Idol Missions 8: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Chapter 2

"So where are we going now, Mr. Valiant?" Maki asked as they left the trolley. "We're gonna visit a close, personal friend of mine to help crack this case" Eddie replied. Then he turned to the boys on the back of the trolley and waved to them. "Thanks for the cigarettes!" Maki and Nico followed Eddie to a local bar. The detective slicked down his hair and tried to look his best as he and the girls entered the bar. When they walked in, they saw a lot of men either shooting pool, sitting together having raunchy conversations, or drinking on a stool to drown their sorrows in the crazy world they live in. "Hi Harry. You okay?" Eddie greeted one of the bar files. "Hi Eddie" the man, Harry, spoke back briefly. Maki and Nico felt shaky as a trolley was rumbling from outside, but no one else seemed affected by it. They must've grown accustomed to it after dealing with it for so long.

Eddie spotted an officer and placed his cap back on his head, looking dead drunk. "What's with Earl?" One of the men on a stool took out a notepad and wrote something down, showing it to Eddie to answer his question. "Laid off?" Eddie was appalled. The man with the paper nodded. "A new outfit bought the red car" another man said to Eddie, explaining. "Some big company called Cloverleaf." "No kiddin'" Eddie remarked. "They bought the red car?" "Yeah, put the poor guy on two weeks notice." the man answered, walking away. "Cutbacks, they said." Eddie sighed for his friend. "Oh, well, Earl. Here's to the pencil pushers. Maybe they all get lead poisoning, huh?" he then took out a shot to sip it, but a hand stopped him. Maki and Nico sat on stools together and saw pretzels in a bowl, deciding to have a little munch. They saw the woman who had stopped Eddie from drinking his shot. She seemed to have been a waitress with puffy and short length black hair in a uniform and bore a strict look on her face. "Tomorrow's Friday, Eddie" the waitress told him. "You know what happens here on Friday?" "Fish special?" Eddie shrugged. "My boss checks the books on Friday" the waitress swiped the shot glass from him. "If I don't have that money I gave you back in the till, I'm gonna lose my job." "Don't bust a button, Dolores" Eddie said, coolly. "You've only got one left." he handed her the check from earlier. "50 bucks?" the waitress, Dolores, eyed it. "Yeah." "Where's the rest? And who are these teens? Beat it, kids, you'll get me in trouble if I serve youse alcohol!" "Well, this is only a snoop job away" Eddie answered her first question. "This is Maki and Nico. They came to explore Toontown. They're with me. Hey, have you got that camera of yours? Mine's in the shop."

"Wouldn't be the pawn shop by any chance, would it?" Dolores scoffed. "Aw, come on, Dolores. You need the other $50, we need the camera." Dolores put some things up behind the bar table, and came to Eddie, Nico, and Maki with her camera. "Any film in there?" Eddie asked. "Should be." Dolores said, handing the camera to him while Maki and Nico watched, silently. "I haven't had that roll developed since our trip to Catalina." "Catalina?" the two girls asked themselves, but not joining in the conversation. "That sure was a long time ago." Dolores sighed, washing some dishes. "Yeah, that WAS a long time ago." Eddie remarked. "We'll have to do that again sometime." "Yeah, sure, Eddie..." Dolores sounded disappointed in that statement. Then she grabbed the utensils, plates, and glasses as another trolley passed and shook the bar. "Does that happen a lot?" Nico asked. Dolores came back to them as she spotted Eddie looking into the newspaper. "Paper any good?" "Just check the scrawl." Eddie showed the name on the check for $50. Dolores took the check and read aloud; "RK Maroon? As in Maroon Cartoons?" "Maroon Cartoons?" a voice came from behind the trio.

Maki and Nico and looked to see a grungy man behind Eddie who looked like a real wise guy. "Hey, so, who is your client, Mr. Detective and Partners to the stars?" the man laughed. "Chilly Willy? Or Screwy Squirrel?" "What do you want to drink?" Dolores asked him, firmly. She knew that Eddie took cartoons personally. "Eh, I'll take a beer, doll." the man told her, sitting right next to Eddie. Maki and Nico cringed and left their stools, angrily. "So, what happened, huh?" the man continued to harass Eddie. "Somebody kidnap Dinky Doodle?" "Cut it out, Angelo." Dolores snapped at him. "Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute, I know," the man, Angelo, wouldn't quit. "You're workin' for Little Bo Peep, she's lost her sheep, and you're gonna help her look for 'em, huh?" he laughed. That did it. Eddie was really angry with him now. The wicked laughter made Eddie kick the stool from underneath Angelo and made the teasing man fall to his knees on the floor, shocking Maki and Nico. Eddie grabbed Angelo by the face in a near choke hold and shoved a hard-shelled egg into his mouth to choke him. "Get this straight, meatball. I don't work for toons!" Then he left in a huff. "Maki, Nico, we're outta here!" The two girls eyed each other, then quickly followed him out of the bar. They wondered why Eddie was acting like that and what his problem with Toons were.