The Astronomer

A Witness

Almond stopped the car as they arrived at the precinct. Looking over, he saw that Coral had fallen asleep and he sighed. He nudged her gently awake. Her eyes fluttered open and she yawned, stretching out her arms. Looking over at Almond, she tiredly rubbed her eyes.

"We're here." Almond said and Coral nodded.

They entered to a bustling precinct. Papers were everywhere and everyone was yelling at each other. It was noisy and... normal. Almond spotted a rather skinny cookie talking, well more like yelling, to an officer.

"Peanut Butter!" Almond yelled over the crowd. The young cookies head snapped toward Almond. Excusing himself, Peanut Butter Cookie walked over to Almond.

"Hey, Boss. What's up?" He said. 

"Can you take care of her for me? Find out who her parents are and everything."

"Woah woah, I've got a lot of paperwork to do, I..."

"It's just until I get back."

Peanut Butter thought for a minute then with a sigh nodded. Almond looked over at Coral and nodded toward Peanut Butter.

"Hey kiddo! What's your name?" Peanut Butter asked.

"Coral." 

"Alright, Coral. How about we find your parents, huh?"

Then Peanut Butter and Coral walked into Peanuts office and Almond went back to his car. 

Almond shook himself awake once again as he drove back to the precinct. The scene he had just handled was the worst conducted crime scene on the face of earthbread. No wonder they needed his help. He sighed and muttered under his breath something about "new recruits" and "rookies." What should have taken one hour ended up taking 3. 

He parked his car in the precinct parking lot and turned it off. Sitting there for a few seconds, he took time to relax and breathe. He got out of his car and took a good loong sip of the coffee in his hand. Walking to the front door, he stopped when he heard the clicking of heels behind him. It stopped as he stopped and red flags went off in his head. He couldn't help reaching for his gun and pulling it slowly from his holster. A squirrel jumped out of one of the bushes and scared Almond almost to death. He shook his head and put his gun away. 

"Stupid animals." He muttered and went inside the precinct. 

The detective walked into his office to see Coral asleep on the couch. A quiet knock came from the door and Almond quickly opened it. 

"What is it? Did you find her parents?" Almond whispered.

"No, Almond, she doesn't have any parents." Peanut Butter whispered and scratched his head. "However, her story is quite interesting."

"Really, how?"

"You know that one guy you keep arresting but he keeps getting freed because you don't have enough evidence?"

"Yeah..."

"Well you may have a witness."

Almond tilted his head and Peanut Butter nodded.

"Ask her why she was running away and she'll tell you the whole thing."

"Yeah well I don't think now is a good time. I gotta find a place for her to stay..." Almond said and looked toward Peanut Butter expectantly.

"Boss, I can't. I have a one room apartment and when I say it's one room I mean the kitchen, my bedroom, and the bathroom is all one room."

"What do you do with the money you earn."

"I use it for... necessities." 

"Fine, I'll call around. Goodnight Peanut Butter."

"See ya later, Boss."

Almond closed his door with a sigh and looked over at the little girl asleep on the leather couch. Picking up his phone he called everybody but no one would answer, except for one cookie.

"Hey Almond, what's up." Sugar Plum said.

"Thank goodness you picked up. Listen Latte won't pick up her phone but I'm sure she'll be fine with it."

"Be fine with what?"

"I need you to take care of a little girl for me. Just for a little bit. She's part of a case I'm working on."

"Oh yeah. No problem. Give me a half-hour to get this house cleaned up."

"Of course. And thanks again."

"Of course."

Almond hung up and rubbed his eyes. Opening his suitcase he used the 30 minutes Sugar Plum needed to get some paper work done. 

His watches alarm went off after 30 minutes and Almond packed up his suitcase once again. The older cookie walked over to Coral and gently nudged her awake.

"Hey Coral. It's time to wake up. I'm taking you to a friend of mine. They'll be taking care of you for a little while."

Coral just nodded and followed Almond out to his car. He opened the door for her and went around to the drivers seat. He stopped. There it was again. The clicking heels were back. The detective just shook his head and started to open the door when he was grabbed from behind. He fought as he felt something prick his neck. His eyes started to close as he struggled but he tried to keep them open. Whoever was behind him must've drugged him. No matter how hard he fought the drug still took over, rendering him unconscious.

Coral stared as the detectives body slumped and fell to the floor. She screamed as she saw Marble brush off his sleeve. Marble sat in the driver seat of the car then took out a syringe. He stuck it in Corals neck and she fell unconscious. He chuckled to himself.

 "Time to take care of you properly."