Inktober 2024 - 21 - Rhinoceros

Despite his naturally dark skin, Officer Yadunbé looked quite pale when he came back into the Police station. So much so one of his colleagues, Detective Buma, stopped him to enquire as to why:

"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Ugly crime scene," answered the man in uniform, nodding pensively.

His eyes were lost in thought, and he was shivering at whatever he was remembering.

"That bad?"

"Well… The techs are saying it feels like The Rhino is back."

"Damn…"

At the sound of his partner and mentor swearing – a rare occurrence – young Detective Ikali looked up from the paperwork he was filling out.

"Who's Zeraïno? Some kind of organised-crime hitman?"

Both older men turned to him and laughed, amused by his ignorance, as legitimate as it was for his age. At least, that put a little colour back in Yadunbé's cheeks.

"Nice guess, but The Rhino is not a surname, it's a nickname. It was given by the press to a serial mass murderer a couple of decades ago," offered Buma.

"Serial mass murderer?!" the rookie exclaimed in shock.

"Whoever they were, The Rhino killed more than three people, more than three different times, so yeah, that makes them a serial mass murderer."

"Why call them The Rhino, though?" asked Ikali.

"After the animal, of course," explained Yadunbé.

"But… rhinos are adorable."

Ikali could not connect the idea of a horrific crime with that of a rhino. They were such noble creatures. You would not want to be in their way, because they're so strong, but they're not usually aggressive unless provoked. He truly loved seeing them grazing on the side of the road on his way to work. And he had great memories of working around them on his uncle's farm as a child.

"That's true. But even nature's tank had a rough go of it at one time. You're just too young to remember."

"What happened?"

"They came very close to extinction, once. Conservation efforts were made, but nothing seemed to work."

"What changed?"

The two senior officers exchanged a looked, trying to figure out how best to put it.

"Someone decided to… take care of the poachers, so to speak."

"So that's why the killer was baptised The Rhino? Because they saved them?"

"The rhinos are not the only critically endangered species they helped save. But because of the way the victims were killed, the medical examiner on the very first crime scene said that the spirit of a rhinoceros must have come back to haunt these people."

"What would that even look like…?"

"The poachers were impaled then trampled to death, kid. Rhinos can do that. And they have, in the past, when threatened. You don't hear about things like that anymore because we have found a balance with them, but it wasn't always that way."

"You said all this happened decades ago. If there aren't any poachers anymore, why would someone emulate The Rhino now?"

"Unfortunately, whatever it is, I fear the answer to that question cannot be good."