Chapter one – Just like nothing
-Uhm so, let me get this straight- the confused policebird said, scratching his head with the pencil. -Your friend suddenly disappeared leaving all of this behind him?-
He pointed at the table in front of them with a feather. Laying there, there was a bunch of broken pieces of paper; all of them were filled with confused scribbles and sentences. Also they were covered in some strange dark little stains.
Red sighed in both anger and frustration: -Listen. I know that these things don't normally happen in this lovely and sunny corner of the world, but I can assure you that we have got a serious case in our wings right now. We need help.-
Sat near him, a gray feathered girl was watching the floor with tears already ready to fall down from her lost eyes. She was looking like the most fragile little thing in the world, and the blue policebird couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
Maybe they were really having a real problem this time. Absurd, mostly if you think that, the most serious case anyone could possibly handle in Bird Island, was an hatchling loosing their ball on some tall tree (and the pigs, of course. They were still a big deal.)
But a bird missing? Nope, never happened before. You can't really get lost in an island of those dimensions. Yes, it was big but not that big.
Also, the couple there had pass the whole day searching for clues, and now the only thing the police department could give them was a huge shrug.
Seriously: the policebird didn't know where to start. But maybe… he knew someone who did.
-Wait here for a second- he said, putting his notes down. He left, leaving Red and Silver slightly confused and, in the case of Red, even more impatient.
It took the policebird less than three was his night turn, but he knew that there was always someone else in that office on the second floor; the only one in that department who took his job seriously enough to pass there almost the whole day, waiting for something just like that case.
The bird who entered the room wasn't exactly what Red and Silver were expecting to see.
He was an hummingbird with green and sky blue feathers, a slim and long orange beak and a secure expression on his face.
-Look what we have here- the newcomer said, with a voice too deep for someone of his kind. -I'm inspector Cole. It's great to know our hero and his fiancée.-
Red rose an eyebrow: -My what?-
Silver sighed, finally speaking: -We have no time for this.-
-Yeah, yeah. My colleague said you have a huge problem, uh?- Cole said, looking at the pages. -A very huge problem, from what I can see.-
The policebird sat near the room's door. Now he was incredibly curious: that was going to be the most interesting night of work of his life. Actually, he used to pass his night shifts sleeping on the desk, so it wasn't that difficult after all…
-It's about my brother- Silver said, her voice cracking a bit.
-You know the one you guys always stop because of excess of velocity?- Red added, hoping to make something click in the inspector's mind.
-That guy's pretty hard to forget, actually. He goes here and there without us noticing, he creates two or three thousand problems in a row and in less than one second. He's the best at disappearing just like nothing… because he disappeared, right?- After saying that, Cole smiled a little: -I haven't heard about him all day: I knew something was off. Chuck, right?-
Red nodded, placing one wing on the table and the other one on Silver's shoulder. -What we found today is not like him at all- he said in a tone Cole recognised as worried. -I have to admit that I didn't want to come here, ok? I find this police department the usless thing in this island, but if you can help us then please, do it. We don't know what to do.-
Behind that serious face there was a lot of desperation, and you didn't need to be a detective to see it. Also, Silver was now crying for real, letting go something she probably had kept inside her all day.
It was time to be serious now.
-Got it- Cole finally said. -We have a lot of work to do. Even if you did the most of it already: you searched for leads and proof. I'm surprised, also- he took the nearest page like it was made of porcelain, -those stains. This is blood, right?-
-That is what?!- The policebird screamed, jumping off of his chair.
Red and Silver looked at each other for a second, then she nodded slightly, putting something she was hiding in her wings right on the table.
Cautiously wrapped in a cloth, there was a knife. It was as dirt as the pieces of paper; dark brownish and reddish stains covering his shiny surface.
-This is what led us here- she said. -Now you understand our urgency.-
-I do- Cole admitted. -But, even if I'm utterly curious about it and about the pages, we need to start from the top. It all started this morning, I imagine.-
-Actually, I think it started a lot earlier- Red said. His expression melted considerably; now he was obviously and visibly sad and, mostly, sorry.
-So, your story is the first one we have to unwrap- Cole said, putting himself in a more comfortable position on his chair. -Give me all the details. Everything you can remember has to escape from your mouth, ok?-
Red nodded again and took a deep breath: -It all started two days ago. It was the morning after our meeting at the beach- he explained, waving a feather between Silver and himself. -He came to say "good morning" just like always.-
Cole nodded, then he turned the head to his collegue: -You are writing, aren't you?-
The policebird, still trembling after the whole blood thing, took the block he was using earlier and started writing. That night had suddenly turn from interesiting to terribly scary.