The phone vibrated like a small animal trapped under the mattress. Brendon woke with it buzzing in his palm, eyes clamped shut against the harsh gray of morning light pooling at the edge of the blinds. For a second the world made sense in sleep: the slow rotating fan, the low hum of the laundromat below, the thin curl of yesterday's cigarette ash in the tray. Then the ring cut through and everything snapped awake.
He blinked the sleep from his eyes and saw 99 missed calls from two individuals, majorly and a string of messages: Sofie. Robert. A single, loud text from Robert pulsed at the top of the thread — capital letters, no punctuation in between.
LOOK INTO DIGITAL NEWS PORTALS. THINGS HAVE GONE OUT OF HAND. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!
Brendon pushed himself upright on the couch, the cushions exhaling the ghost of a night's rest. He thumbed his phone open. Notifications crowded the screen. Sofie: urgent. Chief: office. Judith: come in when you can.
He tapped the news app out of habit more than hope, fingers still slow from sleep. The headline bled across the feed in black, relentless font: WOLF AT DRAGO'S — SHERIFF CAUGHT VISITING CRIMINAL LAIR? and a flicker of video under it.
Anu Nair's face filled his screen before the video could finish loading. The Indian lamb anthro's voice — sharp, polished, practiced for camera — cut across his private room like a bell.
"—and here we have shocking footage that has just surfaced showing Sheriff Brendon Wolf entering Drago's warehouse late last night. What was the sheriff doing in a known criminal den? Sources say Drago has been under investigation for years, and now the town's vital law-enforcement officer is seen consorting with the underworld. We tried to reach the mayor's office—"
The clip stuttered and then hit him. A shaky phone-held camera, a dark figure slipping through the broken doors of the warehouse. The angle was low, the camera hand trembled — someone had filmed him. The man behind the lens laughed softly, a sound cut into the feed. The timestamp rolled across the frame.
But who can it be?
There was no mistaking his coat, the way it hung on his shoulders, the curve of his silhouette. He watched himself on the screen: a tired, human-like silhouette walking past rusted crates and entering the maw of a place the town whispered about at diner tables. The caption below the video called it "proof."
Below Anu's report was a chorus of commentary — outrage, disbelief, finger-point memes, and, worst of all, the fast, predictable consensus that a wolf had crossed a line no official should have crossed. The comments were brutal and gleeful in equal measure.
He scrolled, heart lodged in his throat. He could see the pattern unspool like an old wound: Ninja Fox had told him to be careful, to let Camelia poke administrative veins, to pull at the threads. He had thought he could dance in the dark and keep his feet clean. He had been arrogant enough to believe he could keep the stations of light and shadow separated. Now the phone camera had recorded him walking into the dark.
Another message from Sofie popped up, private: "Someone mirrored the DRAGO footage to multiple portals. It's going viral. Anu Nair has political access; this will land in the mayor's feed in ten minutes. I'm trying to see who uploaded the original. We might be able to track the source but it's mirrored off dead servers. We're being roasted."
He thumbed out a reply — terse, professional — then packed the folder with Elena's portrait and shoved it under his jacket like ballast. He had to get to the station before the town tore itself into rumor.
Outside the air was the kind of cold that felt like judgment. He could already imagine the mayor's face, the way Guerieo's smile tightened into a blade. It had been only a matter of time before someone used the footage to cut. Once an image had been burned into the public's mind — wolf in corruption, wolf in league with villains — the narratives would line up for any politician who needed fresh savagery to tame with a leash.
---
By the time he reached the station the plaza was — predictably — chaotic. Cameras dotted tripods on the sidewalk. Reporters clustered at the steps throwing questions like hunks of meat. A live feed token flickered above the station's doors: ANU NAIR LIVE — WOLF UNDER SCANDAL. Two ambulances idled with paramedics who weren't needed; they were props for the broadcast. The mayor's press office had already sent an envoy — someone with a pressed suit and the practiced expression of someone who'd come to collect a scalp.
Chief Tyson met him at the foot of the stairs with the stiffness of a person who had been forced to walk into a tribunal. The chief's eyes were gaunt; the exhaustion cut harsh lines along his temple.
Tyson said, not a greeting. "Mayor has requested — demanded — a personal briefing. He's in the Council Chambers. Now."
Brendon's fingers tightened around the file. "Uhh... okay. Give me five minutes," he said. "Let me explain."
Tyson's jaw worked. "There's nothing for you to explain, Wolf. You walk into a known crime nexus and then—"
"That video was cropped," Brendon said. "There's a context. You need to understand."
"Context doesn't matter right now, Brendon." The chief's voice had cracked, thin with the knowledge of what was coming. "The mayor wants you removed from duty pending investigation. He wants a public statement on the department's stance. He has called internal affairs. He wants you in cuffs. He wants an arrest. He is—" Tyson's voice collapsed into a strangled exhale. "—he's not going to be reasonable."
There was a distant, muffled sound like a wave breaking: Anu Nair, live on cameras, narrating the moment. "—Mayor Guerieo released a statement, demanding full cooperation from the Ridgecliff PD. He has ordered an immediate suspension of the sheriff pending an internal probe. Statements to follow."
Brendon felt the room tilt. He didn't like being in the spotlight except when he could choose the angle. He had always been the man who could slink among angles and still get a thing done. Now angles were being cut in public, and his own image was the blade.