"What the deuce?!" Skipper exclaimed as he and team rushed out of the hatch. They looked around, unsure of where the scream had come from, then they heard a light sobbing coming from the otter habitat. "Move out, boys!" Skipper ordered.

Upon entering Marlene's, they saw her in the entrance to her habitat leaning against the wall. Her paws were cupped over her mouth, tears were slowly running down her cheeks, and she seemed to be paralyzed with fear. "What happened, Marlene?" Private alisema as the team approached her. Marlene remained silent, unable to speak.

"Marlene?" Skipper stepped up to her with concern. "Marlene, what's wrong?" Marlene still did not speak, she cringed slightly and removed one paw from over her mouth and pointed toward her pond slowly with a shaking finger. The team turned toward it, then cautiously stepped toward it. When they were close enough, they saw what Marlene was so terrified of. It made all of them sick to their stomachs as they stared in horror and confusion. Private couldn't look any longer, he turned away and tried his best not to vomit. "Kowalski....analysis...." Skipper ordered slowly, finding it hard to wrap, upangaji pamoja his head around what he was witnessing.

For a second, Kowalski remained staring in horror, then he snapped out of it in realization that Skipper had alisema something. "Oh...what was that, Skipper?" He asked, though unable to turn away.

"Analysis." Skipper repeated.

Kowalski slowly stepped mbele and took a closer look at the bloody skull floating in Marlene's pond. "It appears to be from a small canine. Female. But...who would do something so sick!?" He asked no one in particular. The blood from the skull slowly clouded outward from it, making it appear that there was zaidi blood than there really was.

Skipper turned back to Marlene, who was still frozen in the position they'd left her in; her shaking finger pointing toward her pond while the other paw covered her mouth, and tears rolling down her cheeks. Skipper approached her and gently took both of her arms and pulled them down in front of her and looked into her tear-filled eyes. "Marlene, wewe need to tell us what happened." He alisema gently. Marlene slowly crossed her arms over herself, feeling unsafe. She looked back into Skipper's calming eyes, but still could not find the words. Skipper took her kwa her shoulders. "Marlene, I know you're afraid, but there's no way we're going to be able to solve this unless wewe give us something to work with. We're going to protect you, Marlene. We're not going to let anything happen to you. Please, tell us what wewe saw."

Marlene took a deep breath and pushed herself into speaking, though her voice was shaky and breathy, and she choked on her words. "It happened...so fast...I went back in...for my ball...and when i came back out..." She couldn't bring herself to say it. She covered her face with her paws and Skipper pulled her in to comfort her. Marlene silently wept into his chest. Skipper turned his head toward Kowalski.

"Kowalski, run a trace on the entire habitat. Leave no stone unturned. I want every detail. If there's a broken blade of grass, I want to know about it." Skipper ordered. Kowalski nodded.

"Rico, help me out, will you?" Kowalski asked. Rico nodded. Private finally pulled himself together and waddled over.

"Is there anything I can do?" The young cadet asked.

"Why don't wewe ask the other zoo wanyama if they saw anything suspicious?" Skipper suggested.

Private nodded. "Aye, sir." He was about to turn and leave when Skipper's voice stopped him.

"Oh, and uh, try not to tell anyone exactly what happened alright? Just tell them there was an incident at Marlene's." Skipper ordered. Private saluted his leader and left. Skipper stroked Marlene's back, trying to calm her down. "It's okay, Marlene. So, you're sure that wewe didn't see anyone au anything suspicious?" Marlene simply shook her head and tightened her grip on Skipper's feathers. It hurt, but Skipper didn't care. Someone had just scared the daylights out of one of his closest friends, and he wasn't resting until he found out who and why.

Meanwhile, Private made his first stop at the flamingo habitat since it was one of the neighboring habitats. "Hello, Pinky. I hope I'm not intruding." Private alisema once he was atop Pinky's habitats' wall.

"No, you're not intrudin' baby. What's goin' on?" Pinky replied.

Private hopped down into his habitat. "I was just wondering; did wewe see anyone leaving Marlene's habitat just a few dakika ago?"

"No, I was busy groomin' my feathers. I thought I heard someone scream but I didn't know where it came from. What happened, baby?"

"Oh, it was just a little incident. There's nothing to worry about, really. Thanks, Pinky. Let us know if wewe see anyone lurking about." Private told him.

"Alright, baby. Sure thing." Pinky replied.

Private moved on to the inayofuata neighboring habitat...the lemurs. "What do wewe want, penguin? I am being in the middle of something very important here." King Julien asked impatiently. He was 'busy' getting ready to have a 'BO$$ lemur party'.

"I was just wondering if any of wewe noticed anyone leaving the zoo confines just a few dakika ago. Particularly from Marlene's habitat?" Private asked.

"No, I was much too busy helping Maurice and Mort set up the party favors. And of course kwa helping I mean supervising." Julien replied relaxing back in his kiti cha enzi and taking a sip of his smoothie. "Anything else?" He asked wiping off a smoothie-stash.

"No...just let us know if wewe see anything suspicious."

"Alright. I hope Marlene's okay." Maurice chimed in.

"Oh...she is...it was just a little incident." Private replied, not wanting to worry anyone. He turned and left them.

On his way to the chimps, he passed kwa Leonard's habitat. He was going to overlook his, considering Leonard was supposed to be asleep right now. But at the last moment, Leonard peeked up over the wall. "Psst! Private! Over here!" He whispered.

Private looked over in surprise, then waddled over. "Leonard? What are wewe doing up?"

In reality, Leonard hadn't really been able to sleep. Every time he came close he would see that pit ng'ombe tearing him to shreds. "I heard the scream. Is Marlene okay?" He asked, afraid of the answer.

"Yes, she's fine. Just a little incident." Private answered. "Did wewe see anyone leaving her habitat and/or the zoo kwa any chance?"

"No...why? What happened?"

"Nothing...just don't worry about it. It was just a little incident. I really need to go. Sorry wewe were awaken." Private said, then continued on to the chimp habitat.

Leonard refused to believe that whatever happened was a 'little incident'. He climbed over his ukuta and crept to the otter habitat. He went around back and climbed up. Unfortunately, from his position, he was unable to see Skipper and Marlene standing in the entrance. So when he looked over the wall, his moyo nearly stopped from what he saw.

Kowalski was wearing sterile gloves and was pulling a bloody skull from Marlene's pond. He was paralyzed with fear and became zaidi nauseous than when the pup was mauled. A moment later, he heard Skipper's voice say, "Have wewe found any clues, Kowalski?"

"No, not yet. I'm still looking, though." Kowalski answered.

"Well, I hope we find something that will help us figure out who did this so we can stop him, and Marlene can rest in peace." Skipper replied.

Leonard nearly Lost his balance. Marlene is...is...dead?! He thought. He couldn't help but blame himself. If he hadn't alisema anything about wanting to get back to the zoo last night, Marlene might still be alive. He climbed back down from the ukuta shaking like a leaf, then went back to his habitat as quickly as his legs would carry him. Why him? What had he ever done to deserve to be put through this kind of torture? Once he got back to his habitat he climbed up his mti and laid down on his side, holding his stomach. He felt as though he'd eaten a bunch of rocks and they were weighing down his stomach. He wasn't sure if he could hold this in for much longer.

******************************************************************

Later on that evening, around 7:30, the penguins had cleaned out Marlene's pool and swept Marlene's habitat four times...and found nothing. There wasn't a shred of evidence that anyone had been there. Marlene had finally cried herself to sleep and Skipper had carried her into her habitat and laid her in her bed. Skipper came out with a sigh. "Did wewe find anything?" Kowalski and Rico shook their heads sadly. Private had even come back a few hours zamani and helped them with the last couple of searches. Even with Private's watchful eye, they still didn't find anything. "Well, then let's tafuta it again." Skipper ordered going back to the pond, but Kowalski took him kwa the shoulder.

"Skipper, I'm sorry, but there's just no evidence here. The culprit is gone without a trace. I think it's time we cut our losses." Kowalski reasoned.

"No, if we can't find something that will help us find out who did this, he's going to strike again. Then the cat's gonna be out the bag." Skipper insisted.

"Skipper, the best we can do for now is to put the entire zoo under careful surveillance." Kowalski argued.

"And wewe know, we still haven't spoken to Leonard. Maybe whatever has gotten him so uptight is the same thing that's done this." Private suggested.

"I like your thinkin', Private." Skipper piped up. "Move out. The hippie should be waking any dakika now." He ordered taking notice of the sun, which was barely peeking over the horizon.

Leonard still lay awake on his branch. His eyes were heavy and his mind was foggy, but he just couldn't sleep. He couldn't get his mind off of Marlene au the pit bull. His stomach wouldn't settle no matter how hard he tried. He jumped at the sound of the penguins leaping onto the other end of his branch. "Ah! Oh...what are wewe guys doin' here?" Leonard asked getting to his feet.

"We wanna know what happened in that junkyard last night. And we want to know every detail." Skipper ordered.

Leonard leaned back against the mti to keep his balance and held his aching stomach. "Look, I already told you. Nothing happened. I landed somewhere in the middle, then I walked to the edge, then to the exit. End of story." Leonard insisted.

"Negatory. You've been fuzzy ever since we picked wewe up last night, and I don't mean on the outside, like usual. Now spill. wewe know there are zaidi than one way to make someone talk." Skipper told him, but Private elbowed him and gave him a stare before he stepped forward.

"Ignore him. Please, Leonard. Look, something happened at Marlene's place earlier. I can't tell wewe what, but I have a feeling that whatever did this to her did something to you, too. Can wewe please just tell us?" Private pleaded.

"Nothing happened, okay! I'm perfectly fine! So just leave me alone and just go continue your crazy commando stuff elsewhere!" He was going to continue but a spurt of pain shot through his abdomen and he cringed.

"What's wrong? Are wewe okay?" Private asked.

"I'm fine...it's just a stomach ache. I haven't gotten much sleep." Leonard answered, his tone a little calmer.

"Why-?"

"You know, wewe just can't stop asking questions, can you?! I told wewe over and over again that I'm fine and you're being relentless! Why can't wewe just believe me and leave me alone! There's no sense in wewe asking all of these maswali that add to my load of stress because wewe four just don't know how hard it is to live with seeing two innocent deaths in 24 hours!" Leonard blurted out, then his eyes widened in realization of what he just said. The penguins were surprised as well.

"Two deaths? Who? Why didn't wewe tell us?" Private asked.

Leonard opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words.