Chapter 1 - Caught
Once upon a time, on a chill evening, a private investigator walked into Cherryton School...
Flower bouquets with colorful cards lay at the bottom of the busted doors. His hand reached up to his jaw and he took a long draw of the cigarette. Smells of flowers, perfume... but no blood.
He drops the cig. Stamping it out with the sole of his shoe. His foot pushes the flowers to the side as he steps towards the yellow crosslines.
"Uh - hey!"
The black wolf turns its head to a wide-eyed and lanky student. "Are you with the police? Sorry... I just - uh," The grey-coated student lowers his head and his ears fold, "Some animals really put thought into setting this up..."
"Oh," The black-coated wolf raises a foot to show a petal stuck to his loafer, "Sorry about that, I need to get in there. It won't take long," He points at the police-crossed doors.
"That's fine, here," The grey wolf gets on his hands and knees. Pushing apart a path for him, "I didn't know they were still trying to look for clues. I mean, we thought the investigation ended,"
"Yeah well, when you're trying to do a job like this, going back is necessary," The black wolf walks over him. He raises an index finger and runs it down the yellow crossline. They give way, and when he pulls on the handle, the door swings open. He looks up at the edge of the doorframe to see grooves at the top. The wolf leans against the door and sniffs.
Whoever washed up the door used lemon cleaning agent, it's everywhere. Can't get anything at all. The black wolf wipes the handle and rubs his fingers.
"The janitor come by here?" The black wolf asks.
"They had to clean up the mess. Can't leave bodies around,"
The black wolf swings the door in and steps into the auditorium. The lights were cut, and there was no one else in sight. Looking down the steps, they divided into smaller steps. Giving herbivores their areas at the top while the carnivores had to walk down. Pretty interesting system they made here.
The wolf turns his head to the entrance to see a figure retreating away from the door. Damn.
"Hey!" The black wolf calls out, "Come here,"
The grey wolf comes out and walks towards him, "So, what kind of a detective are you? I mean, there are different kinds I'm guessing,"
"If you're asking whether I'm supposed to be here, then yeah, I am,"
The grey wolf raises his hands, "I didn't say that!"
"Sorry," He crosses his arms, "I'm a private investigator, so, don't worry about it,"
The grey wolf looks down at his feet, "I wanna know, were you a friend of his?" The black wolf asks.
"Tem, he was part of the drama club. He was supposed to play the role of Adler,"
"That's... all?" The black wolf takes a step forward and the grey wolf leans back. The black wolf uncrosses his arms and holds them behind, "You don't need to answer more than you want to,"
"No, it wasn't like we were friends but him and I... We had unfinished business,"
"Unfinished business?" The black wolf tilts his head and the grey wolf perks up, "It doesn't have anything to do with... this," He quickly answered.
"Go on, I'm interested,"
The grey wolf opens his mouth, only to be cut off, "Hey!"
They both turn to look up at the top of the stairs, the shadow of someone with their arms crossed looks down on them. A herbivore, or rather, a deer. The deer's antlers sway as he looks down on them, "This area is off limits, do you have no sense of respect?" They stare at him, "Well? I'm not walking down there,"
The black wolf adjusts his tie and they walk up to him. The black wolf looks behind the deer to see students peek through the entrance. Watching this buck brings them up. The deer uncrosses his arms as he watches the black wolf come towards him. He frowns.
"Who are you?" He asks.
"It's Bigby, I'm guessing you're a friend of Tem's?" Bigby raises his hand and the deer shakes it, "Yes, and -" The deer pulls away from Bigby, "The investigation was days ago. There hasn't been an announcement for the students to clear the area, or that the police would show up again,"
"Well, there are plenty of different things an officer does. Mine just so happens to be investigating a crime scene. I'm the she -" He coughs, "- private investigator, " Bigby lowers his snout, "So, yeah,"
"Alright, detective. Security was looking for you inside the building - said something about finding a new witness. I'll go tell them that you're here,"
Bigby pulls a box of cigs from his pocket and puts one in his jaw and lights it, "Actually, I think I'll go and talk to them myself. Go back to class,"
The deer just stares at Bigby and he shrugs, "What?"
"So, detective. If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you accomplishing here?"
Bigby shakes his head, "Can't answer that. Sorry,"
"Can't, or won't?" The deer says.
Bigby grins, showing a row of fangs.
"Louise..." The grey wolf turns to him.
"Look," Bigby points at the stage, "Whoever was chasing Tem went down the stairs and finished him off there. That door was busted open. If you had a carnivore that was planning on eating you, you wouldn't be able to outrun them. He had a head start," Bigby takes the cig out his mouth, blowing through his nostrils, "That's my observation, now do me a courtesy and leave,"
The deer steps away, "Well, it looks like you're busy," He turns to the grey-coated wolf, "You, you're from the stage crew. I need you. Let's go,"
The grey wolf nods and they leave through the entrance while the rest of the students whisper to each other. Bigby rolls the cig between his fangs before quickly walking down the steps. Damn, and here he thought he was slick with it.
There wasn't much left to see, the alpaca was gone. Bigby looks up at the ceiling. No cameras? The security in this place is terrible. If that deer was gonna get them, it'll take some time.
His head turns to the right, where another door is. They said that the body was found there. Bigby circles where the stench of chemicals was the strongest. Not lemon, but bleach.
Bigby looks to his right. If Tem was here, and the carnivore escaped, it would be through those doors. Bigby walks towards the double doors and sniffs the crash bars. The sent of chemicals are... fainter? No, not just that, that same smell of lemon was there. Bigby looks back at the bars before pushing in the door. He steps into another hallway; the trail of chemicals leads to the emergency exit before turning a sharp right. Bigby rests a hand on the bars before pulling away like it was hot metal. A red line covers the crash bars up to an alarm. That was close. Whoever did it almost made the same mistake of ousting themselves by the alarm.
Bigby looks down the hall. Then how the hell did they get in the first place? Isn't this place supposed to be on lockdown? Who gave them the keys? The janitor would have the keys...And that grey wolf... didn't he say that they had some kind of unfinished business with Tem?
He jogs down the hall, turns a corner, and two students yelp at the sight of him.
"Woah! Sorry, didn't mean to scare," Bigby turns his head, the scent of chemicals ends here... but that same set of chemicals, a kind of lemon scent, wafts to him. He turns his head towards the entrance, where a mass of students are exiting.
"An intruder!" The flamingo girl shrieks, "There's an intruder here!"
"No, not an intruder," Bigby turns the girls and back to the entrance, a group of students turns their heads at him. Ranging from rabbits, tigers, and bears, and one of them - one of them has that same subtle lemon detergent.
"Hey!" Bigby turns to the left to see big guys, rhinos and such, running down the stairs, knocking students aside. Bigby turns to the crowd to see several students already fleeing. That lemon detergent is still there, but it's fading. He rushes forward, and students cry out while trying to get away. He shoves bodies aside towards where the group of bears and tigers are.
"You, stop!" He points in their general direction, but no one listens. Bigby turns his head to see four security guards wading through the crowd. The mob of bears and tigers shift to the right, leaving an exposed area for him to the school grounds.
Bigby tumbles on the ground, crying out. He doesn't have time to turn his head to see who just launched him twenty feet away as rough hands grab his neck and his jaw. He twists his head to see a rhino on top of him, he's got his knee in the same place where he must have headbutted him. Bigby takes a good look at the group before running out the doors. Students run down the steps and there doesn't seem to be security on the grounds. Bigby dashes onto the grass and towards the wooded area of the school only to feel something crash against his back. The next thing he knows, he's flying and it feels like the biggest wasp just stung his back.
Bigby tumbles on the ground, crying out. He doesn't have time to turn his head to see who just launched him twenty feet away as rough hands grab his neck and his jaw. He twists his head to see a rhino on top of him, he's got his knee in the same place where he must have headbutted him.
"Stay down," The rhino tells Bigby in his ear. Bigby turns his head towards the school to see the security guards running towards them.
"HGNNNNN," Bigby growls and he takes a deep breath. The rhino wraps an arm around his neck and squeezes. Bigby clenches his fangs and puts a hand on the dirt before pushing himself up.
"What are you doing!? Stop!" The rhino chokes Bigby, but he's already being lifted, "I said stop!" Bigby wraps a hand around the rhino's leg while he slams his foot down. He rises to his feet.
The wooded part of the school wasn't more than ten yards away. Bigby takes a step forward, gets into a jog, and finally into a sprint. "S- Stop!" The rhino isn't even trying to choke him out anymore, instead holding onto him for dear life. Bigby spots the biggest tree here, one right in front of him, and barrels down towards it. It's not more than a few feet now, nine feet away, five feet away.
Bigby slams the rhino against the tree, and the entire thing shakes from impact. The rhino bellows and lets go of Bigby, falling off to the foot of the tree as Bigby slinks away from his grip.
Before he can even take a step into the wooded area, several other security guards surround him with gripped batons. Bigby turns his head to see several other carnivores cut off his exit.
"Give it up," one of the security guards says, "Get down!"
It sparks a whole clamor of them telling Bigby to lie down with his hands on his head. Bigby growls, and just looks down. They close the gap, and he can feel his heart beating harder by the moment as he looks left to right.
Ah, shit.
"I can't believe they'd let carnivores in like that," The red deer paces back and forth in the leader's room. He stops and looks at the grey wolf, "And why didn't you do anything to stop him!? Are you covering for him? Is that what you wolves do?" The red deer struts up to the grey wolf and the wolf raises his hands.
"I've never met him before, he told me he was a part of the investigation,"
"And you never thought to yourself that he might be a suspect? Some carnivore snooping around the crime scene, and you're too dim-witted to realize how weird that is?"
You didn't stop him either... The grey wolf looks away from the red deer's piercing stare. "I think they caught him by now,"
The red deer lingers before scoffing, "Some friend you are,"
The grey wolf blinks, "What?" He says.
"You know, you would think -"
"Senpai! I-" A brown mongoose bursts through the door, "I - um," He stands watching the annoyed gaze of the red deer and the grey wolf.
"Aren't you supposed to knock first?" The red deer sneers at the mongoose.
"Why is Legoshi here?"
"Just because he's stage crew doesn't mean that I can't use him for other things," The red deer turns to Legoshi, "Isn't that right?"
"I think I'm finished here...," Legoshi tosses the stack of papers onto the table and the red deer holds up a hand, "Stay,"
"Kai, leave your things and head into the PR room. You'll be on the same team from now on,"
Kai tilts his head as if his ears were waterlogged, "What?"
"You're out of the acting team, we need another stagehand while the rest of us work on the play,"
There's a heavy silence, and the red deer pushes on, "Spring Breeze Program of 'Adler', the dance of ice in act 2. Remember that?" He gets close to Kai's face, "Remember the winter Safari Convention program of 'Adler', the Dance of the Wave Children in the final act?"
Kai's face turns into a frown, and Legoshi looks between the two of them, "Two years on the acting team, and you've already messed up on live performance. Taking on Tem's role? He would have laughed,"
There's a shuffle of feet, and suddenly, Legoshi is between them with his arms raised. Both Kai and the red deer's eyes go wide, it's a good thing too, if he had been a second late - then Kai might've even hit Louise.
Kai withdraws his hand, putting it under his armpit before lowering it to his side, "Oh, what? You're defending him?"
"An actor's safety is paramount..." Legoshi glowers at Kai, "And he's the lead role,"
"He's throwing Tem's name around like he knew him - like he actually cared. All I've ever seen them do together is rehearse and this arrogant loser did was lecture him like you're doing now. Oh, yeah, Louise the hero, Louise the hot shot. I'll kick his -"
Legoshi lets out a low growl, and Kai's face drops with his ears folding back, "uh,"
"Just stop what you're doing Kai..." A hand pulls Legoshi aside, and Louise steps forward, "Leave, or you're done,"
Kai's eyes dart from Louise to Legoshi, "You're lucky you're so rich, everyone treats you like a princess!" He leaves while slamming the door shut.
"What're you looking at!" His muffled shout behind the door, and Louise turns to Legoshi with a smirk.
"You bared your fangs to stop a fight; how typical. You act like a docile pup, but that's just a front,"
"Bye," Legoshi steps forward only to feel a tug on his lower back. He turns to see Louise holding the end of his tail between his fingers, "You're not as monstrous as I thought," He smiles, "Would you like to do some good?"
"Like what?"
"Security is gonna be tight tonight with what happened, but that's not gonna stop a dedicated wolf like you. Zoe - kun, you, and I are going to the gym to do a private rehearsal,"
"What? We can't do that! If I get caught -"
"You won't; trust me. You have that nose of yours, just use that when you stand in front of the gym. Or," Louise grabs Legoshi's tie and pulls him close, "Is it that you want a piece of my body in return? Don't tell me that you're hungry now,"
Legoshi shuts his mouth as Louise turns around, "What about Zoe-kun? Why is he coming?"
"He probably forgot his lines," Louise puts on his coat, "Go get him,"
There's a knock on the door, and Louise opens it.
"Els?" They both say. The petite alpaca stands at the doorway, "What is it?" Louise asks.
"Um," She looks at Legoshi, "I just came to say, the wolf that was caught -"
"They got him, they got the guy that did it," Kai appears behind her, "They're hauling him to prison, right now,"