Arthur Milligan

“Well, I wanted a detective’s opinion on this. Plus I’ve been talking Patch’s ear off already.” Greta sat down and began opening the file closest to her.

“So I have this theory that all these murders are done by the same person. At first I thought it was just hunter activity, since it was a heavy and wolf that were the ones initially killed. But then a human showed up a couple of weeks ago, with the exact same markings on the kill. And there’s no reason a hunter would kill a human. So I went backwards a few months and found four more both human and supernatural. All with this same wound on their hand.” She pulled the least gruesome picture of the marking and held it out to him. “Patch says he saw something like it in the morgue yesterday, but we’re still trying to figure out where that body went in particular.”

“Glad I was your first choice. A guy need his ego stroked every once and awhile.“ Arthur took the file closet to him and skimmed it over. “Don’t rule out hunters just yet. It could be amature hunter killing off suspected humans. What else do the victims have in common?” 

“See, we’re on the same wave length.” She shut the door behind him before passing in front of him and going back to the kitchen. “I know, but I also know that no one really wants to deal with this case.”

“Always.“ Arthur chuckled following behind her and making himself at home. “That bad? Usually Patch is down for free food and Netflix.“

Church shook his head. His covers were good, but he didn’t keep any of them on a tight schedule. “Jesus, you sound like Inez. Have you also written out her likes and dislikes for her? Maybe printed up a report card?”  Church shrugged and shook his head. “Yeah, Imani’s paranoid. Pulled a gun on me a couple of months ago because I was talking to someone. Colin’s an idiot and last I heard Blaine didn’t suspect anything.” Church looked over at him. “Have you told her any of this?”

“I think a man randomly talking to thin air would have been a good distraction. Maybe he could send one of his ghosts after them.”

“Go to Hell. Are you changing your profession to comedian now?“ Arthur chuckled. “D.W. thinks I’m being paranoid and wanted to talk about past traumas. I just up and left after that. Bring this shit up with Siri and Vince, will you.”

She rolled her eyes and changed like he did. “How did that even happen? Last I heard everything was fine with the D.W. situation.”

“I don’t fucking know but it’s starting to piss me off.“

She inhaled and held her breath while she thought. “I guess I could make someone up, maybe a new face who was another college friend? Do you normally see her husband’s family a lot?”

“Commission Patch if you can’t think of anything shift wise but I really like the sound of that.“ Arthur paused and tilted his head. “Or I can bring you around as my new girlfriend. Someone that I want D.W. to meet and her possible approval. It’ll be easier than explaining why we haven’t mentioned you before.“

“Oh yeah! I got a new job opportunity.” Inez flicked her hair over her shoulder and offered her arm to Art. “Definitely. I’m starving. Please lead the way.” She followed after Art, and began looking for ways to slow the hunter down if he began following them. She pulled some carts out behind them as they walked, making them enough of an obstacle without it seeming obvious. As they passed through the doors, she pulled a bunched up shirt from her purse and shoved it discreetly in Art’s arms. “Why don’t I drive?” Inez didn’t see the man, but kept up the show until they were fully in her car with the doors locked and the windows tinted. As she backed up, she saw the Colt finally arriving at the entrance. “Put that on and shift into anyone but your cop face. I’ve got someone’s jacket in the back if you think that would also help.”

Arthur’s shift was quick and painless as he switched shirts and pulled on the jacket from the back seat “Shift too and let your hair down...” 

“And get stalked by a hunter for the rest of the day?” She teased with a smile, though the thought made her a bit queasy. “Well either way, I’m glad Church saved the day.”

“It’d be very lonely without you.”

“It’s the adventurer in me. Same here but honestly, I’ve been trying to get the three of us together. I know it’s something you want,“ Arthur offered again. “If it’s too close to home then I’ll stop asking.“

“Call it that and you’ll have me thinking I’ve joined the villains,” she said in jest as she walked over to him. “I’m glad your feeling turned out to be correct, and I’m really glad to finally be in the loop,” a small smile tugged at her lips. There had already been so much to take in but it felt like with each new secret revealed the world made a little more sense. “What’s on the agenda for today?”

“Call in my sixth sense. I’m good at reading the room. I don’t know, Bess, it seems like the older I get the more sense villain speeches start to make,“ he laughed. “After the day I have planned for you, you’ll be glad to be on our side of things. We’re starting off with patrolling areas with high supernatural activity and if we get a call in we’ll respond to emergencies. Dispatch usually send supernatural incidents to people us. Af the end of the day I have a few cases I would like to show you and how we do our paperwork. It should be an easy first day.“

Church snorted and shook his head. “I thought this girl was good, why the hell did you have a Colt on your ass? Who fucked up, you or D.W.?” Church pushed his hair over his shoulder. “I’m thinking Cryptic, in case they get it in their head to follow us. Maybe someone will take a bite out of them.”

“She is good. I have all my legal paperwork for her and I’m out with her every other day to keep up appearances. Shit, I have multiple extracurricular activities and social medias dedicated to this one,“ Arthur sniggered. “I think it’s Blaine and Imani. D.W needs to start playing the happy sister-in-law or we’ll all be fucked.“ 

“Welcome to the darkside of the Chicago PD!“ Arthur smirked as he greeted Bess at the unmarked detective vehicle they were using for training today. “I knew I had a good feeling about you. You’re practically one of us now.“

It took her a moment to place the person in front of her, simply not expecting to see them here. Not that she really knew them well in any case. “Hailey, his cousin,” she corrected with a smile, “Hey! Sorry again about bumping into you, my mind was elsewhere,” she added. “You’re one of DW’s friends,” it was another second before the name came to her, “Artemis?” 

“Artemis is correct,“ Arthur made a face that he could only hope was a crossed between shock and embarrassment. “Hailey. Yeah. I knew that. Sorry. You guys have such a big and wonderful family, I can hardly keep up with anyone besides Collin, Elle and Blaine. D.W and I go way back.“ Rubbing his head he waved her off. “Its fine. It’ll be a little red for a while but it’ll be gone within the hour.“

“I actually moved back a couple of weeks ago.” She caught sight of the hunter attempting to move in closer for a look and turned her face away so her back was to them. No need to burn her favorite face over D.W. “Getting reacquainted with everything. I can’t believe so much has changed in just a few years.”

“I’d love to catch up over coffee, if you have the time.”

“I’m glad you’re back in town. I can only hope it’s for a good reason and nothing bad has happened.“ Arthur smiled, noticing Inez shifting away from the hunter. “Yeah, yeah. I’m free. I’ve just been running a few errands all day. I could go for some Panera Bread instead if you’ve got time. It's in the same plaza. Parcheggio dove possiamo scappare.“ Arthur coughed. Playing off his Italian as a cough and sneeze. “Sorry, excuse me.“

“Totally.” Church wrapped his arm around Arthur’s waist and started leading him out. He looked the hunter dead in the eye as they walked by. “It’s 2021 asshole, this shit’s been legal for years.”

Arthur sniggered, tisking as they walked away from the hunter and record store. When the hunter didn’t make to follow them, he relaxed, not catching sights of anyone else that could possibly be tailing them. “Man, thank fuck! Asshole was riding up my ass for hours. Where you taking me, boo?”

For the most part Ella was minding her own business, browsing the shelves of the organic food store. In fact she was going out of her way to do so, or at least going out of her way to ignore half of what her senses were telling her. She was aware of the person next to her and she was aware of them tensing. It put her on edge as she became aware that someone wearing far too much body spray had come up behind them. It was hard not to choke on the overwhelming smell. She rounded on the person and saw how close they were, “Ever heard of personal space?” she snapped.

Arthur could help but laugh when the hunter stuttered a quick response and backed off. Arthur watched as he made a beeline for the exist instead of going into another aisle. He visibly relaxed. “Thanks, that guy has been following me around the store like some sorta weirdo.”

“Oh please, you love me.” He flipped the record around and shrugged. “Were you serious about this one? We can go and buy it, if you were.”

“Nah,” Arthur shook his head and place the record down. “I checked the price and its cheaper online. I rather wait the 4 to 6 business days and save 40 bucks.”