The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

The Murders of Silver Blaze {Part 6}

Hatake held the lantern low to the ground, casting golden light over the body at our feet and sweeping it around to illuminate the tracks and footprints on the ground nearby.

"Gai, you'll need to bring this body in before morning; go and get help."

"Of course, my youthful rival! Continue your investigation until my return." The Inspector shot off across the moor, using the dim light of the half-waned moon to navigate.

The consulting detective crouched low to the ground, surveying the area. "Another person was here," he muttered under his breath.

"Do you recognize his footprints from the other crime scene?" I asked as I came to look at the ground next to him.

"No." Hatake passed the lantern over, "Hold this."

I nodded and grabbed the handle from him, keeping it low over the ground as my companion pulled his measuring tape from his pocket and held it between two spots on the ground that were nearly indistinguishable to me in the low light.

"Male, wears brand new loafers, and is anywhere from five foot ten to six feet tall," he stated before rolling back up the tape and placing it in his pocket.

"Do you know what happened here?"

"It's too dark," he sighed while shaking his head slowly, "I can't see the whole picture. Jiro, our mystery man, and Silver Blaze were all here, but what became of the latter two, I have no idea."

We made our way to the dead body that was certainly Jiro Moya at one point in time; the family resemblance was uncanny. The warm lantern light flickered across the body, illuminating the bloody and torn flesh of his neck, his glassed-over eyes dancing with reflections of the fire as they gazed unseeing at the emerging stars.

"He died about ten to twelve hours ago, if the rigor mortis is to be believed," I said before turning my attention back to the grievous wound. With the amount that it had bled, there was no way that it wasn't the cause of death. "This wasn't done by a weapon."

"No, it wasn't a weapon," Hatake agreed. "This was a bite."

My stomach twisted in disgust, "But that's far too large to be a human or a fox."

"More than just cannibals and predators bite things, you know. Look at the incisor pattern; there's a small number of very large teeth. This was done by an ungulate."

I blinked. "Like a sheep? There's lots of sheep on the moor."

"No," he grabbed the lantern from my hand and held the light lower down the body, illuminating the bloodstained waistcoat and trousers. "He was bitten while standing up; otherwise the blood wouldn't have flowed this far towards his feet. A sheep or a goat is too short to reach the neck of a full grown man."

"Don't tell me," I groaned, "this was also done by the horse."

"Horse bites can be extremely dangerous."

"Really? You don't say. It isn't like there's a dead body right in front of me that died that way," I snapped, the long and tiring day wearing my patience thin.

Hatake had rolled back to sit on his heels, rubbing his chin with his free hand. I knew that posture; it meant that he was putting together the facts of the case.

To avoid breaking his train of thought, I stayed silent until he stood and walked a few feet away from the body.

"What did you figure out?" I inquired as I trailed behind him.

"I'm not comfortable saying just yet in case I'm incorrect. We still have a few things to look into until I can be sure." He sat on a smooth rock jutting from the moorland, patting the spot next to him, indicating that I take a seat as well. "We'll wait here until Gai returns, and in the morning, come back to see if the sun sheds a new light on the scene."