Previously on O.W.C.A. Academy:
Darren presumes that the law-breaking agent that the surveillance camera caught on tape in the laboratory the night during the accident might be one of the animals that had access to the lab the day before. Perry and Terry went to Major Monogram to get the list over exactly which agents were there.
11. The List of Suspects
"WHAT!? You went without me!?" Pinky exclaimed indignant by the lunch table.
"Well, you were with that poodle, what's-her-name", I remarked, and shoveled another spoon of my caterpillar stew into my bill.
"Yeah, but, you really thought I rather wanted to miss out on something this exitante?" he asked us upset.
"Uuumm… yees…", Terry uttered confounded.
Pinky sighed in frustration.
"Ugh, caramba! Okay, did you find out anything interesting?" he asked, still feeling a bit annoyed.
"Yes, we managed to get this list over all the agents that had access to the laboratory the day before", Terry told and picked up the document and laid it on the table.
"And you think one of these may be the mysterious creature from the film?" the puppy wondered while trying to grab the thin paper, which seemed to have sticked on to the table.
"Yesh", I said with my beak full of grubs.
The chihuahua finally managed to pick up the paper and took a look at it.
"Hm, I see that they've fixed the printer", he noted and handed it back to Terry after he had finished looking.
"Yes, luckily!" Terry said and took the document. "The printouts we two got on our first day was almost worse than Perry's handwriting."
"Har-de-har!" I said sarcastic.
The sound of cutlery clattering against porcelain plates was heard coming towards us.
"Hi! Did you get permission?" Herman asked eagerly when he and Manny showed up by our table, both carrying a tray with food on.
"Dum-dudu-DAA!" Terry triumphed and waved with the list in front of them.
"Oh, great! Nice job guys!" Herman beamed and put down his tray on our table, so did Manny. "Let me take a look!"
Terry handed over the document to the eager hedgehog, who was already holding out his hand towards him. Then both he and the mongoose took a seat and read it through together.
"Well, I already now see who we immediately can cross off", Manny marked. "Agents like Newton the Gnu and Wally the Whale don't have the right size in comparison to the evidences."
"No, but they may still hold on to valuable information", Herman reminded without taking his eyes off the text.
"How did your search go?" Terry asked the sand-colored animals curious.
"Well, Darren already knew some of these", Manny said and knocked on the paper with his index front toe, "so we went and talked with Danny."
"Yea and, apparently, Major Monogram had given him a special assignment to do that day", Herman, who'd looked up from the paper, said.
"He also stated that he was supervised by the Major the whole time, so I guess we can exclude him from being the thief", Manny put through.
"Did he know anything interesting otherwise?" I asked.
"Sadly, no", Herman told a bit disappointed.
"We also tried to find Gary", Manny continued, "but that little rascal seems to have run off again."
"Again?" I asked confused.
"Yeah, he is known to be a little of the school's runaway", Pinky explained.
"Hehe! Yes, according to Darren, he had even tried to hide from Dr. Larsson when she was trying to take a blood sample from him during that day", said Manny a bit chuckling.
"Did all the agents have their appointment with Dr. Larsson?" I asked.
"No, Danny, for example, had a remiss from Dr. Seger", Herman told. "By the way, it says on the list which everybody met."
"Oh! Okay", I said understanding, feeling a bit dumb. I really should have checked it out more clearly earlier.
"Darren is still out trying to find Gary for us", Herman kept telling.
"Yes, if there is something that that duck would be good at, it would at least be finding things", Manny muttered.
Yeah, you'd think Darren, if anyone, likely would know how to dig up things. It disturbed me a little that it actually was thanks to him eavesdropping on us that we right now were sitting with a whole list of potential witnesses and suspects. I tried to tell myself that as long as he could contribute to the case my personal relationship with him did not matter.
"Alright, here's what we do!" Herman suddenly decided and put down his spoon with a clang. Then he directly pointed at the mongoose with his whole front paw.
"You and I keep searching for Gary now after lunch while you three", he turned and pointed directly at us others, "start interrogate the other agents on the list."
"Roger!" I said and was just about to automatically salute to the hedgehog, then I remembered he wasn't my headmaster.
Herman gave the list to Pinky, who was sitting right next to him.
"No hay problemas! Okay, who do we start with?" the puppy wondered and read through the paper again.
"I suggest that we start from the bottom and then we go up", Terry thought. "If the burglar did stay behind in the laboratory to wait for the dark to fall, there is a higher chance that any of the later ones might have seen or heard something."
"Good thinking!" Herman said impressed.
"Okay, so, who was the last one in?" I asked.
"That was Darren", Pinky told.
"And we already know it's not him", Manny informed. "He told he got a lift home by Dr. Larsson right afterwards, which she could confirm."
"Aha", I muttered and couldn't help but to feel a least a little bit disappointed.
"Who came before Darren?" Terry asked Pinky.
"Agent T…"
Terry reacted in surprise.
"… Tucker the Turkey."
"Hey, I think I know who that is!" I exclaimed, remembering that I had seen a turkey agent during Enid's training.
"Okay, you go and talk to Tucker then", Herman decided, "and eventually, if you got time, you can also try to talk toooo…"
Herman leaned over the paper to see who came after… er, before Tucker.
"… Agent P, Peter the Panda", the hedgehog ended.
"Peter the Panda!?" Pinky exclaimed quite shocked and hastily dug his nose down into the paper.
"He is in our criminology group", Terry informed. "We are going to meet later today to print out our project."
"Great, then you can ask him then", Herman thought.
"Newton is my group, so I can hear with him tomorrow", I offered, remembering that the gnu also was on the list.
"Wonderful! Well then, let's get down to business!" Herman proclaimed and poured the last of his insect soup down his throat before we all left the table.
While Pinky, Terry and I walked down the school hallway, I came to think of something.
"Hey, uh, exactly what are we going to ask Tucker?" I wondered. Something told me it wasn't just running up and say: 'Hey, Agent T! You don't happen have done anything illegal lately, like, breaking into a laboratory or something?'
"Well, we do not want to make him suspicious", Terry concluded pondering. "If he gets to know that he is a suspect he might get defensive."
"Sí, we've gotta keep a low profile", Pinky said.
"I tell you, if you won't start ruffle up your feathers a bit more you're going to end up on a plate for Thanksgiving", a familiar mean voice said a few feet away.
"C'me on, Dennis, it ain't funny", a weary clucking voice answered.
A couple of agents in front of us stepped aside and then we saw the white rabbit holding a book over the head of a gallinaceous bird with fan-like tail feathers. The young rooster tried to get a hold of the book, which the bunny meanly raised and lowered repeatedly, preventing him from grabbing it.
I couldn't be mistaken. I recognized the little bird that panting had fallen behind the rest of the crew during the workouts. It was Tucker.
