Chapter 29

Curtis Shawn arrived at the crime scene at the Singleshot animal hospital where he had just recently received a call claiming that there had been an orange and black tiger there. He pulled up and found the corpse of an adult male moose lifeless on the parking lot asphalt and a few police officers looking entirely unsure of what to do with it.

He walked up to the corpse and flashed his badge, putting to rest any concerns the cops would have with him messing around with the body. It didn't take him long to identify the cause of death. "Lucy!" He hollered in his raspy and serious voice. "Mark it down. Cause of death: bite to the neck. Severed spine. Crushed esophagus."

The young woman who acted practically as his shadow and secretary, though she was a talented animal control officer herself, ran silently behind him with her notepad and a "Yessir!" She jotted down all that Curtis stated as the man continued to examine the beast.

"It doesn't seem to be rabid or anything." He spoke mostly to himself. "So what's it doing here?" Lucy just shrugged. "Anyone here see what happened to this moose?" He hollered to everyone around. A young female police officer raised her hand, so he approached her.

"Officer Stone." She greeted him with a firm handshake.

He nodded. "Curtis Shawn." He got right to the point. "Tell me what you saw."

"Okay. It happened like this." She started. "After this all happened." She gestured to the clear crime scene in the animal hospital. "An F.B.I. agent showed up to do some digging, standard kinda' stuff." Curtis nodded. She continued. "Then I saw it."

"It?"

"The moose." She said with a point toward the dead body. "It was barreling down on the hospital like a fat redneck to an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring a chocolate fountain."

"Was it running oddly or anything?"

"Not that I could tell. Looked healthy and strong." She shrugged. "And fast!"

"Then what?"

"Then I screamed and the F.B.I. agent bolted out of the hospital to see why I screamed." She took a deep breath since she had been speaking so rapidly. "The moose totally ignored me as I jumped out of its way and it charged the agent. He shot it." Lucy wrote that detail down. "Even with the bullets in it, 'cuz he hit, I saw it. He hit, I think twice." Curtis nodded impatiently. "It still was runnin' at him."

"Did it hit him?" Lucy asked in a petite and worried voice.

"No, ma'am!" Officer Stone said sounding as shocked as if it had just happened seconds before. "He dodged it and then came over and rescued me as it turned and charged again."

"And you're sure it looked healthy?" Curtis asked. "It's just not normal for a moose to be so aggressive unless it has something wrong with it."

"Well, I'm no doctor…" Officer Stone started humbly. "But I can say it looked to me to be as healthy as a fattened calf before a feast." She smiled awkwardly. "Minus all the fat. This sucker looked strong!"

"So what happened?" Curtis asked, obviously perplexed by the story.

"Just before the moose ran down the agent, this big tiger jumped in and knocked the guy outta' the way!"

"Are you shittin' me right now, officer?" Curtis sounded angry. "I can't do my job if you don't give me the honest facts."

Officer stone placed her arms up in front of her as if to surrender and keep the peace. "Tellin' nothin' but the truth, sir." She placed a hand on her heart. "I swear it."

Curtis sighed heavily, clearly frustrated. "Go on."

"Once the tiger had pushed him outta' the way, the moose trampled over the tiger. I could hear the damage being done, like when you're breaking up a real serious fist fight. That heavy flesh-on-flesh beatin' sound." Curtis did know what she was talking about. "Then the tiger jumped on the moose and bit it dead." She finished. "That's the truth."

Curtis nodded. As unlikely as that all happening seemed, at least the cause of death matched up, plus the two bullet wounds. "Where'd the agent go?" He asked.

Officer Stone shrugged. "Got in his car and left. Didn't say a thing."

"And the tiger?"

"Got in the car with him and left." She said it stone faced (no pun intended) and that disturbed Curtis.

"You're saying that a Bengal tiger climbed into a car with an F.B.I. agent and they drove off together after having teamed up against a moose?" Curtis asked loudly. "You do realize how stupid that all sounds, right?"

"Stupid or not, that's what happened." Officer Stone stated plainly, seemingly getting tired of Curtis acting like she was some kind of lying moron.

"Fine." Curtis said. "Did you get all that, Lucy?" Lucy simply nodded silently. Officer Stone gave her a strange look before Curtis spoke again. "Can you describe the tiger?"

"Yeah." She answered. "It was orange and black, like the cereal one."

"Tony." Lucy interjected.

"Right."

"Size?" Curtis asked un-amused.

"Very big." Stone answered. "Like huge!"

"Like eight feet long?" Curtis asked.

"Bigger." Stone answered. "Like ten or eleven."

"You are honestly telling me you think the tiger was eleven feet long?" Curtis asked. "What? Are you gonna' next tell me that Lake Placcid is behind your station and Godzilla lives at your home?"

"Sorry, sir." She said clearly not sorry. "That's how big it was. I'm good at judging. It's part of my job for describing suspects and vehicles. That cat was a big one."

"Fine." He caved. "Write it down, Lucy." She did. "And was it a male or a female? You can usual-" He was cut off as Stone answered confidently.

"Male."

"I didn't even tell you how to tell."

"The males have balls and a thing, right?"

"Obviously."

"Then it was definitely a male. I think everyone down the street could see that much."

"Okay." He answered through confused eyes. "Right it down, Lucy." He looked at her. "Male."

"Can you guess the weight of it?" Curtis asked. "I know it's tough."

"Sorry. I really couldn't tell you." She shrugged. "It was definitely heavy." She commented. "The moose collapsed under its weight real fast. And I think mooses can lift a lot."

"Moose." Curtis corrected.

"Where?" Stone asked.

"That's what…" He gave up. "Never mind." He turned to Lucy. "Write down that it was uncommonly heavy. Maybe 550 or something." She nodded and did as she was told. He turned back to officer Stone. "Any other features you'd like to share?"

"Uhh…" She thought. "It kinda' seemed like it knew the F.B.I. Agent."

"Do you know that for sure?"

"No." She answered. "But it saved him and didn't hurt anyone."

"So we all got lucky." Curtis stated flatly. "Luck doesn't happen twice. We gotta' catch this tiger." He asked her one last question. "There was only one tiger here? 'Cuz there's two on the loose."

"Only one, but I'll call your office if I see another one."

"Good answer." He said as he turned and walked back to his car.

Lucy smiled meekly to Officer Stone. "Thank you for your help." She said quickly as she spun around and chased after Curtis before he took off without her.