Chapter 6 - Figuring things out
"You don't think I killed Julien, do you, guys?" Private said, breaking a long silence. The team had been quiet since they returned. The air inside the bunker held a feeling of depression.
"Not at all, soldier," Skipper reassured. The other two penguins stayed quiet. "As long as you're up to talking we should figure out what happened last night." He said. The four went over to a small table they had set up for playing chess or cards on and each took a seat. Kowalski set the three items he had obtained at Julien's murder scene on the table and each penguin looked at the others uncomfortably.
"Where should we begin?" started Kowalski. Skipper turned to the youngest penguin.
"Tell me everything you remember, Private." he said. Private then told the story of what he had seen at the party. He had fallen out of the lemur's bounce house and then noticed that Maelie had been missing for a while. He spoke of asking King Julien where she was, and upon finding out he went to go look for the female lemur. The young penguin said it was fuzzy from that point on, but he remembered seeing Maelie at the table in the back. He recalled seeing some times placed on that table, but he couldn't describe any of them. After that, he had blacked out.
"That must have been when you were hit with this rock," Kowalski assumed.
"Yes, but the question is how. Was it thrown, used as a club or was it an accident? If it wasn't an accident, who exactly knocked you out?" wondered Skipper.
"Mai-Lae," grunted Rico.
"I can't say for sure, but I don't remember Maelie swinging anything at me before I went unconscious.
"That's troublesome," noted Skipper, "because she's the only other one with evidence against them. Although it may be very little, it's our only lead."
"Do you remember anything afterwards?" Kowalski asked Private.
"Not a thing. Next thing I remember is waking up here." explained Private.
"What about you Kowalski? What happened to you last night?" Skipper asked his taller friend.
"I'm not exactly sure, Skipper," he returned. "I remember going to the party, and having some candy."
"That would explain your crazy behavior K'walski." noted Private.
"I'm not so sure. Candy does make me less like myself than I would like to be, but last night I recall trying something completely different." explained the other penguin.
"What was it?" Skipper asked.
"I remember Maurice giving me a drink to try. He said that it was some fruity mix recipe from Madagascar. It was in a glass bottle about a third of my hight." continued Kowalski. Skipper remembered Kowalski talking about some Madagascar drink after he poured some liquid from a similar bottle into King Julien's cup.
"Maurice gave you that?" Private wondered.
"Yes," said Kowalski. "and after I had some to drink my vision went blurry and I had a strange sensation. I felt so alive and free, like I could do anything!"
"That's very strange," commented Skipper. "What do you remember after that?"
"Not much—I remember drinking more of that drink. The next thing I faintly remember was giving Julien some of it after Maurice told me to. Then I remember waking up in bed and feeling terrible."
"What in the world would do that?" Skipper exclaimed. Rico shrugged his shoulders.
"It definitely wasn't one of my love potions." said Private.
"This is all very suspicious," said the leader penguin, "because after you two left," he pointed to Rico and Kowalski, "I went to Julien to ask where Private was. When I got there he was acting not unlike you were Kowalski. And from what I recall, Maurice was not."
"That means that he didn't have any himself!" observed Kowalski.
"Why in the world would that lemur give something for you to drink that makes animals go crazy, but not have any himself?" Skipper wondered. "Anything else to say?" All three of the other penguins shook there heads.
"Skippah, what's this little metal ball here? Isn't it..." Private said, holding the small metal ball. Skipper inturrupted.
"Kowalski found that at the crime scene inside one of the bushes," he explained.
"Doesn't this go into that air thing you showed us a while ago?" asked the youngest penguin.
"That's classified information, Private!" shouted Skipper, standing up from his seat.
"Sorry, sir!" cowered the younger penguin. Skipper looked around, and upon noticing that they were not being watched from anywhere, took his seat again.
"But yes, that is it." he said quietly.
"So who else could have killed Julien?" asked Kowalski.
"You saw the crime scene yourself, soldier," Skipper responded, "what do you think based on what has been said here?"
"Well I would think that the new lemur Maelie did it," said the taller penguin, "she was the last one private saw before he was knocked out. Some of her fur was at the crime scene as well."
"Also, the fact that King Julien was killed shortly after she appeared is suspicious." Private added.
"I saw Maelie walking Julien into those bushes we found Ringtail's body in last night before I left. I didn't think anything of it until now." Skipper said.
"So she was the last person anyone saw with him." added Kowalski. Rico nodded vigorously.
"It all adds up," Private stated.
"Yes, but nobody is going to believe us. Most of our evidence is just our word." said Skipper solemnly.
"We're going to need something more; a confession of some sort." Kowalski said after a pause.
"Does this zoo have any sort of camera system, Skippah?" Private asked.
"I'm afraid not," the tall penguin answered for Skipper.
Skipper looked at the table, then said, "Where has that female lemur been, anyway?"
"She sure disappears a lot," noted Kowalski. Rico nodded.
"Well we know what we know," said Private.
"Agreed. At ease, soldiers. We resume active duty early tomorrow." Skipper ordered. The other three penguins saluted them and then they separated for the remainder of the evening.
Several hours later, the zoo closed and several frustrated guests left. The majority of the animals had been in hiding or just had not been up to much for the day. There was an uneasy feel that hung over the zoo since Julien had been found that morning, and because word of his murder spread fast, the zoo remained depressed and lethargic. The animals were morning the death of a friend, although Alice or any of the other zookeepers had no idea. Skipper assumed that one of them would find out soon enough, and to keep the guests happy, they would adopt another lemur to take Julien's place.
It would only be a matter of time before things returned to normal, he thought, sitting on top of the bunker watching the sun set and a few lone stars reveal themselves. He noticed how eerily silent it was, not just because Julien wasn't around to crank his music, but the overall feeling of sadness that hung over the zoo made all of the animals quiet. Skipper could usually hear some sort of bird call or another animal moving around. Now, all he could hear was cars speeding by and the occasional police siren.
He remembered all the trouble King Julien had put him and his team through since day one of arriving at the zoo. The lemur's shenanigans had put the team in jeopardy on more than one occasion. He remembered the time he accidentally had Mort shipped to some psychotic toy factory and they had nearly been incinerated. Skipper remembered when he had tried to silence one of Julien's all night dance party and the Lemur had them both pummeled by Joey the kangaroo. The penguin shook his head... maybe they were better off without that crazy Ringtail?
He thought about how he had grown accustomed to Julien's crazy parties, and how Skipper usually wore his blue polka dotted earmuffs to get a little piece and quiet at night. He was enjoying the silence that enveloped him now, but something deep down inside him wished there was some sort of din to break the stillness that had an iron fisted grip on the zoo. Suddenly, he got his wish when a raspy scream came from down below. It was closely followed by a crash and many sounds of struggling from undernieth. Skipper recognized the scream as Rico's and immediately made his way down the hatch.
Upon reentering the bunker the first thing the leader penguin saw was Rico grunting and barely being held back by a struggling Kowalski.
"What's going on down here?" said Skipper, walking over to Rico and Kowalski. Now he saw private on the other side of the bunker cowering against a wall.
"I – Don't know, Skipper," said Kowalski between grunts of exertion, "Rico just attacked – Private."
"Rico, calm down, man!" Skipper said to the heavyset penguin who was still fighting to break free from Kowalski's grip. Upon hearing Skipper's voice he stopped fighting and stood up straight. "Private, what happened?"
"I don't know, Skippah," the small penguin explained, his heart rate elevated, "Rico looked like he was going to bed but then he threw that at me," he pointed to a shattered piece of glassware on the ground, "and then came after me!"
"Rico, what's gotten into you, man!" shouted Skipper, slapping his teammate upside the head. Rico scowled profoundly and Kowalski lessened his grip
"Uh, uh uh!" he grunted, pointing his beak towards the bunks the penguins used to sleep in.
"Kowalski, let him go," commanded Skipper. The tall penguin complied and released Rico, who immediately scrambled over to the bunks and pointed at Private's bed. Skipper and Kowalski walked to observe what Rico was so upset over.
"Oh, my," Kowalski said quietly when he saw what it was. Skipper noticed it too, the glinted L shape that could only have been one thing. It reflected the dim light from the bunker back at skipper, although he noticed the light that reflected back at him was tinted red. Skipper found himself speechless.
"But... But," he stuttered, "That's... That's..."
"Classified," Kowalski finished for him slowly. All three penguins around the bunks turned to face private, looks of horror on their faces.
"What?" he said innocently.
AN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AN
Thanks so much for all of the reviews i'm getting! They're really inspiring me to continue writing =). So, check back later for more chapters, I'll try to get them out as soon as I can!
