The air bit at Ebony's ears, coldness like claws hooking her fur and tugging at her skin. She shivered, fur raising along her spine. "Remind me again why any murderer would kill someone in an ice rink?" she muttered to Rowan, glad that the forensic team hadn't arrived yet. 

"Don't say murder; we don't know if it was a murder. It could be a suicide."

But just as Rowan finished speaking, he peered over the edge of the yellow caution tape. The rink's floor was stained brown with dried blood, and the remains of what appeared to be a body were frozen solid beneath the ice. 

"Yeah, what kind of suicide would end with a body encapsulated in ice?" Ebony responded lightly, peering at the ice. "Has no one bothered to, like, cut out the ice chunk yet?"

"We can't do that yet. It's destroying the evidence," Rowan meowed, flicking her side lightly with his tail. "Stupid laws... this'd be a lot easier if we could take out the body." There was a bite in his tone.

"So, right... give me the gist of this," Ebony meowed, sitting down on the ice with a shiver. She curled her tail around her paws, turning toward Rowan.

"The body was found this morning by the Zamboni driver. Her name's Holly - she's small, new to the area, and she has an alibi for the night," Rowan meowed, reading off his phone. "She says she didn't recognize the cat but ran for the police right away. She's in a more detailed interview right now with another officer."

"Identification on the body yet?" Ebony asked, but a ping from her phone distracted her. A headline glowed on the screen as she pulled it from her pocket - BOMB THREAT TO LOCAL TRAINING CENTER. "Woah..."

Rowan, too, was reading his phone. "Well, we haven't been pinged by the department yet, so I'd guess we're not being assigned to that." He gave a light shrug. "Right, back to this case. No, but Apple is going to be here soon to take some samples... we're getting permission higher up to remove the body from the ice. Our current suspicion is a missing felines case from a few years ago - a black tom by the name of Coal disappeared from his den. Solitary tom, didn't really date around or anything. I wasn't on the case."

"Well, we'll get to know if these are connected once Apple gets his sorry butt over here," muttered Ebony, casting a glance at the door. She was fidgety - working was the last thing on her mind at the moment.

"He might be on the bomb threat case or something... would they need a forensic scientist for that sort of thing?" 

Ebony laughed, recognizing the taunt in his tone. "Yeah, probably not. Let's just get started with observations." She stepped back, eyes narrowed as she let her gaze settle on the body. "Black fur - so, give me the details on this Coal case."

Rowan pulled out his notepad. "Well," he began, his whiskers twitching. "Coal was - or is, I suppose - a black male born here about six years ago. He was 'bout 38 months when he disappeared. The last sighting was at a gas station. He reportedly was buying cigs and razors, for some reason, and he appeared to be in a rush, according to the cashier we interviewed. The camera by the register was out for maintenance, and the one on the other side of the store only captured him walking past it.

Ebony's ears twitched, her interest piqued. "Razors, you say? Suicide is a possibility, no?"

"He had no past history of mental health issues," Rowan meowed, "and there were no signs of suicidal ideation when his friends and family were interviewed. The gas station was close to his house; the guess was that he was just doing a short stop there to buy things. The cashier said he was on foot."

Ebony gave a slow nod. "Doesn't really rule it out, though..."

"Just a few minutes ago you were telling me that a body trapped in ice means no possibility of suicide... you're now saying that a two-year-old missing case with the body now discovered under the ice is a suicide?"

"Hey, we don't have confirmation on the body under the ice. Anyways... are there not any missing felines cases with other black toms in the area?" Ebony asked.

Ears flat against his skull, the tom simply shrugged. "There was one reported yesterday... a young black she-cat hasn't shown up to work and has no online presence for the past week. There's a chance she went on a spontaneous trip, but we're uncertain still. There's also a suspected dementia case with an older black tom, but chances are that he wandered off and will get found in the next day or so." 

"Oh." Ebony sat down but then shivered, not exactly enjoying the cold touch of the ice beneath her. "Well, I guess all we can do is wait." 

-

The lab must've been busy with the bomb case because Ebony and Rowan seemed to be their last priority. After getting permission from Captain, the body was removed from the ice and shipped to the forensic lab for in-depth testing. Twenty-four hours later, the two detectives were sitting tight in the chairs outside the laboratory's entrance.

"What's taking them so long?" complained Rowan in a tense, clipped voice. "Normally they get results in faster."

"Maybe they're busy with that bomb threat or something," Ebony meowed with a simple shrug. She sat up for a quick moment and stretched her tail out, a yawn grabbing ahold of her muscles and stretching out her jaw. After a bit of the energy was sucked away from her body, Ebony reseated herself and tucked her tail around her paws, neatly turning to face Rowan. 

"What would they need DNA testing in a bombing case for?" Rowan asked rather sharply, though Ebony figured he was just generally annoyed, not upset with her.  

"Didn't you watch the news last night? The bomber showed up but fled after realizing there were troops surrounding them. I guess they might've left some DNA evidence behind."

"Oh. I just went straight home and slept," Rowan meowed, his fur most likely hot with embarrassment. 

For a moment, Ebony pitied her partner in crime - he was so overworked and so underpaid, and the stress seemed to be finally getting to him. She reached forward and touched her nose to his cheek. "Why don't you use some of your vacation days or something?" she murmured quietly into his ear. "You're so busy... you deserve a break."

And agreement flashed in the tom's eyes, but he still shook his head. "Crime doesn't take a break, and neither do I. Now, let's go ask Apple if they're ready yet... maybe they're waiting for us in there?" He stood up and jumped down from the chair, leaving Ebony to watch him from her perch. 

The black she-cat let a small sigh escape her muzzle before stepping down as well and following him into the room. 

Apple was standing off in a corner of the lab, delicately cleaning his goggles with a small microfiber wipe. He didn't seem to notice the two detectives, so Ebony let out a small cough. He looked up, eyes wide. "Oh, hello Ebony and Rowan. You two are on the ice rink case, no? We just identified the remains... the blood clots show that the body passed a year to a year and a half ago, but the structure of the ice crystals surrounding it appear to show a six hour time-frame before the body was discovered."

Ebony blinked. "C-could you repeat that?"

"Of course. Sorry for my rather advanced language... I do forget that others are not able to comprehend my terminology," he meowed apologetically. "Anyways... the DNA shows that Coal is indeed the tom we've got here. His family has not been contacted or anything of that sort yet... we're still double-checking, but it's quite likely that we've solved that old missing feline case. He died about a year to a year-and-a-half ago, and the body was frozen in the ice twelve to six hours before it was discovered." 

Rowan wrinkled his nose, mulling over the presented information. "Well..." he meowed slowly, taking the time to think, "What kind of cat would freeze some year-old body?" 

"Hey, don't get upset," Ebony meowed, picking up on his frustration, "There must be something wrong-"

"Nothing's incorrect," Apple interjected coolly. "I have not made a mistake in my work since I was promoted to this position. There was a small piece of ginger fur discovered on the body, though. We're working on DNA testing that bit right now." He gestured his tail toward a couple of others employees, who were bent over a couple sets of microscope panels.

Rowan gave a slow nod. "Ebony and I need to think this over. We'll be back to see about those results from the orange tom."

by rio