Dick saw the two halves of the puppet, and his eyebrows nearly shot up to his hairline. "You chopped him to death!"
Standing in the darkness, Jeremiah said quietly, "He's not dead yet."
The room fell silent for a moment. Then a faint voice came: "Son of a... it hurts like hell..."
Seizing his chance, Dick lunged at the half of the body that was still "alive."
Once he got his hands on this puppet, the hotel's reward would be his-
Then he could go traveling with Ririko!
Jeremiah immediately chased after him.
Dick scooped up the puppet's upper half and performed several backflips, landing lightly in the gaps between the display cases.
He waved the puppet at Jeremiah. "You won't catch me in your next life!"
Jeremiah lunged and missed, swearing, "You acrobatic monkey-"
He pulled a gun from his waist and fired several shots in the direction Dick was moving. Bullets grazed the display cases, blasting the hat off a puppet in a velvet dress.
While the two chased each other, Ririko crouched in front of the smashed Dollhouse, reached inside, and felt a handful of small pieces of jewelry-
Necklaces, brooches, rings, bracelets-she scooped them all out.
With a smile on her lips, she tucked them into her coat pockets like a squirrel busy stockpiling supplies.
The gunshots and sounds of fighting brought the police.
Bullock arrived with several officers. Standing in the doorway, he quickly surveyed the chaos in the exhibition room, then raised his gun and fired into the air.
"Nobody move!"
Dick stopped and shouted toward Bullock, "Detective! This is the talking puppet! He can prove-"
The instant Dick stopped, Jeremiah slipped in from the side and snatched the half-puppet from his hands.
He turned and ran straight toward the exhibition room's back door,