"Hezekiah, what are you still doing here? Go home. Be with your family."
"....And leave you? Now way. I'm staying. Just looking up our past Ringleaders to see if any have last minute gigs that would contribute to a…idk….huge increase in animals to perform. Go to sleep. I'll tell you my findings tomorrow.
I called the police and they said they'd be here before twelve. Any later and they're afraid all tracks and evidence will be gone.
Here, let me tuck you in."
"Hez, I'm already up. What do you got?"
"You really want to know?"
"Police will be asking questions, so the more information and answers we give can certainly help. Hit me."
"Okay. First up, we got Mr. T. On his website, he boasts of extravagant events coming up, but nothing out of the usual. Wait!!!"
"What?"
"Event posted one hour ago. ``We have three new acts never seen before by the naked eye. Come one, come all for the flying dogs, flame cats, and the star; and elephant acrobat.....juggling on a unicycle."
"Is it him?"
"Ummm….I….nope. Says they received a shipment of animals last week and have since been breaking them in."
"Oh. What about the others?"
"Well, Claws, Tiger, Crawler, Rose, and Euphrates look...clean. They have no big last minute events. The last three are Bones, Finch, and Falcon.
Finch.....looks clean."
".....And the other two?"
"Besides the usual….Falcon looks…..hold on. 'Elephant tighrope act. Seal babys. Dog acrobatics. Ring of fire featuring two new lions'
What the? There is a lot more on here as well. Where is he getting all these new animals?"
"Does it say when his shipment came in?"
"Umm….let's see here. I…don't….see….anything of that sort. His last shipment was a year ago, and none of these animals were with it."
"What about Bones?"
"Same thing. He boasts of new acts; ones that only our animals are known for. Also, he has no shipment scheduled to come in...for months. He is expecting his next shipment in four months!! Maybe he couldn't wait and money was hot now; so he decided to risk it."
"We won't know until tomorrow. Stay here tonight. There is a spare bedroom downstairs. I hope it's wide enough for you.
Oh, and Hezekiah. Thank you. I mean that. I couldn't have gotten by without you."
"Don't thank me just yet."