#but then she was just strutting around the yard at a casual pace sniffing things

[kingcriccket]

First outdoors outing & she took it in stride, like she does everything. And then she tried to kill a bug.

[warriorsredux]

Chapter Thirty-Two

Fireheart had to give Rosy credit. Even when he had lived here, he couldn’t get Smudge to do anything when it was cold outside. Rosy only had to explain the situation to get Smudge’s attention and agreement to help out.

“And remember to keep it quiet,” Fireheart said as they climbed over Smudge’s fence. “Don’t just tell everyone you’re asking about a potential murder. Ask if they saw a dead golden cat. That’s it.”

“So what do we do if we come up with something?” Smudge panted, lugging his huge belly over the railing.

“You come get me as fast as possible,” Fireheart said. He landed easily and turned to watch them follow. “I’ll be searching for anything I missed when I first was looking for Lionpelt.”

“‘Lionpelt’, what a name,” Smudge muttered.

“It’s been quite a while since that,” Rosy said, scrambling down the wood. “Are you sure you don’t want to help us talk to the other house cats?”

Fireheart’s whiskers twitched as Smudge stumbled on his landing. “I don’t think I’d be a welcome sight.”

“Yeah, he made a few cats sore when he lived here.” Smudge approached and tapped his tail on Fireheart’s back. “Always exploring and trying to get into everyone’s house. But maybe they won’t recognize you.”

“All the same,” Fireheart said, “I’ve got a sharper nose than you two, and way less charisma.”

The three of them turned the corner and stopped. The snow was mostly gone on and by the road, but there were still a few stubborn patches left that had clumped and chilled into icy mounds. Fireheart could smell the road much better than before.

“I’ll take the left side,” said Smudge. “Rosy, you take the right. You know everyone over there better than I do. Rusty?”

“I’ll be crossing over wherever my nose takes me,” Fireheart said. “Thank you two for helping me, by the way. I didn’t think-”

Smudge waved his tail dismissively. “This is a serious matter. You need all the help you can get.”

“Great way to spend the day, though,” Rosy said, and her tail was flicking and twitching excitedly.

Fireheart looked up. The sky was gradually lightening. Through the clouds, he could see a faint, round glow on the horizon.

“Let’s be quick,” he said. “I can’t be here too long.”

“We’ll have this done in no time,” Rosy said. “Don’t worry.”

“This is one of the times where one actually should worry, Rosy,” Smudge said, again with that gentle air, like he was talking to a kit. “It’s a pretty serious thing we’re investigating.”

“Right.” Rosy straightened her posture, inhaled deeply, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

The three split up, the house cats taking one side each and clambering over the fences, Fireheart lowering his nose and crisscrossing over the street, ears perked and eyes wide open. The road was freezing and rough on his paws, but he barely paid attention - he was too focused on locating where he’d found the fur and blood. He could faintly hear Rosy and Smudge pawing at doors and speaking to the cats inside.

The round, faint light rolled up higher in the sky, and the higher it got, the more Fireheart tensed up. There was nothing on the road aside from flattened snow and frigid mud puddles. He couldn’t remember where the fur had been, and the road wasn’t giving anything up aside from the stink of cars. Fireheart picked up his pace, but that only made him more nervous. Rosy was right - it’d been a long time since he’d come here. There was nothing left of Lionpelt.

Fireheart raised his head, sniffing out of habit more than an actual attempt to find something. At the exact same time, the wind picked up, bringing to him a scent. A very familiar scent, barely covered by tansy, swiftly approaching.

Tigerclaw.

Fireheart sprinted across the road, skittering over the ice and leaping over the closest fence. This particular section had a hole in it just large enough for him to peer through with one eye. Careful to crouch and hide himself as well as he could, Fireheart settled next to the hole and waited.

Time inched by, until a hulking figure came into view, bright yellow tansy bulbs sticking all over his pelt. Tigerclaw paused, sniffed and shook himself, sending most of them drifting to the ground. He looked around with narrowed eyes. Fireheart held his breath and lifted his head away from the hole, praying he wouldn’t be noticed.

There was a long moment before the very faintest sound of footsteps started moving away. Fireheart looked through the hole again. Tigerclaw was out of sight.

Fireheart waited a little longer before moving to the fence line that bordered the next yard. As silently as he could, he hopped onto a lawn chair and jumped onto the railing. Smudge’s voice was a few yards behind him.

Tigerclaw was striding with purpose, alternating between a trot and a fast walk. His tail was stiff and horizontal, his ears back and his head low. Whatever he was doing here, he looked anxious to be back in the forest as soon as possible.

Fireheart kept his distance behind the deputy, climbing when he didn’t have to jump and pausing every time he went into the next yard before crossing over the fence. Tigerclaw didn’t seem aware that someone was following him. Hopefully it would stay that way.

Tigerclaw turned left where the street split up. By fortune, there were a few more houses with fences along that side before the ground turned flat and grassy. Fireheart continued forward until the fence ended. This side was made of a few white bars rather than the tall wooden slats. Fireheart settled down behind a pot of flowers, his head half poked out to watch the deputy.

Tigerclaw seemed to think he’d gone far enough too. He stopped on the side of the road and sat down, looking around with his tail jerking about impatiently.

The sun rose higher, the clouds lightening. Just as they parted enough to let one ray of light through, a pair of cats approached from around the corner. Tigerclaw stood up and walked forward to meet them.

They were almost exactly identical - black on top, white on the bottom, with broad shoulders and scars all over their sides and necks. The one furthest away had an underbite from what Fireheart could see. The one with the underbite strutted over to Tigerclaw with his head high, while the other one slunk, his tail waving from side to side like a snake. Neither of them were as large as Tigerclaw, but they were pretty bulky, almost heavyset. Even from a distance, Fireheart wrinkled his nose at the stink wafting off of them - like rotten meat and spoiled plants.

Tigerclaw sat down when he met them and began talking. Fireheart couldn’t make out what he said, but the cat with an underbite scoffed and said something that sounded like “your sorry dog-arse”. The other one spoke too, but he was even quieter than Tigerclaw. Fireheart leaned forward, straining his ears.

“Rusty!”

Tigerclaw looked up. Fireheart flinched and ducked fully behind the pot. When he dared another look, Tigerclaw had gone back to talking with the pair of loners. As stealthily as he could, Fireheart went through and over the yards and fences, only daring to run and leap higher when he was around the corner.

A few fences in, he jumped down and met up with Smudge. His face was lit up.

“I found someone,” Smudge said.

Fireheart hushed him with a raised paw and whispered, “Take me to them. Are they on this side?”

“Rosy and I met up and started talking with her,” Smudge said, muted now. “Come on.”

Fireheart crossed a couple more yards before stopping. Rosy was sitting down and chatting with an incredibly old white cat, whose fur was stained yellow on the edges of her legs and belly. She lifted up her short nose when Fireheart approached, scars striping her muzzle.

“Rusty, this is Wisp,” Smudge said. “Wisp, Rusty.”

Fireheart started to correct him, but remembered Tigerclaw and his company. He simply shut his mouth and nodded politely. Before Rosy could correct him herself, Fireheart said quickly, “Smudge says you may know something about a cat who died here a while ago?”

“That I do,” Wisp croaked. She sat up from her crouching position and shook out her fur. “You’re asking about a big, yellow cat, right?”

Fireheart nodded. “He may have been struck by a car.”

“Struck by a car, nothing,” Wisp snorted. “I saw the body before the humans took it away. It wasn’t flattened at all. Bloody ‘round the neck and chest, sure, but not flattened.”

Fireheart fought back his nausea at the image and said, “What would you say he died of, then?”

“Probably whatever got his neck,” Wisp said. “I couldn’t tell you what did it, but it sure wasn’t a car.”

Fireheart sat down, eyes shut in a grimace. “Tigerclaw...”

“So it was a murder?” Smudge said hesitantly.

“Might’ve been,” Wisp said. “But I can’t think of anyone who could or would kill a cat that big.”

“I can.” Fireheart got to his feet slowly, making himself open his eyes. “Thank you very much, Wisp. I might come back with other cats and ask you about this again. Is that okay?”

“Fine with me.” Wisp licked at her paw, entirely too casual for their conversation. “Just in the morning, though, before my human feeds me.”

“Alright.” Fireheart turned around for the fence, stopped, and looked over his shoulder. “And, uh... don’t mention any of this to anyone else if they’re not with me.”

Without so much as a goodbye, Wisp turned and trotted for her door-flap. Rosy and Smudge followed Fireheart into the street. The three of them jogged in silence (except for Smudge’s heavy breathing) until Fireheart halted in front of Smudge’s house. He turned to them sharply and lowered his voice.

“That goes for you, too,” he said. “This needs to be kept quiet until I come back. If anyone at all tries to ask you if I was here, or if you know anything about Lion- the dead cat...”

“We’ll be silent,” Smudge promised. He side-eyed Rosy. “I’ll make sure of that.”

“What are you going to do now?” Rosy said.

Fireheart looked out the way Raventhroat and Greystripe had gone. “Right now, I need to get back to patrolling. I’ll let you two know if something comes up.”

“Good luck with this information,” Smudge said. “Come on, Rosy, we should go home.”

With that, they split up. Fireheart sprinted into the woods along the border, hoping he could catch Raventhroat and Greystripe before they hit their meeting place. 

It didn’t occur to him that he'd left his scent where Tigerclaw could smell it.