The doctor turned to present the skull to the two humans and tiger. He moved a spot light so they could see the skull had been crushed. “See, when a body falls, when it impacts you get the damage on the one side. You'll get a star pattern from the point of impact radiating outward. The higher the fall the more the impact damage. But this,” he pointed to a pair of holes and then the damage on both sides of the skull. “This is as if the head had been put into a vice. A vice strong enough to crush the body. The child may have broken his neck in the struggle.”
“So, you're saying he could have gotten his head stuck and...” the detective paused as both Magnum and the coroner shook their heads vehemently no. “What?”
“A predator did this,” Nohar said quietly. All eyes turned to him. “A Neo most likely. It's... it was common in the wild before we were uplifted.”
“You're saying a Neo did this?” the detective waved to the pitiful remains on the table. “Why?”
“In the wild, when a male took over a pack or pride they would kill the young in order to eliminate future competition and in order to drive the females into heat quicker. It wasn't nice, but when you measure control of a pack or pride in a few years...”
“You've seen this?” Magnum asked, nodding his chin to the body.
Nohar looked at the body, ears flat. “Saw? Yes. I nearly was a victim when I was a cub,” he said, good eye lost in memory. “A Neotiger male went after my mother. She said no, so when she left for work he came to the door. My sister let him in. He killed her. Crushed her skull and snapped her neck.”
“Crap,” the coroner said, eyes wide again.
“I locked myself in my room and called the police. They didn't listen to me, thought I was a crank until they heard him ripping my door down. Then, only then, did they send a drone in to investigate. I'd pissed the bed and closet. He tore it up, looked under the bed and in the closet. He didn't see I'd climbed out the window onto the ledge.”
“So they got him?”
Nohar nodded bitterly, remembering how his mother had come home and been broken hearted. How she'd snapped at him to come in when the police couldn't cajole him into coming in. How he'd obeyed and how once inside she'd clung to him and licked him until he thought his fur would come off. “Yeah,” he said, remembering how his mother had struggled to get a gun to kill the bastard when they'd brought him by to identify, and how a neobear and a robot had stopped her.
“It fits the profile,” the detective murmured, “A rogue.”
“So you knew it was Neo all along?” Magnum demanded.
The detective shrugged. “No, but this does add a new spin on the situation. Just where were you when this happened?” he demanded of Nohar.
Nohar looked at him in surprise and then chuffed bitterly. “It never fails,” he growled. “I help you and I get the damn blame,” he said.
“Answer the question.”
“Piss off,” Nohar snarled, good eye opening to glare. He bit off pig before he could add it. The cop blinked and then his eyes narrowed. Nohar realized he wasn't going to give up so easily so he gave in. “I was in Hazard on a case for your information. I'd suggest you call Coltrain but he's so scatterbrained he wouldn't remember. I came in on the Thursday red eye so check that. They'll remember me, I wasn't a happy passenger.”
“Why bother? He's not a local Bobby,” Magnum said as the detective wrote out some notes.
“I'll still call,” the detective said with a nod.
“Whatever,” Nohar breathed. “Doc, if you examine the marks you may get a forensics bite match. I don't have the tables, maybe someone could help you,” he said, remembering Epsilon was a long way away from his time.
“Bite mark tables?”
“Measurements made to determine what bit someone. Size, species, that sort of thing. It's too late for DNA.”
“We don't have that ability,” the coroner said, now looking at the Neo in fascination.
“Figures,” Nohar sighed. “It's never easy,” he grumbled.
“All right, that's enough, out with you,” the detective said waving them to the door. “Both of you,” he said as Magnum closed a filing cabinet he had been snooping in. “Go on, and don't think I didn't see that Magnum,” he growled.
“Gee, just curious,” Magnum said innocently. They passed the guard who nodded to them.
“Yeah well, you know what they say about curiosity and the cats,” the detective said as they exited autopsy. Nohar heard the coroner mutter about the body as he unsnapped his gloves off.
“No what?” Magnum asked.
“They get killed.”
“Well, that too maybe, but I was going to say they get put in the pokey to keep them from being curious,” the detective said. “Get. And stay off my case! As if you'll listen,” he said.
Magnum just smiled and twitched his mustache. The detective snorted and wagged a finger at him. “I mean it!”
“Sure,” Magnum said. “Say, what's that guy's name? The famous reporter? Reeds? Ricardo?” he asked.
“Richards?” Nohar asked.
“Shut it,” the detective sighed. “Just try to stay out of trouble?” he asked. “The Captain's on my ass about you two and the media as it is. So don't go causing me more headaches or I will think of something to get you two in the pokey.”
Nohar looked at the human investigator. “I think he means it,” he said in a false whisper.
“Shut up,” the detective laughed. “Go on, get.”
“I think you owe me a coffee,” Nohar said to Magnum. “With triple cream,” he said.
“Come on,” Magnum sighed, waving to the door.
...*...*...*...*...
“So now what?” Magnum asked outside.
“Now what, what?” Nohar asked.
“You’ve got more, I can tell. Give,” Magnum said. “Come on its killing you to tell someone, I can tell.”
Nohar snorted as they headed for the red air car. “Do you think it's strange that there have been over 439 deaths this year alone? Just in the past 6 months? I did some digging, last year, under 200.”
“I don't like where you are going with this.”
“Okay, how about this, there have been 22 Neo deaths in the river. All in 6 months ago, all in a one month period. All young or female, all felines. All in the flume, where according to records, only 2 deaths have been reported in a century?” he asked.
“Now I definitely don't like where this is going.”
“Right. It could be an initiation thing, it could be a dumping ground for a gang, but I don't buy it.”
“Crap.”
“We need to check it out.”
“Sure, now he says we. I... yeah. Let's go.” Climb into air car and head north west. Note cops scrambling to follow.
“Should we go back and get them?” Nohar joked.
“Let them figure it out on their own,” Magnum growled. “It'll do them some good to do some real detective work for a change,” he said. “Bobby's getting flabby as it is.”
...*...*...*...*...
They flew in silence, over the city and then into the hinterlands of jungle forest and hills. Epsilon was a pretty world, Nohar thought, hands gripping the oh shit bar for dear life.
“Not into flying?” Magnum asked.
“No, not especially,” Nohar ground out.
“Pity,” Magnum said. “I could put the top down,” he offered. Nohar growled. “Or not,” Magnum muttered. Nohar wiggled his whiskers.
When they got to the top of the flume site Magnum poked him. “Okay, keep an eye out,” he said. “Watch your side, I'll watch mine,” he said.
“What are we looking for?” Nohar asked. He didn't have locations of each incident, just that it happened here. He looked at the dark wood trestle. A box funneled the water. Rails and a wood plank path were on top. A dark wet wooden path not even a meter wide. He for one wouldn't be stupid enough to walk that, even with his claws. They passed over a ravine, an easy 200 meters down. He shivered.
“Got one,” Magnum said, leaning to his left and looking down.
“Got one what?” Nohar asked, just as he spotted a white cross on one side the of the ravine. “A cross?”
“Yeah, you got one too?”
“Yes. More than one,” Nohar said, pointing.
“Shit how many?” Magnum asked as they flew on. Nohar counted a dozen near the dirt road that intersected the flume. It was most likely some trail, either for loggers or for working on the flume. With the rails he wasn't so sure.
“I've got ten,” Nohar murmured. “And counting,” he said as they passed over four more crosses. They seemed forlorn, a cheap reminded of how fragile life was, he thought with a pang. Just two sticks of wood painted white to remember someone.
“Got more,” Magnum murmured. “Kind of odd to have this many don't you think?” he asked.
“A doubling of deaths in the area in less than a year? That's a Major spike. Most were accidents, a lot of drowning and falls. I don't know about you, but I'm a suspicious type. When no one falls for so long, the last was thirty years ago here,” Nohar said, still counting crosses. “Then I'd get suspicious,” he said.
“And no one did. Not even me,” Magnum murmured, feeling like shit.
“No, because no one thought to look. Or no one cared, until now. Until it became personal. Some of these were considered suicides,” Nohar murmured as they passed over a bridge that had a few crosses wired to it. A human pedestrian looked up at them and then back to the trail he was on.
“Bit strange for city folk to come out here to die,” Magnum murmured. “And my count is way beyond 22.”
“Yeah, mine too,” Nohar replied.
“Odd.”
“Yeah, you'd think that,” Nohar said. “Can we land soon?” he asked.
“Yeah, let me find a clearing,” Magnum replied, looking around.
“Preferably one close to a group of crosses.”
“Think you'll scent something?” Magnum asked, looking at him.
Nohar snorted. “No, not in this area. Too much time has passed, too many people have been here. Cops, lookey-loos, no, but there might be something. I don't know,” he murmured.
“Okay,” Magnum said, landing in a grotto. He reached down and flipped the turbines off and then hit his seat belt and the door latch. “Let's go walk about,” he said.
...*...*...*...*...
They got out and checked the area. Nohar scented, sniffing about, but the wet and mildew, not to mention the passing of time covered anything he might of found. He knelt on one knee, checking the soil. “Give it up, no way will you get lucky and find tracks,” Magnum replied, crossing his arms.
“No, but I'm curious about this. Did you notice the clustering?” Nohar asked.
“Clustering? No...”
“In certain areas the numbers peaked. I'm wondering if someone made an assumption or if they found signs there. And what signs they found. Obviously not enough to rule it a homicide.”
“You are wondering about the feline signs?”
“Yeah. But not here,” Nohar pointed to the cell of rock where the nearby cluster of crosses were. Someone had staked the crosses out either in cracks in the rock or to trees and in the soil behind them. Nohar turned and sat as he shifted his bag to his lap. He pulled out his trusty lap top and pulled up an area map.
He felt the human look over his shoulder but ignored it as he zoomed into the area they were in. He had paid dearly for this map, he'd paid a visiting freighter a lot of credits to do an orange peel of the planet, mapping it for him. The continent they were on had a vague North American shape. They were in the southern peninsula though, near where Honduras would have been on long lost Earth. He found the flume on the map and then traced it with an index finger. He didn't have a birds eye, but where he recognized points where there had been crosses he tagged them. He finally found their spot by the flume and marked it.
“We're about...” he checked the scale. “About two and a half kilometers from the power house. There aren't any other roads to the flume, and the only way on it is by that train that rides on top.”
“Or on foot.”
“Or on foot. But all these sites lead to part of this supply access road here,” he traced his finger along a dirt road. “Which forks to each of these points.” He traced his finger along the path to each point. “And the road passes here,” he pointed to a cluster of farm buildings, “and meanders along the river, across the bridge, and then back to Ring City.”
“Don't forget the fork here,” Magnum said, kneeling and putting a hand on Nohar's right shoulder. Nohar turned to look but the human's right hand was reaching around him to point at the screen. “See here? This southern bridge is for the railroad that comes into Ring City. There have been a lot of deaths there too. But the deaths are all from people from the city.”
“Right,” Nohar replied with a nod. “Which makes me wonder if someone got tired of the transit time involved and just decided to dump the bodies? Or do they think the cops won't care?”
“I'm more concerned about any missing persons,” Magnum mused darkly. “Those aren't reported in the media,” he said.
“Crap,” Nohar breathed, closing his good eye. He hadn't thought of that, he'd focused on the deaths. He did a quick search, no missing persons were in the news. He hadn't copied the classified ads though. Someone could have put something there. He groaned. “Damn,” he grumbled.
“Not your fault, I just thought of it,” Magnum replied. “I had a couple of missing person cases, but all were dead ends. Now I'm wondering how permanent those dead ends were. And where the bodies are.”
“Dump?” Nohar asked.
Magnum grunted, getting to his feet. “Maybe,” he said.
“Or the sewers,” Nohar said thoughtfully. “The flood control sewers for one. Dump a body there and they'd go right into the ocean. No muss no fuss,” he said.
“You are starting to sound way too much like our killer,” Magnum replied. The water spray was getting to him. That or being so close to the predator and this barren dangerous place.
“That's what I'm afraid of,” Nohar replied getting to his feet once more. He put the precious laptop away. “But you want to know another one?” he asked.
Magnum grunted. “No, but spit it out anyway,” he said as they made their way back to the aircar.
“What if he's eating them now?” Nohar asked.
Magnum turned back suddenly and stared at the cat. Slowly Nohar nodded grimly.
“Sprite of space,” Magnum breathed softly. “Tracy,” he said. Nohar nodded again, even more grimly than before.
...*...*...*...*...
On the way back Nohar spotted a black spot framed by concrete. He pointed to it. Magnum banked around the area to get a better look. “Oh, that's the old tunnel project,” Magnum said.
“Tunnel?”
“Yeah, it's what put Ring City on the map. It cuts through the mountains in this area, but it had to be abandoned because the area above is so steep there are frequent avalanches of mud or snow.”
“Snow I can understand but mud?” Nohar asked, waving his hand to the trees and rocks all around them.
“You'd be surprised what clear cutting can do to the soil when the rains come,” Magnum replied, sounding aggrieved.
“Ah,” Nohar sighed with a knowing nod. He got it now. “Can we land?”
“Why?”
“Perfect den sight,” Nohar said, pointing again to the tunnel opening.
Magnum craned his neck to look and then swore. “Shit,” he said softly. “Help me find a damn place to land. This is it though, we're on fumes as it is,” he ground out.
“Gotcha,” Nohar replied. “I so didn't want to know that,” he sighed.
...*...*...*...*...
A few minutes later they picked their way through the scrub bushes and trees from their landing spot on a cell of rock over 20 meters wide. It was a bit steep, but once they got to the low entrance they
found a bit of an ankle deep creek flow. “What the hell? Thought this was a train tunnel?” Nohar asked, picking his way through the water.
Magnum grunted. “It was. It closed thirty, no, forty years ago I think. This is river melt. According to the gossip the tunnel caved in about a kilometer inward,” he said.
“Great,” Nohar said, looking around. There was a wooden barrier about a meter high blocking the entrance. Water had eroded a path under the makeshift barrier. A faded 'do not enter danger' sign was fluttering in the light breeze. He snorted.
“Still want to go in?”
“A bit, just enough to satisfy my curiosity,” he said.
Magnum looked at him. “You know if anything happens to me you are SOL right? On foot?”
“Yeah well, I'm just looking forward to you climbing back to the car. You remember where we parked it right?”
“You would remind me of that,” Magnum said. Nohar picked up a scent and then froze, Neo feline definitely. It was faded. Suddenly he had Matilda in his hand.
Magnum immediately crouched, drawing his side arm as well. “What?” he asked softly.
“Feline, Definitely. Not sure how long,” Nohar murmured. He stepped over the barrier and then went into the dark, eyes adjusting. He heard the human behind him swear and then followed.
“Do you have to make so much noise?” Nohar demanded, not looking back. Magnum grunted, but continued to splash in the water. Nohar paused at the sign of a fire on the dry ledge against one wall. He smelled burnt flesh, signs of a barbeque.
“Probably kids,” Magnum murmured.
“Yeah, the victims,” Nohar said, spotting a crushed skull half buried in the dirt. He pointed to it. Magnum used a pocket flashlight to view the skull. He swore again. It was a Neo feline, not more than a few years old.
“Yeah, not liking this,” Nohar said looking around. He counted three other skulls before he gave up. “We need to call this in,” he said finally. There was no sign of the killer. Just a faint scent and some signs of someone having a little too much fun eating their prey.
“Yeah,” Magnum said. Nohar turned to see the human wiping at his mouth with his gun hand.
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