FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cross Hares

I'd like to start this off saying it was a dark and stormy night, foreboding and wicked, but that'd be a lie as cheap as the bourbon in my bottom desk drawer. No, dusk had just fallen and the sky outside was clear as the windows I could see it through. Clearer probably, as it's been awhile since I've bothered to clean them. My name is Serena Cross and I'm a private investigator, some of my clients would say I'm the best in the city. Of course, others will tell you I'm an overpriced cheat, even though I always get results. What would I tell you? Nothing at all, I'll let you judge for yourself.

So, I'm perched at my desk, catching up on some paperwork, enjoying my mostly clear dusk, when there's a series of quick knocks on my door. Only problem was it was the wrong door for knocking on. Let me back up for a moment and explain that the layout of my office is a bit unorthodox. See, it takes up two stories on the side of an old office building but with the floor between the floors removed. I like vaulted ceilings, the reason for which will become apparent shortly. Back to that knocking, it was coming from the high door, and not the one with a solid floor under it. There's a sign on that door; identifies my office, also tells folks to go down a floor to the correct door so they don't get upset when they find this one locked. This was not going to be my night as I'd apparently forgotten to lock that troublesome door behind me when I last entered. This realization struck me when I saw the knob start to turn. This may not be a problem as long as the person on the other side of the frosted glass didn't decide to dash in without looking, but what where the odds of that?

The tall rounded ears came into focus as the door was thrown open but quite literally fall out of focus even faster, plummeting to the ground floor. Thankfully I generally plan ahead and my newest guest lands safely on an old mattress put into place for just such occasions. I sigh inwardly, and then compose myself before dropping down from my perch. As I make a quick spiral down to the floor I take in as many details as I can. My lightly rumpled guest is a hare; not the tallest of specimens, but I can see his muscles flexing beneath the dirty cinnamon colored fur as he begins to right himself. You wouldn't call him ripped, but he is very solid. That alone wouldn't catch my attention, The City seems to be filled to overflowing these days with every kind of Adonis and Aphrodite you can imagine. Not all that surprising really, this place is one big silk purse made from a sow's ear. What I mean to say is that in The City, appearance is nearly everything. As the buck stands his eyes lock with mine. I'm suddenly drowning in twin pools of deep azure that tell me this one is going to be nothing but trouble. Well, it is Tuesday.

Imperceptibly I shake my head to clear it and offer a wing claw to the buck.

"You alright stranger?" I incline my head at his clothes, tousled from his unexpected vertical adventure. He's wearing a white button-down shirt that is attempting to escape his dark brown slacks. A simple black tie, once as narrow as a nun's list of guilty pleasures, and now as kinked as that same list after a stop off in an opium den. The whole package wrapped in a pale hazelnut colored trench coat, and I do mean wrapped. The fella must have spun a bit on his way down and now bares a slight resemblance to a furry burrito. He sets himself to order, fixing his tie, extricating himself from his coat and getting off the old mattress to more solid footing on the floor. He hasn't taken my offered claw, but it doesn't feel like a snub, so I just put it back.

Once he's put himself to rights the buck looks me up and down, sizing me up or finally getting re-oriented. I don't care which. We're about the same height, if you don't count his ears, so I won't. We both keep our feet bare though most likely for different reasons. I doubt he uses his to hang upside down when working at his desk. The hare shakes his head with a smile and a rough laugh, it comes from deep in his throat and I can tell it's in good humor. "Hell of an entrance I made, and I hope you like it. I don't plan on doing it again." Between his tone and the sparkle in those deep blue eyes I relax a bit, probably more then I should seeing as I don't know this buck from jack. Though I doubt he's here for a hit. I've not upset anyone important enough recently, and a pro wouldn't have taken the fast way down. He wasn't a flatfoot as they all tend to be a lot more cynical then what I'm seeing in good humor hare, and he clearly wasn't paranoid enough to be another PI. Of course, while I had been trying to suss out who he was he'd been watching my gears grind. His smile doesn't falter and he offers his paw. "I should introduce myself, I'm James Tracer, and if I didn't shake anything loose on the way down you're Serena Cross, yes?"

I take the proffered paw and return the tight squeeze that passes for a shake. "No Jimmy, you didn't scramble your eggs, I'm Serena Cross." I tell him this with a tight smile. "Tell me, what do I owe the pleasure of your quick trip into my office tonight?" The hare returns the smile though its barely a smile. Reading his eyes I can see there's humor there, but its buried under some heavy weight. Of course, who would be visiting my office with a light heart?

"Well Ms Cross, I need your help. My father's birthday is tomorrow."

I cut him off there, "You do know the PI on my door stands for Private Investigator, not Party Invitations, right?" He shakes his head at this and continues on as if I didn't interrupt him.

"An Investigator is exactly what I need Ms. Cross, tomorrow is his 50th birthday, and he's gone missing." I quirk an eyebrow at him, "You sure he's not out picking up an ice cream cake? Or maybe decided that he didn't want a big to do?" He shakes his head rapidly, those ears standing tall and showing some growing annoyance.

"No, no. Birthdays are very important to father. They always have been. He would never let a single one go by for one of his children without a celebration, nor would he overlook his own. Each is essentially a holiday in his eyes. He went missing this morning, halfway through decorating the house." I nod at this, taking in the story, if not the pathos. Still, there's something that seems off here and I can't place my wingtip on it yet, so I fish a bit more. "I'll take a shot in the dark that you already talked to the cops who were no help at all, or else for some reason you chose not to talk to them."

His ears droop at this and he nods, "I talked to the cops, but they're too busy to look for an old man who 'Probably just wandered off somewhere.'. They don't know him, or the situation Ms. Cross, that's why I came to you." If I knew back then what I know now I'd have sent him on his way, same as the cops. Curse my caring and generous nature. I put a claw on his arm to steady him and try to bring him back to focus. "Alright then, if you want my help I'll need to know the situation. Otherwise I'll be as useless as the lawman you talked to." From there it goes how it usually does. He agrees to hire me, and we breeze through the details on my fees. Sure, they're a bit high, but I do have a record for getting results and I don't give a sob-story discount. Not anymore at least.

When it comes time for the details I get the old, 'I can't really tell you, it's easier if I can show you.' stories. Pretty standard stuff, he gives me the address and I agree to meet him at the house in an hour's time. Now I have a few minutes to get my thoughts straight and do a bit of digging, and since I'm holding the address I figure I'll start with the house. Its on the edge of town in what used to be a good neighborhood. Not to say its a bad one now, just more like a neglected one. It'll probably take James all of the hour to get through city traffic and get out there. I look over my folded wings for a moment and smirk as I think about how thankful I am that I'm not bound by those kinds of limitations. The trip is probably about ten minutes, as the bat flies.

I try to look into James a bit next, but the buck is squeaky clean. No brawls, no disorderlies, not even a parking ticket. All in all he's pretty dull, so I move on to see what I can find out about his father. That's when it gets interesting, no, I mean confusing. From what I can dig up it looks like Mr. Tracer Sr died over thirty years ago, when James was just a little leveret. In fact Mrs. Tracer passed the same night. A hit and run. The cops figure it was a drunk driver, but never found them. I blink a couple of times and shake my head as I look over the page with the address one more time and it all falls into place. Its an orphanage, The Spring Oak House, run by a kindly older rabbit named Mr. Kearne.

Why it didn't come to me sooner I don't know. Most everyone in The City had heard of Kearne if not seen him at one of countless functions around town, usually with a passel of his young charges following close behind him. He helped out at the local soup kitchen on occasion, took great care of the children in his care, didn't smoke, didn't drink. Hell, even the squeaky clean Mr. Tracer looked like a devil next to Kearne. If this was the missing "father" James was looking for then this case suddenly got a lot more important. If I can find the saintly old rabbit that would do wonders for my reputation. Of course, if I didn't find him then I may want to look into relocating to another city. One that was far away, and that didn't have newspapers. Well you can't let that kind of thing sit in your head long if you want to keep your head right. So I took wing and headed towards The Spring Oak House on the north edge of town.

I could spot the place pretty easy as I drew near. It was a three story manor house and it was lit up like Christmas morning. Taking a wide berth around it I take a couple of lazy circles, getting the lay of the land. A long drive leads up to the house and its garage. On one side I see what I'm pretty sure is a sandbox and some playground equipment though its hard to tell in the growing dark. Behind the house is a pool, an honest to goodness in ground pool. Finally a sizable garden is located on the other side of the house. As I reach the front of the house I see headlights pulling into the drive. Its Tracer, finally done fighting traffic and home at last. He parks and briefly looks startled to see me already here. To stave off the question I see him getting ready to ask I open a wing and flap it twice in demonstration. The buck's smile returns, probably glad that I saved him from having to ask how I beat him there.

"I hope you've not been waiting long Ms. Cross." as he exits the car. I take notice of it and have a moment to think that its an odd choice of vehicle. Solid enough, but old. Like classic car if it had been taken care of old. Though it probably belonged to the orphanage, cheaper then something new and flashy. I shake my head, "Not at all, I just got here in fact." He nods and leads the way to the door. It swings open, light spilling out onto the lawn as we walk in. Passing through the entry hall into an over sized foyer I get about three seconds to take in the surroundings when a burst of noise assaults me. The room had appeared empty at first glance, but in the blink of an eye a couple dozen small critters jumped out of hiding and called out "Surprise!" as discordantly as possible. When the noise settled I realized I wasn't standing next to James anymore. I was still next to him, just in a much more vertical direction.

I'd apparently darted straight up and was clinging to a second story railing. Laugh if you must, but at least I didn't draw a firearm and drop any of the little urchins. Talk about bad press. I dropped off the railing as James was calming down the children who thought they were going to surprise Kearne. Apparently no one had told them he was missing, which I figured was a good thing. As clearly loved as the old rabbit was it could cause all manner of problems if they realized he wasn't around. Though I'd have to be careful not to let it slip that he was missing while I was looking for him either. Well, if my job was easy, everyone would be doing it, right?

There's a small chorus of dejected sighs as Jimmy sends the little ones off in different directions. He tells them that its still a day early for Mr. Kearne's birthday surprise, and that they need their sleep so they can properly surprise the kindly old fellow. Once the room count is down to the two of us the hare turns to me, "I'm terribly sorry about that. I had no idea they'd planned to surprise father tonight." a brief flash of agitation crosses his face, "Of course, while I was out my sister Elli was supposed to be watching them." There's an odd bit of emphasis on the word sister and I quirk an eye. "Should we take a look for your sister then, make sure she's alright? I'll probably have a few questions for her as well while we look for Mr. Kearne." He mulls it over for a moment or two and nods.

"If she's anywhere it's probably the kitchen. Elli does most of the cooking for the kids, and she practically lives in there." I nod and gesture for him to lead the way, and a couple of turns through the halls later we're in a fairly spacious kitchen. It appears well used and well loved. The walls showing off all of the usual cooking equipment. All of it is clean, but clearly well used. On the back wall there's a small walk in refrigerator, and as I'm looking that way a house cat exits the fridge. She's tall, taller than James by another foot at least. Strangely, her fur is very close in color to the hare's, and even her eyes are a close shade of blue. Though where he's well muscled she's lean. Not scrawny mind you, but sharp and svelte.

When she spots us James waves her over, "Sis, would you mind telling me why all the kids were up past curfew, and why you weren't watching them?" The bunny boy didn't beat around the bushes. Clearly she's used to this kind of treatment and isn't concerned, she rolls her eyes and replies, "I'm doing well brother, thank you for asking, How about yourself?" He fumes for a brief moment, but before he can muster a reply she continues, "They wanted to wish father a happy birthday, and you know how important birthdays are to him. I was kind of hoping that if they all waited he'd just come walking in." Her whiskers dip a bit and I see James soften and gives her a hug.

"I'm sorry Elli, I understand. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I want father back as well." Not to be a gray cloud on the picnic of emotional reconciliation, but I was getting a bit uncomfortable just standing around like a stoned sloth. I cleared my throat and then offered a wing claw to the cat. "Sorry to hear he's missing as well, Elli is it? My name is Serena Cross, and James here actually was just telling me about the situation in hopes that I can help find him." It was a bit rude of me, sure, but I had to get this moving along. Most missing people don't find themselves, and if they do I lose out on my retainer. So either way time was a factor. The house cat seemed a bit surprised but took my claw and gave it a shake. I couldn't help but be struck by the almost family resemblance between James and Elli. Regardless of being two completely different species they both had the same fur color and even those same drowning eyes. I told them I had a few questions so I could start the search properly and James suggested we move to a more comfortable setting. "So we won't have to stand around awkwardly." he put it. Points to Jimmy.

Soon we're all seated in what I'm guessing is Mr. Kearne's office. Before walking in I would have expected over stuffed leather furniture, maybe an oil painting on the wall behind a grand oak desk. Before walking in I'd have been wrong. The office had an assortment of mismatched furniture, from a plush sofa to several styles of chairs in all shapes and sizes. The 'oil painting' was actually several child's drawings from crayon to charcoal to watercolor and they covered almost every available spot of wall. I looked around a bit, easing into one of the more solid looking chairs as they settled next to each other on the plush sofa. I wanted to get a stronger picture for the workings of the orphanage and for the little family that ran it. As we spoke I learned that Kearne had indeed taken James in at a very young age after the car accident took his parents from him. James had lived in the orphanage most of his childhood, and in his teenage years Elli showed up. She had appeared on the steps of Spring Oak in the middle of winter, half frozen and half starved. Kearne wouldn't turn anyone in her condition away, and before anyone knew it she had a room down the hall from James.

As the hare tells it they got along famously and became fast friends. They were adept at getting into all manner of mischief as children tend to do. After a couple of years Mr. Kearne told them he wanted to legally adopt the both of them, to make them a family. Call me cynical if I suspect that the old rabbit wanted some cheap labor to help run the place, but from what I can tell both James and Elli care a great deal for him. Now that they're both adults they still love the old man, but it looks like their relationship with him has diverged. James loves his childhood home and all the children they look after now. The hare following in the footsteps of the rabbit. Though I get a different picture of things from Elli. The cat may love the young charges she feeds daily, but she seems uneasy about a future running the place. There's nothing said outright about it, but there's something in what she's not saying. You don't have to believe me, but this is what I do for a living.

After the family history lesson I ask if it'd be alright if I take a stroll around the house and grounds to see if I can dig up any clues as to where the bunny benefactor may have gone. As long as I don't disturb the children that are already asleep they don't mind, so I stand, nod, and take my leave of the siblings. I figure starting outside the house gives me the least chance to wake up one of the little ones, so I make my way back to the entry way. Passing through the foyer where I was so rudely startled before I look around for a moment. The trappings of a party are in full evidence, even if the birthday boy is not. Streamers and balloons adorn the railings and a large hand painted banner reading, "HAPPY BRITHDAY" hangs over the center of the room. The spelling there is a bit odd, but I figure one of the kids probably helped with it and Kearne decided it was an adorable mistake.

I shrug and step outside, heading first for the garden. As I reach the edge of the large garden plot I take a few quick flaps and get myself up in the air. I want a good look at the tilled earth to make sure nothing is disturbed. Sure, this is just a missing rabbit case, but I'm cynical, remember? This time both my search and the garden are fruitless. Nothing has been recently disturbed with the exception of the strawberries being picked clean, and that's hardly a crime. Landing I notice a small trail of the bright green hulls leading away from the garden. You can ask how I noticed them among the green grass, just remember I'm a fruit bat. I have a nose for this kinda thing.

With nothing more solid as a lead, and idle curiosity, I follow the trail of hulls. Tracking the errant berry thief I almost walk straight into the house. Since I doubt a ghost stole the berries I decide to take wing once more and quickly reach the roof. Imagine my surprise when I see a small figure perched on top of the weather vane at the roof's peak. A small brown fruit bat boy with a satchel around his neck and a small pile of hulls beneath him. He's already seen me, but doesn't startle, he just waves to me and grins a big goofy grin. I wave back to him and flap on over. After all, he's not asleep, so I can't be disturbing him. The kid is maybe five or six and already a solid flier from the looks of things.

"Hey kid, out for a late night snack?" I ask him as I perch nearby. He smiles and nods, as he chews on another berry, then offers the satchel he's carrying to me. I thank him and take one of the purloined berries. "I'm Serena, what's your name?" as I pop the berry in my mouth. After a bit more chewing the little bat swallows and responds, "My name's Kai. Whatcha doin up here?" I don't really spend much time around kids, but I can handle them pretty well, which is looking pretty important right now. "Me? I came up here for a good strawberry of course, same as you Kai. Thought I'd get a snack before the big party tomorrow for Mr. Kearne. Are you ready for the party?" The kid smiles at first and pops another berry in his already juice stained muzzle, but at the mention of the party I see his wings slacken around him a little. "Well, I won't be awake for the big party. It's always during the day. But Mr. Kearne is really really nice, and he always saves some cake and ice cream for those of us that's nocturmal." I decide not to correct his pronunciation of the word, and wouldn't have time to anyway as his train of thought keeps chugging along. "S'long as he gets back soon, otherwise I don't know if anyone'll save us some cake."

I let his words sink in for a moment, the kid said Kearne had to get back soon. As far as I knew none of the kids know that he's missing, and James told me the older rabbit was decorating the house earlier that morning. "Oh, where'd he go Kai?" I doubt there's a good answer in it, but if you don't ask you won't know. The kid shrugs, "I dunno, I didn't see him go. I was just looking for him last night and Elli told me he'd gone out real quick." That was news to me as Elli hadn't said anything about Kearne leaving, you'd think that would be useful information in a missing person case. Since I need to know more I figure I'll fish again, when I ask him why he was looking for Kearne Kai tells me that he was going to offer to help hang the "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banner, hopefully in exchange for some sweets.

Without thinking about it I say, "Oh, so you're why the banner is misspelled?" but Kai shakes his head quickly. He didn't write the banner, nor did he misspell it, they use the same banner year after year and had been made at the printer's. Kai also insisted he knew his letters and knew that the banner was not written incorrectly. However he didn't get to help hang it up or even see it last night. Elli told him Mr. Kearne had left on an errand and when he didn't return before day break Kai went to bed. If the one hanging up now wasn't the original then why would someone make a different banner and hang it up instead? Why tell the kid that Kearne had gone out last night when he wasn't missing until later the next morning? This case was getting more interesting, but interesting is rarely a good thing.

I thanked the kid for his help and flew back down, landing near the garage. I saw the beat up old car that James had driven tonight and while I let myself mull over the questions in my head I idly walked around it. Mind you I don't know a lot about cars. I've rode in a few of them, but I mostly just wing it when I need to get around. This one though definitely had seen better days. It was pretty compact, probably small enough that it would be uncomfortable for someone James' size. While I've never met Kearne in person I have seen his picture in the papers enough to know he's a much smaller rabbit than James, so this was probably his car. I looked over the varies dents on the fenders and hoped that he didn't take any of the kids out in this thing. Nah, there's probably a bus or station wagon or something in the garage. Either way, I'm a PI, not a mechanic, so I figure I'll go back inside where the clues are.

Back in the foyer I take another good look at the banner. "HAPPY BRITHDAY", yeah, I didn't imagine it. I wing on up to take a closer look, cynical and paranoid. Up close it was just as misspelled and it was clearly hand painted. I could see the drips and crooked brush strokes of paint on fabric. That's when I noticed something else, in fact I noticed two somethings else. The first was a small tuft of dusky cinnamon colored fur. The second? Well that would ruin the surprise, so you'll have to wait.

This was interesting, and I was starting to put the puzzle together, but right now I only had edge pieces. Everyone knows those are the easy ones. Filling in the center is harder. Filling got me to thinking of frosting, which you need for a cake. Just like you need a cake for a good birthday party. Maybe I was onto something, but maybe I was just hungry after eating a single strawberry of Kai's for dinner.

Either way I head back to the kitchen and find Elli cleaning things up. When she sees me enter she comes over to greet me. The cat's whiskers are still drooping, her tail barely off the ground. I know she's not doing well but I have to ask, its the polite thing to do. Of course she puts on a brave face, but anyone could see she's upset. I want to ask her about what Kai told me. That Kearne had left last night on some errand, but I get a feeling in my gut not to. I make it a policy not to argue with my gut. Instead I try to comfort her, but mid-comfort my stomach grumbles quite loudly. At least that got a laugh out of her, and perked her up a bit. "Did you rush over here to help us without having dinner? I don't have a lot made up right now, but I won't have you going hungry while you're working so hard to help us out."

I try to deny it, tell her I can feed myself just fine when my gut rumbles once more. Alright, fine, I won't argue with my gut. Its a policy for a reason after all. As she starts to busy herself about the kitchen grabbing a plate and bits of this and that I take a longer look around. One a cooling rack near the ovens I see a few large trays laden down heavily with something sweet smelling and I pad over to see what it is. "Oh, those are the layers of carrot cake that are for Kearne's party. I know it seems cliche, but carrot cake was always his favorite." I nod absently as I look over the trays, layer after layer of unfrosted cake. I think aloud, "I guess you don't need frosting for a good cake." This gets another small laugh from Elli, "Oh, it has frosting. There's a giant tub of it in the refrigerator. Kearne's favorite cake is carrot, but I suspect that its just a delivery system for cream cheese frosting." I chuckle along with her as she hands me the plate she's made for me.

I thank her for the food and ask if she can do me another favor and get her brother. I want to talk to them again in Kearne's office. I have almost all of the pieces in this puzzle put into place now and I think I can fudge the last one or two. Sighing I put the food down and head to the office. Cynical, paranoid, its probably all warranted. As I take one last good look around the kitchen and head towards the office.

Both of the siblings are sitting on the couch again, so I grab one of the taller chairs and pull it up right in front of them. "James, Elli, I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened to Kearne. Though I don't think you're going to like it." There eyes are wide like dinner plates, Elli falling back into the couch while James sits on the edge of his seat. I look to him first, "James, why did you lie to me about when Kearne went missing?" the buck looks like I slapped him with a trout. He quickly tries to deny it but I keep control of the conversation. "You told me he went missing in the morning, 'halfway through decorating the house' for his own birthday right?" he nods and I turn to look to Elli, "But Elli here told one of the kids last night that Kearne stepped out on an errand in the middle of the night. How could he have been halfway through decorating in the morning if he had already left?"

At that James stops trying to defend himself and looks to his sister, "Wait a minute, he left last night? On an errand? You told me he was up and decorating with you this morning. I went out and hired a private investigator to find our father, who went on an errand?" The buck was clearly getting upset and Elli was looking between the two of us like a dog at a tennis match, not sure which side to focus on. I shake my head and interrupt before it escalates, though now there's no going back. "James, he didn't leave on an errand any more than you were the one decorating with him this morning." He shakes his head, "Well no, I wasn't the one with him this morning, I have a bad habit of sleeping in and quite heavily. Elli woke me, told me he had gone missing." he looks to her once more, "Why would you tell me he was missing? Why would you tell one of the children he went on an errand? What is going on Elli?" His sister is shaking her head, tears welling up in those deep blues of hers.

"Elli, tell us what happened. Tell us why the birthday banner that was hung up this morning is different than the one you've hang up for every other birthday for years. Tell us why a multi layer birthday cake hasn't been frosted yet when you had all of the kids waiting to surprise Mr. Kearne earlier tonight. Tell us why there's a tuft of cinnamon colored fur stuck to the birthday banner in a smudge of that same frosting. Tell us what happened." The questions are too much for her and the tears are flowing freely now. James looks lost, not sure if he should comfort her, be upset with me for my badgering, or trying to figure out how to answer all those questions I just asked.

After a few moments the tears turn to wracking sobs and Elli gets up, but instead of trying to run out the door she rushes to Kearne's desk. Fearing a fire arm I get ready for anything, anything except the bound leather journal she pulls out and throws down on the desk. Its old and worn, and it falls open to a passage about halfway through. "I didn't mean for it to happen! I didn't! I had to ask him, I had to know if it was true. He was upset, he started to shake, and he was on that damn ladder. Why didn't I wait to ask until he was on the ground? I never wanted it to happen, but what was I supposed to do?" She collapsed back into Kearne's own chair, shivering like a cold wind just passed through her.

I came up towards the desk, staying on the opposite side of it as the cat and looked down at the journal. Spinning it towards me I can see that its a diary and the date it fell open to is a little over thirty years ago. I read to myself silently for a minute as Elli's sobs start to lessen, her breathing becomes more regular. Though as I absorb the words on the page, written in a shaky hand, my own breath starts to catch. The entry is a guilt riddled confession from a wealthy young man who had too much to drink one night. He had too much to drink and he drove home, but before he got there he struck another car. He was young, and probably a bit stupid, and a lot scared. He kept driving. He left the other car in an unknown state. The next day he would sober up and then he would read the paper. In black and white he would see the car he hit the night before. The two parents that died, without help, at the scene. The small child left behind. The small hare without parents.

I look up to Elli, her tears are drying but they've left tracks down her face. "I found it, I don't know why I read it, but I found it and I had to ask him. He was trying to hang the banner, and he got upset. Then he fell." She gets quiet again and shakes her head. There's a deep horror in her eyes, the kind of look you get when you've seen something that awful and you can't process it. "Elli, why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you call the cops?" I ask her softly now, not to badger, just to know why.

"There was nothing they could do for him, he landed bad, it was over so fast. And I couldn't tell the cops, I was scared that if they found the journal they'd think James did it. I panicked, and bundled him up in that damn banner. Hid him. Cleaned up. Replaced the banner." James, I'd nearly forgotten about James while I was reading the journal. I looked for him on the couch but he wasn't there. He was already beside me at the desk reading the words that took away mother, father and father again. Tears were now streaming down his face as well. He collapsed into a chair as the full weight of the situation fell on him like a ton of bricks.

A few moments later a badger in a dark suit entered the room, he was followed by a pair of officers. I'd called them in before I left the kitchen. I called the badger first, and he'd been in the hall listening from the moment I walked in the room. The officers arrived later on, city traffic being what it is. I hated having to do it, but I knew I had to call in the law once the puzzle started coming together. The least I could do was make sure she had a good lawyer here first. I decided it was best to slip out quietly while all the questions and confessions were starting.

Times like this I really hate my job, but I always get results.