The Impossibles spent the rest of the night, and into the morning trying to figure out which of the many formulas at Starling Labs the mystery man had stolen. They were over at Coiley's house, still involved in searching formulas.
"This is like looking for a needle in a haystack," Coiley said, looking at the computer printout from headquarters.
"Do you guys think maybe he stole an older formula?" Multi asked.
"Could be," Fluey replied. "Usually, whenever anyone at Starling Labs comes up with a breakthrough formula, it hits the news almost immediately. Besides, not even the people at the lab can tell what this guy stole. They've got to go through the archives, and those date all the way back to nineteen twelve!"
"I wish we knew who that guy was," Coiley sighed. "Then maybe we'd have an easier time with this."
As the boys were going over the formula list, Courtney came into the room.
"Whatcha guys doing?" she asked.
"Work," Coiley said. "Top secret stuff. We can't tell you."
"Oh," Courtney said. Then she turned on the TV and began watching the Saturday morning line-up. The boys tuned out the TV and continued looking at the formula list.
About an hour went by without any results, when Coiley's father, George, came into the room.
"Hi, guys," he said.
"Daddy!" Courtney shouted, launching herself into her father. Coiley looked up from the papers, a little surprised.
"Dad, what are you doing home?" he asked. "I thought you were working today."
"I know, but we have a new client," George said. He worked for an advertising agency, and often worked Saturdays. "I just came home to get my sketchbook so I can run some ideas by him."
"What client is this?" Coiley asked.
"He said his name was Billy Bonkers," George said. "He's in charge of the Candy Man Candy Corporation, which I find strange, considering they've been out of business for twenty years now."
"Sounds like he's back in business," Multi said.
"Yeah, he only reopened the place yesterday,"George continued, taking a sketch pad out of the desk drawer. "Anyway, Mr. Bonkers said he wanted to start a campaign for his new candy. The boss said this is a very big deal. Mr. Bonkers wants this to be huge. He wants us to come up with something that'll appeal to kids between the ages of five and eleven."
"Well, good luck with that, Mr. Collins," Fluey said. "Come on, fellas. We've got a formula to try and find!"
And with that, the Impossibles went out to the Impossi-Mobile. They decided to check out the Candy Man Candy Corporation, considering Coiley's dad told them it had been out of business for twenty years, and only reopened the day before, which, coincidentally or not, was when that mystery man broke into Starling Labs. Once they arrived at the factory, they found it in full swing. The boys walked up to the door, and knocked on it. The door opened, and a man wearing a long coat, black gloves, and a top hat stepped out.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen," he said. "Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Billy Bonkers, president, CEO, and foreman of the Candy Man Candy Corporation. Welcome to my factory. What may I do for you?"
"We got a live one here," Fluey muttered.
"Uhh, we heard the corporation had been out of business," Coiley said.
"Oh, yes, yes it has," Mr. Bonkers said. "For twenty years. Twenty long, lonely, miserable years. It was terrible. Just plain terrible! I make candies to make little children happy, don't you know. How I love to make little children happy."
"Yeccchhh," Fluey groaned. This guy was a bit too saccharine for his taste.
"What made you decide to reopen?" Multi asked.
"To make the kiddies happy, silly boy!" Mr. Bonkers laughed. "I have a new treat in the works and it's going to come out soon. But I can't tell you what it is. It's top secret, don't you know! I mean, how do I know you weren't sent by my rivals, hmmm?"
"What made you go out of business in the first place?" Fluey asked.
"Oh those nasty, nasty people at the other candy companies," Mr. Bonkers said. "Oooohhh, they were always so, so, so, so, so jealous of my success! They sent spies and stole some of my best recipes, and drove me out of business!"
Mr. Bonkers then let out a wail, and began sobbing. Coiley, Multi, and Fluey glanced at each other, and took a couple of steps back.
"Yeah, this guy's one brick shy of a full load all right," Fluey commented.
"Well, uhh, thanks for the information, Mr. Bonkers," Coiley said.
"Oh, you're quite welcome boys," Mr. Bonkers said. "And do drop in again sometime!"
The Impossibles just nodded, and went back to the Impossi-Mobile. Then they drove off.
"Let's get to HQ," Coiley said. "I want to look into this Billy Bonkers guy."
"Yeah, man," Fluey said. "There's something about him I don't like. And there's something fishy about his story, as well."
Multi agreed, and the Impossibles drove back into town towards the SSHQ building. Once there, they went into the main office to talk to Big D's secretary, Phyllis Dawson.
"We need some help," Coiley said. "We're looking for some dirt on a guy named Billy Bonkers."
"Let me check the files," Phyllis said, and she got up from the desk, and opened the filing cabinet on the other side of the room.
"Let's see here . . . ." she said, going through the files. "Boman, Bond, Bones, Bonham, Bonney . . . . . nope. No Billy Bonkers in our files."
"Okay, so he's not a wanted felon," Fluey said. "But for some reason, I just don't buy his story."
"I don't, either," Coiley said. "But that's not really an excuse to book him."
"Let's head back to your place, Coiley," Multi suggested. "We've got to figure out what that stuff he stole is."
"I know Starling Labs," Phyllis sighed. "They've got formulas all over the place, and it's going to be tough trying to find just one."
The boys nodded, and went back to the formula lists.