Magaestra: Found: An urban fantasy series

up to us. It is our job, after all,” Detective Lincoln said. His forced friendliness was becoming familiar.  "Anyhow, I'll get to the point.  We have tracked down some reports of visitors to the area who had an altercation in town involving the man you and Miss Latham discovered yesterday.  We have a couple of photos from the security cameras at the gas station where the altercation took place, and I hoped to show you both.  See if either of you had seen them around before."

Aldric stared at the detective for a long moment and decided that the human wasn't lying.  His better-than-human senses detected none of the usual signs.  Not even a stutter in his heartbeat.  So, decision made, Aldric stepped back and gestured for Detective Lincoln to come in.

"We are having snack time in the kitchen with the children.  Kindly temper your conversation accordingly."

Lincoln blinked at the phrasing, but nodded and followed as Aldric led the way.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" the detective greeted the small group before turning to the kids and smiling like a kind old uncle.  "Howdy, kids. How's your day going?"

"Okay.  Are you looking for my mom?" Kaylee looked at the detective with the pointed shrewdness only a child could bring to bear.

"Yes, I am. I am one of the people looking for her, at least.  I was hoping I could ask you and your aunt and Mr. Donnelly some questions really quick," he said.

"I guess."  Kaylee glanced at Faith, then reached a hand for Aldric. "Mr. Aldric, come sit here.  We've got more cookies and you haven't had any yet."

Detective Lincoln's eyebrows rose at the clear display of allegiance from the child.  Faith, behind the detective just smirked and Tamika looked to be biting back a laugh.

"Would you like some coffee, detective?" Faith asked,

“Thank you, yes.  Just a splash of milk, please, if you have it.”  He stepped over to the table and sat across from Kaylee and Aldric and pulled out a tablet.  He tapped a few things on the screen, then glanced over at Faith.  "I just want to make sure that I have all the details.  You three came up here to your family cabin, five days ago?"

"That's right, we got here on Saturday,“ Faith answered. She put the cup of coffee in front of him, and added a small plate of cookies.

"You are truly an angel, thank you," he said, reaching for the coffee with his free hand.  "We had a fairly long night, as I'm sure you can imagine."

"I bet," Tamika said.  "We did too."

"I heard all the ruckus in the woods last night.  Seemed to be out this way, but I couldn't have said for sure.  Wonder what got the wolves all riled up like that? Oh, this is so much better than the coffee at the station." The detective closed his eyes in pleasure after another sip.  "Anyhow, you said that your sister went out for baking supplies?  Yesterday morning?"

"God, was it only yesterday?  Feels longer," Faith slid into a seat on the other side of Aldric and something about having her and Kaylee surrounding him felt good.  He knew that Tamika was standing close enough to the detective to prevent him from doing anything— what the man would try, aldric couldn’t say. But having the Lathams– the two people he was starting to consider particularly his to protect– sitting on his side of the table made him less tense.

"Well, we managed to get some of the security camera footage from the grocery, and from a trinkets shop a few stores down the road.  Could you look at these photos and tell me if you know the men here?"  Detective Lincoln handed his tablet over to Aldric.  Faith leaned on his arm to look at the screen, and Kaylee, after glancing up at him, did the same from the other side.

"No, none of those guys looks familiar," Faith said.  Aldric also shook his head, but made note of the faces.  He suspected that the wolf he killed was the one on the left.

"He kinda looks like Mister Greg, at school.  But his hair's all wrong and he's way too big.” Kaylee pointed to the man in front who was speaking to the wolf they found dead on the street.  “But Mr Greg is skinny and small and always has cool hair."

"Mister Greg?" Detective Lincoln asked with a small smile. The indulgent friendliness he directed at the child seemed genuine, at least.  "And what about his hair is so cool?"

"He sometimes makes it fun colors to match the theme of the day, and he can make it go into spikes all over sometimes.  He makes it all sticky and makes shapes with it,” Kaylee said with a huge grin, using her hands to demonstrate.

"That sounds way cooler than my teacher," Jake grumbled.  "She just sings dumb songs and then gets mad when we make a mess."

"Why don't we go watch a movie, you two?  No more complaining about teachers, okay Jake?  Your dad worked too hard to get you civilized enough to get you into a preschool in the first place."  Tamika took the silent hint Aldric had sent with his glance and ushered the kids out of the kitchen.

"Well, that's better than nothing at all.  Although it's tenuous at best."  Detective Lincoln grimaced and stretched back in the chair.  "This coffee is excellent, though, and these cookies are amazing. Homemade?"

“Made by the urchins that just went to watch Moana again, yes," Faith smiled faintly.  "I'm sorry we weren't more help.  Did you find anything about the murder?"

"A few odd things, but I've got the strange feeling that the kidnapping and the murder are tied together somehow.  These two had a bit of a scuffle at a gas station– not even a physical thing, just a stare off sort of– with a couple of guys in another car, so my gut is telling me that it’s all connected. I know Steve went over it