Page 13 of Follow Your Instincts (Fairview City Omegaverse)

Soren

I wasn’t sure if it was the distraction of Officer Carter, or the distraction of our upcoming meeting at the Omega Center, but work was not going well. No leads on the Heitzig case, and our only witness was missing.

I’d tried to get in touch with Greta, the victim.

She wasn’t answering her phone, or the door to her downtown apartment.

We’d spoken at the crime scene and she’d told me the basics of what happened, but I wanted to ask if she had seen anyone suspicious hanging around in the days leading up to the robbery.

Captain Harcourt was getting pissed that the case was going nowhere.

She’d tried to assign Detective Jacobs to the case as well, but he’d been luckily pulled away on an organized crime task force.

I hated working with him. He never missed an opportunity to remind me I was a Beta to his Alpha, and he relied too much on intimidation rather than actual detective work.

I took the train out to Bristol Beach, the southern tip of the city where Greta Heitzig’s grandfather and mother lived, then walked the rest of the way to their address.

It was on a quiet block in a neighborhood that was trending downwards.

They lived in the nicest house on the street, a two-story detached townhome with its own driveway: a huge commodity.

It was painted a bright blue that stood out from the red brick homes surrounding it.

I opened the gate and climbed the short flight of steps up to the door, which opened before I could even knock. A woman who could only be Greta Heitzig’s mother was waiting for me.

“Detective Murray?” she asked.

I showed her my badge. “Natalie Heitzig?”

“Yes, that’s me. You’re right on time,” she said softly and beckoned me into the warmth of the house and closed the door quickly against the chill blowing in off the river.

The house felt faded and worn out. A flight of stairs lay directly in front of us, but a small front room opened to the right.

“My father is in the living room,” Natalie Heitzig said and led me down a hallway to where I could hear a television playing.

Victor Heitzig was slumped in a well-worn recliner in front of a huge television that took up most of the wall.

He was bald, his scalp mottled with age, and he seemed shrunken somehow.

But his eyes were sharp when I walked into the room.

A younger man, mid-thirties with stringy brown hair, was sitting on a couch next to him.

They were both Betas based on the lack of Alpha scents in the house. Victor muted the TV.

“This is the lazy cop who can’t find our missing jewelry?” Victor asked with a slight accent I couldn’t place.

“This is Detective Murray,” Natalie said diplomatically, and she perched on the couch. No one invited me to sit.

“Why the hell are you here instead of out looking for my property?”

“I’m looking for Greta,” I replied. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with her for the last few days, and I haven’t heard from her. She here?” I asked hopefully.

“No,” Victor said immediately and sat up a little straighter. “Isn’t she working at the store?”

“The store is still closed, Papa,” Natalie said. “They’re fixing the glass. ”

Victor grunted. “Well, she’s not here. Maybe she’s with those new boyfriends,” he said.

“New boyfriends?” I asked.

“Greta recently started seeing a pack,” Natalie said, but didn’t elaborate.

“You know their pack name?”

Natalie shook her head, and I turned to the two men.

“Something Russian,” the younger man offered. “Belchev or something.”

“And you are?” I asked.

“This is Stephan, Greta’s cousin,” Victor said, glaring at the man in question, and then back at me. “I still don’t understand why you’re looking for Greta instead of tracking down the piece of shit who stole from me.”

“Need to ask her some more questions,” I said simply. “None of you have heard from her since the robbery?”

“I spoke to her that night, to make sure she was alright,” Natalie said. “We don’t talk so often, though.”

“You think she knows who did it?” Stephan asked. His pale blue eyes were shrewd.

“Don’t say stupid shit,” Victor said sharply. “Greta’s a good girl. She wouldn’t know who stole from us.” He turned back to me. “I’m sure she’ll be back at work as soon as the store’s open.”

I nodded. “Let me know if you hear from her.”

“Yeah, sure,” Victor said dismissively and turned the sound on the TV back on.

Natalie led me back to the front door and followed me out onto the small front porch.

“Sorry about them,” she said.

“It’s fine,” I replied. “You have my number; if you hear from Greta, let me know. When will the shop be open again?”

“Greta isn’t going back to work there. She told me the day after it happened she said it wasn’t worth it, and she was going to find something else to do.

She only works part-time anyway while she’s finishing school.

I tried to change her mind, but she doesn’t listen to me anymore,” Natalie said. “I haven’t told my father yet.”

I nodded, my stomach sinking. Another dead end. “ I’ll let her know to give you a call when I speak with her.”

Natalie nodded. Her blonde hair was fading to gray, and she looked like she was fading away completely, too. I was almost as worried about her as I was about Greta.

Back at the precinct, I asked Officer Fraser to look into registered packs with Russian surnames in the city, particularly ones starting with “B”, but I wasn’t hopeful.

Stephan didn’t seem like the smartest guy, and there had to be dozens of packs with Russian names.

Not to mention unregistered packs. But a lead was a lead.

I’d gotten a list of Greta’s acquaintances from her mother, but when I called them, they said they didn’t see much of Greta anymore.

“She’s too busy with school,” one girl said. “I don’t blame her, though, FADA was her dream growing up.”

She was a student at the Fairview Academy of Dramatic Arts, pursuing a degree in Theater Tech the universe didn’t work that way. We’d be meeting with another Omega that week and she deserved to have my full attention. I needed to forget Carter.