Taking the Case in Hand

by IGIBAB

Chapter 5 - An Investigation isn't solved that quickly

Something that I thought about, yesterday evening, as I was rolling over in my bed, is how much this investigation cruelly lacked capital clues. The candy proved itself to be a dead end, and the only suspect is who knows where, probably in Manehattan.

And here's that all of the sudden, the events take on another turn. Open Skies is found hanged in his home, next to a suicide letter confessing his crime, Mr. Cake's assassination, under the influence of anger after a heated discussion. His regrets, the impossibility to live with that on his conscience, all of this coupled with some drops easily identifiable as tears spread all over the letter.

Of course, Lyra and I warned the police of all this. In fact, right after our arrival, the next shift came too, only to go back right away to inform Whooves.

Three agents send over are already carefully finding and collecting everything that seems suspicious, the letter being the first in line, to put them in plastic bags.

The scene is weirdly... mundane, aside from the corpse. A pen next to the letter, an empty cup of coffee on the table, a well-organized living room, you could almost have tea there. And the body, that no one dares to take down for now.

A regular sound accompany the whole thing, coming from the rope rubbing against the beam, as it continues to swing, slowly, it and the pegasus.

I straighten back up after looking for anything suspicious that might have rolled under the blanket, only to see Lyra, who didn't moved. Since our gruesome discovery, she hasn't said a single word, nor pulled her eyes away from her ex-colt. She doesn't cry, but I'm sure it's not that she doesn't want to. Her face is frozen, in a distressed expression. I guess, knowing her, that she must be seeing all the moments spend with him go before her eyes.

A little pinch comes and tickles my heart. Despite my bad night, which she's responsible for, and the resentment I have... I still can't prevent myself from felling bad for her. I...

"Hey..."

Without even noticing, I gently laid my hoof on her shoulder. She turns her head towards me. It might be the first time, after all those years, that I'm paying that much attention to her face. That little white strand of hair on the side of her eye, those great and moist yellow-orange eyes, her muzzle which usually displays such a large smile. Seeing her like this...

"Why...?" she asks me, begging, her voice sending a shiver in my whole body.

"Lyra..."

"He was so kind... Why would he have done this...?"

What can I answer to that...? That anypony can do something irredeemable under the influence of anger? That many criminals are just plain people who took a wrong turn? What kind of even remotely sincere answer could I give to her without having her break into tears?

"Ponies sometimes do things they would have never wanted to do, and they regret it immediately..."

It was never my forte with her. She has always been subject to small drops in mood, and I've never been very good at getting it up again. Here's just another example of that.

She lowers her head, a drop starting to form at the bottom of her eye. And my body starts to move on its own once again. I do something I haven't done in years. I gently turn her towards me, getting the corpse out of her view, wrapping my legs around her and I hold her against my torso.

She takes refuge against it, putting her head right below mine with a few sobs. I feel her warmth against me, as well as a tear running on my coat. My hoof kindly caresses the top of her mane, to try and comfort her a bit. It's the only thing I can do.

A little throat clearing is heard behind me, recognizable as Whoove's. Without turning my head, I answer:

"So, you're finally coming in person?"

"The princess ordered me to accompany her here."

I glance at him. Twilight is indeed right by his side, astounded and scared at the view of the corpse. Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, I'm guessing she couldn't sleep tonight because of that case. Needless to say that now, her nights aren't going to find back their usual sleep.

"So it would be a suicide then?" asks the captain, a little sceptic.

"Either that or a perfectly disguised crime," I say, still gently holding Lyra against me.

She gets a hiccup.

"A-A disguised crime?" she stammers.

"If we don't find anything conclusive, like imprints, the natural conclusion will be the suicide one. Right?" I add while raising an eyebrow towards Whooves. "What interests me the most for now is to know where was the pony in charge of keeping on eye on the witness."

He frowns because of my disapproving and disrespectful of his title tone, and raises his voice:

"Rose was supposed to do it, given the hours you told me."

"And where is she?"

Whooves scowls, as if embarrassed by the answer he's going to give, mumbling:

"We can't find her... But the agent on duty before her assured me she took her turn."

"When?"

"At two a.m...."

"You're telling me she had to stay on the watch for six hours?" I say in disbelief.

"I'm lacking personnel!" he violently defends. "Ponyville is a small and quiet town, it's already a miracle that we have more than fifteen agents!"

"I can ask for Canterlot or even Manehattan to send in reinforcement," suggests Twilight, who's opening her mouth for the first time since she arrived. "Furthermore, they have officers used to that type of things."

I know Whooves well enough to see when a comment rubs him the wrong way. And his pride just took a serious hit.

"I think I can take charge of this investigation," he answers with confidence while sticking out his chest. "It might even be over already."

Might be... Or might be not. You have a murder case at hooves, but you'd rather pass away any help by pure pride, just to show that you are capable of solving something so serious by yourself. Ponyville isn't used to that kind of event, and if they were to worsen, it would go wrong. Your pride is way misplaced, Whooves!

But I don't say anything. A word from him and I could get thrown out of this investigation. It's already a lot to ask him that I can be a part of it. For now, things are still somewhat in control, but don't give me more work with your ego.

"Very well, if that's what you think, I'll trust you," follows Twilight, exhausted. "Can you... take him down, please? Seeing him swing like this..."

Since earlier, she can't stop glancing with fright at the body. It's understandable that it shocks her. She probably never saw that. Me neither, but I prepared myself, more or less.

"Are you done?" asks Whooves to his agents.

"No traces, captain," answers one of them. "Everything seems to point towards a suicide, indeed."

"Right, take him down."

"Yes sir."

Lyra has a small hiccup against my shoulder.

"You can take your day off, Lyra," says Whooves with compassion. Or maybe its just the little look from the princess that gave him the sudden need to make a good impression.

I slightly pat Lyra's back, whispering "Come on, let's go," and help her stand up to get her out of here.

She obeys without questions, letting me guide her to the house's exit, as Whooves's subalterns are busy carefully lowering the body.

"I'm fine Bonbon..." she says once outside, before sniffing loudly. "I just... need to be alone..."

She wipes an eye before going away slowly, head low.

I want to tell her something, that if she needs to talk, or a shoulder to cry on, I'm here... But as soon as I see her back turned, a painful memory comes up, holding my words back. The same gait, the same scene than three years ago, when she abandoned me, for no reason.

I turn my head away abruptly, avoiding the conflict creeping in my mind and my heart, ignoring those small tingling and those doubts running in my head. I have a case to solve, and maybe lives to save, no time for this.

Once back inside, I notice they started to lower the body. At least they are wearing gloves, so as to not dirty it.

"Two deaths in less than twenty-four hours," sighs Whooves loudly, with a grave face. "I'd never thought I'd see such a tragedy in Ponyville."

"Almost no one would have thought about it, in my opinion," I say while looking at the princess, who approves my words with a slight nod.

"I hope all of this is truly over," she adds with utmost worry.

"Everything indicates a suicide, don't you agree?" suddenly says Whooves to me.

The question catches me off guard a bit with its suddenness and frankness. But at the same time, he's not one to beat around the bush.

I allow myself a moment of thinking, getting everything together in my head, before concluding:

"Well, at first glance, yes. The only weird things are Rose's disappearance and the pony mentioned by Pinkie. And the first one could easily be explained by a sudden emergency that Rose had to answer, someone close to her being sick, for example. Although the coincidence would be pretty big."

It's obvious that, for now, nothing really indicates that there's a reason to pursue the investigation and not close the file. I think it's just my desire to chase a criminal which forces me to say that this resolution isn't right. Too simple.

Whooves seems happy that I'm on his side, and it reassures the princess.

"Contact me if there's anything new," she then says to us, getting ready to go out.

"Don't you worry, princess," reassures the captain.

She goes away. I'm reading myself to do the same, when my eyes are suddenly attracted by a light blue spot, to the level of the beam. Something is jammed in the knot of the rope, stuck to the beam.

I get closer, intrigued, noticing white as well. What is that? And more importantly: How did it got here?

"Excuse-me," I say to one of the agents unhooking the body. "Can you untie the upper knot?"

He glances at Whooves, as if to ask something, and Whooves glances at me in turn. To which I answer by pointing at the object.

"There's something stuck."

The captain frowns upon seeing that I'm right.

"Go on," he says to his subordinate.

The latter obeys and unties the knot, loosening the rope, letting the new fragment of clue fall, to my surprise.

A candy wrapper. The same kind than the one that was in the cash register at Sugarcube Corner.

Author's Note:

The only difference between Hop-o'-My-Thumb and the hunter, it's the direction of the trail.

I actually got back to writing the French version and finished chapter 12 after like 2 years. So, thank you all, even the quiet readers.

Comments

[MatTheBook]

A candy wrapper. The same kind than the one that was in the cash register at Sugarcube Corner.

OH BOY. WE GOT OUR SUSPECT