Wolfe Bite Chapter 4
By Captain Gaul
For the first time in many years, Guardia Patrol had a real crime-scene investigation on its hands. Between wrapping the ‘Patrol Line—Do Not Cross’ ribbon around the ring of trees surrounding the clearing, and Lucca and Taban bringing in a large collection of mind-boggling machines, they should have created quite a spectacle—but then, most of the villagers had more important things to be doing. So as Captain Gaul tried to apply his limited experience to the scene, a large collection of wide-eyed kids hung just outside the tape, with a couple trying to test the patrolmen’s patience by continually trying to duck under the ribbon.
Gaul knelt down by the body in the shrubbery. No one was able to explain it, as Marle had already been knocked out and Crono was in no condition to talk. The man’s body had the obvious signs of being struck with a lightning spell—charred skin in parts, somewhat crispy hair, rigid appendages.
Lieutenant Ye walked over and looked over the figure with some curiosity. Gaul, feeling that other people in the patrol needed an idea of how to work these cases, decided to educate him a bit. “Ye, what do you make of this?”
“I’d say he was Crono’s attacker.”
Gaul shook his head. “Not likely. Obviously the hit on Crono came off well, and if this man did it, he wouldn’t have gotten zapped like this.”
Ye raised an eyebrow. “How did Crono get shot, then, if he already fired off a bolt of lightning? Perhaps this man pulled the trigger at the exact same time.”
“A bolt of lightning, a magical one anyway, is instantaneous. If what you suggested was true, than this man’s muscles would have been frozen in the exact way he would have looked after firing a gun. As this man’s been thrown some yards, looks more like he was hiding than aiming or firing, and we haven’t even found his gun yet, that’d suggest that he was still waiting for a good shot.”
“Then who shot Crono?”
“Not him. And honestly, that’s all we can really know. And if somebody tampered with the evidence before I got here, we don’t even really know that for sure.”
“But…?”
“But if this man didn’t shoot Crono, then somebody else did. And as Crono hasn’t made too many enemies--enemies who are still alive, that is--these men must have been working for the same agenda. So whatever we can learn about this man will help us to track Crono’s actual assailant.”
“And what have we learned about this man?”
“I’ll answer that when we find his pistol. Until then, all we can tell is that he wasn’t a local. They don’t make clothes like this anywhere in the present day world.”
“You mean we’ll have to search across time for this—” Ye cut himself off as a young teenager, whom they recognized as one of Lucca’s fans/assistants, walked up holding a large leather pouch. The officers both looked at the boy expectantly.
“Um, sirs, I found a gun back in the bushes.” He held out the bag, and after Gaul took it, he darted back off into the forest. Gaul opened up the pouch to see what was within. He pulled it shut quickly. Ye looked at him curiously.
“Let’s get this thing to Taban’s place.”
.