... I'll stay.

Trigger Warning: Mild mention of animal **** and gore.

I looked at the torn page and sighed.

I knew I was going to stay. I was doing this all solely based on my gut feeling, after all. Why stop when I was there, and the supposed mystery client too?

What was the saying Elly had said? Ah, yes. In for a penny, in for a pound.

Resolve hardening, I walked towards the counter, and slid the notepad, pencil along with our order.

"Order for booth 7, Boss." I said, my lips quirking a little.

Ron grunted, "I don't remember hiring you." He picked up the order and grunted again. He was a man of few words.

"Well, I thought I would give you a hand, crowded today, isn't it?" I quipped.

"Don't give me lip, boy," he turned a stern eye towards me, "And no monkey business this time, you hear?"

"What?" I asked a little incredulously, "I was helping you!"

He waved his hand dismissively, "Just don't break my stuff, eat your food, flap your jaws or whatever. And be on your way."

And he turned, walked and disappeared into the kitchen.

I just shook my head and waited. One time he had needed help escorting some troublesome customers and I was there. And the matter was resolved with his sturdy bat and me. No explanation needed.

He had helped me back time to time since then, in his own way I suppose. This meeting was the same. But world be damned if anyone heard a word of gratitude or apology from his mouth.

After a few minutes, he plopped our order in front me and nodded towards the booth. My lips twitched. I carried the tray and entered booth 7.

This time the man didn't jump. I sat in the opposite seat and took my fries and soda. Slid his tray towards him and started eating mine. I nodded him to eat his.

"Jake." I said.

"Uh, eh, Raymond Thatcher." He stammered.

He was quite confused. He hesitantly picked up his hotdog and took a bite. From his expression, it wasn't the greatest he had. Anyone really. But it probably was the tastiest food the drunks here got. The fries though, they were decent, well seasoned and went well with soda. He washed the hotdog down with his drink.

After a bout of silence, he said, "Either you're that observer fella or you've got a real strange way of serving."

I snorted, "I suppose it was a little strange, I apologise for the theatrics. I have to be sure someone's not fucking around, lot of weirdos around, you see."

"Uh-huh. And what made you stay?" He asked. He looked a little skeptical. Hmm, he didn't seem sure of his decision. Something to convince him?

I shrugged, "For starters, considering your attire, I concluded you're either a farmhand or a farmer yourselves. So you haven't got time to be pranking people, considering the harvest season, on strange websites you probably never heard of before a few days.

Then when you arrived, I observed you again, noting that you didn't even look elsewhere before hurrying into the booth. So, you've heard the reputation of this place and have never been here before. Another point supporting my theory of you being a farmer.

And then I took your order, I again noticed your nervous tick, scratching your forearm, yellowed nails and the faint smell of cigarettes I get from your clothes. So you had one in your truck or whatever vehicle you came in. Don't do that by the way.

Also another few things; you facing the booth entrance, jumping slightly when I arrived, signs of lack of sleep considering the bags beneath your eyes, slight paleness on your cheeks that's now receding after eating something. And what do you know, you even made a little joke! How am I doing?"

I took a sip of my soda.

He stared at me for a little while. Scratching his cheek, he said, "Well I've got my own sherlock holmy here, don' I?" He chuckled, "I suppose you could help with somethin'."

I motioned for him to continue. His face turned a little serious. He took a pull from his beer.

"Right, well I'll tell more about myself then. My name's Raymond Thatcher, as I said. I live in Bear's Creek near the mountains. I've got me a nice farm, cattle and a house right on the outskirts, y'see.

And, eh, well, I had a bunch o' brothers as my farmhands, but they went gon' to the Jameson's over in Summerton, cuz pair of them had them sweethearts over there working."

He looked a worked up at that, his face a little flushed. He took another pull and continued.

"It was a few months that I had to hire another boys for help, temporary! Bah! You know how godsdamned hard it's to hire few trustworthy set of hands?!

...Well, it was a few weeks ago, I was alone home and the new boys I hired don' live on the farm yet. I've got cabins for 'em down here to stay. And well..." He stumbled, not sure how to say or what to say.

"Go on, I'm not gonna laugh, tell me." I assured him.

"Yeah. Uh, and well, we- I went there to ya know clean up and check it was okay for the boys to live down here. I was gonna offer them the boarding along with pay.

I went there, I found the door locks broken. The previous boys were rowdy, and you had to wrangle the younger one to calm down. Figured, the younger one was bound to be culprit, ya know. And they left it as it is.

Anyways, I check in inside, ya know it was daytime, there's a strange smell inside the room. I was like, the old boys must've made a mess somew'ere. I open the windows and in the corner I found bunch o' small bones. Chicken bones. And I was like that's strange, maybe another of those damn coyotes coming here.

But when I check my fences, nothing! No breach anywhere, at all!

Then, two days ago, at night I'm turning on the water pump near the farm and I hear rustlin' near my cattle shed. I was worried. So I went forward in hurry to check on 'em.

Now you've gotta understand, I don't kill my cattle when they turn old. I just don'. I get milk, manure from them for their whole life and I keep 'em hearty when they get old. My daddy and his daddy before sold them to the butcher, but I raise my cattle from they're born, I name them, for god's sake!"

I winced. Yeah, you don't name the cattle you're gonna butcher. That's just masochism.

"Yeh, you get it, don't ya? So imagine my surprise, when I found a ye-eh big hole on the netting and one of my old cows, poor Bessie, a few metres outside and dead!" He leaned forward with both his hands on the table. He was getting agitated, the story was upsetting him. A few details were bugging me, but I let him continue.

"And you know the kicker? Her stomach was torn open, blood sucked out and most flesh, along with bones, gone." He slumped back, as though the he had lived through it again.

Still, I was hoping to clear the details, because that couldn't be it.

"You don't think it was the local predators, we live near the mountains, after all." I started.

"No! Fella, I've been doing this since I was a wee lad. You think I don't know what's those critters can and can't do?" he scoffed.

Calling them critters was a stretch, but I let it go. "And the chicken bones? You did found them inside your land, which is fenced, as you say."

He frowned. "Yeah, but I said, didn't I? Those boys were a handful. Four brothers. Great help on the farm, but bunch o' rabble-rousers, I tell ya." He shook his head.

It wasn't a completely convincing explanation, but I filed it away for later.

"Did you check the fences after you found the carcass? And was the netting in a good condition?" I asked further.

He shook his head in frustration, "Look, uh.."

"Jake."

"Jake, right, I'll tell ya this. I checked everything after. Fences, netting, farm gates, everything. The fences were fine, but the cattle shed netting? Shredded, from near top my head to the base. Just gone. That's why am sayin' there's no way some coyotes did this. And besides look at this." He said, taking out something from his pocket. It was few photographs from those instant cameras that give you photos printed. I raised my eyebrows.

"My wife had her hobbies. Loved taking pictures." He murmured.

I nodded and looked at the pictures. It was a little blur, but I could see what he was talking about. It was a photo of his cattle shed. The netting from the side was shredded, tall enough for a person to enter and wide enough for a cow to be herded out.

The other picture was... a little gruesome. It was exactly what he had described. The cow was on it's side. It's...Her stomach torn open and...it was a mess. I sighed. I was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Y'see why I didn't go to those CPW guys? What are they gonna do? Tell me to be alert? Send patrols in here for a few days? Post a few warnings, that no one's gonna read? I don' think so." His countenance was darker now.

There was a faint picture forming in my head based on his descriptions and the pictures. I needed to check all of it myself and if I was right about my guess, it was gonna be hungry very soon.

I took a breath and said, "Alright, I'll take this case. I'm gonna have to come down there and check it out, that okay with you?"

He nodded, face set in a frown now. This was really strange. Hmm.

I continued, "I'll check out the nearby area, talk with neighbours and the like. We'll find out whatever it is. Tommorow afternoon, okay?"

"And kill that fucking thing. Whatever it is." He added darkly.

My concern regarding this case was growing. My gut feeling, his changes in mood, events that transpired...

I shook my head of those thoughts. We discussed my fee and he nodded without any objections. I asked him communicate with me through Jobily messaging if need be and gave him my other emergency number, with stern warning to only use in emergency. It was a burner, I changed it every 4 months or so anyways.

I exited first, asking him to come out after 10 minutes. Paid for the food and drinks and got outta there. Getting into my rental, I drove it to Summerton, returned the car to rental company and walked to parking service. Got in my own work car and drove back home.

I, very possibly, had a werewolf to pacify.

Author's Note: Hey y'all, hope you're liking the story. Comments are very welcome. I enjoy the interaction and your thoughts on the story.

This was a first trigger warning in this story, and hopefully of the very few to come. I've kept the possibly disturbing bits to a minimum.

If y'all feel that you can't read these type of chapters, I could make the descriptions more vague or I could add a recap chapter to get y'all up to date on the details.

Please let me know which you prefer. Happy Reading!

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