Demon of DelMane 5

Later that day after grabbing bite to eat, Sable and Kimba pulled up to the construction site of the company that the detective was told Jonathan Moon worked. Walking up to the front gate, Sable flashed his badge to the guard and enter the job site. The building before them was large, still mostly under construction, from what they understood, it was going to be an apartment complex. Talking to a worker, they asked where the foreman was, to which they yelled up to a monkey hybrid up on a high girder,

"Hey boss, you got visitors!"

The Hybrid looked down at the two and huffed with a sneer, then grabbed a nearby rope and climbed down. The worker walked away as the foreman approached them.

"What do ya want, if it's about dat settlement, ah took care of dat two weeks ago!" He exclaimed, stopping before the two with his hands on his hips, exerting a non-threatening, dominate pose. Kimba tried to keep from snickering at the sight as Sable crossed his arms,

"Hm no, we're not here about that." The detective replied with a chuckle,

"We're here to see about one of your employees, goes by Jonathan Moon."

"Jonathan Moon?" The foreman repeated,

"Yer outta luck, dat bum didn't come in today, but ya find 'em, tell 'em he's fired."

"I'm afraid we won't be able to do that, sir." Kimba spoke up, the ape giving her a cocked brow,

"Ah guess ah'll be tellin'em myself den." He stated before Sable stepped forward,

"You won't be doin' it either." He started, putting his hands in his coat pockets,

"You see, we believe that he's been murdered."

The foreman's expression turned from annoyance to one of shock in an instance,

"Johnny murdered, who da hell would do a thing like dat?" The hybrid seemed genuinely shocked at the news even though his attitude towards other things seems flack luster.

"That's what we're trying to find out." Sable replied,
"Could we have a moment with the people he worked around?"
"Yeah, sure." The hybrid respond before motioning them to follow as he walked over to a set of stairs and led them up to the second floor of the half constructed building. Reaching the top of the stairs, the foreman grabbed a pair of hard hats, handing them to the officers,

"Ah wouldn't care if ya wear'em, but regulations and all."

Taking them, Kimba put hers on top on her head and Sable took his hat off, putting it in his coat pocket, and he replaced it with the hard hat. After, the ape led them across the mostly open area, still in various stages of construction with exposed beams and steel girders all around, the floor they walked on being just temporary for the time being while the structure was being built. All around them the sound of loud banging and power tools could be heard as the workers made steady progress.

After a minute or tow, they approached a small group working in one area, one in particular, a large bear hybrid, was crouched down in full welding gear, welding a section of girder while the others observed or got things ready for him. The foreman made a loud whistle and all the people in that area turned their heads, except for the welder who continued to work, which angered the ape,

"You too, Bryan, dis is important." He called out, the bear looking up; raising his mask to with a look of annoyance, but then saw the two with his boss, more importantly noticing the uniform on the lioness. Standing up, he took his mask off, setting it to the side, the bear walked over with the others to listen to what the boss had to say.

"Ahight everyone, dese two here are officers and need ta ask you all some questions, and I want you at answer dem as truthful as possible." The foreman started before crossing his arms,

"And if Ah find out dat you didn't, yer asses will be out on the street, you got me?"

The group nodded their heads as Sable stepped forward,

"If you don't mind, we'd like to talk to them alone."

"Not a chance, anyone on mah site has ta be supervised at all times." The ape retorted, but the detective stood his ground,

"With all due respect sir, I need them to be honest on their own right, not intimated into doing so, they could give false statements otherwise."

"Come on Bill, let the man do his job, we'll keep an eye on'em." The bear spoke up, the ape shooting him a quick glare before turning back to the human,

"Ahight, ah'll leave, but you had better do da same when yer done, clear?"

"Scout's honor." Sable said mockingly holding up too fingers, and the foreman just sneered before turning to walk off, leaving to two alone with the workers.

Sable turned his attention to the group in from of him taking note of each of them, three hybrids of different species and four humans, and of the whole group, there was six males and one female, the woman being a wolf hybrid.

Just then, the bear walked up with his arms crossed, his large statue making anyone seem like a child including Sable, who he looked down at.

"Well, what do you have to ask us?" He towered over the two, Kimba slightly stepping away from the intimidating presence but Sable wasn't phased as he addressed the hybrid,

"Well, I see you're the head honcho around this area." He held his hand out to the bear,

"Bryan was it, Sable Crosshairs and this is my partner, Kimba Shortmain, we're here to ask about one of your fellow coworkers."

The bear looked down at the human's hand for a moment, and then with a smirk, he reached out and grabbed it and gives Sable a firm hand shake,

"Yeah, nice to meet ya, and let me guess, it's about Johnny?"

Sable put his hands in his pockets, surprised the hybrid was able to catch on so fast,

"Well yeah, is it that obvious?" He asked, but Bryan just shrugged,

"Well he didn't come in without any notice, so that was kinda odd." The bear responded crossing his arms,

"So what do ya wanna know?"

"First off, did Jonathan ever say anything that might point to his sudden absence?" Sable started, but Bryan just shook his head,

"Not really, stayed to himself mostly, only spoke up when he needed something." He then turned to the rest of the group,

"He say anything to you guys?" He asked but they shook their head as well. Sable stood there in thought for a moment before continuing,

"Tell me, what was Jonathan's job around here, what did he do with you guys?"

"He was a welder, a damn good one at that, would really hate he's gotten himself in trouble, what'd he do, not pay a ticket or somethin'?"

"Well, I'm afraid it's a bit more complicated than that." Sable replied before looking over to were Bryan was working,

"But before we go any further, mind showing us what he did?" He asked and the bear looked at him in curiosity,

"Um, yeah sure." He agreed, motioning them over to the girder he was working on,

"He mainly did the majority of the weldin', layin' down bead and cleaned up when ever he messed up, which was very seldom, I mainly just supervised and helped when he needed it." He then picked up a pair of tinned goggles and handed them to the detective,

"Sorry, this is the only pair I got, your lady friend will have to look away unless she wants the get blinded." Sable took them and turned to his partner with a smirk,

"Sorry Kimmy." She just rolled her eyes and turned her head, she didn't even know way the human wanted to see this, it didn't even pertain to the case, but she let him have his fun.

Sable put on the goggles and tried looking around, but it was like looking into a dark void,

"Huh, can't really see anything out of these can you?" He stated and Bryan just chuckled as he grabbed the top of the human's helmet and directed his sight towards the place where the bear would be welding,

"That's kinda the point, but don't worry, you'll see somethin' soon enough." Bryan said before picking up the arch welder that he was using before, and then flipped down his mask. With the detective looking on, the hybrid knelt down, activating the welder and touching to the girder, and a flurry of sparks erupted from it. A few seconds later, the sparks stopped and Bryan signaled for the human to take his goggles off, when Sable did, he saw the bead that the bear made on the joint he welded,

"Well, that looks pretty good." Sable stated looking at not knowing whether it was good or not and Bryan just chuckled,

"Yeah well, it's not the best ever, but it gets the job done." The hybrid replied, putting a hand on the human's shoulder,

"You mind if I give it a shot?" Sable asked, glancing up at Bryan who proceeded to laugh out loud along with the other workers around them,

"Boy, you have no idea how much trainin' to takes to even become a decent welder, I've only seen one person able to just pick this welder up use it like it was second nature."

"And who was that?" Sable asked with a raised brow.

"It just so happens to be the man you came here askin' about, Jonathan Moon." Bryan said as he put the welder back down and turned back to the two officers.

"So I guess no having him here puts a damper on things, doesn't it?" Kimba spoke up and Bryan smirked some at her comment,

"I mean, I can handle the work load, but like I said before, he's the best we got." He then looked at Sable,

"So let me, you're not here just first shits, what's Johnny gotten himself into?"

Sable then looked to the rest of the workers then back to Bryan,

"If you don't mind, could we go somewhere more private?"

"Bryan raised his brow then looked to the rest of the workers,

"Hey, you guys get back to work; Bill's probably pullin' his hair out that we're bein' down this long."

The bear then motioned his head for the two follow him, and they towards a vacant part of the construction site and Bryan stood before them with his arms crossed,

"So, what is it?" He demanded, starring them both down, and Sable just glanced over to Kimba, who was being very timid wither ears folded back, then he looked back to Bryan with a sigh,

"Well, there was a body found this morning and we believe it may have been his."

It was then that the hybrid's expression changed, his hard eyes softened and his mouth opened a bit while Sable continued,

"From what we've gotten so far, we believe he was murdered, but for what reason, we don't know yet, that's why we're here." Bryan stood there in silence for a moment trying to comprehend what he was just told,

"I...I don't know what to say, I just saw the guy yesterday and... I know he was married with a kid but... who would do somethin' like that, he was so harmless."

"That's what we're trying to find out, and if there's anything you can tell us that he might have said or done that could have hinted for this happening."

"No, like I said, Johnny kept to himself a lot." Bryan responded making Sable have a look if disappointment, he was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get a reason for the killing.
"He was being cheated on." A voice suddenly spoke up, the three looking to see where it came from. Out from behind a large vertical girder walked a male hybrid, a weasel.
"Clyde this is a serious matter, don't be goin' spreading rumors, and thought told you to get back to work?"

"What can I say, things like this makes one curious." Clyde responded, approaching them,

"And it ain't a rumor, he told me himself."

Sable turned to face the hybrid, keeping a skeptical mind to what he was saying,

"Is that so, well I just spoke to his wife not too long ago, and she told me that they had a happy relationship." The weasel laughed at that comment,

"Don't tell me you're that gullible, mister detective, I thought people like you were supposed to be know-it-alls?"

"Well we are, but only when we know all the facts." Kimba replied, wanting to take up for her partner, but Sable decided to humor the hybrid,

"When did Mr. Moon tell you this, and why only you and nobody else?"

"Last week, told me he came home the night before and found a red scale in their bed."

"A red scale?" Sable asked, that bit of information taking his interest,

"Yeah, he even showed it to me, it was about this big." Clyde held his hand up, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart,

"But as to why he told me this, beats the shit out of me, we talked on an occasion, but I really know him that well."

"I see." Sable thought to himself for a moment, too bad he didn't have the scale he found in the ally, he may need to come back later with it.

"And you didn't think to tell anyone about this?" Kimba questioned, thinking it odd that he would keep such information to himself.

"What can I say, a man's business is his own, and I didn't think it would go this far." Clyde replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"But if you'll excuse me, I gotta get back to work before boss chews my ass out again." He said before walking off, Bryan giving him a leery eye then looking to Sable,

"Well, you believe him?"

"Don't know yet." The human replied, turning to him,

"Thank you for your time, we've been in your hair long enough, we'll be on our way." He motioned Kimba to follow as he took the hard hat off his head, replacing it with his hat then started to make his way out of the construction site.

"Hope you catch your killer, Mr. Crosshairs." Bryan called out as they left,

"I do too." Sable said to himself, him and Kimba walking out of the building and to his car outside the gate.

"Well, what do you think?" Kimba asked, opening the passenger side door and climbing in, but Sable just sighed,

"Like I said, don't know." He said, turning the vehicle on, and then taking a look at his watch,

"It's getting late, I'll drive you home, I need to digest this some on my own."

With that, they drove off, with the first day of the case done; there were many questions answered, but many more taking their place. The biggest of them all was Samantha Moon really holding back more than she was letting on, that would be something that would have to wait until tomorrow.