Murders of the Past

Monkey Business

"Argo, the Mayor has declared a state of emergency! A giant ape has escaped into the streets of Concordia!" Maddie exclaims, "the ferocious beast is said to belong to Professor Ernest Picklebrain, a revolutionary scientist who conducted multiple experiments to spur its inexplicable gargantuan growth."

"Now, now, Madeline, surely the ape cannot be as big as all that!" Isaac argues in disbelief.

"That is where you are wrong! Word has it that this creature is as big as a house!" she describes, "which is why it was to be presented at the World Exhibition!"

"I'll be honest with you, Argo. I do not feel comfortable around savage animals or biological oddities of any sort. Even plain old horses give me the willies..." he confessed, sweating nervously.

"But we have a duty to this city!" Argo declared, "Isaac, let's visit the cage the ape was kept in. Hopefully, we can find out where it is headed!"

While the rest of the Flying Squad discussed how to capture the ape, Argo and Isaac drove to the warehouse serving as the ape's habitat to investigate the damage. When they arrived, the gigantic hole in the side of the building immediately drew their attention. They carefully navigated over and around the debris on the ground to enter the ape's habitat, though prison might have been a more accurate title...

A huge iron cage resembling a birdcage stood in the center of the room, its door hanging open. Strangely, the lock and door weren't damaged, so perhaps the ape escaped after Picklebrain unlocked the cage and given the giant key near it, that was possible. Speaking of the mad professor, his corpse was sprawled on the floor several feet from the cage. But he didn't look to have been crushed to death by his creation; instead, he had blood covering his mouth and neck and a strange blue tint to his skin in those areas. On a crate near the dead body, Argo spots some bloodstained silk gloves.

"Dear God, not only has the beast escaped, but Professor Picklebrain is dead!" Isaac exclaimed, "could the gorilla have done this?"

"I don't believe so, Isaac; look at his mouth and neck!" Argo points with his crutch, "it looks like Professor Picklebrain was poisoned... and that means this is murder!"

"Could his killer have set the gorilla free, hoping the ensuing chaos would throw us off their trail?" he pondered, "I have to admit, Argo, the size of this cage and that giant hole in the wall make me a bit apprehensive... I did not expect the creature to be this big! But that means it's more urgent than ever to track the ape down before it can do more damage!"

"And that giant key might help us do just that! Retrieving the writing on the tag may give us the name of whoever was in charge of keeping this cage locked!" he suggested.

He nods, "as for these bloodstained gloves, they could put us on the killer's path! There's not a minute to lose, Argo! Let us gather a sample!"

After sending Caspian back to Alto to notify the team of their new case, Argo examines the bloody gloves. He swabs the blood staining the fabric and collects a decent-sized sample for analysis.

"Good job collecting a sample from the bloodstained gloves the killer left behind, Argo!" Isaac praised, "let's have Viola take a look at it post-haste!"

Argo places the cotton swab into a vial before sliding it into his bag's smaller pocket. While inside his bag, he grabs his powder jar and brush to use on the cage key's tag. He dusts the tag's metal plate, and the powder sinks into the faded engravings to restore the words.

"Isaac, the message on that keychain reads: "If lost, please return to Willie Conklin."," Argo read.

"The size of this key makes it clear it matches the giant gorilla's cage," Isaac reasoned, "we must talk to Mr. Conklin right away! We need all the help we can get to track that beast down!"