Disclaimer: I don't own Happy Tree Friends.
AN: Does anyone know who the murderer is yet? If not then there isn't long to wait, (The excitement is killing me). Have I managed to outwit you? (Of course not, I'm not quite that clever, I'm sure).
Chapter 7: Mime and Murderers.
Cuddles and Giggles sat against the wall of the room, Giggles was pale and her right arm lay in a sling. Cuddles felt terrible, after all that yelling he had done at Cro he had gone and done the exact same thing, Giggles would think he was an idiot. She'd go off with Cro and then it wouldn't matter if she knew... No, he wasn't thinking straight, he looked forwards at the interview room. Cro sat motionless on one of the chairs, frowning as he tried, slightly half-heartedly, to follow Cuddles' advice and get some information out of the silent antelope infront of him. Cuddles sighed and stood up, walking outside he crossed to an ice cream truck (Where he was served, somehow, by Cro-Marmot), he then re-entered the room, passing an ice cream to Giggles.
"Has he said anything?"
She looked up at him and smiled weakly, "Which one?"
Cuddles smiled back, "Either of them." His voice was lined with false desperation and she laughed. It was good to hear her laugh, he felt calmer just to know she was happy, or at least well enough to keep up the act. "Are you feeling better?"
Giggles thought for a second, her right arm wouldn't move, an ugly crooked scar coursed down it. But her memory felt better, she remembered Cuddles now, he had been almost the first person she had met in Happy Tree Forest and they had been friends ever since. She nodded, she felt happier just to know he and Cro were there, her friend and her mentor, the people who, at this point, made her feel most safe.
The mime stood up and cartwheeled out, silently frowning. Giggles turned to Cro, "Why did you need to do that?" She waited, "What do you mean to get the final piece of evidence? You mean you understood him?... Yes I know I understand you... But if you already know who did it why did you need to ask him?" She smiled slightly, giggling.
Cuddles looked confused, "What did he say?"
Giggles finally stopped laughing and looked up at him, "He said he wanted it to be like a book."
... ...
Three hours later Giggles sat in the Town Hall, Cro had rented the place for the night. He had left a list of instructions for Giggles while he had talked to Cuddles about something for an hour or two. She looked down at the list, then up at Cro, who was frozen in his ice cube, pointing straight ahead. "You lazy..." She smiled and turned to Cuddles, "He wants us to turn him round so he doesn't have to move."
Cuddles frowned and opened his mouth to say something, before he could however the door clicked open and Pop walked in, carrying his son in his hand.
"You wanted me to come here." He raised an eyebrow at the seemingly thrown-together detective agency infront of him.
Cuddles, feeling the older man's gaze on him, slipped into his most imposing detective mode. Giggles smiled, trying to be as offhand as possible she motioned to a chair in the middle of the room. Pop hesitated slightly before sitting, Giggles couldn't blame him, in the seat next to him was an ornate gold frame, within the frame was a large almost life sized photo of the second victim, Nutty. The same was true of four more chairs throughout the room, Flippy glared from his photo, Russell grinned from his, Petunia's picture smiled (slightly forcedly) out at the room and Handy, he glowered at the people in the room around him.
Giggles felt slightly uncomfortable herself, the photos were designed for psychological effect and literary finesse, Cro was a stickler for stylish touches, but couldn't he have chosen a slightly less macabre one.
But it was too late now, Disco Bear, Toothy, even a reincarnated Lammy pushed through the door, taking the places Giggles pointed to and fidgeting, within half an hour the room was filled with people.
Giggles stepped forwards, not everyone found it easy to understand Cro, she would have to do the talking, "Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you all for coming here." She listened to Cro, before repeating, "We are here today because we have a murderer in our midst," She frowned, it all sounded so cliche. "To understand this crime, we will need to, I am informed, investigate a few paths. If any of you are uncomfortable with this," She listened her frown intensified, "I can't say that!" She whispered, before turning back to the crowd, "Then, um, tough. There's, um, no backing out just because you are not entirely satisfied. After all we have a murderer to catch."
There was a rumble of annoyance throughout the hall, but Cuddles stepped forwards, raising a hand for silence and the sight of his new persona, bunny slippers or not, threw the hall into silence.
"Thank you. As you can see, Cro-Marmot has been investigating the recent crimes. We will begin straight away, starting with."
Cuddles pushed against the ice cube, turning it slightly so that the hand rested on the portrait of Petunia, "Petunia. She I am sure you are all aware, was brutally stabbed with the same knives as Flippy, yet she had no obvious connection with the murder. Why then was she killed?" Giggles felt her voice falter slightly, she looked up at Cro silently, before looking on and continuing, they all needed to make sacrifices, at least they would find the murderer, "The answer is obvious, if the museum was locked after Flippy's murder and no one could have been there since. It stands to reason therefore that those swords must have been taken when Flippy was murdered. Perhaps the murderer thought they had been seen. Um, maybe," She hesitated, gulping, "Maybe that was why Petunia was so reluctant to talk to us. But Petunia did tell us one thing, Handy used to have a business that collapsed when Flippy flipped out."
Murmurs spread out around the hall again, so Handy had had a reason to kill Flippy? Suddenly accusations buzzed and flew like a hive of bees. But settled again under the stone cold glare of Cro-Marmot.
"Quiet!" Cuddles voice rang out and the murmurs finally ceased, he turned to Cro, "Sometimes sitting around whispering isn't enough." He stood back and almost thought he heard cold words, whispering in his mind, agreeing.
"Okay, where was I," Giggles continued, slightly nervously wringing her one working hand. "Um," The crowd was not impressed, but she continued as Cuddles once again turned Cro, "Which leads nicely on to Handy, he told us very little, many people had grudges against him I'm sure," Nervous muttering followed her statement, "Handy was not afraid to tread on people's toes and, were it not for the logical progression of these crime, I would expect that one of you had killed him in a copycat attempt to settle a score." Giggles flinched slightly as she said this, she had never thought of the people of Happy Tree Town as that dark, but Cro was a mystery author, to him everything was dark, "He, um, he told us that a passage connected the museum to the park, specifically the indoor knife exhibit to the park. Any murderer could have escaped through this and to almost any part of Happy Tree Town, simply it could have been anyone here tonight."
Giggles mopped her brow, she realised she had been sweating, her voice faltering slightly, she wasn't cut out to be a detective she realised yet again, Cuddles could act, Cro could become a character in a novel, they could detach themselves from the world, her own limp arm was a reminder that she couldn't. She sat down into a chair next to Cro and continued, "This now brings us to the chain of events, the, um, links that led towards the climax... the climax that brought about five brutal murders." The moving finger of the caveman settled on Nutty, causing Pop to flinch away from the judgment, "Nutty a candy addict of the most disturbing level, everyone knew that, and four days ago someone used it against him. He was poisoned with a mixture of a strong poison and fudge. That is as I'm sure you will know," She found herself addressing just a few people in the crowd now, "about five times as potent as sugar." She cleared her throat, "But this chain of events starts long before that, it starts with Russell," The finger of blame was pushed to face the pirate's photo, "He hated candy addiction and a week ago, he attempted an intervention to change Nutty's ways, he grew so mad with the squirrel that the seaweed smell he creates filled the house for days afterwards. And in his anger he stole some of Nutty's candy, replacing it with vitamin pills, this is what brought Nutty to his knees both figuratively, um," Her voice tailed off as she remembered the squirrel's desperate face as he had begged for candy, "Both, um, figuratively and... literally. This also, unknown to him caused both their deaths, although he probably realised this slightly before his own death. You see Nutty never went to the museum, Russell hid his candies there because Nutty would never go there." She turned to Cro to see if she was translating correctly, but only met his stern blank stare, "Er, the murderer saw this and panicked assuming Nutty had been there. They killed him, then realising their mistake they destroyed Russell's house by baiting his hooks with the same poison that was mixed into the fudge that killed Nutty, which I am reliably informed," Giggles frowned at the revelation, "Can also be used to attract sharks..." She trailed off again, remembering her thoughts. One fish couldn't have done all that damage. She almost collapsed at the thought. Then she remembered where she was. The crowd, sensing her distraction had already broken into accusations and yet more excited whispering.
"Next to the living." Giggles felt more confident this time, "First to Shifty and Lifty who, I believe are moving through the audience tonight," She felt slightly better at the next part, "Relieving you of your valuables." The crowd burst into uproar and the two brothers fled, dropping their ill-gotten gains as they rushed back to their seats and tried to look innocent, "They attempted to steal a few choice objects from the museum the previous night, resulting the knife exhibit being relocated to just by the main doors, which allowed the murderer their weapons." The crowd growled, "Please ladies and gentlemen, there will be plenty of time for uproar when we are finished, next to Sniffles," The little, newly resurrected anteater squirmed under Cro's cold gaze, Giggles continued, "He was the one I believe who suggested to Petunia that taking Flippy to the museum may cure him, a sort of shock therapy if you will. Unfortunately it didn't go as planned and he was killed. And then there's..."
"Disco Bear." Giggles raised an eyebrow. She may not have liked Disco Bear, but he certainly wasn't clever enough to plot a murder.
"Hey!" Disco Bear's voice rose indignantly, "What did I do?" Giggles listened for Cro's response, and smiled slightly.
"Err... nothing. Cro just wanted you to know that your to fill out seats. I don't think he likes you all that much." Disco Bear huffed, and Giggles began to repeat Cro again. "And next we move to..."
The block was turned, Cro's ice grinding against the floor, the crowd gasped and Giggles voice trailed off, she could barely get out the next word as she saw on who the finger rested.
"Cuddles."
Moral: Actions speak louder than words.