Bro Druid: A Murder on the Beach

“Hey, Nix, I’ll take my usual, bro,” Bodhi greeted the pink-haired hyena as he approached the smoothie shack. He was about to go on his lifeguard shift and needed the energy boost. Sunshine illuminated his yellow aloha shirt from behind, making it almost transparent.

 

    “Um, uh, coming right up,” Nix nodded with a blush that she tried to hide. She had a big-time crush on the blue-striped otter but was too nervous to say anything. When Nix first arrived in the Cove of the Summer Breeze, the hyena got lost in the crowd and fell, cutting her leg pretty badly. Like an angel flying over the crowd, Bodhi appeared to patch her up and help Nix find the housing office.

 

    “Thanks, bro; you’re the best,” Bodhi smiled as he grabbed his smoothie. Nix tried again to confess her feelings but couldn’t get anything out. As the sea otter turned to leave, he walked straight into a muscular kangaroo in khaki shorts and a green shirt. This roo was the beach ranger, Sheila, who hadn’t liked Bodhi since they dated and was Nix’s roommate.

 

    “Hands behind your back bogan,” Sheila ordered with a shiver as the otter’s smoothie spilled down her front. “Ya in heaps of trouble. Best not fight me.”

 

    “What did I do bro,” Bodhi asked as he put his hands behind his back. Nix squeaked and hid behind the counter as the handcuffs clicked into place.

 

    “Murder,” the kangaroo whispered her answer as she led the prisoner away.

 

    Shortly, Bodhi found himself in one of the few jail cells in the Cove. There wasn’t a lot of major crime at the resort, so this was the first time many beach rangers had been involved in a case like this. According to the report, beach rangers had found one of Bodhi’s harpoons at the horrific scene of a gruesome murder. The victim was one of the lifeguard’s boyfriends, so all the clues pointed at him. Sheila walked down the hall to the cell and stopped and stared at Bodhi for a minute before he broke the silence.

    

    “It wasn’t me. Cooper bro was alive when I left the campfire,” the blue-striped sea otter insisted, grabbing the bars. His alibi was a little shaky, but it was all he had. “I don’t remember because she got me wasted on urchin whiskey. I woke up half-buried in the sand and went straight to the smoothie shack, bro.”

 

    “Bruce, you’re gonna have to do better than it wasn’t you because you got all legless with some rando at a campfire,” Sheila shook her head. He was an idiot, but not this kind of idiot. As the kangaroo was about to tear into the lifeguard, a male polar bear dressed like Sheila walked to her and whispered in her ear before leaving. “Well fuck me dead, mate. It looks like a witness collaberated your alibi and new evidence has been found that points to your other boyfriend and girlfriends killing Cooper out of jealousy.”

 

    “Wait, bro, what does that mean?” Bodhi inquired, looking distraught at the news. Sheila just shook her head and led him out. He left the ranger station, paddled out into the water on his board, and sat for a while watching the waves.

 

    “Since you’re my roomie and a good cobber, I’m going to let you off with a warning this time since it saved Bruce, but next time, I will haul you in for stalking,” Sheila warned Nix as she passed her on the way back into the station. “If you are intent on him, we’re going to try a different approach to get him in your knickers. Following him around isn’t the way, though.”

 

    “I uh o-okay,” the pink-haired hyena blushed at the insinuation.