News From Poughkeepsie – Day 159 & 160

Twice the prompt!

Great Detectives – Gladiator

“Do you miss it, Gaius?” Titus raised his hands to the empty coliseum, receiving the cheers of thousands of imaginary spectators. “The roar of the crowd? The thrill of victory? The feel of a sword in your hand?”

“I used a trident,” Gaius said, his arms folded. “And I am quite happy to have reached a point in my life where I no longer have to wield one.”

“You were a glorious fighter, Gaius.”

“I was a slave,” Gaius gave the old man a look that could cleave stone. “If the only reason you brought me here is to wander down memory lane….”

“No, no…down here, by the lion gate.” Titus motioned for Gaius to follow, and pointed to a dark spot on the ground. “My man Taro was found here. Beast of a man, he was right here. Battered and bleeding.”

“Hardly news, Titus. A gladiator dying in the coliseum.”

It was Titus’s turn to glare. “You might say that. But Taro did not die in contest. He died here alone, without an eye on him. He died in the dust, like a dog. And he was not the first.”

“Someone is killing gladiators off-stage?” Gaius put a pensive finger to his lips. “Fascinating…”

Great Detectives – Cavewoman

Mara circled the body of Grun, her keen eyes never leaving the corpse as she walked. She was looking for a wound, an injury, anything that would have caused one of the strongest men she knew to drop dead. The rest of the tribe blamed the gods, but Mara had trouble accepting that.
With eyes as good as hers, Mara had trouble believing in what she could not see.

And all she could see now was a world without Grun.

Mara gently kicked the dead man’s head with her barefoot, causing it to loll to one side. The folds in Grun’s neck smoothed, revealing tiny wound that was once hidden my a crease. Mara stretched the skin tight with her fingers and stared at the hole with her magnificent eyes. This was the killing blow, here. As unlikely as it sounded, it had to be. All other options were exhausted.

And now Mara had a mystery to solve….