FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

It makes sense to me to go to the latest scene. I tap in a few commands to the console to make sure the crews know to expect me. With that done I dress, throwing my greatcoat on over an anti-stab vest. My lapel is heavy with service and commendation studs, and I take a moment to adjust it correctly. With that I head to the scene.

The enforcers have cleared a zone of traffic. I run my palm over a recorder for verification and am waved through. I exit my cruiser and take a look around. The cleaning crew sit in one corner, sipping early-morning 'caff and making morbid jokes. Forensics experts in disposable clean-wraps play sniffers and data-recorders over every scrap of ground. Behind the barrier tape gawkers and yellow-sashed reporters try and gather details. Two secondary-grade detectives snap to attention as I approach an opaque plastic evidence-tent that clearly covers the body's location.

The tent appears a little inadequate. Blood pools and splashes are all over the street. I can smell it; rich and salty. The stuff is still drying as the forensics step daintily around it; measuring spatter patterns and pool radii. While the major detritus has been cleaned up my keen eyes notice a discarded tooth, a finger and scraps of torn cloth across quite a wide area.

"Just Council, I'll be primary on the case," I announce as they approach. "Let's take a look inside, shall we?" I indicate the tent. We step inside. From this side the covering is completely transparent. Info cams point in every direction, not only recording the scene but also checking on the pedestrians allowed to get this close. Who is paying too much attention? Who is paying too little attention? Who keeps on appearing? The footage would be analysed in case the killer returned to the scene.

I think it is a little unnecessary in this case. Whoever killed the victim clearly did so with such rage and force that they would stand out in any crowd other than a slaughter-yard.

Inside the tent is a section of guttering and road. The pool of blood reaches almost to the edges of the plastic walls. I grimace. The closest detective clears his throat. "Do you want the current reading, sir?" he asks. I nod.

"The victim was apparently coming home after a late-night work session," he continues. He gestures towards a side street. "He apparently turned this way; we believe he was investigating the sound of that access grate being...thrown." I look in the direction he is gesturing. With some surprise I note an access grate; a four-by-two of solid metal that is usually bolted to the street to cover an access tunnel. Normal enough as an object, it is bent almost into a crescent, as if struck with severe force.

"The current read of the scene states that whoever came out of the tunnel pounced him there," another gesture to a pool of blood. "Once he was down he was kicked or thrown here and, well, set upon."

"Define 'set upon'" I request. The detective gestures to the blood pool.

"We didn't see the body, but apparently it had been dismembered, torn open and possibly consumed." He shrugs. "We're waiting for the mortuary officers to let us know if anything is missing."

"Consumed?" I repeat, half to myself. This case is getting better by the minute. Now what should I do?