Chapter 3

Suspect

Fievel awoke the next morning feeling ready for the day ahead of him. He bathed himself, ate breakfast, and left for work. He ran all the way to the fruit stand and met Mr. Hollows there, who told him to watch the stand while he met with his supplier, Johnny, who stole fruit from the humans on the surface, chopped it up, and distributed it throughout this city and the other cities around it. Fievel watched the stand for the morning, but he couldn't wait for lunch to come.

Finally lunch came and Lorena met Fievel at the lunch stand.

"So, where do you want to have our fake lunch?" asked Lorena.

"How about here?" asked Fievel. "I can take some fruit and pay for it later."

"Okay," said Lorena. She took a chair and moved it to the other side of the counter.

"Hey, I was thinking about the criteria you gave me for your suspects last night," said Fievel. "And it occurred to me that Mr. Hollows might be one of them."

"Yep," said Lorena. "He's next on the list. Mr. Bodsy was innocent, so he's next."

"How do you know Bodsy's innocent?" asked Fievel.

"Because when I was sifting through his junk in the alley last night, I found some business documents about transactions that he had had here in the city at the time of the murder," said Lorena. "That means that I'm gonna need your help investigating Hollows. I'm gonna follow up on some other leads, but I need you to get something that either proves him guilty or innocent."

"Alright," said Fievel. "But I can tell you it's not him."

"Do you have physical proof?" asked Lorena.

"No," said Fievel.

"Then find some," said Lorena.

"How?" asked Fievel.

"Ask him some questions," said Lorena. "Go through his junk. Look in places where you might find old business documents. Anything. I don't care."

"Ask him what questions?" asked Fievel. "'Hey, Mr. Hollows. You didn't murder a young mouse a couple years ago, did you?'"

"It's a start," said Lorena. "Ask him if he's been to New Jersey recently or something to do with prisoner smuggling."

"Okay, fine then," said Fievel.

"Good," said Lorena. "Now, it's time for me to ask you some questions."

"Shoot," said Fievel.

"Why does Tony call you 'Philly'?" she asked. Fievel smiled. For the next half-hour, she and Fievel talked casually to each other. They just had a normal lunch. Then she had to leave and Fievel had to get back to work. Fievel waited for about a half hour before Mr. Hollows came back.

"Hello, Fievel," said Mr. Hollows. "So how was your date?"

"Fine," said Fievel.

"Oh, good," said Mr. Hollows. He went into his house and Fievel followed him in, hoping for an interview.

"Uh, Mr. Hollows, sir," said Fievel. Mr. Hollows jumped and turned around.

"Oh, Fievel, don't do that to me," he said. "What do you want?"

"Well, I just wanted to ask you a question," said Fievel. "See, I've been trying to convince my papa to take me and my family to New Jersey and I was wondering if you've ever been to New Jersey because I wanted to know your opinion about it."

"Well, I did go to New Jersey a couple years ago on a business trip," said Mr. Hollows. "It was nice enough. But I don't have very good memories about it. My business there didn't go very well."

"When did you go there?" asked Fievel. "I mean, what month?"

"I went in early August," said Mr. Hollows.

"Okay, thank you," said Fievel. He walked out the door and went back to watching the stand. He worked for about five more hours before Mr. Hollows told him he could go. So Fievel left. He met up with Lorena on his way home and told her about what Mr. Hollows said.

"What month was your brother murdered?" asked Fievel after he told her what Mr. Hollows said.

"Early August," she said quietly. "I think he may be our guy."

"What about your other leads you talked about earlier?" asked Fievel.

"Dead ends, all of them," said Lorena.

"Okay, I'll do some more snooping around tomorrow," said Fievel.

"Okay," said Lorena. "I think we should call it a day for now."

"Okay," said Fievel. "I'll see you tomorrow." They parted ways and Fievel headed home.

When Fievel arrived home, he ate dinner with his family. He neglected to tell his parents about Lorena and her brother's murder. After he ate dinner, he got ready to go to bed. He lay on his bed and thought about how Lorena said Mr. Hollows was a suspect. Fievel knew he wasn't.

But I have only known him for a couple weeks, Fievel thought to himself. And I have heard that he has a reputation for pulling crazy stunts to save his fruit stand before, but could he really take it all the way up to murder? Fievel had an ominous feeling about the next day. He didn't know why, but he felt like tomorrow wasn't going to be a good day at all. Fievel undressed and got into his bed. He laid his head on his pillow and fell asleep with this uneasy feeling.

TO BE CONTINUED...