Silent Graves

Pry had been to breakfast, had spent some time at the gym rereading the case notes and deciding on his course of action while working out, had a shower, and was ready to hit the town. He now looked a proper gumshoe, and he would make use of this whenever he could.

First things first, the most recent death was only two days ago, and happened at a local university. That case was still pretty hot. In fact, when he arrived, there were still a few guards on the scene. The section of grass where they'd found the body was cordoned off, the building he'd fallen from had been temporarily emptied of its students, and classes were suspended for a few days.

"I'm sorry, sir," said one of the guards, stepping forward to meet him. "This is an active crime scene. You're going to have to stay back."

"Prying Eyes, private detective," he responded, pulling out his license. "I've been asked to find out who's responsible for these recent killings, and since this is the most recent location, I figured you all could use a hoof."

"One moment, please."

The guard walked away, and a captain came back, lifting the crime scene tape. "While I wish you were a detective in my department, I respect that you're willing to cooperate with us. What information do you have so far?"

"Only public knowledge and the coroner's reports." Pry looked over the scene and was able to quickly determine what had happened. "He was thrown from that building, landed here, then rolled over here."

"That's right. We were unable to find any disturbed tiles on the roof, so we suspect it was a pegasus."

Pry paused for a moment, looking up to the roof, six stories up. "I don't think he fell from that high up. He had bruised ribs, not broken ribs. He lived in this building?"

"Room three foxtrot. That window, there." The captain pointed to a window on the third story. "His roommate says he didn't see him all night. They were supposed to be doing homework, he never showed up."

"Do you mind if I head on up?"

"It's a closed crime scene. You'll need an escort." Waving over the guard that had stopped him earlier, the captain nodded. "If you find anything, let us know. We may be doing this for different reasons, but in this scenario, we're both to benefit from working together. We both want to catch this guy. Remember, that license of yours is only valid as long as you stay within the law."

With a nod, Pry and his escort went upstairs. As expected, there was another guard at the building entrance, and one more just outside the room, but with a guard escorting him, he was allowed right through.

"Do you think he would die being thrown from this window?" asked the escort. "I wouldn't think that was enough to kill somepony."

"No, I think he was dead before he was thrown out," replied Pry. "Didn't you see all the blood on the grass?"

"I mean... it wasn't that much blood, but yeah, I saw it."

"My point exactly. Freshly opened wounds, plus blunt force trauma? He should have left a lake out there, but he didn't. Now, the coroner says he had a nasty gash on his wrist. That almost makes me think it was suicide, but then he cut out his own tongue and threw himself out the window? It just doesn't add up to me. No, I just want to have a look around, and see what I can find."

He stepped into the bedroom and began rifling through the drawers, looking for anything that might give him some insight into recent events in the young stallion's life. He found a letter from his mother that would hold up in court as a promissory note, he found a note from his marefriend with some very raunchy pictures, and a letter of recommendation from two separate professors: trigonometry and calculus.

"Find anything?"

"Not exactly what I was looking for," answered Pry. "This kid had a bright, promising future. Good relationships with his kin, good relationship with his marefriend, good relationships with his professors... I cannot conceive of any reason for the boy to either take his own life, or fathom somepony else wanting to take it. It's baffling to me."

"We interviewed the friends, family, colleagues... Boy didn't have any enemies. He had money problems, sure, but his parents were the ones who kept bailing him out. He didn't borrow money from anypony else, and they were not against lending him more."

"So why the homicide? And if it was a suicide, why cover it up?"

"That's the question we're trying to answer."

"Well, I doubt we'll find anyth--" he tripped over a bag sitting among the dirty clothes strewn about the room. As he picked himself up, he noticed that he was covered in a white powder. "I'm alright," he assured the guard. "What is all this?"

The guard pushed open the bag a bit further and peered inside. "Looks like our good boy was working with illegal substances."

"Or his roommate was. We should bring him in, have him tested. Or, you should, rather. I don't have the authority." he gestured to his powder-covered legs. "Would it be tampering if I washed this stuff down the sink?"

"With the amount we just found in the bag? Not at all."

With a nod, Pry let himself into the bathroom and turned on the tap. He pulled his handkerchief out of his coat pocket and wet it, wiping up all the dust and washing it down the drain. Soon enough, he was completely wiped down.

As he turned off the sink, he suddenly smelled something. "Officer?"

The guard came to the door. "Did you need help?"

"Do you smell that?"

"It's a boys' dormitory, detective. It's absolutely full of strange and horrible smells."

"Yeah, but there's one that shouldn't be here, and yet it is."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying, I think he died here. Do you have a blacklight?"

"What good would that do?"

"If we shine a blacklight on this tub, it should tell us if there was any amount of blood recently." He pulled back the curtain, and the smell intensified. Even more damning, the stains were still there. And at the bottom sat the most damning piece of all. "Was the victim missing a tongue, officer?"