Circumstantial Evidence

Missing persons aren’t terribly uncommon, no, but this case was special. Well, not especially special. Just his first case! Detective Biskit, as he went by around the academy. Now ready to crack some cases. He finished staring at his badge and clipped it onto his belt. Then he put on a rather large, dark overcoat. He looked into a mirror now, smiling at himself. Not very traditional of a detective to have shaggy hair, floppy ears, or spots, but here he was. And a spot on on eye, which he thought made him look kinda like a pirate.

He finished admiring himself and his accomplishments and headed out of his apartment. He decided to go directly to work on the case without checking in, as he already had the pertinent information. Of course, all it was was a domestic disturbance, but it could lead to something bigger! That potential was what excited him. Besides, even a little bit of help would be good for whoever.

He walked down the sidewalk, almost skipping. He didn’t want to seem too upbeat about a disturbance though, so he tried to slow down. The part of town he was venturing into was known to be a bit untrustworthy to the say the least, but that’s what he was here for right? Besides, most people don’t bother dogs. The building of the disturbance was pretty ordinary, no different than his own apartment. The room he was looking for was on the top floor.

The inside was also pretty identical to his own apartment, just a little bit degraded. Biskit continued to the elevator in the back, just feeling a bit more uneasy. It was an old elevator too, not like the one in his apartment. It had a mesh door that allowed him to see each floor as he went up. All about identical, but sometimes he saw some rather large animals walking around. Finally he reached the sixth floor, which seemed oddly cleaner than the others. Or maybe it was just well lit.

As he walked to the proper room, his mind ran through how to confront whoever would be in the room. He had concerns about trying to get a large animal to do anything against their will. They were often rather stubborn. But most animals he had met were perfectly reasonable. Not to mention, he was still an officer of the law, so they’d have to at least obey the badge. He stepped up to the door, took a deep breath, and knocked.

Biskit heard rummaging from inside, then finally an unlocking of locks, and the presentation of a deer. The detective had to look down from above the deer’s antlers, where he had expected his subject’s face. He readjusted to the actual face, which he recognized. He blurted, “Oh wow, Buck!” The deer just smiled back as he turned around and gestured the dog inside.

He followed him inside without reservation, feeling rather comfortable now. Buck was a mildly well-known swimsuit model, mostly famous for being the only, well, buck, in the business. Even now, he wore a yellow swimsuit with a seashell on the front. Biskit closed the door behind him as he entered. He noticed that his room was remarkably clean. The carpet was soft under his paws and it made him smile. He had a feeling this would all go just swell.

Buck simply sat down on a pillow against the wall, while Biskit took a seat on the couch across from him. The detective could see that the deer was currently rather pudgy, though not as big as other times. Buck was known for a voracious appetite, periodically acting as a rather fat swimsuit model, another unique position. Remarkably, his one-piece could easily bend to most sizes of his gut.

He smiled nicely and asked, “So, Detective, I take it you’re a fan?”

The dog nodded, smiling back and then excitedly replying, “Oh yes! It’s very nice to meet you, though I wish it wasn’t for business.”

The deer nodded, grabbing another pillow to place over his potbelly. “Well, even then, always nice to meet a fan. What’re you here for?”

“Not much, just a domestic disturbance. Supposedly from this very room!” The detective chuckled a bit, as it seemed ridiculous now.

“Oh, really? Maybe it was just me eating. Y’know, I can get pretty heavy into it sometimes,” Buck winked.

Biskit outright laughed at the joke, then recollected himself. He stared at a featureless spot of the carpet and then continued, “Oh hey, do you happen to know where…” He struggled to remember the other party. “Uh, an armadillo? Amy? Do you know where she’s at?”

At this point, before Buck could even give any sort of reply, his pillow seemed to suddenly react. They both stared at the bump, followed by others, for a while. Then they slowly reestablished eye contact. Biskit wasn’t feeling as comfortable now. His voice trembled ever so slightly as he asked, “What was that?” Buck smiled the same as ever, and dropped the pillow hanging over his gut.

Biskit’s focus was now on Buck’s bulging belly, which writhed under the swimsuit. He clutched his own gut as recalled a similar experience long ago. But he knew what this meant here. He watched as the animal inside his belly pressed outwards against the deer’s flesh, producing a slight outline of her shape. Muffled as it was, he could hear calls for help. All he could mutter out was, “Oh my god, you ate her.”

Buck smiled very smugly at this statement. Leaning back into the wall he remained collected as he only responded, “You can’t prove that.”

Biskit finally broke his eyes away from the deer’s belly. It was alarming a supposed herbivore was even capable of such a thing. He looked up at the celebrity, confused. He asked, “W-What do you mean?”

Buck twirled around some of the dark brown curls of hair on his head with a hoof. “You should know, Detective. It’s not solid evidence. Just circumstantial.”

The detective’s eyes widened as he realized the issue. It was true, no one had actually seen the armadillo be eaten, and he couldn’t see her through his skin. Biskit becoming frustrated and worried only made Buck more confident in his scheme. The dog paced back and forth until he seemed to have an epiphany. He ran over to the fridge and as he expected, it was empty. “Aha! An empty fridge!”

Buck shrugged. “Still circumstantial. Not to mention, it’s empty because I just ate all the food.”

Shutting the fridge he asked, still full of false confidence, “Well then, how is your food squirming?” Buck just smiled silently in response. Biskit ran through paws through his hair in frustration. Time was running out and as much as he liked the swimsuit model, he wasn’t sure how long the armadillo had before becoming armadillo soup. He watched her squirm and took a deep breath. He reminded himself, most animals are perfectly reasonable. No way a deer actually ate an armadillo. It has to be a prank, right? He nodded to himself, the answer making sense in his mind.

False confidence once more restored, he sternly asked the buck, “Sir, I’m going to need to see inside your belly. I am a detective.” He flashed his badge from his belt, which Buck took a look at for a second. But the badge seemed to amuse him more than anything.

“I’m sorry Detective, but do you have a warrant for that? I’m not going to let you search in there without a warrant.” Biskit started to become worried again as the deer deflected him once more. He did need a warrant. Police have to obey the law, no matter what the situation. He paced nervously as he tried to think of something, when Buck broke back into a friendly facade. “Nah, it’s okay, Detective Biskit. I’ll let you in.”

Biskit beamed at the deer and said thankfully, “Oh Buck, thank you! I knew you weren’t that mean. I just need to check, it should only be a minute or so.”

Buck smiled coolly and said, “No problem,” and presented his mouth. Biskit took off his overcoat and placed it on the couch, then braced himself. He took a breath and then stuck one paw into the deer’s mouth, grimacing at the sensation. He could hear a gulp as Buck swallowed it down. He smiled nervously at the deer, who still retained a slight smile even with the arm in his mouth. The dog waited patiently as his paw traveled down the throat into the stomach, where he attempted to feel around for anything. His paw pressed on something hard that he could guess was an armadillo’s shell.

He took his paw back out easily, though it dripped with saliva. He shook it uselessly as the slime clung to his fur. He looked at Buck’s face, eager to accuse him once more, but the smile still stuck. He realized that he didn’t actually have any solid evidence yet. As far as he knew, claiming to feel something hard in an animal’s stomach wasn’t really great evidence. No, he needed to see it himself… Which meant going back in there. Apologetically he asked, “I’m sorry to bother you again Buck, but I think I’m going to need to see in there for myself.”

He waved away his concerns. “It’s no problem, Detective. I’m happy to help out the law.” They both smiled as he opened up his maw again. Biskit took a deep breath and plunged his head into the wet cavern. It was uncomfortable and smelled terribly as well, but all in the name of justice. A gulp around him brought him into the throat, which constricted tightly around his head. Fortunately he knew it wouldn’t be a long trip down, so hopefully he could at least avoid getting his legs wet.

After not much more of swallowing, his face entered the stomach. He took a breath of air in the open space, as acrid and stuffy as it was. He could see in the dark a shell, which he bumped into. The shell uncurled to reveal a frightened armadillo with curly hair not unlike Buck’s. She rolled on her back in the stomach and asked, “Are you here to save me?”

Biskit grinned eagerly and responded, “Yup! Amy, right? Just grab my paw.” She did, then Biskit shouted outwardly, “I got her, Buck! I’m gonna come out now, alright?” On the outside he waved his legs through the air above the ground to help signal. But instead, he crashed down into Amy’s belly. Biskit was confused by the downward movement, but Amy wasn’t. She berated the detective saying, “You trusted him?! He ate me!”

Biskit could only nervously reply, “Uh, well, I’m sure it was just a mistake. Buck’s a nice guy. He’ll let us out in just a second…” Externally, Buck was pretty amused by the internal argument. He swallowed again, bringing the dog’s legs into his mouth. The leather belt hanging alone around his waist made him gag a bit, but he had swallowed more tasteless things before. Besides, the detective proved tasty underneath his fur, before and after. Buck groaned as he had to swallow another puffy tail; the armadillo’s tail was already oddly puffy. At least the rest of both of them made up for it.

He finally closed his lips around the dog’s hind paws and swallowed them down with the rest. He looked down at his belly, which now bulged with two rather active morsels. His gut stuck out much further than before, which delighted him. Modeling always left him pretty hungry, and two preys in about a day was great to quell that. He relaxed and sighed heavily with satisfaction. However, as he did so, he was alarmed by a loud, and familiar, ripping sound. He looked down at his yellow one-piece, split into two. He leaned back and groaned, bumping his antlers into the wall.

He complained to his food, “Look what you did!” He thought over his words and continued, “Well, you can’t see, but you ripped my swimsuit.”

There was shuffling inside his belly before finally a response came. He watched the detective’s head press into the top of his stomach and say, “Buck, I thought you were nice! Why’d you eat us?!”

The model just shrugged. He looked back at his belly, now feeling even more relaxed from the broken constraints of his clothing. “Well being a model is hard work. You remember how I would eat so much?” He felt some movement inside him, which he assumed was a nod. “Well, sometimes I gotta supplement with some animals. Very filling!” To emphasize, he let out a wet belch, not looking very handsome at all in that moment. He excused himself afterward.

In the pause of the conversation, he could hear his stomach’s gurgling starting up, which pleased him. The armadillo had been blocking it for a bit, and it seemed like the detective helped him in unblocking it. The dog appeared again to threaten, “I’m a detective you know! People will notice if I’m gone!” Buck just shrugged again. His food wasn’t going anywhere and it certainly wasn’t calling any police.

No, instead Buck just yawned. “I think it’ll be fine, Detective. I’m just a simple deer trying to have some food. And now I’m pretty full! And ah… Amy, right? I don’t think you’ll be lasting another night in there.” He chuckled deviously as he stood up, leaning against the wall. “Oof. You guys are pretty heavy in there.” They started to complain physically and verbally as he hefted himself and his gut to his bed, but they couldn’t do much in such an especially crowded space.

He plopped himself onto bed and stretched across it. An armadillo and a dog was interesting combo of food, but they sure did their job well. He massaged his belly despite the wriggling. If anything, they were helping him fall asleep…

*/^\*

Buck woke up the next morning with a savory taste left on his lips. Sitting up took more effort than yesterday, with good reason. He looked down at himself now, his gut having redistributed the weight rather evenly, unfortunately. His arms and legs were thicker, his cheeks puffier, and his gut sagged despite the emptiness. His hoof pressing into his belly showed just how soft and fat it was too. He noticed he was naked now, and found the remains of his swimsuit flattened into the bed inside a mold of his body.

He sighed as he patted his belly. It’d take awhile to work all this off and he didn’t have any swimsuits for whatever size this was. Despite that, he found his fat amusing as ever, rippling as he slapped it with more force. His stomach growled back, trembling. Buck felt something come up his throat, and he burped out an armadillo shell with a shiny badge in it. He looked at the badge and remembered the detective. He smiled to himself and said, “Biskit, huh? Tasted better I think.” He grabbed a random roll of fat and said to it, “Hope you enjoy being part of your idol, Detective. You look better this way!”