Chapter 1 - Broken Doors
A gentle breeze was blowing through the last few blossoms hanging onto the old apple tree. It was a warm wind that carried the still sweet smell of meadows full of tall grass, and fields of flowers in the spring, even though it was already turning into summer. The last of the pedals let go of their grasp on the branches that had held them for weeks and fell to the ground like so much popcorn in the yard.
The yard was well kept by an ardent hand. A ring of colorful flowers circled the apple tree in the front, and the surrounding grass was bright green and in need of a trim. Bulbous hedges lined the warm beige walls of the house like sharply dressed officers standing guard at each window.
The quiet little house was a simple, single story bungalow built for smaller mammal families like the other houses on this block. It had three quaint little picture windows along the front side and a large bay window positioned just so next to the tiny stoop. A short winding cobblestone path lead from the door down to the sidewalk at street level. This cozy domestic scene was bathed in bright flashing lights breaking its quaint, idyllic charm with the constant switching between warm red tones and cold blues.
Standing on the cobblestones was a light brown bobcat dressed in casual evening attire with a striped tie hanging loosely around his neck. He had his arms comfortingly wrapped around the shoulders of well dressed but thin beaver who was trying to contain her angry sobs. The paw he used to comfort her with had a fancy gold ring on one finger. She was dressed for a stylish evening out on the town in a bright flowery dress that showed off her shapely figure in all of the right places. A waterfall of tears streaked her face ruining the hours of hard work she had put in front of the vanity to look perfect for their date.
Only a few short feet from the couple sat the nose of one of the ZPD's large squad cars, the front driver side tire resting comfortably on the cobblestone path. The lights in the grill and on the roof flashed steadily, shedding their bright red and blue glow fiercely across the neighborhood, dispensing the mellow darkness of early evening. A small group of curious neighbors stood on the sidewalk near the police car trying to get a good look at what was going on, and gossiping about what might have happened.
"Yes Mr. Fisher we understand, sir. But I need you to tell me exactly what you saw after you came home," a large hippopotamus was explaining to the distraught couple. Sergeant Higgins was a well seasoned police mammal, who had developed a gruff attitude over the long years of service to the ZPD. His shift should have been over hours ago and his patience was wearing thin with the middle aged couple. The female beaver's angry outbursts and furious sobs kept interrupting his investigation. Every time she broke into tears her husband had to stop and console her for several minutes before she would calm down enough to let him answer the hippo's questions. Once she stopped crying long enough for the male bobcat to answer the next question, his description of the break in would set the beaver into a fit of rage, spewing curses like an old dock worker. The constant back and forth between tears and anger from the distraught couple meant Higgins had to ask each of his questions multiple times and that kept the interrogation going in circles.
Andersen, the large polar bear officer standing next to Higgins, only shook his head and walked towards the front door of the small house to take a closer look at the damages. He had to bend over and even get down on all fours to look through the tiny door that had been thoroughly smashed in by a large mammal or hit by some great force. It lay broken into several pieces right inside the foyer where it had fallen. The frame was also cracked and splintered in several places from the tremendous impact. Inside, the rest of the house was very dark and the large bear had to use a flashlight to make out anything of the tiny living space. It was a complete mess!
From his angle at the door the oversized officer could barely make out overturned and broken furniture scattered about inside the house. In the dark gloomy interior he could see a faint red light coming from behind one of the couch cushions, possibly the DVR or a cable box was still plugged in. The one floor lamp he could identify was smashed with the bulb broken, which was why it was so dark in the house. And could those cloth shreds in the corner have once been the lamp shade?
His huge body would never fit through the small four foot door, even now that it was smashed and laying on the floor of the foyer. He was just too massive to climb inside and assess the damages, so he turned back to Higgins and said, "I can't make anything out other than broken furniture, a few smashed lamps, and the strong smell of cheap beer and spicy salsa."
"Fine," the hippo sighed. "We still have to wait for those two new recruits to get here. Maybe they can figure out what all this mess is about. What's taking them so long anyways?"
"Taking their sweet time on the freeway as usual I suppose?"
"Naw, we're almost on the edge of the Meadowlands and they were on the other side of Tundra Town, dealing with another minor fender bender, when our call went through. However it's after nine and there isn't any traffic this late on the weekends. Where the heck are they?" He grumbled loudly and waited for the distraught beaver to calm down so he could begin questioning the couple again.
It was generally a quiet little neighborhood, built on the edge of the big city, far enough away that most residents didn't have to deal with the hustle and bustle of downtown while still being close enough that the benefits of the big city were only a few minutes away. Each of the quaint little homes were built with smaller woodland animals in mind, trees lined the streets and individual plots were divided by lush green hedges instead of the crude unfeeling brick walls you normally find around the Savanna Central district. It was probably one of the best neighborhoods in the city for middle income families.
All of this was on Judy's mind before she carefully turned the corner and spotted the bright flashing red and blue lights of Higgins' squad car. "It would be a great place to settle down and raise a family," she thought to herself. Not that she was even considering settling down anytime soon. Her career as the first bunny officer in the ZPD had only just begun, and the struggle with the police chief to get a partner had finally paid off, and yet she still had a long ways to go. There was no time to think about domesticity now, she was a bunny who took life by the horns, even if those horns remained attached to a seven foot tall cape buffalo!
In the passenger seat next to Judy sat her partner, casually sipping an expensive cup of Snarlbucks coffee, that had long since gone cold. The red fox had barely graduated from the academy and was still considered the newest rookie at Precinct 1, but she always found his quick mind and abundance of street smarts to be a great benefit to their team. Plus his sharp wit and clever tongue could brighten her rainiest day, and make even the most boring street patrol a little more fun. She honestly would not have lasted very long on the force without the help of that sly fox.
Judy flipped the switch on her dash to activate the blinking lights on the roof of her cruiser and carefully pulled into the driveway right behind a brand new silver imported car of a model she couldn't quite remember, something starting with the letter 'Q' or 'I'. She pulled the parking brake and climbed out of the car with Andersen slowly walking up.
"It's about time both of you got here, Higgins is having a heyday with these two."
"Hopps!" She heard the loud bellowing voice of her superior officer. "Where have you two been all this time!"
Judy groaned and smacked her face with a paw at the sound of her partner making another snide comment, "Well we had to stop for fresh coffee, and really didn't think there was any rush, so …"
The tired hippo glared daggers at the small fox climbing out of the car. "I'm not able to get a straight answer out of this couple and we arrived on the scene 45 minutes ago, and you two kept me waiting on your tiny butts at least half of that time!"
"Sorry, sir!" the rabbit said with droopy ears.
"We're here now so we can certainly help question the witnesses." Nick always jumped at any opportunity to show off his verbal and social skills.
"No!," huffed the much larger cop. "We need you two to enter the residence and assess the situation."
"Neither of us have been able to get inside yet," the polar bear added.
"This is why the Minimum Size Ordinance was added to all the Building Codes. So that emergency response officers like us," he waved a large hoof in Andersen's direction, "can perform our duties without being impeded."
"I completely agree sir!" the rabbit exclaimed.
"This is an older neighborhood, probably built before those codes were in place," commented the fox, but no one was really listening.
"Now Officers Hopps, Wilde, Mr and Mrs Fisher arrived home at 21:00 hours to find that their lights were out and the front door was smashed in. The bay window was also broken. They stepped inside the door, saw that everything was dark and then came back out and called the emergency hotline." Higgins explained while Judy nodded taking notes, and Nick just looked on rubbing his chin with a dark paw. "Officer Andersen and I arrived on the scene at 21:11. I took over attempting to calm and question the victims."
"However, Mrs. Fisher here," the large hippo gestured to the attractive beaver in tears, "is so distraught that the process is not going smoothly."
Judy's ears turned slightly to the side as the polar bear approached the small crowd of onlookers and began asking if any of them saw what happened.
Higgins continued, "Officer Andersen proceeded to investigate the premises but was unable to enter the house and has not found anything out of the ordinary around the perimeter either. So we need you to get in there and see if you can figure out what the heck is going on."
"Will do sir!" The bunny saluted followed sluggishly by the fox.
"Oh and be careful Hopps! Andersen and I have been here for awhile and we haven't seen any movement from the house yet, but that doesn't mean that someone couldn't be waiting inside," the hippo cautioned and this time both the fox and the rabbit nodded in agreement.
Slowly stepping up to the door Judy pulled out her taser pistol, and her cell phone to use as a light. She also had the camera turned on to record the scene as they walked through it.
The first thing she saw was how much damage the door had received. It was literally blown off its hinges causing substantial damage to the frame, while the door itself lay broken in pieces inside the foyer. She could also make out what looked like a large hole or puncture in what used to be the center of the wooden portal. That hole could have easily been made by a hoof or even a horn. "Some large mammal caused this," she thought.
"Are you seeing this Nick?"
"Yeah, now that's one way to make an entrance!" the fox exclaimed with his sly smirk.
Moving past the door Judy focused her light, and her weapon, on the spacious living room. The once richly furnished living space was now completely trashed, with couches and chairs either overturned, or broken, or both, their cushions slashed and the stuffing flung about. A tall floor lamp was destroyed, the fancy fluorescent bulb smashed, and the shade was missing. What looked like some kind of colored paper was shredded and littered across everything like so much confetti, along with long strands of what might have once been toilet paper. In the center of the room a pile of nachos was dumped onto the shattered remains of a very expensive crystal coffee table.
The overly expensive entertainment center was knocked askew, and the giant plasma TV was dented and cracked in several places. Judy also spotted a red flashing light coming from an old fashioned VCR that was still plugged-in, alongside several fitness and exercise tapes, some of which had their ribbons pulled out adding to the general chaos and mess in the large room.
Along the walls and the bookshelves she noticed that all of the family photos were either smashed in their frames or ripped out and torn into little pieces. Nothing else on the shelves seemed to have been disturbed, except for an empty space where one book had obviously been removed.
Judy quickly glanced around the living room for the missing book. Her eyes eventually came across the remains of what looked to have once been a very fancy three ring binder, now torn in half. After spotting the binder she picked up a few bits of colorful confetti to notice they were actually photos meticulously cut into millions of tiny pieces. Someone went to a lot of trouble to destroy this family's photo album.
"Hey Carrots," Nick exclaimed. He was standing next to a fancy end table carelessly shoved into one corner, it was one of the few pieces of furniture that was left mostly untouched. "Would you look at these medical bills!" He then gave a shrill whistle as he lifted the long piece of paper.
"Hush Nick," the rabbit whispered loudly, "what if someone is still in here!" She waved her weapon in the general direction of the kitchen to let her partner know she was moving to the next room.
She could hear him mumbling behind her and only shook her head as he continued to ignore her warnings. "Rhytidectomy reconstruction, gluteoplasty reduction, mammoplasty augmentation, gastric lavage, overnight room and bedside charges what the heck is all this stuff?"
It only took a few seconds for Judy to determine that the kitchen appeared relatively safe, but was trashed similarly to the living room. She first noticed that the refrigerator was open and the doors were removed and laying on the tiled floor.
On closer inspection she saw that their hinges were ripped right off of the frame. Swinging her phone light around she saw that food was thrown everywhere, with ketchup, mustard and many other kinds of condiments smeared onto every available surface. What she found odd tho was that the oven and cook top were undamaged, along with the knife rack, and the stack of clean dishes left to dry next to the sink. Also the marble rotary spice rack was smashed and the contents dumped in random piles on top of the counters.
Nick, who passed the kitchen to check on the dining room simply said, "Clear, nothing here." That room was surprisingly untouched.
Heading down the hall with her weapon raised and ready Judy checked the first door on the left. It was a perfectly spotless bathroom. Nothing was out of place, towels were neatly hanging on their racks, a cute soap dispenser was placed just so next to the sink, and a makeup kit sat next to a small jewelry box in front of the vanity, as if the lady of the house planned to return at any moment. The only oddities were a large prescription tub of anti-scarring cream that had fallen into the sink, and the roll of toilet paper was missing from its burnished brass rack.
Across the hall was a spare room that doubled as both an office and guest bed. The closet door was shut and Judy gestured towards it with her taser. Nick quickly took up position beside her before she slowly nudged open the doors with a fluffy toe, while keeping her weapon raised and pointed at anyone who might have been hiding inside.
"Clear!" The closet was only filled with boxes of what looked like files or maybe bills, along with a single box of stuffed animals and toys suited for a toddler. Leaving the doors open they moved on down the hall to the master bedroom.
The bedroom was by far the worst they had seen yet. A large brass bed sitting in the middle of the room was thoroughly destroyed. Each of it's shiny posts were bent or broken, and covered with more dents than the old Hopps family tractor back in Bunny Burrow. The huge mattress was poked full of holes then stuffed with every manner of raw food, mostly meat and fish products, and finally covered in condiments. Judy had to quickly excuse herself from the room for a few moments as the sight and smell of it was making her sick to her stomach.
With her head in the toilet she spotted an empty strip of pills in a tiny trash can next to it. She held the package up to the camera and made sure to capture the serial number. The pill pack was a very high quality. There were 9 plastic bubbles, that had all been depressed and the pills were gone. They reminded her of some of the daily suppressants that some mammals had to take during certain times of the year. Luckily as a rabbit she didn't have to deal with that kind of monthly cycle, yet.
After several minutes in the bathroom the rabbit returned to find Nick going through the rest of the trash scattered about the floor and had picked up several bits of scrap paper. "This is interesting," he held the paper bits out for Judy to inspect. They looked like they were part of a torn up brochure for some kind of hospital or clinic. From the pieces Nick found she could only make out the letters "Fami," "lanni," and "Clini." The pictures on the front and inside the fold, showed a pregnant mammal and various parents playing with their kits, it was very bright and cheery compared to the rest of the garbage she was standing in.
Garbage was literally strewn across the floor, along with broken bits of furniture while someone had liberally dumped beer over everything before scattering the empty cans. However the curtains were untouched and a priceless painting hung poignantly at the head of the bed as if indifferent to the destruction that littered the rest of the room.
"I think I've seen enough," said Judy as she put away her weapon and stormed out of the house.
Once back into the fresh air and calm evening breeze, the rabbit took several deep breaths to help ease her mind of the savage wreckage and total disregard for the poor couple's personal property that she had recently witnessed. It was infuriating to say the least, and she could easily sympathize with the crying beaver, who now sat in the lawn near the old fruit tree. "How could anyone do this?" she clenched her paws into two tight balls of furry fury.
"I'm not sure Fluff." She hadn't noticed Nick standing beside her. "It looks like your typical college rave party. You know, like when we respond to a noise disturbance call, but the ZU campus is on the other side of town. Plus college kids usually drink the beer, not pour it all over the room."
She looked up at the fox with anger burning in her eyes, "I know, and it didn't look like anything was actually stolen, just severely damaged and destroyed. All of the usual theft items were left just sitting there, the TV and most of the electronics were left plugged in, along with an untouched jewelry box."
Higgins eventually came over after seeing that the two diminutive cops had return from their brief incursion. "I finally managed to get a coherent explanation out of Mr. and Mrs. Fisher, and Andersen took statements from several of the mammals standing on the street. One of them claimed to have heard a loud bang, and saw a late model, mid size SUV in the driveway. They thought it might have been a black and green Tusker or Sabertooth. Did either of you find anything inside?"
"No it's pretty much all clear Sargent," Judy said, then looked down at Nick who nearly choked to death falling onto the grass in laughter. "Well I mean sir, the house is trashed! We didn't find anyone hiding inside and it's my guess that nothing was actually stolen, but we should check with the couple first just to make sure."
The hippo looked thoughtful for one second, "With the way it sounds, and the state of things inside, it might be best if someone escorted the couple through the house first. Wilde!" He gave the todd a quick nudge with his huge toe, "Stop playing in the grass and help Mr. Fisher look over the interior of their premises."
"I think I will stay out here for a bit if you don't mind sir. I need a little fresh air, it was pretty stifling in there," said the bunny taking a deep breath and letting go of some of her frustration and anger at whoever had destroyed the house.
"Fine, but do you mind if I look at that footage you took first?" said the hippo holding out his large hoof to the tiny rabbit.
Judy quickly started the the video playback and handed him her phone. The screen was so tiny sitting in the larger officer's hoof that he could barely make out any of the details of the dark interior.
While Sargent Higgins was watching their tiny walkthrough of the destruction, Nick led Mr. Fisher into the house, and Judy decided to go sit next to the lone apple tree out front. Mrs Fisher was already seated in the dry grass and apple blossoms, without a care to the stains it would leave on her fancy dress. She was also leaning against the trunk looking up a the branches with her large eyes closed. Judy sat down beside her and tried to start a conversation, "Nice night huh?"
"What?", the fancy beaver sobbed.
"Well, there is a warm glow on the horizon and the stars are coming out, so it looks like it's going to turn into a nice night."
"It's horrible!", she almost screamed as the middle aged mammal's sorrow quickly turned to rage and back again.
"I think I can understand."
"No you can't. My night is completely ruined!" the beaver's body shook violently for a second. The constant crying was taking its toll on the poor mammals body. "This was supposed to be OUR special night." Looking at the pain in the other female's eyes, Judy placed her forepaw on the beaver's paw and let her continue. "Rodgier hasn't had a day off work in three months. Plus he always comes home so late, I almost never see him anymore, and, and," her sobs started again suddenly but she immediately slammed her balled fist into the grass so hard it left quite a divot, "and now this!"
Judy opened her mouth in shock at the beaver's nearly instant mood swings.
"Oh I am so sorry," she apologized after seeing Judy's surprise. "You see I've been on these hormone enhancers for awhile now, and my poor Rodgier was supposed to take time off weeks ago to spend some time with me. I have really been trying to hold everything together, and save myself for him, but today I am so ready to jump out of my skin."
"Oh wow!" Judy exclaimed. "And what happened today that ruined everything?"
"Well, since you seem like such a nice bunny and all I guess I could tell about it. Not like that mean rhino over there," she pointed at Higgins, who was standing a few feet away and still totally engrossed in Judy's tiny phone. The beaver was smiling and blushing brightly as she described how her day started to the little rabbit.
"I was so excited when my love returned home early today and said he wanted to go out for dinner, that I took my pills early. We went to a nice place with a great wine selection and a casual dance floor."
"Well that does sound lovely."
"It really was a great dinner."
"So what went wrong?"
"It wasn't the dinner and the dancing, it was me. I just wanted to fell him like a fresh aspen tree right then and there, but he wanted to take it slow and enjoy the evening. At one point I was so worked up we got into a big fight and had to leave," tears started running freely down the make-uped beaver's face again, and Judy patted her paw. "I think he may have been trying to just relax and unwind after all the stress at work, and I was barely holding myself back from sinking my teeth into his hide right there on the dance floor, and I guess I kind of caused a bit of a scene," the shame on her face and the blush on her cheeks fought with the tear streaked makeup but eventually lost, creating a hideous mask of dark and light colors.
"Oh, how bad could a little lover's spat have been?"
"You don't understand sweety. I tried to take his pants off in front of everyone," she cried, burying her muzzle in her paws, and the sobs returned full force. "I tried to rape my own husband!" This time her loud cries got the attention of Sargent Higgins, but he only looked up briefly before returning to the video.
Judy immediately took action. She leapt from her seat next to the tree and leaned over to give the taller mammal a warm hug. "It's ok," she said, and the tears flowed free for several minutes with the two of them in caught in a fierce hug. Once the sobs started to slow, the bunny spoke up, "I am sure Rodgier forgives you."
"Oh, yes he forgave me before we even got in the car. He even held my paws and was flirting with me the whole way home. I think he finally began to understand how very much I need him right now."
"I'm sure he does," the rabbit said with a giggle.
"It took all of my willpower to not jump in his lap while we were driving home. But when we got home, all of this," she waved her paw pointing vaguely around the yard, at the broken in door, and the crowd of neighbors lining the street.
Judy finally let go from the hug and stood up, "I am sure that once this is over, the two of you can find a nice quiet place to be alone together for awhile." As the last word left her lips, those two big radar like ears stood straight up and turned towards the crowd.
"He walked up to the door and POW, nothing but splinters," a small, shrill voice was saying.
"Stop making stuff up," another small but deeper voice said.
The small rabbit officer turn away from Mrs Fisher, who was still sitting in the grass by the apple tree, and said, "I have to take care of something real quick, I'll be right back, ok." And she sprinted towards the crowd.
"It's totally true. I did see Iron Mammal bust into that house, and then he shrank so he could fit through the door."
"I told you to stop making up these wild stories, or so help me there will be no supper for you tonight," and then the small voices faded away and blended in with the rest of the mammal noises.
Judy frantically searched where she thought she had heard them speaking. And asked everyone standing around if they had just been talking about Iron Mammal. They just shook their heads, and she finally had to give up and returned to see how Higgins was doing.
While Judy was helping console Mrs Fisher, Nick and the bobcat were carefully going through the trash in the house. They had picked through the mess in the living room with little comment, and had headed to the end of the hall and into the destroyed bedroom.
Mr. Fisher finally spoke up with a catch in his throat, "Phyllis is really not going to like this."
"What's that?" the fox looked up from inspecting the mess. "Can you say that again?"
"She was really looking forward to some quality time together this evening."
"Oh, I'm really sorry then," Nick tossed an empty can of Hogswiser onto the bed.
"Oh, um, thanks, I think," the bobcat picked up what remained of the torn brochure and tore it into even tinier pieces, his eyes narrowed in rage, or great pain. He climbed up on the bed and took a quick glance behind the painting hanging above the broken headboard, "You see, I've been working long hours for the last quarter, and really have not had much time to spend on 'US'" He emphasised the last part with air quotes. "She has really been such a good girl all this time, until today."
"Ah, I see," the fox nodded, "What happened."
The bobcat's face lit up with a broad smile and he began to chuckle, "She decided to have her way with me right then and there in the middle of the restaurant."
"Wow, that must have been something. I'm sure the pictures are all over the internet by now."
A sharp snort came from the light brown and spotted feline, "And I'll probably be fired too. I was so surprised by what she did, that I just stood there like an idiot, with my pants down, and her making those wild smacking noises that she always does." He put his muzzle between his paws and left the room, with the fox slowly following behind. "I'm such an idiot. No one really noticed till I tried to get her to stop."
"Why what happened?"
"Well, I tried to pull my pants back up, and get her to stand up, but she started yelling like I was hurting her or something. That's when the manager finally came over and threw us out," Mr. Fisher said walking through another door to inspect the bathroom.
"Was she drunk or something? She seemed really out of sorts when my partner and I arrived."
"You could say that. She's been taking some new meds that have this side effect of heightening her moods. They make all her emotions that much stronger, the good and bad. It's great when she is feeling lovey-dovey, but when she gets mad, you better watch out. Super angry beaver is not the kind of mammal you want to be around." He lowered his head to almost touch his chin to his chest before continuing, "I have to be honest, that is one of the reasons I have been working so much lately. I'm just not sure how long I can handle all of these bouts of wild passion followed by the intense rage. But the doctor says it could take a couple more months before we even see any results. Wait, there's something missing!"
"What's missing?" the fox looked up to see the feline frantically searching the washstand countertop, then pulling out all the drawers and digging through them. "Phyllis' pills, she had a whole month left, but now they're gone. I thought she left them on the counter, and I don't see them in the drawers either."
"Maybe she put them in her purse?" Nick asked.
"No I don't think so. She doesn't normally do that, but she was really intense today so it's definitely possible."
"Alright, lets go ask," stepping aside the todd allowed the distraught homeowner to go first and they headed out of the house.
Before the video in the hippo's palm finished playing Nick returned. "Mr. Fisher says that nothing of any real value was stolen, just a box of the missus' daily meds, but most of the ruined furniture was either antique or imported and claims it is irreplaceable. But it's such a mess in there it's going to take a few days to clean up so they will let us know if they find anything actually missing once it's done."
Handing Judy's phone back Higgins looked at both diminutive officers with a slight hint of a smile across his huge face, "Thanks! You both have been a big help so far. Andersen and I can wrap it up from here so you're free to head back."
"Yes Sir!" Judy saluted smartly, while Nick barely made a casual and sloppy attempt."
"Oh, and Hopps. Can you make sure and send me that video when you get back to the station?"
"Sure thing."
Having finished with the rhino, Judy stepped back over to the old fruit tree where Mr Fisher has joined his wife in the grass. "How are you two doing?" she asked the couple.
"A little better I think," the slim beaver giggled and squeezed her mates larger paw.
"Maybe you cuties can find a nice place to stay tonight."
"That is the plan," said the well dressed bobcat and Judy thought she caught him wink at his wife.
"Well, have fun you two, and make sure you let us know where you're staying once you have a chance to settle in," the rabbit added handing over her business card. "My partner and I have to be going now so if you need anything please feel free to call," and waving her goodbyes she headed back to find her fox.
Strangely she found him mingling in the crowd of onlookers. She had to grab his tie in order to pull him away from the other mammals and said, "Hey we done here, cuz we gotta get back to the station."
"Sure thing Carrots," the fox replied, and they both walked thoughtfully back to their car discussing what they had witnessed that night.
"Did you and Mr. Fisher find anything else interesting inside," Judy asked her partner with a slight hop in her steps. She was looking forward to hearing what his quick mind had to say about this whole mess.
"Well, our Mr. Loving Husband over there has been deliberately avoiding his wife because of her medications."
"Oh, really!" the rabbit's voice became quite shrill and she turned around. "Well I think someone needs to apologize for what he's put her through."
The fox reached out and grabbed her shoulder, "Best to stay out of this Carrots. If we get involved it could be considered police harassment."
"Cheese and crackers, Nick. I just really want to give him a piece of my mind right now. That poor beaver has been crying her eyes out for days because she misses her husband."
"I can actually sympathize with the guy, it seems the meds are giving her really strong mood swings."
The rabbit stopped and stared thoughtfully at their cruiser for a second, "She only said they make her, um, well." She could feel the heat rising in her ears and she pulled them down to keep her partner from seeing how pink they were, "She said they just made her a little excited is all."
"Well, I guess these mood swings were a bit much for him so he has been working extra hours."
"That's actually kind of sad."
"Maybe for emotional little bunnies," he said tugging on one of her bright red ears.
They both climbed into their cruiser, then turned the car back towards the center of the city. Nothing else was said between them until they reached the denser parts of town, where taller brick and mortar buildings crowded together and fought for every available inch of space.
"How about we grab a quick bite to eat," Nick asked, turning to the rabbit as they drove along one of the main avenues past several small fast food joints clustered around each intersection.
Judy, keeping her eye on the slow moving cars ahead of them, did not look back at him, but replied after a few thoughtful moments, "Naw. I would like to, but it's my laundry night and I really want to get these food and beer stains out of my uniform. I'm a total mess after climbing over and through the trash in that house." Her pink nose wrinkled in disgust from the thought of everything they had to go through today. "Besides I have a frozen dinner I can heat up while waiting for the washer."
"Ok, how about I buy lunch tomorrow Carrots?"
"You got a deal Slick!"
Once they arrived at Nick's apartment complex they both said their farewells with Nick hopping out the door and heading up the stairs. Judy waved at him as she drove off heading back to her own little closet of a room.
(RODGIER IS PRONOUNCED RODE-GJAY SIMILAR TO THE FRENCH VERSION OF ROGER BUT WITH A HARD SOUNDING D)
[AN] I have recently gone back and cleaned up this chapter and added some more dialog from Mr & Mrs Fisher. This chapter was originally just an after thought from chapter two so I never really spent alot of time fleshing out all of the details. I will be continuing to clean up and edit these earlier chapters as I try to keep to a some what regular upload schedule on the new ones.