Later that night, I lie on Kaline's bed. Demos sprawls beside me. Stuffed with food and drowsy, we can scarcely keep our eyes open.
[So, Beast Detective Agency,] I prompt.
[Mmmm.] For once, the Energizer Bunny that is Demos seems completely lackadaisical. [That was an excellent dinner.]
[I agree, but let's focus now, just for five minutes.]
His eyes drift shut. [Kaline's bed feels like a cloud. No wonder you sleep on it every night.]
[It's the best. And you can sleep in five minutes. Let's just get organized.]
He makes a sound that might be a snore, and I nudge his soft, furry haunch. Demos opens one eye. [Are you still awake? You're younger and lower level. You should be in Dreamland by now.]
[Almost there.] And, truthfully, my vision is starting to blur. Demos looks like a brown fuzzy cloud. [But I just have to know, are you really in?]
[In?]
I growl, frustrated. [With the Beast Detective Agency.]
He yawns so big he sprays spittle on me. It feels warm and wet. [Oh. That. Of course.]
[YES. Now, you and I are partners. That's how it works, ah, in the human world.]
He yawns. [I've heard about detectives. The local sheriff comes around every once in a while. He's a detective.]
Demos is smart, even if he doesn't know as much as he pretends. Of course, I have an unfair advantage, with all my human knowledge that I brought during transmigration.
[Yes, he is. That's right. But, you know, I heard about humans that aren't police, but who find missing animals and valuables and people. Those are detectives, too.]
Demos yawns. [But those are humans. Can animals be detectives?]
[Absolutely. We have a better sense of smell than humans. We notice more things. Our hearing and eyesight are keener. And we can sense who is and isn't a criminal. We just know.]
[Hm.] Demos smiles, convinced. [We have superior senses, as you say. But Judo and Memo were stolen months ago. The trail has gone cold.]
[Have you even tried looking? Sniffing everywhere?]
A pause. [No. It was quite some time ago. I didn't think there was anything left to smell.]
He may have a point, but in the human world, the police have cracked cases by taking another crack at the crime scene and discovering some clue that was hiding in plain sight. Just open any Agatha Christie novel and you'll see what I mean.
[There might not be, but then again, maybe everyone overlooked something in all the confusion. It's like trying to track down the scent of game and not being able to find it because there are too many other scents.]
Demos gives a "chuff" of agreement. [That is true. It takes an experienced hunter to find the scent one is looking for, and then to stay on the scent until one tracks down the prey.]
[Right. And I'd say we are experienced hunters. We can find what the humans and the hounds and everyone else missed. That's what detectives do.]
Demos is too tired to delve into the details. [Detectives, scents, clues...I can't think anymore.]
[Then let's go to sleep.]
A loud snore answers me.
Closing my eyes, I fill my mind, pre-sleep, with plans for our Beast Detective Agency.
We can enlist Gussie's help. She can fly places we can't. They don't call it a bird's eye view for nothing. She's now bonded with Lamant, which means she has a powerful connection, even if, like me, she does not yet possess Telepathy to be able to commune with her master.
Demos likes to throw his weight around, but we work well together. He's open to the idea of working together as detectives, which is something I couldn't have imagined when he impeded me on the final leg of the obstacle course. As well, he has a keen intelligence, and can communicate with Vedette and get insight and clues.
As for me, I bring hidden human intelligence to the task, combined with heightened beast senses and animal instincts. Although I can never reveal just how many gifts I bring to the party, I'll be the best transmigrated human beast detective Tanglewood has ever seen.
Our disadvantages, obviously, are that we can't use tools as well as humans can. We can't talk or interrogate suspects. We can question any beasts we come across, and there are the creatures inside the villa...
I'm a genius!
There have to be ordinary pets in the villa. And maybe rodents and other critters. Maybe they know something. YES. Demos and Gussie and I can question all the critters within these walls and immediately around the villa.
I've already managed to convince Demos to follow me. The other beasts will respond, surely. I got Gussie to help Demos. I'm persuasive, even as a baby tiger. I got this.
[Blaze Charisma +1]
Good. I could use an increase in my Luck score. Maybe there's a Luck potion in Lamant's lab.
My spirits rise, and my entire body relaxes. Drifting toward slumber, I run through all kinds of scenarios and plans for investigations. At least a dozen plans. Sniff Lamant's and Minette's bedroom and Lamant's study. Sniff anywhere those two hang out, and the arena, and anywhere Memo and Judo frequented.
I've been in the arena at least twice now and didn't smell anything, but then, i wasn't exactly focused on any odd smells I came across. I didn't detect anything in Lamant's study, but I was too focused on selling him on Gussie. Never been in Lamant's and Minette's bedroom. Would it be weird if Demos and I went there? Maybe we could pretend to play a game of hide-and-seek with Gussie. Yes. That would work.
I feel like a real detective. Using the logic that got me through my law school classes and exams. Of course, it'll take more than logic to crack this cold case. It will take my new animal instincts.
On that hopeful note, I fall into a well-deserved sleep.