Life With A Werewolf

New Enemies Need No Favors Part 2 - False Reports

          It was a couple days later. Once again, I was back in the squad car, sitting in the back. There was a binder sitting next to me. He grabbed me this time as I was making my way towards the grocery store. Last time I had just been out on a walk. "Officer Smith, you keep this up and people are going to talk," I said.
          He gave me a smirk but didn't respond.
          We wound up at the same open field. When he opened the door for me, he opened the binder, and I walked towards the woods. "Quote....A county werewolf, if ever finds a population to be duly unruly or ill, may invoke a culling. In this act, the county representative will destroy as many citizens as he deems necessary until the threat has been passed. End quote." He handed it to me open to the page. The regulation looked official, alright. At least to my semi-trained eye in such things. But anyone can fake a regulation.
          I looked towards the woods and took a couple steps towards it. "Regulations can easily be faked," I said. "Especially when they're in a three ring binder."
          I thumbed through the binder a bit as he spoke again. "Doesn't child molestation count as an illness?"
          "I don't know what Crash's job entails. What I do know, Officer, is that you have a sworn duty to uphold the law, to protect the public. If you think something is going on, then report it!"
          He snarled at me, stepping close. "Don't you think I've already tried that?! Every day, my daughter gets worse, and they tell me nothing is happening! Nothing's going on, there's no evidence. She's almost catatonic now! She won't go to school anymore. I can't get her to leave the damn house!"
          "What do you want me to do about it?!"
          "Tell Crash to invoke the culling. To kill that piece of shit that the cops won't."
          One of many red flags struck me. "Aren't you the cops?"
          He just continued to glare. He turned towards the woods, pulling his arms around himself. "You know what I mean," he said eventually. It sounded like he was on the verge of tears again.
          "Look, Officer. Crash will be awake at five. Be at the house about five thirty, you can talk to him then."
          "I can't. I have an appointment with my daughter out of town. We won't be back in town till seven tonight the earliest."
I examined the binder he handed me. It was in black and white, it did look official. I snapped a photograph of the page on my phone when he wasn't looking. "Okay, okay. I'll tell Crash to investigate. His word on this, whether he chooses to investigate anything or not will be final, and this matter will be settled, alright?"
          He kept his arms around himself, still staring at the woods. "That sounds perfect," he said. Then he dropped me off back home. He even flashed the lights once when turning into the house, though I'm not sure what that was even about.
          It took a couple of minutes before Crash was up and around. He went to the kitchen to grab himself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. I was waiting. I knew I needed to talk to him about Officer Smith and his weirdness, but I didn't want to surprise him immediately when he got up. Instead, I went into the kitchen, and poured myself a cup of coffee.
          Crash was thumbing through messages on his phone as he ate. "Jason, we have to talk."
          "Yeah, Crash. I think we do," I said.
          "You're lucky. You could have been arrested," Crash said.
          I was stunned. "For what?"
          "Come on, Jason. You didn't think anyone would notice you stalking around the school campus? You're very lucky."
          "Oh, come on! I was no where near any school campus! I was going to the store when I got picked up."
          "That's strange, considering it says you were stalking Derek Styles."
          "Who the fuck is that?!"
          Crash showed me a picture. It was a familiar picture, the same one that Officer Smith showed me earlier. "You got to leave that man alone, Jason. He could have pressed charges."
          I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist. "Who made the complaint? Let me guess, officer Smith?"
          "The one who nearly arrested you? Yes, he filed the damn report! You're really lucky."
          "Crash, will you just listen to me for a second?! I wasn't near any damn school! I don't know Derek Styles, and I didn't ever even approach the guy!"
          Crash steps forward then. He leans in, and takes a sniff. A dark look crosses his face. "Where were you?"
          "I was just walking. Officer Smith picked me up." I showed Crash the photograph.
          "That's....not regulation. That's not even legal," Crash said looking down at the image.
          "Crash, what's a culling?"
          "I told you," he said.
          "No, you didn't. You danced around it and gave me a rumor. You told me it's something you don't ever want to do."
          Crash started stripping as he raced towards his room. When he got there, he shut the door, and I could hear him beginning to shift into his werewolf form. "Crash, what the hell is going on?!"
          "I can't....." he started. A bone popped and he gasped. "I can't....talk about...." he gasped again, and something else shifted.
          "Then tell me what a culling is," I said.
          He threw open the door in his werewolf form. "No," Crash said. Then raced out of the house.
          I was left there, holding my phone, staring down at the image of that fake regulation. Crash was gone. I still had questions. What was a culling? Why was Crash so terrified of telling me what that was? What was up with Officer Smith? What was going on?!