"I'm sorry...El Macho?" Ramsbottom asked pointedly as Gru reported his conclusions in person. "Hadn't we eliminated him as a suspect after the...salsa incident?"
Tempest raised her eyebrow from where she was sitting under the table, having managed to sneak along this time rather than be noticed. She'd managed it rather easily by hiding in Lucy's purse, which was much bigger on the inside. Once Lucy sat down, Tempest simply slipped out to under the table to listen. She couldn't help but frown as Gru ranted about how 'El Macho' was 'obviously evil' and demanding he be locked up 'along with the son'. She shook her head ruefully, knowing that would not get him anywhere but seen as an overprotective father. As much as she'd just wanted to observe, it seemed if she didn't want Gru to get sidelined or ignored - and thus screw up her other plans for these events - she'd have to speak up.
"Excuse me," she said as she climbed up onto the table, startling everyone. "I have a few questions regarding this discussion, if I may." While she'd phrased it as a question, she made sure to shoot Ramsbottom a look as her horn glimmered, light bouncing back and forth within the crystal to ensure he knew exactly who was 'giving permission' around here.
Ramsbottom looked her in the eyes, then sighed. "Ask away," he allowed ruefully.
"Why are you so dismissive of Gru's assertions about El Macho?" she inquired calmly.
Ramsbottom rubbed his exceptionally large chin. "Well for one thing, El Macho is dead-"
"Human hair has a much lower combustion temperature than human flesh," Tempest interrupted. "If he'd actually fallen into the volcano with all the explosives, his hair would have been destroyed first. The fact that 'a trace' and no body was found should have told everyone it was a faked death."
"But why would a criminal like El Macho fake his death at the height of his career?" Lucy asked curiously. "I mean, that only makes sense if he wanted out of villainy, but according to his file he really loved what he did, reveled in it-"
"The same reason I got out," Gru concluded in a surprised tone. "He became a parent."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Well, the timing is about right, given the age of Margo's new boyfriend-"
"Not boyfriend!" Gru and Tempest snapped out simultaneously.
"Eh?" Gru asked Tempest in surprise.
"Margo may be twitterpated, but that kid's a natural born player," Tempest pointed out flatly. "Either she'll wise up before he breaks her heart, or you can bond more strongly with her through comforting her while I explore all the avenues magic offers to exact sisterly vengeance."
Gru blinked a few times, his lips pursed as he turned that over in his mind. "On second thought, don't lock up the son," he said to Ramsbottom as he grinned widely. "But still arrest El Macho. He is definitely the one behind all this-"
"And the 'salsa incident'?" Ramsbottom pressed with a frown. "You didn't find any traces of PX-41 in his restaurant when you searched it-"
"And why would he?" Tempest interrupted. "The restaurant's been a successful business for at least a decade, which means if nothing else he's a competent chef. He's not going to keep dangerous chemicals around a food prep area. He's criminally insane at worst, not stupid."
As Ramsbottom stared at her, Lucy tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You know, she's got a point there," she observed calmly. "I mean, looking for a supervillain's secret weapon in their civilian place of business just doesn't make sense. He doesn't even own that restaurant, it's a leased outlet within the mall. It's not like he stole it to make mutation salsa as a new condiment. He wouldn't need anywhere near as much as was stolen to do that." She paused as her eyes widened, and she pulled out a file. "For that matter, the chemical scanners didn't detect anywhere near as much PX-41 at the mall as was stolen-"
"Wait, you can tell how much is being picked up based on the scan results?" Gru asked in surprise. "Let me see..." As Lucy showed him the documents and rapidly explained the meaning behind the different levels, Gru murmured some mental calculations. "...not enough for a full experimental sample on the scale in question, too much to be trace residue...ah ha!" He suddenly slammed his hand down on the paper. "This is a decoy!"
"Excuse me?" Ramsbottom demanded in surprise.
"In somebody's vault in the mall, you're going to find a canister of PX-41...about yea big." Gru shaped a tube about the size of a thermos in the air in front of him. "Enough to make you think you've found the one behind it, but not the whole thing. It's there as a trick, to make any authorities closing in arrest the wrong guy, leaving the real thief free to continue his experiments and plans somewhere far away where natural geography makes chemical scans unreliable. There's just enough here to make you think it's the real deposit or connected to it, so you don't even think to double check areas where you get inconclusive results."
"Really?" Ramsbottom inquired, now far more interested. "And how do you arrive to those conclusions?"
Gru shrugged his shoulders. "It's what I would do when dealing with stolen chemical weapons," he explained. "...not that I ever did anything with chemical weapons, stolen or otherwise. ...also there is no proof. ...also, I put them all back where I found them."
Tempest shook her head ruefully as Lucy giggled. "In other words," she continued as she turned around on the table to face Ramsbottom, "we'd need to connect to the civilian life of one of these shop owners to track each one...and as it turns out, we have been invited to a party at the restaurant owner's estate. It's in a few days, so we have plenty of time to investigate everyone else...and find the decoy."
"We did pick up traces in the wig shop," Lucy pointed out excitedly. "Well, I say we, but it was all Gru!" She hugged Gru's arm excitedly to emphasize her statement.
Ramsbottom glanced from the grinning Lucy to the embarrassed but smiling Gru, and sighed. "And here I thought the memo was a joke or metaphor," he mumbled under his breath.
"Never doubt the determination and creativity of children when it comes to making their parent happy," Tempest told him with a calm smile.