"Barney - stop digging under that fence." "I said, stop that..." "You're not leaving the pen." "But I have to..." "I'm meeting Mr. Squirrel by the big tree." "Barney, you know I don't like you going into the woods." "Nothing good ever happens at the big tree." "You have to stay in the pen with the rest of us." "That's the way the humans want it." "Oh, Mom!" "If that were true, they would have fixed this hole in the fence." "Barney!" "Where do you think you're going, young man?" "Get back here!" "Mr. Squirrel, I'm here!" "Mr. Squirrel?" "Mr. Squirrel, are you playing hide-and-seek?" "Okay, ready or not, here I come!" "Oh, what's that?" "What?" "What's going on?" "Mommy!" "You okay?" "Yeah." "Yeah, I'm fine." "That was weird." "It's past midnight." "It's officially your birthday." "Mmm, oh, yes." "Be still, my heart." "Oh, don't be that way, birthday boy." "Come on, you want me to sing you a little song?" "Want me to light you a birthday candle so you can make a special wish?" "I already made one." "Really?" "What is it?" "Come on." "Aren't you gonna tell me what it is?" "No." "The longer you keep me awake, the longer it doesn't come true." "Pretty cool, huh?" "I had to cut out, like, 50 pictures of Dad to do it, but, you know, I really think he's gonna love it." "How often do you get to be the star in your own comic book?" "I think it's much cooler than some boring sweater." "For your information," "Dad actually wanted the sweater for his birthday." "Which reminds me, Mom wanted me to give you this, so you could wrap it before tonight." "It's what she got you to give Dad." "Ties are boring." "You're right." "Ties are kind of boring." "But not as boring as a sweater." "But close." "Are we all out of tissues?" "Uh, yeah, there's a box in here." "Mom had to go in to work early, so I guess I'm driving you to school." "Actually, no." "I'm driving you to work." "Mom promised that I could use her car to go off campus for lunch today, but since she had to leave early, uh... consider it an early birthday gift." "Your very own chauffeur- I'll drive you to your office;" "I'll pick you up when you're done tonight." "You can even ride in the backseat." "Wait a second." "You know this means that you have to take me to the comic book store after school, right?" "Have to?" "Come on, it's Wednesday." "Mom always takes me to the comic book store on Wednesday 'cause that's when all the new comics come out." "Well, can't it wait until tomorrow?" "Hey, you wouldn't want me to get there after all the cool stuff is gone, would you?" "Yeah, you wouldn't want her to get there after all the cool stuff is gone." "Okay." "Fine." "We'll go to the comic book store." "But if you're not done in 15 minutes," "Marie and I are leaving you there." "I can think of worse places to live." "Sounds like you're driving." "Yay." "I'm thinking I'm not the only one the principal wants to see in his office this morning." "Did you hear that?" "Hear what?" "Never mind." "Are either of you familiar with SARC?" "Yeah, some kind of animal rights group?" "Southwest Animal Rights Coalition." "That girl whose picture you're staring at, she's been working for them since she graduated college last year." "Her name's Melissa Treynet, and apparently, she was doing some kind of undercover work at the AgroUnited Factory Farm on the outskirts of town, and now she's gone missing." "No one's heard from her for a week." "SARC thinks that AgroUnited found out what Melissa was up to and that she may be the victim of foul play." "They want to file a missing persons report, go to the media, talk about what a big, bad company" "AgroUnited is." "Meanwhile, AgroUnited is saying if something happened to this girl, it has nothing to do with them." "Wait a second." "What does this have to do with the district attorney's office?" "AgroUnited employs several hundred people, and at least up until now, they've always been good corporate citizens." "The mayor called, asked me to get involved in figuring out where this girl is, what might have happened to her, and maybe help keep all of this out of the papers." "To that end, I have the head of SARC." "And the farm's manager waiting in the conference room." "So... shall we?" "Mr. Ruettiger's farm processes pork on a massive scale." "Last month, my organization was made aware of rumors that in order to meet their quotas," "AgroUnited was circumventing animal cruelty statutes and housing livestock in unsafe and inhumane conditions." "So, yes, we had Melissa apply for work in the hope that she would get a job, and then she could document whatever infractions took place." "And did she find anything?" "No." "She didn't find anything." "Would you like to know why?" "Because there was nothing to find." "Our animals are all treated very well." "Absolutely everything we do is up to or exceeds the code." "Now..." "I am very sorry if you and your people have a problem with me and mine, but you know what?" "We're a business." "We provide jobs for hundreds of people." "We provide a product that 97% of the country actually want." "Now, look..." "I feel... very badly about this young woman, but rest assured, wherever she is, whatever happened to her, it had nothing to do with us." "I really don't know how you could be so certain." "Just last year, one of our operatives was caught by his coworkers while videotaping at a farm, and they beat him within an inch of his life." "That has nothing to do with me;" "That has nothing to do with my farm." "So you say." "You know what?" "I'm done here." "Mr. Ruettiger, please..." "Mr. Devalos, with respect, there is only so much slander I can take in one day." "If you want to have your people visit my farm, if you want to talk to my employees, you feel free-- you don't even have to get a warrant-- but I will not sit here and listen to one more word" "of this woman's nonsense." "I do not have the time." "Some of us actually have to work for a living." "I am inclined to want to call a press conference." "I think it is time to make people aware of Melissa's disappearance, to make people aware that all is not right with AgroUnited, and that, in fact, people may be putting their lives in peril by eating their food." "Don't you think that's a bit premature, Victoria?" "For one thing, we can't even be sure that Melissa was a victim of foul play at this point." "It's not like you were paying her a fortune;" "Who's to say she didn't just meet some guy and take off for parts unknown?" "If you hold a press conference and Melissa pops up from out of nowhere the next day, then you and your organization are gonna look awfully foolish." "Let us do our work." "Let us go to the farm, talk to the people there." "If we don't come up with some tangible results in a couple of days, then, yeah, by all means, talk to the press." "What do you say, Victoria?" "Aaaaa" "Oh, yeah." "Whew!" "We're makin' bacon now." "Thank you." "If the Animal Rights Coalition really wants to get people to stop eating meat, they should try bottling that smell." "What's going on?" "What are you looking at?" "Hold the jokes." "I think I recognize that pig." "Excuse me?" "That pig" " I think I know him." "So, listen, if I'm sticking my nose somewhere it doesn't belong, just say so, but am I allowed to ask where and when you first met this pig?" "In bed, the other night." "You happy?" "Hey." "What's he doing?" "I don't know." "He's your friend." "Hey, I think he's making a break for it." "Come on." "What do we do?" "Or are we supposed to call someone?" "I don't know." "Who do you call?" "I think we should follow him." "If you say so." "Barney!" "Oh, he's got a name, and you know what it is." "I'm not gonna ask." "Barney!" "Hey, Barney!" "Okay." "We caught up to him." "Now what do we do?" "Who picks him up?" "Who carries him home?" "Wait a second." "Lee, I think I know this tree." "Well, you know the tree;" "You know the pig." "I'm starting to think you got this whole other life you don't tell me about." "Shh." "Lee..." "I think you need to call Forensics." "I don't think" "Melissa Treynet is missing." "I think she may be dead." "Whoa!" "Check me out!" "I haven't been able to lift a whole car over my head since, what, college?" "So, you like it?" "Oh, my God, I love it, especially that cape." "I think that's a really good look for me." "Almost as good a look as my new sweater." "Well, not so fast." "There's one more present, isn't there, Marie?" "Good!" "Come on." "Thank you." "Hey, what's that?" "I thought you gave her the tie to wrap." "I... did." "I don't know what's in there." "More birthday presents." "You got Daddy a toy?" "Wow, Marie, that really is something." "Oh, my God, it's an Axion!" "Tell me you don't remember this from when we were kids." "I had one in the first grade." "All the kids my age had one." "Come on, Axion!" "Axion, the Galactic Guardian!" "Wait a second." "You had that when you were a kid, right?" "So wouldn't that kind of make it an antique?" "Antique is probably pushing it a little bit, but collectible, yes, absolutely." "I think they stopped making these in, like, the '70s." "Where did you find this?" "The comic book store- Ariel took us after school." "That's funny." "I don't remember seeing you buy anything when we were there." "Yeah, me-me, neither." "Wasn't it expensive?" "No." "Marie, sweetie, how did you pay for this?" "Hey, this is Danny from Masked Menace Comics and Collectibles." "We're closed right now, but please leave a message at the beep." "Excelsior!" "Hi, Danny." "Uh, my name is Joe Dubois." "My six-year-old was in your store today, and she, uh, unintentionally walked out with an old toy that you had on display." "Uh, so just in case you realize you're missing a certain galactic guardian," "I want you to know that he's safe and we'll be returning him to you tomorrow." "Uh, and for what it's worth," "I'm-I'm incredibly sorry about this." "My youngest child is a shoplifter." "Happy birthday to me." "Come on, we talked to her." "You saw her face." "She knows what she did was wrong." "All she wanted to do was give her daddy something nice for his birthday." "But besides the petty larceny, didn't you have a nice birthday?" "What?" "You didn't have a nice birthday?" "Well..." "What?" "Every other birthday you always make the special lamb chops." "Tonight you made veggie lasagna." "Well..." "I just thought we could do with a little less meat around here." "Well, okay, but on my birthday?" "They screamed at me." "Who screamed at you?" "The lamb chops-- when I took them out of the freezer this afternoon, they screamed at me." "It's a long story." "I'm sure it is." "Hello?" "Sorry to call so late, but I thought you'd want to know." "I got Forensics out here poking around your friend, the tree, and they did find some blood and bone matter." "They did?" "Yeah, but no one on my end's getting terribly excited." "You know, they reminded me it is next to a farm, a slaughterhouse, technically, so it wouldn't be surprising to find all kinds of bone and blood in the soil that isn't necessarily human." "Plus, you got wildlife in the woods." "I don't know, Allison." "No one's holding out a lot of hope." "They are gonna analyze whatever it is they found?" "Sure, they are." "Oh, yeah, and, uh, by the way, uh, your other friend, uh, Corky?" "Barney!" "Well, he's back in his pen, safe and sound, probably dreaming of the day he grows up and becomes a pork chop." "That's not funny." "Well, hey, look at the bright side:" "For the moment, we have to assume this girl is still alive and well somewhere." "And you and me, we get to go back to square one." "BARNEY:" "No, Mom!" "No!" "There, there, son, it's all right." "There's nothing to be upset about." "But, Mother, I don't understand." "What are you doing out there?" "Why are you in that cage?" "Are the humans taking you somewhere?" "Don't be afraid, Barney." "It's just my time." "What do you mean, your time?" "My time-- that's the way life works." "You live, and then the humans take you, and it's over." "Barney, stop looking so sad." "You need to be brave." "But I don't want to be brave." "I want you here, with me forever!" "Mother, please don't go!" "Don't leave me!" "I'm afraid, Mother!" "I'm afraid!" "No!" "Mom, don't leave!" "Stop!" "Hey, uh... you all right?" "Allison, what's wrong?" "I think I'm supposed to save a pig." "Aaaa" "Ms. Gossett." "Wow, you have quite an operation here." "Yeah, well, thank you." "I'm very proud of it." "Believe it or not, most of this is funded by donations." "A lot of people really believe in what we're trying to do." "So, what brings you by?" "Some news about Melissa?" "No." "Sorry." "Soon, I hope." "Actually, I was hoping to ask your advice about something." "So you want to save a pig?" "Not all pigs-- just this one pig." "Do you mind if I ask you why?" "It's hard to explain." "I-I just have this very powerful connection to him." "I know that sounds crazy, right?" "I mean, I just feel like I have to get him out of there before it's too late." "What would I even do with him once I got him?" "I can't just set him loose in my backyard." "I'm sorry." "You know what, you're-you're..." "You're busy with a lot of things." "I'm sorry that I bothered you..." "You are not bothering me, Mrs. Dubois." "I'm worried about Melissa, but I have a job to do." "And nobody would understand that better than her." "You know, if you did get that pig," "I could help you place him in a livestock rescue farm." "They're very humane." "The animals are very well treated." "The problem is, how do we get the pig." "You know what I would do if I were you?" "I would try to speak a language that those AgroUnited people understand." "Offer them money." "What do you mean?" "You think they'd actually sell him to me?" "They make a profit on every pig that they slaughter." "I say figure out how much the animal is worth, and then you just offer a little bit more." "That way, everybody wins." "Hello?" "Melissa Treynet, our missing girl, turns out her passion for lost causes wasn't limited to the work she did with animals." "What does that mean?" "Her boyfriend's a recovering addict." "Did a stint for possession back in '08." "SARC hired him for a couple of months after he got out of prison." "That's where he and Melissa met." "Do you think he might have had something to do with her disappearance?" "I'm not sure, but he certainly seems like a good place to start." "You know, I've been clean going on three years." "I just think you should know that." "Okay." "I got it." "Now let's talk about your girlfriend." "According to her mother, you and Melissa hadn't been getting along so well." "No, no, that's not true." "Melissa and I had sort of an on-again/off-again thing." "That's all." "Her mom doesn't really get that." "What about lately?" "Were you on?" "Were you off?" "Good question." "Have to ask Melissa." "Ever since she started working the night shift at that farm..." "I don't know." "Can you be on with someone who's never around?" "The last time I saw her was the night before she started there." "Where were you the night she disappeared?" "Does anyone even know what night that was?" "I mean, like I said, once she went undercover at that farm," "I wasn't in regular contact with her." "How about a week ago Tuesday?" "She was supposed to have dinner with her mother and never showed up." "Where were you that night?" "Tending bar." "I work at a club downtown." "You're a recovering addict, you work at bar?" "Well, how about after work?" "Where'd you go then?" "Home." "Bed." "Alone." "Aaaa" "Look, I get why you're asking these questions." "I do, and-and I would love to help if I could, but the truth is, I have no idea where Melissa is." "Who was on that DVD?" "She sent you a DVD, didn't she?" "She brought a camera into that farm, looking for evidence of animal abuse." "That was the whole point, wasn't it?" "Well, I'm guessing she must have found some." "Why else would she send you that disk?" "Okay, here's the thing." "I don't know anything about any DVD, and I'm sorry, but, like I said," "I haven't heard from Melissa since she started working there." "Now, I would love to help, but I'm as mystified by all this as you are." "The guy's story stinks worse than that farm yesterday." "What was that DVD you were asking about?" "Just something I saw in there." "Melissa must have sent it to him." "You know, I'm starting to think that Victoria was right all along." "What is somebody from that farm harmed Melissa 'cause she found something that was incriminating?" "Well, okay, let's say she did." "If Shane Carnahan had video like that in his possession, why wouldn't he just show it to us?" "He's got to know he's a suspect." "Why not point us in a different direction?" "Look on the bright side: we got a suspect." "I think we'll have more luck finding Melissa Treynet if we investigate one guy instead of, you know, a whole industry." "I'm sorry, and I'll never do it again." "You know, sir, we have a very strict policy here in regards to shoplifters." "We let the police handle them." "Sweetie, would you mind just waiting for me right over there by the door?" "Look, she made a mistake." "She apologized; she brought back your merchandise." "Don't you think maybe we can leave the police out of this?" "I mention she's six?" "The Axion is damaged, sir." "Excuse me?" "This figure." "When she took it, it was marked " Very fine condition."" "Now I'd barely call it "Good."" "The joints are loose now, and there's a small crack on the back of his left leg." "The joints are, what, 35 years old?" "All I'm saying is, sir, I can't sell this, not in this condition." "Not to any serious collector." "All right, fine, if it'll end this," "I'll buy the Axion, for whatever you say it's worth before the joints were loosened." "Fair enough." "You can make that check out for $350." "Or... if you'd like, we could just, uh, turn the whole matter over to the authorities." "Hello?" "Yeah, in here." "Hey, I thought you were taking that thing back." "Yeah, I tried, but the previous owner wouldn't take it in its new and not-so-improved condition." "Ended up having to cut the guy a check for $350." "It was either that or let the police take Marie away in handcuffs." "I'm still not sure I made the right decision." "Yeah, you know, it's a..." "It's a really good birthday present." "Yeah, it brings back some memories." "The only thing missing is the nail polish." "Nail polish?" "Yeah, my mom used to write my name in nail polish on all my toys so no one could take them and claim they were theirs." "What are you doing?" "Just checking to see if you have some nail polish." "I wouldn't want someone to take you and say you belonged to them." "So what kept you?" "I got your message about missing dinner, but you didn't say why." "You know that farm I was at yesterday?" "The one where that missing girl worked?" "I went by there tonight after work to take care of a little personal business." "This guy... was only the second most expensive impulse buy of the day." "$500 for a pig?" "!" "I know." "It's a lot!" "I had to get him out of there." "Honey, think about everything that he's been through." "He witnessed a murder." "He lost his mother." "Allison, he's a pig!" "Where is he?" "He's not in the garage, is he?" "Those guys eat anything." "I've got a lot of important stuff out there." "Backyard?" "No, he's with the animal rights people." "We're working on finding him a permanent home." "Great, $500-- we don't even have anything to show for it." "Okay, now you want him in the garage?" "You know, a few months ago, we were shopping for things for the girls and I saw that necklace in the jewelry store window, and you said, "Get it." "You never get anything for yourself."" "So, you got yourself a toy today." "I got myself a pig." "Ain't life great?" "You're right." "Use it in good health." "You sure you don't want me to put some nail polish on the little oinker?" "You were supposed to get here 20 minutes ago." "Look, I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I'm ready for you." "I'm not going to let you do to me whatever you did to Melissa." "Listen, this is the last message I'm going to leave you." "Get over here with my $50,000 or I'm taking her video and putting it up on the Web." "Who's out there?" "Nice." "Well, I can't find any blood." "No spent cartridge." "Well, maybe the killer cleaned up before he left." "Oh, maybe." "Look, I know what you saw in your dreams." "I know that you believe that Melissa Treynet and Shane Carnahan were killed, but at the moment, that's a tough buy, Allison." "We don't have any bodies." "We don't have any evidence." "If you play this thing strictly by the books, you kind of have to conclude that we don't have any murders." "Oh, come on, Lee." "We know something's going on at that farm." "Whatever it is, Melissa taped it and she's dead now because of it." "And now, so is Shane Carnahan." "Maybe or maybe he's just off getting stoned somewhere." "Or maybe, uh, we spooked him yesterday and he took off." "Or maybe he decided he didn't want to be around if we found a way to connect him to his girlfriend's disappearance." "You've got to admit, that's a lot of maybes." "He cleans it pretty good, huh?" "There you go, Barney." "You're hungry." "Barney, huh?" "Wow, I didn't realize the fella had a name already." "I'll be sure to pass that along to the people from the rescue farm when they come get him." "Speaking of which," "I should get him back to the holding pen." "So he's ready." "Let's go." "Barney, let's go." "Come on." "Bye." "Bye, Barney." "Is this thing on?" "Testing, one, two?" "So, here's the video report you've been waiting for." "Hi, Victoria." "This is Melissa." "Thank you for letting me waste the last three weeks of my life." "Uh, well, it's March 23." "13 in the morning and I just finished up my 19th day of employment here, and I am pleased to report that all of the rumors of animal cruelty seem to be utterly unfounded." "Are the people who run this place turning innocent animals into food?" "Yes." "Of course." "But they're doing it in accordance with all of the state's animal cruelty statutes." "So, I'm pulling the plug." "I'm going in tomorrow and I am quitting." "There's just nothing to see here." "Mrs. Dubois?" "Was there something about Melissa?" "Uh... they were just talking about the weather." "But I promise you, as soon as I hear something, you'll be one of the first people that I call." "Hello?" "You and me have a problem, sir." "Who is this?" "This is Daniel Watson from Masked Menace Comics and Collectibles." "I'm missing my Sultar." "I beg your pardon?" "Sultar." "As in Sultar the Cosmic Cavalier." "Blue body armor, about 12 inches high." "He had two big yellow swords and a button on his back that made him walk when you pressed it." "Yeah, no." "I know what a Sultar is." "I had one when I was a kid." "Yeah?" "I had one." "Yesterday." "In a display case by my front door." "Right up until your daughter took it." "Took it?" "My daughter?" "Is this some kind of joke?" "Uh, I'm looking at the security tape right now, sir." "I'm watching her put the Sultar into her backpack." "You know what?" "No, that's insane." "I don't know what your problem is." "I don't know what you're trying to pull here, but my daughter's not going to do that." "She's not going to walk into a store with her father and then apologize for stealing something, then steal something else." "I beg to differ." "Well, you beg all you want." "It just isn't so." "Uh, I'm going to have to call you back, Dan." "Pretty lame, huh?" "Where did you get that?" "I found it in one of Marie's drawers." "You push a button on the back and..." "And it walks." "I know." "Aaaa" "Are you coming to bed?" "She's sorry, you know?" "For what it's worth, she was going to give you this one, too." "She was just waiting for the right time." "Is that supposed to make me feel better?" "I think we should take her to a child psychologist." "She's stolen twice in two days." "Are we going to have to buy this one, too?" "Already bought." "The comic book guy was kind enough to take my credit card over the phone this time." "Do I even want to know how much he was?" "Well, let's just say between your pig and my toys, we spent over a thousand bucks this week." "Speaking of pigs..." "Now that we've adopted the little fella, how does it work?" "Do they send us pictures of him in fancy, new clothes?" "Does he write us letters?" "How do we know that the money that we're sending him is actually being used to provide a higher quality of slop?" "Okay, don't make fun." "I already feel stupid enough." "You know, I-I-I still have no idea why I was feeling what I was feeling about him." "Why I felt like I needed to save him." "But the good news is, whatever it is seems to have passed." "No more weird dreams about him." "No more weird sounds when I see meat." "I mean..." "I even saw those lamb chops in the freezer today." "They didn't make a peep." "Well, that's good." "Glad to hear it." "Well, how about we have them tomorrow night?" "I want to make sure we eat them before they start talking again." "Sorry about that." "It's Melissa Treynet stuff." "I got it from her desk at the Animal Rights Coalition." "Her boss let me have it." "I was hoping maybe it would spark something." "And did it?" "Uh, no." "Not really." "I was so sure all of this had to do with something she saw at the farm." "Then today..." "Maybe I'm wrong about all of it." "Maybe there was no DVD." "Maybe there was no murder." "Maybe she did run off with her boyfriend to Mexico." "You're right, honey." "Maybe I should just go to bed." "You said you wanted to talk?" "I just clocked out, so I need get back to the locker room to change." "If you don't turn in your overalls after your shift, then the manager docks you." "It's your last day on a job you never intended to keep, Melissa." "Do you really care if you get into a little bit of trouble with your manager, huh?" "I'm assuming you're here to talk about the DVD I sent you." "You know, when you said you recorded something that you wanted me to see," "I assumed that it was some atrocity that was being committed right here on this farm." "I never in a million years thought that the star of your little film would be me." "Okay, it's not me." "It's my ledgers, my bank statements." "How can you be so smug?" "You're stealing money from your own organization, Victoria." "Money that people donated because they trusted you." "They believed in you." "My God, you're young." "Yes." "After 23 years of selfless service, I found it necessary to supplement my meager salary." "You bought homes." "You bought cars." "You bought art..." "To entertain the people whose generosity makes the coalition possible." "You know, I admired you so much." "And I, you." "Which is why" "I want to make you a proposition." "I am contemplating retirement and..." "I was wondering if you would consider following in my footsteps and taking over the role as chairwoman." "I'm sorry, Victoria." "I made copies of the DVD and mailed them to several people with instructions to contact the media." "I'm going to go change." "This'll only hurt for a moment." "I-I know you've been in court all day." "I don't mean to ambush you." "Allison, I know what you want, but I don't have any answers for you." "How can you not have any answers for me?" "Don't know what to tell you." "After you called last night," "I had a judge issue a search warrant for Victoria Gossett's home, car and office." "Last I checked, we turned up absolutely nothing." "What about the ledgers?" "What about the bank statements?" "According to our forensic accountant, if improprieties ever existed, they've been tended to." "All of the coalition books appear to be clean." "I'm telling you, she's a thief." "I'm telling you." "She is a murderer." "I'm telling you, nothing would give me more pleasure than to charge her with those crimes." "One, both" " I don't care." "But if you're going to file a charge of theft, something needs to have been stolen." "And if you're going to file a murder charge, it's nice to have a dead body." "Since we presently have neither..." "Okay, night, Bridge." "Night, Daddy." "What are you doing?" "Hmm?" "It's bedtime." "Hasn't your mommy already been in here to kiss you good night?" "I can't sleep, not when you're mad at me." "I'm not mad at you, sweetie." "I'm confused." "I know you know the difference between right and wrong." "And I know you know that taking something that doesn't belong to you isn't right." "So why did you do it?" "Why did you do it twice?" "I thought it would be okay since they were yours anyways." "What are you talking about?" "It isn't mine." "It belongs to that man." "It belongs at his store." "But your name is in them." "They told me Grandma did it with red nail polish." "Who told you?" "The toys?" "What are the odds?" "My mom must've gotten rid of these 30 years ago." "Given them to Goodwill or sold them at a tag sale." "I can't even think of how many hands these must've passed through before they got to that shop." "You know, Axion and Sultar used to be my main men for a while." "I mean, we used to do everything together." "See, it turns out Marie gave you a pretty wonderful birthday present after all." "Yeah." "I guess I should probably cancel her appointment with the psychiatrist." "And her reservation at juvenile hall." "What's the matter?" "Hmm?" "Whatever it is, you want me to get my main men involved?" "Sultar is a robot designed to solve cosmic mysteries." "And Axion is a mutant bounty hunter." "So, whatever your problem is, between the two of them..." "Oh, thanks." "I'm just frustrated." "You know that old expression "Getting away with murder"?" "I used to think it was just that- an expression." "Turns out there's a lot of truth to it." "Aaaa" "That's right." "It's feeding time." "I don't understand." "How could I possibly be under arrest for the murder of Melissa Treynet when no one is even certain that she's actually dead?" "Actually, Ms. Gossett, things have changed in that regard." "Take a look." "I'm sorry, but what am I supposed to be seeing here?" "That's an X-ray of Barney's stomach." "Remember Barney, the little pig you helped me rescue?" "Yeah." "That's an X-ray of his lower intestine." "You see this?" "Mm-hmm." "The medical examiner tells us that's a metacarpal bone from someone's finger." "And she's pretty sure that these are teeth." "And apparently, the poor little guy's been having a hard time passing these objects or they wouldn't still be in his stomach." "Are you suggesting that the person who killed Melissa fed her to this pig?" "Not just Barney." "Barney and some other pigs at the farm." "I don't even know what to say." "And I certainly don't understand how you could suppose that I am involved in any of this." "Ms. Gossett, are you the registered owner of a snub-nosed." "38-caliber revolver?" "I am." "I bought it a few years ago for protection." "There was a series of threats against the coalition." "Do you see this spot here?" "The medical examiner thinks that this is a bullet, which is odd, because as far as anyone can tell," "Barney has never been shot." "I'd be willing to bet not only that that bullet is." "38 caliber, but that it could be matched to your gun." "And I'm sure you'd agree with evidence like that, it would connect you to Melissa's remains in a very significant way." "The amazing thing is that all the other pigs who were fed Melissa's remains were slaughtered a few days later." "Any evidence that they might have held for us is gone." "If you hadn't helped me rescue Barney, we really wouldn't have much of a case right now." "I dispatched a forensic team to the AgroUnited Farm to investigate the possibility that you disposed of Shane Carnahan's body in a similar fashion." "In the meantime, my office is speaking with a veterinary surgeon who says that he's willing to remove the evidence from the pig's stomach, so that you can be charged." "My advice..." "Confess to both these murders right now." "Spare the city the expense of a trial, and I won't pursue the death penalty when I prosecute you." "Otherwise, Barney is going to have to go under the knife for a surgery he doesn't even need." "Come on, Ms. Gossett." "You're still against animal cruelty, aren't you?"