Death in the Zoo
Chapter 10 - Confessions

"You've got some grip, Skipper," Maelie commented softly, rubbing her shoulders.

Skipper arched a brow and then responded, "I don't want to play games, lemur. Why would you want to talk to me?"

"I need to talk to you about..." her voice trailed off and her face grew blank.

"About what?"

"It's about... All this stuff that's been happening." Skipper saw the female glance over her shoulder and look into the night behind her. Skipper wondered if she was afraid she was being followed.

"Oh, how you assume Private killed your friend Julien and how you spread accusations around the Zoo all in the course of a day?" Skipper said calmly.

"Yes, about... that," Maelie returned, her voice quavering. "Look, can we please go inside?"

Skipper arched his brow again. "Why?"

"Oh... just because it's... it's so cold out here!" Maelie explained. Skipper glanced up and down her body—she had no sort of weapon or anything to hide one in. Obviously her purpose was not to attack Private or any of the team. He wondered if she had a tape recorder hidden and was trying to get a false confession out of Private. He didn't see one, but he knew that the things were only getting smaller and smaller.

"I don't know," said Skipper, crossing his flippers, "my team might tear you to shreds if they see you now."

"Oh no," Maelie said quickly, "This has gone way too far already!" Skipper's eyes opened wide with curiosity.

"What has gone too far?"

"Please, let me inside and I'll tell you!" Maelie spoke with haste.

"Answers first," commanded Skipper. The female lemur paused for a second, as if she was listening. She looked over her shoulder again and at the tops of the brick walls of the habitats around the two. Then she took a few steps closer to Skipper and spoke softly.

"I know this won't make much sense, but... I uh... know Private didn't kill Julien." she stated, looking into Skipper's eyes with her own. He had seen eyes of many liars, and by looking into hers he knew that her words were sincere. He dropped his defensiveness. She obviously was not trying to do anything negative to his team.

"You do?" Skipper responded, surprised. "Then why..."

"Hold the questions for when we get inside," interrupted the lemur, "Please." Skipper nodded, and then waddled off to the air vent he had used to get outside, beckoning Maelie to follow him. It was a short walk through the air shaft and Skipper had retraced his steps to get back to the Penguins' holding pen. The penguin slid through the opening and onto the cold concrete of the pen.

"Hey Skippah," Private greeted upon his leader entering, "Had a relaxing..." He stopped talking when he saw Maelie emerge after Skipper. "Um..."

"Yack, yack!" Rico blabbered, although it didn't sound like he was very enraged.

"Skipper, what is Maelie doing here?" Kowalski asked, jumping to his feet and seeming very annoyed. "Isn't she hostel?" Skipper thought he felt the lemur behind him shudder at the word.

"No, team, Maelie is not a hostel," Skipper responded, holding up his flippers to settle Kowalski. "She has some vital information she wants to tell us,"

Maelie nodded. "It's about Julien's death and what's been going on around here lately." The three penguins got up and huddled closer to the female lemur, hungry for answers. "Where to start..."

"You can start by telling us why you killed Julien," Kowalski spat. Skipper heard Private and Rico agree. Maelie seemed to shudder again.

"I didn't kill Julien..." she started.

"And how could you frame Private?" Kowalski continued, cutting Maelie off.

"I didn't want to..."

"What do you mean you didn't want to?" said Private, looking angry. "So you would have rather framed someone else?"
"I had to or I..."

"Would have gotten caught and disassociated like poor Private here?" said Kowalski.

Skipper noticed that badgering the lemur like this was not going to accomplish anything. "Men, let the lemur speak!" Private shut his bill that he had just opened to say something.

"Thank you, Skipper," Maelie returned. "Now... what I was trying to say was I know that Private didn't murder Julien." All three penguins had the same looks of shock and surprise on their faces as when Skipper first heard the lemur say that. Rico glanced from Maelie to Private a few times, trying to register the words he had just heard. Kowalski was the first to recover.

"That's probable," he said, still angrily, "because you did."

"I didn't kill Julien either." she pleaded.

"Oh?" Skipper said. "Then who did?"

Maelie opened her mouth, but it looked like the words that she was about to say got stuck in her throat and she closed it again. She suddenly looked very scared. "Um... I can't say..."

"Why not?" asked Skipper.

"Because..."

"She doesn't know," Kowalski finished for her.

"Kowalski! Stop interrupting man!" Skipper said, annoyed with his teammate. The taller penguin apologized, and Maelie continued, but changed the subject.

"I'm so, very sorry Private," she said, looking at the youngest penguin. "that this whole thing got dumped upon you."

"If you're so sorry, then why'd you do it?" Private returned bitterly.

"I was... I was told to." Maelie answered uncomfortably. Skipper arched a brow at her words.

"Told to? By who?" he asked curiously. Was she working for someone higher up?

"I... I can't say..."

"Maelie," Skipper said blatantly, "This is not a game. Julien's dead and if you know who..."

"I realize he's dead!" Maelie interrupted suddenly. She looked at the ground uncomfortably. Skipper thought that she may know exactly who was behind all of this. "This has all gone way too far... and it's all my fault." The lemur placed both of her paws to her face.

Both Private and Kowalski opened their beaks, but Skipper held up a flipper to silence them.

"What's all your fault?" he interrogated.

"Julien's murder, Private being blamed... The whole zoo hating you." she quavered. Skipper knew he had to continue gently to get the information he needed.

"How is Julien's murder your fault?" he asked, hoping with all his heart that she would confess.

"I could have protected him... I could have saved him... If only I was stronger..." she continued. Her body started to shake very slightly. Skipper was surprised at her words... was she just doing more acting or was she really telling the truth.

"You could have protected him?" Kowalski repeated, urging Maelie to continue.

"I could have. But Julien was drunk and I couldn't get him to do anything but stand there and be massacred!" Skipper took in her words one at a time and noted the word drunk. He remembered Julien and Kowalski acting strangely after drinking some sort of unidentified liquid.

"So you're saying you were there when the murder was committed?" Private asked. No answer. Maelie still held her head in her hands.

"I let this go way too far..." she repeated after a few moments.

"Who were you trying to protect Julien from, Maelie?" Skipper asked, trying to keep the conversation moving slow. No answer, only a deep breath. Skipper decided it was time to change the subject.

"What about Private?" he asked. "He said you were the last thing he saw before he blacked out." Skipper could tell the lemur suddenly tensed up. She moved her paws from her face and looked up. Her eyes were wet with tears.

"Yes," Maelie answered to Skipper's relief that his teammate was telling the truth, "Private was walking up to me when he got knocked out." Skipper's heart dropped... Everything the lemur was saying was fitting into place, except for the fact that she claimed she did not kill Julien. If she didn't, then who did?

"Who knocked me out?" asked the youngest penguin, feeling the half healed wound on his head.

"T-the one that killed Julien," sniffed Maelie. Another piece to the puzzle. Skipper felt how torn up she was about Julien's death. How could she have killed ringtail if she was turning into an emotional wreck every time she recalled the fact that he was dead?

"Why would the murder want to knock me out?" Private asked to himself.

"You were to close to discovering what was going on... he didn't want you to..." she stopped suddenly, and her eyes grew large and blank. He. The suspect they were looking for was a He. Skipper's began to recall all of the male guests at the party.

"Who's he?" Kowalski asked. Skipper wished he hadn't. Maelie looked very frightened for a second and then made her way for the air vent quickly.

"I've said to much," she called, "Got to go!"
"Wait!" Skipper shouted, but it was too late. She had disappeared into the ventilation shaft. He looked at his teammates who were standing in a half circle. They exchanged looks of surprise, shock, fright, and confusion with each other for some time. Skipper wished she hadn't fled the scene like she did... he had many unanswered questions that she may have had the answers to. He wanted to ask her about the air pistol, the feathers and fur found at the murder scene, and more about the liquid Julien had been drinking.

"Well troops," he said after some time, "I don't know what's going on anymore."

"Me neither, Skipper." Kowalski said. Rico shook his head and Private stared blankly at his leader.

"But we need to get that lemur alone again," he stated, "She knows who killed Julien."

A lot of things didn't make sense. Her anger that had filled her eyes the last time he had saw her at the funeral was completely gone. It didn't even have any reminisce that it had once truly been there. She seemed as though guilt was eating her from the inside. Skipper noticed how she talked as if she didn't get something off of her chest she was going to slowly die. She had apologized to Private—who apologizes to someone for framing them unless it was on accident? And who in the world would regret having the whole zoo against Private when that would be exactly what she wanted?

There was No way she could have killed Julien. The way she acted when she talked about "the one who killed Julien" was a dead give away. She was very afraid of this He. Was the lemur was just afraid because whoever it was had killed her best friend or if she was afraid because of something more? It just wasn't adding up.

Skipper suddenly felt very empty on the inside, the place where he thought the answer was, was now an empty void. He was very hungry for answers, and the only way to obtain them out was to get them from Maelie. He worried if the lemur would ever be able to confess everything, though.

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I'm sorry I didn't have this chapter out sooner! I planned to have it up by Wensday, but obviously that didn't work out too well =S. Well here it is, and this story is getting pretty darn close to it's climax! Please review!

How will the penguins deal with the information they have learned? Will they get the rest of the story from Maelie? Does Rico still hate Private even though he heard Maelie's words? All of these questions answered and more in the next chapter! Check back in a few days for chapter 11!