Dragons are heavy sleepers as it is, and Spike was certainly no exception to that rule. In his little bed at the food of an even larger, pony sized bed he slept without a care in the world. That is, careless until the entity in the other room answered the phone and slammed it down only to come bounding into the room. “Spike!” a dainty, feminine and transatlantic voice commanded, “Wake up!” A paper ball came flying through the air and pelted him right on the head, to which he only responded by rolling over and pulling the sheets over his wounded cranium. “Oh no, now that won’t do,” the voice continued and then pulled the sheets off of him. “Come on Spike!” a magical aura formed around the dragon’s pillow and pulled it out from under his head, only so it could be used as a weapon against him. “We have…” he took one whack to the head, “to go…” another whack, “Now!” He took one final hard whack to the head, which finally woke him with a start.
“Alright! Alright already!” He swatted at the pillow and rubbed his eyes, “I’m up!” He crawled, rather, fell out of the bed and righted himself. “W-what’s going on Rarity?” He looked up with tired eyes at the white unicorn mare in front of him.
“Don’t dawdle Spike!” she made one last command before she darted away from him and went to the pair of desks in the adjacent corner of the room. “You’ll never guess who that was!” She started to rummage around inside of the drawers on her desk.
“I dunno,” Spike replied as he moped over to his smaller desk. “Who was it?”
“An officer of the LPPD no less. He informed me that they need my, our help with a case!” Her excitement was palpable. Police cases always brought an especially popular reputation along with even more business, on top of a more-than-generous paycheck. Not to mention the fact that it afforded her to do something interesting outside of the pile of trivial cases that flooded her desktop.
“What’s so important that they can’t handle?” Spike shrugged at the opportunity as he climbed tiredly into his seat and began to gather his own materials. Notepad, pencil and all, he inspected them tiredly and shoved them into the dark brown suit coat that hung from the coatrack kitty-corner between the two desks.
“I’m not quite sure,” Rarity wagged her hoof in the air, “but they did say it involved a body, and I believe it may be something big because Shining Star asked for me personally.”
Spike snapped awake, “Whoa! Now you’ve got my attention! An actual murder?” He never got to go along on any of the cool cases like that, but this time it sounded different.
“Indeed! They promised to fill us in on the details when we get there, so… hurry up!”
“Alright, alright. Don’t get overexcited,” Spike commented as he grasped his fedora hat and coat, “I’m going as fast as I can. But eh…” he stopped with his coat pulled on arm to ponder, “I do have one question for you though.”
“Yes dear?” Rarity asked as she pulled on her signature outfit and secured it beneath her body. She observed herself in the mirror, and then smiled at her professional, yet glamorous trademark appearance. Like its wearer, it was so glamorous and trademark in fact that rumors started to circulate that a novel and comic book character based on her and her outfit, named “Shadow Spade” or some other. She wasn’t sure about all of that, but it certainly was a nice touch. “Speaking of nice touches,” she whispered to herself and then fluffed her mane out and placed her matching dark colored fedora atop her head, dark pink bow to the right and on the rear of it, as always.
“Just who exactly is ‘Shining Star’?”
Rarity smiled fondly and then replied, “He’s an old friend. We were in the police academy together,” she used her magic to levitate a dusty photo frame up from the top drawer in her desk and held it up for the both of them to observe. In it was pictured an orderly line of police recruits that were fresh out of the academy; a large banner behind them read: Congratulations Las Pegasus Police Department Recruits! Class of 1933. “We worked together for a short time, but…” she sighed, “Alas, he decided that the life of a private eye wasn’t the one for him. Decided he would rather do traditional police work like hauling in drunks and drafting up traffic reports rather than actually solve crimes.”
“Yikes. Somepony sounds a little upset.”
“Of course not!” Rarity was quick to defend, “His choice was his choice. It’s just… I’m sad to have lost such a good member of the team, and such a good friend too.” She placed the photo frame back into the drawer and closed it gently back. “But I thought that I had told you about him?”
Spike shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. “News to me.”
“Well then, my apologies. We sort of… lost contact over the years, but I’ll ask him for favors occasionally, none of which he ever grants, and he’ll come crawling to me for help every now and again.” Spike gave her a rather confused look, to which she responded by giggling and saying, “What? I’m not saying I don’t enjoy it. It’s just not your typical friendship… but it works.” She cleared her throat, observed herself in the mirror one last time and then finished, “Come now! We haven’t the time to sit around.” She galloped for the door but stopped abruptly before she reached it. “Are you sure you’re up for this, darling? You didn’t exactly handle that last little nasty case we got too well.”
Spike joined her by the door and replied sincerely, “Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself, and my stomach,” he patted at his gut, “besides, it wouldn’t be the first dead body I’ve seen.”
“No, it would only be the second.”
“Yeah? So?”
“The first one was a dog, Spike, this is a pony. Well… was a pony, from the sound of it.” She shook her head a few times, “Remember? That case with the crazy pony who kept poisoning animals? I let you come look at one of the crime scenes?” She tilted her hat so that it would be a little more centered and then concluded, “This isn’t my first rodeo with the LPPD and one of their ‘stiffs’, Spike, so I’ll more than understand and be more than capable on my own if you want to sit this one out. It’s your call, my dear.”
Spike shuddered at the thought of being up close and personal to a dead pony’s body, but he was sure he could handle it. He had to handle it, if not for himself then for Rarity. “No way, I’m not going to chicken out. Besides, if I didn’t come, who’d be there to help you take notes?”
“That’s very brave of you Spike,” she smiled gently at him and nudged him playfully. “Come, come now, we really haven’t a moment to lose. Valuable evidence is depending on it.” She lifted him up with her magic and placed him upon her back, and then, without the slightest notice, took off at full speed out the door and down the hallway while Spike was left to hold on for dear life. She bounded down the flights of stairs in the grand apartment building and didn’t slow her pace even when she burst through the front door and almost downed two or three passersby. In typical LP fashion, the disgruntled ponies merely shouted after her, waved a balled up hoof in the air, and then continued about their day. However, after this isolated incident, the demeanor of the populace soon changed drastically as she charged forward into the bustling metropolis. It always did when they saw her.
Gasps erupted, the amount of excited chatter grew, and many stopped and turned their heads just to see if they could catch a glimpse of the renowned detective that they were sure they just saw run past them. Maybe they had read about the mysterious private eye in the papers, or perhaps she had even solved a case for them. Either way, Rarity had made quite a name for herself in the time she had been active in Las Pegasus; practically her entire life, and things only escalated when she attended and graduated the police academy. No longer was she a young wannabe detective with a decent reputation and no credentials. Instead, she was now a true blue private detective with a famous reputation or, if you were a criminal, infamous, and a slew of credentials that ranged from her beloved police academy graduation certificate all the way up to a small number of royal endorsements (investigations for the Canterlot Embassy in Las Pegasus among other things). Indeed, it could be said that Rarity possessed a gift for uncovering the clues which so often seemed to slip through the hooves of others. She thought often of this gift she possessed, albeit humbly, and of the personal rewards that it had bestowed upon her, sometimes so intently that she would begin to question it. However, as she charged onwards towards the crime scene, she knew that there wasn’t even a millisecond available to doubt or question herself. Justice cried out for somepony on that morning, and she was the mare called upon to answer that cry.
After what seemed like an eternity of running, even though it had been only a mile or so, Rarity found herself to be at the provided location of the crime. As she closed in on it, and slowed her gallop first to a trot, and then to a walk, she was surprised that she had not noticed it from her apartment building, as there was quite a commotion stirred up. Experience told her that whatever, or rather whoever, laid on the other side of that yellow tape, now only a few yards from herself, it was sure to be a grisly sight. The police couldn’t control everything on a scene, and there was always that one quiet pedestrian who was able to slip through the cracks, catch a glimpse of the secret that was being guarded, and then look dumbfounded and innocent enough when he or she got caught. Sometimes even, it would be the police themselves that provided this information to the curious crowd-goers, but only in exchange for a few bits, of course. Rarity knew how it worked. It was like she had told Spike; it wasn’t her first rodeo. Either way, she knew she didn’t have the time to stand there and assess the crowd or all of the flaws in the police perimeter that they were trying to exploit. She had a job to do.
Like a serpent after its prey, Rarity began to slither into the crowd and advance towards her goal that was the yellow tape. As she walked steadily and calmly onwards, her eyes darted about and scanned the faces and mannerisms of the ponies that surrounded her; she judged them quietly, patiently. “Are you alright Spike?” she eventually asked her assistant and pulled her eyes off of them long enough to look up at him.
“I’m…” he was nudged about by the packed crowd, “I’m fine.” He smiled at her as if to insist that she press onwards. Would he be fine after he saw what was on the other side though?
So press on she did. Finally, she and her dragon assistant approached the yellow do not cross line. A stern, albeit young, police colt glanced at her with little interest. “Sorry madam,” he didn’t even look at her at that point, but scanned the crowd instead, “police personnel only. You’ll have to turn around.” He was clearly a rookie. If his arrogance or lack of stripes and pins on his uniform didn’t tell her that, then the simple fact that he didn’t recognize her did. They would all come to know of her at some point or another.
Unfazed, Rarity merely cleared her throat. She coolly and rather cockily answered, “While I’m certainly not a member of police personnel, I do have the clearance to be behind that line Officer Hayes.” She noted his nameplate.
“Oh is that right?” the police officer took on a smug, hostile tone, “on whose orders lady?” He finished scanning the crowd one more time and then looked at the dainty mare and what he assumed to be her adopted dragon son. He snidely smiled and waited for what was sure to be an amusing answer. It had been a long day so some amusement would be welcome.
“Captain Shining Star,” Rarity replied calmly, still with that cocky tone she’d perfected. With that, she removed her trademark fedora just long enough to fully reveal her face and then locked eyes with the police colt. “And ‘Rarity’ will suffice, thank you.”
The startled officer let out a gasp and stuttered, rather loudly, “M-Miss Rarity! My apologies!” A bit of a hush came over the crowd, particularly at the front of the line where she stood. The ponies to her sides and flanks began to excitedly whisper, and it was only a matter of time before the reporters turned their cameras on her and bombarded her and Spike with bright flashes. Just before they could close in on her to get better pictures and start to ask for comments, the police officer used his magic to lift up the line to allow her under and called over two burly officers to block the flashing cameras and excited reporters. “Right this way ma’am,” he said, and then began a brisk walk towards the dark alley. He stopped abruptly though, and Rarity would have bumped into him if not for her catlike reflexes. He turned to face her and then shot a glance up at Spike. “Er… ma’am,” he started slowly, “with all due respect, perhaps it would be best if the er… dragon… stayed here.”
Spike opened his mouth to object, but was beaten to response by Rarity. “What do you say Spike? This is your last chance to turn back.”
The small dragon looked down the dark and dank alleyway. It looked sinister, and the three tall shadows that surrounded a flat, unmoving shadow at their hooves only seemed to add to the dreadful feeling that he got from it all. Suddenly, it all looked like a scary scene from one of his favorite comic books. He gulped as he thought for a split-second about what his final answer really would be. He had already decided that he was going to do this for Rarity, and there was no way that he was going to back out from it now that he was this far in. He nodded his head at her and said, “I’m in.”
Rarity took his answer in faith, and she locked her intent eyes with those of the police officer. “He’s with me.” She nodded her head to reinforce her point. After a moment or two of hesitation from the officer, he turned without a word and continued to lead the duo down into the alleyway.
As she followed him, Rarity scanned the walls, the ground, and the greasy trash bins for anything that might give her an initial clue. She was so intent on her search, in fact, that the smell nearly gagged her when she actually smelt it. “Spike…” she held back a gag, “take a note.” While one hand pinched his nostrils, Spike reached into one of her saddlebags with the other. From it, he pulled a notebook out, slid the ink pen out of its metal rings, and then looked down at Rarity for further instruction. As if she was speaking to one of those new tape recorders, Rarity conveyed her observations aloud. “Initial scent upon entry of the crime scene suggests that the body is in an advanced state of decomposition, indicating that death could have been anywhere between twenty-four and seventy-two hours ago, possibly more. Scent also suggests that bodily fluid is exposed and there are open wounds on the body. Need to confirm both visually and with coroner.” She finished speaking, and with a gulp, Spike noted the last few words of her statement and then clicked the pen.
It didn’t take long until the trio reached the location where the body was laid out. Correct in her assumption, Rarity took note of the blood that splattered the ground around the perimeter of body and took the greatest care not to step in it. They came to a stop at a decent length of the body, and then the officer that had escorted him cleared his throat. “Captain Star!” he announced, “Sir, the party you requested has arrived.” He then nodded his head politely, though briskly, at Spike and Rarity and turned to walk away. The scene made him sick to his stomach, and he didn’t want to spend any more time in that alley than he absolutely had to. Rarity observed the scene further and gathered her initial observations in her mind, while Spike clung tightly to her and couldn’t help but stare at the blanketed mass ahead of him.
A group of three individuals surrounded the covered body on the ground. The most central figure, a stallion in uniform, had been rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he stared at the scene before him, apparently deep in thought. He stopped rubbing his chin and ceased his deep thought to look ahead and see Detective Rarity with Spike atop her back; the other two figures, one also a uniformed LPPD officer, and the other a serious looking stallion in a suit, merely looked at her for a few seconds and resumed their previous tasks.
It had been a long, grim day, and though these circumstances persisted against him, Shining Star couldn’t help but let a grin spread across his face. He clung to the wall so as not to disturb the scene and then crossed the way so that he could get a better look at his old friend and the famous Detective Rarity. “Miss Detective Rarity,” he recalled her name fondly and came to a stop in front of her, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you face to face. I was beginning to think I might never see my old partner again.” He smiled gently at her.
“Indeed,” she replied softly and smiled gently back at him. She was quick to revert back to her cocky tone though, “I assure you Mister Star, I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
Star let out a small chuckle and then the two became silent for a few moments. He cleared his throat, glanced back at the body, and then placed one hoof up on his service belt. “I don’t know where to begin Rarity,” he started, “I’m sorry for not talking to you after all this time and I’m sorry that I had to call you on such short notice. I guess that’s a good place to start?”
“You weren’t the one who actually called me either darling, don’t forget that,” Rarity commented.
“You aren’t helping.” He sighed and rubbed his forehead, “Oh Celestia, you haven’t changed a bit,” he commented under his breath, just loud enough for her to hear. “Bottom line, I’m sorry that it happened like it did, but I just didn’t know who else to turn to. The department detectives are all tied up, not that they’d care anyway, and I don’t have any more resources to pull.”
“You don’t have any more ‘resources to pull’? You’re a Captain for goodness sake.” It didn’t surprise her in the least, and she didn’t hope to gain anything from it, but she just liked poking at Star and at what she felt was an incompetent police department.
He leaned into and whispered into her ear, not the answer to the question that he had dodged, but an ominous statement. “Listen carefully. There are certain… aspects of this scene that I feel are important. To you, to me, to these officers, and to the ponies out there, but especially important to me and especially appealing to you.” He backed away from her but kept his tone hushed, “This one doesn’t need to be shoved to the back of a file or lost under a stack of papers. It can’t be. I think…” he hesitated and lowered his tone so that it was then almost inaudible, “if you’ve done your homework, and you still have your eye for details, you’ll figure it out.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but could only manage, “Now darling, for fairness sake I-” before Star placed his hoof gently atop her lips and silenced her. She blushed deeply and looked down at it, and then up at him.
He seemed to not notice and then put his hoof down. “Try not to take offense to that,” he sighed with a little frustration, “Look, I’ve just got a feeling that this could be something big.”
A million thoughts began to race through Rarity’s mind at once. It was a lot for her to process on such short notice. She had expected a murder, of course, but certainly nothing of this caliber. What was Star hiding from her? Why was he being so secretive? It seemed to be that whatever he was hiding was big, very big, and that could mean endless possibilities for herself and for the good ponies of Las Pegasus if she was successful in her endeavors. However, the territory that one must tread to reap these possibilities was treacherous, to say the least. To take on and actually solve a case of this apparent magnitude would push Rarity up to the tip top and make her the go-to detective, however, it would very likely mean having to place herself as well as her precious assistant, Spike, in harm’s way… possibly. Not to mention, there were the mental implications of it all; the clues and the emotions that could force her awake in the night, drenched in a cold sweat. She had taken on homicides before, her fair share, but nothing this seemingly large; nothing under this much apparent scrutiny. Rarity surveyed the general scene ahead of her, officers and all, and made her decision. This poor soul, and the city of Las Pegasus too, needed justice, and the LPPD was not in a position to provide for that need so she must take it upon herself.
“You must’ve forgotten that I worked in the detective bureau myself for a few years,” Shining Star commented, “I can tell you’re in deep thought, and you rightfully should be. I know I am.” He then sighed and concluded, “I don’t know what to say Rarity, Detective Rarity. We need you. I’m at a loss, and my officers are at a loss, and we’ve only been here for a quarter of an hour. So… what do you say? Will you do the department this favor?"
Rarity nodded, “I’ll take the case.” She extended her hoof to shake his, only to retract it quickly when he reached for her. “However, you owe me an explanation and I’m afraid I must insist that you offer it up the moment we set foot somewhere you want to offer it up. Coroner’s office, the lunch room in the department, I don’t care where. I know you though Shining, and I know you’re not telling me everything.” She finished stating her brazen demands and extended her hoof once more.
“Agreed,” Star replied. A smile spread across his face. Rarity truly hadn’t changed in the least, and with a brief glimmer of hope, the mere sight of her told him that she would solve the case if it was little or, as he planned to if it was big, toss her off of the case for her own protection. He stopped his ogling with a shake of the head and once again cleared his throat. “I would love to stay and chat, but I’ve got to explain myself to high command and afterwards ensure that the coroner makes immediate room for our victim. You, on the other hoof, have an investigation to conduct. That officer over there,” he turned and pointed, “was one of the first on scene, and that capable young stallion over there is the assistant coroner. They’ll be able to answer any questions you might have.” He inched away from her, “Also, I’m overestimating the power of my jurisdiction once again and giving you full access to LPPD resources. Records, investigations, officers… you name it, you’ve got it. All you need to do is give me a call, but I’ll be sure to pass word along first thing.” He sighed and rolled his eyes, “Provided they don’t fire me, of course.”
“That’s very kind of you Star. I may have to take you up on that offer very soon, but for the time being let’s see just how much I can get figured out on my own.” Rarity knew that information could be the most devastating weapon in conducting an investigation and confronting suspects, so at least she had that card up her sleeve if she needed to use it. “Now, on with you. Me and Spike have quite a bit of work to do.” With little more to the lukewarm reunion, Rarity turned away from him and walked closer to the actual scene of the crime. It was simply business before pleasure or, as Rarity felt more accurate, business before bitterness.
Shining Star nodded and turned to walk away, but he stopped after only one or two steps. “Oh, and one more thing,” he called back towards her, which prompted her to turn around and look at him. “Good to have you back on board… partner.” With that, he turned briskly around and shot out of the alleyway.
Rarity was a little bit dumbstruck, a little bit flattered, a little bit happy that she finally got to see her old partner in the flesh after all of this time, a little bit agitated, and a little bit tempted to walk back up after him and slap him clean across the face. All of those different emotions lasted for some moments, but nevertheless she knew that she had to put justice first and inner emotion second. Before she advanced forward though, she allowed Spike a few more moments to brace himself, and used her magic to summon her own notebook and pencil. She flipped through the filled pages until she found an empty one and began to scribble down a few personal notes about what she initially experienced as far as sight and scent went. Ever observant, she felt that Officer Shining Star’s actions and words were worth noting, as well as the peculiar fact that this cadaver was apparently to be put at the top of the coroner’s to-do list. “Very interesting…” she muttered to herself as she scribbled down the last part, “very interesting indeed.”
She knew very well that it was police procedure to have an officer of rank present at a homicide investigation, and she couldn’t help but find it strange that the only officer of rank, one Captain Shining Star had left the area. At least he had left as far as she knew. That gut feeling returned that told her old partner knew more than he was letting on and she couldn’t help but question whether or not he really would divulge that information during their meet at the coroner’s office. Eventually though, she pushed those thoughts out of her head entirely and snapped her notebook closed. She knew that she didn’t have the time to dawdle on such trivial concerns. She tucked the notebook back inside of her saddlebag and then advanced forward what few steps it would take to have her right upon the covered remains.
Rarity came to a stop beside the uniformed officer, who had been jotting down notes in his notebook as well, and began to examine the bloodstained white sheet a little more closely. Before she could get too deep into her speculations though, the officer took his eyes off of his notebook and extended his hoof. Rarity shook it as he warmly greeted, “Hello Detective. It’s an honor, truly. Officer Arrow,” he introduced himself and patted his brass nametag, “First officer on scene.” He tucked his notebook inside of his breast pocket and concluded, “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Well,” Rarity sighed slightly as she decided to start from the ground up, “for starters, can you tell me about when and how you first discovered the body? The smallest detail may be of the greatest importance. Spike,” Rarity looked up at her dragon and reminded him, “Notebook at the ready, my dear.”
“R-Right,” he replied. He no longer stared at the sheet, and seemed to have become a little more at ease with the scene, though it was apparent that he wasn’t totally comfortable with the circumstances. Then again, was anyone really “comfortable” under circumstances like that?
“Right you are,” the officer commented and placed one hand on his belt, “Well, it started simply enough. I was making my rounds around the block and when I passed by the entrance down there,” he pointed briefly to the end of the alleyway, “I noticed a group of three males at the end there by the trash cans. Homeless, intoxicated, and probably bothering folks for spare change, but not really worth the time and paperwork for an arrest.”
Rarity’s interested was suddenly piqued. It was very possible at that moment that she may have had her first clue as to who the culprit, or culprits, might be. A mugging gone wrong? Some twisted back alley game gone awry? Though Spike was an excellent and observant note taker, Rarity pulled her own notebook once again and began to scribble in it, just in case he may have missed something. She jotted down what the officer had said and then commented, “Interesting, and understandable. But, please, do continue.” She finished writing.
“I closed in on ‘em and told them to make way, and they did so without putting up too much of a fuss, but it was after that that I had a feeling something was wrong. I noticed the smell first, and it hit me pretty hard because I hadn’t noticed it while confronting the individuals.” He pulled his hat off, “With all due respect Miss Rarity, I’ve stumbled on my fair share of bodes and I could tell that there was somepony or something dead down here. So I advanced down into the alley, and, surely enough, at the darkest corner and in almost plain view was our victim.”
“Concealed?” Rarity asked as she continued to jot down notes.
“Eh, somewhat. She was in the darkest part of the alley, here at the end, and unless you looked really closely at those cans over there, you really wouldn’t have noticed her. Not that the average pony has any business being down a dark and smelly alley anyway.”
“My thoughts exactly. So tell me, Officer Arrow, did anything strike you as peculiar about those three individuals that you found loitering in the alleyway?” Rarity had a feeling that she knew what the answer was going to be, but it never hurt to ask.
“Who? You mean those bums? Nah,” he waved his hoof in the air, “they hang out in places like this all the time. I don’t think they noticed the smell either because, like I said, they were more than a little tipsy and they’re all used to conditions like this. Also, there was no evidence I found to support the claim that the body was looted or disturbed in any way, but hey, you’re the detective here.” He was then quiet for a moment, and glanced over to peek at what Rarity was writing.
“Indeed. Is there anything else?”
“Not that I can think of ma’am. But, Cap says that we’re to cooperate fully with you, and if you’d like, I can issue a priority BOLO for those ponies. I don’t know their names but they’ve been through the system more than a couple of times. Shouldn’t be too hard to find.”
Rarity jotted down a few more notes, as did Spike. “That won’t be necessary. I agree, for now, that they probably aren’t the only ones I’m looking for.” Then, in a sudden move that startled everyone minus herself, Rarity used her magic to pull the white blanket up into the air, toss it aside, and reveal the mangled remains beneath. She held her breath and closed her eyes, disgusted, and Spike placed his hands over his eyes. She took a deep breath, ordered herself to not allow her emotions or guts to get the best of her, and began to slowly circle around the cadaver.
Like an efficient machine, she instantaneously began to scan the body and its injuries and record her findings. “The… amount and type of injuries suggest to me that this is not the common street crime gone bad. In fact,” she leaned in to get a closer look at some of the neck injuries, “I would say that the injuries suggest that whomever murdered this poor mare was likely close to her. Perhaps an enraged family member or friend? Perhaps a scorned lover?” She noted a few things and slowly walked around the body once more. She stopped closed to the assistant coroner, who never took his eyes off of the body once, and introduced herself, “Detective Rarity.” She smiled and briskly shook his hoof, “Do we have a positive ID?”
He smiled back and introduced himself back, “Assistant Coroner Dr. Whooves.” He sighed and nodded his head in answer to her question, “Now we do, yes ma’am. I was the only one gloved, so I was permitted to search her saddlebags there,” he pointed at the dirty accessory items, “and uncovered her wallet. Pictures on her state and work IDs matched. Victim is one Lyra Heartstrings.”
Spike scribbled away, and Rarity looked down at the body silently. She surveyed the mare, so badly bloodstained that she could hardly tell that she had a mint green coat. “Wait here Spike,” Rarity said and then used her magic to slide the dragon off of her back. Careful of where she stepped, she crossed directly over the body and surveyed the remains. Aside from the obvious dismemberment and discoloration, the first thing she noticed were the lacerations on the neck. She peered closer at them and found that they looked to be the result of strangulation caused by bare hooves. “This mare was strangled,” Rarity pointed out, her eyes unwavering, “but is it the cause of death?” She scribbled in her notebook and looked up at the assistant coroner. “Tell me, what do you think?”
“Oh, she was definitely strangled, no doubt about it, but it’s hard to tell. We won’t know until we get her in the lab, but for the moment, the only possible causes of death I can see are strangulation or blunt force trauma. The uh…” he adjusted his tie nervously, “The dismemberment appears to have occurred after death.”
“I see…” Rarity scribbled, “if I may offer some insight, deeper bruising around the neck seems to support the fact that she was strangled first, and beaten second. It seems to me,” Rarity began to pace around the body, “that our killer strangled our victim to incapacitate her, and literally beat the last breaths out of her. Finally, after she’s deceased, he cuts her into pieces. But… why?”
“So like he wanted to expedite the process?” Officer Arrow asked.
“That’s one way to put it,” she answered and glanced at her notebook, “But a more accurate observation would be that he wanted her to suffer.”
“Hm…” the assistant coroner looked intently at her neck and said, “you’re… right. I seemed to have missed that. Your assumption seems to make more sense than anything else does at this point, but I’m just the assistant so…” He backed away from the body and then closed his black leather bag, “If you’re done with her I’ll go ahead and transport her to the morgue.”
“One more moment.” Rarity held up her hoof and then began to survey the location of the body. She peered out at the street ahead and ran her eyes along the ground and walls until they eventually met with the body once more. “Now… this is just an observation, but something doesn’t seem to add up here.” She surveyed the scene one more time, hummed, and placed her hoof on her cheek. “I’ll have to conduct some research, but I don’t believe this to be the actual murder scene. Mr. Whooves?” Rarity turned around to face him directly, “Am I correct in assuming that her nose is broken?”
The good Dr. Whooves nodded and replied, “I’m impressed Miss Rarity. You’re correct. Assuming your theory of how she met her fate is correct, I would say that her face was the attacker’s primary target.”
“Exactly as I thought. There isn’t enough blood splatter to suggest that she was beaten here. If her face was beaten as badly as the bruises suggest, there should be at least a small amount of blood spatter somewhere, shouldn’t there? All the blood we have here isn’t splatter. Just leakage from the remains to put it simply. Hm…” she rubbed her chin, “Are you getting all of this Spike?” She looked over at him.
“Lack of evidence, at least upon initial inspection, that she was beaten here. As such, the scene appears to be nothing more than a dumpsite. That sound about right?” His pen scratched along the notepad at what could be mistaken for Mach speed.
Rarity smiled, “Very good darling.” After that, she was quiet for a moment and appeared to be deep in thought. She stepped back closer to the body and looked down at it for a few more moments. She then said, “You can take her now doctor. I believe I have everything I…” she abruptly stopped. “Hello…” she stepped back closer to the body and moved her face so close to it that only a few feet separated her muzzle from the remains. “This mare’s auricles are torn.” She pulled her magnifying glass out to ensure that her eyes weren’t lying to her and held the clear glass over the uppermost ear. There, within the glass’ view, as clear as could be, was a deep, hairline tear that ran from the midway point on her ear up and clean out the top; her ears, at least from the midpoint up, were practically cut in half.
Dr. Hooves and Officer Arrow flanked Rarity and leaned in for a look at her ears themselves. She moved the magnifying glass to look at her left ear, the closest to the ground, only to find the exact same thing. They all pulled their heads back, almost simultaneously, and the two stallions stepped back out of the way. “Forcibly removed earrings,” Dr. Whooves commented, “very interesting. So you think this was a robbery?”
“I can’t be too sure at this moment in time,” she replied, “but I believe it’s highly unlikely. Street robberies and thefts rarely escalate to this level of brutality, even if the victim fights back. Even if they do, there’s still the question of why she’d be dismembered.”
“That’s true,” Officer Arrow commented, “Practically every mugging I’ve seen in my time has resulted in a visit to the hospital for the victim when they fought back, not a trip to the coroner’s office. And… Even if they do, they don’t go looking like this.” He sighed and wiped some sweat from his brow.
“Quite.” Rarity put the glass away, summoned her notebook once more, and concluded, “As I said, I’ll have to conduct more research. Find out what kind of mare Miss Heartstrings is, what kind of ponies she associates with… one step at a time.” She scribbled down a note about the ears and stopped briefly to look over at Arrow and asked, “On that note, Mr. Arrow, I understand that this is a recent discovery, but have any next-of-kin been notified?”
“Not as of yet. If you’ll kindly give me an address Mr. Whooves, Miss Rarity, from her identification card, I’ll have two officers dispatched.”
“That won’t be necessary,” she flipped her notebook shut and tucked the pencil behind her hear. “I’d prefer to do that myself. It’ll give me an opportunity to interview the spouse or live-in family, if any, first-hoof.”
“Very well. If you’re ready for her to be transported, I’ll see to it that the crowd is cleared…” He scratched his forehead one more time. “She doesn’t deserve to be displayed like that,” he said with a touch of sorrow.
Rarity nodded in agreement. “Right you are,” she said with a solemn tone, “Yes, I believe I’ve everything I need from her. I’ll have another opportunity to examine her and confer with the coroner at her office.”
“Of course.” Arrow then looked over at Dr. Whooves and said, “If you’re ready doc, I’ll go ahead and make sure everything is in order out there.”
Dr. Whooves only nodded in reply and gathered his bag up. He slung it across his neck and said, “I’ll back with the cart momentarily.”
With that and a polite nod, the two stallions departed Rarity and left her and Spike with the body. Uneased by the new lack of living figures, Spike backed flat against the brick wall and tried not to look at the body. Meanwhile, Rarity moved over to examine the saddlebags. The first thing she noticed was that they were an expensive brand, nothing short of top shelf. A little dirty, but that just seemed to be from the grime in the alley. This fact, coupled with the evidence of stolen earrings, suggested that Lyra Heartstrings was far from one of the countless lost souls that wandered the streets of Las Pegasus with nowhere and nopony to go to. While it was never correct to jump to assumptions, Rarity felt safe in assuming that she did indeed have a life, and likely had a family who loved her and cared for her.
She knelt down on her front legs and opened the bags up. The right bag was empty, aside from some change, a couple of ink pens and hygiene items, and some irrelevant crumpled pieces of paper. The left bag, however, contained many of the victim’s personal items. The first thing Rarity went for was her wallet. It too was a fairly high-end brand, and was in just as good a condition as the saddlebag it resided in, minus the dirt and grime. She used her magic to revolve it around and look for anything relevant or out of the ordinary, and upon finding nothing, popped it open. The first thing to meet her eyes was the victim’s ID. She flipped open her notebook and jotted down the address that was listed on it.
After she finished, she looked at the picture that was on it. “She was beautiful,” Rarity commented quietly, maybe to Spike or maybe just to herself, “and so full of life by the looks of it.” The mare pictured with her bright, warm smile, was a far cry from the one that was so callously discarded in this filthy alley.
By that time, Spike had inched his way along the wall to be at her side. He glanced at the body for only a second, gulped, and then craned his head up to look at the picture on the license. After a few more seconds of silent observation for herself, Rarity flipped the plastic card around and lowered it so that Spike could get a better look. A feeling of sorrow overcame him as he wondered how someone could be so cold and uncaring to do that to a pony that was so full of life. It was one thing to read about it in the newspapers, which he rarely read anyway, or hear about it on the radio, but it was another thing entirely to actually witness it. The eyes captured what words simply could not.
Rarity tucked the license back into its clear slot and began to search through the wallet. She opened it up and immediately commented, “It doesn’t look like our motive is robbery. Everything seems to be here.” The wallet contained some valuable bills in cash currency, and a few loose bits as well, but it all looked virtually untouched. She looked over the wallet one more time for anything that might have been of use and then closed it afterwards. “Hum,” she hummed to herself as she placed it back inside of the saddlebag, “if our perpetrator wasn’t in this for robbery, I just can’t quite understand why he took those earrings.”
“A jewel thief maybe?” Spike asked.
“It’s a possibility,” she replied and stood at full height, “but why would he or she do something so brutal just for a pair of earrings? Also, why would he murder her in one spot and transport her to another just for the sake of robbery? On top of that, we don’t even know if they were valuable earrings to begin with, but my guess is that a dedicated and experienced jewel thief would be able to distinguish if they were or not. But it just… doesn’t make sense that her earrings would be missing, and nothing else. Tell me Spike, place yourself in our perpetrators horseshoes. What would you do if you attacked this mare, incapacitated her, and took her valuable earrings? Think hard, and be honest.”
“Well…” Spike thought hard, “I guess that I would check in her saddlebags for anything valuable, like another piece of jewelry maybe. A ring or something, maybe a necklace?”
“Exactly! Well done Spike,” she smiled at him, “and if her saddlebags were checked, and she was found to have not only more jewelry, but money as well, would it not make sense to go ahead and just take that money while you’re in there?”
“Well yeah. Yeah, I suppose that does make sense.”
“Precisely,” Rarity sighed, “but alas, that is only a hypothetical theory. We don’t know what happened here yet.” She knelt back down and began to sift through the bags to see if there was anything of use, “Our next step would be to talk to the next of kin and, hopefully, that pony will be live-in or, if she isn’t, she’ll have the name and address of somepony we can talk to locally. That way, we can see if they’ll be able to tell us exactly what Miss Heartstrings kept in her purse and be able to tell if anything truly is missing out of here. Get a description of them as well…” She stopped sifting around when her eyes caught something in the bottom of the saddlebag.
She summoned it forth with her magic and placed it in her hoof. It was a small, black leather-bound journal. She flipped the cover open and began to skim through the pages while looking for anything that might have been contained inside of it. When she found nothing, Rarity flipped back to the first page and took note of the date atop the first line. “This is a fairly new diary,” she said to Spike and then began to read over the pages. As she had suspected, it was the personal diary of Lyra Heartstrings. “Best we hold on to this,” she muttered and then pulled a rather large see-through evidence bag from her rearmost saddlebag. She placed the book gently inside and sealed it tightly. “Perhaps the contents will give us a little bit of insight into Miss Heartstrings and the life she led.”
Afterwards, Rarity started to search through the saddlebags one more time to ensure that she hadn’t missed anything but was startled mid-search by a creaking sound that approached her. She looked up to see the coroner’s cart being backed into the alleyway. Dr. Whooves stopped a few feet or so from the body and then unlatched himself from the cart, where he then walked to the back, gathered a neatly folded and clean white sheet from the cart, and draped it gently over the body. He pulled a stretcher from the back of the cart, and, with the help of a gloved Officer Arrow, placed the body atop it. “Well,” he said as they loaded her, or rather the pieces of her, into the back of the cart and closed the door on it, “It was a pleasure meeting you Detective Rarity. Perhaps we’ll meet at the office, eh?” He didn’t wait for her to answer before he went to the front, latched himself back up, and then took off towards the alley’s exit at a decent trot.
After a few moments of silence, Officer Arrow spoke up. “Is there anything you require, Miss Rarity?” He examined the scene, rather relieved to be able to look comfortably at the ground again.
“No thank you officer,” she was quick to respond, “I believe that will be all.”
“Yes ma’am,” he nodded his head in acknowledgement. “Our remaining orders are to keep a secure perimeter until you’re finished, and then collect and catalog any evidence that you don’t take with you. Cap called while we were out there and said to tell you that it would be in the evidence room at central precinct and that you’re free to visit at your discretion.”
“Excellent! Thank you Mr. Arrow. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an investigation to conduct.”
With that, Arrow departed and Rarity resumed her search of the bags. Aside from the wallet and the diary, there was little else of worth to her investigation inside, so she turned her attention to the scene itself. She first examined where the body had been laying, and checked to see if anything might have been hidden underneath her. When she found nothing, she walked slowly around the alley and intently examined the walls and floor of it. Blood splatter, the missing earrings, a weapon even; the smallest amount of evidence could be the best of help to her. Much to her and Spike’s disgust, they even searched the dumpster and trash cans, only to find nothing.
“So…” Spike began, “What do you make of it all Rarity?”
“Well,” she sighed, “there isn’t much to go on, that’s for certain. It doesn’t look like there’s anything else of value to our investigation here, so I say we proceed according to plan. Inform the next-of-kin, interview them or anypony that she lived with, if possible, and investigate the place of residence.”
Spike quietly nodded in approval and tucked his notepad into the breast pocket of his brown blazer jacket. Meanwhile, Rarity scanned the scene and examined the bags one last time before she concluded her investigation. There were three nagging concerns in her head, primarily concerned with the location. She looked up at the narrow open sky above her in absent thought and then looked back down at the ground. She couldn’t be sure, at least not until she met with the coroner, but Lyra’s injuries suggested that she died a very brutal death by beating. There should have been blood splatter, at least a little, and there was none. That, in turn, raised the second question. If Lyra really hadn’t been killed here, where could she have been killed? Finally, how would the killer have transported her all the way from the crime scene to the dumpsite where she stood without being spotted? Las Pegasus was a busy city, even at the oddest hours of the night, so it seemed to her highly unlikely that somepony would be able to transport a body without being spotted.
“Hm…” she very quietly grumbled, “could it have been a pegasus?” She rubbed her chin and looked up at the narrow opening above her that was a result of the two buildings the alley was sandwiched between. It was narrow, very narrow for an alley, but it just might be possible. However, that also raised the questions of how the killer might have avoided the thorough eyes of the LPPD Sky Patrol, and how they might have managed to carry her at a considerable distance. Rarity exhaled and shifted her eyes away from the sky. There were a lot of possible avenues to explore in this case already, but that only strengthened her resolve to close the case. But as she stood there, something that had been nagging at her ever since her encounter with Shining Star at the entrance surfaced again.
“Spike?” she turned around and looked at him, “Is there anything… odd or familiar about this to you? Her body, I mean?”
He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, but nevertheless, he thought for a few moments about anything that might have stood out. He wasn’t a seasoned detective’s assistant per se, however the more he thought about it, something did seem rather familiar about the murder. “Other than the fact she was chopped up into teeny weeny bits and all set up like a puppet? Uh…” he hesitated, shrugged, and then offered, “Maybe I read about it in one of my comic books?”
“Hm…” Rarity approached him and then lifted him up onto her back with her magic, “While I doubt it’s something I recall from a comic book, I do agree that there is something very familiar about this. Hm…” it finally struck her and then she said the only thing she could think of, “I’m just not sure Spike…”
“Not sure of what?”
“Not sure if I should be excited or terrified.”