Chapter 5 - Julien's Funeral

Several hours later, they had moved Julien's body over to a shady corner of the lemur exhibit, one that would not be visible to guests and zookeepers. Rico dug a hole to fit Julien's tall frame with a shovel he had coughed up earlier. The zoo was open by this point and families began strolling the park, some wondering where the animals were. Alice was going crazy wondering where the animals were, not knowing that they were all grouped in the lemur habitat.

The penguins had lowered Julien into the grave Rico dug and a nice collection of animals were standing around, most of them looking shocked and upset. Kowalski had gained the strength since the morning to venture from his bed and join the other three penguins as the stood quietly by the chimps and Marlene. Maelie had her eyes focused on the grave and looked the same as she had earlier. Every once in a while she glared at Private, who looked at the ground every time she did.

"We are gathered here today to honor a... to honor a friend." said Skipper solemnly. Marlene nodded.

"Does anyone want to say a few words?" Maurice asked. All of the animals present then took their turns in saying something about the deceased king. The chimps said that they knew Julien as annoying but the zoo would never be the same without him. Marlene reminisced on the the times she and Julien had spent together, from when they tried to win the webcam competition together, to all of Julien's parties. Mort began to speak but when he started talking about Julien's feet he began sobbing again, and Maelie walked over to comfort him. Maurice had the longest speech. His speech was about the experiences the two lemurs had on Madagascar before they came to the zoo. Private opened his mouth to speak, but he quickly shut it when Maelie and Maurice both shot him dirty looks.

"Julien was certainly one of a kind," Skipper said after a moment of silence, "and the zoo won't be the same without him."

"Agreed. He will be missed." Kowalski responded, speaking up for the first time. After hugs and comforts were passed around, everyone returned to their own habitats. Rico filled Julien's grave with while Skipper saluted the lemur.

"I swear on my life," Maelie said to Private after everyone except her and the penguins had left. "I will make sure every animal in this zoo hates you for what you've done."

"But Private didn't do anything, lemur!" defended Skipper. Maelie disregarded the statement and walked away. Private looked at Skipper uneasily.

"Skipper, why does she hate me so much?" said the young penguin.

"It's because she believes you killed her friend, Soldier." responded Skipper, making Kowalski ask why she thought that. Skipper explained what had happened earlier and how they believed Julien was murdered. He also explained how the female lemur was so certain it was Private based on two pieces of evidence.

"I was wondering where you got that wound, Private." said Kowalski when Skipper had finished.

"I was wondering that myself, really." responded the younger penguin.

"Well. We still don't really know what went on last night during that party," said Skipper. "Lets head back to HQ and see if we can get this all sorted out." The penguin's nodded and they walked away from the shady corner of the habitat.

On the way back to the secret passage, the penguins walked by the group of bushes where Julien's body was found. Skipper glanced back over to the bushes, and he noticed something that he had not noticed originally. Now that he was looking at the grouping from the same angle he had the previous night, the leader penguin realized that it was the same location that he had seen Julien and Maelie retreat to during the storm. He also remembered the loud pop he had heard. Suddenly, he realized who the real murderer might be.

"Kowalski," said Skipper suddenly, stopping in his tracks.

"What is it, Skipper?" responded the tall penguin. He still looked feeble and very tired.

"Do you mind taking a look at the murder scene for me? I want to know if you can see anything that we missed when we were there."

"Uh--sure, Skipper." Kowalski said. Private and Rico waited outside the bushes while Skipper and Kowalski ventured in. To Skipper's relief, the area had not changed at all since they had previously been there, except for the fact that Julien's body was now gone. The crowbar that had rolled out of the lemur's paw as the penguins carried him away was now lying in the middle of the clearing, the sun glinting off of its shiny surface.

Kowalski walked around the area, taking note of every little detail. He picked up a few random items, including a stick and a rock. He tapped the base of one of the larger bushes, and Skipper noticed that he was pointing out a small, round hole. Skipper gave his intelligent friend a few minutes, and then spoke.

"Got anything?"

"You said that Julien was shot, right?" Kowalski inquired, eyes still scanning the clearing.

"Yes."

"Where was he when you first got here?" asked the taller penguin, now looking at Skipper. Skipper pointed to the spot where the lemur king was lying. "Was he flat on his back?" Skipper nodded.

"Well then I can say that Julien was not shot." concluded the investigative penguin. Skipper's eyes grew wide.

"What? You saw his wounds yourself, soldier!" Skipper argued.

Kowalski paused for a minute, and then said, "Yes, they looked much like gunshot wounds."

"So what would make you say that he wasn't shot?"

"There's almost no blood underneath where you said he was lying." Kowalski explained, extending a flipper to the spot where the grass was still pressed down. Skipper tilted his head in confusion, and Kowalski continued, "That means that there was no exit wound, because he would have bled out through them onto the grass." Skipper hadn't thought to check for more proof that Julien had been shot. He didn't bother to check for any sort of exit wound.

"That doesn't mean that the bullets didn't just get stopped in the poor lemur's body," Skipper returned.

"Skipper, you have watched those crime shows with me. You saw how most bullets left exit wounds on full grown humans. Do you think that Julien's small frame would have been able to stop a bullet any better than a human?" As the other penguin spoke, he walked back over to skipper.

"No, not at all."

"So, Julien was either shot with something much weaker—or he might not have been shot at all." concluded Kowalski. Skipper nodded, it made sense.

"Do you have any idea what it was, then?" asked the leader penguin.

"I have a theory," Kowalski paused, "but you might not want to hear it."

"Let it out!"
"Alright, come over here," beckoned the taller penguin, walking over to the thick base of the bush he had been examining before. "Look at this hole."

"It looks just like Julien's wounds did!" observed Skipper.

"Yes, but look what I found embedded inside!" Kowalski said while holding out his flipper. On it was a very tiny, rounded ball. Skipper gasped, and his heart sunk. He knew exactly where that had come from.

"No!" he exclaimed.

"I'm afraid so," said Kowalski solemnly.

"But nobody knows about that weapon except us! It's a closely guarded secret!"

"Which doesn't really help out Private, I'm afraid." the taller of the two said, facing the ground. "But I have some good news too."

"Good." Skipper said.

"Look what I found stuck on this stick." Kowalski said, showing Skipper the stick he had picked up earlier. Skipper noticed several, very dark brown threads of fur that had weaved themselves between pieces of bark on the twig, causing Skipper to gasp again.

"Maelie's fur?" he asked.

"I hope so. This would prove that Maelie was at the scene as well as private." said Kowalski.

"And what about that rock?"

"I picked it up because it has some blood on it, and I wanted to compare it to the blood on the crowbar." explained the taller penguin, waddling over to the crowbar that was still on the grass. He leaned over next to it, and glanced between the rock and the bloodied tip. "Aha!" he finally exclaimed.

"What?" asked the leader penguin curiously.

"I saw Private's wound. When you told me about how the tip of the crowbar was the only thing with blood on it, I wondered. Private's wound looks much more like he was struck with a crushing blow, and the force caused his skin to split on his brow, not a puncture wound that would have been caused by the end of that." Kowalski explained, "Private was hit with this rock, not with the crowbar."

"How do you know that it isn't Julien's blood on that rock?" asked Skipper, arching his brow.

"I found it too far away from where you said his body was. It is way too much blood to have been splattered from a distance."

"Excellent detective work, soldier! Bravo!" complimented the leader penguin.

"Thanks, Skipper. I just want to prove Private is innocent to the extent you do." stated Kowalski. He held the rock, stick, and small metal sphere he had found in his flipper and the two preceded to meet with the other two penguins and tell them what they had found. Rico and Private were both equally surprised, and the four penguins made their way back to their HQ.

Alice was relieved when she saw the four appear on the surface of the bunker, but the penguins did little to entertain the guests. Skipper was emotionally drained from the day's events and had little appetite for fish, let alone fishcakes. He was sure his teammates felt the same way, so they spent the rest of the day stuffed up inside of the bunker trying to draw conclusions from what evidence they had and figure out what had happened the previous night.