At the Zoo: Gossip


"Oh dear, Rico! We just ran a stop sign!" Private exclaimed, holding feverishly onto his seatbelt.

"Eh, whutt'ya gonna do?" Rico shrugged as he veered to the left, the tires screeching as he turned into a back alley.

Private covered his mouth, blinking miserably. Focusing on the road was certainly not helping his car sickness. He ducked down to steady his breathing just in time to miss the view of a man helping a prostitute into his car. Rico rolled his eyes at Private's weak stomach, but was also somewhat glad. He wasn't particularly fond of Private seeing anything illegal either, especially not after the 'talk' Skipper had given him about his internet history. He supposed it was back to him and his blow-up-doll, Miss Perky.

He was honestly somewhat surprised that Skipper didn't want to accompany them, but it probably had to do with Skipper's issues about liking people. Right off the bat, Rico could tell that Skipper had a thing for Julien (how could he not?), but Skipper was still pretty hung up about Hans. Rico had tried to be understanding in the first couple of years, even more so than Kowalski had, but he knew that it had been drawn on for too long. Still, he wasn't one to question Skipper's orders, ever. He even made an effort to avoid Kowalski on the way out, who always had a tendency to prod with questions.

Rico slowed down as they pulled up to the Park Zoo. The place was still just as booming as it had been and was, of course, still packed. Rico grumbled at first and settled for parking illegally. It wasn't as though they'd get ticketed, not around here. He waited an extra minute for Private to collect himself before leaving, making sure to keep his eyes on the younger kid. Maybe they were all a bit over protective, but it was hard to resist babying Private when he tended to remind themselves of their youth. Rico had become the way he had in a very different way than Skipper and Kowalski, much earlier than either of those two had faced their demons, but it was still almost a paternal instinct to keep watch on Private.

Private gave him a withering look of gratitude when Rico opened the door for him, steadying himself on Rico's shoulder as he departed. When he was on his feet, they entered the Zoo. Immediately they were greeted with a cacophony of music and cheering, in addition to the pleasant onslaught of smells. Sweat, perfume, and smoke - three things that indicated good news to Rico. The same was not necessarily said about Private, but luckily he was still too in awe of the flamboyant dancers to care.

One of the dancers was sitting at the desk in the main corridor, chatting on a phone. There were bright green feathers in her soft brown hair, accented by her pearl, sheer dress. Rico grinned to himself; she was pretty cute. He walked up to her, Private following like a puppy dog.

"...And we had to have music, I mean you wouldn't want things to get dreary, would you? So, just to keep everybody awake sorta, I asked a couple of boys down at the-" The woman paused as she noticed the two men nearing. "...Hold on Gloria, we gotta few customers here."

She gave them a finger to indicate a wait, but Rico didn't mind waiting for her, winking at her with a pleasant purr. Private elbowed him gently.

"Rhonda! Rhonda!" The woman called into the crowd, but her words were swallowed up by the music. She sighed dejectedly, before noticing another dancer waltz by. "Shelly, have you seen Rhonda anywhere? She's supposed to be checking people in."

The woman she addressed was very tall, with long long legs that were highlighted by brown ostrich feathers that swept by her feet as she walked. She'd looked like she was in somewhat of a hurry, but stopped the moment she saw Rico, and a smile crossed over her messily painted lips. "...I thought she was in the kitchen, sampling sweets again… But she sure is missing out on some cuties. I'd stay and chat if I didn't have a show in five, but geez, make sure the one with the nice hair leaves his number!"

Rico didn't resist the open cringe when Shelly winked at him before strutting off. She wasn't his type. This other girl fit the bill though, and he leaned on the desk with a suave smolder. She was unimpressed, sighing as she set aside the phone and looked over some of the tables and muttering to herself about no-good-waitress-roommates.

When she stood, she offered them a tired smile. "My name is Marlene. I can take you to your table now. Is it just the two of you?"

"Yeh," Rico responded with a simper as he smoothed back his hair. "Buh 't can j'st be the two o' us, babeh."

"Rico!" Private exclaimed in mild distress. "Now's not the time, we're on an investigation!" He turned to Marlene, nervous and apologetic. "Terribly sorry about him."

Marlene paused in the midst of gathering menus, before looking up at them worriedly. "...An investigation…? You're not coppers, are you?"

Private laughed sweetly. "Of course not! We're just private eyes, here to investigate the death of Clemson."

Rico elbowed him with a grunt to let him know he was giving too much information, but Marlene was already intrigued. Letting her weight rest to one hip she rose a brow. "Oh! Well, I can tell you a bit about Clemson, if it'll help… As long as you aren't going to, you know, let the pigs know about some of the stuff that goes on here."

She winked and Rico sort of melted, but Private was unaffected by her beauty. He clapped his hands in excitement. "Oh, that would be just lovely!"

"Well. Clemson was the owner of Park Zoo. He started it up from the ground when he left New Jersey. I think he was involved in the Hoboken gangs before, but he never really talked much about it… Anyway. He and the main dancer, Julien, were an item." She blushed slightly, softly giggling as she gossiped. "Julien's a real doll, if you haven't met him!"

"We have," Private assured cheerily. "He's quite nice."

"He sure is." She agreed, and Rico knew that she and Private were talking about two very different flavors of the word 'nice'. Marlene continued on, this time leaning in as though exposing something very juicy. "So anyway, Clemson and Julien were a couple. Sadly, though, Clemson wasn't the best boyfriend in the world… He was actually kinda abusive. Super controlling and possessive, and there were times when he hit Julien. The amount of times that I've found Becky and Stacy cleaning up his cuts, or let him borrow my foundation to cover up some nasty bruises… Yikes."

"Goodness! I had no idea that it was like that." Private frowned deeply, concern bubbling up in his features.

"Oh yeah. I mean, sometimes you could hear Clemson screaming at him above the music! No one ever said anything about it though. I think it's because Julien apparently loved Clemson no matter what." Marlene told them, her words drifting slightly as she recalled their relationship.

"But why?" Private questioned with a tilted head. "How could you possibly love someone who treated you so poorly?"

Marlene shrugged with a sad smile. "Sometimes that's just the way it is. I think deep down Clemson really cared about Julien too, though, even if he was awful at showing it… In his will, he said that Julien was supposed to inherit the club after he died. Weirdly enough, though, Julien's been really hesitant about it, like he doesn't want to or something."

That was some information they could probably use, and Rico finally spoke up. "Why n't?"

Marlene parted her pink lips to respond, but before she could get any words out, a gruff man cleared his throat. The three of them turned to see a very short, stout man, darkened slightly by the bright lights behind him. He stepped forth, expression slightly grim as he neared them.

"Oh, Maurice! I didn't see you there," Marlene laughed almost nervously, before stepping aside.

He glanced over to her with a slight tilt of the head to acknowledge her presence, before turning back to Rico and Private. "Are you the two from Penguin Eyes?"

Slightly dumbfounded, the two of them nodded.

Satisfied with this information, he gestured for the two of them to follow him. "I'm Maurice Hira, the Park Zoo financial advisor. Julien's waiting for the two of you in the back."

Rico and Private exchanged a dubious glance. They hadn't informed the Zoo that they'd be coming, so it was odd for Julien to have expected them. As they left, Marlene settled back into her seat, presumably to go back to chatting with her friend. The three of them weaved their way through the crowd before finding the door that led to the backrooms. Maurice glanced around slightly before letting them in. When they entered, they were met with the sight of male and female dancers running this way and that, hurriedly changing costumes as they went to and fro.

There was another series of doors in the hall behind the stage, many of which had signs on them to indicate what they were. Some were bathrooms, others were changing rooms, and one was a staircase. There was one unmarked one at the very end, though, which was the one Maurice led them through. The metal door swung closed behind them, leading them through yet another corridor. The sounds from the rest of the club were muffled by the thick walls. At the very end of the narrow hall was one last door, which was simply titled 'office'.

Before they entered, Private stopped Maurice, earning a look of mild displeasure. He shrunk back, giving a sheepish smile. "Terribly sorry, but… I couldn't help but notice you and Julien share the same last name. Are the two of you related?"

Rico would have said something else, more along the lines of 'how did Julien know we'd be here?', or, 'what does Julien want to talk about?' or, 'can you give me Marlene's number?'. But he let it slide, knowing that Private's sweet naivety was a weak spot for almost all.

Maurice rose his eyebrows, looking mildly surprised at the inquiry. "...You could say that. I've been a close family friend since the two of us lived back in Madagascar."

He left it at that, opening the office door. Private wasn't entirely satisfied, but he and Rico followed suit. The office was incredibly small, a tiny room that only fit a desk, a locker, and a few chairs. On the other side of the desk sat Julien, now wearing less revealing clothes, with folded hands as he'd waited patiently for the Penguin Eyes' arrival. He smiled brightly when they came in, and Rico and Private uncomfortably seated themselves in the two available chairs while Maurice stood.

"Ah, hello penguins! It is so good to be seeing you again." Julien's full lips tugged into an excited grin, exposing his bright white teeth.

"'Sup," Rico greeted.

"Hello Julien, it's wonderful to see you too." Private smiled uneasily. "Though… How did you know we'd be here?"

Julien glanced down at his nails, examining them for a moment or so as he replied. "I knew Skipper would be sending somebody in the soon times. I was hoping it could be the all of you though. If you could call him and ask him to be coming here - oh, and be bringing with him the sciencey guy, that would be great!"

Private and Rico were both a bit off-put by how Julien was capable of predicting Skipper's behavior, but Private was the first to speak up. "...Oh, I ah, see then. I apologize, but um, why do you need all of us here?"

Julien glanced up to him in his own form of confusion, before he pulled out a newspaper clipping and set it delicately on the desk. "Parker, the guy who did the killing of my sweet loving Clemmyson, has gone into hiding."