Its not massive but its longer than the previous chapter x) And thank you for the reviews it got and thanks for the hits :)
Nothing to say really except I don't own of course.
xxx
Expert theft at run down Zoo
Vince woke to the sunlight streaming in through the window onto his face, he shuffled about in his sleeping bag trying to roll over and go back to sleep but he was already too tangled up in the material. He sat up sleepily and struggled to free an arm to rub his eyes and run a hand through his hair, he stifled a yawn and felt a headache coming on.
"Mornin' Howard." He mumbled but got no reply; he glanced to his left and noticed his best friend's empty sleeping bag lay discarded in a twisted heap on the floor. He tumbled out and shivered as the cold hit him, in just his pyjamas he ventured out of the Zoo hut only to be greeted by the sight of Policemen everywhere. His eyes widened as he bumbled through them sleepily until he noticed Bob Fossil's office window, the glass was missing but there wasn't any sign of it being shattered from the outside or the inside.
"Vince!" A familiar voice called, Vince turned to see Howard weaving through the policeman and the crowd that had gathered to see what all the fuss and blue lights were about "Vince, are you alright?"
"Yeah…What happened here Howard?"
"Someone broke into the Zoo last night."
"Anything missing?"
"Some money and the Deed to the Zoo, Fossil's being interviewed right now. The Police want to speak to us, you better go get dressed."
"What? I don't want to be interviewed! We didn't do anything!"
"I know, I know…It's just procedure. They need as much information as possible." Vince fell silent and nodded glumly glancing at the officers around him "Go get dressed, I'll be back at the hut in a few minutes."
-
He sat at the table idly flicking through a magazine seeming to not have a care in the world, as the door to the hut was opened with a creak he glanced up and shut Dazed and Confused while pushing it aide.
Howard stood in the doorway smiling nervously with two officers behind him, as they entered they were followed by Bob Fossil who sat down on the couch while Howard took up another chair at the table.
"Mr. Noir?" The male officer asked holding out a hand for Vince to shake.
"Yeah, call me Vince." He shook the hand, which felt hot and clammy against his own cool dry skin.
"Now we need to ask you a few questions about where you were last night." The female officer opened a notebook up while taking a seat opposite Vince and Howard, she pulled a pen from her coat and chewed on it while starring at the boys in front of her "Starting with where you were last night between the hours the Zoo closed, seven o'clock, till around four in the morning." Vince bit his lip for a moment while Howard gave his answer for them.
"We were both asleep in here."
"And Vince?" The officer asked more directly to the young mod.
"I was asleep all night, once I'm asleep that's it. I don't wake for anythin'. I'm a pretty heavy sleeper." The woman took some notes then quickly stuffed the pen lid back into her mouth clamping it between her teeth, she seemed much younger than the male officer and was probably new to the team.
"Ok and neither of you heard a thing?" The male officer carried on looking mainly at Vince.
"Not a thing, like I said…I sleep like a rock."
"Okay, and we know Mister Fossil was first to arrive at the scene but were either of you two second?"
"I was." Howard pointed out making the woman scribble some more notes.
"And you were sleeping? Vince?"
"Yeah. Sorry." He replied with a slight shy smile playing at his lips.
"Thank you for your time, I think we're done here." As the officers left, Bob Fossil turned to both Vince and Howard with a stern look on his face.
"Look you two sleaze-bags, if I find out either one of you broke into that office I'm gonna hang your necks from the grey leg of the leg face man! You got that?"
"Yes, mister Fossil." Howard replied as their boss spat venom.
"And next time I stick you two losers on night watch you better do a better job than this one! Night watch means you don't fall asleep, comprende?"
"Yes mister Fossil." Vince sighed rolling his eyes and smirking at his boss' back as he stormed from the hut "What a ball bag."
"Vince, this is really serious. Someone broke in while we were asleep, we could have got kicked out of the Zoo for that."
"Yeah, but we didn't did we? Just chill out Howard. There's no way that guys coming back, he's got all he wants from the Zoo. There's nothin' else to nick is there?"
"Why are you always so laid back about everything? Don't you even care?" Howard left the hut slamming the door behind him leaving Vince in the silent room.
"Course I care." He muttered to nothing while tutting and flicking his magazine back open.
-
Howard found himself stood in front of the boarded up window of Mr Fossil's office; he could hear him inside with Dixon Bainbridge both yelling about something or other.
He scanned the floor beneath the window not believing that not a single shard of glass was shattered and that no fingerprints or bit of material were picked up. It were as though the burglar was a ghost and had swept in without touching a thing, taken the money and left.
"Hey Howard, the Zoos in the paper." Vince grinned handing over a crumpled copy of the local newspaper.
"Expert theft at run down Zoo." He read the headline aloud and quickly scanned over the article, which was full of detail about how the glass was cut and what was used to cut it.
"There's this massive theory about him climbin' over the gates just to get in to nick a bit of cash."
"Yeah…Not really a massive theory now is it, Vince? And who said the burglar's a he?" he slapped the paper back into Vince's chest and hurried away to get on with his jobs for the day.
"The paper did." He replied after his friend while waving the newspaper in the air only to toss it into a bin on his way back to the hut.