Bad Moon Rising

Elliot was sitting at his desk. It seemed to be his second home these days. It was now 11 PM and he was still pouring over crime scene photos from earlier that day. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and closed his eyes tightly. Studying these pictures by a crappy desk lamp was giving him a headache.

    "Why in the hell are you still here Stabler?" said a voice from behind him.

He turned to see Julie standing in the doorway. Her grey t shirt tucked in to the place on her jeans where she wore her badge. He smiled and leaned back in his chair.

    "I thought you went home."

Julie walked towards his desk and sat on the edge, her dark red hair falling around her face.

    "Yeah well I figured leaving my new partner here to do all the work is a great way to make you hate me so I went out, got some coffee and now I'm back. Are those the crime scene photos?"

She picked up two pictures of the body Elliot had been looking at. The poor girl had been chewed up. Whatever had attacked her had pretty much ripped her throat out. Julie figured by the markings whatever did that was an animal but the gunshot to the heart was what killed her.

    "You see these slash marks here on her neck?" Julie said rounding Elliot's chair and leaning over his shoulder.

Elliot could smell her perfume. Light and slightly sweet. He could feel her breasts against his back and she leaned against him.

    "Those look like wolf teeth."

    "You can tell that just by looking at this picture?"

    "Yeah, back in Washington when I was growing up I worked at a wolf sanctuary. I would see bites like this all the time on the rabbits and deer they would kill....although these teeth are much bigger than an average wolf would have."

Elliot thought for a moment. She was smart and she had a keen eye. He recalled her pointing out things at the crime scene today that he would have missed.

    "Hey, I can't work in this place at night, wanna maybe go to the pub down the street and grab a drink? We are technically off duty after all. Bring the file. I will buy you a shot." she said as she grabbed her leather jacket off her chair.

Elliot didn't really have time to think about his answer. He grabbed his jacket and the file and hurried after her.