Jake wasn't assigned to the Aveline case.  So he felt at ease sitting outside the club where Aveline had his argument with another patron.  He was tempted to camp out at that table and watch the comings and goings of the club.  The detectives on the case had gotten nothing from the owner. How could the owner not know the other patron's name, given that he was supposed to be a regular?<br/><br/>He didn't know what Erica's involvement was, other than that Aveline was a big contributor to the city library that she was head librarian of.  But for a librarian, she seemed to be waaaay too informed about the sleazy underbelly of the city.  Not that she hadn't been a help in solving some important cases for Jake.  But he liked giving credit where credit was due when breaking a case wide open.  Erica was a stickler though that he take all the credit for any case she helped solve.  That and her secretive sources of information didn't always set well with him.<br/><br/>Jake decided to pay the bill and leave.  The bartender was giving him the eye.  Not the kind of attention he wanted when investigating another detective's case.  If Erica was involved, he needed to find out how.  Which meant he might have to go behind the backs of the detectives assigned to the case.<br/><br/>**********<br/><br/>Vincent Diaz might not have recognized her, but Erica knew him when she passed him.  She made it a point of knowing the major figures of the Cerberus Syndicate.  As a lone witch outside of the Hallowed Society, she couldn't afford not to know potential enemies.  She'd always found the conflicts between witches and werewolves a silly waste of time.  Supernaturals needed to stick together.  But the conflicts had been going on longer than she'd been alive.  So she learned about the major players on both sides, then tried to stay out of their way.  Which was why she ignored him as she passed him by, showing no recognition whatsoever.  But she did glance over her shoulder at him just as he entered the Crescent.<br/><br/>Jake noticed him as well, but showed no recognition.  But that was understandable.  She had never spoken to him about the supernatural beings in the city.  As far as he was concerned, she was just a well-informed librarian.<br/><br/>When two men argue with each other and it turns violent, DNA is bound to be exchanged.  So why none in the Aveline case?  The killing had to be of a magical sort, with the wolf DNA there to confuse either the cops, the Hallowed Society, or Cerberus.  Or all the above.<br/><br/>On the other hand, could wolf DNA be the same as werewolf DNA?  It wasn't like there were articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association concerning werewolf DNA.  She wished she could see the body.  She had friends in high places in the city government, but even they would raise eyebrows if she asked to examine a badly mangled body in the city morgue.  She could claim to be a close friend who needed to see for herself that he was dead.  No, that wouldn't work.  Not only would it draw questions about her relationship to Aveline, but it could draw undesirable interest from the killer.<br/><br/>She had a familiar.  A raven by the name of Nevermore (her tribute to Edgar Allen Poe).  Erica had a special connection with her raven.  What Nevermore saw, she saw.  He was her eyes in the sky who could go places she couldn't.  Perhaps Nevermore could find a window open in the morgue and have a look at the body.  But if the body was in one of the refrigerated compartments, he'd be out of luck.  Still, it might be worth sending him out to scout the morgue.  It also might be worth sending him out to place small wireless cameras in the trees or on surrounding buildings to watch the Crescent.  Something was going on there, so she needed to have eyes on the place.<br/><br/>Perhaps it was time to sit down in front of the crystal and do some scrying.  Maybe seeing the future resulting from this murder would clarify who had the most to gain from Aveline's death.