Game night

Cold-Case

"Just wait a sec, lemme grab something"
Dante rose from his seat quickly and began to route through the hideous red oak chest of drawers across the room, the loose brass knobs rattling as he practically yanked the peice open , pulling out old discoloured and water damaged case files, placing them on nearby tables and the floor , the files where set up in a rainbow configuration, Arthur recalled Dante going on and on about the system he created the first time he came over, to the point it almost made him leap off the balcony just to not have to hear it anymore .

The rules of which appeared in his active memory without consent

The system was made up of 12 colours corresponding to the months, brown for November tan for December and so on, but Arthur noticed one colour neglected

"hey, shouldn't you have black as well as white for January and February?"

Dante twisted his hunched torso to Arthur and then back to the files, he waggled a finger around as if selecting something from an ipad screen, a shallow "oh" left his lips, his upset disposition lightened a bit, his tail swaying gently, Arthur thought it was nice to see the room gain a little light

"when I was starting out, you know... as a private detective I already had this system in place"

He opened the second drawer, using his claws to precisely comb through, these ones looked even older, the font on the previous files a whole different less archaic typeface the colours themselves where a minuscule less saturated, though they lacked coffee and water stains a relic of a less clumsy wolf perhaps

"well I had this case, a big important one, a sheep was being stalked by her lion ex girlfriend, open and shut really, I had all the evidence ready, but the night before, the ink from the file bled into the documents ruining it all"

"what happened, did you win?"

"oh no no, it got thrown out under tampering of evidence, thankfully I didn't loose my job, unfortunately the sheep girl was uh... You know"

"eaten?"

"yeah"

He slammed the chest of drawers and reached into the shadowed gap on the floor underneath, pulling out an accordion binder opening it revealed it full of black files

"i thought it was bad luck, so in the 18 years since I've never used them again"

Arthur thought it was a bit superstitious, dante was always the practical, and sometimes stubborn type, he never believed in anything until presented with absolute irrefutable proof, three files landed on his lap flung from across the room, an enormous red "COLD CASE" stamped on top, the files read

Tobias Caine

Sophie walker

Joseph amperage

"is that really the reason?"

"yeah dude, never had a case file bleed since"

"exept that one time"

Dante thumped himself back into the couch and curled up to face Arthur

"ok but that was on purpose"

Arthur didn't believe one word of it, dante was smart but he wasn't smart enough to intentionally lose a case, Arthur was present during the trial anyhow, the people versus mango mahogany, a local crime boss with a pension for ridiculous and grand crimes.

Almost as ridiculous as his name.

Dante was a very good friend of Mango's, he represented him on various occasions and if not in his apartment or his small agency, he would be with Mango in the most lavish and luxurious clubs and pubs money could afford.

The bear, never accepting payment for these "friendly gestures" of course

Though he was far from friendly, Arthur knew that at least
Mango had a sweet mommas boy flair that followed him like the scent of a cheap cologne, he would self indulgently discus the importance and upholding dignity and having manners.

Words said through the hot  breath of smouldering cigar smoke.

He didn't just smoke though, his other vice was drinking and his favourite was messing with people, the bar he and dante frequented a gentrified gay dive called
"The bear trap"
Knew him very well for his pranks.
He would make bottles explode seemingly out of nowhere, change the music to whatever he desired without asking or moving.
Purely for his own amusement at seeing the underpaid workers in skimpy outfits having to compensate for him

The case mango was tried under happened at the bear trap, a fight turned nasty that ended with a hare requiring physical therapy and seventy seven stitches.

Dante couldn't represent mango as he was present at the scene, seen on CCTV pulling the bears snarling teeth away from the hares neck, though Dante as a show of good will towards the hare, offered to be his lawyer at no cost if he lost the trial, which meant Dante would be getting paid as the evidence was piled high.

Eye witnesses testimonials, blood testing, CCTV footage, fur pattern recognition, mango wasn't getting out of this one.

Arthur thought about how the events played out leading up to the trial, mango had been placed into a cell for the duration of the trial.

But after that a series of mishaps took place, the CCTV company had lost the footage of that night, it becoming corrupted in a data breach.

Then the blood and fur testing results were declared a false positive and recalled by the labs, two days before the trial, the same night an apparent drug addict, beak visable beneath a black hoodie, was recorded on the Apartment blocks CCTV breaking into dantes apartment and setting fire to many of his old files and mangos case, the only remaining copy of CCTV and eye witnesses testimonials.

The case was thrown out after this was discovered, not enough evidence to make a conviction and mango walked.

Alot of the trial didn't add up in Arthur's mind alot of coincidences and mishaps that couldn't easily be explained, he watched Dante scratch behind his ear waiting for Arthur to respond

Maybe he was that smart.

"i cant argue with that, what are these for anyway"

He tapped the case files on his lap

"let me get back to the story and you'll find out"