A few months after me and Carrots cracked that huge conspiracy with Assistant Mayor McFluff and Ex-Mayor LionFart, trouble decided to strike again. It was a pretty normal afternoon, Hopps and I are driving around Tundratown on a routine drive. We're talking about our favorites.
She had just asked me about my favorite food - it's a tie, between blueberries and pawpsicles - and there it was on the side of the road: a dead fox. I gasp and we stop instantly. We come out and looked at it. Nobody else was around. He was lying on the ground, dripping in blood, still fresh, too. He looks pretty normal, nondescript, really, for a fox. He actually looks a bit like me. A little creepy, but pretty regular. We search his body but discovered no wallet or id or anything. Maybe he was robbed?
It was pretty weird, though, that I didn't know him. I knew everyone after all. But not him. It's as if he popped up from nowhere. I swear, I couldn't id him if my life depended on it. He was a complete stranger. I thought about all the foxes I knew, all I had ever met. And nobody was him. Nobody had those eyes. That was the one thing that stood out. I have green eyes, already pretty weird, but this guy had blue eyes. Pitch blue, perfectly bright eyes.
Rabbit and I look at each other and she bends down to close his eyelids. What happened? There's no leads, nothing around. One dead fox, blood, nothing on him, no trace of anyone else. We tried to get fingerprints from areas nearby and the dead body, but no luck. Whoever did this is good. Crap.
We decided next to visit local stores and places to see if anyone saw anything suspicious. Nearby places saw just about nothing. They said they saw a fox walking around in the snow. Going somewhere… Nobody knew where this fox was off to, nobody knew why or to whom he was going to see. He was just there.
We head back to the station to talk to Chief Bogo. He comes out with us again and they take away the body. Nobody has any clue who this guy is or what he was off to do. Hopps and I search around the crime scene for any evidence, but it's all pretty clean. Whoever did this, man, he really knows what he's doing. But who do such a thing? I don't think there was anything special about this fox. We have to find out who he is.
I walk home late into the night. Carrots and I were up pretty late deciding how to proceed. We couldn't figure it out. We tried taking a picture of him to put on the news to find out who he was. But nobody has any ideas of who he could be. The only comment people gave was that he looked a lot like me. I see it but I don't think it means anything. I mean, that's just a weird coincidence, right?
I couldn't sleep all night. I kept thinking about that dead fox. That nameless fox lying in the snow, with the blood piling up around him. And his piercing blue eyes, who was he? I called Carrots in the middle of the night and she talked me down a little. She's pretty good at doing that. Not that I freak out so much, but it does happen and it's nice that somebody can help. I often have nightmares about the ranger scouts incident from my childhood and end up staying awake the whole night. At least Rabbit can help with that.
The next day nothing popped up. At least not yet. It's only been a day but I really feel like the hardest part of this case is going to be figuring out who this fox actually is. I mean, he looks just so familiar, like he's right on the top of my tongue, but he isn't. He isn't. Carrots and I really start running out of ideas and we decide to go back to Mr. Big. There's no reason he should help us but Judy is the godmother to his little girl's baby, so maybe he'll be nice. Plus, if somebody is killing animals, I'm sure he'll want to do something about it.
So, we go and, as it turns out, he doesn't know anything either. All he mentions is the uncanny resemblance to me, like that helps. After Mr. Big's I almost propose going on to lunch together when Carrots gets a call for Chief Bogo. She's to return instantly to the precinct, I'm free to take my usual lunch break. I cock my head at Carrots, but she doesn't say anything more, she just wanders off back to her car.
Well, I guess it's just one for lunch. I pick a decent restaurant in Tundratown and decide to just eat it there instead of to go. Out of nowhere this beautiful fox walks up to the counter and asks for her takeout. The worker looks confused. I don't think he has the order for her.
"I'm sorry, did you call or come in to order your food? Sometimes when animals call when lose the order…" He stutters through, hoping the fox will understand.
She looks back at him. "I came in for heaven's sake!" Her voices squeeks slightly as she finishes the sentence. She clears her throat, "Sir, you were the one who asked for my order. You don't remember me? I explicitly said I was going to come back in 20 minutes because I have to go back to work now. You said that it would be done by then."
"I do apologize, but I don't like accusations. I never served you." He tries to stay calm, but is noticeably reddening.
She walks closer to the counter, "I want my food," she growls.
"Okay, okay. Whoa there. Let's all just take a second." I interject, of course, and come up to the counter. "Okay, miss, everybody makes mistakes. Let's forgive him for this one. It's not going to be too bad at work a little late, will it?"
She calms down at my sight and takes a deep breath. "I suppose you have a point. Alright," she turns back to the worker at the counter. "I wanted a piece of Pawlaskan salmon and a Pawlaskan cod. Please try to rush the order. I'm sorry about whatever happened."
The worker nods his head silently and rushes off to fill in the order for her. The girl turns back to me. God, she really is beautiful. "Thanks officer. I'm sorry I was getting a little upset. My boss is just going to be so furious I'm late again," she says.
With quick thinking I manage to blurt out, "You know, if you're so worried, I could go back with you. He sure won't yell if he sees that you were with me." I pause for a moment. "Plus, my work's pretty flexible and I've sort of hit a dead end in my case, so a break will probably do me some good," I smile up at her.
"Oh, would you really?" she smiles back. Beautiful, I tell you. "That would be fantastic. I'm sure he would be much better if he saw you with me. But, actually, what may help the most is if he thinks…" She paused for a moment, drew her breath in quickly, and continued, "If he thinks we're dating he's bound to leave me alone forever. I know it's a lot to ask, though, officer. But, he really does have it out for me. It would be a great favor," she smiles even harder down at me and I just can't resist.
"Gladly, but perhaps learning your name might be an essential part of this mission. I'm Nick. Wilde. And you are?"
"Leila Foxtail," she's still smiling. "But we need to go right now, then. So, I'm sorry, but you'll have to take that to go, officer Wilde."
"Oh, perfectly fine," I smirk at her. I stand up, she gets her sandwich, and we walk out of the restaurant together.
