Chapter 9

Canada Day finally arrived and Mystic Rock Harbor was packed to the brim with tourists that came for the shops, restaurants, but mostly the beaches. However, in the police station, Captain Davey Biggins summoned every eligible officer to form a protection group for the swimmers out on the water.

"This is who we are looking for," Biggins said, handing out photo copies of Faustin St-Pierre, "From what Detective Lyons-Swagger said, St-Pierre may be armed and dangerous, so approach him with caution."

"Question," one officer said, "How are we to find him in the water?"

"St-Pierre will be wearing full scuba gear, including an oxygen tank. If you see anything suspicious out on the surf, you are not to cause a panic," Angel informed the officers. Everyone headed out into police patrol boats, while Angel and some other officers went out to the beaches. Angel patrolled the Fire Sand Beach, where her family and friends were. She was surprised to see that no one was in the water.

"Good," Angel said to herself, but saw Mayor Giroux walking around, pestering some people to go in.

"If you don't get in there, we'll have a financial crises on our hands," he said to Mr. McMillian, his aid. McMillian obeyed and went into the surf and very soon, everyone followed suit.

"Damn," Angel muttered, angrily.

"Detective Lyons-Swagger?" a voice said and Angel turned around to see a well-built, male rat humanoid. "I'm Michael Giroux, the mayor's nephew," he introduced himself and shook hands with her.

"Nice to meet you," Angel replied and Michael stared out at the patrol boats.

"You have to forgive my uncle, he can be so stubborn, but he wants what's best for this town," he said and Angel nodded. "Anyway, I just want you to know that this killer won't get away with these crimes," Michael added.

"You be careful than, I have a feeling that Faustin St-Pierre will show up somewhere," Angel warned and Michael nodded and walked away.

"Dad! Dad!" Minnie exclaimed to Nicholai, "Can I go in the water?" she asked.

"Not here," her father answered and points towards the estuary, "Just don't swim out too far from the shore."

"Can I go?" Emmy asked her own father, Mok. The retired rock star took a few moments, staring at the estuary, as if something bad were to happen there.

"Alright, but stay close to Uncle Nic," Mok replied to his young daughter and the little girl walked away with Nicholai, but Minnie ran full speed toward the estuary. "If there is any god or deity in this universe, I hope they judge me to the fullest in what I just done," Mok said to himself.

Minnie was the first to reach the water in the estuary, while Emmy stayed on the shore, playing in the sand.

Angel looked towards the crowd of swimmers with her binoculars. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until she noticed an object moving about; it looked like a dorsal fin.

"Oh my god! Shark!" someone screamed and everyone began to panic. The lifeguard whistled and ordered everyone out, but Angel shouts, "Don't panic!"

There were people trampling on one another, desperate to get out, others were screaming. Angel hurried in to rescue an elder dog humanoid from being stepped on.

Out in the water, the dorsal fin turned out to be a fake; it was just cardboard painted to look like a shark's fin. Two young cat boys came up to the surface and they came face to face with policemen rifles. None of the patrol officers took a shot as they were surprised to see that it was just a prank.

"It was his idea!" one of the cat boys exclaimed, pointing to his friend.

On the shore, Angel checked on those who were injured in the stampede and got a call from Biggins on her walkie-talkie. "Angel, it was just a prank, set by two kids," Biggins said.

"Well I hope you track their parents down, because we got a lot of injured people over here," Angel replied, sounding irritated.

Out in the estuary, Michael Giroux was in his boat, paddling toward Minnie. "Hey!" he called and Minnie waved at him. A little further away, a young rat woman was using her binoculars out on the water, when she saw a dark shape that was heading toward Minnie.

"HELP!" the rat woman screamed, "It's the beach killer! He's in the estuary!"

Angel heard the cries and thought it was another prank. The rat woman continued to cry out for help and Mok came up to his wife and says, "Minnie and Emmy are in there!"

Angel went into a run towards the source of the cries.

Minnie did not notice the unusual shape in the water, until something pulled her under. Who or whatever it was, Minnie was tugged deeper down into the water, but she was able to break the surface.

"HELP! SOMEONE!" she cried out, before being pulled under. Michael Giroux saw what was going on and jumped from his boat and into the water.

"MINNIE!" Nicholai screamed and went in, but he could not swim. Angel and the crowd ran as fast as they could toward the estuary.

Michael fought with the assailant, he knew that it was Faustin St-Pierre, and he put a choke hold on the menace. Minnie swam away, but the killer turned his attention on Michael; Faustin broke out of Michael's choke hold and began to stab him. Crimson blood flowed out of Michael as the fatal blow hit his heart and he died instantly.

Faustin swam as fast as he could toward the little mouse girl. "C'mon Minnie!" Nicholai shouted from the shore and Emmy cried out, too.

Suddenly, Faustin pulled Minnie under the surface, again, and began to slice the knife through the water. Minnie dodged the weapon as best she could, but Faustin made a cut across her arm.

The young mouse girl grabbed hold of Faustin's arm and dug her teeth into it. Faustin gave a cry of pain through the air-piece in his mouth and lost his grip on the knife. He pulled on Minnie's hair and with that, Minnie tore some fabric off of the wet suit that Faustin wore.

"MINNIE!" Angel cried out and dove right into the water. Faustin swam away, but Minnie was in so much shock that she could not move her body and she floated to the surface.

Angel grabbed hold of the mouse girl and swam back to shore. Emmy was crying as she was shocked by the many people trampling her sand barrier, but her father, Mok grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

Angel laid Minnie on the ground and checked for a pulse and noticed the deep cut on her arm. "Someone call an ambulance!" she ordered and gently tapped Minnie's cheeks.

However, Angel noticed something in Minnie's mouth, and tried to pull it, but the mouse girl refused to open it. "Minnie, it's okay, it's me. What's in your mouth? Open it," she commanded and Minnie spat out the fabric.

Angel took it and looked at it; it was black and it had some letters "r Mer", but Angel could tell that it was part of a name. "Minnie, where did you get this?" Angel asked.

Minnie was so shaken that Angel could barely hear her, "I...bit...bad...guy..." Minnie spoke the words as her whole body shook with fear and from the cold. Nicholai took his daughter in his arms.

"You bit the bad guy?" Angel asked and Minnie nodded her head, "Good girl, Minnie!" Angel exclaimed, but the mouse girl didn't want to be hugged. Angel looked at the wet suit fabric, again; finally, she got some sort of clue and if she located the place that sold this particularly wet suit, she might be able to locate Faustin.