“First up, we’re going to need more eyes on Patricia’s place. Puppy, Ace get on that.” Shining paused in his orders, and then added, “Skydancer, you go too.”
The three named ponies grabbed radios and coffee before heading out. The sun was beginning to set, and each of them probably knew that they wouldn’t be getting much sleep that night. Still, Shining felt that he had better send more than just a pair in case the pirates decided to try anything else.
“Next, we need to lean on the police to help us out. Since they’ve got a significant interest in the case now, that will help. We’ll need to take full advantage.”
Shining decided, “I’ll work on that myself. Mag, I'd like you to come with me.”
“Our next priority is learning more about that shed. Soft, I want you to find out what’s inside from Stormwren. If he won’t tell you or you don’t believe him, somepony will have to go see if the door is unlocked.”
Shining made sure to put enough emphasis on his sentence to make sure his point was understood. Breaking in was not following the rules, but the pirates stepping up the game to include assault changed things. He decided that it was more important to get the job done and quickly.
He assigned Rough, Airborne, and Pikop to go with Soft. Shining considered going to talk to Stormwren himself. Maybe they could strike up some common ground with weapons or something. While Stormwren was an expatriate of Equestria, maybe he would be impressed by Shining’s royalty status.
Shining shook his head. And if Stormwren wouldn’t cooperate, Shining would probably get frustrated and that wouldn’t help the situation at all. Better to let Soft, the expert, handle it.
He had decided to suspend watching the casino. Nothing had been turned up there and the budget would support sending ponies there forever.
Shining and Mag set off to make the short walk to the police station. Shining kept his eyes moving, alert to danger from the street and the skies. Mag observed his Captain and did the same.
The police chief had left for the day, but Shining was able to sit down with the night sergeant and discuss a few details of the case.
It was mostly just a refresher, but that was better than nothing. The police had been cooperative enough to send out requests for records around the Griffon Kingdom to see if suspects had popped up in other cities.
And there was a piece of good news. By morning, there should be a new officer assigned to the Guards.
Shining left contact information for the new officer and encouraged them to visit the ship as early as possible. He already had a few ideas on where he wanted to start as soon as there was a police presence again.
While Shining was in the meeting, Mag had been busy talking to the police evidence griffons. He’d discovered something interesting. The griffon named Abernathy hadn’t been seen in a few days and mail was piling up in his box. With a little cajoling, he had convinced the police to make a stop by his house under the guise of a safety checkup.
Leaving the station, Shining, Mag, and two police officers who weren’t doing anything else that night headed for Abernathy’s house a few blocks away.
Sure enough, it looked like his mailbox contained a few days of post. The house was dark and still. The lights were on next door, however, and one of the police officers asked the neighbor if Abernathy had been seen recently. He had not.
The two ponies and two griffons pounded on Abernathy’s door, but no one answered. They took a look around his property, but there was nothing noteworthy and the house still stood silent.
Mag paused near the back door. He sniffed the air, his mouth opening slightly. “Does anyone smell that?”
Shining also tested the air. There was a sour note, like decay. “Yeah. Smells bad.”
“I don’t smell anything,” one of the cops said. He laid a talon on his beak and shrugged.
“Do you think he could be dead?” Mag asked. “You officers have permission to enter a house if you think the occupant is in trouble, right?”
“Well yes, but I don’t think a smell constitutes a solid suspicion.”
“He smells dead to me,” said Shining. He tried the back door, and to his surprise it was unlocked.
The odor that escaped the house as the door opened was strong enough that the griffons caught it. They suddenly looked worried, and completely forgot that Shining had just entered the house against their wishes.
Mag grimly followed Shining into the darkened house, his eyes squinting against the smell. Shining was regretting making light about Abernathy being dead. He was one less suspect to interrogate, if nothing else.
The griffon they found in the front room, however, was all brown and not fitting Abernathy’s description. Upon finding the body, the police told the Guards to leave the house so they could report the death. This was something they weren’t willing to be lenient on.
It was unfortunate they were not allowed to hang around, even if Shining did appreciate the fresh air. The team would have to wait for information on the dead griffon.
After a quick debrief at the police station, Shining and Mag headed back to the ship, hoping that the coroner and the Port Talon forensics team would have the victim processed quickly. Shining made sure the duty sergeant wrote a note to the investigators that the Guards would be happy to contribute help if it would make the process go faster.
Soft and her escorts returned from up north with news. “I got Stormwren to admit that he sold a large amount of flares to the pirates. He seemed pretty sure that they were in the shed. However, when we got there and had a look for ourselves, the shed was empty. We did find a few marks in the dirt floor that could indicate that a crate of flares had been there recently.”
Shining thought that over. Flares could be useful for martime safety, but he couldn’t figure out why the pirates would buy so many at once. Still, it might be important.
Mag laid out the information learned from going to Abernathy’s house. “While we have no proof and may not get any for a while, I believe the dead griffon might be Ganymeade, based on physical description. There didn’t look like much struggle had taken place, and the wound appeared to be a single deep stab wound. I take this to mean that he knew his attacker and the murder was planned. Considering that Abernathy hasn’t been seen recently, he looks like a top suspect.”
It was an interesting conclusion. Ganymeade was supposedly one of Hookbeak's top Lieutenants. Why had he been killed? Did he know too much? What was so important?
It was something to ponder. Shining said, “All right everypony, get some rest. We’ll start again fresh in the morning.”
After a reasonable night’s sleep, the new police officer showed up in the morning. He was a young griffon named Wiz. Shining didn’t observe anything particularly fitting of the name, but as Báistí had explained, that was not really uncommon for griffons. Báistí herself appeared shortly after, refreshed and ready to get back to the case. All of them gathered in the ship’s central meeting room where the map and evidence log were kept.
Wiz received a rundown on the case so far. He nodded. “Okay, cool, it sounds like you guys know what you’re doing.”
His attitude was so incredibly different from Stormfeather that it gave Shining pause. Still, a cop was a cop and they needed someone with local authority. He continued on, introducing Wiz to the team and their contributions so far.
Wiz seemed impressed and sympathetic to Flash. “You’re so brave, fighting that hostage-taking criminal.”
More than just Shining’s eyebrows went up at that, but nopony commented. Báistí broke the awkward silence. “So Captain, what are we doing today?”
By her own admission, Báistí wasn’t practiced at investigation, but he couldn’t help but admire her enthusiasm.
Shining addressed the room. “Here’s the plan.”
