Clark groaned and stepped forward, knocking the little velvet divider rope out of the way as he reached for something shimmery. "Hold it right there, fella!"
The cricket froze still and looked to his right side, where the sound came from. A petite bodyguard rushed to the gang of three. "Don't touch anything! Have you not read the large sign at the entrance?", the obviously annoyed bodyguard asked. He pointed the index finger of his small left hand to the large sign at the entrance that couldn't be missed.
Clark took a step back and looked at the bodyguard from head to toe. As his body was smaller than the average human being, the guard was panting after the fast yet short sprint. It was a peculiar contrast to see how a relatively large cricket Clark actually was compared to other crickets.
Arthur and Geoff looked at the sign near the entrance that read "DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!". They wondered how they could've missed it. Clark was still looking at the bodyguard, now staring at his tiny hands, and a few moments later finally read the entrance sign. "I guess I did not see it", Clark said and he shrugged his shoulders.
Geoff and Arthur now realised how small the bodyguard was and Arthur's mouth opened slightly of astonishment, but quickly closed it when he noticed his mouth was hanging open. He took a look at the bodyguard's nametag and saw it was blank. He was about to ask his name when he was interrupted by the guard.
"I am happy to see that SOMEONE finally read the darn sign, even if I had to point it out myself", said the guard, irritated, "I almost thought you were blind!"
He took a few steps and circled Geoff, Clark and Arthur. Then he scraped his throat. "All the valuables inside of the 'Hall of Fishmongers' are authentic items that cannot be touched with filthy hands of the likes of you. Only true connaiseurs are able to truly value these gems", he proudly decided.
He also let them know that they had 5 minutes in total to observe the so-called 'valuable gems'. After that the Hall would be temporarily closed for an hour. A highly sophisticated business woman would come to have a private observation and was actually interested in the remains of the scubadiver and the manatee.
"Unfortunately I cannot share her name, but I can tell you one thing: she is a succesful business entrepeneur and owns a very popular casino", the guard went on, "please leave within 5 minutes so I can make sure everything looks top-notch!" He looked at all three of them, a bit disgusted, turned around and walked back to his seating.
Arthur, Clark and Geoff had a pretty good idea who was coming in to grab her key. They had to stall some time.