Six months after the Crooked Man incident, Bigby Wolf finds himself in anger management. There, he meets Faye, a detective investigating a string of brutal murders targeting Fables. Torn between his new path and his wolfish instincts, Bigby must dec...
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A FEW MOMENTS LATER
╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯
As Faye and I stood over the motionless body of King Cole, I analyzed the room, taking in the chaotic crime scene. Papers were strewn across the floor, books knocked off the shelves, and his desk was overturned, its contents scattered.
Faye moved closer to the body, her eyes scanning the wounds. "He was stabbed more than fifty times... this is brutal."
I sniffed, my senses picking up on some details. "He's been lying here for a few days, too."
Faye knelt beside the body, examining the wounds even more closely. "He put up a fight, though. See these defensive wounds on his arm? He was trying to fend off the attacker."
I glanced at the wounds Faye pointed out. "Yeah, he didn't go down easy. But whoever did this wanted to make sure he was dead."
"Did he have any enemies?"
"He was the mayor of Fabletown," I responded, looking at her. "That in itself comes with making a lot of enemies. But none that would do... this."
Faye stood up now, pursing her lips. "I guess we should take a look around."
I nodded and turned my attention to my surroundings, searching the room for anything that might give us more clues. As I lifted King Cole's desk, I spotted a letter opener with a splatter of blood on it. I retrieved it and set the desk back down. Faye turned to me, noticing my find.
"Is that the murder weapon?" She asked, her eyes narrowing as she stepped closer to inspect it.
I held the letter opener up to my nose, sniffing the blood on it. "No. This isn't King Cole's blood."
"What?"
"I think it's the blood of the attacker," I said, still analyzing the letter opener. "There's a distinct scent here, different from Cole's. He must have cut his attacker with the letter opener during the struggle."
"So, King Cole gets attacked in his office," Faye began, piecing the scene together. "He fights back, and during the struggle, he manages to injure the attacker, causing them to bleed. The attacker panics and stabs Cole multiple times with an unidentified murder weapon to make sure he's dead."
"That sounds about right," I replied.
Faye inhaled deeply, staring at the motionless body on the bed for an extended moment. She stood there in silence, lost in thought.
I noticed her silence and the way her gaze remained on Cole. "Faye, you gonna be okay?"
She snapped out of her trance and looked at me. "Yeah... just—it's brutal, that's all."
