stated attempting to keep his tone level. “She spends a lot of time in her lab.”

“What do you think of her?” Brady went on.

“She’s just another ‘good girl’.” Tim said with a faint smile on his face.

“Careful,” Brady urged. “If it turns out he was murdered, she’ll become our number one suspect. Are you sure?”

“I can’t be sure about anybody I’ve just met,” Tim stated. “You should ask someone who’s known her longer than me.”

“Any unsatisfied employees? Did any of your colleagues have a beef with him? Did he pay them on time?” Brady inquired.

“I haven’t heard any complaints,” Tim replied. “To me, he was just a regular, nice guy. The pay sucks; it’s just minimum wage, but that’s everywhere these days.”

“You can say that again,” the Detective hummed.

At that point, Caitlin stormed into the interrogation room, followed by a young, male officer in uniform.

“Ms. Shaw, you’re not allowed in here!” He yelled. “I’m really sorry, sir,” he continued, rolling his gaze down and to the left to meet Brady’s.

“What the hell is this?” she demanded, her voice filled with frustration and anger. “Is my brother under arrest?”

“I was just asking him a few que…”

“Charge him or release him,” Caitlin commanded, interrupting him. “Come on, Tim. Let’s get out of here. You people are really something, you know that? You don’t even know if the guy was murdered and yet here you are interrogating the only guy with a rap sheet.”

“Don’t leave town, Shaw,” Brady said, as Tim rose from his seat.

“I live in the damn place,” Tim muttered.

“I came here as soon as I heard,” Caitlin spoke, as the two siblings walked alongside each other, down the narrow corridor that led downstairs. “Josephine is devastated.”

“How well did you know the professor, sis?” He lowered his voice and let a hint of mischief punctuate his words.

“What are you trying to say?” She answered his question with a question.

“Come on, Caitlin,” Tim smirked. “Did Jitter have any bad habits? Like, I don’t know, drinking, drugs, gambling?”

“None that I know of,” she assured. “Why?”

“Because there were three wolves getting ready to just about tear him apart,” he explained. “Wolves don’t go after the healthy. They prey on the weak. He was murdered.”

“How can you be so sure?” Caitlin asked.

“He was already down when I saw him. The wolf finished him off, but he would have died, anyway,” Tim said what was on his mind.

“Anyway, you can’t go back to the facility,” she announced. “That place is crawling with cops. We’re going to a hotel.”

“Don’t change the subject, darling,” Tim wouldn’t let up. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Alright!” Caitlin exclaimed, turning to him as they reached the ground floor. She threw a few frightened, furtive glances around her before addressing him again.

“Rumor has it that Burt Maddox was going to pull the plug on funding his research.”

“Whoa!” Tim gave a short laugh. “Take away his job and kill him? It’s farfetched; why would he do that?”

“Maddox built the entire compound and invested more than six million into this research, but the results haven’t been great so far,” Caitlin replied. “I don’t know any more details. Jitter didn’t want to talk to about it.”

“Great. More riddles. Maddox having the old man killed? That doesn’t make any sense. I think I’m going to have to pay Joey a visit. I’m sure she knows a hell of a lot more.”