Marvin took off his monocle, got out his travel journal, and immediately turned a smooth neutral shade of brown. “Aaaah,” he said, “It’s so nice to be able to finally relax! It was very gracious of Raam to rent out his Water B&B to us!”
“Gracious?” Susie said, from a soft pile of sand on the floor. ”It’s costing us eight jellyfish a night!”
“Yes! But look what you get for that! An actual writing table!” Marvin hovered over the old captain’s desk of the Flor do Mar, gingerly trying to open a drawer. Frustrated, he employed his fast-acting feeding tentacles. The drawer broke off and flew across the room. “Whoops.”
“Marvin, settle down and let’s sort out our facts. We need to document this!” Susie suddenly appeared on top of Marvin’s travel journal, arms rippling in anticipation.
“Fine,” Marvin said, “But I am unfamiliar with how to document crimes. I’m used to diseases.”
“Well,” Susie encouraged, ”Just think of the crime as a disease!”
“Ah-ha! Good!” Marvin said, ”Here we go: Chief Complaint: Stolen: Two golden lions and the golden bracelet of the Rajah of Sabandar.”
Susie began swirling over the journal, writing down Marvin’s dictation, occasionally going to refresh her tube feet in a small pool of ink Marvin left for her.
“History: Time of crime: Approximately midnight of the last full moon, according to the victim, Raam.’
“Evidence: The box that the bracelet was in was broken. That’s all Chief Al’s team could find. We found a bow on the ground that was from Raam’s girlfriend, who must be Poppy, a sea cucumber. Oh, and it sounds like the lions were heavy and hard to move, so whoever did it was either strong or clever. Or both.”
Marvin stopped talking and he and Susie looked at each other. They didn’t have a lot of facts to go on, but they were used to that in Marvin’s medical practice. Marvin earned his “Amazing” nickname chiefly by figuring out what was wrong with sea creatures no one else could diagnose. His secret was simple: Always do a proper exam.
“Moving on. Review of Systems… er, Suspects. Make a table, Susie!”
“Aye-Aye, Marvin!” Susie said, and came up with this:
| Name | Identity and Possible Motive | Evidence | Alibi |
| Gustav | Barracuda. Motive: Revenge. Raam stole his girlfriend and didn’t cast him in his play. | Strong enough to break a box | |
| Pip | Sea cucumber, and Raam’s girlfriend’s brother. He apparently has a “bad reputation”, but he’s probably not strong enough. | Poppy’s bow was found at the site; was it a disguise? | |
| Gren | Sea urchin. Motive: Money. He has a big tab at the bar that needs paying. | Pearls, evidence of new money | |
| Yoko | Pufferfish. Motive: Unclear, but Chief Al thinks something’s fishy about her. |
Marvin looked at his list. “We need more data. We haven’t been good about finding clues or alibis.”
“Well, we’re here now, “Susie says, “Let’s go look for clues our way!”
The two headed to the scene of the crime. Raam was there, sitting in an old urn, and popped out when he heard them coming.
“Good evening, you two! What are you doing in this part of the boat? Kitchen’s closed until breakfast,” said Raam, who had clearly been wallowing in his recent misfortunes, as his carapace was no brighter than a dim pink.
“We are just looking around a little more,” said Susie, “Don’t mind us!”
Marvin had already picked up the broken box that the bracelet used to occupy. He looked at it more closely.
Raam explained, “It was a puzzle box. Anyone could have figured out that all you had to do to open it was press on the mis-matched tile in the overlay. But no! The animal just tore my beautiful box asunder!” Raam buried his eyes in his claws.
“Yes, I see what is there. But I am more interested in what is not there!” said Marvin. ”There is a large piece of the box missing. It looks like it was ripped out by something with a sharp point. If we only had that other piece, we could get an idea of how the suspect broke the box, and that would tell us what he or she looks like. There are a lot of creatures with pointy bits in the sea!”
Susie completed her inspection of the floor. “Sorry, guys, no broken piece down here!”
“That’s funny,” Marvin thought aloud, “Why would someone also steal a piece of a broken chest?”
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