Quark and Dr. Irena Quigley.”

“Quark? That’s a quarky name,” Baloo joked weakly.

“Which one is it?” Rebecca mused.

“Come, we will visit the man who may know.” The inspector paused with his hand on the doorknob.

“You mean the thief?” Baloo exclaimed.

“No. Dr. Bonet.”

Dr. Bonet’s Apartment

Ten minutes later, Inspector Deuseau was knocking on a door in one of Pearee’s innumerable apartment buildings. He had to knock several times before Dr. Bonet opened the door. The rhino physicist, dressed in a nightshirt, squinted into the bright hallway with a sleepily murmured, “Oui?”

“Sorry to interrupt your sleep, doctor, but...” the inspector began.

When the physicist saw Baloo standing behind Deuseau, his face grew red with rage. “You!” In the blink of an eye, Dr. Bonet’s large fist made contact with Baloo’s jaw, causing the big bear to slam against the hallway’s opposite wall.

“Howdy do to you, too.” Baloo murmured dizzily as he slumped to the floor.

“Just returning the compliment, Georges,” Dr. Bonet growled with grim satisfaction.

The inspector looked right and left down the hallway before pushing Dr. Bonet back into his apartment. “Hush! Before you wake up the building.”

As Rebecca helped Baloo to his feet, he said, “I always wanted to be famous, but not like this.”

The inspector motioned the two bears inside the apartment, then closed the door behind them.

From the condition of the room, it was clear that the physicist was a bachelor. There were no knickknacks or frills indicating a woman’s touch. The furniture was sparse, yet tasteful. Most prominent were the bookshelves crammed with thick volumes that lined three of the four walls. The entire room was meticulously clean.

Dr. Bonet flipped on another lamp. “Did you bring my plans, Georges?”

The inspector interjected, “Unfortunately not.”

“Why not?”

“This man claims that he is not Georges, the thief. According to him, he is merely an innocent tourist.”

A short, sarcastic laugh escaped the physicist’s lips. “He is lying.” He clenched his huge hands and advanced upon Baloo with a dangerous gleam in his eye.

To escape the physicist’s physical wrath, Baloo backpedaled, tripped over an ottoman, and went sprawling on the floor.

The inspector stepped between Dr. Bonet and Baloo. “We did not come here for this. We need more information about two scientists: Dr. Irena Quigley and Dr. Illian Quark. Where they work, what they’re like.”

Dr. Bonet glared at Baloo before turning to one of the bookshelves. After searching for a second, he pulled out a photo album and flipped through it. “Here is the picture taken at last year’s physicist’s convention.” He waited until everyone had gathered around it before pointing to an intelligent-looking female elephant. “Dr. Irena Quigley is from Klopstokia. I’ve worked with her extensively and do not think she is capable of allying with Swatzi scum.” Here, he paused and glared at Baloo.

“But I ain’t a Swatzi!” Baloo cried indignantly. “Why won’t anybody believe me, Beckers?”

Rebecca silently took his hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Dr. Bonet pointed to an ugly toad in the picture. “Dr. Illian Quark I’ve only seen once at this convention. A brilliant mind, though his methods seemed to be, how do you say...unorthodox. I believe he’s based out of Veniece.”

Simultaneously, Baloo and Rebecca said, “Veniece?”

“Merci, Dr. Bonet,” the inspector said crisply. “May I have that photograph?”

“Oui. Anything to facilitate the return of those plans.” Dr. Bonet removed the picture from the album and handed it to Inspector Deuseau.

After pocketing the picture, Deuseau said, “May I ask a favor of you, doctor?”

“Anything.”

Inspector Deuseau glanced at Baloo and Rebecca, then led the doctor over to a corner where they conversed in low tones. Snatches of French floated towards the newlyweds, who waited anxiously.

After a while, Dr. Bonet nodded. “I’ll do that immediately, Inspector.”

“Thank you for your time, doctor,” Inspector Deuseau said, ushering Baloo and Rebecca out into the hallway.

After Dr. Bonet had closed the door, Baloo asked, “Now what?”

“Now, we go to Veniece,” Inspector said simply.

“Right now?” Rebecca exclaimed.

“Without my Sea Duck?”

“If you are cleared, it will be here waiting for you.”

“And if I ain’t cleared?”

“You won’t have need of it for a long, long time,” Inspector Deuseau said ominously.

Baloo gulped. “I had to ask...”

On the Train to Veniece
6:00 A.M.

A sleek train swiftly snaked its way through the peaceful early morning countryside en route to Veniece.

In one of the private compartments was Inspector Deuseau. Sitting opposite him were Baloo and Rebecca. The pilot was sound asleep, his head lolling against the window.

Rebecca, exhausted, yet too nervous to sleep, had wearily rested her head against Baloo’s arm. She was listlessly looking past the big bear, out the window at the passing trees, vineyards, and hillsides dotted with grazing cows. The vegetation, bathed in the cheerful morning sunshine, sparkled with dew. Everything looked so fresh and clean and calm.

However, Rebecca felt anything but calm.

They were on their way to Veniece to confront the unknown and save the world - not to mention Baloo - from a cruel fate. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if they failed.

Having to sit still was torture when every nerve in her body longed to take action to exonerate her husband. Her brain raced with plans, none of which were plausible. And in the back of her mind, a persistent little imp whispered over and over, "This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't wanted to go to Pearee."

The way that the inspector was looking at her husband was making her even more anxious. Ever since they had boarded the train, the inspector's thoughtful, hawk-like gaze had been trained on Baloo.

Rebecca looked at the inspector, who sat in the seat across from them. He was absently stroking his moustache, his expression inscrutable while staring at Baloo. She could almost hear the inspector's brain tick, "Is he? Isn't he? Is he? Isn't he?" in sync with the clacking and rocking of the train.

Finally, she could stand it no longer. She had to do something to convince the Deuseau of Baloo’s innocence, because maybe if she could convince him, others would be convinced. Rebecca shifted restlessly in her seat. “Inspector?”

Inspector Deuseau tore his gaze away from Baloo to look at her, not unkindly. “Oui, madame?”

“How much longer until we reach Veniece?”

He glanced at his watch. “One and a half hours, madame.”

“An hour and a half?” Rebecca echoed, wanting to scream with impatience.

“I hope my ears can hold out that long.” He frowned ruefully at Baloo, who was happily snoring.

Rebecca tittered nervously. “Baloo can sleep anytime, anywhere, and I mean anywhere. Once I found him snoozing on a rafter in the warehouse.” She lovingly looked up at Baloo’s peaceful face and smiled at the memory. Then, her smile faded into a longing sigh. She wished that they were home.

The inspector pitched his voice over the snoring. “You know him well, yes?”

Almost angrily, Rebecca retorted, “I know him well enough to know that he didn’t steal those plans, if that’s what you mean.”

“But Dr. Bonet positively identified him as the thief.”

“Well...maybe Dr. Bonet needs new glasses.”

“Photographs rarely lie, madame," Inspector Deuseau persisted.

“Neither does my heart.” She hugged her husband’s arm as if holding him tightly could keep him from going to jail. Defiantly, she added, “Baloo may be sloppy, careless, and rude sometimes, but he’s no thief.”

The inspector looked at her determined face, then returned his gaze to Baloo. He said skeptically, “We shall see, madame. We shall see...”

End of part 3

Love: the Spies of Life
part 4

Veniece, Italee
12:30 P.M.

Like Pearee, Veniece was a bustling modern city with its roots firmly planted in the past. However, Veniece was unique in that there were no roads, and, consequently, no automobiles within the city limits. Instead, it was crisscrossed with a complex web of canals with the smaller canals flowing into a main canal that the locals called Il Grande Canale. All through the day and late into the night, these watery highways teemed with cargo barges, speedboats, water buses, and, of course, Veniece’s famous gondolas.

At one of the city’s many docks, a long line of vaporetti, water buses shaded by sun-bleached canopies flapping in the sultry breeze, patiently took turns loading and unloading passengers. When their crowded boat pulled up to the dock, Baloo, Rebecca, and Inspector Deuseau rose from their bench and made their way to the exit.

“Ah, Veniece,” Inspector Deuseau breathed as he disembarked. He briefly sniffed the briny air, twisting the tip of his moustache as he did so, before returning his attention to Baloo and Rebecca. “This way, s’il vous plait.”

“Well, Beckers, you said you always wanted to visit Veniece,” Baloo said with a half-hearted chuckle as he and his wife stepped onto the dock and followed the inspector down the sidewalk.

“Under different circumstances.” Rebecca looked anything but happy as she glanced

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