"Shield, we're rolling out."
A silver-skinned man with salt and pepper hair and golden eyes that shone with experience glanced up from his paperwork. In front of his desk was his partner, a slightly younger woman with pale yellow skin, light purple hair, and brown eyes that held a very urgent look. She was ready to respond to a call apparently, her coat already buttoned, badge hanging from her belt, service weapon in its holster. He had never seen her get ready so quickly.
"What's up, Primrose? "
Primrose gave him a look which Shield took to mean 'walk and talk'. So, with a sigh, he set his paperwork aside, rose from his comfy seat, and grabbed his own coat, slipping it on as he followed the quickly retreating back of Primrose. With a light jog, quite hard for someone who barely passed the department's fitness test, Shield caught up with his dear, sometimes very annoying, partner.
"You wanna tell me what's going on, or are you testing my detective skills?"
Primrose gave her partner a smirk. "Silver Shield, if I wanted to test your detective skills I'd hand you one of those puzzle books I used to give my daughter when she was five. I'm sure you'd be a regular Sherlock Hooves with those."
Silver Shield huffed indignantly. "Hey, I was solving cases here while you were still.....I was about to say in diapers but the timeline doesn't work well. Well, while you were still in the Academy!"
"Weren't you a traffic cop back then?"
Shield's mouth opened and closed in a very accurate portrayal of a fish. "I-I...alright, you got me there. But my question still stands, what's got you all hurrying?"
Primrose's face hardened instantly, and when she talked it was in a far more serious tone, her 'case mode' as Shield called it. "I received a call from my husband a few minutes ago. He was opening up his café with one of his employees, a young man by the name of Almond. Long story short, some kid walked into the store and Almond went out front to greet him. Something about the kid concerned him so he asked Turntable to call me. The kid must have picked up on the fact that the police were getting involved so turned to run, so Almond grabbed him. The kid proceeded to bite Almond and run off."
Silver scoffed at her. "You said 'long story short' but that was still pretty long."
"That was your takeaway?" Primrose rolled her eyes as the two pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the CPD and trudged through the snow to their vehicle. "Anyway, we're heading to Canterlot General to get statements from both of them."
"No offense," Silver said as he climbed in the passenger side of the cruiser, a rather simple looking jet-black vehicle that didn't look much different than anything else on the road, "But why are we doing this? This seems...a little below a pair of detectives, you know?"
"We're doing it," Primrose responded as she slid into the driver's seat and inserted the key into the ignition. The engine came to life and purred like a cat basking in the warm rays of the sun, "Because if it's not obvious the case is a bit personal. And don't worry, I already told the chief about this. So sit back, enjoy the ride, and maybe we'll grab a doughnut after.”
~0~
"Looking for two men named Almond and Turntable, they should've come in about half an hour ago?" Primrose inquired with the nurse at the front desk, flashing her badge as Shield did the same.
"Ah yes, they should be in room....216! Second floor, turn right, fourth door on the right," The nurse supplied with a smile.
"Thank you," Primrose responded as she made her way to the staircase, her partner close behind.
A moment later they were on the second floor, Silver Shield doubled over and gasping for breath as though he had just been punched in the stomach. Primrose rolled her eyes at her partner for the second time that day. He really needed to get back into shape.
After Silver Shield realized he would not need medical attention, it took them only a few moments to find room 216. Inside they saw a young man with bandages wrapped around his right arm quietly speaking with an older man. The conversation stopped as the two detectives entered the room, and a smile erupted on the older man's face. He walked towards Primrose, arms outstretched for an embrace.
"Oh Prim, it's lovely to see you!" He said, planting a kiss on her cheek which caused her to smile as well.
"Turntable, you big goofball, you see me everyday."
"I know," her husband responded. "But each time is just as lovely as the last. You're still just as beautiful as the day I met you. And," he paused, passing his hand through his bright blue hair as though he was trying to slick it back, quite unsuccessfully of course, "so am I."
"Alright, if you two could please save this for bedroom tonight so we could maybe get to work?" Shield interjected, breaking the two lovers from their reverie. With a satisfied nod, the old detective turned to the green skinned young man still sitting on the bed. "So, you must be Almond?"
"Y-yes sir," Almond responded nervously, cradling his bandaged arm as though it were a particularly precious child.
"No need to be scared kid, you're the victim," Shield comforted, or at least, tried his best at comforting. "Now let's get your story."
"Uh, well," Almond began, scratching the back of his head. "I was unloading some stuff with Mr. Turntable in the backroom when I heard the front door open, so I went up front to see what they wanted. But instead of an adult or teen like you'd expect, it was some little kid who had his eyes closed and this smile on his face. It did--"
"Did he have any marks on him? Bruises, burns, scars?" Primrose asked, ignoring the pointed look from Shield, who was about to ask the same thing.
Almond's eyes widened at the implication. He couldn't help but feel disgust at even the suggestion that a parent would abuse their child, and hoped that wasn't the case. "No that I saw, but he had a jacket and jeans on, so I didn't really see a lot of him."
"Suppose that makes sense considering the weather," Shield commented before gesturing for Almond to continue.
"Well anyway, it didn't seem like he'd come out of it anytime soon, so I said 'Can I help you little guy', and he just stared at me for a second, almost looking afraid. Then he said he just came in to warm up, which made sense, but at the same time I was wondering where his parents were."
"As any sane person should in that situation," Shield interjected, nods of agreement coming from Primrose and Turntable.
"Yeah, so, I look out the front window and no one's out there. So I ask him where his parents are, and his eye just starts twitching, and he was like 'I think I'm old enough to be out on my own', and you know, I try and be nice about it, of course you are and all that, but where are your parents. Then I'm wondering if maybe he's lost or something so I start asking him about that and he just freaks out! Yelling, stomping, saying he's not a child. So-" Almond paused as the silver skinned detective put up his hand in a 'stop' gesture.
"So, he got agitated when you asked him about his parents." There was a dark look forming in Shield's eyes, one which scared Almond even though he knew it wasn't directed at him. "Was there anything else you noticed?"
"No, nothing I didn't mention," Almond answered, then continued speaking as Shield once again gestured to him to continue. "After that, Mr. Turntable came out from the backroom and I was like, something is going on with this kid, so I asked him to call Mrs. Primrose and then, well....." Almond trailed off, gesturing towards his bandaged arm.
"Yeah, I think we know the rest," Shield said, glancing back at his partner. "Last question: What'd the kid look like?"
"Oh, about this tall," Almond held his hand around waist height, which Shield estimated to mean the boy was around 3 and a half feet tall, "blue skin, really light blue hair, bright green eyes, an orange jacket, blue mittens, and blue jeans."
"Perfect!" Shield turned to his partner. "Get all that on your notepad, Primrose?"
Primrose gave a scoff at Shield's question. "I would have if I didn't know you carried a tape recorder, old man."
"Ahh, you know me too well." Shield chuckled as he slipped an old fashioned tape recorder out of his pocket, much to the confusion of Almond.
"Man, why would you use a dinosaur like that? You can just, like, use your phone these days."
"Because, young man," Shield started, giving Almond a deadly serious look, "Nothing will ever beat the classic tape recorder. It's the ultimate in police technology."
The terrified Almond gave a nod, unwilling to press Shield any further. Satisfied with his convincing of the superiority of the tape recorder, Shield turned back to his partner and her husband. "Alright, and Mr. Turntable, that chain of events accurately describes what you saw?"
"What I was present for, yes."
"Was there anything else you noticed, hon, something Almond may not have noticed?" Primrose asked her husband.
Turntable put his hand to his chin in thought for a second before his eyes seemed to take on a sad look. "When I went over to help Almond, I glanced up for a second and caught a glimpse of the boy out the café window. There were...there were tears leaking from his eyes."
Primrose sighed and hugged her husband, who quickly returned the embrace. "I know how hard it is to see a child in such pain, Turntable. To see things like that and wonder how hard that child's life is. But we'll find him, and we'll put him somewhere that'll give him all the love he deserves and more."
"Heh, you always know how to make me feel better." Turntable kissed his wife once again, then leaned in to whisper something in her ear. "Just do me one favor, Prim. When you find the people who abused him, because we both know he must have been, give them a few good punches for me."
Primrose chuckled. "Well, I can't legally do that, though maybe the chief will allow me some...alone time after we bring them in."
"So," Almond said, calling the couple's attention back to him and the smirking Silver Shield. They couldn't help the blush that spread across each of their faces upon being reminded the room had two other occupants," are you guys going to put out like an alert or something?"
Shield and Primrose looked at each other before turning back to Almond. The two turned back to each other with looks of confusion.
"I thought you were gonna explain it?" Shield said.
"I thought you were going to?" Primrose responded, before rolling her eyes and once again turning to Almond. "Well, the thing is, the type of alert you're thinking about is for abducted children who are in imminent danger. This, unfortunately, doesn't meet the criteria. It'll probably just be Shield and I working this, unless we call for backup of course."
Almond nodded in understanding and, satisfied with her lesson on certain police procedures, Primrose turned to her husband with an outstretched hand. A confused expression came across his face as he saw her hand.
"The keys, Turntable."
"Oh, of course. The café key should be right....." Turntable had pulled out a key ring that had at least thirty different keys on it, all different sizes, shapes, some of them even looked like a child's play keys. Eventually he found the one he was looking for and slipped it off the ring, handing it to his wife. "Just do me a favor and remember to lock up if I'm not back by the time you guys are done."
"Of course hon. I'll see you later." She blew a kiss towards her husband as she and her partner exited the room, emerging back out into the brightly lit hospital hallway. She turned towards Shield, who seemed like he was mulling it everything over as much as she was.
"So what do you think?" He finally said as they reached the stairwell. Thankfully going down was easier than going up.
"About?" Primrose asked, though she knew exactly what he was asking about.
" The kid."
Primrose chewed her bottom lip in thought for a moment before responding,"Probably an abuse case. Showing up out of the blue on a cold winter day, the anger, the biting? I get that being grabbed isn't the best experience but lashing out like that.....we have to be gentle with this."
"Agreed."
~0~
It didn't take long at all to reach The Midtown Café, a small store off a side road in Canterlot's Commercial District that Turntable had opened a few years ago. It was always his dream to open a café, and the money he got as a DJ at the local radio station made that dream possible. But for now the shop was abandoned, the Closed sign having hastily been flipped and the lights having been accidentally left on.
"Well look at that." Primrose squatted to get a better look at the noticeably small footprints in the snow. "How much would you bet that's the kid's?"
"My entire collection of vintage baseball cards." Shield glanced up and down the sidewalk. "Luckily for us it's so early and we're on such an unfrequented little side street that his footprints are the only ones here. Hey, why'd your husband open a café on such a quiet street?"
"It gets much busier later in the day." Primrose straightened back up and threw the store keys to the unexpecting Shield, who clumsily caught them. "Which is why we need to move. You check for any evidence inside, I'm going to follow this trail."
With a nod, Shield went to unlock the door as Primrose followed the trail of footprints down the street. She was only about a hundred feet away when she came across an interesting spot. A large patch of snow had been melted, almost as if someone had been laying there, with the footprints leading off from that, except instead of going straight for the café they went towards the closest store's window.
Primrose stepped over to the window, curious as to what the boy could have been looking at. All she saw were....sofas and quills? Who even used quills anymore? Shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts, she found herself wondering why the boy walked over here. Curiosity? Looking for someplace warm? She wasn't sure, and the reflection staring back at her was giving no answers.
With a sigh, Primrose made her way back to the café. It seemed like her investigation had found more questions than answers. Like, now that she thought about it, why would the boy have been laying in the snow? The only clear thing about this case was that this child was definitely not going back to his parents.
Her partner was walking out the front door right as she arrived, shaking his head at her.
"Nothing. Your husband doesn't even have a security camera."
"Yeah, he's not paranoid like us," Primrose quipped before jerking her thumb back in the direction from which she came. "That's the direction he came from. There's a patch of snow that's been melted away, so he must have been laying there for a while. Then the footprints lead to the nearest store window before making their way over here."
"Melted patch of snow." Shield scratched his chin in thought, a disgusted look forming on his face. "With each new piece of evidence we find it feels like it's becoming more and more obvious this is an abuse case."
"Unfortunately," Primrose sighed. This part of her job never got easier to deal with. Glancing down at the sidewalk, she saw the footprints turn the corner. She looked back up at her partner, who gave a nod of understanding as they began to follow the tracks. "One thing's for certain: we need to find this kid before something else happens."