Ebony ducked under the newly placed yellow tape, eyes glued firmly to the ground. When the office had gotten the call, they had just been finishing up with the previous case. It had indeed been suicide. Just the thought of committing such a sin had Ebony's insides crawling and her fur standing on end. Nevermind killing someone you didn't know, but your own kit? And then yourself, seconds after? What darkness had been in her soul?

The black she-cat shuddered, almost afraid to keep walking. This was without a doubt a Bloody Rose kill, and Ebony was worried as to how Rowan would act.

The aforementioned tom was padding along in front of her, eyes glued to a scene that had not yet been revealed to her. His fur was on end, and she could see a desperate trembling in his limbs.

Ebony peered around his shoulder, and then immediately regretted it.

The first thing she noticed was the apparent bloodbath. Red stained everything, from the ground beneath the two entwined bodies to the fur of the murdered cats. The male's throat was slashed, a huge red gash from which most of the blood had clearly come from. The female, on the other hand, had lighter but equally vicious marks all over her body. The red was a sharp contrast to her stark white pelt, and it had glued her fur in ugly clumps on her body, making her appear smaller and fragile.

"She must have killed the male first," Ebony muttered to herself, "Then she took her time with the female. That's why she's covered in marks and he has just the one."

She heard Rowan inhale sharply, a harsh, guttural sound growing for a moment from deep within his chest. She padded to his side, watching as his eyes became even more hooded, almost felt the physical weight of this new murder resting on his shoulders.

"I need you to relax." She murmurred, careful to prevent the forensic cats from hearing. The tension in his body was not good. His temper, already frayed from the day before, was very close to snapping now.

"I can't relax until she's dead." He responded, voice shaking. "Look at this. This couple, lying dead together, so cruelly and needlessly murdered."

"Rowan, we'll catch her, but you really do have to calm down or-"

"What kind of monster would do this?" He breathed, eyes dragging away from the bloodbath to lock on her. They were dilated, enraged. "What sort of deranged, unstable, cat could do this? I've seen cats with the worst mental disorders not acting like this."

Ebony pressed against him, trying to ground him with her presence. He leaned into her body, going lax.

"Ebony, I can't let her continue to get away with this. Do you understand? She just can't keep murdering. And yet, she always seems two steps ahead of us, and we somehow can't catch her. We have some of the best people in the world working on this case, and we Still. Can't. Catch. Her."

He dug his claws into the ground, a look of desperation crossing his face. Ebony felt a deep helplessness well up in her chest, a need to make this better. Somehow.

"We'll catch her," she assured him. "We have a lot of resources at our paws, and we will work harder than ever to track her down. But you need to stop blaming yourself."

She nudged him until he looked up at her, his haggard form curled in a parody of sanity.

"It is not your fault," she insisted. "You can't take the blame for her insanity."

"It's my job to catch her," Rowan said, defeated. "How can it not be my fault? Until I catch her, this is on me."

"This is on us," Ebony said, wrapping her tail around his. "This does not rest on just your shoulders. We will all do this together. And none of us are to blame for her still being loose."

His shoulders dropped in defeat. "I just don't think we'll ever get her," he admitted.

"Hey, don't give up yet. We will catch her." Rowan studied the black she-cat's face, comforted by her conviction.

"How can you be so sure?" he asked.

"Hey, I'm here to help you. And so many other people are here. It's not just you. We can all do this together." Her voice was light, but firm.

Rowan shot her a shaky smile. Ebony responded with another soft nudge, and padded towards the corpses. "Now, let's go solve this case!" Of course a moment later she became serious, considering the couple with a sigh.

When they had fallen, their tails had become entwined in a parody of love. Or had Bloody Rose arranged it that way? That was ... disturbing if she admitted to herself. Did Bloody Rose have an issue with love? Is that why she murdered innocents and kits? There was often no reasoning with people like her, but a better MO then just her calling card would definitely help them pin her down.

Ebony watched as Rowan discussed something he saw with one of the forensics analysts, his eyes focused but no longer insane. She had stabilized him. His head seemed clear, much clearer now than it had been before.

Ebony nodded to herself. Good. It was high time that he solved this and finally got it off of his back.

Done by Blaze