Mind Games: Lycanthrope - Chapter 2
#10 of Mind Games
The following is a work of fiction copyright Radical Gopher. The story contains adult situations and is not intended to be read by anyone under the age of 18. All characters depected herein are 18 years of age or older. This story is copyright Radical Gopher and may not be used or duplicated in whole or in part without the permission of the author.
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MIND GAMES: LYCANTHROPE - CHAPTER 2
The assistant coroner was writing on a clipboard when Detectives Blackthorne and Fields arrived. He looked up and smiled with his typical, toothy grin. "So how are my two favorite gumshoes doing?"
Pepper looked at him with a confused expression. "What the hell's a gumshoe?"
Saul looked over at her. "It's an old term used to refer to people in our particular profession, a.k.a. detectives. You hear it a lot if you watch old film noir vids."
The vixen shook her head. "You know, Derek, it's bad enough I have to put up with my partner's old movie references, but it's downright sad coming from someone with a medical degree. Don't you spend enough time with the real thing?"
"Too much, actually," he replied. "That's why I like a little escapist vid time." The canine morph handed her the electronic clipboard. "The watch commander thought you might be interested in this."
Pepper read through the preliminary report, quickly skimming down to cause of death. "She was strangled, then stabbed?"
Derek nodded. "Post Mortem; just like your victim from this morning. Even the knife wound looks similar."
"When was she killed?" Saul asked, taking the clipboard when Pepper offered it.
"It's hard to determine. Some weeks ago, we think, before the big freeze. We wouldn't have found her except a couple of ice skaters decided to ignore the thin ice signs posted around Prospect Lake. One of them broke through the ice then had the crap scared out of him when she bobbed to the surface."
"More than a month," commented Pepper, "probably two."
"The body's remarkably well preserved, though bloated all to hell. I'd show you, but I figured you two probably just ate."
Saul chuckled. "A thoughtful M.E., who'd have guessed." He scanned the report. "Nothing here to indicate if she was raped or not."
"At this point, it's hard to tell," the coroner replied. "We'll have to do a few more tests and that will probably take at least a week." He handed the vixen a computer composite photo of what the girl had looked like when alive. "She had no identification on her, of course..."
"Of course..."
"But this should help with your investigation. I'll let you know if we find out anything else."
"Thanks," replied Pepper as she pocketed the photo. "Let us know if that knife is a match."
"Will do," Derek replied. He glanced at his watch, relieved Saul of the clipboard, made a quick notation and walked back into the examination room without further comment.
Saul watched the M.E. disappear through the wide double-doors then looked at his partner. "What now?"
"I don't know about you, but I'm too wired right now to get any sleep. Why don't we stop off somewhere for pie and coffee, then take one last look in the park?"
Saul looked at his watch. "It's a quarter to nine."
Pepper snuggled in close to her partner. "Perfect! What could be better than a moonlight stroll past a recent crime scene," she grinned coquettishly."
Blackthorne grumbled softly to himself. Pepper was having one of what she called her intuitive urges. More often than not, they paid off, but it meant neither of them would get any sleep until she had satisfied it. At least the pie and coffee would help wake him up.
As it turned out, Pepper's idea of pie and coffee was to visit the late night café where Rita Hollingsworth had worked. The vixen used it as an opportunity to talk directly with some of the other employees who worked with the victim. Most did not know her very well, though they all were genuinely saddened by her loss. One waitress however did seem to remember something of interest.
"I think he was just an occasional customer before Rita, but once he met her he became a dedicated regular."
"How much of a regular?" Pepper asked.
"Almost every day she worked," the anthrop skunkette replied. "He'd usually show up just before her scheduled dinner break, order something, then share his meal with her while they talked."
"Didn't your manager object?
The Lappe shook her head. "The boss didn't complain, so long as it was on her time, not his. Last Thursday he came back just before closing so he could walk her home At least that's what she told me, though from the smile on her face the next day I wondered if he ever got her home."
"You think they spent the night together?" asked the vixen.
The Lappe grinned. "The first time always leaves a girl kind of dazed and silly, but then you should know that." She grabbed a clean cloth and wiped down the counter in front of the two detectives. "Too bad he wasn't here last night," she sighed.
Pepper took a sip on her coffee. "What did he look like?"
"He was a human, no where as big as your friend here," she said gesturing at Saul. "Maybe about five, seven; kind of thin and wiry with brown hair and unusual eyes."
"Unusual?" asked Blackthorn. "How so..?"
"Green, with what looked like flecks of gold; just enough so they kind of shined when the light hit his face just right."
"Did you ever catch his name?"
"I think it was either Jack or Jake, something like that. He always paid with cash so I never got to see a credit chit... sorry."
"Rita's room mate never mentioned a boyfriend of any kind."
The Lappe shrugged. "Maybe she didn't know."
"Maybe not," Saul acknowledged. "When was the last time he was here?"
"Two days ago," the waitress replied. "She was kind of disappointed he hadn't shown up yesterday. The way she talked though I think she knew he had some kind of prior commitment."
Finishing their questions and dessert, the two detectives quickly wrapped things up and left, walking in the direction of the park. The air was chilly, but not as bitingly cold as this morning. Saul paused a moment to place a quick phone call. When he finished, he looked over at Pepper.
"Well, that clicks into place."
"What?"
"I just talked with Rita's roommate. She was working an extra shift Thursday night and didn't get home until after ten in the morning."
"So she wouldn't have known whether her friend was out all night or if she might have brought this Jack fellow home with her. I wonder why Rita didn't confide with Cloie. That would have been a pretty big step to make."
Saul shrugged. "Yeah... Maybe she just wanted time to figure out how to introduce her boyfriend."
"Maybe," the vixen replied, snuggling in closer to Saul as they entered the park.
The two detectives walked slowly, following the most likely route Rita would have taken, pausing from time to time to visually scan the area around them. They were looking for anything that might trigger a thought or three about the murder. For all intents and purposes they looked like a couple out for an evening stroll.
As they walked a slight breeze came up, pushing the clouds aside to reveal a bright and very full moon. Pepper looked up at it.
"Look at how bright that is," she commented. "If only there hadn't been any clouds last night. Rita Hollingsworth might have seen whoever was waiting to ambush her and avoided the attack altogether."
Saul chuckled. "Note to self; do not take fox lady on any romantic moonlit strolls when she's on a case." The vixen punched him lightly in the arm. The temperature began to drop and both detectives pulled their jackets tightly about them.
Reaching the crime scene they discovered most of the police tape had been pulled down and the scene was cold. They stood silently on the path looking around. Pepper pointed to a particular clump of bushes less than five feet away.
"That's got to be where Rita's attacker was waiting." She took three steps forward and stopped, walking through the crime scene, trying to build the chain of events in her mind.
"From the drag marks, he must have grabbed her right about here then pulled her across the path back into those bushes there. He probably had one hand across her mouth and an arm around her throat." Saul stood to one side watching as Pepper crashed her way through the bushes acting out the scenario.
"Here, the murderer threw her down, stunning her then used the tape to tie her hands behind her back, gag her and jam the plastic bag over her head. He then tore her clothes open and started raping her, right.... right about... about here!"
Saul noticed the vixen had begun shivering slightly but knew it wasn't from the cold. Cases like this, involving rape and murder, sometimes became quite intense for her. She felt a kind of sensitivity that both sharpened her mind and gave her the occasional nightmare. It also made her one of the best robbery/homicide detectives in the department. This had been especially true since the Puppeteer case a couple of years ago when she had nearly become a victim herself.
Without a word the human stepped up to Pepper, went down on one knee and hugged her closely to him until her tremors stopped. When they did, she gently peeled herself away, smiled at him and went back to examining the crime scene.
Saul joined her as she stood in the center of the crime scene. "This would be the point where, with the victim dead, the murderer stabs her with the dagger."
The vixen nodded. "This is when things get confusing. Our murderer is standing over the body... why?"
"Well, from what we learned tonight, he's probably getting ready to remove it from the crime scene and dump it somewhere he thinks it won't be found."
Pepper nodded in agreement. "That's when he's apparently attacked himself by person or persons unknown."
"Someone walking his dog late at night?" asked Saul.
"As cold as it was, that doesn't make a lot of sense." The vixen frowned. "I wonder if it's possible the murder wasn't random."
"A premeditated fatal mugging, that might explain what someone was doing out here in the middle of a very frigid night," Saul observed.
"Which means whoever is responsible knew the victim's habits."
"That puts the compass pointing right at our mysterious boyfriend."
"Maybe," Pepper said, "then again maybe not. What if Jack is the one who jumped the murderer?"
"Okay... so we've got mystery assassin A, being attacked by mystery boyfriend B, while walking a very large dog, C." Saul shook his head. "That makes a lousy bit of logic."
"There are a lot of questions here that need answering."
"Okay, what if this was some kind of premeditated murder. Who would have wanted Rita dead and why?" asked Saul.
"And what was up with the knife? She was dead, why stab her unless there was a ritual involved."
"A ritual would bring us right back to premeditation, with Rita as the sacrifice."
The vixen sighed in frustration. "This is getting us nowhere fast. Let's stick with facts." She looked around and took several steps away from where the body was found. "Okay, this is approximately where the murderer was standing when he was attacked." She bent over and picked up a medium sized rock.
"He gets jumped and the knife he's holding gets knocked out of his hand and into the bushes over there." Pepper tossed the rock into the nearby bushes, but when it struck the ground it was accompanied by the sound of a large growl emanated from the bushes.
"What in hell?" The vixen took a step forward then abruptly froze as she saw a large pair of yellow, almond-shaped eyes staring back at her, glowing in the moonlight. The creature leapt straight for Pepper and would have had its jaws around her throat if she hadn't been violently tackled. The vixen found herself lying on her back, the wind knocked out of her. Flashes of color and dark spots danced before her eyes as she gasped raggedly for air. A sound like that of a horrendous dog fight tore through her consciousness as she tried to push herself off the ground.
Looking up Pepper could barely make out the image of her partner kicking and punching at what looked like a massive wolf. The creature had a death grip on Saul's forearm while the human was beating at its head, trying to force it to release him. Desperately the vixen clawed at her service weapon. She drew it and pointed it shakily at their attacker. The creature saw her and immediately released Saul, dashing away through the bushes before the detective could fire. For the briefest instant, she felt there was intelligence behind its eyes.
Rising, she went over to her partner. His arm had been badly mauled and he was bleeding profusely. She pulled the scarf from around her neck and quickly wrapped it around his arm, tightening it like a tourniquet until the blood flow had stopped. Pepper helped Saul stand then used her cell phone to put in an officer needs assistance call. Within moments sirens could be heard approaching.
Despite Saul's protests, the vixen led him out to the street and forced him to sit on a nearby bench to await the paramedics.
"What the hell was that thing?" the human asked.
Pepper shook her head. "I don't know, but I have a sudden feeling our case just got a lot more complicated."
"I was afraid you might say that," her partner muttered.
To be continued...