It occurred to Bloodhound that she just might be in over her head.
She had hoped to get a guard to solve her mother's murder, only to go from that to solving it herself. Now it was going from that to now using what used to be a little trick used in research to solve a completely unrelated murder. How did I even get into this? I have the least training out of everypony here! She could feel her breathing getting more labored as her stress built.
She was stirred out of her panic as the carriage stopped. "We're here," Starfish announced redundantly.
Bloodhound glanced out of the carriage window. The house they'd parked in front of was an idealistic, white-picket-fence, two-story house flanked by dozens of others that looked exactly like it. Reminds me of that movie with the aliens and the weird peapod things. She shuddered. I had better not find a clone of myself trying to replace me.
The house they had parked in front of was set apart from the others by the presence of police tape and ponies in gold armor. Two of them were puking in tandem. The only one who wasn't greeted them at the door, and he still looked green around the gills as he saluted them. "We did as you asked, had photographs taken and sent the body to Cold Case, ma'am," he informed. "Seems pretty open-and-shut. The wife was the only one home. She had motive. She had opportunity."
"Great!" Starfish said, suddenly cheerful. "Toss her in a cell. I'll pry a confession out of her after lunch."
Bloodhound blinked, taken aback by Starfish's response. "Shouldn't we at least look over the crime scene?" Bloodhound suggested as politely as she could.
Starfish glared at her. "Is that insubordination I hear?"
Bloodhound quailed. "U-uh…"
"Uh huh!" Merri finished. "Because technically she's deputized by the Watch. And there's nothing in the law saying that we're in any way subordinate to the Guard. Though there's plenty saying we have every right to search a crime scene."
Starfish looked like she was going to explode. If we don't get away from her, there might be several more murders on this crime scene.
Thankfully, Bucky stepped in with a more diplomatic approach. "Go ahead and go get lunch. We don't wanna keep you from that. We can handle looking over the crime scene."
Starfish looked her up and down. "I don't see a deputy badge on you."
"I ran out of deputy badges," Merrilight lied. It was obvious even to Bloodhound that her nervous grin and lack of eye contact meant she'd completely forgotten that little detail.
Starfish was on the brink of anger and apathy. Thankfully, laziness won out. "Fine. But the suspect goes in a cell. Don't want her running while you plod along and hmm at little specks of dust."
"May we speak with her first?" Bloodhound asked. "It might help more than you know to have a less… aggressive party speaking with her. Trust me. My mother yells like a drill sergeant. I have never genuinely opened up to her when she's like that."
Starfish actually looked thoughtful. "I suppose that makes sense. Hammering at a perp takes a long time to get us a confession. Get her to let her guard down, and she might slip up. Heh. You might be useful after all, pipsqueak."
Bloodhound blinked several times at the sudden, honest agreement. "Uh… thank you."
Starfish glanced at Merri. "You, stay outside with the badgeless one. I'm not getting written up for your sake. I'll skip lunch just this once to put your rookie through her paces."
"But—" Merri attempted. Her brow was furrowed, and she cast a worried glance at Bloodhound before she was cut off.
"Don't give me any legal loophole bunk!" Starfish ordered. "I don't care who her mother is or who your friends are. You're on my crime scene. I'm the lead investigator. If you give me the slightest reason, I will have you booted off."
Merri bit her lip as she looked at Bloodhound. It occurred to Bloodhound that making herself seem useful to Starfish might have been a bad idea.
"You, come with me," Starfish told Bloodhound. "Let's see if you're as good as Merri says you are."
The inside of the house was rather nice. The wall of the entrance hall was lined with pictures in frames, though several of them had been knocked over. A staircase on the right, near the front door, led down to the basement. Another on the opposite side led upstairs. Soft sobs came from further in the house.
"Classic crocodile tears…" Starfish muttered. "Alright, before we talk to her, I'll give you the rundown of the vic and perp."
Bloodhound nodded, ignoring her continued assumption that she knew who did it. Who knows? Maybe she's right and this really will be open and shut. She is more experienced.
"The victim is a stallion named Baron Matchstick," Starfish continued. "He's a known matchmaker. Not the lighty lighty burny burny kind. Romantic matches. He's well-known and well-liked in the community. Our killer is Countess Spiderweb. Classic trophy wife, married off by her rich family to the first pony of high station that they could find. Rumor has it that her husband was cheating on her, which gives her motive."
Bloodhound sniffed the air a little, grimacing. "At least one of them smokes, and somepony vomited in the hallway, but it got cleaned up."
Starfish looked startled. "Yeah. We caught Spiderweb cleaning up vomit when we got here after the neighbors called us. How'd you know?"
"The smell," Bloodhound replied. "I have a very sensitive nose."
"Huh. Sounds like I might get that promotion after all. Anyway, perp is in the kitchen."
Spiderweb was a pegasus mare, with a dark, slightly dull purple coat, and a salt-and-pepper mane that was in an intricate braid. She smelled vaguely of vomit beneath her expensive perfume. Bloodhound also detected traces of lemon dish soap scent on her. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.
"Pardon me, madam?" Bloodhound said as she slowly approached. "I'm… Deputy Bloodhound, with the Watch. This is Sergeant Starfish, with the Guard. We'd like to ask you a few questions."
Starfish, surprisingly, stuck to her word and stayed quiet, letting Bloodhound work.
Spiderweb sniffled. "Please… I'm telling you I didn't do it…"
Bloodhound frowned. Just how rough were they with this mare? "I understand, Countess Spiderweb. But we have to investigate all avenues. Could you please tell us what you know of your husband's death?"
Spiderweb looked down at her hooves on the table. "I was washing dishes after dinner when it happened," she recalled. "I heard Sticky screaming and choking, somewhere downstairs. I ran to go check on him, and he bumped into me on the stairs. He was so unsteady that he stumbled into the wall. Several of our photos fell down from how hard he fell. He grabbed onto me like his life depended on it, and yelled in my face…" She covered her hooves with her eyes, sobbing.
"The neighbors heard him yell 'She's killing me!' pretty clearly," Starfish recalled. "Doesn't look good for you, Miss Web."
"I didn't kill him!" Spiderweb protested through her tears. "He vomited all over me and the floor, then ran upstairs! I found his body in the bathroom, and… I was so shocked, I barely remember my own movements after that. The next thing I remember is cleaning the vomit and broken glass off of the floor, when you lot barged in."
Bloodhound winced at just how similar it was to her own experience. "Thank you, Countess. May I have a look around your home? Just a sweep to find anything we might have missed on our first run through." She felt a little guilty pretending to be of any kind of authority, but hoped the mare might find it comforting. "Sort of like ants sniffing for crumbs. We're good at looking, but crumbs are awfully small."
She'd intended it as a genuine example, but Spiderweb seemed to take it as a joke to lighten the mood. It got a small smile out of her. "Yes. Sorry. I'm afraid I can't be much help in my current state, but please feel free to ask if you have any questions."
"We'll ask you questions when we're done," Starfish said firmly. "There are officers outside to escort you back to Guard Headquarters for questioning."
"O-oh." Spiderweb looked like somepony had just broken her ant farm. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense…"
Bloodhound started to protest as Spiderweb left, but a harsh glare from Starfish silenced her. She'd pushed her luck enough. "May I begin my search?" she said, somewhat awkwardly.
Starfish nodded. "I'll follow, to make sure you don't muck up the crime scene. You notice anything so far?"
"Well, right now things seem to match up with her version of the story. How big was Matchstick? Around your size?"
Starfish looked like she'd just been pinched. "Are you saying I'm fat?"
"N-no!" Bloodhound shook her head vehemently. "I-I just need a pony of similar size to him. I thought that reenacting things as we search could confirm whether or not Spiderweb's story is accurate!"
"Good point," Starfish conceded, relaxing. "I suppose he is around my size. Alright. The countess claimed she heard him in the basement. Let's start there."
Fantastic idea! Let's go to the basement where a murder just occurred! Has she never seen a horror movie before!?
The basement was set up like a den or study, with comfy recliner chairs, multiple bookshelves, a brick fireplace, and a large, sturdy-looking safe that hung open. A desk sat across from the fireplace. It was oddly dirty and dusty, as if not used very often.
Starfish looked in the safe. "Empty."
Bloodhound frowned, squinting. "It barely has any dust."
"He must have used it often," Starfish replied.
"Why was it open?" Bloodhound asked.
Starfish shrugged. "Dunno. Does it matter?"
"As big as this thing is, it must have had something important inside," Bloodhound explained. "If it isn't inside, where did it go?"
Starfish shrugged. "I suppose the perp took it."
Bloodhound shook her head stubbornly. "And did what with it? The neighbors definitely would have been watching after hearing a scream like what you described. I know my neighbors would, judging by the number of complaints I got taking my pet scorpider for a walk, and your soldiers searched the entire house."
Starfish blinked several times, confused enough to ask more about said incident, but decided to spare her own sanity. "Fair. They would have told me if they found anything relevant, and the neighbors all confirmed nopony came or left after the scream. What's your point?"
"Trotkam's Razor," Bloodhound replied. "The simplest solution is that the victim had taken it out himself before his death." Sweet Celestia, I sound like a detective in a radio drama. I want to go home.
"Then where is it?" Starfish demanded.
Bloodhound deflated. "That I… don't know yet."
Starfish stared at her, frowning in disapproval for a moment, then sighed. "Bugger, you're lucky I'm afraid of your mum. Alright. We do know his path after he left the basement. He must have hidden it somewhere along the way. While we look, there is one other thing we need to keep an eye out for."
"Oh? What's that?" Bloodhound honestly didn't want to know. In truth, her knees were trembling so badly that they were almost knocking together. She had to remind herself that a mare's life was on the line every couple of minutes to avoid running for the front door.
Starfish nodded. "The murder weapon. The body hasn't been disturbed just yet, but the house has been searched, and we didn't find anything that looked like one."
The pointed look she gave Bloodhound got the subtext across fairly well; 'Do this for me, and I might help you with your case.' "Of course. I understand." She gave a thankful smile, her confidence steeled a little.
To her surprise, Starfish smiled back. "Good. Let's start reenacting, and figure out where the trail starts."
They searched the basement study. Bloodhound really wasn't sure how an investigation like this should go, outside of radio dramas, so she wasn't really sure what to do with herself. No sights or smells stuck out to her.
Eventually, it was Starfish who found something. "Over here!"
She was standing in front of the desk in a corner, near the safe. A knocked-over chair was partially concealed by the open door of the safe from where they'd previously stood. Unlike some other things in the room, the desk was clean and well used. It was so polished that Bloodhound could see her reflection on it. There were a few quills and ink bottles, but what held Bloodhound's attention was a small notebook that lay flipped open.
"It's a list of names," Bloodhound observed as they read through it. "Who are they?"
"Some of them are nobles," Starfish replied. "I recognize their names from the yearly Guard fundraiser. You think this is what was in the safe?"
Bloodhound sniffed the notebook, and nodded. "Smells like old metal."
"I'll take your word for it," Starfish replied with a chuckle, sealing the notebook into a plastic evidence bag. "That explains why the other guards didn't notice it. Just an ordinary notebook one would expect to see on a desk. We can read over it later, back at HQ. Anyway, it looks like he started at the desk. Smell any blood, or anything that suggests he died down here and was dragged upstairs?"
Bloodhound sniffed the air. In general, it just smelled like a musty basement, with a bit of vomit. She shook her head.
Starfish sighed. "Shame. Would have been an easy lie to catch the Countess in. Upstairs we go, I suppose."
Though they hadn't seen them on the way in, they noticed heavy hoofprints chipped onto the polished, wooden basement stairs. "He was running…" Bloodhound deduced. "But he was lead-hooved, like he was drunk. Couldn't control how hard he was stepping, and the prints are all over the place." She didn't voice the fact that she knew that from buffing her mother's late-night hoofprints out of the kitchen floor. Best to keep the fear of Fireball in Starfish for now.
"Maybe he was hit on the head, and tried to run?" Starfish suggested.
"Maybe…" Bloodhound pondered.
They followed his trail to where he'd run into the wall, knocking down several hanging pictures. The vomit smell was stronger here, but there was something strange about it. "Was something burned here…?" she asked, half to herself.
Starfish sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything. Odd."
The pictures on the wall were all of ponies whom Bloodhound assumed must have been other nobles, hanging out with Matchstick. "Strange. I don't see Countess Spiderweb in any of these," Starfish realized. "Hm. Will make a note of that in my case report."
They made their way upstairs. As they climbed, Bloodhound had to step around a few puddles of purplish fluid that had the same burned vomit smell from the entrance hall. She hadn't noticed them as she descended the stairs because of her rather terrified state, but the implication was clear. "He was throwing up the entire way up the stairs…"
"Maybe he was poisoned," Starfish suggested.
"But then how would he know who was killing him?" Bloodhound shot back.
"Maybe his wife brought him a poisoned drink?"
"There were no drinks or containers in the basement."
Starfish had to think about that. "Spiderweb said she was washing dishes. Maybe she disposed of the cup."
That was a fair point. "We'll have to check the kitchen after we finish upstairs."
Bloodhound followed the scent trail to a closed door. The stench was strong enough that not only was Starfish grimacing, but Bloodhound actually had to cover her nose.
"Guess it's time to see what had the guards in the garden so green in the gills," Starfish joked to lighten the mood, before opening the door.
Now it was Bloodhound's turn to vomit.
She only glimpsed the corpse for a moment, but that was all she needed, and far more than she wanted.
Matchstick lay with his back against a cabinet, beneath the sink. His lips seemed to have been burned away, reducing them to blackened, charred flesh and exposing his teeth. His jaw hung open, showing that the inside of his mouth was just as horrific. The smell physically knocked Bloodhound back. It was burning, bile, and the beginnings of rot all at once. In it, there was just a small trace of the stench of blood.
With the scene so thoroughly burned into her mind, it took several moments to realize that the door had been closed in front of her. Bloodhound hadn't felt it, but she was heaving for breath. She was being shaken by her shoulder, and someone was saying something to her.
Something was placed between her lips, and she tasted the somewhat tinny contents of her inhaler. Breathing got easier, and she was finally able to understand what was being said.
"—oodhound! Can you hear me?" Starfish shouted, a little too loud.
Bloodhound nodded blearily. "What happened?" she wheezed, her chest sore.
"You fainted when you saw the body," Starfish explained. "Then you started gasping and coughing like you couldn't breathe. What the hay was that?"
Bloodhound flinched. "S-sorry. I have asthma. When I get scared or worked-up, I can have an attack."
Starfish helped Bloodhound into a sitting position. "Sweet Celestia! You could have warned me. I'm glad your inhaler fell out of your mane when you fell over.”
"Sorry…" Bloodhound repeated, not having a good excuse.
"Don't be sorry. Be better," Starfish admonished, sitting next to her. "You alright?"
Bloodhound shrugged. "I'm just… not used to seeing that kind of thing."
"This kind of thing rarely happens in Equestria," Starfish said reassuringly. "We more than likely won't have another murder for another five or ten years."
Bloodhound nodded shakily, not wanting to anger Starfish by adding her mother into that count. "Why would anypony do something like that?"
Starfish hesitated. "I don't know, to be honest. Some folks tell us why they do it, but sometimes I still ask myself the same question; Why? When things are so good, in Celestia's golden age, does anypony feel the need? I'm glad it's so rare, or I really would lose faith in ponykind."
Bloodhound nodded glumly. Unpleasant memories played over and over in her brain, until Starfish nudged her. "You've been doing alright so far. Why don't you search the bedroom and the bathroom? Probably won't be much in there. I'll handle the body, and we can check the kitchen together after that."
Bloodhound hesitated a little to leave Starfish alone with such an important investigation when a mare's life was on the line, but she just couldn't muster the courage to open that door again. "Yes. Thank you. That's very kind of you."
Starfish chuckled, passing Bloodhound a camera. "Here. If you find anything, snap a picture. Don't worry. Lots of rookies get like this at first when they see something nasty. It gets easier."
As she turned and left to go investigate the bedrooms, Bloodhound didn't voice her thoughts. I'm not so certain that's a good thing.
The bedroom was… normal. It had a single, king-sized bed, a couple of nightstands, a large armoire, and a table with cosmetics. It actually reminded Bloodhound a little of her mother's bedroom back home. The only thing that was off was that the room absolutely reeked of perfume.
Bloodhound couldn't help looking at herself in the mirror of the cosmetics table. Sweet Celestia, I look exhausted. The bags under her eyes looked like they had just been grocery shopping, and her eyes themselves were bloodshot. Her curly mane was disheveled, with strands poking out here and there from her fall. She could see herself trembling slightly.
But, as she examined herself, something caught her nose that made her ears perk in alarm: the smell of something burned. "Oh sweet Celestia, please tell me there isn't another body in here…" She was only half talking to herself. The other half was praying to whatever gods besides Celestia might be listening.
Bloodhound tried following the smell. The bathroom didn't have anything that caught her eye, and the smell in fact seemed to be much weaker in there. It got stronger around the mirror she'd just been looking in. One of the cosmetics, maybe?
The smell of perfume made it hard to identify what exactly was causing the burning stench, but eventually she settled on a small, glass container, full of purple powder that sparkled like diamond dust. Even with the lid on, the smell made her flinch. She photographed it, then took the lid off to snap a picture of the contents.
The purple powder sparkled slightly, like glitter. But that wasn't what caught Bloodhound's eye. What did was a single divot in the center, as if some of the powder had been scooped out. She took a photo of it.
"Find something interesting?"
Bloodhound jumped a little, not having heard Starfish come in. "I think so. It's a little pot of purple glitter that smells like all the vomit we've found."
Starfish glanced at the pot eagerly. "Bloodhound, you gorgeous little mare! I'll take a sample of it for testing. If we can find out what it is, and find traces of it in his system, we'll have found our murder weapon!"
Bloodhound couldn't resist a small blush. "W-well, thank you. I just followed my nose, I suppose."
"I have to admit, I might have been wrong about you," Starfish mused. "I thought you'd be a nitpicky little twit, who thinks every knife in the kitchen is significant. But you made some good points, and you found a potential murder weapon." Her eyes widened. "Can you tell if anypony specific was in here?"
Bloodhound sniffed the air, winced, and shook her head. "It smells like somepony flooded the room with perfume. If the smell of that powder wasn't so strong, I probably wouldn't even have found it." She frowned uncertainly. Something seemed off about that thought.
"Ah. Oh well. Still, well done! I'm finished getting photos of the body. We can go over what I found after lunch. Come on. Let's check the kitchen, so we can get out of here. Maybe the good countess was a dunderhead and left that incriminating poison cup out, eh?"
Bloodhound nodded absently. According to Starfish, she had done well. Starfish was an experienced member of the Guard and knew what she was talking about.
So why do I feel like I'm missing something?
The kitchen, either sadly or thankfully, was the least eventful room of the house. The dishes were half-done and a broken plate lay shattered in the sink.
"Seems to match up with the story Spiderweb told us," Bloodhound remarked. "I'd certainly drop a plate if I heard screaming while I was washing dishes. I would probably run away from it, not towards it though. But that's just me."
"Smell anything?" Starfish asked hopefully.
Bloodhound sniffed the air. "Perfume," she said, brow furrowing in confusion. "But… hold on, that can't be right." She took a deeper sniff.
"What's wrong?" asked Starfish, photographing the kitchen.
"It's… different," Bloodhound replied hesitantly. "It's the same perfume she was wearing when we spoke to her, but not the same one I smelled in the bedroom."
Starfish visibly stiffened, and slowly turned back to look at Bloodhound with a very forced smile. "Bloodhound. It sounds to me like you may be suggesting that there may have been a third pony in the house. But it's okay, because I know that isn't a possibility… right?" Her sharp tone said that it had better be right.
Bloodhound backed up a step, ears pinning at her sudden change in attitude. Starfish looked half-angry, half… scared? "What is it? Did I do something wrong?"
Starfish opened her mouth, looking like she was going to berate a junior officer, but the hurt look in the smaller mare's eyes calmed her down a little. "No, but… look, Bloodhound. If you say that there may have been a third pony in the house, that will make the populace think this case is complicated. Complicated cases scare the populace, make them not trust each other or the Guard. They don't need to hear that there's some unknown killer on the loose. They need to hear that we got the bad guy and the good guys won."
"But… what if it isn't true?" Bloodhound asked meekly. "What if the bad guy gets away because we thought the case was simpler than it really was?"
"That won't happen," Starfish said firmly. "That sort of thing doesn't happen in Equestria. It hasn't ever, and it won't now." She took one last look around the kitchen for anything they'd missed. "Come on. We're done here. Let's gather the other two blind mice and split up to grab some lunch. I'm starving."
Bloodhound couldn't help but think about the case on the way home. She just didn't feel right. Maybe she wasn't a detective, or even remotely cut out to be one, but still. Starfish's philosophy scared her much more than any complications in the case. Would pressing that lead really cause mass panic and paranoia? Is it even likely that there was a third pony there? She is much more experienced than me.
The carriage rolled to a stop in front of Bloodhound's house. Bloodhound and Bucky hopped out. "I'll pick you up after lunch, for the interrogation," Starfish informed. "You worked hard today, and you should be there for it."
To Bloodhound's surprise, Merri hopped out too. "I think I'll join you two for lunch, if that's alright," she said with an impish grin.
"I'm not much of a cook," Bloodhound admitted sheepishly.
"If Fireball isn't home, I'll fix us something," Bucky assured, bumping her playfully with her flank.
The three of them bid farewell to Starfish, and went inside. Bloodhound's ears pricked as she heard muffled voices echoing about. "Mother? Is that you?"
"Houndsy!" her mother's voice said with uncharacteristic cheer. "We're in the dining room!"
Bloodhound blinked in surprise as she peeked into the room. Fireball was serving sandwiches to a pair of guests. "Aphrodite? Ms. Flip? What are you two doing here?"
Fireball actually blushed. Am I in some kind of parallel universe? Have I been selected as the protagonist of a comic book? Why are so many strange things happening to me!?
"We’ve all been having a tough time," Flip explained without a trace of slur in her voice. The electric-blue mare didn't smell like alcohol anymore, and was dressed in a nice, dark-blue suit and top hat; the same outfit Bloodhound had seen her in the last time they'd met. She had bags under her eyes, like she hadn't been sleeping lately. But she seemed to be in a good mood. "So we started a support group."
"You're more than welcome to join us!" Aphrodite said sweetly.
"That's a great idea!" Bucky agreed.
Fireball started to smile, but then she noticed Merri. "Who's your friend?"
Bloodhound's eyes shrank to pinpricks. "Uh… she… I…"
"Constable Merrilight, Canterlot Watch!" Merri introduced.
"Canterlot… Watch?" Fireball said in confusion.
"They're a rather new organization," Aphrodite explained. "Like the Guard, but completely civilian, and dedicated purely to law enforcement, instead of military pursuits."
Fireball blinked. "And… how exactly did you meet my daughter?" There was something off about her tone of voice.
Bloodhound struggled to explain, but Merri came to her rescue again. "She came to the Guard with some concerns, but they wouldn't listen. So I did instead! Her talents simply dazzled me, so I deputized her for help on another case!" She smiled and winked at Bloodhound.
Fireball's eyes widened. "Wait… Houndsy… You got a job!?"
Bloodhound blushed. "Um… maybe?" She really wasn't sure. Technically she was working with the Watch, but didn't really intend to do any more than it took to get help with her own case.
Bucky gave her a stern look, but before Bloodhound could wilt under pressure, she suddenly found herself in a hug that felt very much like a full-grown dragon had decided to chew on her.
Aphrodite had hit her from the left, and her mother from the right. "I'm so proud of you!" Fireball gushed.
"I told you she'd do it!" Aphrodite shot back.
Flip cleared her throat. "Heartwarming moment, but I don't think she can breathe."
Realizing their mistake, the two of them released Bloodhound, who flopped limply to the floor. I am losing consciousness concerningly often lately.
Fireball helped Bloodhound up. "Sorry, Houndsy. I just… can't believe it. You're finally showing some initiative! Some backbone!"
Bloodhound straightened her glasses, blushing. "Thank you." Maybe I could stay. Even if it is morbid, I'm at least good at it, according to Starfish.
"Sit down!" Fireball ordered. "I'm making you all lunch. Can't keep the officers away from their case for too long, after all!"
Bloodhound left her home feeling better than she had in a long time. She was actually prancing a little as they left to wait for Starfish. "Are you going to be okay coming with me?" she asked Bucky. "You do have a business to run."
"Being your life coach is my business," Bucky said with a chuckle. "I have to run off like this practically twice a week. The manager can handle things while I'm gone. Plus, I'm technically deputized too!" She pulled out a deputy badge similar to Bloodhound's. "Merri ran and got it for me while you and Fishbreath were in the house. So, anyway, how are you feeling?"
"I feel fantastic!" Bloodhound said with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. "I don't think I've ever had Mother be that happy with me!"
"I don't know why Starfish is so scared of your Mother," Merri said with a thoughtful hoof on her chin. "She seems like a lovely mare."
Bloodhound and Bucky shared a "Don't tell her" look, and Bucky quickly changed the subject. "Maybe you ought to consider keeping up this work for the Watch. You're good at it, your mother is proud of you, and they do seem rather understaffed."
Bloodhound shrank visibly. "E-erm… maybe. I hadn't considered it." Surely I'm not cut out for a career in law enforcement. That's like an ant applying for a job in a beehive.
"Well please do consider it!" Merri urged. "I would absolutely love to have you. Since we're both completely new, and unabashedly desperate, there's no prior experience required yet!"
Bucky gave Bloodhound a knowing look. "I want you to be happy, Houndsy. But you've gotta spread your wings and try to fly sooner or later."
Bloodhound blushed, smiling a little at their encouragement. "I'm half earth pony, half unicorn. I have neither the strength of an earth pony, nor the horn of a unicorn. Now you want me to do something neither of my bloodlines can do."
"Well, hot air balloons and airplanes are things that exist," Bucky said with a laugh. "Plus, we believe in you. Isn't that right, Merri?"
"Mhmm!" Merri said, giving her a surprise hug that, thankfully, didn't crush her ribs. "You have a lot of potential, and with proper training, I think you could be a truly great Watchmare!"
Bloodhound had no idea how to respond to that. Thankfully, she didn't have to. "Here comes Starfish!"
The carriage pulled up in front of them, and the doors opened. "Ready for your first interrogation, rookie?" Starfish said with a grin as they all piled in. "You're about to watch a master at work."
Bucky rolled her eyes. Bloodhound just smiled politely. "I'm… sure I will be impressed." This is going to be terrifying, isn't it?
Starfish slammed her hooves on the metal table, glaring at the mare before her wordlessly.
Spiderweb jumped, cowering. "Y-yes?"
"..." Starfish continued to glare wordlessly. She slid a photograph across the table towards Spiderweb. "We found the poison you used to kill your husband."
From the other side of the two-way mirror, Bloodhound frowned in disapproval. "We don't know she did it…"
Merri glanced at Bloodhound in concern. "Wasn't she the only one in the house besides the victim?"
Bloodhound hesitated. "Possibly." With Starfish distracted, she was able to explain the perfume discrepancy.
Merri promptly facehoofed. "That stubborn idiot…"
Spiderweb looked at the picture in confusion. "That foul-smelling purple powder? It was a gift from one of my husband's clients."
Starfish leaned back in her chair, smiling smugly. "How'd you know it was foul smelling?"
"Because I picked it up?" Spiderweb said. "It showed up on the front porch this morning, along with a letter for him. He gave it to me. I didn't want to touch the stuff, due to how awful it smelled."
"That's not how you knew!" Starfish snapped, again slamming a hoof on the table. "You knew what it smelled like because you used it to kill him! As soon as we get toxicology back, telling us what this is, and confirming that it killed your husband, you're Tartarus bound. You should confess. Maybe it will convince Celestia to be merciful in your judgement."
"B-but… I didn't…" Spiderweb started to sob.
"What is she doing!?" Bloodhound said, honestly a little frightened. "Shouldn't she be asking for more information, instead of just demanding a confession?"
Merri sighed in frustration. "Probably. The Guard is too used to cases being open and shut."
"This happens on a regular basis?" Bucky asked. Even she looked a little disturbed.
Merri just nodded, watching with an unreadable expression.
Starfish growled. "Cry your crocodile tears all you want. I know what you did. Confess. You killed your husband."
"I didn't!" Spiderweb wailed. "You can ask the mailpony! She must have delivered the package!"
Starfish huffed, and stood from her chair. "Fine. You want to be stubborn. All I have to do is wait for toxicology and you're doomed. Give that some thought." She trotted back out, slamming the door behind her.
Shockingly, she walked right up to Bloodhound, all smiles again. "Well, we have our killer, and you helped us nab her. I'm a mare of my word. Come to my office. We'll have another look at your mum's case."
Bloodhound wasn't sure she really wanted this mare's help anymore, but found herself herded out of the observation room and into the office before she could protest. At least Bucky and Merri followed, and sat down on either side of her.
After a moment of searching, Starfish found the case file on Sprout. "Here we are. So, you suspect she was poisoned?"
It took Bloodhound a few seconds to gather her words. "U-um… yes. With scorpider venom stolen from my bedroom."
Starfish looked at her suspiciously. "Why do you have scorpider venom in your bedroom?"
Bloodhound explained her volunteer work at the hospital. "Rudy couldn't have gotten out of his cage. Scorpiders are intelligent, but not enough to pick a lock, lift the cage lid, then shut and re-lock it from the inside."
"Well, I suppose if you killed her, you wouldn't be asking us for help." Starfish flipped through the file, reading the toxicology and autopsy reports. "Hm."
"You found something?" Bloodhound asked hopefully.
Starfish tilted her head in a 'maybe' gesture. "Autopsy says it's possible that she died from poisoning, based on some sciencey stuff I don't understand that they found in her innards, but toxicology found nothing like that in her system."
Bloodhound's jaw went slack. "Y-you mean…?"
"Your ma wasn't murdered. You can relax," Starfish confirmed.
Bloodhound sank into her chair, feeling numb.
Bucky was at her side instantly. "You okay?"
"I… I don't know," Bloodhound admitted. "I should be relieved, but…"
Merri looked a little disappointed. "Darn. That had the potential to be a great mystery."
There was a knock at the door, and a mare peeked into the room. She had a white coat, with a neat, ice-blue mane and eyes. "Cold Case!" Starfish greeted excitedly. "Got Matchstick's reports for me?"
"Yupperoni!" Cold strolled into the room, revealing herself as a petit pegasus in a lab coat, holding a file. "Autopsy report and toxicology. He's a weird one. Take a look."
Starfish frowned as she took the file and read it over. "Nothing unusual so far. Heavy chemical burns matching up with poisoning. Probably from that purple powder. You find out what it was?"
"Look at the toxicology," Cold replied, dodging the question.
Starfish flipped to the toxicology page. Her eyes scanned the page, narrowed in confusion, then widened in horror. "No…!"
"What's wrong?" Merri asked.
"Should we leave?" Bloodhound asked.
"Nononononono! This can't be right!" The panic in Starfish's voice was palpable. The tension in her shoulders was visible.
Merri read the file over her shoulder. At first, she too looked confused. Then recognition flickered in her eyes, and a wide grin split her face nearly in two. "You know what this meeeeeans!" she practically sang.
"Of course I know what it means!" Starfish snapped, head resting between shaking hooves. "I'm not an idiot! You must be though, otherwise you'd be panicking as much as I am!"
"I'll… see myself out," Cold Case said awkwardly, shutting the door behind her before the Wrath of Starfish exploded in her direction.
"What exactly is wrong?" Bloodhound was starting to go into a contact panic. It was already getting harder to breathe.
Merri showed her the file, pointing to the results of the toxicology report. It was… very short. Some alcohol, but nothing out of the ordinary. It took Bloodhound several moments to realize what was out of place. "No trace of the purple powder?"
"Exactly!" Merri said eagerly. "And who else died from symptoms of a poison, but showed no trace in their bloodstream?"
Bloodhound's pupils shrank to pinpricks. Her ears pinned and her hindquarters hit the floor. It was hard to breathe, or even think. "M-my mum…"
Bucky noticed Bloodhound on the brink of an asthma attack and helped her get her inhaler out. "What exactly do you mean?" Bucky asked. "They died in the same way?"
"Same method," Starfish said in a low, weak voice. "Same, or very similar M.O. Even I can't hide from the possibility that it could be the same killer. Maybe not, but now we have two possibly unsolved murders, and no suspects."
Bucky frowned. "That's tragic, and horrifying, but why did you panic?"
"Two kills by one perp is one kill away from three," Starfish replied. "Three kills to a single perp makes them a serial killer. Do you know how long it's been since there's been a successful serial killer, not just in Canterlot, but in all of Equestria?"
"Seven hundred five years, five months, three weeks, two days…" Merri glanced at a clock on the wall. "...three hours, twenty-five minutes, ten seconds. Give or take a few months depending on whether you mean when he started or when he was caught."
"My point is, if the public finds out about this, there will be mass panic!" Starfish said, grim-faced. "The common pony can barely hold it together for a stampede of rabbits. Imagine how they'd act if they found out about this. There'd be rampant paranoia. Baseless accusations. Chaos!"
"...Oh." There really wasn't much Bucky could say to that. "I suppose I should keep my mouth shut, then?"
Starfish settled back in her chair, face contemplative. Her next words weren't for Bucky, but for the recovering Bloodhound. "I can't make you stay on this investigation, but I'm going to need all the help I can get. We need to solve this quietly, with as few ponies as possible knowing. I can swallow my pride and say you were probably right about the third pony being responsible for Matchstick's murder. You're smart enough to do it well, and that nose of yours works wonders. Will you please stay and help us solve this?"
Obviously, Bloodhound's first instinct was to refuse. She was still reeling from the two consecutive one-eighties that her perception of her mum's death had just gone through, and this was way, way over her head. But something made her stop and think.
She recalled how she'd felt when her mother had praised her, been proud of her. It was something she never really thought she would feel. She thought back to the words of Aphrodite and Sprout, telling her to stop sabotaging herself. Even Starfish had agreed that she was instrumental in investigating the earlier murder of Matchstick.
Murder… That word sparked something unexpected in her: raw, boiling anger. It was official now. Somepony out there had murdered Bamboo Sprout in cold blood. They'd taken her mum. They'd taken Spiderweb's husband. Who knew whose loved ones they might steal away next!
It took all of her willpower. She had to close her eyes and focus on that anger just to manage a single nod. When her eyes opened, there was something unreadable in them. "Okay," she said softly. "I'll help."