Iggy, The Detective Iguana
by Jellyfish
It had been a dark and stormy night. Other than that, it had been a normal one...except for one deadly fact: Sammy the squirrel had been murdered. For a Central Park squirrel, Sammy had been quite well off. He had a beautifully furnished hollow tree, and he had spared no expenses in making it more than comfortable--even putting in a big-screen TV, made possible by a careless businessmen whose portable one had made its way into the hands of a common mugger, who was careless enough to leave his loot where furry paws could reach it. Of course, Sammy had not stopped at that. He was well-known for cheating his fellow tree-climbing rodents out of their hard-earned nuts and occasionally robbing gold rings off the hands of a random little old lady who fed him popcorn. To tell the truth, Sammy the squirrel was not short of enemies.
Of course, Iggy the iguana detective knew about all this. It was made evident to him by Sammy's ex-wife, Soupy. Soupy was not short-winded; in fact, she had kept Iggy listening for hours, alternately crying and screaming about her ex-husband's folly. Evidently, Sammy had married Soupy because of the large store of nuts she had inherited from her rich uncle. Shortly after their marriage, when Soupy had told Sammy where the nuts were, Sammy dug up the nuts, reburied them, and promptly divorced Soupy, leaving her without means to survive the bitter New York winter.
Iggy left Soupy's hollow tree with more questions than answers. For an iguana who had escaped a dreary Manhattan pet shop, Iggy was famous for his ability to solve mysteries in the animal kingdom that graced Central Park and the surrounding area. Of course, winters always presented a problem to the heat and sun-loving iguana, but he solved that problem by sitting in brown cardboard boxes behind downtown pet shops before the winter months. The pet shop owners would bring him in and try to sell him off until spring, when Iggy would escape again. Iggy was the Houdini of the reptile kingdom. Iggy was smart. Iggy was versatile.
Iggy only had one problem. Iggy couldn't swim. Of course, he kept his only weakness well-hidden from the criminals and innocent animals alike, and so far Iggy hadn't had a problem with any murder attempts. But Iggy had a sinking feeling that by the end of this case, he'd be in over his head. Literally.
Pushing all doubts to the back of his mind, Iggy pondered his next line of action. He could question the yappy poodle of the little old lady that Sammy stole an heirloom ring from. The poodle had a huge grudge against Sammy, but was rather fat and stupid, being pampered all his life. But Iggy could also question a potentially dangerous gang of gangster pigeons who were only slightly ticked off that Sammy was stealing all the attention from the little old ladies who dotted the park benches. Iggy sat underneath Soupy's tree thinking, altogether unsure of which direction he should go in next.
Iggy: