Just as Marvin and Susie floated into the shadows on the way to their Water B&B for the night, Chief Al brushed his way into The Seady Bar. Manny gave him a nod of acknowledgement and started making the Chief’s favorite: FishFlurry, a popular fizzy drink. Chief Al was in a working-sort-of mood, though, and so he snagged his drink and floated near a pufferfish, a new face in the crowd. She was fully inflated, spines on display, and understandably she was alone at the table.
“What’s got you all puffed up today?” he asked her, carefully arranging his tentacles to avoid her spikes.
The pufferfish leapt a bit, apparently shocked that someone was speaking to her, but then collected herself. “Oh, I’m just practicing,” the pufferfish said, “I am an artist. I create paintings with my spines, and right now I am working on a piece that requires me to puff up quickly. You know, before I lose my…inspiration.”
“Interesting!” said Chief Al, who was always surprised when he encountered sea creatures who were able to fit in creative endeavors in between the eating and being eaten. Maybe spines are better defense than tentacles, he thought. “I am Chief Al, and I have a few questions for you, Miss…?”
“Yoko,” she said, and even though she didn’t get any puffier, she managed to look nervous.
“Where were you around midnight of the last full moon?” he asked directly.
“Well, hmmmm, the last full moon, you say? Well, that must have been, hmmm.. let me think—“
Yoko was cut off by the jarring whir of an outboard motor whizzing overhead, causing the occupants of the bar to either gasp, moan, poop out air bubbles, or evacuate, and sometimes all at once.
“Curse those seabass fishers!” Chief Al bristled, “They nabbed my secretary the other day, and she’s not even a seabass – she’s a turtle! She’s lucky the humans that caught her didn’t want her, resuscitated her, and threw her back. She had nets dancing before her eyes for days afterwards. She was so traumatized, it took her three days of travel to get back to the office!”
Yoko was still puffed. Chief Al had never seen a pufferfish hold that position for so long. “You should relax, miss. You look so uptight! Here, why don’t I get you a big glass of algae juice to calm your nerves?”
“I, uh, don’t drink,” she said, and Chief Al was surprised. Pufferfish normally love algae juice.
“Listen, I need to get back to my project before the coral dies. Can we talk later?” she says, already rising up and over the table, like a balloon caught in an eddy current.
“Sure,” says Chief Al, who was probably more easy-going than a police officer should be. “See you around!”
On his way home, he passed by the Flor do Mar. Susie was out for a forage, and he mentioned to her, “Susie, tell Marvin to add Yoko the Pufferfish to the list of suspects. I don’t have anything solid right now, but there’s something just not right about her.”
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