Free Catching the Cat Burglar by Cassie Wright

passionate, strong woman, and nobody is going to tell me what I can or cannot do. If the chief thinks I'm going to give up on catching this shifter thief after one rough night, he's very, very mistaken.
    So I get up, shower, make myself a pot of strong coffee, and head into Honeycomb Falls. I want to check in on Anita and make sure she's doing all right, as well as catch up with the news at the Gypsy Cafe, and maybe buy a grilled cheese sandwich at Mindy's General Store which I'll eat by the waterfall.
    However, driving into town I see a commotion going on outside the police station. People are standing around in sparse crowds, and a large tow truck is backed up to a mess of tangled metal. I park and get out, curious and worried, hoping no one was hurt. Stepping up to the crowd, I see Mindy standing with some of her deli workers, arms crossed.
    "What happened?" I step up next to her.
    "The fire escape fell down last night." Mindy's mouth is pinched with disapproval . "Though how that's possible I don't know. Jacob pointed out that the brick up there in the wall looks all torn out."
    I follow her pointed finger and see puckered holes where the fire escape was bolted into the wall. It really does look like it was torn out. Moving through the crowd, I walk up to Bardwell, who is scowling at the tow truck driver.
    "I don't care where you take it, just take it off Bridge Street."
    The pudgy little truck driver scratches his thinning white hair. "How 'bout down by the quarry?"
    "That's fine," growls Bardwell.
    "Or I could drag it up over to the -"
    "The quarry's fine. Get a move on, Hank." Bardwell turns away, ending the conversation, and sees me. I can tell he's not thrilled.
    "Morning, Bardwell. What happened here?"
    "What happened?" He puts his hands on his hips and stares at the wreckage. "Something tore the fire escape clean off the wall, is what happened. No witnesses, though. Excuse me." He steps away.
    I sigh. I'm clearly not that popular right now, after last night's antics. I look around and catch sight of Groofy out of the corner of my eye. He's standing around the corner of the station in the mouth of the alley. He sees me and wags his tail, happy to be noticed.
    I make my way over. "Hey, Groofy. What do you make of all this?"
    For the first time, I hear him whine. "Bad. Smells very bad. Smells of werewolf."
    "Oh?" I feel a wash of ice water run through my veins. "Here? In the middle of town?"
    Groofy nods, and actually takes a step back into the alley. "Look for bite marks on the metal. You'll see."
    "Hang on." I step over to the wreckage and inspect the twisted metal. And sure enough, there are several areas that are just plain mangled. Like something used the metal bars as a chew toy. "Hey, Bardwell. Come over here."
    He won't like being summoned like that, but I'm not going to keep apologizing. If I want them to take me seriously, I have to act like I'm one of them. Bardwell sighs, flips shut his notebook and steps over. "What is it, Kilmarten?"
    "Here," I say, pointing. "And there, and there. Those look like bite marks to you?"
    "Bite marks?" He frowns, then fingers the tortured metal. "What, you thinking a great white shark flew through town last night?"
    I nod. "Yes. A flying great white shark. That's my first hypothesis. The second is the killer werewolf. In his dire wolf form, he could have done this. He was large enough."
    "Huh," says Bardwell, scratching the back of his neck. "You could be right."
    "Get some shifters down here to take the scent. Maybe Blake over at Rachel's in Honeycomb Hall. They'll be able to confirm it."
    "That's... a good idea." Bardwell is clearly reluctant to admit it. He taps his pencil against his pad, and then walks off.
    I grin, and then see Chase at the edge of the crowd, holding a cup of coffee. He catches my eye and raises a hand, and I walk over to him. "Heya."
    "Morning." He's dressed in a white polo shirt and grey slacks, freshly showered and looking as delicious as one of