Mr. Plumbottom and the Runaway Tiger

Mr. Plumbottom was sitting in his comfortable rose and cherry blossom armchair, sipping hot coffee with extra cream and substitute sugar, and half sleeping while half reading the newspaper, when suddenly the doorbell rang and jolted him awake. He heaved himself up and trudged to the door. He opened it wide, and there stood a tall, thin, balding man, with a curly, caramel colored goatee, small, beady, dark brown eyes, and a deep tan. He was wearing a police uniform and a scowl, and he spoke in a deep, gravely, tough guy sort of way. " Did you go to the zoo yesterday at two p.m.?" he asked Mr. Plumbottom. Mr. Plumbottom replied, "Why, as a matter of fact, I did. I was at the tiger exhibit. But why do you want to know?" The man just gave Mr. Plumbottom a mean look and walked out the door.

The next day, when Mr. Plumbottom saw the headline of the newspaper, he spat out his coffee. The newspaper said: Suspicion of  Michael Plumbottom!

                According to Jordan Johnson, who questioned Plumbottom, Plumbottom obviously has let the tiger out. Plumbottom was standing by the tiger exhibit at two p.m., and the tiger was reported missing at two o' two.   

Mr. Plumbottom was confused. Then it hit him: Jordan Johnson must have been that grumpy policeman.  Just then the doorbell rang. It was Jordan Johnson. "Sorry about the newspaper," he said. "We tracked down another man using fingerprint method. His name is Isaiah E. Bradbury, and he confessed that he had let out the tiger to start his own zoo. He wanted to get rich. He's pretty dumb, though. Not to wear gloves. He's been taken to court. How he managed to get the tiger out?  After we got his fingerprints, he confessed that he snuck in soon after you left." Mr. Plumbottom didn't know what to say. Finally, he heaved a sigh of relief.