A Simple Investigation
John Alan Davidson
It was a cool January day in Golden Gate Park. The water fountain was now frozen overand served as an ice skating rink for the small animals of the city. At that moment therewere several groups of mice, squirrels, and chipmunks skating. Over on one side of thefountain one chipmunk was having trouble keeping his balance. He was in fact ChipMaplewood leader of the Rescue Rangers. He staggered for a few seconds, his skatesslipping and sliding across the ice. Finally, his legs shot up from underneath him and helanded directly on his rear end. A few seconds later Gadget Hackwrench skated over and helped him to his feet.
"I haven't skated since I was ten" said the dazed chipmunk holding onto her shoulder to keep his balance. "I guess I forgot how to skate"
"Don't be silly Chip you haven't forgotten you're just out of practice. Come on I'll help
you get your coordination back" She took him by his arm and stated to lead him around
the rink at a steady pace. After a few minutes of this Chip felt more confident and he took her by the hand and the were skating together. All was going well until he hit a patch of slush. He went skidding out of control and they both crashed to the ground.
The couple sat there in a tangle. Finally they both broke out laughing. After a few minutes of sitting there on the ice they pulled themselves to their feet. "Maybe you're right" Said Gadget once they were both standing. "I guess you have forgotten how to skate".
"Yeah, and I looked like a klutz out there." He said. "I hope no one we know saw me out here."
"It wouldn't' be that embarrassing. A lot of people don't know how to ice skate."
"I just don't like the idea of what it would do to the image of a Rescue Ranger."
"Come on Chip let's get inside the cold is starting to get to me" Chip agreed and they set out for the edge of the rink Gadget easily glided there while Chip walked over on the sides of his skates. After they had taken off their skates they started to walk to the Ranger tree. The others were out in the Rangermobile getting the weekly supplies from the grocery store.
"Golly Chip it's just a wonderful day out" The mouse inventor said looking all around her. "All the snow just makes everything look so beautiful."
"You're right Gadget it is beautiful" the chipmunk said agreeing with her. "And it's even better when you have someone to enjoy it with" He said wrapping his arm around her. They continued home in silence. Both of them very content to be in each others company.
Gadget was the first one in the door. She peeled of her heavy jacked and headed straight for the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for the two of them. After hanging up their coats and skis Chip went into the living room and turned on the local news. He sat down on the couch his mind drifted from where he was to the not to distant past. It was just a little over three weeks ago that his old classmate and friend, Kyle Laurel had come after Chip with a vengeance. But he didn't come alone. He and four of the Ranger's worse enemies had banded together to destroy them. Using hi-tech clones of the Rangers. At the end the Rangers prevailed over the villains but it was not exactly a happy ending. Kyle had taken his own life. Out of all the horror and destruction that case caused there was one thing that had almost made up for it all. After the case had wrapped up and taking the advice from another old friend Chip had mustered up the courage to tell Gadget how he felt about her. She had not returned the affection right away. He didn't expect her to. In fact she was still at the stage that was beyond friends but still not at the romance stage. Chip was sure of his feelings towards her, but she was still exploring her feelings for him. It really didn't matter to Chip at this point. He was glad to be able to spent some nice quiet time with the lady of his dreams. And maybe, just maybe someday it could turn into so much more.
His mind returned to the present when Gadget walked into the room carrying two cups of steaming hot chocolate. He got of the couch walked over to her and took the one cup from her. Together they walked over to the couch and sat down.
"So, anything interesting in the news?" She said handing him one of the mugs.
"No nothing really interesting. Must be a slow day" Chip said taking the mug
"Golly Chip, you sound like that's a bad thing. You have to learn to relax a little" She said
She curled up her legs on the couch and leaned up against him. He wrapped his one arm around her and they both sat there watching the news. By the time the news broadcast was over there were both asleep. The mug Chip was holding fell from his hand and hit the carpet. Luckily it was empty and it did not shatter.
Their slumber was interrupted by a knock at the door. Chip tried to get up but he realized that Gadget was cuddled up next to him and he did not want to wake her up. He lifted her up slightly and laid her back down on a pillow. He quickly padded over to the door and opened it. A young squirrel in a police type uniform was standing there he looked quite nervous.
"Um, is this the Rescue Ranger?" Has asked nervously. He was continuously looking
around him. It was if he were afraid of being caught.
"Yes, come right in." Chip said gesturing the way into the tree.
The squirrel complied and hurriedly walked in. Only after Chip had closed the door did the nervous visitor relax a little. "I need your help" He said rather hurriedly.
"What's wrong?" Came Gadget's voice. She had just woke up and was now walking over to where Chip and the stranger were standing.
"Well I've just been assigned a BIG case. And if I don't solve this case I could lose my job" came the squirrels reply.
"What kind of case is it?" Chip asked
"It's multiple murder, we got a complaint from a neighbor about some noise. And when we went to investigate we found seven dead bodies."
Both of the Rescue Rangers jaws dropped. Both from the shock of the crime. But because no one had ever came up to them and asked them to solve a murder before.
"Well, I'm sure we can help." Said Chip finally speaking up. "Want to have a crack at it
Gadget." He asked of the female mouse who was now standing next to him.
"Sure Chip. It's always good to try our hand at different types of mysteries. What about the others. Shouldn't we wait until they get back?"
"We'll leave a note for them. If there is a killer out there I don't want to put this off"
Chip said grabbing their heavy coats. "I want to get started on this right away" He said
handing Gadget her coat.
"Um, Chip we might have one little problem. The other Rangers have the Rangermobile and both of the planes are out of commission." She said.
"We can walk to the crime scene. It's not that far away" Said the young police officer. We can walk it in about half an hour.
"Well I guess we're walking" The two Rescue Rangers quickly bundled up and followed the squirrel across the park. Just as he said the walk took about half an hour. He lead them to an old dilapidated building and led them inside.
"This building is a breading ground for thugs and small time crooks. If I had it my way the entire building would have been condemned and destroyed years ago. He said as he went up the rodent sized steps. "Here we are" He stopped at a door and opened it up. Inside a young rookie was questioning a large rat. The rat was wearing a tattered muscle short and was handcuffed.
"So why did you kill these people" asked the rookie. The large rat made no response
"It's OK Frank you can leave now. I can handle this on my own"
"Thanks, Hank but who are these people?" Chip and Gadget had not realized it but they had never bothered to ask the squirrels name.
"Oh these are just a couple of the neighbors I brought over to question." Hank said. It
was obvious to the two Rescue Rangers that he wanted to keep their assistance a secret.
The rookie said goodbye to Hank and quickly left the room. Chip and Gadget now took
the time to fully look at their surroundings.
The room resembled a pig sty. There were dirty dishes covering the coffee table. The part of the walls that were not covered in thick grime had pealing paint. The floor was covered with melted snow mixed mud. And in the direct center of the floor seven dead bodies were lying on the floor.
"Seven dead bodies all of them dressed in their Sunday best. Each one caked in make up. Not a single bruise on any of them. So the question is how did he kill them?" Asked the
squirrel police officer.
Chip and Gadget searched the room looking for clues. Soon Chip found something that
caught his attention. In the one corner of the room was a discarded pair of boots. The
boots themselves were not much of a clue. But it was what was on the boots which was
important The boots were caked in frozen mud that had not melted.. He examined them up close. He turned to his partner and smiled. They had both came to the same conclusion form this very important clue.
The mouse inventor quickly got to her feet and searched for the final clue they needed.
She already knew what she was looking for. Now all she had to do was find it. She spotted a closet door and opened it. And there it was the final clue that would piece everything together, a shovel. She grabbed it and took it over to the detective. Together they walked over to the squirrel.
"Does the suspect have any telephone numbers anywhere?" Chip asked
"Now that you mentioned it a notebook with some phone numbers was in his pocket. But I don't think that is much of a clue."
"Check it again, this time look for the number of the local veterinary school" Gadget requested.
"OK I but I don't know what good it will do" Hank flipped through a small rodent sized notebook. "Here it is, but I don't think it's illegal to carry around a phone number"
"Hank, the guys not a murderer. He's a grave robber. He digs up the bodies and then sells them to a veterinary school." Chip said holding up the shovel.
"How can he do that? I don't think that humans would buy cadavers from a rat."
"He probably has a human accomplice. We have seen humans and animals working together before." Now it was Gadget's turn to do the explaining.
"Man o man. I never would have figured that out. You two are amazing."
"Just doing our job." Said Chip.
"Maybe you should take some courses in deduction" Said Gadget.
"You're not going to tell anyone about this?" He asked nervously. "If anyone found out I brought in outside help."
"No, we won't say anything." They replied in unison. The both stared at each other in
amazement.
"Well I guess we should be heading home" Said Chip opening the door for Gadget. "The others should be back soon."
"Golly, Chip are we going to tell them what we did?" Gadget said once they were heading back to the Ranger tree.
"Of course we are but at the same time we'll keep our word. We'll just tell them we were involved in a simple investigation"