Simona Davis

5: The Takeaway Snatcher🍗

Detective Jones sits at his desk watching the video he got from Isack's computer.

He leans back in his chair frowning. It doesn't make sense. Here it shows this man using a knife puncturing Steve but Steve's throat shows it was practically ripped out. This is all a mess. But this is what the video shows. This is the truth. The strange animal with the orange fur must have been passing along when it came across the body. It had a nibble of Steve and decided it was a foul meal and moved on. But why isn't it in the video? Maybe the capacity of the storage was full.

The animal isn't the killer. This man, Walter Wilkins, is the killer and there's proof. This will send him straight behind bars for a lifetime.
But then, why do I still feel like the whole matter is still blurry?

He looks at the report Melissa placed on his desk. The fur belongs to a Panthera Tigris, a tiger. His brows knit. A tiger? In this place? Melissa explained it wasn't supposed to belong here.

She brought more information on the case; the claw markings on the neck clarified it was a tiger's. It had a grip on the dead man's neck.

He sighs and looks at Walter Wilkin's angry face,he is the killer and that's that.

There's a knock on the door, it's his Boss, Tyler Thomas . The middle aged man walks in and settles on the chair opposite him. His thin lips stretch into a smile as looks at Jones.
"You look like shit." Jones rolls his eyes and sighs deeply.
"Thank you. It's my job to look like shit." Tyler grins at him.

"I know. I've never seen you like this ever since... well, your daughter was kidnapped. Sorry, I know that still haunts you."

Jones sighs." It's okay."

Tyler nods."So,what's up?"

Jones scratches his beard. "The case about the murder of Steve Phill has rattled me."
"I see that. What about it?"
"Well, I've found the killer."

Tyler interrupts him,"Already, wow!"

"You're not listening. I found the video showing this man killing him." Jones rotates the screen for Tyler to see.

Tyler nods as he memorizes Walter's features.
"Okay. Then what's the problem?"
Jones sighs again. "I don't know. We found orange fur at the murder scene. It's tiger fur."
Tyler raises his eyebrows," Tiger fur?" Jones nods.
"It's strange."

"That's what's been bothering you? A piece of tiger hair?" Tyler looks at him bemused.

"It's funny I know, but why would a tiger be there. Tigers can't live in areas like this."

"I get your point. But animals choose to be wherever they wanna be.
Scientists discover new species from time to time. Who are we to say a tiger can't live in certain areas. We have tigers all over the world. Maybe this is a new species.Who knows? They might have been tigers here for a long time and we just came along to say they belong in a particular place of our choosing. This tiger must've been passing along and spotted a free meal." Jones looks at his boss. Since when does he know anything about animals?

"Okay, fine. Let's say your right- that tigers can live here. It only ripped off the man's throat and left. Why didn't it finish off the meal? That doesn't sound like something an animal would do. It's strange and unsettling." Jones continues.

"I guess that is strange. But who knows, the man must've had an awful taste." Tyler gets up from his seat." That's why I wanna let you off the case. These are things that shouldn't be abusing an excellent mind like yours Jones."

Jones frowns." You can't let me off yet. We have to capture the dude."

Tyler buttons the front part of his suit." Yeah, catch the man. But the whole tiger crisis, leave it alone. It's affecting you."