There was a subtle twitch of the brows when Pru refers to Joe as 'Bear Food'. It had more to do with remembering the look on Joe's wife's face and her uncontrollable sobs when they'd delivered the news than it was a reflection on Pru's character. To her, it was probably just another dead body. Meanwhile, Laurie struggled to detach himself from the case, especially when all he could think about was how this could've been Mags. So, he silently accepted the report and flicked through the pages instead of focusing on the body.
He looked at Kaya at the mention of 'thumbs', to see if she was thinking what he was thinking, then to Pru, for an answer.
"Mags--" He stops, then corrects himself, "Magdalena Sparrow." Everyone knew of the Sparrows, a nice family who lived by the forest. "She was attacked last week. A bear, is what she said." It was hard to remain controlled, to put his personal feelings aside. His grip around the file tightened. "She, um, she has similar claw marks to this." He nods towards the deep gash that went along the shoulder, which he assumes is how she deduced the 'thumb'. "They're too big to be a man's, aren't they?"
Perhaps he'd hoped for signs of foul play, or even suicide, and a lucky animal happened to come across the body. The probability of being attacked by a bear is so small, less than 1% if he remembers correctly. The fact that two could've happened within the space of a few days is something he struggled to grasp. There's a higher chance of being killed by a bee, even higher to be killed by a human. So, he has to ask, "There's definitely no other cause of death?"
@prudenceisawitch
As Laurie flicked through the pages in the folder, she took to picking at her nails. Prudence was in desperate need of a manicure, while she typically enjoyed the sensation of the crimson substance caked beneath each of her fingernails, she found it hard to bask when there were such pained expressions adorning both sheriffs’ features. She hadn’t initially recognized the man, but once she had confirmed his identity with the help of records from the local dentist, she realized he had been just another unsuspecting townie; like Magdalena Sparrow. Flexing her fingers out before her, Pru cocked her head, brows knitting together in a faux expression of confusion. “What a statistic that is, hm? Two bear attacks in two weeks?” Raising her brows, she held an extended palm in his direction, fingers wiggling to signal him to return the folder. Pulling at each page until she found the one she’d been looking for, she held up the folder and positioned herself between Laurie and Kaya. “Bears have five toes –claws– on each paw,” she dragged her finger down four of the lines that marked the flesh in the photo, flesh that was hidden beneath the privacy sheet covering him from the chest down, “but for bears, the fifth claw is directly in line with the other four. Whereas this bear seems to leave marks where the fifth claw is lower, the slashes are almost– grasp marks, like it was trying to keep him from running away while it disembowled and mutilated him.” Pru had lowered the folder now, her eyes on the body before them, vision glazed over just a bit while she spoke. Turning to them now, the body to her back, she smiled. “There cannot logically be another cause of death,” Prudence plopped the folder back onto her work desk and laughed, her tone dark and sour, but just light enough to drip no conviction into her words. “Unless you believe in monsters.”
@buffynpcs-cursed
"Unless you believe in monsters."
She didn't, and she'd have scoffed a little louder if Pru hadn't been such a good friend. Still, it was evident that Kaya wasn't in the mood for anything she couldn't shoot down with her Smith & Wesson or slap a pair of handcuffs on. She wanted something finite. "So, it's a bear then. A deformed one, but a bear." In her mind, the death certificate was already signed and sealed. There was a brief pause before Kaya added, "Talked to Jay the other night. He's got the lanes back up and said they should be working just fine for next week." Just in time for the start of this year's bowling league, where Kaya, Pru, and Laurie—the Ally Enforcers—spent every Wednesday night bowling turkeys. "Who's ready?"
It was a social scene for a few minutes afterward, once the body was covered up again. She could sense Laurie had something else on his mind. Magdalena would be her guess. As much as she was sorry that Magdalena got attacked, she was still a little suspicious that it was a bear that did it, especially the same bear. Joe was big; Magdalena was not. If anything, Kaya had her pinned as a liar. But most people who hurt her friend were pinned as something along those lines—the distrusting ones.
After wrapping up and driving back out to the reservation, Kaya locked up and holstered her guns before she heard the familiar call of her father calling her into his study. She passed her grandma, kissing her briefly on the head, before joining him and closing the door behind her. "It's a bear." He looked at her like he wasn't quite convinced, but in the end, it was his reply that mattered, and he simply said, "Okay."
The hot water seared into her skin harder that night, mostly because Kaya was desperate to get the smell of the morgue—the smell of death—off her, before she climbed into bed. After pulling on a tank top and a pair of underwear, Kaya slipped under the covers and turned over. She dreamt of monsters and woke up in a cold sweat.
— END —
