Treachery

Death by pecking.

It wasn’t a pretty way to die nor was it something that normally occurred. It was something that occurred rarely and not in the middle of a city.

There had been reports of it before where an old woman was pecked by a chicken multiple times that caused trauma that ended in her death.

But this case in front of me is not similar to that case nor is it normal. The witness stated that large treachery suddenly attacked the victim and viciously pecked him to death.

I observed the body and notice that majority of puncture holes made by the bird’s beaks were random, except for a few which told me that the cause of the death was not trauma nor shock but something else.

There were some precise attacks on his wrist and necks, it was as if the crows knew which parts to hit to kill the man.

Have someone been training them? If it was a just few of them it would be possible, but by the description of witnesses, it surely couldn’t be done unless several people did it.

“This matter is getting out of hand” the police chief commented as he stared at the corpse with a mix of anger and shame.

“He is the fifth victim this month, I am starting to think that this is not just a random coincidence but was planned”

“You think so?”

The police chief looked at me weirdly, as if asking if I was joking.

“You seriously believe that someone would go through the hassle of training a large number of birds just murder random people when using a gun or knife is much faster?”

He shook his head and left, probably preparing for another interview which would end with him giving the same answer as the four previous interviews about the same case.

“I would,” I said to myself.

It may take time but it would have been a perfect crime, well so long as no one can link a large number of avian to you.

“Caw!”

I heard an excited cry from above and saw a crow circling around.

To some people, it would have been a random call from a crow but to me, it was different.

“We found them!”

I can’t fully remember when it started but for as long as I can remember, I have been able to understand what crows say and they too can do the same for me.

“Lead the way, Uno”

Uno was the first amongst the thirteen crows that helps me in my work as a police detective.

Making sure that no one was would notice, I snuck out of the scene of the crime and followed Uno.

She led me to several blocks until we reached an abandoned building, far from the crime scene.

I immediately regretted my decision and glared at the Uno, who for a bird, manage to look apologetic, as I saw the large treachery surrounding the place.

“Not even a warning? Really Uno?” The blame was not all on the bird but also on myself, as a police officer, I should have been more cautious rather than just straight up walking to possibly where the suspect is. Plus, I should have known since this isn’t the first time that Uno failed to warn me of danger that we might be facing.

I silently count the number of ravens that surrounded us. There were 30 or so, how did someone manage to train all of them?

My crows surrounded me, trying to look threatening as possible, but number disadvantage wasn’t helping their case.

One of the ravens landed in front of us, it seems that it acted as the leader of the group.

“I don’t if you ravens can understand me like the crows do, but I came here to ask questions”

The raven tilted its head before it croaked.

“Speak weird human”

I sighed in relief as it seems that I would be able to communicate with them.

Maybe I should try my ability with other animals, but that would be thought of for another time. Right now, I need to focus on the crime that these ravens committed.

“Your group has been killing people lately, why is that?”

“Can you prove that it was us?”

“No, but I can lethally remove you guys” Well he can’t unless he can get permits to do it and that would take time, the ravens would have probably migrated by the time the papers have been released.

But they didn’t need to know that.

The raven went silent, probably thinking about its next course of action.

“Follow me”

It would probably be a bad idea but I still decided to follow the raven.

He led me inside of the abandoned build and towards a wall that contrasted with the other walls.

“The cement is new”

I grew suspicious after seeing the wall, why would anyone apply new cement on this wall, and why just this wall?

I was suddenly reminded of that one case where someone was killed and the killer cemented the body to the wall to hide it.

“The attacks weren’t random, weren’t they?”

 The raven nodded with a sad look in its eyes.

“She was a good woman. She took care of and fed me almost every day despite having a hard time. I tried to repay her kindness but she didn’t take it and said that my company was all she needed”

My eyes grew wide as my suspicion was proven correct.

I immediately called for backup through my radio.

“Did those people had a hand at what happened to her?”

“Yes, he first three victims were he friends that worked together to scam her, the fourth was the guy that tried to rape her, the fifth was one was the one who hid her body on the wall”

“That only leaves the killer”

“Her husband. The one I assigned to watch over her saw everything”

The raven looked at me.

“Are you going to stop us?”

“No, but I would like for you to consider my proposal first”

“Go on”

“let me arrest him. Death is an easy way out, make him serve time in jail to pay for his crime”

The raven stared at me, I felt as if I was being judged to see if I am telling the truth.

“Fine, I will relent. But this does not mean he will get off scot-free”

I agreed and the raven gave me the location of the killer.

“I’ll give you a day to do whatever you want with him, so long as he is still alive to be put in jail”

“You have a deal”

If I told anyone how I made a deal with a raven to catch a killer, I would be surely sent to the psychiatric ward and be locked up for lunacy.