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“We have to do something, Max,” said Harriet. “They’re going to shoot all of our humans and there will be no one left.”

“Odelia will still be there,” said Brutus. “She’s out there somewhere, so she’ll survive.”

“Oh, Brutus,” said Harriet. “You can’t be serious. You don’t mind if the entire Poole family is wiped out because at least there will be one Poole left standing? How can you say a thing like that?”

“No, I mean she’s still out there so she might be able to save the rest of her family.”

“Doubtful,” said Lil Ran. “How would she even know they’re in there, and how will she overpower these two criminals singlehandedly?”

“I’m very disappointed in your human, Lil Ran,” said Harriet now. “I always thought he was a little weird but generally a good person, but now it looks like he’s some kind of serial killer. How did you not see this coming?”

Lil Ran hung his head.“I don’t know what’s gotten into him,” he said quietly. “He wasn’t like this before. I mean, he was always a little eccentric, but not homicidal.”

“I think it’s the lure of the turtle money,” said Fifi. “Some humans are very susceptible to the desire for money and wealth. Makes them do silly things.”

“Like murdering an entire family,” said Rufus, casting a weary eye in the direction of the door to the little room where practically all of our humans were now locked up.

“What seems to be the trouble?” suddenly asked a small voice from nearby.

When we looked in the direction of the voice, I saw that it belonged to a tiny turtle.

“Pinkie!” said Brutus happily. “I thought you’d disappeared!”

“They threw me back into the tank with the others,” said Pinkie with a smile. “Took me ages to get out again. The life of a turtle is one that requires a lot of patience.”

Suddenly Brutus’s eyes went wide. “Pinkie!”

“Brutus?”

“Maybe you can help us free our humans!”

“Oh, sure. What do you want me to do?”

“Can you maybe crawl underneath that door over there and, um…”

“Yes?”

Brutus was frowning before him.“Um…”

“Yes?”

He shook his head in frustration.“I thought I had an idea, but now it’s gone.” He turned to me. “Max? You have a big head. Maybe you can come up with something?”

I glanced from Pinkie to the door to the water tanks and thought hard. Then I had it.“Do you think you can get your friends to help us out?” I asked the tiny turtle.

“Oh, sure. They’d love to help. Anything to get out of this nasty pond and back to the ocean where they belong.”

“So… maybe you can ask them to move that thick plank over there and squeeze it into that hole over there between those cinder blocks? And place that piece of wood underneath.” And as I explained to Pinkie what I thought might be a good plan to free our humans, she keenly followed along, then returned to the large basin she’d escaped from, and moments later we watched with interest how thousands of tiny turtles started moving out of the tank across the fishing net Johnny must have left there again, and then down the little stepladder placed against the tank and in the direction of the room where all of our humans were locked up.

It was a long shot, as our workforce was numerous but also very, very,very slow…

[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]

“I don’t know, Jer. I’ve never killed anyone before, and I really don’t want to start now. And besides, Marge is good people, and so are the others in there—even those cops.”

“I know,” said Jerry as he nervously paced the floor. “Don’t you think I know? I’m not a killer, Johnny, whatever people say.”

“So what do we do, Jer? We can’t let them go, cause that would make Randy get all upset with us, and maybe kick us out, and we can’t kill them either.”

“I know—just let me think, all right? Just let me think!”

Johnny watched as his friend thought hard. In fact he thought so hard the veins in his temples were standing out, and he was starting to worry Jerry might suffer an aneurysm soon. And all for a measly paycheck. They weren’t even going to get paid in percentages but in one lump sum for their trouble.

“I don’t think I like Randy anymore, Jer,” he now confessed. “I think he’s gone a little loopy. Must be all those drugs. They must have addled his brain.”

“Will you just shut up?” said Jerry. “I’m trying to think here!”

“Oh, sure, Jer.” And he was quiet for a couple of seconds, until he thought of something else. “If we get caught this time the judge won’t be happy, Jer. We told him last time, we said, Mr. Judge, we said, we won’t never do it again, sir. This time we’ll be good. So I can tell you right now that when he sees us again he’s going to be very upset.”

“Shut up, Johnny.”

“Just saying, Jer.” He glanced over to the cats, and his heart wept. “Poor cats,” he said. “And poor dogs. Just look at them. They look so sad. What are they gonna do without their humans to take care of them? Who’s gonna feed them, who’s gonna need them? We can’t do this, Jer. It just don’t feel good.”

“Will you just shut up for one second?”