Hiding in Plain Sight

“A mugging case, huh,” Ronnie said to himself as he read through the paper.

“Yeah. I’ve already interviewed the victim. They say that someone knocked them onto the floor as they were walking home last night. Before she could get a look at the person, they had grabbed her purse and ran off.”

“If you’ve already interviewed them, what do you need me to do?”

“Your assignment is to search the scene of the crime for any clues. The document will tell you where to look. I’m sure this won’t give you much trouble,” she explained with a smile.

Ronnie folded the document and tucked it into his pocket. “Thanks. I’ll be back when it’s done.”

<Line Break>

Ronnie reached the scene of the crime. He was in a small street nestled between a cobbler and a small general store. At first glance, there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. But that was his job, after all, to find clues. He paced down the street, keeping an eye out for anything that seemed out of place. First, he noticed a shallow indent in the earth. Whoever knocked down the unfortunate victim hadn’t been gentle. The earth wasn’t particularly soft, so the perpetrator must have been decently strong. Near the indent were two pairs of footprints. They were huge and sunken deep into the earth.

“Whoever the thieves are, they’re big. Surprised whoever they mugged was still conscious. They don’t seem to be the gentle type.”

The raccoon kneeled beside them for a closer look. They looked to be the exact same size. Similar shoes as well. He frowned.

“Two suspects with the same shoe size, same weight. The chances of that are slim… unless.”

“Over here. This is the spot where you lost it!” a deep growling, yet feminine voice called out from nearby.

“You don’t need to shout! I’m right here,” a similar voice replied.

Ronnie froze. From the sound of it, the criminals were returned to the scene of the crime. He cursed under his breath and jumped to his feet. He looked around for anywhere to hide, but the street was nearly completely empty aside from some trash. Judging from the heavy thuds he heard getting closer, he had seconds before the criminals arrived. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted an old, wooden barrel. He bolted to it and tried to pry the lid off it. It didn’t budge at first, but the old wood relented. He **** the lid off and jumped inside. It was a tight fit, but he didn’t have a choice. He put the lid back onto the barrel, only slightly ajar so he could get a good look at the culprits. He could feel his heart hammering away in his chest, but he **** himself to keep calm and steady. All he needed to do was stay calm and silent. Easy, right… right?

He could smell them before he could see them. The overwhelming musk of stale sweat and wet fur wafted into his nose. It was strong enough to make his eyes water. Two giant brown furred hog women stomped into the alley. Each had a small pair of tusks poking out from the side of their mouths. Their wavy chin length brown hair was left free to sway in the wind. They looked and dressed identically to each other. Their grey jeans were stretched to the limit, nearly ripping apart at the seams. Their sleeveless white shirts were completely soaked through with sweat and were just as ill-fitting as their pants. They weren’t big enough to completely cover their mountainous guts. Gold jewelry adorned their ears and noses. One of them had a blue bandana wrapped around their neck while the other didn’t have one. Their bright blue eyes looked around the alley, looking for something.

“Well, I’m not seeing it anywhere,” the one without a bandana barked back.

“I know this is the spot. You can even see the spot in the dirt where we shoved her into it,” the other replied. “Your lucky bandana’s around here somewhere. We just need to look for it.”

Lendrz resisted the urge to even curse under his breath. He couldn’t afford to do anything to tip them off. It was just his luck that he was hiding in the same spot where they would be looking. He just needed to stay quiet and wait for them to leave. He pressed his lips together tightly and breathed as slowly and quietly as he could. Something that was easier said than done with the hog’s stench invading his nostrils.