Beastars: A Symphony of Life

Chapter 100: Suspicions

At least the hospital had power. It had the most emergency generators running on the roof to keep all the systems running. That was it. No lights could be turned on, no computers. Everything had to be written down by hand to be put into the system later when the blackout ended, which would hopefully come soon. There was no way they could continue to care for the continuous stream of national guard soldiers that were being brought or sent in. One system that was running was the life support keeping an agent alive.

"He might not wake up," the doctor said. "His injuries were very severe."

"What can you tell us about what happened to him?" the wolf asked as calmly as possible.

"Can't tell you unless you're immediate family," the stork said. "Patient confidentiality."

"Ohyeah," the bear agent muttered. "That pesky thing."

"He was one of our best agents and had no immediate family," the wolf said matter of factly. "I'm his superior and, I guess, caretaker."

"Do you have proof of that?" the stork asked.

Silently, the agent pulled out his badge and showed it to the doctor.

"Proof that you're a caretaker I mean," the doctor said.

The wolf gripped the side rail of the hospital bed and glowered at the bird. The bear had taken up a position by the door, blocking off the exit.

"Well to start," the stork said, shakily opening up the paperwork. "Major lacerations all over his body. He was about half-decapitated with a slit throat that went clean through his larynx, which is not easy tissue to cut through I might add."

The two agents waited with equally stone cold gazes, still staring at the doctor.

"Several stab wounds in his chest," he continued.

"How many?" the wolf asked.

"Twenty-eight," the doctor answered.

"Continue," the wolf requested with a nod.

"Well that's about it," the stork said uneasily. "The knife hit almost every organ accessible from the abdomen."

"Is that all?" the bear asked.

"Look I'm not a medical examiner and he's not dead," the doctor stammered. "I'm just telling you what he had when brought in to us and what we fixed."

"That will be all," the agent said, nodding to the bear he could move from the door.

The doctor shuffled from the room, keeping his eyes down and not making a fuss. When the door closed behind him, the two agents turned to each other.

"Twenty-eight stab wounds?" the bear asked.

"It's the number of Jade Hybrid members killed by the ripper," the wolf said, straightening up. "This was a revenge hit. Or made to look like one."

The bear raised an eyebrow, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Don't think he did it?" the ursine asked.

"We've known Wiru for a long time," the wolf said. "Sure, he's gone off the deep end every now and again, but always kept a life line tied down somewhere. He always came back. And think about it. Why would he start killing a group he had no tie-in with? He wasn't a victim, nor did he know any of the victims. He has no motive."

"He has stated before that his ability does occasionally give him urges," the bear said. "It may be a stretch but perhaps he saw this as an opportune moment to hide his crimes behind another. Taking out people the public wouldn't miss, and maybe be glad that they're gone? It's a pretty good cover."